RBI organises outreach programmes

District Collector P. Umanath (second left) releasing Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar Temple commemorative coin of Rs. 5 denomination at a function held in Coimbatore on Wednesday. General Manager of Reserve Bank of India (Issue Department) - Chennai G.P. Borah (left) is in the picture

COIMBATORE: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) organises several outreach programmes to create awareness on the banking schemes, banking ombudsman, and fake notes. Speaking at the inaugural of the RBI stall at the Government exhibition here, its General Manager (Issue Department), Chennai, G.P. Borah said that as part of the outreach effort, the RBI puts up stalls at government and private exhibitions, and organises exchange melas in association with other banks. He said that this year, it was participating at the Government exhibition in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli. The objective was to create awareness about rural planning credit, non-banking finance, and foreign exchange, distributing coins, and exchanging soiled notes. Awareness was also created on fake notes, and lottery emails. The RBI was conducting training for Government departments on detecting fake notes. Releasing the commemorative coin on Thanjavur Big Temple, District Collector P. Umanath said there was a need to be alert on fake notes. The public, traders and large-scale institution representatives should visit the stall at the exhibition and know more about the RBI initiatives.

The Hindu

RBI sees regional languages as bridge between banks, common man

Mumbai: Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao today said aversion to the use of regional languages in banking has resulted in a majority of the population staying out of the formal banking system. The use of Hindi will help banks achieve the goal of financial inclusion, he said. "If, during the last 60-years, banking has not been able to reach every corner of the country, it is because the language of the common people and that of the banking (industry) is different,"Subbarao said before distributing the Rajbhasha Shield awards to banks at the RBI headquarters here. Subbarao said financial literacy is crucial for the success of the financial inclusion programme and people will pick up on the subject only if taught in Hindi and other regional languages. "There is a gap between the two (common people and banking industry) which is resulting in the advantages of one not reaching the other. We have to reduce this gap and Hindi and other regional languages will play the role of a bridge,"he said in his address delivered in Hindi. "We are confident Hindi alone will help us achieve our target. Through the use of Hindi will we be able to achieve financial inclusion,"he said, outlining the efforts taken by the RBI in adoption of Hindi. A majority of the country's population continues to be out of the formal banking system which resulted in the Government announcing an ambitious financial inclusion drive through its budget in February 2010. Under the scheme, banks have been asked to reach out to 73,000 villages across the country having a population of over 2,000 people by March 2012.

http://www.indiareport.com/

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RBI employee's residence burgled of 9 L ornaments

MUMBAI: The Santa Cruz (W) residence of a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) employee was burgled of gold ornaments worth Rs 9.1 lakh on Tuesday.  Ujwala Dhakras (53) and her husband Anil were at work while their two teenaged daughters had stepped out for shopping when the burglary took place between 12 noon and 3.25 pm. "The couple stays with their daughters at the RBI officers' quarters. The burglars smashed open the door latch and made away with gold necklaces, rings, bangles and other ornaments from the cupboard," senior inspector Madhukar Chaudhari said.  When the girls returned from their shopping trip, they found the house ransacked and immediately informed their mother. The police were yet to make any arrests. Meanwhile, a row house in Juhu was burgled of valuables and cash worth Rs 70,000. The complainant, Napoleon Misquitta (56), was out on a trip with his family when the incident occurred. Misquitta runs a garage and stays in Irla gaothan.  "The family was away between 8 pm on Monday and 10 am on Tuesday when the burglary took place," a police officer said.  The burglars broke open the door latch and decamped with a gold chain worth Rs 60,000, a cellphone worth Rs 5,000 and Rs 5,000 in cash. Misquitta discovered the burglary on returning home and informed the Juhu police.

TOI

Balance enquiry at ATMs to cost from July 01

All non finance transactions at ATMs other than the home bank of the customer would come for a fee from July 01, 2011. Thus, apart from the five free transactions allowed to every customer at non bank ATMs, all non finance transactions would also come at a cost from now.  Regulator Reserve Bank of India has taken this decision after seeing excessive usage of non bank ATMs by customers for checking account balance, mini statement and other purposes. The step has been taken to put some discipline in the customer.  The month of April saw 28% of the total transactions occurring on the National Payments Switch due to balance enquiry and mini statement. This led RBI to come to a strong decision in this regard.  In the meanwhile, RBI has also taken steps in favour of the customer. Now all complaints from customers regarding faulty ATM transactions need to be redressed by the concerned bank within 7 days of the complaint. Else for every additional day, the customer will receive a compensation of Rs 100 per day from the bank.

Rupee Times

Bank of Baroda - Change in Directorate

Bank of Baroda has informed BSE that, in exercise of the powers conferred by of clause (c) of sub-section 3 of section 9 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 read with sub clause (1) of clause 3 of The Nationalised Banks (Management & Miscellaneous Provisions) Scheme 1970, the Central Government vide its notification dated May 30, 2011, has nominated Shri. Sudarshan Sen (Regional Director, RBI, Ahmedabad) as Director of Bank of Baroda, vice Shri. R Gandhi with immediate effect i.e. May 30, 2011 and until further orders.

http://utvmoney.mangopeople.com/companies/bank-of-baroda/BANKBARODA/announcements/2011-05-31/bankofbaro/178994

RBI objects PSU banks' hiring process

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Reserve Bank of India is not happy with the process banks adopt in hiring employees through campus recruitments, reports CNBC-TV18’s Gopika Gopakumar. RBI wants Indian banks to give equal opportunities to every employer. Hence, it has asked to slowdown on campus recruitment and look at other avenues of hiring. This will give candidates from rural areas a better chance at acquiring a job.  Therefore, RBI is promoting the traditional method of written tests as selective criteria. According to RBI deputy governor KC Chakraborty, “When financial inclusion is a major national objective being partnered by banks; don’t we need people who would be closer to the ground realities on the Indian country side? If yes, then why should we be rushing to the B-school campuses for recruitment? How many of the people recruited from such campuses will have empathy towards the poorest of the poor? I don’t say that none of them will fit the bit, but are we looking for the right traits in the recruitment test?” This concern seems to be the major worry of the RBI. On the other hand, banks are defending their current hiring process by saying that the campus recruitment is only meant for specialized positions. However, one needs to ask a question that since RBI itself is opting for campus recruitment, is it giving itself a better chance of picking up the best in the litter.

Money Control

Is Hasan Ali fibbing?

HYDERABAD: The police are still in the dark whether the alleged money launderer Hasan Ali’s claim of stashing the precious jewellery of the Nizam in the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) is true or not. And the information provided by the Reserve Bank of India officials that the Nizam’s jewels are still intact with them only adds to the confusion. Hasan Ali had earlier confessed to the Enforcement Directorate officials that he had stashed away Nizam’s jewellery along with some other artifacts at the UBS. But during the investigation police found that all the 173 jewellery items belonging to the Nizam were intact with the RBI. “There is a lack of clarity since the Enforcement Directorate officials had not quizzed Hasan Ali further about the Nizam’s jewellery and its source of access to them. ED officials only concentrated the investigation on the allegations of money laundering,” sources said. As reported by Express on Tuesday, Central Crime Station (CCS) police had moved a petition in the Nampally criminal court to permit them to question Hasan Ali, who is presently lodged in Mumbai jail, so as to obtain further details. The decision of the court on the petition will be known on June 3. In 1979 some of the Nizam’s family members had decided to sell the jewellery through an international auction. But the Supreme Court had to interfere after a petition was moved against the auction citing that the Nizam’s jewellery were antiques and should be declared as national wealth. The central government then decided to buy the jewellery by fixing a price as suggested by an arbitrator. “Initially the family members demanded Rs 225 crore for the 173 items. But later the selling price was fixed at Rs 180 crore. Since then the jewellery is kept in the RBI locker,” sources said. Whenever the jewellery is kept for display either at Salarjung museum or any other part of the country, unprecedented security is provided by central forces. Even the senior officials of Salarjung museum are not spared and have to undergo frisking before gaining entry. Sources said that the missing gaps in Hasan Ali’s confession can be filled only after the police questions him regarding the case. This makes the June 3 decision of the court all the more critical.

Banks need to raise capital: Subbarao

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao said banks would need to increase their capital going forward to meet rising credit demand. “Our banks are well capitalised, at the aggregate level somebanks might have to bring in more capital. But the problem is going forward as credit demand will go up. And as banks will be required to meet that credit demand you (banks) will have to increase the capital,” he said. Subbarao made these comments at a Conference of Chief Executive Officers of Banks organised by the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning last week. The RBI put up a video of the lecture on its website today. Banks’ loans in the fortnight ended May 6 stood at `39.57 trillion, up `383.84 billion from the previous fortnight. On Basel III norms, Subbarao said the cost of implementing them would drive up the cost of credit and hurt the competitiveness of banks. He said the implications of the second quantitative easing by the US for the rest of the world are not clear. In its second quantitative easing programme, the US Federal Reserve is set to buy bonds worth $600 billion by June. “It is doubtful to what extent QE2 (second quantitative easing by the US) has been good and bad for the rest of the world,” Subbarao said. On emerging markets, he said the concerns of these economies are seldom discussed at international level meetings, mainly because of limited research. Subbarao said the Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning can play a key role in helping India take an important position at the international level and making the countrys financial sector more knowledge-based. “I have been saying over the last two-and-a-half-years, the Reserve Bank of India must become a knowledge institution. But, I think the financial sector at a larger level must become a knowledge-based financial segment. That’s how we will thrive in this competitive globalising environment,” Subbarao said. On the global financial crisis, the RBI Governor said India was largely unaffected by the crisis but the changes it brought about have relevance for India.  So, banks must take another look at their business strategies in the context of the evolving regulatory, macroeconomic and socioeconomic architecture, Subbarao said. “Although we believed that we remained healthy before, during and after the crisis even then I believe that whats happening around the world the new reforms have relevance for us. Hence, there is a need to revisit the business strategies in the emerging regulatory architecture,” he said.

BS

Why microfinance needs the Bill

It is not surprising that the Microfinance Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill has gone back into cold storage. Critics would even question whether this stillborn Bill had ever come out of deep freeze in the first place. After all.......

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Sunil Mitra appointed Finance Secretary

Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra on Wednesday took charge as the Finance Secretary in place of Sushama Nath, who superannuated on May 31 following the completion of her extended tenure. A 1975-batch IAS officer (West Bengal cadre), Mr. Mitra will continue to hold charge as the Revenue Secretary as well, a Finance Ministry statement said here. Since Ms. Nath was also Secretary, Department of Expenditure, in the Ministry, Disinvestment Secretary Sumit Bose has been appointed as the new Expenditure Secretary in her place. A Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer (1976 batch), Mr. Bose will also continue to hold dual charge till his replacement is found as Secretary, Department of Disinvestment.

Hindu