Online banking test process disconcerting rural students

MADURAI: The decision by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), an autonomous body governed by the members of the Reserve Bank of India and other nationalised banks, to receive applications for banking tests only through online is likely to will definitely affect the aspirants in the rural areas as the access to internet is limited. As per the notification issued through its website on September 3, the IBPS had asked the candidates to apply for the banking personnel selection examination only through online. The notification also said that it was not permissible for the candidates to apply by post or any other mode. This mass recruitment drive stipulates SSLC as the required educational qualification. Based on the marks obtained in this recruiting examination, which is valid only for a year, candidates are eligible to get recruited in 19 public sector banks all over India. Since the examination is to be conducted on November 27, the aspirants in the rural areas are a bit worried. Suriya Bagavan Dass, a law graduate, has filed a writ before the Madurai bench of the high court to issue a mandamus directing the IBPS to permit the candidates to apply through post or by hand. The bench, however, has ordered issuance of notice to the respondent in this regard. on Friday. "Since it is a mass recruitment drive meant for the clerical post of SSLC standard, expecting such candidates to apply through online is unfair. It prevents a large number of rural candidates from competing in this examination," said Suriya. Since the IBPS has curtailed the flow of applications by seeking them only through online, eligible rural students have been deprived from applying for the same, according to K P Marikumar of the Spark Trust, an NGO, based in Madurai. About 30,000 thousand students are going will be get affected due to this strict online process, said Marikumar of the Spark Trust.,  an NGO based in Madurai. "It's not only the applications to be sent online, the call letter for eligible candidates should also be downloaded from the IBPS website. It has already said that no hard copy of the call letter or handout will be sent by post. The idea will help those in the urban areas, but what will happen to those in the rural belt?" he asked. asks Marikumar. However, an official from the IBPS said the idea is to make maximum number of candidates apply for the test from all over the country. "It's easier for candidates to apply online. The candidates don't have to worry about the delay. They don't have to come from faraway place for completing minor formalities. If you look at our website you will know that how online facility has helped people in the rural areas," said the official, who did not want to be named.

TOI

Let banks lend directly to women SHGs : CPM's women wing

Mumbai :  A Left front-affiliated body today urged Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao to stop treating bank credit to the microfinance institutions (MFIs) under the priority sector lending norms to fasten credit flow to women's self-help groups. "Their (MFIs') operations in most parts of the country have shown that they are no less exploitative than money lenders and lack developmental focus," a memorandum presented to Subbarao by the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) said. The AIDWA's patron and CPM Politburo member Brinda Karat, who was part of the delegation which met the Governor at the RBI headquarters here, said banks lending directly to SHGs would also help ultimate borrowers. "At present, MFIs and NBFCs take money at cheaper rates from banks under the priority sector lending (PSL) scheme and lend it on to SHGs (self-help groups) at hefty interest rates. We can do away with this and banks can lend directly to SHGs," Karat told reporters after the meeting. Karat said Subbarao told the delegation that the central bank was keen to ensure that banks would themselves take the initiative rather than outsource it to non-bank lenders (NBFCs). When pointed out the trouble in the micro-lending space and specifically the Andhra law which prohibits banks from lending to the micro-lending segment in general, Karat said she is all for the law and it is the practices of MFIs, which resulted in such a law being made. Karat said the Governor also shared their concern on coercive practices of MFIs and also expressed the need to set up a watchdog to see over the functioning of MFIs.

IBN Live

Finance ministry sets new performance benchmarks for government banks

NEW DELHI: The finance ministry has told state-run banks to achieve new benchmarks that measure financial and functional efficiency to qualify for more cash injection in the coming years. State-run banks will have to improve three key measures of performance: savings and current deposit ratio, employee-branch ratio and profit per employee, said a finance ministry official. These new targets are over and above the annual statement of intent the government signs with banks. "We want them to prepare for the future as more private players will join the fray," the official said referring to the draft guidelines for new bank licences put out by the Reserve Bank.  The North Block has plans to infuse 3 lakh crore to 5 lakh crore in some 21 state-run banks over the next decade.  Under the ministry guidelines, current and saving account, or CASA, deposits, which yield low-cost funds, should form 45% of the total bank deposits. The CASA deposit ratio stood at 41% for private banks in 2010-11 while it was 33% for public sector banks, according to a report by rating agency ICRA.  Banks with a high CASA ratio would be able to keep their cost of funds under control even in a scenario of rising interest rates, the report said. But bankers say it is not that easy. Higher volumes of CASA deposits can only happen when there is a marginal difference between the fixed deposit rates and saving rates, said a senior official at a state-run bank, requesting anonymity.  "In the present situation that seems unlikely," he said. Larger PSBs such as Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda have been asked to maintain a CASA ratio of 45%. At the end of June, BoB had a CASA ratio of 33.9% and PNB 38.1%. Smaller banks have to achieve 40% CASA in three to four years.  With RBI freeing up savings bank rate now, state run banks will be able to raise rates to attract more of these cheaper funds. 

ET

India's Road to Financial Freedom

A key interest rate is deregulated, but bank lending is still skewed.

Freeing up lending will probably now require directives from the government, if not legislation from parliament. If that deregulation or privatization isn't pushed, India's banking system will continue to underperform and hold back the country's growth....

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RBI’s Playing Perfectly

According to a recent study on inflation in India, it was found that money supply has been contributing around 30-35% to the inflation growth. RBI policy rates have moderated the takeoff of credit in a marginal but significant way. Inflation would have been at least 2-3% higher than what it is currently. A high inflation rate would have had an impact on cost and the wage structure of the economy and would have led to a situation of slowing growth. Therefore, the RBI’s ‘inflation targeting’ policy has been quite helpful in moderating inflation......

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Pranab says inflation to fall by December

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday attributed the current inflationary conditions in the economy to supply side constraints. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Mr Mukherjee expressed hope that inflation in the country would come down by December adding that the Centre was taking supply side measures to tackle price rise. Earlier on October 19, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had expressed confidence that inflation would come down by the year end and the country will have high growth of 8-8.5 per cent despite adverse global economic situation. Food inflation shot up to 11.43 per cent for the week - ended on October 15 - on the back of costlier vegetables, fruits, milk and protein-based items. Since March 2010, the RBI has raised repo rate by a total of 3.75 per cent to 8.50 percent but its effect is yet to be seen on inflation figures which have remained above expectations. Instead, the economy has lost its growth momentum with key data suggesting a slowdown in the medium term. Taming inflation has remained a concern for the central bank and the Centre. Inflation in September fell marginally to 9.72 per cent from 9.78 per cent a month ago. Headline inflation has remained above 9 per cent levels for the 10th straight month on supply side bottlenecks, high commodity and fuel prices.

NDTV Profit

Inflation will worsen if fiscal profligacy continues

If you see the transmission of the prior rate hikes, since August of this year, the banks have not been raising lending rate. So, RBI also has to be very creative in ensuring transmission. RBI would have noticed that just hiking rates was actually having no impact on the economy at all and, therefore, they are using more creative mechanisms to tighten the credit system in India..............

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Deregulation of savings bank deposit interest rates: Reading the fine print

The obsession with inflation and growth, and hence with interest rates, over the past many months has had one inevitable fallout: a matching obsession with what the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) calls Part A of its Monetary Policy statement. Almost all discussions that follow the RBI's Monetary Policy announcements are limited to this part of the statement - that discusses the central bank's monetary policy stance and its policy initiatives - virtually ignoring the second part, Part B. The discussions that followed the RBI's Second Quarter Review last Tuesday were refreshingly different. For the first time in many months, Part B of the Review (Developmental and Regulatory policies) came in for almost as much attention as Part A, with deregulation of the interest rate on savings bank deposits vying for attention with the repo rate hike.......

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India is stumbling into the most challenging financial year in a decade

....Today, after three years of loose fiscal policies and faltering economic reforms, the government has become a part of the problem. Expenditure is running high, neutralising the central bank's tight monetary policy, and tax ratios have not recovered to 2008 levels.......

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Savings bank interest-rate deregulation makes liquid funds irrelevant

....The biggest plus that a savings bank deposit has over a liquid mutual fund scheme (short-term) is that people don’t have to take the trouble of selecting the right scheme and go through the cumbersome paperwork imposed by the market regulator.......

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SB rate deregulation

The RBI needs to be congratulated for withdrawing restrictions on saving bank interest rates. for too long they were out of alignment with the market rates. Even as banks were borrowing huge sums at an average of over 8 per cent in the inter-bank money market, they were paying only 4 per cent on these deposits. This distortion had to be corrected.  Second, most of the new generation banks were de facto paying higher rates by offering an option to ‘sweep' extra money lying in savings accounts above a threshold into a fixed deposit carrying higher interest rates.  Third, these restrictions implied a sort of inequity and subsidised inefficient banks to keep their NIMs unduly high. Once again, the RBI has demonstrated its willingness to break from the past. 

M. Narayana Bhat Udupi (HBL)

Big boys waiting for cue from SBI

“Reduction in some of the term-deposit rates could also be a possibility in case of banks that have surplus liquidity. But such a move will depend on a number of factors like the liquidity situation, rate of growth in advances and deposits. I think it is too early to take a call on whether banks can cut their fixed-deposit rates,” said Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank......

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The deregulation deal: What it means for account holders

A better idea may be to shift the surplus cash into another account instead of closing, till there is more clarity on the bank's service charges. "A lot of freebies might be withdrawn later. One should wait and watch for the next two months. By then most banks will have decided on rate increase and service charges,".........

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RBI raises cap on housing loan for UCB’s to Rs 30 lakh

The Reserve Bank today raised the cap on individual housing loan an urban cooperative bank (UCB) can disburse to Rs 30 lakh from Rs 25 lakh. The central bank bank also raised repayment period for such loans to 20 years. The housing loan limit for another category (tier-II) UCBs has been increased to Rs 70 lakh from Rs 50 lakh, RBI said in a statement. “As announced in the Second Quarter Review of the Monetary Policy 2011-12, it has been decided to permit tier-I UCBs to extend individual housing loans up to a maximum of Rs 30 lakh per beneficiary of a dwelling unit and tier-II UCBs to extend individual housing loans up to a maximum of Rs 70 lakh per beneficiary of a dwelling unit subject to extant prudential exposure limits,” it said. It has also been decided to enhance the maximum repayment period of housing loans granted by UCBs (including the period of moratorium or repayment holiday) from the present period of 15 years to 20 years, it added. The RBI in the half yearly monetary policy review last week had said “…it is felt that there is a need to increase the maximum permissible limit of individual housing loans that can be granted by the UCBs, as also to increase the maximum repayment period for such loans”.

Firstpost

BANCON – Conference Schedule

Eminent speakers who are likely to address are given below.

• Hon'ble Minister of State for Finance, Governmnet of India Mr. Namo Narain Meena

• Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister

• Mr. D. K. Mittal, Secretary, Department of Financial Services

• Dr. Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor, MoF, GOvernment of India

• Mr. Anand Sinha, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

• Dr. K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

• Mr. H. R. Khan, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

• Dr. Subir Gokarn, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India,

• Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

• Mr. R. Seshasayee, Executive Vice Chairman, Ashok Leyland

• Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solutions

Click to read the Schedule..............