New Delhi, Mar 10 (KNN) Following the row around Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam amounting to 12,636 crores, the Finance Ministry mandated furnishing passport details for availing loans above 50 crores.

Rajiv Kumar, Secretary, Department of Financial Services in a tweet informed of the decision.

“Passport details a must for loans above 50 crores, step to ensure quick response in case of frauds”, Kumar tweeted.

Talking to KNN, V.K Agarwal Past President of Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) said that there won’t be any hesitation on the part of the loan seeker to furnish the details.  He however raised question as to if this would help curb the scams.

“There shouldn’t be any difficulty on the part of the borrower to give the passport details, but how much would this benefit the lender is q bigger question”.

Hinting at stringent laws to curb scams, Aggarwal said these decisions come more of announcement and less of actual action towards reducing big ticket scams.

Earlier last week, the government had announced a series of steps to prevent instances of fraud in state run banks.  Banks were further asked to tighten their systems and processes and review all non-performing asset accounts of more than Rs50 crore to check for fraud. (KNN/DA)