DECEMBER 16: UCO Bank chairman and managing director Sharda Singh today blasted an apex industry body's report that has called for the closure of three banks with huge non-performing assets.Singh told The Indian Express that the CII national task force on NPAs in the Indian financial system had five members whose group companies had outstandings to government-owned banks.The task force has recommended the closure of Uco, United Bank of India and Indian Bank, together with the privatisation of State Bank of India and three other banks."It is strange that among the CII group's members, there are five top industrialists who had helped to increase the NPAs of banks," Singh said. The defaults were to several nationalised banks and not just Uco. He refused to name the defaulters among the 15-member group, which is headed by banker KV Kamath of ICICI Ltd.The other members of the group are Rahul Bajaj of Bajaj Auto, Arun Bharat Ram of SRF, JJ Irani of Tata Iron & Steel Co, R Seshasayee of Ashok Leyland, MK Sharma of Hindustan Lever Ltd, Pradip K Khaitan of Khaitan & Co, Nimesh Kampani of JM Morgan Stanley, Pradip Shah of Ind-Asia Fund Advisors, CII director general Tarun Das and chief economist Omkar Goswami, bankers S Mukherji and Lalitha Gupte of ICICI and K Kannan of Bank of Baroda and tax consultant Rajendra P Chitale.Singh said: "They carry no credibility and nobody - not even the finance ministry - will give any importance to this report." He pointed out that Kamath, ICICI's managing director, has not given his personal opinion.Meanwhile, Indian Bank also criticised the CII for recommending its closure saying such a move would have wide ramifications and send wrong signals to the public. "The remedy seems to be worse than the disease itself," Indian Bank chairman and managing director T S Raghavan told reporters here while referring to the CII panel report which suggested closure of Indian Bank, Uco Bank and United Bank."The (CII) task force, instead of dwelling on the causes for and the ways and means to counter non-performing assets (NPAs), the major problem of entire banking system, has made a sweeping suggestion to close weak banks," he said.Raghavan said the Reserve Bank (RBI) appointed committee headed by former State Bank of India chairman M S Verma made an indepth study of weak banks and suggested measures for their revival. "The bank is firmly on recovery path and is poised for anearly turnaround," Raghavan said adding that he would talk to the chief executive officers of the other two banks mentioned in the CII report and make a joint representation.
