Page 5 - Banking Finance March 2025

BANK UPDATE

tor banks to overhaul their approach
to debt recovery tribunals (DRTs) and
bring about synergy in the way cases
are filed, officials said.
Banks are also exploring the legal fea-
sibility of withdrawing cases from mul-
tiple jurisdictions and refiling them
Ò»©­ upon tracing assets.
An official that the idea is to stream-
line the approach and do away with the
multiplicity of appeals across jurisdic-
tions against a single borrower with
consolidated filing of cases.
"This will help streamline recovery ef-
SBI appoints Baldev Prakash group Chief Risk Officer forts and also address complaints of

State Bank of India has appointed Baldev Prakash as the deputy managing borrowers who are willing to settle
director and group chief risk officer, the lender informed the exchanges. dues but face issues on account of
multiple cases in different locations,"
Earlier, Prakash was on deputation to Jammu and Kashmir Bank as manag- said the official, who did not wish to be
ing director and chief executive officer, whose three-year term ended in De-
identified.
cember.
As per the latest data, around 185,076
The bank has also stated that Shiva Om Dikshit has been entrusted with a
cases are pending for more than 180
new responsibility as deputy managing director, operations-channel man- days before the DRTs.
agement.
Banks are also examining if there are
provisions under which they can with-
Claim about ban on black front Black and White and back Black draw cases in other jurisdictions where
and White. Customers should use image
ink usage for writing friendly coloured ink to write cheques to they don't have any collateral.
cheques is false: Govt facilitate clear image of written infor- "This, however, may require some
mation. Further, customers should use changes in existing provisions, which is
Some recent social media posts claimed
that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permanent ink to prevent fraudulent being explored and may require wider
has prohibited the use of black ink on alternation of contents later. However, consultations with other stakeholders,
cheques. To clear the air on this sub- the Reserve Bank of India has not pre- including the RBI," a bank executive
ject the Press Information Bureau (PIB) scribed specific ink colors to be used to said on condition of anonymity.
has come out with a release. write cheques," according to 'frequently Last year, the government had asked
asked questions' section on the banks to put in place monitoring and
"It is being claimed in social media
regulator's website. oversight mechanisms for efficient
posts that RBI has issued new rules
Cheques with alterations or modifica- management of cases pending with
prohibiting the use of black ink on
tions are not accepted under the CTS. DRTs. Lenders were also directed to
cheques. This claim is fake. Reserve
No changes or corrections are permit- have a clearly defined policy for small
Bank of India has not prescribed spe- and high-value cases pending with
cific ink colors to be used for writing ted on cheques, except for date valida- DRTs for optimising recovery.
cheques," said PIB's Fact Check ac- tion, if necessary.
count on X.
PSU Bank told to club Bank of Baroda's global
"There are three images of each
cheque that are taken in (Cheque Trun- cases at DRTs business up 12% in Q3
cation System) CTS - front Gray Scale, The government has asked public sec- Bank of Baroda (BoB) reported a 12

BANKING FINANCE | MARCH | 2025 | 5