Bankers term proposed reforms anti-people

Visakhapatnam: Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee for the savings of depositors will be put on back burner permanently if the Union Cabinet approved Financial Resolution Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill 2017 passed in Parliament, asserted CAS Prabhakar, Convener of United Forum of bank Unions (UFBU).

Opposing the anti-people banking reforms, write-off of corporate non-performing assets (NPAs) and increase in service charges, clerical staff and officers of Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) banks in Visakhapatnam observed strike in the city as part of nation –wide strike under the aegis of UFBU on Tuesday.

The UFBU is an umbrella organisation of unions of officers and staff of all PSU banks and bank unions, including AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBOC, NOBW and NOBO.

According to the UFBU convener, the government is pushing for privatisation and consolidation in the Indian banking sector in guise of reforms.

“Our country survived the 2008 global financial crisis only because of our robust PSU banking system. But with the present proposed reforms, it will have appalling consequences on the nation and people,” said Prabhakar.
He said Bank Board Bureau was floated so that the members, who were mostly non-bankers, would take a final call on writing off bad loans of corporate and this will be a burden on the public.

The demands put forth by UFBU include implementation of Parliamentary Committee recommendations on recovery of NPAs, stringent measures for recovery of bad loans, withdrawal of proposed FRDI bill, abolition of Banks Board Bureau, adequate recruitment in all cadres and resolution of issues relating to employees.

The government should provide overtime for putting up additional work by the bankers during demonetisation, he demanded.The services at PSU banks in the city were hit as scores of bankers took part in the strike pressing for their demands.