Reacting to CII's suggestions, general secretary of All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) Tarakeswar Chakraborti said it was a "malicious" move by an organisation "representing bank loan defaulters".He urged the government to publish the list of defaulters and take stringent measures for recovery of bad loans including "wilful default" of bank loans.Chakraborti claimed that a number of CII members had taken loans and defaulted. He said CII would do well to ask its members to repay outstanding bank loans.

"If more than Rs 58,000 crore of bad loans are due, the major share is from private corporate sector. If these loans are repaid, banks will be running on their own steam and be healthy again," he said. Samir Ghosh, general secretary of the All India Reserve Bank Employees' Association (Airbea), said CII's suggestion is "preposterous". He said Airbea had already communicated to RBI deputy governor SP Talwar to immediate assure bank clients about the safety and security of their bank deposits.

He said a large chunk of the huge unrecovered advances of these banks were due from big business groups, some of which are the "promoters and spokesmen of organisations like CII. He said the suggestion for closure of these banks was intended to cover the "misdeeds" of persons/groups owing allegiance to organisations like CII. The All India Reserve Bank Employees Association (Aireea) has urged the RBI deputy governor incharge of banking SP Talwar to immediately assure the banks' clients about the safety of their funds.

The All India Bank Officers' Confederation (Aiboc) has expressed shock at the `manner in which the club of industrial houses is talking on the policy issues of the Government of India.' "These industrial houses owe Rs 30,000 crore to the nationalised banks and are taking all measures on how not to pay back these dues, which are primarily the savings of ordinary people.

Corporate houses' account for only 6 per cent of bank deposits whereas household sector accounts for 78 per cent. After looting the public sector banks, these industrial houses are now seeking their closure. If only the members of CII and other industrial clubs would have repaid their debt, the health of public sector banks would have been far better than those in other countries," an Aiboc release issued on Thursday said.

The Joint Forum of Indian Bank Unions (JFIBU) has also charged CII with ignoring the real problems of the banking sector by suggesting that United Bank, UCO Bank and Indian Bank be closed down.