RBI mulls public credit registry to help fight loan default culture

Making a strong case for it, RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said a transparent and comprehensive PCR is the need of the hour in India.

Speaking at the 11th Statistics Day Conference at RBI's Central Office here, he said such registers help enhance efficiency of the credit market, increase financial inclusion, improve ease of doing business and help control delinquencies.

"Governor (Urjit Patel) and I hope we can set up, as a matter of priority, a high-level task force that can provide a roadmap for attaining this goal of developing and unleashing a powerful credit information system for our country," Acharya said.

Statistics Day in India was celebrated earlier this week on the birth anniversary of Late P C Mahalanobis, who graduated with honours in Physics in 1912 and was subsequently attracted to the realm this field.

Generally, a PCR is managed by a public authority like the central bank or a banking supervisor, and reporting of loan details to the PCR by lenders and/or borrowers is mandated by law.

Acharya said a PCR, if put in place for India, will help in credit assessment and pricing by banks; risk-based, dynamic as well as countercyclical provisioning, and supervision and early intervention by regulators. PCR will also help in understanding "if transmission of monetary policy is working, and if not, where are the bottlenecks and, (also) how to restructure stressed bank credits effectively".

Acharya said that in the absence of a central database of credit information, "the creditors are restricted to the information they have about their clients based only on their limited transactions or interactions with the clients, and this could lead to suboptimal outcomes".

On how a PCR can help in India, he said it is required to improve the credit culture in the country.

"It has been demonstrated in the Doing Business 2017 report that credit information systems impart transparency in the credit market, following which access to credit improves and delinquencies decrease," he said.

At present, several Indian banks burdened with mounting NPAs appear less confident in taking credit decisions, he noted.

"A transparent public credit registry would help the bankers to rely on objective data for making credit decisions and also enable them to defend their actions with market evidence when subjected to scrutiny," Acharya added.

PCR will provide a complete picture that is necessary for supervisors and policy makers to assess credit risk of the entire system. Acharya said large borrowers get a preference in credit markets due to their existing credentials in the public space.

They have established credit history, brand value, and supply of collateral.

"In contrast, small and marginal aspirants, start-ups, new entrepreneurs, and small businesses in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector are disadvantaged as they lack many of those desired qualifications for credit," he said highlighting the importance of PCR.

RBI had set up the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) in 2014-15. It is now one of the most important databases for offsite supervision. Here the banks report credit information of their large borrowers.

It covers around 60 per cent of the loan portfolio and around 80 per cent of the non-performing loans of SCBs. pti

Govt wants to revive small savings, says Sitharaman

Kharagpur (WB): The government wants to revive small savings as it is currently not as robust as it should be, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Friday.

"Small savings is backbone of the economy. Small savings is not as robust as it was always. We want to revive it," Sitharaman said.

She, however, did not elaborate on how the government was planning to revive the small savings scenario when interest rates are slipping gradually. Interest rate has come down to maximum 7.6 per cent in post office schemes, a major destination of small savings.

Addressing the inaugural programme of a finance conference by Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur, Sitharaman spoke about small savings in reference to gross capital formation and savings.

Gross domestic savings in India was reportedly 30.43 per cent of GDP in 2015, according to the World Bank. Sitharaman emphasised on the need for transforming Indian economy from an emerging to a formal, upfront economy with traceability of financial transactions and due taxes.