Temples have given 1,512 kg under gold scheme: Sinha

Says there is considerable reduction in the quantum of gold imports during the past six months compared to the previous year

Banks have collected 1,512 kg of gold from temples trusts across the country under the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) since its launch last November, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Friday.

“GMS was launched on November 5 and it is too early to make an assessment of the impact of the scheme on the imports of gold," Sinha said. He added that there was considerable reduction in the quantum of gold imports during the past six months compared to the previous year.

Replying to a question on non-performing assets (NPAs), Sinha said the gross NPA of public-sector banks relating to the corporate sector rose to Rs 2.23 lakh crore. The government has taken specific measures to address issues in sectors such as infrastructure, steel, textiles — where NPA is seen to be high, he said.

The Reserve Bank of India has conducted an asset quality review (AQR) exercise under which all banks, including public-sector ones, were asked to make at least 50 per cent provision for the accounts identified as NPA under AQR in the December 2015 quarter and the rest in the March 2016 quarter, Sinha said.

Sinha informed the lower House that the total amount invested by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation in exchange traded funds (ETFs) of Nifty and Sensex-based index stood at Rs 6,577 crore as of March 31.

He noted the government was aware of the risks of more investment of funds of EPFO in the stock market. “Employees' provident fund (EPF) has not invested in individual stocks. It has invested only five per cent investible surplus in ETFs of Nifty and Sensex-based index.”

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley replied to a query on the Panama Papers and said the government had issued notices to all the people named in it but tax laws do not allow the proceedings to be made public till the cases are filed in courts.

Responding to another supplementary question, Jaitley’s deputy Sinha said the government was looking into the papers received from HSBC and Panama and the various laws, including the one on foreign black money, are being invoked.

The Panama Papers leaks contain an unprecedented amount of information, including 11 million documents covering 210,000 companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions. Each transaction spans different jurisdictions and might involve multiple entities and individuals.

On the recommendations made by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, Sinha said the government benefited immensely from SIT's suggestions.