23 per cent increase in credit needs expected



Collector U. Sagayam (left) releases the Potentially Linked Credit Plan at a bankers' meeting at the Madurai Collectorate on Thursday



The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has projected the credit requirements of priority sectors in Madurai district to touch Rs. 3,489 crore in 2012-13, an increase of 23 per cent compared to the current fiscal in which Rs. 2,847-crore outlay has been prepared in the annual credit plan. The NABARD's potential-linked credit plan (PLCP) for the next fiscal was launched by Collector U. Sagayam at the District Level Review Committee meeting for bankers held at the Collectorate here on Thursday with A.J. George, Assistant General Manager of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), receiving the first copy. According to R. Shankar Narayan, NABARD's Assistant General Manager, the PLCP had taken into account the potential available for development in all sectors and also the infrastructure available for exploiting the potential. It projected that crop loans would increase from Rs. 1,232 crore in the preceding fiscal to Rs. 1,508 crore in 2012-13, which was in tune with the thrust of the Central government. Investment to the tune of Rs. 205 crore was expected to flow into the agro-processing sector. Allocation for non-farm sector has increased to Rs. 448 crore from Rs. 362 crore. Other Priority Sectors, which include transport, retail trade, self employment, housing and caution loan, were expected to require Rs. 1,408 crore against Rs. 852 crore in 2011-12. As per RBI guidelines, the PLCP would be the base document for preparing the Annual Credit Plan of the next fiscal. Addressing the bankers and officers, Mr. Sagayam said that all departments and banks must cooperate to ensure the targets laid out were achieved, and ensure that the credit potential identified in the PLCP was fulfilled. Emphasising on importance of credit to achieving integrated development of rural areas, the Collector also highlighted the need for timely purveying of agricultural credit to small and marginal farmers.

HBL 

RBI Governor to visit Dungabori

JAGIROAD, Nov 26: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governer D Subbarao will visit Dungabori village in Morigaon district on November 30. Sources said that the RBI with an aim to uplift the rural banking and rural infrastructure had undertaken some economic schemes. Under such schemes, Regional Office of RBI, Guwahati has selected Dungabori village. The Governor will visit Dungabori and will announce a few financial packages with the banks here.

The Sentinel

'Active bank a/c to help get you Punjabi bride'

CHANDIGARH: If you're an eligible Punjabi bachelor without an active bank account, chances are you won't get a bride. Reserve Bank of India governor Dr Duvvuri Subbarao half-jokingly and half-seriously gave advice to parents of girls looking for grooms to check if the boy has an active bank account. If he doesn't have one, it is better not to marry your daughter to such a person. Subbarao came to the city to deliver the Haksar memorial lecture at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Research (CRRID), a government-supported research institute of social sciences. Subbarao recalled his induction days in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in early 1970s. The RBI Governor said all his batch mates at Mussourie were sent on field investigations and one of his women colleagues was intrigued to find that parents of girls in Punjab and Haryana refused to marry their daughters to boys whose villages did not have drinking water. Subbarao said his colleague reported the matter while sharing her experiences. The parents of the girls thought their daughters will have to undertake drudgery every day just to arrange water. The RBI governor said it appears now parents of girls of these states don't encounter this problem. But, if they really want well-being of their daughters, they now have a new indicator - whether the groom has an active bank account or not. Is he financially included? Subbarao explained how a financially excluded person may find it difficult to get loans and government's help under social schemes. He said just 5% of Indians have bank accounts but most of them don't operate their accounts. Even commercial banks consider financial inclusion as an obligation, not an opportunity, he pointed out. Financial inclusion is going to help the poor, banks in terms of fund flow and economy that can take care of its poor people in a transparent manner, he added.

TOI

Vodafone, HDFC Bank launch mobile banking in Rajasthan

CHOMU (RAJASTHAN): Leading telecom service provider Vodafone India and private lender HDFC Bank Saturday launched "m-paisa", a mobile banking service in Rajasthan to enable millions of unbanked Indians perform basic banking transactions on their mobile phone.  "It is a great oppotunity for a country like India to improve financial inclusion through mobile banking. It is a pioneering initiative modeled on the lines of Vodafone's m-pesa product running in three different countries of Africa, offering to more than 17 million people basic financial services beyond the reach of traditional banking," said Sunil Sood, director, business operations, Vodafone India.  "With our reach and ability to connect customers, we expect many million people to come into the banking fold through this service," he added.  This initiative will allow Vodafone's select retailers to act as HDFC's sub-agents through which customers can deposit and withdraw cash through their mobile phone without having to go to bank branches.  In Rajasthan where this national partnership has been implemented, over 2,200 retailers across 320 villages and 54 towns are operational in opening HDFC Bank mobile bank accounts with Vodafone m-paisa.  "There are 6,00,000 habitations but only about 89,000 bank branches in the country, making access to banking services difficult in remote areas. We feel that Vodafone's significant distribution reach will provide customers the security of financial transaction offered by bank," said Rahul Bhagat, country head, retail liabilities, marketing and direct banking channels, HDFC Bank. The companies will expand the service pan-India in a phased manner by March-April next year and also have plans to deliver it in all the major languages gradually. Currently it is available only in English.  In order to open an account, a customer will have fill in a KYC (know your customer) form and submit it to the retail outlet authorised by Vodafone and then start availing service on fulfilment of the bank's formalities by dialing *135#.  Speaking about the security of the service, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor K.C. Chakrabarty, who launched the service, said: "We will be supervising HDFC Bank ... we have issued mobile banking guidelines. We want to ensure that efficient use of mobile technology takes place in financial inclusion."  

ET

Urbanization key to speedy growth: RBI Governor

CHANDIGARH: RBI Governor Dr Duvvuri Subbarao here on Friday re-enforced TOI's 'Sad cities' campaign saying development of urban areas and economic growth support each other. "We need Rs 40 trillion between 2012-2031 for development of urban areas to push economic growth," RBI Governor said delivering the Haksar memorial lecture at Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID). Around $100 per capita funds are required for urbanization. TOI is already running a series ahead of elections to find out how urban voter feels apathetic due to lack of proper development of cities in Punjab, the fifth fastest urbanized state in the country. It is also the fastest urbanized state in northwest India growing at around 37%, much higher than the country's average of 31%. Subbarao revealed it has been found that growth may be higher at places where urbanization is faster and also urbanization can be faster where the growth is good. Comparing the growth rates of China and India, he said India's urbanization rose from 26% in 1991 to 31% on 2011 while that of China increased from 32% in 1997 to 50% in 2010. The slow pace of urbanization in India is intriguing as this is the period when liberalization was set in motion. Country's top financial planner said for urbanization to be supported, there is need for more effective tax collection, efficient project planning and implementation, innovative urban governance and much greater sensitivity to embracing migrants into the urban ecology. Haphazard growth and pressure of migration may lead to increase in crime and bottlenecks for economic growth. He said empirical studies show that middle income countries reach 50% urbanization and advanced economies reach 70% to 80% urbanization. The RBI Governor observed accelerating growth presents two tasks from the urbanization perspective - first the rate of urbanization has to pick up so as to move the people up the productivity ladder and second, pressures of the urbanization have to be managed proactively. 

TOI

FDI in multi-brand retail will cool inflation: RBI

JAIPUR: The Reserve Bank of India today said FDI in multi-brand retail, if implemented properly, will cool down inflation which has been hovering around the double-digit mark since December, 2010. "Globally, it is considered that if (FDI in multi-brand retail) effectively implemented then prices decline. So, if you are able to pass on the benefit to customer, then prices come down. And if prices fall, so will inflation," RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty said. He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function to launch 'm-paisa', an initiative by HDFC Bank and Vodafone, near here. "The difference in the price between producers and consumers gets narrowed, but only if it is implemented in a correct manner," Chakrabarty said.  He also said the central bank sticks to its projection of year-end inflation at 7 per cent.  The government on Thursday allowed 51 per cent FDI in the multi-brand retail sector. It maintains the move would help in lowering prices.  The guidelines for the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector are yet to be notified.  Both the government and RBI have maintained that in India constraints on supply side is a major reason for high inflation.   While allowing FDI in multi-brand, the government said the foreign players will have to invest 50 per cent of the funds in back-end infrastructure, like cold storages. India loses perishable goods worth Rs one lakh crore annually in want of proper infrastructure.

ET 

Database of Madurai farmers having loans to be created

A database of all farmers in the district who have availed bank loans is going to be created through special camps in December. Farmers who are yet to avail any loans would be registered and bank accounts opened for them to bring them into the formal banking system, according to Collector U. Sagayam. Addressing the District Level Review Committee meeting for bankers at the Collectorate here on Thursday, he told officials and bankers that this initiative would help increase agricultural production and prevent migration of people from villages to cities. Residents of rural areas who were not engaged in agriculture would be given credit of upto Rs. 10,000 for livelihood activities. Further, he said that the district administration had identified four villages in the district to be developed as ‘model villages' for all-round development. The bankers were told to ensure that banking services were extended to all households in those four villages. While farmers would be given crop loans, those aspiring for self-employment would also be given access to credit. The four villages were Kottanathampatti in Melur Taluk, Periyakattalai in Peraiyur Taluk, Karadikkal in Tirumangalam Taluk and Chellampatti in Usilampatti Taluk. The meeting also discussed implementation of Total Financial Inclusion scheme in the district, among other issues. As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) instructions, banking services must be extended to all villages with a population of 2,000-plus by March 2012 and villages with a population of 1,000 to 2,000 by March 2013. Of the 160 villages in Madurai district that come in the first category, all but nine have been covered. In the second category, 170 villages have been identified and the bankers assured the Collector that they would be covered by December 2012, three months ahead of the deadline. Mr. Sagayam also instructed bankers to extend credit to Sri Lankan refugees and transgenders for whom Mahalir Thittam had already formed 70 groups self-help groups. The State government had announced economic assistance of upto Rs. 15 lakh with 25 per cent subsidy. M. Prabakar, Project Director, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA); S. Vijayakumar, Assistant General Manager of Canara Bank, the Lead Bank for Madurai district; N.P. Rajan, Deputy General Manager, Indian Bank; R. Shankar Narayan, Assistant General Manager, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD); A.J. George, RBI Assistant General Manager; KN. Subramanian, Lead District Manager; and K.M. Kanagaraj, District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer; took part in the meeting.

HBL

Falling rupee, debt, dollars & deficit: Do we have enough forex reserves?

The RBI is taking no chances - get the dollars in as fast as possible, build up reserves while you can and prepare for the worst. Indeed, even the timing of this week's Cabinet approvals for foreign direct investment in retail, can be seen in the light of the need to bring dollars in at at a critical time...

Read............

It's time to rejig the elephant's dance: Subbarao

...“India's growth story is still credible….As people, we are understandably eager for our economy to sprint like a tiger rather than amble like an elephant. Yet, few animals have an elephant's stamina. ....

Read.........

Finally, govt decides on bill for multi-level marketing firms

Jaipur: The state government has decided to come up with a bill against fraudulent multi-level marketing firms in the aftermath of multi-crore fraud by the Gold Sukh Trade India Ltd with thousands of people in Rajasthan. Sources said that chief minister Ashok Gehlot has asked the officials to prepare a draft of the bill in which separate legal provision against such fraudsters will be made. "We will start the process of preparing the draft on the lines of similar laws against multi-level marketing firms in several states of the country. The existent laws in these states will also be considered if they can included in the bill to be introduced in Rajasthan," a senior home department officer told TOI. The chief minister Gehlot had taken a meeting of senior police and administration official at CMO on Friday and asked them to prepare a special strategy to put a check on such frauds. Sources said that such firms are operational throughout the state. "Almost 99% multi-level marketing firms cheat the investors in one way or the other. Specific provisions regarding what kind of MLM companies are fraud will be made in the bill," said the officer. As per the existent law, if any company wants to engage in any business activity, it needs to register itself under the Indian Companies Act 1956. Once registered, they become incorporated under the act and termed as public limited company or private limited company. These companies are then regulated by a regulator enacted by Parliament or by the state government concerned.For banking and non banking financial services, RBI is the regulator and for stock markets, the regulator is Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI). However, there are certain companies which do not fall under purview of any of the regulators and that is where companies like Gold Sukh operates and takes advantage of the grey area.

TOI

Volatile times ahead for the rupee

....The RBI has some measure of control over the range it wants to target. But the RBI dare not try to rigidly control the rupee because it could rapidly exhaust the forex reserves if it attempted to do that in the face of a major market trend.......

Read.................. 

Staring down the barrel

...The rupee's downward spiral against the dollar held investors awestruck last week even as importers and exporters scrambled to protect their forex exposure. Rear-guard action by the RBI to stem the slide by announcing a slew of measures including increased FDI limit in retail salvaged sentiment in the later part of the week.....

Read....... 

Tough task for Centre to raise funds for infra financing: RBI -

...“Both the government and RBI have taken a number of initiatives to develop corporate bond market and some further initiatives are in pipeline,” ....

Read.............