Bank Loan Fraud: Passport must for bank loans above Rs 50 crore

Passport details of borrowers taking loans of Rs 50 crore and more have been made mandatory to ensure a swift action in case of fraud and prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country, a top official said on Saturday.

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 Rajeev Kumar tweeted.
This is a preventive step to avoid flight of economic offenders and banks to collect passport details of all new borrowers of loans in excess of Rs 50 crore, he said. For all existing loans of over Rs 50 crore, banks have been asked to collect passport details of borrowers within 45 days, he added.

In absence of passport details, banks were handicapped in taking timely action to prevent defaulters especially wilful one from fleeing the country. Several big defaulters like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya and Jatin Mehta have fled the country putting the recovery mechanism in quandary.