Bankers' Club

Finance Ministry on Saturday said passport details will be made mandatory for loans of more than Rs.50 crore from state run banks.

Passport details will help banks to take timely action and inform the relevant authorities to prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country.

“Next step on clean and responsible banking. Passport details must for loans above Rs 50 crore. Step to ensure quick response in case of fraud,” Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar

Several big defaulters like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya and Jatin Mehta have fled the country.

The cabinet recently gave its nod to a bill that seeks to confiscate property both in India and overseas of such fugitive economic offenders irrespective of whether these properties have been used as collateral with banks or not.

Kumar said that loan application forms foe new loans will be modified to reflect this additional requirement.

Further, banks have been asked to seek passport details of all existing borrowers with loans of more than Rs.50 crore in the next 45 days.

Last week, the government had announced a series of steps to prevent instances of fraud in state run banks. Banks were asked to tighten their systems and processes and review all non performing asset accounts of more than Rs.50 crore to check for fraud. They were also asked to rationalize their overseas operations and shut down loss making units.