Kolkata: The state government on Friday took up several bank-related issues affecting common people at the SLBC (State-Level Bankers' Committee) meeting in its efforts to redress their grievances.
The problems deliberated at length in the meeting included KYC issue, life certificates for pensioners, and improper availability of loans against weavers' and artisans' credit cards. Some 100 odd bankers, including Regional Manager of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), attended the meeting in which Amit Mitra, Special Advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Finance, state Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharjee, Additional Chief Secretary Finance Manoj Pant were present.
"In recent times, there have been a lot of complaints related to KYC issues in banks with the elderly and the less educated people being the worst affected. There have been instances when bank accounts have been frozen keeping the account holder in the dark. We have brought it to the knowledge of the bankers that three days back, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that if KYC is submitted with one bank account, the same will suffice for accounts in other banks too. We have asked for rationalisation and harmonisation of KYC and the bankers have agreed to seriously look into the matter so that the common people do not get harassed over banking services due to KYC issues," Mitra said.
He added that the bankers have agreed to the state's proposal of going to the doorstep for verification of Life Certificate of the Pensioner.
"An elderly person often found it difficult to go to banks for submission of life certificate or attend interactive meetings virtually with the bankers to prove that they are alive and are eligible for pension. The issue was raised by us and the bankers have agreed to go to the doorstep of the elderly people for verification," Mitra said.
The issue of weavers and artisans being rejected loans against Weavers' Credit Card and Artisans' Credit Card was also raised at the meeting. It was learnt that banks have been refusing loans primarily because the weavers did not possess pan card with rejection being 66 per cent "We will write to the central government and the RBI for relaxations in this regard," Mitra said.
Mitra further highlighted the support of the bankers in Duare Sarkar (Government at Doorstep) when it comes to opening bank accounts. Out of 25502 applications for account opening, 24462 have been opened.
"The banks have also agreed to hassle-free lending to the SHG groups as per RBI guidelines with NPA among the SHG being a little over 1 per cent," Bhattacharjee said.