Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the privatisation of public sector banks will go ahead as planned. The minister, while addressing the media on the occasion of the Narendra Modi government completing nine years in power, in Mumbai said, “About the bank privatisation, they will go on as per schedule. There is no change in it.”
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Sitharaman in her 2021 Budget speech had announced that the government would look to privatise two public sector banks in 2021-22.
“Other than IDBI Bank, we propose to take up the privatisation of two Public Sector Banks and one General Insurance company in the year 2021-22. This would require legislative amendments and I propose to introduce the amendments in this Session itself,” Sitharaman had said in February 2021.
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As of now, little progress has seemingly been made on this front. According to latest reports, the government may set up a committee to prepare a fresh list of state-owned banks that can be privatised, with NITI Aayog having reportedly recommended the privatisation of the Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank way back in April 2021.
Currently, India has 12 public sector banks: Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, UCO Bank, and Union Bank of India.
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The finance minister also said that the return of unclaimed bank deposits and other financial sector claims will “take time”. She said the issue had to be handled “very carefully” due to the legal issues involved.
“…if some deposit or share does not have a nominee, then finding out who the nominee could be and establishing the identity of the legal inheritor and then giving the asset without any further litigation takes time. This process can’t be sped up,” Sitharaman added.
