Parliament Approval for SBI Subsidiary Banks Bill

New Delhi, May 17 (UNI) The Government today assured in the Rajya Sabha that it had no intention to dilute its share holding in Public Sector banks below 51 per cent.

But a dissatisfied Communist Party of India-Marxist -- though supportive of the ruling United Prgressive Alliance -- staged a walkout before the Upper House could approve the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks Laws) Amendment Bill, 2007.

The walkout notwithstanding, the House approved the measure which seeks, among others, to allow the Subsidiary Banks of the SBI -- which number seven -- to raise their authorised capital from the prevailing mere Rs 2 crore to Rs 500 crore.

The enhanced capital-availability, Finance Minister P Chidambaram contended while replying to the brief discussion on the Bill, would enable these Banks to grow as full-fledged Public Sector banks and expand their business accordingly.

The Minister pointed out that at present these SBI subsidiaries together totalled 4,688 branches as against SBI's own 9,143 but did business at levels much lower than the parent bank.

The Bill also seeks appointment of individual Chairmen for the respective subsidiary banks who, the Minister averred, would be able to better direct the functioning of these banks.

The measure has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.

Earlier during the brief discussion on the Bill, the Government came under fire for encouraging privatisation of banks which had resulted in demented growth in the agriculture sector even as nearly Rs 250,000 crore lay unutilised with banks.

Participating in the discussion, Mr Ramdas Aggarwal (BJP) and Mr Brij Bhushan Tiwari (Samajwadi Party) said... picking up Para Four of PAR30, Banking-RS.

UNI