'Get passport details of big borrowers in 45 days'
BY Team MP7 March 2018 12:04 AM IST
Team MP7 March 2018 12:04 AM IST
NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: The Finance Ministry has directed state-owned banks to obtain passport details of all borrowers, who have taken loans more than Rs 50 crore, within 45 days to preventing alleged fraudsters like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya from fleeing the country, sources said.
In case the borrower does not have a passport, the bank should obtain a certificate in the form of declaration that the person does not have the passport, sources said quoting the Finance Ministry's advisory to banks.
It further said that the loan application form should be suitably modified to incorporate passport details of borrowers.
Passport details will help banks to take timely action and inform the relevant authorities to prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country, sources said.
In the absence of passport details, banks were hamstrung in taking timely action to prevent defaulters, especially wilful one from fleeing the country.
Several big defaulters like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya and Jatin Mehta have fled the country putting recovery mechanism in a quandary.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the fraud-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) has "sound fundamentals" and high potential to raise capital through the sale of non-core assets.
"With a high share of current account and savings account deposits, low cost-to-income ratio, robust credit growth, stabilisation of gross non-performing assets, healthy provision coverage ratio of over 60 percent and high potential for mobilising capital through sale of non-core assets, PNB too has sound fundamentals and strong growth potential", the Minister said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
The finance ministry also said it apprised the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on March 1 of the action taken concerning fraudulent issuances of Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) of Punjab National Bank.
In a related development, ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar and Axis Bank's Shikha Sharma have been summoned by an anti-fraud agency in the bank fraud case involving jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner and uncle Mehul Choksi.
Kochhar and Sharma will appear before the Serious Fraud Investigation Office in Mumbai, sources in the agency said.
The sources said the two top bank officials were summoned for giving loan facility to Gitanjali Group and would be questioned.
ICICI Bank is believed to have extended a loan of Rs 1,000 crore and Axis Bank Rs 700 crore last year to Gitanjali Gems of Choksi. According to another source, officials of country's largest lender State Bank of India have been called for questioning.
The CBI on Tuesday detained Vipul Chitalia, the vice president of Gitanjali Group of Companies, as a part of its probe into the multi-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, an official said.
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