The Government has not yet decided on public sectors banks that are to be privatised, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad informed Parliament on Monday.
The Government had in Budget 2021-22 announced its intent to privatise two public sector banks (PSBs) during the year. "As per inputs received from Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), the government has not yet decided on the banks that are to be privatised. The amendments to the relevant Acts are required to be done before initiating the process of privatisation," Karad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The government has received representations from bank unions wherein they have expressed their views and concerns on the matter of privatisation of banks, the Minister of State for Finance said.
Further, he said, "DIPAM has informed that the representations with regard to strategic divestment of CPSEs and banks received from various stakeholders including the employee's unions from time to time are duly examined as per the extant disinvestment policy of the government."
Replying to another question, he said, as many as 73,552 cases of frauds involving Rs 2.51 crore were received by banks during 2019-20.
He said, this number declined to 69,818 cases involving Rs 2.07 crore in 2020-21, as per the RBI data on frauds reported by Scheduled Commercial Banks in the category of fraud 'Card/Internet - Debit Cards, Credit Cards and Internet Banking'.