The assurance committee, which is on a three-day visit to city to examine the twin-issue of non-performing assets and film financing, has its first round of meeting with senior executives of State bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Central Bank, Dena Bank and Bank of Maharashtra on Monday.

"Why is that banks are only after small-time defaulters when the big corporates are always going scot free," some of the members of the panel asked the top bankers.

It went to the extent of directing one Mumbai-based mega nationlised bank to furnish the details of a Rs 26 crore worth of sticky account within the next 48 years. The defaulter belongs to a north India-based industrial group.

The Rajya Sabha panel, headed by SR Reddy, will meet Union Bank of India andpublic sector oil companies HPCL, BPCL and ONGC on Tuesday. Gurudas Dasgupta, Janadardan Pujari and B Chaturvedi are among the members of the committee.

Bankers were surprised by the committee's sudden decision to quiz them on NPAs as the issue of sticky assets was believed to have orginally not on the agenda. "The Rajya Sabha question was pertaining to the sticky assets of all India financial institutions and not banks. The bankers were not prepared to answer queries on this subject," one industry source said.

The committee urged the bankers to provide financial assistance to small scale industry and agriculture and hound the big corporates which have been defaulting in loan repayments.

The bankers, on their part, pleaded helplessness in the recovery of sticky loans as the legal system is not equipped to handle bank defaulters. Senior bank executives urged the parliamenterians to equip the debt recovery tribunals (DRTs) with teeth for speedy disposal of cases.

On the subject of film financing, bankshave been awaiting the recommendation of the Indian Banks' Association panel which was set up in the wake of information and broadcasting ministry Sushma Swaraj's announcement in Mumbia conferring industry status on Bollywood. "We are closely examining the issue. Besides, there is no formal notification as yet on this," bankers reportedly told the panel.

The parliamentary committee will meet the film industry representatives on Wednesday to discuss the issue. Bankers have demanded reduction in entertainment tax, strict anti-piracy laws and personal guarantees of producers and filmstars as preconditions for extending bank loans to film industry. "Unless we are convinced of the safety norms, we cannot jump onto any proposal," one banker said.