RBI recommends privatisation of PSU Banks

RBI governor Urjit Patel has said that the government should decide what to do with public sector banks (PSBs) if it wanted to optimise the use of taxpayer money.

Speaking on the fraud at Punjab National Bank for the first time, Patel said, “We at RBI also feel the anger, hurt and pain at the banking sector frauds and irregularities. In plain, simple English, these practices amount to a looting of our country’s future by some in the business community, in cahoots with some lenders.” In a pointed accusation at PNB, Patel said the fraud was essentially an operational failure with the bank disobeying instructions.

Patel chose his lecture at Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, to rebut finance minister Arun Jaitley’s charge that regulators who need to keep a “third eye” perpetually open are, unfortunately, not accountable.