Conclave on agri agenda focusses on FARMER issues

Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India Harun R Khan on Friday suggested a framework, which has the acronym FARMER, to provide the much-needed momentum to a Second Green Revolution in the State. He was speaking at a conclave on agriculture agenda for Odisha with the theme — Towards Greater Production and Productivity of Agriculture in Odisha and Transformation of Subsistence Agriculture to Agri-Business. FARMER stands for Finance, Allied Activities, Risk Mitigation, Marketing Access, Extension of Research and Resources other than finance. Khan pointed out that while it is known to all that the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) is celebrating its Golden Jubilee it is also the Golden Jubilee year of the RBI’s presence in Odisha. The conclave was organised by the RBI in association with the OUAT, NABARD and Government of Odisha. RBI Regional Director in Bhubaneswar BK Bhoi delivered the welcome address. OUAT Vice-Chancellor Prof DP Ray presented facts and figures relating to the state of agriculture in Odisha with the observation that growth in the agricultural sector contributes to faster economic growth of the poorest sections of people. State’s Principal Secretary Agriculture RL Jamuda appreciated the OUAT’s role in increasing productivity of crops and shifting the focus from sustenance agriculture to commercial agriculture. He discussed availability of resources including finance. Finance secretary JK Mohapatra appreciated the initiative of Khan in organising the conclave and assured the support of the Government in any recommendations of the conclave that dealt with finance issues. He was of the view that the constraints of small farm holdings in the state can be overcome with the use of technologies. Agriculture Production Commissioner RN Senapati observed that the Agriculture Policy 2008 of the State emphasises on a shift from subsistence agriculture to commercial agriculture, fiancé support to farmers and marketing linkage. Chief Secretary BK Patnaik gave a roundup of issues related to the subject and called for higher private participation in the agriculture sector of the State. General Manager of Rural Planning and Credit Department of RBI in Bhubaneswar Biplab Chakraborty delivered the vote of thanks. 

The Pioneer

Gold price correction to boost financial system: RBI paper

.....“Even empirical analysis provides credence to the view that any deep correction in gold prices would not have any adverse implications for financial stability. In fact the empirical results of this study provide support to a contrarian view that any correction in gold prices would cause stabilising impact on the financial indicators of the Indian financial system,” the report authored by Rabi N Mishra and G Jagan Mohan of the RBI’s Financial Stability Unit (FSU) said......

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RBI asks banks to appoint nodal officers to boost exports

Dehra Dun : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to appoint nodal officers for boosting export credit and promote overseas shipments, a senior official of the central bank said today. "Under the new policy of RBI, all the banks are required to appoint nodal officers who can facilitate exports and related financial matters," Anup Kumar, Deputy General Manager [Foreign Exchange Department] at a meeting here organised by the sub-committee of the state level bankers committee (SLBC). Kumar also stressed upon the need to compile authentic data of exporters in Uttarakhand, which has a tremendous scope for exports. "Unless there is correct data, we cannot know which sector is facing what kind of problem," he said. The main purpose of the meeting, Kumar said, was to understand the problems faced by exporters and provide solutions. "We want to understand the problems of the exporters so that we can come out with the solutions," Kumar said. Kumar also advised the state government to activate its export promotion council which can facilitate exports for bringing foreign exchange. He also called for identifying exports clusters in the state which he said would help in boosting exports. Kumar also assured exporters that he would approach the central office to bring solutions to their problems.

BS

RBI to meet bankers today to take stock of bad loans

At a time when slow economic growth has raised concern over the asset quality of banks and prompted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take stock of bad loans in the system, data from banks showed. Foreign and private sector lenders had managed non-performing assets (NPAs) better than their state-run rivals, since the global financial crisis of 2008. Based on their interaction with bankers, RBI Deputy Governors K C Chakrabarty (in charge of banking supervision) and Anand Sinha (in charge of banking operations and development) would prepare a report assessing the magnitude of NPAs................

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Banking to the poor mostly on paper

In 2009, frustrated by the crawl on financial inclusion, India's banking regulator cracked the whip. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set time-bound targets and assigned banks to reach the unbanked, who were estimated at 480 million and mostly living in India's 630,000 villages……………

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Mother of all battles

.....“On the face of it, the suggestions of the Planning Commission are not only sensible, they are overdue,” says author Githa Hariharan who took her fight for her right to be the “natural guardian” of her minor son to the Supreme Court in the 1990s. When she applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a 9 per cent relief bond to be held in her minor son’s name along with an intimation that she was the “natural guardian” of her son for investment purposes, the RBI returned the application asking for the father’s signature. ......

Mother of all battles

Technology makes bank strikes irrelevant in urban India

.... While trade unions were on a day’s strike on Tuesday protesting against what they said were the government’s anti-labour policies and banking sector reforms among others, bank customers couldn’t have cared less, thanks to ATMs and electronic payment modes of transferring funds......

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Trade union strike hits defence production in city

Nagpur: ............ At RBI, the officers remained present even as clerical and Class IV employees went on strike. It was on the very day that interest on government securities was due to over 25 states. "The officers ensured it was paid in time and penalty avoided," said the spokesperson at RBI Nagpur. A source in the RBI said almost 25,000 cheques valued at close to Rs 300 crore were held up on Tuesday. People coming to pay taxes were turned back at RBI gate. "If I don't pay the luxury tax today, we will be charged a penalty," said representative of a hotel in the city who had come to RBI. President of All India Reserve Bank of India Employees Association Bidyut Chakraborty said the strike was total in clerical and the lower level cadre, hampering functions like collection of challans and clearing of cheques. Even as the strike was total in the public sector banks and Life Insurance Corporation, there was mixed response in the other central government offices. The state government departments remained open………

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Business as usual across metros

....Cheque clearing operations and cash transactions were partially hit. In treasury operations – forex, gilts and call markets – customer flows were lower than normal, due to some branches being shut. Retail operations were largely affected. High value transactions did not suffer due to online facilities like NEFT and RTGS. According to RBI data, 94 of the 95 clearing houses in Mumbai were operational. The volume of cheques cleared were 2-2.25 lakh, against an average of 7-7.5 lakh per day. The value of transactions was around Rs 1,500 crore, against an average of Rs 3,000-4,000 crore per day.......

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Nationwide trade union strike disrupts banking, transport services

…………. Many bank customers were left at sea as employees of PSU banks refused to conduct transactions as part of the protest. Employees of RBI in the capital held a protest outside their office and shouted slogans against the policies of the government............

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Mixed response to trade unions’ strike

..services especially public transport functioning as usual.“The shutdown in the banking and financial sectors has been complete. The RBI’s clearing houses are shut. So the private and foreign banks, where we do not a have a presence, also get affected,” General Secretary of All India Bank Employees Association, Mr Vishwas Utagi, claimed............

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Banks’ liquidity position worsens; CRR cut likely

The systemic liquidity position has deteriorated further with net daily liquidity injection by the Reserve Bank of India into the banking system rising to record levels, leading to speculation that the central bank may soon go for another cut in cash reserve ratio to boost the cash supply in the system........................

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BCSBI, customer service and consumer protection - issues and challenges

Inaugural address by Dr. K.C.Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India at the Annual Conference of Principal Code Compliance Officers, Mumbai, 24 February 2012

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Indian Bank drops plans for standalone life insurance venture

.......Indian Bank, a public sector lender, has shelved plans to float a separate subsidiary for taking up life insurance business. Instead, the bank will focus on building a multiple-agency relationship system to augment business......

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‘Skimming' of credit cards largely at unguarded ATMs

....Mr M. Palanisamy, Banking Ombudsman – RBI – Karnataka region, said that there have been about 100 complaints of skimming of cards in the past four months in Karnataka. “We have now told banks to limit the number of payments for recharge of prepaid connections etc to telecom providers from a payment card to three hits,” he said.

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You can keep banking fraudsters at bay and how

Bangalore, Feb 28 (PTI) Have you used your birthday or wedding date as PIN or password in ATM, debit and credit cards or written those behind them? Then it's not the wisest move you could do to keep banking fraudsters at bay, say experts. "Best thing for any bank customer is to change the password on a regular basis," says Mahesh Rajaraman, Head-Risk Control, HDFC Bank. "Using birthday or wedding day as passwords would ensure that people close to you may try to use it at ATMs," he cautioned while talking to reporters here. No bank would ask its customer to share their credit card number and PIN, Rajaraman said, adding, customers should only use secured sites while transacting online. "Don't pass on personal information in social media", he warned. "People try to give their date of birth. It's important your password does not match that date". RBI Ombudsman, Karnataka, M Palanisamy, said fraudsters sometimes succeed because of banking customers being "careless". Phishing mails appear as if they are sent by concerned banks. "Never respond to any phishing mails," Rajaraman said. "Never part with your password and personal data with anybody".

IBN Live

Insurance help online

.....For a long time, the judgements of the apex consumer court have been available on the website www.consumercom.nic.in. Subsequently, the orders of the consumer courts at the district and the state levels were also put up on this website. Similarly, on the banking regulator’s website — www.rbi.org.in — one could see the orders of the banking ombudsmen. The orders of the insurance ombudsmen, however, remained inaccessible to the public. Now finally, these orders have been made available.......

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Should banks sell insurance at all?

“…......as stated by the IBA (Indian Banks’ Association) representative, the banks are unwilling to assume any responsibility, or risk, of the result of their mis-selling. RBI is also wary of banks taking on the role of a ‘broker’ as it would mean that they assume the role of a ‘principal’ in the sales process with the consequential responsibility and potential risk. Possibly the banks are better aware of the deficiency in the sales process practices by them and hence their reluctance to assume any risk.”.......

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Rupee - What leads to the change in the currency's value?

.....The RBI manages the value of the rupee with several tools, which involve controlling its supply in the market and, thus, making it cheap or expensive. "Some ways through which the RBI controls the movement of the rupee are changes in interest rates, relaxation or tightening of rules for fund flows, tweaking the cash reserve ratio (the proportion of money banks have to keep with the central bank) and selling or buying dollars in the open market," ........

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At Dhanlaxmi, time for pay cuts, old-school banking, exits, gold loans

Dhanlaxmi Bank, the Thrissur, Kerala-based lender, is set to announce a 5-40% cut employee pay packages under a new dispensation after the surprise exit earlier this month of its managing director and CEO Amitabh Chaturvedi………….

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Dhanlaxmi Bank extends ED's term

The saga of leadership change at Dhanlaxmi Bank has taken a new turn, with the board offering chief executive designate P B Jayakumar an extension of two years as executive director — from March 1 to February 28, 2014. According to sources, Jayakumar’s retirement was due this month. His appointment as managing director and chief executive officer of the Thrissur-based lender is subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Since the central bank is yet to sanction his new role, the bank has decided to extend his term as an executive director to ensure he is still employed with the lender when the approval is secured..............

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RBI to assist in setting up vault for Padmanabha gold

A Supreme Court-appointed committee has directed the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) to give technical handholding in setting up a foolproof state-of-the-art vault to preserve the Padmanabhaswamy temple treasure. ................

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