Indian Bank Probe To Be Thorough: Fm

He told reporters here the investigation by the RBI and the department of banking would analyse the administrative lapses and defects and suggest ways to streamline the administration in such a way that the loss was not repeated. It would also go into the details regarding mistakes in sanctioning loans which could not be recovered or where the rate of recovery was slow, and set right the lending system.

He denied the allegation the government was not prepared for a CBI investigation into the bank's losses and said former finance minister Manmohan Singh had himself ordered a CBI enquiry into two of the cases involving the bank.

 

There was no ban on RBI or the department of banking enquiring into the allegations, he said.

He urged those discussing matters concerning the bank to be careful since thousands of depositors are involved.

He gave the assurance that action would be taken against any erring official.

He said he was happy to note the bank had won back the confidence of the depositors.

and added that the increase of deposits by Rs 750 crore between April 1, 1996, and August 31, 1996, proved his point. The bank had also successfully collected outstanding loans of Rs 108 crore and its financial situation was fast improving, the minister said.

He wanted the people to distinguish between provisioning loss and operating loss.

Indian Bank had suffered a provisioning loss of Rs 1,346 crore and this could be made up, he said.