Will Subbarao oblige Mukherjee?

...... Two questions are relevant. First, when should the repo rate be reduced? And second, what should be the extent of reduction in the repo rate? Going by the experience of 2008-09 when the economy was in a similar position, a quick reversal of GDP growth became possible because the repo rate was reduced from 9 percent to 4.75 percent in just a few months. The RBI has to move that fast now to get the economy back on the rails to achieve 7.6 percent growth. But will Mr Duvvuri Subbarao oblige Mr Pranab Mukherjee? 

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RTI action makes 105 branches of leading banks become “customer-sensitive”

.....Commodore Batra sent an email to V.S.Das, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), stating, “I am writing this with urgent plea for RBI’s intervention to assure safety of assets of customers holding accounts and lockers in Noida. You may be aware that about 104 branches of various leading banks are operating in Noida from residential areas for decades now.........

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Customer needs & rules to drive banks' IT spend: Survey

.... The regulations and compliance norms — like Basel-II and -III, financial inclusion drive of RBI and IFRS convergence — will also drive PSBs to adopt new technologies. Some technological priorities at PSBs include data warehousing, BI and CRM. The IT landscape in banks has evolved since adoption of core banking solutions, aimed at automation of systems. The question of 'whether to adopt technology' has now transitioned to 'what new technologies to embrace', to achieve differentiation. Add to this the financial inclusion initiative, high on the agenda of the Reserve Bank of India, which aims to bring financial services to remote parts of the country.

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Five reasons why RBI will not cut interest rates soon

The Reserve Bank of India has limited headroom to cut key benchmark interest rates rapidly. To stimulate growth, RBI needs to cut repo rates sharply and reduce the cost of borrowing for all. Repo rate (currently at 8.5 per cent) is the rate at which banks borrow from RBI. Here are five reasons why RBI is unlikely to do that so soon:……..

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Banks likely to hold deposit rates till liquidity improves

.......... RBI is expected to cut policy rates on April 17 when the central bank announces the annual monetary and credit policy for 2012-13. While RBI said in its mid-term policy review that future actions will be towards monetary easing, it also pointed out that the timing and pace will depend on inflationary trends. Policy rate has been held at 8.5 per cent since October 2011 citing upward inflation risks.

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India's new growth paradigm: Faster growth with bigger deficit and higher inflation

........... It needs to be grasped that a high rate of inflation per se is not a problem. It is variability in the rate of inflation that is the problem as economic agents are then faced with uncertainty. The worry when inflation rate touches double digits is that policymakers have lost control over it, so it can shoot up even further. However, if the RBI can demonstrate that it can contain inflation at 6-7%, growth need not be derailed.

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Obituary

C.V.KALYANA SUBRAMANIAN (80yrs) West Mambalam. Ex-RBI passed away on 27.03.2012..Phone:044-24895329 

The Hindu

RBI relaxes norms on overseas direct investments

..... “To grant more flexibility to the Indian party, it has been decided to further liberalise various provisions or regulations of overseas direct investments…”......

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R. K Tandon - Reserve Bank of India - Exclusive Interview

......... I am indeed very happy & consider it as a privilege to participate on “World Consumer’s Day’. RBI has taken several initiatives in terms of reaching uncovered population to make financial inclusion..........


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Will pass on CRR cut benefit to SMEs: SBI

........ What are you expecting from the Reserve Bank of India after that March statement, which sounded a tad hawkish and subsequent developments on fiscal deficit and oil? We have seen people losing faith in that expected rate cut on April 17th. What are you expecting?......

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RBI to be lenient on debt-like FDI

The Reserve Bank of India has toned down objections to FDI instruments with alleged debt nature and agreed to allow them subject to certain conditions...............

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GAAR may change type of FIIs entering India: Deutsche Bank

...... There are two other issues to be worried about. One is what happens with inflation and what happens with the RBI. If fuel price decision is delayed all the way to June, we could probably see disinflation of 50-100 bps for the next few months and RBI could even go ahead and cut. That could actually even have a positive impact on the long end of the market. So I am not looking at 9% that's the bottomline........

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RBI cancels co-operative bank's licence

The Reserve Bank of India has cancelled the licence of The Bhusawal People's Co-operative Bank Ltd — the Jalgaon-based cooperative bank in Maharashtra, following depositors' concerns.............

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Airtel to tie-up with banks for cash withdrawal services

..... Under the latter service, Bharti’s retail or Airtel stores can act as banking correspondents, wherein a user can transfer money to another user, who can then go to its nearest such authorised shop to withdraw the cash........

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