CALCUTTA, July 11: Indecision has gripped the top echelons of the Reserve Bank of India over the processing of the 30,000-plus registration forms submitted by non-banking and other finance companies by the July 8 deadline.

According to top officials of the apex bank, the confusion is over whether the RBI will itself process the fresh applications for registration or entrust it to a private agency as has been suggested by the ministry of finance. The board of the central bank is reportedly under pressure from the ministry to hand over the entire work to an independent agency with the role of the RBI being restricted to the final scrutiny and approval.

In effect, the independent agency will be inspecting the applications of the NBFCs to ensure that they comply with the mandatory requirements - minimum net-owned funds of Rs 50 lakh, adherence to the statuory liquidity requirement of 10 per cent, cash flow figures, adherence to investment limits in other companies. The agency will also inspect the books of accounts if needed and refer the cases to the central bank for final clearance and approval.

However, some top officials feel that the RBI should undertake the registration work itself, at least for those NBFCs with a NoF figure above a pre-set level. While this will be time-consuming considering that the RBI is handicapped by lack of personnel.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.