Banking on openness

Having taken the decision to give licences and increase the capacity of the Indian banking system,the RBI faces an enormous challenge. The first task will be to choose those among the 26 applicants who are fit to collect money from the public and who can be trusted to give it as loans to creditworthy borrowers. The second challenge will be to strengthen supervisory capacity in order to ensure that customers of these banks are protected with minimum cost to the taxpayer. This could often mean that the RBI has to prevent banks run by industrial houses from giving loans to their parent or related companies. The weaknesses in supervisory capacity,the lack of a resolution framework and weak customer protection,for many decades,contributed to the RBIs reluctance to give licences to banks. When banks owned by industrial houses lend to their companies,go bankrupt and then expect the government to bail out customers,it constitutes a diversion of funds from taxpayers to industrial houses. Even if done in good faith,where the bank managers think that the company owned by the parent is a fast-growing and healthy business,the incentive for high exposure to them would need to be restrained.

The challenges of bank supervision and limited supervisory capacity will need to be overcome. The proposed Indian Financial Code has suggested two new elements that will help improve capacity. One,a banking regulator,whose job is to ensure consumer protection,and a much stronger law to anchor it. Two,the setting up of a resolution corporation whose job will be to help minimise the burden on the taxpayer. The resolution corporation will also,alongside the RBI,supervise all banks. This will mean additional supervisory oversight over the new banks. The RBI needs to give new licences,but the government must ensure that it brings in improved customer protection and a resolution corporation as it does so.

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