Suggesting that the Government should cut its holding in public sector banks to under 50 per cent, an RBI panel report has criticising the way in which the lenders are being currently governed.
The panel, headed by ex-chairman of Axis Bank PJ Nayak, said governance at the 26 Public Sector Banks (PSBs) suffers due to several "externally imposed constraints" like dual regulation by the RBI and finance ministry and external vigilance by agencies like the CVC and CAG, among others.
"If the Government stake in these banks were to reduce to less than 50 percent, together with certain other executive measures, all these external constraints would disappear," the report said.
"This would be a beneficial trade-off for the government because it would continue to be the dominant shareholder and, without its control in banks diminishing, it would create the conditions for its banks to compete more successfully," it said.
The panel said the government should distance itself from several governance functions and repeal the Bank Nationalisation Acts of the 1970 and 1980, together with the SBI Act and the SBI (Subsidiary Banks) Act.
All banks should be incorporated under the Companies Act and a Bank Investment Company should be constituted where the government holding in all the banks should be transferred, the report said.