Page 12 - Banking Finance August 2019

ROUNDUP

Aadhaar amendment bill passed in parliament
Unaccounted money
An amendment bill has been recently passed by parliament which allows volun-
stashed outside India es- tary use of Aadhaar as proof of identity for users in order
timated at $216-490 bn to open bank accounts and get mobile phone connections.
Despite of the opposition of many parties, the Aadhaar
The standing committee on finance
and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed in
has re-
Rajya Sabha through a voice vote.
vealed that
various stud- Earlier, the Loksabha had also passed the amendment bill, which also provides
ies and esti- for a stiff Rs one crore penalty and a jail term for private entities for violating
mates have provisions on Aadhaar data. Under the Telegraph Act, 1885, and the Preven-
pegged tion of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the amendments provide for use of Aadhaar
black money circulation in India any- number for KYC authentication on voluntary basis. It also gives option to chil-
where between 7% and 120% of the dren to exit from the biometric ID programme on attaining 18 years of age,
country’s gross domestic product while stipulating stiff penalties for violation of norms set for the use of Aadhaar
(GDP) in 2009-10 and 2010-11. and violation of privacy.
It further highlighted the lack of a re- Finance Ministry asks PSBs to review credit to MSMEs
liable estimation of unaccounted in-
come and wealth. The chief executives of all public sector banks (PSBs) have been directed by
Union Finance Ministry to review credit facilities made avail-
Provided that the GDP stood at Rs
able to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and take
64.5 trillion in FY10 and Rs 76.7 tril- ‘corrective’ actions to ensure the firms get adequate funds.
lion in FY11 (in old series), black
money could amount to Rs 4.5-77.4 The Ministry has oficially told the PSB chief executives to as-
sign a chief general manager, or a general manager-level of-
trillion in FY10 and Rs 5.3-92.08 tril-
lion in the following year. ficer to “do an in-depth analysis of the progress made and is-
sues in availability of credit, still being faced by the MSMEs”.
National Institute of Public Finance
The nodal general managers are supposed to submit details to the finance min-
and Policy (NIPFP), the National
Council of Applied Economic Re- istry of MSMEs taking credit from banks, non-performing MSME accounts, MSME
accounts restructured following the RBI's January scheme and the MSMEs still
search (NCAER), and the National
uncovered by it, while taking “corrective actions”.
Institute of Finance Management
(NIFM) had given these estimation. “The heads of all PSBs have been also asked that all sincere efforts should be
The previous UPA government had made so that during the process of formalisation, the MSMEs may not suffer in
commissioned studies by these insti- want of credit which should be available to them as per the extant guidelines,”
tutions. the finance ministry said in an official statement.
The report also quoted these studies, Allocation for WCD hiked by 17%
estimating that the black money
stashed away by Indians abroad was The Women and Child Development Ministry has received as much as Rs 29,000
in the range of $216.48 billion to for the next fiscal, a 17% increase over the 2018-2019 financial year with the
social services sector getting a major boost in the Budget.
$490 billion between 1980 and 2010.
The entire amount allocated for the social services sector inclusive of nutrition
Apart from that, the committee,
and social security and welfare, was increased from Rs 2,551 crore in 2018-19
chaired by former law minister
to Rs 4,178 crore in the fiscal 2019-20. Government’s programmes of mater-
Veerappa Moily, pressed for the ear- nity benefit and child protection services also received a major boost in the
liest introduction of the direct taxes Budget. The budget also saw hike in the allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Matru
code (DTC) in order to simplify and
Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), to Rs 2,500 crore from Rs 1,200 crore. Under the
rationalise direct tax laws in the programme, pregnant women and lactating mothers are given Rs 6,000 for the
country.
birth of the first living child.

12 | 2019 | AUGUST | BANKING FINANCE