India has not lived up to high banking standards: Goyal

TIL Desk/Business/Mumbai/ India has not lived up to the high expectations and standards required of the banking system and the current “trying times” had finally forced a recognition of the non-performing assets (NPA), or bad loans, situation and the need for a move to resolve the problem, acting Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.

Addressing the State Bank of India (SBI) Banking and Economics conclave here, Goyal said that recommendations of the panel headed by Punjab National Bank Chairman Sunil Mehta for creating independent asset management companies (AMCs) and steering committees for faster resolution of NPAs, which was accepted by the government on Monday, is a “win-win situation” for all stakeholders concerned.

“Banking will never be the same again…it has moved from one end of the spectrum to another, and not necessarily in glorious fashion,” he said. “Collectively we have not lived up to the high expectations required of banking. Have we as a banking system remained abreast with new technologies and maintained high standards of monitoring and accountability?”