Weak rupee good for economy, to make industry competitive: Rakesh Mohan, former RBI Deputy Governor

In an interview ET Now, Rakesh Mohan, former RBI Deputy Governor, shares his views on the weak rupee, government policies and economy.........................

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Jayalalithaa opposes RBI's revision of interest rates on RIDF

..... "I understand that the RBI has revised the interest rate for RIDF loan to eight per cent per annum. Such a high rate will make RIDF loans unviable and the States will be forced to cut down on investment in rural infrastructure which is vital for inclusive development,".......

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Financial inclusion

This is with reference to “Banks have to play the ‘central' role in financial inclusion” (Business Line, April 27). Dr K. C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, RBI, has rightly emphasised the need for brick and mortar branches in rural areas to achieve inclusive growth. I remember his revelation that in one of the districts of Tamil Nadu, nearly 90 per cent of the farm produce was routed through non-banking channels, indicating a poor contribution of PSBs even after four decades of bank nationalisation. The National Rural Financial Inclusion Plan aims at providing financial services, including credit, to at least 50 per cent of financially-excluded households by 2012 through rural or semi-urban branches. Unless concerted efforts are made to implement plans, financial inclusion will remain an ‘illusion'.

- L.Rangarajan, Nagpur (HBL)

Effects of deregulation

It is interesting to see the way banks are reacting to RBI's April 17 credit policy announcement. A few banks have cut both the lending and deposit rates for select maturities. Some others have preferred to cut the lending rates by a specified percentage points, keeping the deposit rates unchanged. It is an era of deregulation that helps banks make their own assessment of market needs, keeping in mind the resources available with them. For sure, deregulation is achieving the intended purpose.

- S. Umashankar, Nagpur (HBL)

Stage set for debut of new private banks

......Decks have been cleared for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue new bank licences to private sector players, with the Union Cabinet on Thursday approving amendments to the Banking Regulations Bill which clarifies regulatory issues in this respect. The government hopes the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill will be passed in the Budget session of Parliament......

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RBI allows account portability within bank

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday asked banks to allow intra-bank account portability in cases where full KYC (know your customer) details of the concerned account have been ascertained. The facility would enable the customers to shift their account to any of the desired branch any number of times, without any change in the account number..................

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Separate policy by RBI for curbing misuse of credit cards: Govt

The Reserve Bank has framed a separate policy to prevent credit card misuse, the government said on Friday. "This includes the requirement of additional factor of authentication for online transactions, online alerts to the customers for all types of card transaction at all channels..."..........

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NPCI Wants To Make Mobile Payment Platforms Inter-Operable

With the aim of integrating all mobile payment systems under one umbrella, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has sought for an approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make the mobile payments services by telecom companies like Airtel Money and m-wallet services offered by banks,…………

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Banks report over 100 home loan frauds in three months

.......In a written answer on home loans, the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Namo Narain Meena, said the Reserve Bank of India had no specific information about home loan scams at any public sector bank. To curb incidents of frauds, the RBI had advised banks to introduce a system of concurrent audit, he said.

The Central Bank had also asked banks to review the working of internal inspection and audit machinery by the audit committee of the Board of Directors. Banks were also advised to constitute a special committee of the board exclusively to monitor frauds of Rs 1 crore and above..........

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IRDA advised to study, relax norms for rural branches

....... Insurance firms need prior approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, or IRDA, before opening any branch. In a letter to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority or IRDA, the finance ministry has argued that banking sector regulator the Reserve Bank of India has also eased the norms on branch opening and the IRDA needs to do the same.  "Our opinion is that it (relaxed norms) will give the much required impetus to financial inclusion," said a finance ministry official.  While opening the branch policy for tier-II cities in 2011, RBI had also reasoned that the earlier initiatives to relax the norms had lead to an increase in the pace of number of branches opened. Private insurers also believe that the move may give a push to rural plans of insurance firms........

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Ensuring microfinance’s future prospects

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Banks will bring in the much-required transparency, holistic customer service and robust governance in the MFI sector while providing the much-required funding support at the same time. The Reserve Bank of India will also find it easy to let banks-led MFIs offer thrift and other products than private sectors MFIs fuelled by private equity firms..............

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Global cues, slowdown in economy putting pressure on rupee

.............CEO of India Forex, Abhishek Goenka believes that the RBI is not in a position to intervene in the market because the forex reserves are still not at satisfactory levels. As well with growing imports, current account deficit is under lots of pressure. Hence, there is no chance that rupee will become strong in comparison to dollar. 

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Little-known benefits of a savings bank account

For most of us, the first association with a bank is through a savings account. There was a time not long ago when you needed an existing account holder's endorsement to open the account, whose only aim was keeping liquid money. The account, like the banking system, has evolved a lot since...............

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Fitch, Moody's should stop romancing India: CLSA

.......... "I think it justifies given some of the cross currents that India is facing. Quite frankly, I think Fitch and Moody's need to also shed a bit of their romantic image of India and become a bit more realistic as S&P has,"..................

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Thank you, S&P: Why the rating agency did us a favour

..... But an investor who came to India one year ago on hopes of seeing 8-9 percent growth will shy away as he hears of 7 percent while he may add to investments in countries which are moving from 0 percent to 1 percent GDP growth. In this context, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in a Catch 22 situation. Ideally, the deteriorating CAD is an indication that the currency in overvalued and hence must be allowed to depreciate. But a steady depreciation................

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