The assurance committee, which is on a three-day visit to the city to examine the twin issues of non-performing assets and film financing, held its first meeting with senior executives of State bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Central Bank, Dena Bank and Bank of Maharashtra on Monday.

"Why is that banks are only after small-time defaulters when the big corporates are always going scot-free," members of the panel sought to know.

It went to the extent of directing one Mumbai-based nationalised bank to furnish the details of a Rs 26-crore sticky account within the next 48 hours. The defaulter belongs to a north India-based industrial group.

The Rajya Sabha panel, headed by SR Reddy, will meet Union Bank of India and public-sector oil companies HPCL, BPCL and ONGC onTuesday. Gurudas Dasgupta, Janadardan Pujari and B Chaturvedi are among the members of the committee.

Bankers were surprised by the committee's sudden decision to quiz them on NPAs as the issue of sticky assets was believed to have originally not on the agenda. "The Rajya Sabha question was pertaining to the sticky assets of all India financial institutions and not banks. The bankers were not prepared to answer queries on this subject," one industry source said.

The committee urged the bankers to provide financial assistance to small scale industry and agriculture and hound the big corporates which have been defaulting in loan repayments.

The bankers, on their part, pleaded helplessness in the recovery of sticky loans as the legal system is not equipped to handle bank defaulters. Senior bank executives urged the parliamentarians to equip the debt recovery tribunals (DRTs) with teeth for speedy disposal of cases.

On the subject of film financing, banks have been awaiting the recommendation of theIndian Banks' Association panel which was set up in the wake of information and broadcasting ministry Sushma Swaraj's announcement in Mumbai conferring industry status on Bollywood. "We are closely examining the issue. Besides, there is no formal notification as yet on this," bankers reportedly told the panel.

The parliamentary committee will meet the film industry representatives on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Bankers have demanded reduction in entertainment tax, strict anti-piracy laws and personal guarantees of producers and filmstars as preconditions for extending bank loans to film industry. "Unless we are convinced of the safety norms, we cannot jump onto any proposal," one banker said.

Autonomy package to be linked to NPAs, says Jalan

The Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan on Monday said the autonomy package for banks will be linked to their ability to address the issue of the burgeoning non-performing assets (NPAs).

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the IndianInstitute of Bankers (IIB), Jalan pointed out:"NPAs of the banking system continue to be a matter of grave concern for all of us. The ratio of net NPAs to net advances has been as high as 8.6 per cent, and in absolute terms, the amount is over Rs 40,000 crore. Banks will have to address themselves to this problem in order to qualify themselves for securing/availing of the autonomy package announced by the Government of India in 1997."

Jalan also mentioned that while the capital adequacy ratio of the banking industry is pegged at 8 per cent at present, "we are now looking ahead and devising strategies to raise it further to 9-10 per cent. Prudential norms are being fine-tuned to achieve international standards."

Meanwhile, IIB on Monday announced that it will offer an MBA in banking and finance in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (New Delhi). This new MBA course will be open to all IIB graduate-members, irrespective of the position or grade, and who have a CAIIB qualification.The enrolment/admission to the MBA programme will be made without any formal entry test or exam.