Bank unions urge house panel to reconsider new Bill
Aug 21 (PTI)
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank union, with a membership of over 10 lakh, has written to the members of Parliamentary standing committee on finance to reconsider the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill of 2011 in the larger interest of the country.
Forum convener CH Venkatachalam told PTI here today that he had written a letter to the standing committee on finance on August 19. In support of their demand, the UFBU had struck work for a day on August 5.
The Bill, tabled in Parliament on March 22, seeks to make various changes in the Banking Regulation Act of 1949, the Banking Companies (Acquisition & Transfer of Undertaking) Act of 1970, and the Banking Companies (Acquisition & Transfer of Undertakings) Act of 1980, and to make consequential amendments in certain other enactments.
A new clause, proposed in Section 2-A of the Banking Regulations Act, seeks to exempt merger of banks from the Competition Act of 2002, Venkatachalam further said, and pointed out that "merger of banks will be undesirable for the country as big banks will not care for the poor people and common man."
The Bill also seeks to raise voting rights of shareholders of nationalised banks ten times to 10 per cent from the existing 1 per cent, a move that will make investment in state-owned banks more attractive.
In addition, the Bill proposes to remove the voting right cap of 10 per cent in private sector banks in the total voting rights of all shareholders of a bank. This would make the voting rights commensurate with investors' shareholding. "By changing this section, voting rights will be unrestricted in private sector banks. With unrestricted voting rights, FDI/FIIs can easily take over and control our private sector banks," he pointed out.