Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government of India will soon set up an expert group to look into consolidation of public sector banks as the country needs stronger rather than a large number of banks. The GOI is considering Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) for PSU bank officials besides strengthening the SARFAESI Act and Debt Recovery Tribunals to deal with the problems of stressed assets that are estimated at around Rs.8 lakh crore.

With regard to the rising Non—Performing Assets or bad loans, Jaitley said that besides strengthening the institutional mechanism, the government has been taking sector specific decisions to deal with the problems in segments like power, highways, sugar and steel.

Giving details of the deliberations during the conclave, Jaitley said there are suggestions to amend SARFAESI ACT and also expedite the DRT process by some more amendments to law. On the NPA situation in the banking sector, Jaitley said banks are taking steps to recovery bad loans.

In the current global environment, Jaitley said, banks have to take all the measures in order to clean up their books by effecting recoveries. He also said that there are some sector specific decisions which are required to be taken by the government. These include, power, highways, sugar and steel.