Weak bank week

It was weak banks week at North Block. Finance secretary Ajit Kumar initiated the process of stock taking and finding out solutions for the problems of weak banks by summoning the chairman and senior officials of the Uco Bank on Monday. The spate of meetings with officials of weak banks continued throughout the week ending with Punjab and Sind Bank on Friday. During the week, Mr Kumar met chairmen of the Indian Bank, Allahabad Bank and Dena Bank.
The only exception was the Calcutta-based United Bank of India. Mr Kumar had dealt with this bank on an earlier occasion.The process of bailing out public sector financial intermediaries started with the Unit Trust of India. Thereafter, the ministry worked out a package for the Industrial Finance Corporation of India. Soon after Industrial Development Bank of India functionaries were called to North Block to discuss imminent problems. The drive to resuscitate state-owned financial institutions, hopefully, will end with weak banks.

Congress on WTO

On her visit to the United States, Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi delivered a talk at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in New York at which she endorsed a new round of WTO trade negotiations. The speech was written by her party’s free trade enthusiast Jairam Ramesh. Back in India, Ms Gandhi discovered that all members of her party do not subscribe to this view, leave alone on how India must play its hand at Doha. Many want the NDA government to first reveal its mind before taking a view. So a senior Congress leader has let it be known that Ms Gandhi’s New York speech is not party policy, yet!