Conclave on financial inclusion inaugurated

...... The 4-day Basin Development Week scheduled from 2nd to 5th April 2012 is aimed at getting financial inclusion all over India like RBI, NABARD, SBI (Northeast), International Finance Corporation, APMAS, MCAB, Grameen Sahara and Ujjivan Financial Services among others so that the poorer section of the people can get easy access.......

Read..........

SC declines PIL on credit, debit and ATM cards

The Supreme Court today declined to entertain a PIL seeking a direction to the government to make mandatory imprinting of photograph and signature of holders on their credit, debit and ATM cards issued by banks to prevent their misuse. "There are already some guidelines," a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said while referring to the instructions by RBI..........

Read..... 

Refrain on the Street is a 25 bps cut

.... The Street is out with its verdict. It’s expecting a 25 basis points cut in the repo rate — the rate at which banks borrow from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — in the April 17 annual monetary policy statement of the central bank......

Read....... 

RBI relaxes rules for foreign currency accounts

To provide operational flexibility to Indian entities making overseas direct investments, the Reserve Bank of India has liberalised regulations pertaining to foreign currency accounts (FCA). Indian entities can open, hold and maintain FCAs abroad to smoothen the process of making overseas direct investments, subject to certain conditions, the RBI said in a notification........

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

Are banks really following banking guidelines in the right spirit?

........ But are banks really following these guidelines in the right spirit? In a recent speech on the customer service at banks, KC Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, RBI, highlighted some of the issues that banks need to tackle on an urgent basis. Here are some relevant excerpts.......

Read.......

'Tell us where to park our car'

.... C.A.Ingole, a member of RBI employee's society at Bharat Nagar, said that to penalize car owners for using the road for parking was not a solution. "Authorities should come up with an alternative and solve parking problems in different areas. Car owners and other four wheelers could be provided open spaces near their homes for parking vehicles in night time by levying some charge. NMC should also provide good public transport so a lot of people will not buy cars," he said.........

Read........

D Sarkar takes over as head of Union Bank of India

 New Delhi: Union Bank of India Monday said D Sarkar has taken over as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the state-owned lender. Sarkar replaces M V Nair, who headed the bank for 6 years. He has taken charge as CMD of the Bank from April 1, Union Bank of India said in a filing on the BSE Monday.  Prior to this, Sarkar was executive director of Kolkata- based Allahabad Bank. He started his career with Bank of Baroda in 1982.

Read......

State Bank of Hyderabad feels young @ 70!

State Bank of Hyderabad is a blend of tradition and modernity in banking. Originally set up in 1942, it was the central bank of the erstwhile Hyderabad state and managed the then currency, Osmania Sikka, and public debt........

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

Read "Subsidiaries of the State Bank"

Can Turkey offer lessons to RBI?

“If a country like Turkey with high inflation can reduce interest rates and achieve growth, why cannot we?” asked the aggressive chief financial officer of a mid sized Indian company. I was dumbfounded, as my knowledge about Turkey extended to nothing beyond belly dancers, its currency the Lira and the city of Istanbul. I started mugging up the economics lessons I learnt in my college days; "If the inflation persists, you raise interest rates (make money dearer) and any easing of rates spurs economic growth and also fuels inflation in the longer run.".........

Read..........

Banks, NBFCs brace for another deposit rate war

.....The financial services industry may be waiting with bated breath for a possible interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), when it announces its monetary policy later this month. But, banks and financial institutions appear to be in the mood to extend the deposit rate war further.....

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

DBS Bank keen to operate as wholly owned subsidiary in India

....The RBI has said that foreign banks converting into wholly owned subsidiary would be placed in a much better position than the foreign bank branches operating in India but less than that of domestic banks. This would provide very significant incentives for the subsidiary mode of presence for foreign banks in India. ....

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

Sebi’s arguments in Tayal case simply don’t wash

..... Reserve Bank of India had asked the promoters of the bank to reduce their stake based on its regulatory requirements. According to the findings of the preliminary investigation, which have now been attested in the recent order as well, the Tayal Group gave the impression that........

Read......

Whither flows bank credit?

While the overall bank lending has slowed in recent times, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) data on sectoral deployment of credit has some interesting points when one looks at advances for the three months ended February..............

Read.........

FM recipe for Bengal growth

....RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said the Bengal government needed to formulate policies to harness and build on the potential competitive strengths in some industrial activities. “Bengal is exploring a long-term strategy for industrialisation as the relative growth performance in the last decade was not encouraging,” Gokarn said. ......

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

SEBI trashes major recommendations of the Bimal Jalan Committee

....Clearly SEBI has not accepted a large number of suggestions of Bimal Jalan Committee. Mr Jalan, a former RBI Governor, who quit the central bank rather abruptly and was made a Rajya Sabha member in early 2003, was appointed by former SEBI chief CB Bhave to review the issue of ownership and governance of stock exchanges, among other market infrastructure institutions 2010.....

Read.....