Southern States - Karnataka   

`Adjust reform process to Indian conditions'

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE DEC. 8 . The reforms process, undertaken at the behest of international monetary agencies, has not resulted in upward movement of human index, especially in developing countries such as India, the General Secretary of the All-India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA), R. Sridharan, has said. The reforms process must be adjusted to Indian conditions, he has said.

Inaugurating the 13th conference of the Karnataka Bank Officers' Organisation (KBOO) here on Sunday, he said the reforms process, which aimed at bridging the gap between the rich and poor, had only succeeded in widening it. This gulf was also seen between developing and developed nations due to lack of countervailing benefits for economies which were opening up. With the planners implementing the dictates of the external funding agencies, the Government had changed its role to suit the emerging economic circumstances. It was no longer performing the role of a welfare state, he said and noted that all sections of society should understand this and take steps to adjust to the situation.

Stating that trade unions were not opposed to reforms process per se, as was widely perceived, he said the workers were not interested in languishing in their current economic position.

Referring to the impact of globalisation on the banking sector, Mr. Sridharan said conditionality laid down by the global lending agencies had set out to choke the banks, which, he said, were the economic lifeline of the nation. Nationalised and old generation banks faced unbridled competition from "new paradigm banks" due to favourable regime created for them.

He urged banks to fight these new generation banks by providing better service to the people and through better redeployment of manpower. Mere offering of voluntary retirement scheme to bring down operational costs was not the solution, he said.

On the issue of burgeoning non-performing assets (NPAs), he said small borrowers had not added to liquidity crisis. The major share of blame lay on 11,000 accounts amounting to Rs. 40,000 crore as unpaid loan out of estimated NPA of Rs. 1.2 lakh crore. Describing this outstanding as mind boggling, he said the recently introduced Securitisation Bill would not address the issue.

Expressing concern over falling interest rates and its impact on small investors, he said half of the total deposits of banks amounting to around Rs. 12 lakh crore went to the Government at subsidised rates in the form of investment in their securities.

It had become difficult for the banks to sustain profitability in such a situation.

The Chairman of the Karnataka Bank, Ananthakrishna, the Chairman of Karnataka Pradesh Bank Employees' Federation, P.S. Sundareshan, the General Secretary of the AIBOA Karnataka State Committee, A.B. Shetty, the President of the Karnataka Bank Employees' Association, P. Ranganath, and the General Secretary, P.R. Karanth, were present. The Vice-President of the KBOO, George T. D'Souza, presided over the function.

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