RS members support bill to regulate unregulated deposits

Cutting across party lines, members in the Rajya Sabha on Monday supported a bill that seeks to regulate unregulated deposit schemes in the country and protect the money of poor depositors.

CPI-M leader Elamaram Karim, however, moved a resolution opposing the ordinance route taken by the government to bring this bill just before Lok Sabha polls.

Asserting that he does not question the merit of the bill, Karim said it was not a good practice to bypass Parliamentary procedure and bring an ordinance. Every bill should be debated in Parliament.

The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Scheme Bill, 2019 has already been passed in the Lok Sabha.

Later, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur moved the bill for discussion in the Upper House and members from various parties welcomed it and offered suggestions as well.

Participating in the debate, Suresh Prabhu (BJP) said it is a comprehensive bill which is a necessity for the economy as this will help mobilise savings in regulated environment.

Prabhu, however, suggested the Finance Minister look at Clause 12 in Chapter 5 of the bill "very seriously" to avoid dichotomy in view of amendments being brought to section 53 of the IBC law.

Noting that a big challenge before the country was to look at ways to mobilise savings, the BJP leader said, "China has 50 per cent saving rate in a USD 12.4 trillion economy. It has USD 6.2 trillion savings that could be brought back into investment. We have to increase our savings rate."