In over 19 years of its existence, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corp (DICGC) has never ever asked for inspection of any bank or financial institution insured with it, despite the fact that cooperative banks seem to fail at the rate of about one every month.
The DICGC revealed this in response to a Right to Information (RTI) Act. This means that DICGC has made no attempt to respond to red-flags about banks under stress and the processes they adopt, as is permitted under its regulations.
Section 35 & Section 36 of the DICGC Act, which interalia says the DICGC is empowered to have free access to the records of all insured banks and call for copies of all such records and the DICGC can request the RBI to cause inspection of the books and accounts or investigation of the affairs of the insured bank or credit institution.
DICGC collects insurance at the rate of 0.10
paise on their overall deposits, although only Rs1 lakh per depositor is covered under its insurance. This practice itself has been questioned by the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) in a
recent letter to the finance minister.
We had asked for copies of the communication that DICGC sent to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for inspection of insured banks or credit institutions, between April 2000 to October 2019.
Responding to it, the Corporation says, "DICGC has not sent any request for inspection of insured banks or credit institutions to RBI."
This was in response to a query asking DICGC to share the names of insured banks or credit institutions, who were asked by DICGC to furnish records under Section 35 of the DICGC Act during April 2000 to October 2019.
"DICGC has not asked for any records of insured banks or credit institution under Section 35 of the DICGC Act during April 2000 to October 2019," it says in the reply.
As on 31 March 2019, the deposit insurance fund at DICGC is Rs97,350 crore, including a surplus of Rs87,890 crore. The claims settled by DICGC so far since 1962 are only Rs5,120 crore and that too for the cooperative banks.
Out of 2,098 banks covered by the DICGC, 1,941 banks are cooperative banks. Only these banks are facing problems of closure and liquidation and the deposits of these banks need to be covered by DICGC.
In FY18-19, commercial banks, including public sector banks (PSBs), paid a deposit insurance of Rs11,190 crore while cooperative banks paid Rs850 crore, taking the total premium paid to DICGC at Rs12,040 crore. During the same year, DICGC received claims worth Rs37 crore from cooperative banks. However, none of the claims was settled.
Across the country, all cooperative banks have deposits worth Rs8.49 lakh crore, out of which only deposits worth Rs3.77 lakh crore or 44% of the total deposits are covered under the DICGC scheme. At the same time, 19 PSBs have total deposits worth Rs72 lakh crore, out of which just 30% or Rs22 lakh crore, are covered under the deposit insurance scheme.
After the collapse of Palai Central Bank Ltd and Laxmi Bank Ltd, in 1960, the government introduced the Deposit Insurance Corporation Bill, 1961. The Bill was approved by the Parliament in December 1961. Accordingly, the Deposit Insurance Corporation Act came into being with effect from 1 January 1962.
Earlier, only commercial banks were covered by the Act. Later, cooperative banks, regional rural banks, primary agricultural societies were also brought under the coverage of deposit insurance.
However, over the years, only cooperative banks were found failing regularly due to dual regulation. The banking operations of cooperative banks (or rather credit societies) is governed by RBI, while overall functioning falls under the regulation of registrar of cooperative societies. Unfortunately, records show, neither RBI nor registrar of cooperative societies is able to fully regulate or control cooperative banks.
To begin with, the insurance cover against bank deposits was up to Rs1,500. In 1968, it was enhanced to Rs5,000, in 1970 to Rs10,000, in 1976 to Rs20,000, in 1980 to Rs30,000 and, in 1993, the cover was enhanced to Rs1 lakh, which continues till today.
Similarly, in the beginning, premium payable for the deposit insurance was at 0.05 paise per Rs100 per year. In 1971, it was revised to 0.04 paise. Later in 1963, it was increased to 0.05 paise, 0.08 paise in 2004 and to 0.10 paise in 2005.
Why do they have to wait for the DICGC ?
Furthermore, since payouts seem to be mostly being made against cooperative bank failures, DIGCG should raise the premia for these set of banks and use the additional funds to inspect their books.
2. Requesting you to upload the entire RTI reply.
In India nobody knows how Indian companies are doing fraud from the beginning to last ,for example a big business men will start the company in India as below .His companies actual value is Rs2000crores but with the help of the auditors,Banks,and chartered accountants he made his company s values to RS 6000 crores by book adjustment with bribe and he call IPO that is in share market and collect Rs10000 crores in share market, first he pumped 60%of money to foreign country in the name of business and will deposit most of the money in his name next he will file bankruptcy due to losses and will write off all the loans this is the business doing in India ED is doing drama ICICI Bank chandakochar is well known to all she done huge fraud in ICICI Bank, this drama of enquire is doing from past one year, but still she is not arrested, reasons In this icici bank scam all SEBI auditors ED RBI central government rating agencies big leaders of all parties involved.central government making all efforts to avoid arrest these fellows,if arrested all all foreign country become knows most of the Indian companies running on bogus and take away all foreign investment,then India become bankruptcy.This is well known by central government hence avoiding all efforts to arrest directors of icici bank chandakochar DHFL jetairways Videocon kingfisher airline PNB bank head il@fs etc .even Vijaymalya kingfisher airline companies don't have single plane in his companies name but all banks gave Rs10000 crores money, same type loans gave to jet airways,DLF, Devan housing finance company,il@,fs,etc wait in few months most of the common people investment in icici bank NBFC PSU banks equity NCD mutul funds become Zero,All parties RBI officers, SEBI, etc are corrupt they are taking India towards bankruptcy.
Perhaps, the Govt ought to pass an amendment by rewording the DICGC Act to make inspections mandatory (more manpower needed, more jobs, ahoy!). It's as though the word 'empowered' has been reduced to a four letter word. Without strong leadership, nothing will happen.