Govt committed to adequate capitalisation of PSU banks: FM

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the government is committed to ensuring that public sector banks (PSBs) are adequately capitalised.

"The government is fully committed to keep the PSBs adequately capitalised," Mukherjee said in a reply to the Lok Sabha.

In the last three financial years, the government has infused Rs 23,217.23 crore into 16 banks in order to enable the lenders to maintain a minimum Tier-I capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 8% and also to raise the holding of the government of India in all PSBs to 58%, he said.

In the last fiscal alone, the government infused Rs 20,117.23 crore in state-run banks, he added.

As per the norms prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India, individual banks' total CAR is to be maintained at 9% (with a Tier-I CAR of 6%). As per Basel-II guidelines, the same is to be maintained at 8% (with a Tier-I CAR of 4%), he said.

In order to keep the PSBs well-capitalised, the government of India has decided to maintain a minimum CAR of 12%, with at least an 8% Tier-I CAR, he said, adding that the CAR of the PSBs stood at 13.1% as of March 31, 2011.

In response to another question, the Finance Minister said banks have reported 92 cases of fraud related to debit cards, credit cards, ATM and internet banking, involving a total amount to the tune of Rs 5.73 crore, in the first six months of the current fiscal.

During the last fiscal, banks had reported 155 cases of fraud involving a total amount of Rs 3.69 crore, he said.

"RBI, as a part of its supervisory responsibilities, has taken various measures to prevent bank frauds and in this process has issued, from time-to-time, guidelines on internet banking frauds to all scheduled commercial banks," he said.