RBI Governor Urjit Patel (File Photo)
A Parliamenatry panel on Tuesday asked some tough questions to Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit over several issues facing the banking sector, including the recent big frauds.
According to sources, the panel headed by veteran Congress leader Veerappa Moily sought answers from Patel over bad loans, bank frauds, cash crunch and other issues during the meeting.
The issue of ATMs running out of cash was also raised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance. RBI Governor Urjit Patel reportedly assured the members of panel that he is aware of all the issues and that steps were being taken to make the banking system fool-proof.
"We are confident that we will be able to tide over the crisis," a source quoted Patel, as saying with respect to the non-performing assets (NPAs) issue.
There have been rising concerns about bad loans, health of various public sector banks and fallout of the the nearly Rs 13,000 crore fraud at the Punjab National Bank when celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi fled India in January.
TMC leader and member of the panel Dinesh Trivedi had said on Monday: "It's been long time and the RBI has still to come out with amount of the cash returned into system post demonetisation. And the Governor must share these details with the panel and I hope he will do it tomorrow."
(With inputs from agencies
