New Delhi, Dec 22: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) today categorically stated that it has a very sound financial base with almost negligible NPAs of 0.0001 per cent. Reacting to reports that the leading agriculture bank did not comply with various provisions of the banking regulation act, 1949, and the government had found irregularities in its functioning, a spokesman of Nabard today said the bank ''is not governed by the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.'' Nabard was established under the Nabard Act, 1981, and parametres like Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) were not applicable to it, he said.
Finance minister Jaswant Singh, while replying to questions on irregularities in the functioning of cooperative banks, brought out by Nabard, had said in parliament on December 17 that Nabard had conveyed that it had observed irregularities during inspection of central and state cooperative banks during 2001-2002.
The main irregularities included poor recovery performance, non-compliance with various provisions of the Banking Regulation Act 1949, (as applicable to cooperative societies) like CRR and SLR norms.
The irregularities also included non-compliance with norms prescribed by the Reserve Banks of India (RBI), poor internal checks and controls, non-reconciliation of inter-branch accounts and absence of periodic balance of books of accounts, lack of professionalism in managing the affairs and defective loan policy and procedures.
Bureau Report