BANKERS OFF TO GERMANY TO LEARN MORE ABOUT AGRO INDUSTRIES

Indian bankers are set to have first-hand knowledge of the state of the agro industries. A team of 22 bankers is flying to Germany from Mumbai on Wednesday for an exposure to the sector. Reserve Bank of India conducts study trips every year and this time it has chosen Germany and the Netherlands to show local bankers how agro industries and food processing units operate there. As the focus is more on agro-based food processing units now, RBI wants bankers to gain some knowledge of the business from some of the best practitioners in the world. The timing of the trip in peak has caught the attention of many! 

ET

IDBI Bank unveils Currency Chest at BKC

RM Malla, Chairman and Managing Director, IDBI Bank, unveiled a Currency Chest - one of the largest in the country- at its Bandra Kurla Complex Branch today, in the presence of J B Bhoria, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai............

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Verify authenticity of notes of Rs 100 & above:RBI tells banks

 In a step to check circulation of counterfeit notes, the Reserve Bank today asked all banks to ensure authenticity of notes of Rs 100 and above denomination before re-circulation. "In light of Para 127 of the Monetary Policy Statement 2012-13...banks should now re-align their cash management in such a manner so as to ensure that cash receipts in the denominations of Rs 100 and above should not be put into re-circulation without the notes being machine processed for authenticity," RBI said in a notification..................

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After ATMs, Coin Vending Machines in city soon

GUWAHATI, May 9: To meet the shortage of coins of small denominations in the city, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has told the banks to install coin vending machines in the city. M Hussain, branch manager of the SBI’s Currency Administration Branch, said that the SBI had already a coin vending machine in place at one of its branches in the city and had decided to install four more such machines at Vishal Mega Mart, Big Bazaar, Pantaloons and Guwahati Railway Station. Sources said that the RBI had been taking measures to ensure that adequate number of banknotes and coins are put in circulation so as to cater to the needs of people over a huge geographical area. So, in that connection, the RBI had already installed coin vending machines in other parts of the country to facilitate easy disbursement of coins to the people, added the sources.  Assam along with the rest of the country has been facing a shortage of circulating coins for the last few years. This coin shortage has been brought about by a combination of several factors. Reasons such as: once much used notes of 1, 2 and 5 rupees are no longer issued and thirdly, it is quite possible that too many people are holding on to too many coins.

The Sentilel Assam

Nagpur bench of Bombay high court asks state, RBI to act on chief secretary panel's report

The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Monday asked the Maharashtra government and Reserve Bank of India to say when they will act on the recommendations of the chief secretary panel on ailing cooperative banks.................

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Long View: India’s Very First Corruption Scandal

............Ostensibly, the shares were purchased by LIC to stabilize the market; in reality, they had the effect of bailing out a suspect businessman, and the puzzling order to do so seemed to have come from within the highest reaches of government. Mr. Mundhra benefited significantly; in an internal letter, A. Raman, a research officer with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Calcutta, wrote in July 1957: “The truth is that Mundhra is now on a slightly firmer ground although he is far from being out of the woods.”.............

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Bank stripped of licence on promo letter

............The Urban Banks department of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rejected the application of ACB Ltd for a banking licence on April 30, after eight years of inquiries and legalities. The bank, founded in 1972, will not be able to retain the word 'bank' in its title and accept funds from the public as per the RBI notification which was published in newspapers on May 4...................

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RBI’s Limits

This refers to ‘RBI Role in Reining in Re Slide Limited’ (ET, May 9). The Reserve Bank of India’s role can at best be effective as a shortterm measure. But the present downslide is more due to the weak domestic fundamentals caused by uncertainty as well poor policy implementation. So, any intervention by the RBI in the currency market would only prove futile in the long term. The need of the hour is for the government to immediately implement reforms, especially in sectors like oil, coal, retail and banks, to make the domestic market attractive for retaining capital inflows.

- V SRIDHAR  (ET)

Touching 54

The RBI can at best manage the rupee's fall

.............The RBI must, however, also reckon with contingencies arising from debt-servicing obligations, and possible portfolio outflows. In end-December 2011, about $78 billion, or 23 per cent of external debt, was repayable in the next 12 months. That must be refinanced to avoid reserve depletion. Also, FII holdings in Indian debt and equity amount to over $205 billion in market value. Sustained FII selling would hurt. Worried about reserves, the RBI has deregulated overseas interest rates to encourage more forex repatriation by NRIs, whose current contributions to reserves amount to about $58 billion. It cannot do much more to boost reserves. Nor can it defend the rupee aggressively, given the numbers cited above. The risks of reserve depletion are too great.............

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Streamline senior HR rules, govt tells PSBs

Wants promotion at GM & ED levels after minimum tenure

.........The ministry has also asked banks to implement the recommendations (those accepted by the government) of the Anil Khandelwal committee on personnel practices in public sector banks.
Bankers, however, fear the ‘template’ on HR policies as proposed, similar for all banks, would curb innovation and limit their independence to decide on HR issues................

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Currency exchange crisis affects life, trade along Indo-Bhutanese border

,,,,,recently, Bank of Bhutan issued a notice asking all Indian nationals to close their bank accounts by March 15 this year and since then, it has stopped draft and TT facilities to Indians. The bank has also stopped giving Indian currency to Indians. This is causing major problems, especially for the labour class and the business community of Hatisar and Dadgiri. Due to non-availability of Indian currency in Bhutan and the ban on Bhutanese currency by the Reserve Bank of India in India, the popular market of Dadgiri is facing difficulties........

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'Indo-Iran Trade to Touch Dollar 24 Bn in Medium-Term'

......Meanwhile, the Iranian businessmen had a closed-door meeting with RBI and bank officials, apart from the Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation, in the evening. The Reserve Bank was represented by Deputy Governor H R Khan, who declined to talk to the media about the meeting...............

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NBA to engage financial cos for awareness in biodiversity

.....While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued a directive in 2007 for sustainable practices in banking sector, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had sent an advisory for development of an eco-audit in the country. Similarly, the Planning Commission had proposed to set up an Ecological Performance Index (EPI) during 12th plan period. Referring to the matter, RBI Executive Director Vijay Bhaskar said awarenss should be created among all stakeholders towards the financial importance of biodiversity. On whether funding of biodiversity projects will come under priority sector lending, Bhaskar said the central bank would look into the matter....................

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India needs separate micro-credit regulator: Rahman

......“Bangladesh is the only country in the world, which has a formal regulatory authority, micro credit regulatory authority (MRA). We have kept it separate from the Central Bank, unlike RBI. RBI initially distanced itself from micro-credit but now they are taking it on their own shoulder, I don’t know why. They (RBI) should have created another micro credit regulatory authority,” he said, adding that it was not enough to have lots of micro finance institutions (MFI) for financial inclusion, it is also important to have a proper regulatory framework.............

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Parliamentary panel for better coordination to check money laundering

Concerned over possible flow of tainted money in capital markets, a Parliamentary committee today suggested setting up of monitoring and coordination mechanism by all regulatory and intelligence agencies including RBI, SEBI and Enforcement Directorate to deal with the menace of money laundering
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Chamber plea to RBI

Kochi, May 9:  The Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged RBI to ensure that reductions in repo rates are passed on by commercial banks to customers. Mr K.N. Marzook, chairman, Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a representation submitted to the RBI Governor, said that majority of the commercial banks have not passed on the 0.5 per cent reduction in repo rate to customers. The banks are still charging interest on the higher rate on loans taken for business purposes, home loans and vehicle loans, he said. He also pointed out that most of the banks are still demanding and collecting pre-payment penalty charges from customers even though it was abolished by RBI.

HBL

High interest rates keep on haunting India Inc

High interest rates continue to eat into the profitability of Indian companies. Of the 26 Nifty companies, which have announced working results for the March 2012 quarter, 20 of them have seen interest charges rise...........

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Banks offering higher rates on savings deposits see inflows jump

The momentum in inflows into savings bank deposits has sustained for the second quarter running for banks that raised interest rates. The inlows into smaller banks have spiked after the Reserve Bank of India deregulated the savings bank rate in October 2011.............

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Case studies

....."The caller asked me if I had made a transaction of $39 using my credit card. When I said no, he explained that as per Reserve Bank of India guidelines, I have to send a request to the bank's customer care to cancel the transaction," said Grewal. The caller, Grewal said, told her that he was transferring her call to the customer care section. A few seconds later, a woman came on the phone line and asked her to share her personal as well as credit card details. "I fell in their trap and shared the details.............

Case studies - Hindustan Times

Set up joint co-ordination mechanism to monitor fund flows in stock market: Panel

.....The Standing Committee on Finance has recommended that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may set up a co-ordination mechanism to monitor funds flow in the stock market. This recommendation is a part of the Committee’s report on ‘the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2011’. This report was submitted on Wednesday. Now the Government will consider all the suggestions before bringing the bill for consideration and passage in the Parliament...........

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