Parliamentary panel calls RBI Governor to answer queries on bank scams

The Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily, on Tuesday raised several queries related to the banking sector with Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar.

“We have invited the RBI Governor on May 17. We will be asking him about the scams and other banking regulations,” said a source.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is member of the committee, attended the meeting.

Mr. Patel said recently that the RBI doesn’t have adequate powers to deal with the public sector banks.

“We would like to know what kind of powers the RBI Governor needs,” another source said, adding that regulation was an important part and that was why the Governor had been called.

When asked if the PNB fraud and ICICI Bank loan issues figured in the meeting, the source said, issues related to “all commercial banks, including ICICI Bank” were discussed.

Finance Ministry officials gave part replies to queries of the lawmakers and they have been given three weeks time to file a complete report on the questions.