JK Bank, RBI team visits Tullamulla

....Speaking at length about the seriousness of RBI regarding the programme of Financial Inclusion DGM, RBI Ramesh Chand briefed the gathering about the benefits of Smart Cards/Kissan Credit cards.
“We will conduct a Financial Awareness camp here in coordination with J&K Bank in July, where top officials of both the Banks will be present,” he announced......

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RBI revises commission for banks for handling govt finances

After a gap of seven years, the Reserve Bank today announced revised rates of commission payable to banks for handling government transactions effective from July, 2012. "In a dynamic banking scenario, several factors/ developments influence the cost/ mechanism of agency business arrangement. Taking all these factors into consideration...It has now been decided to prescribe a revised agency commission rate structure,"...................

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Opening of No Frills Accounts for Rural Customers

......As per the extant Branch Authorization Policy of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), general permission has been granted to domestic SCBs (other than Regional Rural Banks) to open branches, in centres with a population up to 99,999 and in all centres of the North-Eastern States and Sikkim, subject to reporting. In order to further expand the banking network, RBI has advised that while preparing their Annual Branch Expansion Plan, the banks should allocate at least 25 per cent of the branches proposed to be opened during a year in unbanked rural centres with population upto 9999. Further, under the “Swabhimaan” financial inclusion campaign, banking facilities have been provided to over 74,000 villages having population ........................

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FirstRand Bank offers 7.25% interest on savings accounts

......"The deregulation of the savings rate by RBI late last year has benefited the Indian consumers and we would like to ensure our customers benefit by offering a savings rate at 7.25 per cent........

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RBI cancels licence of Coop Bank in Latur district

....In view of the fact that Bhimashankar Nagari Sahakari Bank Ltd had ceased to be solvent, all efforts to revive it in close consultation with the Government of Maharashtra had failed and the depositors were being inconvenienced by continued uncertainty, the RBI on May 3, 2012 delivered its order dated April 25, 2012 to the bank cancelling its licence to carry out banking business, an RBI statement said...............

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Nationalised banks NPAs at Rs 59,397 cr: FM

..........RBI collects the information on willful defaulters (non-suit filed accounts) of Rs 25 lakh and above from scheduled commercial banks and all India Notified Institutions on quarterly basis. The number of wilful defaulters, as per guidelines issued by RBI in respect of nationalised banks as on March 31, 2011 is 716

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Cut in base rate better than spread reduction

Since the beginning of this year, banks have been lowering interest rates for home loan borrowers. Union Bank of India (UBI) set the mood for a rate cut in January with a 10-basis-point (bp) reduction in the base rate (100 basis points = one percentage point). After the Reserve Bank of India cut the benchmark lending rate last month, many banks (Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India and ICICI Bank) reduced their base rates by up to 25 bps. A bank can’t lend below its base rate............

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Bond issue a last resort as India frets over rupee

........“With markets testing RBI tolerance for rupee depreciation, the authorities might need to tap other measures in the toolkit to stem the unit's fall. Sovereign bond issuance is one of them, which will beef up the country's dollar reserves,” .....................

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India Inc offers ideas to put India on growth track

......The RBI, to my mind, needs to be very clear to make an announce that will defend the rupee. When they made an announcement some months ago, at around August-September, that they would not defend the rupee, the rupee crashed....................

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Pranab-da, without reforms rupee will head for 60

....The central government has much higher transparency in its spending than the states. The central government’s finances come under public scrutiny and at some levels there is a sense of accountability. The RBI prods and pushes the centre to keep its borrowings down while the market punishes the government for poor finances by taking up government bond yields.......

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7 steps taken by Reserve Bank to support rupee

......The rupee has slumped more than 11 per cent since the start of March, making it the worst performing currency in emerging markets. Following are some steps taken this month by the central bank and the government that impact foreign exchange markets.......

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Rupee on a slippery slope

.....There are limits to what RBI can do. On the one hand, if it does not use foreign exchange reserves to stem the rupee’s decline, there is a risk that the exchange rate will spiral out of control in the face of adverse expectations. On the other hand, large-scale intervention will lead to doubt or even deterioration in the confidence that India can meet its short-term external obligations. This is RBI’s stated position and it has stuck to it. In any case, the corridor between these two positions is quite narrow. That explains the central bank’s “feeble” intervention in the currency market. Its other steps—such as asking exporters to convert 50% of their dollar holdings in the export earner’s foreign currency account and imposing limits on banks in currency futures and options—should be seen in this light......

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RBI may take big bang steps to tame rupee

...The rupee, which opened stronger against the dollar, soon started weakening steadily to close at the day's low. Dealers said that none of the central bank's measures to steady the rupee have had an impact. RBI has exhausted close to $20 billion of its reserves in supporting the rupee. It has allowed corporates to pay more on external borrowings, freed interest rates on non-resident deposits, and cracked down on banks going long on the dollar...........

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RBI watches as rupee's losing streak continues

....“It is likely that in a country with a high current account deficit, the currency would depreciate in an uncertain global environment. It is difficult for the central bank to completely reverse the trend. So, the RBI is attempting only to slow the pace of depreciation,”..............

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Cash-starved MFIs find saviour in IFC

.....“The sector has improved a lot in the past few months following RBI regulations that have brought clarity on investing in the sector. We are seeing signs of growth and the equity investments is proof of that,”

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Check on microfinance

.....The bill gives the RBI rights to grant certificates of registration and cancel them, which will be tantamount to cancelling their license to operate. The RBI can also inspect accounts and impose monetary penalty for non-compliance of the provisions of the proposed legislation. Besides capping rates, the RBI will prescribe methods of loan recovery as well as norms on governance.......

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Bill seeking interest rate cap on MFI lending introduced in Parliament

The Indian government on Tuesday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to empower the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to regulate the micro finance institutions (MFIs) and fix interest rates ceiling on loans to be provided by lenders, reports PTI. The Micro Finance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2012, which was introduced in the House by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, confers power upon the RBI to fix the maximum interest rates that MFIs can charge and also decide on the fair and reasonable method of loan recovery......................

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