Cyber criminals on prowl: RBI official

RBI Chief General Manager, Hyderabad, Rose Mary Sebastian with Telangana University Vice-Chancellor Mohd. Akbar Ali Khan in Nizamabad on Friday

Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Hyderabad, Chief General Manager, Ms. Rosy Mary Sebastian, has advised students and people at large to be wary of SMSes and emails informing that they have won millions of British pounds or American dollars. “They are false and deceptive tactics being adopted by some cyber criminals to deceive the people. Therefore, the RBI by roping in other nationalised banks, is trying to create awareness among the people on such offences and also on the guidelines for using foreign exchange”, she said while inaugurating the two-day awareness camp, at Rajiv Gandhi Auditorium premises, here on Friday. She said the camp would help students and parents gain knowledge over sending money to their children studying overseas and receiving money in foreign exchange from the Non-Resident Indians. The bankers also explained the present values of different foreign currencies in terms of Indian currency and modes of money transfer. Attending as the chief guest, Telangana University Vice-Chancellor Mohemmed. Akbar Ali Khan appreciated the RBI's gesture and described it as very useful to students. He also suggested to the apex bank to conduct such awareness camps across Telangana region and at universities. The SBI, the SBH, the ICICI bank, the Andhra Bank and the Deccan Grameena Bank opened stalls and explained the aim of the camp with the help of charts and power point presentation. A number of students from the TU and different colleges attended.

HBL

New-age moms struggle to breast feed



Dr Smita Dashora, (BMO, RBI, Jaipur) with her daughter Shinjini



Dr Smita Dashora, 36, was back to work just five weeks after she delivered a girl in November 2011. She runs an antenatal clinic at Jaipur’s Santokhba Durlabji Memorial Hospital (SDMH) where she offers holistic care to pregnant women. Being a gynaecologist, Dashora knows that a new mother needs to be at home for at least six months to ensure that the baby is exclusively breastfed. But under immense pressure to return to work, she admits that she “couldn’t practice what I preach.” When Dashora had had her first child six years earlier she had managed to take off for the full six months, but since then work pressures have mounted. “This time around, I couldn’t enjoy that luxury since I had a lot of patients counting on me,” she reveals. For a new mother, Dashora has a tough daily grind. After taking care of the morning chores at home, she rushes off to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) dispensary where she sits from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Then she is off to SDMH. At around 2 p.m., she goes back to the RBI dispensary for an hour and she also has patients waiting for her at her home clinic between 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. To take care of baby Shinjini’s nutritional needs, Dashora manually expresses two feeds before she leaves for work at around 8.30 am and one feed is given at night. “But I don’t think I can continue doing this for long. After four months, I’ll have to add at least one formula feed. There’s so much work pressure and my diet is also not what it should be,” she says. Although awareness of the six-month rule has increased, busy city women like Dr Dashora find it hard not to add a formula feed after four months

Nagaland Post

Subbarao Meets FM Ahead of Monetary Policy Review

Ahead of monetary policy review on January 24, Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao today met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and discussed the prevailing macro-economic situation, including inflation. "I came to review the macro-economic situation with the Finance Minister...," Subbarao told reporters after his meeting with Mukherjee. He said this was a standard practice for RBI Governor to discuss the state of economy with the Finance Minister before review of the monetary policy. After the meeting, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "RBI will announce the policy at the appropriate time. I had a discussion with RBI Governor (on the issue)." The central bank had hiked interest rates by 375 basis points between March 2010 and October 2011 to deal with the persistent high inflation, including rising prices of food items. In its last review in December, the RBI pressed the pause button on its monetary tightening measures and said that it might go for rate cuts in the future as inflation moderates. Headline inflation fell to a two-year low of 7.47 per cent in December, 2011. Food inflation entered the negative zone in mid-December and stood at (-)0.42 per cent as of January 7, as per the latest numbers released by the government. At the same time, RBI is also confronted with moderation in economic growth. The government has cut its growth projection from 9 per cent to about 7 per cent for the current fiscal.

The Outlook

Five-rupee note still valid: RBI

Hyderabad  : Allaying fears that the five-rupee note will be withdrawn, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that the five rupee note is not being withdrawn and will continue to be a legal tender. This clarification is being issued in the wake of certain reports in the media that the note will not be used by the Reserve Bank of India for exchange, a press release said. The RBI has also advised the general public to use the five rupee note like any other bank note for all necessary transactions.

HBL

Realtors seek RBI nod for loan rollover

Developers across the country have sought Reserve Bank of India's permission for a rollover of real estate loans due for repayment by March 31, 2012. They have also appealed for a reduction in risk weightage for real estate loans to help reduce the cost of loans............

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Reversing the monetary policy stance

As we head into RBI’s third quarter review of the 2011-12 monetary policy, the question foremost on our minds is the seeming reluctance to reverse the policy stance right away. In particular, given the persisting deficit system liquidity, why not cut CRR by 50-odd points and infuse liquidity through a more stable process than open market operations (OMOs)? How should we read RBI’s thinking on this?...........

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India trying to find solution to pay for Iran oil: RBI

MUMBAI: Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty today said that efforts were being made to explore ways to pay for oil imported from Iran which has been subjected to international sanctions. Chakrabarty termed the issue as one arising purely out of international sanctions on Iran and not a financial one. "We are finding...something is happening," he said when asked about the way ahead to pay Iran for the crude which the country imports. When asked about the recent visit by an Indian team to the Gulf nation for settling the issue, he said, "they have to find a way out."  "It is very difficult. It is international diplomacy. It has nothing to do with finance," Chakrabarty said, speaking on the sidelines of an event here this evening.  "The problem is we are not able to route the transactions through some banks because of international sanctions," he added. Iran is the country's second largest supplier of crude after Saudi Arabia. Earlier, payments for the crude were made through multilateral settlement mechanisms which stopped about a year ago due to UN-imposed sanctions. Later, a novel way of payment was worked out wherein the Iranian Central Bank opened rupee accounts with Indian commercial banks, but that is also reportedly not working out well due to some issues.  A report earlier this week said Iran was exploring the idea of increasing imports from India to compensate for its export of oil.

ET

Basel III Guidelines—Will our banks prove equal to the challenge posed by the RBI?

....While it is not known what prompted the RBI to take a ‘holier than thou’ attitude in stipulating stricter norms a and shorter time-frame than those prescribed under the Basel III guidelines, more so when our country’s economy is in a state of flux, it will, no doubt, result in developing a strong and stable banking system in India, that can stand the test of times and the country can feel proud, if what is stipulated by RBI is achieved without any mid-term course correction. As nearly 70% of the banking business in our country is in the public sector, this requires concerted efforts on the part of the banks, RBI and the government to source this large capital requirement of the banks and the regulatory authorities should provide the necessary wherewithal for the banks to comply with these requirements in good time, without any hiccups. .....

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Time to soften interest rates

The RBI's objective to decelerate aggregate demand to enable the soft landing of the economy has been achieved. It can now afford to loosen up its policy, once again taking baby steps.

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Short-term rates up, as banks raise funds

Interest rates on short-term debt instruments touched double digits on Thursday, as banks raised funds to meet credit growth targets in the last quarter of the current financial year. According to market participants, rates on certificates of deposit (CDs) issued by banks crossed 10 per cent on Thursday........

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Small savings scheme interest rates not floating: RBI

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank on Friday said interest rates on small savings schemes, except the PPF, will remain fixed throughout the term of schemes. It clarified that interest rate for small savings, barring PPF, will be declared on April 1 every year and will remain valid till the maturity of the scheme. "As per the rules of small savings schemes, the rate of interest on an investment made in all schemes, except PPF, 1968 on a particular date, remains unchanged for the entire duration of the investment, till maturity, irrespective of the revisions in subsequent years," the apex bank said in a circular. It said the circular has been released as a clarification after it observed that news items are appearing in media which conveying an impression that the interest rates on small savings schemes linked to government securities (G-Sec rates) "are floating in nature and will undergo change depending on the yields on G-Sec during the currency of an instrument". RBI's clarification comes a few days after a similar one was issued by the Finance Ministry. "... the rate of interest on small savings schemes will be aligned with G-Sec rates of similar maturity with a spread of 25 basis points, with two exceptions. The spread on 10 year National Savings Certificate will be 50 basis points and on Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, 2004, (it will be) 100 basis points," RBI said. In December last year, the government had increased interest rates on PPF to 8.6 percent from 8 percent earlier, and also raised ceiling on annual contributions to the fund to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 70,000. Interest rates on savings account in post offices also rose to 4 per cent from 3.5 percent. Similarly, interest rates on deposits of other maturities too was raised from December. The sale of 'Kisan Vikas Patras' (KVP) was discontinued from November 30, 2011. In addition, the maturity period of monthly investment schemes (MIS) and national savings certificates was reduced from six years to five years. MIS earns an interest of 8.2 percent, but accounts opened on after December 1, 2011, would not be entitled for bonus. Besides, loans taken from PPFs would attract an interest of two per cent per annum from December 1, 2011. The government did away with commission paid to the agents for opening PPF accounts and Senior Citizens Savings Schemes, while the agents commission for Mahila Pradhan Kshetriya Bachat Yojana (MPKBY) was fixed at four per cent.

Zee News 

For the entire notification, see:

http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/359C200112A.pdf

Bankers demand tax break on interest earned from FDs

...Bankers on Thursday pitched for removal of tax deducted at source (TDS) levied on interest accrued from fixed deposits, to promote savings,.....

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Retail Banking: Not in your interest

....RBI also needs to worry about several other customer-unfriendly and questionable practices of banks. It needs to be concerned about what is going on in the banking industry in the name of relationship banking....

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