Mumbai: The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman promised to amend the statutes in order to curb malpractices in the banking sector. Speaking to the media persons on Thursday she said that Centre will bring a new bill in the upcoming Winter Session Parliament to regulate multi-state cooperative banks like Punjab & Maharashtra cooperative Bank (PMC Bank).

  The Secretaries of the department of financial services and banking were working together with the Union Rural Development and Urban Development Ministries to study the short comings in regulating cooperative banks, Ms. Nirmala Sitaraman added. “Ministry of Finance has nothing to do with it (PMC Bank scam) directly”, she said. The RBI is the regulator and they are doing what is to be done as per the law, if necessary they would also look at the ways in which laws will have to amended, she added.

   The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman held a meeting with the PMC Bank depositors who were protesting outside the state BJP headquarters in South Mumbai. Ms. Nirmala Sitaraman clarified that the BJP had no involvement in the PMC Bank scam. The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman assured the irate depositors of strict action by the RBI.  The study would look into the prospect of granting more powers to the apex bank in handling matters of banking malpractices, she said.