NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today nudged banks to think “out-of-box” while doing business and dealing with challenges, even as state-owned banks sought higher capital support from the government and tax incentives for senior citizens parking money in fixed deposits.
In their customary pre-budget meeting with Jaitley, bankers sought full tax exemption for NPA provisioning in view their profitability and demanded a Central Registry for GST registration for banks having branches across the country.
“The current Financial Year is not a conventional year as many major reformative decisions have been taken during the year. There is need for out of box thinking as series of steps are required about what the Government can do and what the banks can do,” Jaitley said during the meeting.
Stating that the banking sector is the backbone of our economy, Jaitley said he “does not see any serious challenges as far as structural changes are concerned”.
PSU banks on their part suggested that there is need for recapitalisation of banks in the current financial year as well as in the next Financial Year 2017-18.
“Post-demonetisation, liquidity in banks has improved. This may impact saving deposit rates. This makes senior citizens more vulnerable as their income is adversely affected. So, some sort of exemption need to be given to them under the Income Tax Act so that they have a decent income through their deposits,” the banks demanded. (AGENCIES)
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