Large scale achievements made under various Schemes including PMJDY; 26.03 crore accounts opened as on 21st December, 2016 under PMJDY out of which 15.86 crore accounts are in rural areas and 10.17 crore in urban areas; Deposits worth ₹ 71,557.90 crore mobilsed under the Scheme; 1,26,985 Bank Mitras deployed; 51,745 claims registered under PMJJBY till 28th December, 2016 out of which 48,023 have been disbursed;.

38.23 lakh subscribers enrolled under APY with a total pension wealth of ₹ 1344.70 crore as on 27^th December, 2016; ₹ 77,916.54 crore disbursed to 2.12 crore borrowers under PMMY including 1.68 crore Women Entrepreneurs; Up to the quarter ending 30.09.2016 during the Current Financial Year 2016-17, Agriculture Credit amounting to ₹ 7,55,995.16 crore (provisional figure) has been disbursed, registering an achievement of about 84% of the Annual Target of ₹ 9,00,000 crore.

I.  Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

 With a view to increasing banking penetration and promoting financial inclusion and with the main objective of covering all households with at least one bank account per household across the country, a National Mission on Financial Inclusion named as  Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was announced by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his Independence Day Speech on 15^th August , 2014 . The Scheme was formally launched by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 28^th August, 2014 at National level.

Objectives of PMJDY

(i)    Universal access to banking facilities for all households across the country through a bank branch or a fixed point Business Correspondent (BC) within a reasonable distance.

(ii)   To cover all households with atleast one Basic Bank  Account with RuPay Debit card having inbuilt accident insurance cover of ₹ 1 lakh.

(iii)   An overdraft facility upto ₹ 5000/- after satisfactory operation in the account for 6 months.

(iv)   A Life Cover of ₹ 30,000/- to those beneficiaries who open their accounts for the first time from  15.08.2014 to 31.01.2015.

(v)   Financial literacy programme which aims to take financial literacy upto village level.

(vi)  The Mission also envisages expansion of Direct Benefit Transfer under various Government Schemes through bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

(vii)  Providing micro –insurance to the people.

(viii) Un=organised sector Pension schemes through the Business Correspondents.

  Achievements under PMJDY (as on 21^st December,2016)

(i)     26.03 crore accounts have been opened under PMJDY out of which 15.86 crore accounts are in rural areas and 10.17 crore in urban areas. 

(ii)   Deposits of ₹ 71,557.90 crore has been mobilized.

(iii)  19.93 crore RuPay Debit cards have been issued under PMJDY.

(iv)  Aadhaar seeding in PMJDY accounts 14.43 crore

(v)   Zero balance accounts has been reduced to 23.86%

(vi)  Household Coverage: 99.99% households out of the 21.22 crore households surveyed have been covered under PMJDY.

 As on 23^rd December, 2016, out of total requirement of 1,27,198 fixed location Bank Mitras in Sub Service Areas (SSAs), 1,26,985 Bank Mitras  have been deployed  by banks.

Overdraft (OD) in PMJDY accounts

 As on 23^rd December, 2016, 44.28 lakh accounts have been sanctioned OD facility  of which 23.85 lakh account-holders  have  availed  this  facility involving an amount of ₹ 316.56 crore.

 Insurance Claims settled

(i)     As on 23^rd December, 2016, out of 1712 claims lodged, 1626 claims have been disposed off under accidental insurance cover of ₹ 1 lakh under RuPay debit card .

(ii)   As on 23^rd December, 2016, out of 3936 claim lodged, 3421 claims paid under  Life Cover of ₹ 30,000/- to those beneficiaries who opened their accounts for the first time from  15.08.2014 to 31.01.2015.

II   Jan Dhan to Jan Suraksha

 For creating a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor and the under-privileged by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched three Social Security Schemes in the Insurance and Pension sectors; namely the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna, the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and the Atal Pension Yojana on Pan India basis on the 9th of May, 2015. Salient features of the two schemes related to Insurance are given below:

 Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)  

 The PMJJBY is available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank account who give their consent to join / enable auto-debit. Aadhar would be the primary KYC for the bank account. The life cover of ₹ 2 lakhs shall be for the one year period stretching from 1^st June to 31^st May and will be renewable.  Risk coverage under this scheme is for ₹ 2 Lakh in case of death of the insured, due to any reason. The premium is ₹ 330 per annum which is to be auto-debited in one installment from the subscriber’s bank account as per the option given by him on or before 31^st May of each annual coverage period under the scheme. The scheme is being offered by Life Insurance Corporation and all other life insurers who are willing to offer the product on similar terms with necessary approvals and tie up with banks for this purpose.

 By 28^th December, 2016, Cumulative Gross enrolment reported by Banks, subject to verification of eligibility, etc. is over 3.08 crore under PMJJBY. 51,745 claims were registered under PMJJBY till 28^thDecember, 2016 out of which 48,023 have been disbursed.

 Pradhan Mantri Suraksha BimaYojana (PMSBY)

 The Scheme is available to people in the age group 18 to 70 years with a bank account who give their consent to join / enable auto-debit on or before 31^st May for the coverage period 1^st June to 31^st May on an annual renewal basis. Aadhar would be the primary KYC for the bank account. The risk coverage under the scheme is ₹ 2 lakh for accidental death and full disability and ₹ 1 lakh for partial disability. The premium of ₹ 12 per annum is to be deducted from the account holder’s bank account through ‘auto-debit’ facility in one installment. The scheme is being offered by Public Sector General Insurance Companies or any other General Insurance Company who are willing to offer the product on similar terms with necessary approvals and tie up with banks for this purpose.

By 28^thDecember, 2016, Cumulative Gross enrolment reported by Banks subject to verification of eligibility, etc. is over 9.88 Crore under PMSBY. 10084 Claims were registered under PMSBY till 28^thDecember, 2016 out of which 7282 have been disbursed. 

 Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

(i)    APY was launched on 9^th May, 2015 by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

(ii)   APY is open to all bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 40 years and the contributions differ, based on pension amount chosen.

(iii) Subscribers would receive the guaranteed minimum monthly pension of ₹ 1000 or ₹ 2000 or ₹ 3000 or ₹ 4000 or ₹ 5000 at the age of 60 years.

(iv) Under APY, the monthly pension would be available to the subscriber, and after him to his spouse and after their death, the pension corpus, as accumulated at age 60 of the subscriber, would be returned to the nominee of the subscriber.

(v)   The minimum pension would be guaranteed by the Government, i.e., if the accumulated corpus based on contributions earns a lower than estimated return on investment and is inadequate to provide the minimum guaranteed pension, the Central Government would fund such inadequacy. Alternatively, if the returns on investment are higher, the subscribers would get enhanced pensionary benefits.

(vi) The Central Government would also co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or ₹ 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, for a period of 5 years for those eligible subscribers joining the scheme between the period 1^st June, 2015 and 31^st March, 2016 and who are not members of any statutory social security scheme and who are not income-tax payers.

 Some recent revisions in APY

 In the event of premature death of the subscriber, Government has decided to give an option to the spouse of the subscriber to continue contributing to APY account of the subscriber, for the remaining vesting period, till the original subscriber would have attained the age of 60. The earlier provision was to over lump sum amount to spouse on the premature death (death before 60 years of age) of the subscriber. The spouse of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the same pension amount as that of the subscriber until the death of the spouse. After the death of both the subscriber and the spouse, the nominee of the subscriber shall be entitled to receive the pension wealth, as accumulated till age 60 of the subscriber.

 Progress under APY

As on 27^th December, 2016, a total of 38.23 lakh subscribers have been enrolled under APY with a total pension wealth of ₹ 1344.70 crore. Out of the total subscribers, 19.74 lakh subscribers have been enrolled during the calender year 2016 (up to 15^th December, 2016).

 III.   Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)

The  Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) on April 08, 2015 to provide formal access of financial facilities to Non –Corporate Small Business Sector (NCSBS).  All loans sanctioned on or after April 08, 2015 upto a loan size of Rs.10 lakh for non-farm income generating activities will be branded as PMMY loans.

 Objective: To promote & ensure bank finance to unfunded segments of the economy.

Target Clients

Non–Corporate Small Business Segment (NCSB) comprising of proprietorship / partnership firms running as small manufacturing units, service sector units, shopkeepers, fruits / vegetable vendors, truck operators, food-service units, repair shops, machine operators, small industries, artisans, food processors and others, in rural and urban areas.

Schemes under PMMY

Features of MUDRA Loans under PMMY

i.   Borrowers can avail loan facility from any Public/Private/ Regional Rural Banks, NBFCs and MFIs.

ii.  No processing fee for loans up to ₹ 50000/- (SHISHU category).

iii. Banks have been mandated by RBI not to insist for collateral security in the case of loans upto 10 lakh extended to the units in the Micro Small Enterprises sector.

iv.  ‘Activities allied to Agriculture’ , e.g. pisciculture , beekeeping, poultry ,   livestock , rearing , grading, sorting , aggregation agro industries, diary, fishery, agriclinics and agribusiness centers, food & agro-processing, etc (excluding crop loans, land improvement such as canals, irrigation, wells ) and services supporting these, which promote livelihood or are income generating , have been included under PMMY from April, 2016 onwards.

 v.   As per RBI circular no DBOD. No. Dir. BC 88 /13.03.00/2009-10 dated 9^th April,2010,  all credit related matters of banks including charging of interest (ROI) have been deregulated by RBI and are governed by the banks' own lending policies.

Eligibility

Any citizen, who is otherwise eligible to take loan and has a business plan for a small business enterprise, can avail MUDRA loan upto ₹ 10 lakh.  The borrower need to approach the nearest bank branch and submit the loan application, in the prescribed format along with the required supporting documents for availing of the loan.

Performance as on 9^th December, 2016

Disbursement amount - ₹ 77,916.54 crore

 No. of Borrowers - 2.12 crore

 No. of Women Entrepreneurs  - 1.68 crore

IV.  Stand-Up India Scheme

 The Stand-Up India Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 5^th April, 2016. The scheme envisages extending bank loans between ₹ 10 lakh to ₹ 1 crore for Greenfield Enterprises set-up by SC, ST and Women entrepreneurs and extending effective handholding support to them. Each bank branch is to extend loans to at least one SC/ST and one woman entrepreneur. Enterprises covered under the scheme may be in manufacturing, services or the trading sector. The Scheme shall be implemented through 1.25 lakh bank branches of all Scheduled Commercial Banks. The loan shall be a composite loan to meet the requirement of fixed assets and working capital with rate of interest being the lowest applicable rate of the bank for that category as per rating. Provision of convergence with State/ Central Government Schemes has been identified in the Scheme. Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Stand-Up India (CGFSI) is operational with a corpus fund of ₹ 5,000 crore. A dedicated portal (www.standupmitra.in) for the Stand-Up India Scheme is active. The portal as a virtual market place endeavors to provide ‘End to End' solutions not only for credit delivery but also for a host of handholding services. As on 23.12.2016, total number of loans sanctioned under Stand Up India Scheme is 15341 [Women: 12055, SC: 2568 and ST: 718].

 V.  Education Loan Scheme

The Education Loan Scheme (ELS) formulated by Indian Banks’ Association aims to provide financial support from the banking system to deserving/ meritorious students for pursuing higher education in India and abroad. The main emphasis is that every meritorious student though poor is provided with an opportunity to pursue education, with the financial support from the banking system, on affordable terms and conditions, and, that no deserving student is denied an opportunity to pursue higher education for want of financial support.  Model Educational Loan Scheme was prepared by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) in the year 2001 which was circulated to banks for implementation by Reserve Bank of India in April, 2001. Keeping in view the needs of the students and suggestions from stakeholders the Model Educational Loan Scheme was revised by IBA in August, 2015.

 Achievements

The outstanding Educational Loan Portfolio of Public Sector Banks has increased from Rs. 61, 967 crore as on 31^st March, 2015 to Rs. 65,644 crore in as on 31^st March, 2016 and further to ₹ 68,783 crore on 30^th September, 2016.

 Vidya Lakshmi Portal

 Vidya Lakshmi Portal (VLP) (www.vidyalakshmi.co.in) was launched on August 15, 2015. The portal has been developed and is being maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited. Students can view, apply and track the education loan applications made to banks anytime, anywhere by accessing the portal.

Twenty seven PSBs, 6 Private Sector Banks and two co-operative Bank have integrated their system with the Vidya Lakshmi Portal for submitting on-line loan applications and for providing loan processing status to students. This initiative aims to bring on board all Banks providing Educational Loans. The portal covers 64 educational loan schemes of different banks.

VI.  BIFR/AAIFR

 The Gazette notifications regarding bringing into force the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions)  Repeal Act, 2003 under section 1 (2) of the Act and provisions regarding abetment of cases with BIFR/AAIFR under section 4(b) of the Act have been issued vide Government Notification S.O. No 3568 (E) dated 25.11.2016 and S.O. 3569 (E) dated 25.11.2016. Both the notifications come into force with effect from 01.12.2016 resulting into winding up of BIFR and AAIFR and abetment of cases.

VII.  Agriculture Credit

(i)  The Government of India has been setting an annual target for the flow of credit to the agriculture sector, which has been surpassed by banks over the years.

(ii)   As against the Annual Target of ₹ 8,50,000 crore for 2015-16, agriculture credit was disbursed to the tune of ₹ 8,77,527.05crore during 2015-16, registering 103.24% achievement.

 (iii)  The Government has fixed the annual target for flow of agriculture credit during 2016-17 at ₹ 9,00,000 crore. Up to the Quarter ending 30.09.2016 during the Current Financial Year 2016-17, Agriculture Credit amounting to ₹ 7,55,995.16 crore (provisional figure) has been disbursed, registering about 84% achievement of the annual target.

VIII.  Long Term Rural Credit Fund (LTRCF)

 The Government has prioritized lending towards investments in agriculture and allied sector to enhance capital formation in agriculture.  Accordingly, the GoI has allocated additional resources of ₹ 15,000crorefor 2016-17 to the Long Term Rural Credit Fund (LTRCF) set up in NABARD, which is met out of the shortfall in Priority Sector Lending (PSL) targets.  The Cooperative Banks/RRBs are, therefore, able to draw much higher refinance support from NABARD for financing medium and long term agricultural loans during 2016-17.

 IX.   The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Act, 2016

(i)   The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act) and the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act (RDDB & FI Act) have been amended for speedier resolution of defaulted loans through ‘The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Act, 2016 (44 of 2016) and it was notified in the Gazette on 16th August, 2016. Many provisions of the Amendment Act (44 of 2016) have been brought into force through notifications dated 1st September 2016 and 4th November 2016.

(ii) Important provisions of Amendment Act which will help DRTs in faster disposal of cases include enabling reappointment of Chairpersons, DRATs and Presiding Officers, DRTs, minimising the number of adjournments in DRTs, introduction of electronic filing system in DRTs, power to prescribe the number of days in rules for each adjournment and days for filing written statements etc by Government, etc.

  X.   New Initiatives, Achievement and others:

(i)   The banks have already provided the mobile banking services like Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and products like Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) etc. for facilitating transfer of funds for the customers and thereby facilitating moving towards cashless system.

(ii)     Bharat Bill Payment System has also been introduced to facilitate interoperable bill payments in the country thus enabling greater adoption of electronic payments.

(iii)   Scheduled Commercial Banks have taken various initiatives for expanding card acceptance infrastructure to Semi-urban and Rural areas to provide cashless transaction system.

(iv)   Banks have organized special camps across the country to open new accounts.  There are 64.50 lakh new accounts have been opened in 4.52 lac camps between 26.11.2016 to  27.12.2016.

(v)     In order to provide banking facilities in all unbanked rural areas, banks have   deployed Bank Mitras.  As on 23^rd December, 2016, total 1,26,985 Bank Mitras have been deployed in rural areas across the country.

(vi)   The Government has advised banks to deploy micro ATMs in rural areas in all Sub Service Areas (SSAs) across the country.  There are 114518 micro ATMs that  have been deployed as on 23^rd December, 2016.

(vii)   The Cabinet on 13^th October 2016 has approved this Department’s proposal for signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on General Cooperation with the New Development Bank (NDB) through the BRICS Interbank Co-operation Mechanism.  The MoU between the participating members of BRICS Interbank cooperation Mechanism and NDB was signed on 15^th Oct, 2016.

(viii)     The Union Cabinet at its meeting held on April, 2016 has approved enhancement  of the amount upto ₹ 3,000 crore of Buyer’s Credit facility to Iran under the Export Development Fund (EDF) to cover the contracts for import of steel rails from India and Development of Chabahar Port Project, thereafter, enhanced as above and signed on May, 4, 2016 between EDF and seven Iranian Banks for an amount of ₹ 3,000 crore.

 (ix)  With a view to improve the Governance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), the Government had decided to set-up an autonomous Banks Board Bureau (BBB). The Bureau will recommend for selection of heads of Public Sector Banks and Financial Institutions and help Banks in developing strategies and capital raising plans. Now, the Government has announced the constitution of Banks Board Bureau which will have three ex-officio members and three expert members in addition to Chairman. Except ex-officio members, all the Members and Chairman will be part time. The BBB, which has started functioning from April 01, 2016.

(x)   A top level Bankers retreat namely “Gyan Sangam 2.0” was organized at State Bank Academy, Gurgaon on 4-5 March, 2016. The main purpose of organizing this event was to give an opportunity to Chairman & Managing Directors (CMDs)/Managing Director & Chief Executive Officers (MD&CEOs) and Executive Directors (EDs) of all the banks to express their opinion about what went wrong and what could be done to improve the situation.  The main focus was on Restructuring/M & A, NPA Management & Recovery, Technology & Digital, Credit Growth and Risk Management.

(xi) To implement the reforms in Banking, Government has decided to separate the post of Chairman & Managing Director in Chairman (Non-executive) and Managing Director & CEO. Accordingly, the Government with the approval of Cabinet Committee of Appointments (ACC) has recently appointed five Non-Executive Chairmen in the Public Sector Banks, namely, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank.

(xii) The Government has also decided to open the selection process for the candidates belonging to private sector in five bigger Public Sector Banks namely Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and IDBI Bank Ltd. Accordingly, guidelines have been revised with the approval of ACC and based on new guidelines, appointment of MD & CEOs in five big Public Sector Banks, namely, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank Ltd. has been notified.  Out of 5 MD&CEO, two are from Private Sector.

 (xiii) An Executive Foreign Tour Portal has been launched on January 01,.2016 to keep the record regarding overseas visits updated in the portal.  The portal is simply designed on which a Whole Time Director will upload details regarding foreign visits before proceeding on such visit.

 (xiv) Preferential Allotment:- Approval granted to 12 proposals of PSBs to raise a sum of Rs.  2914.038 crore through preferential allotment.

(xv)  QIP:- Permission given to raise ₹ 200 crore by United Bank of India through QIP mode.

(xvi) Advisories issued to PSBs:- Advisory issued to all PSBs to implement Cyber Security measures to avoid fraudulent transactions and for strengthening their IT Security to avoid cyber breach. They were advised to intimate Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) about any Cyber Security breach related incident, within 2 to 6 hours of the occurrence of the incidence. All PSBs are requested to nominate adequate Bank Counsels in all Courts including the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi.

(xvii) Fulfillment of Pending Assurances:- 13 Pending Assurances are fulfilled during January to December 2016.

(xviii) Matters related to Parliamentary Standing Committee:- Comments on 6 subjects pertaining to Parliamentary Committee have been furnished during January to December 2016. 

(xix) Laying of Annual and Consolidated Report of PSBs in Parliament:-  Annual Report of all PSBs and Consolidated Report of PSBs received from RBI have been laid on the table of both the Houses of Parliament.

(xx) Advisories issued on Bank Notes to Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) :- Member banks of IBA were advised to strict compliance with original IDs for bank transactions and to put a display board communicating consequences of using fake IDs. They were advised to form a separate queue for farmers in bank branches, special cash dispensations in the tea gardens and to provide currency to the District Central Co-operative Bank as per requirement. They were advised to watch out for unusual transactions and any suspicious transaction be reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Department of Revenue. They were also advised to consider delegation of Cheque Printing Books and its Dispatch (CPD) to their Local Offices in order to speed- up the process of availability of cheques. A D.O. letter from the Secretary (Revenue) regarding PAN reporting requirements was forwarded to IBA with a request to advise banks accordingly.

XI.      Capitalization of Public Sector Banks (PSBs)

As of now, the PSBs are adequately capitalized and meeting all the Basel III and RBI norms.  However, the Government of India wants to adequately capitalize all the banks to keep a safe buffer over and above the minimum norms of Basel III.  Therefore, Government has estimated how much capital will be required this year and in the next three years till FY 2019.  If the internal generated profit is excluded which is going  to be available to PSBs (based on the estimate of average profit of the last three years), the capital requirement of extra capital for the next four years up to FY 2019 is likely to be about ₹ 1,80,000 crore.  This estimate is based on credit growth rate of 12% for the current year and 12 to 15% for the next three years depending on the size of the bank and their growth ability.  It is also presumed that the emphasis on PSBs financing will reduce over the years by development of vibrant corporate debt market and by greater participation of Private Sector Banks.

Out of the total requirement, the Government of India proposes to make available ₹ 70,000 crore out of Budgetary Allocations for four years as per the figures given below:

The Government had already infused a sum of ₹ 25,000 crore in 19 PSBs during the financial year 2015-16. A budgetary provision of ₹ 25,000 crore has been made for the year 2016-17 and the Government has already allocated ₹ 22,915 crore to 13 PSBs on 19^th July, 2016 of which 75% has been allocated in first trench while remaining amount will be released on assessment of performance of PSBs based on their results on the Quarter ending in December.

XII.    Acquisition of Subsidiary banks of SBI, i.e. State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore, and Bhartiya Mahila Bank Ltd. By State Bank of India.

The Cabinet in its meeting held on 15^th June 2016 has approved the proposal of acquisition of assets and liabilities of subsidiary banks i.e. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore and Bhartiya Mahila Bank (BMB).

XIII.   The “Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes and Protection of Depositors’ Interests Bill, 2016” (Version 2.0)

(i)     Government proposes to bring in a comprehensive Central legislation to deal with the menace of illicit deposit taking schemes. The Government had earlier constituted an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) for identifying gaps in the existing regulatory framework for deposit-taking activities and to suggest administrative/ legislative measures, including formulation of a new law, to cover all relevant aspects of ‘deposit-taking’. The IMG had finalised its Report and recommended a number of legislative and non-legislative/ administrative measures. The IMG’s legislative recommendations included the enactment of a new Central legislation called the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes and Protection of Depositors’ Interests Bill (“Banning Bill”) in order to tackle the menace of illicit deposit taking schemes.

(ii)   A copy of the “Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes and Protection of Depositors’ Interests Bill, 2015”, along with the Report of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) was placed on the website of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) in March, 2016 for eliciting public comments.  Based on the comments received on the Draft Bill and further consultation with stakeholders, the Draft Bill has been modified. The revised Draft legislation, titled the “Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes and Protection of Depositors’ Interests Bill, 2016” (Version 2.0), has been uploaded  on the website of the Department of Financial Services on 17^th November, 2016 seeking comments from the public on the Draft Bill to reach on or before 17^th December, 2016.

(iii) The Banning Bill seeks to bring out a clear demarcation between regulated and unregulated deposit schemes, comprehensively define deposit takers, and provide strong penal provisions for different offences.