sector bank health. resolution of stressed assets to address cross - bank information asymmetry and inconsistencies in asset classification, the reserve bank created the central repository of information on large credits ( crilc ) in early 2014. to end the asset classification forbearance for restructured accounts, the reserve bank announced the asset quality review ( aqr ) from april 1, 2015. the objective was to get the banks to recognize the hitherto masked stress in their balance sheets. the aqr is now complete. the reserve bank is neither denying the scale of the npas nor trying to forbear on them. instead, it is fully focused on resolving the assets recognized as npas. in the absence of an effective, time - bound statutory resolution framework, various schemes were introduced by the reserve bank to facilitate viable resolution of stressed assets. while the schemes were designed, and later modified, to address some of the specific issues flagged by various stakeholders in individual deals, the final outcomes have not been too satisfactory. the schemes were cherry - picked by banks to keep loan - loss provisions low rather than to resolve stressed assets. it is in this context that enactment of the insolvency and bankruptcy code ( ibc ) in december 2016 can be considered to have significantly changed the rules of the game. it is still early days but the number of bankruptcy cases which have been filed by operational as well as financial creditors is encouraging. many cases have been admitted and the 180 day clock ( extendable by further 90 days ) for these cases to resolve has already started. 8 / 11 bis central bankers'speeches the promulgation of the banking regulation ( amendment ) ordinance 2017 ( since notified as an act ) and the subsequent actions taken thereunder, have made the ibc a lynchpin of the new resolution framework. there were legitimate concerns that if the reserve bank directs banks to file accounts under the ibc, it would enter the tricky domain of commercial judgments on specific cases. however, the approach recommended by the internal advisory committee ( iac ) constituted by the reserve bank for this purpose has been objective and has allayed these misgivings. the iac recommended that the reserve bank should initially focus on stressed assets which are large, material and aged, in that they have eluded a viable resolution plan despite being classified as npas for a significant amount of time. accordingly, the reserve bank directed banks to file insolvency applications against 12 large accounts comprising about

companies. report of the working group to explore the possibilities of setting up a credit information bureau, oct 1999 statement of objects and reasons – credit information companies ( regulation ) act 2005 bis central bankers ’ speeches facilitate efficient distribution of credit. further, the credit information companies rules, 2006 and the credit information companies regulations, 2006 framed under the act were notified on december 14, 2006 and the act was brought into force. credit information companies ( regulation ) act, 2005 in this regard, the act provides that credit information companies are companies formed and registered under the companies act, 1956 and which have been granted a certificate of registration by the reserve bank. the act also provides that the reserve bank may, having regard to the potential and scope for expansion of the existing credit information companies and other relevant factors, determine the total number of credit information companies which may be granted the certificates of registration for carrying on such business. section 14 of the act enumerates the forms of business which a credit information company may undertake and stipulates that a credit information company shall not engage in any other form of business. section 17 of the act, by and large, stipulates that credit information collected by a credit information company under that section shall be provided to its specified users and that the credit information company and its specified users shall not disclose the credit information received by them to any other person or for any other purpose other than as permitted or required by any other law for the time being in force. these statutory restrictions on disclosure answer the question which is often asked as to whether the act violates the privacy principles laid down in tournier v. national provincial and union bank of england [ 1923 ] all er 550 : [ 1924 ] 1 kb 461 and followed in india. the exceptions to the rule of confidentiality laid down in the tournier ’ s case include disclosure, where there is a duty to the public to disclose and where the interests of the bank require disclosure. since disclosure of information relating to borrowers will enable other credit institutions to take an informed decision regarding lending to such borrowers and the disclosing bank itself benefits by such disclosure as the borrowing of the borrowers concerned may not be expected to increase beyond limits once the other credit institutions also come to know of the existing debt of the borrower, disclosure to credit institutions may be regarded as a duty to the public or a disclosure in the interests of the bank under the tournier principles. thus the provisions of the act may be regarded as striking a balance between