Govt clears appointment of Anand Sinha as RBI Deputy Governor

The government has approved the appointment of Anand Sinha, a career senior central bank official, as a Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).  Mr Sinha will be the fourth Deputy Governor at RBI, joining Shyamala Gopinath, K.C. Chakrabarti and Subir Gokarn. He will succeed Usha Thorat who retired a little over a month ago. Two deputy governors are appointed from within the central bank, besides a banker and an economist.  Mr Sinha, one of the most respected Executive Directors at the central bank, has provided significant intellectual inputs for several regulatory and supervisory policies, including the paper on entry norms for new private and foreign banks. He is expected to ease the burden of Shyamala Gopinath, who is now handling several portfolios. The new Deputy Governor’s expertise is in the areas of supervision and banking operations department. Mr Sinha, who turns 60 next month, may get a two-year term since deputy governors normally get to serve till the age of 62. Earlier, a search committee, comprising RBI Governor D Subbarao, Financial Services Secretary R Gopalan and National Institute of Public Finance and Policy Director Govind Rao, had interviewed six Executive Directors from RBI and selected Mr Sinha.

Expected due diligence level not followed : RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday a review of some banks revealed that in certain cases the lenders failed to monitor the use of funds by borrowers effectively, enabling them to divert the money into other areas. "The review revealed that the expected level of due diligence had not been exercised in some cases facilitating diversion of funds by the borrowers," the central bank said. "The shortcomings, amongst others, included, crediting of term loan disbursements to the current/cash credit accounts of borrowers and utilisation thereof for day-to-day operations..." In a notification released on the central bank's website, the bank reiterated that the process of post loan sanction supervision and follow-up of advances should be made robust. The RBI emphasised that banks must monitor that companies availing of loans are using the money for the purpose specified, deterring them from misusing the credit facilities sanctioned by the bank. RBI, in its circular, also reiterated the guidelines on monitoring end use of funds after its ongoing supervision process revealed some lapse in the due diligence process in some banks.

Banks gear up to meet RBI target

RANCHI: All leading nationalised banks in the state have joined hands to achieve targets set by Reserve Bank of India governor D Subbarao, who during his recent visit expressed dissatisfaction over the lending trends of the banks.  In consultation with the banks, the regional office of the RBI has chalked out an action plan to give impetus to the banks' financial inclusion programme and improve the credit-deposit (CD) ratio. Addressing a joint press conference on Friday, senior officials of the nationalised banks along with RBI General Manager H N Panda and Chief General Manager of the NABARD M.V.Ashok gave details of the programme taken up by the banks in this month. General Manger of Allahabad Bank, the convener bank for state-level bankers committee (SLBC), D Chakravorty said all the banks in the state would take up special financial inclusion drive on January 17 and 18 during which no-frill accounts for customers would be opened.  During his two-day visit in December, the RBI Governor took serious exception to the fact that all blocks in state did not have banking facility. Panda said branches of various banks had been opened in every block within a month and the Bank of India would soon open a branch in the only new block, Gudri.  "There are 1,541 villages in Jharkhand with a population of over 2,000 where banks have to extend facilities by March 2012 as per the RBI directive," he said.

RBI will take right action to stablise prices: Pranab

Amid expectations that RBI will hike policy rates later this month to tame high inflation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said the central bank will take appropriate monetary action to stabilise prices. “Whenever the appropriate adjustment of the crucial rates is called for in the larger interest of the economy, including the price stabilistion, the RBI takes appropriate policy in consultation with the government,” Mukherjee told reporters. He was addressing a joint a press conference with World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick in New Delhi. Mukherjee said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) always keeps the economic situation under review. The RBI is widely expected to raise short-term lending and borrowing rates - repo and reverse repo in its policy review on 25th January to tame inflation, particularly food inflation.

New MD for SBI Funds Management

SBI Funds Management Pvt. Ltd on Friday said it has appointed Deepak Chatterjee as its new Managing Director (MD) with effect from Thursday. SBI Funds Management is the investment manager for SBI Mutual Fund. Chatterjee has more than 32 years of experience in the banking sector and in his previous assignments in the last 10 years has held senior positions in State Bank of India (SBI) and SBI Capital Markets Ltd.

State Bank Of India launches 'Bank on Bike' in Andhra Pradesh

As part of its financial inclusion plan, State Bank Of India (SBI) today launched an innovative concept, 'Bank on Bike', to reach out to the unbanked population. Cheriyal in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, 60 kms from Hyderabad, became the first village in India to welcome 'Bank on Bike' (based on mobile banking idea). The scheme was launched by Shiva Kumar, deputy managing director, SI-AP Circle. The Centre's financial inclusion plan aims to cover all villages with a population of 2,000 for providing basic banking services. Andhra Pradesh has been allotted 1,381 villages, where SBI has to provide services by March 2012. 'Bank on Bike' concept has been introduced to cover more villages at less cost, Kumar said. Cost was coming in the way of faster implementation of the plan and with that in mind this innovation has been introduced by SBI, he added.