NABARD and RBI - A 30-Year Legacy Being Upturned

The effort to edge out the Reserve Bank of India from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development's shareholding does not bode well for the future of agricultural and rural credit in the country. This is particularly so, if the past experience with the Industrial Development Bank of India and the Unit Trust of India is any guide....

...... The know-all babus of the banking division of the finance ministry, who neither have an understanding of banking and development finance nor the experience, seek to keep out the RBI from NABARD and bring the institution completely under its control. Through this amendment it also seeks to subvert the autonomy of the institution, render the board powerless and emasculate its functioning. The stellar achievements of NABARD in the 30 years of its existence have been principally due to the relative freedom of ­operation permitted by the existing Act, the guidance of its board and the presence and support of the RBI as its stakeholder. All these are being sought to be upturned. An institutional legacy is sought to be obliterated by petty-minded and self-serving bureaucrats for whom “institution building” and “vision” are esoteric concepts. It is therefore in the fitness of the things to ensure that the RBI’s role as a shareholder of NABARD continues in the overall interest of the agricultural and rural finance sector of the country. ­Development practitioners, civil society activists, parliamentarians, public persons and the farmers of the country should raise their voice so that a 30-year legacy of the people is not lost forever.........

- P S Rao (psrao.99@rediffmail.com) - Pune-based development professional who has worked with the RBI and NABARD

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Microfinance: The sole tool for Rural Economic Independence

......As the Banks and Financial Institutions don’t have a direct say in the rural market, the funds are first given to the mentioned organizations which then direct the fund to the respective class based on a mutual perspective. The assets based lending is done by the Banks and financial institutions to cater to the needs based on a specified set of directives. Such directives are issued by the regulators like RBI and the Finance Ministry and some refinement is also done by the respective fund providers.......

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RBI stonewalls RTI activists on derivatives fraud

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Read - DNA

Eye view on “Foreign Exchange for you”

Workshop-cum-Interface on 

“Foreign Exchange for you” 

organised  by the RBI Jaipur

21 September 2012

CRR cut to pare reliance on bulk deposits: Mallya

Chennai : The cut in cash reserve ratio (CRR) could reduce the need of the banks to go in for large bulk deposits at high rates, Bank of Baroda Chairman and Managing Director M. D. Mallya said here on Monday.......

Read - The Hindu

CRR is an effective tool to cut interest rates: SBI chief

......“We have been consistently of the view that the correlation of the CRR and the bank lending rate is very strong, and if the objective is to reduce the bank lending rate, then CRR cut is possibly the most effective instrument for this purpose,......

Read - The Hindu

Chidu winks, Subbu smiles: Odds on rate cut improve

Are North Block and Mint Street back to bhai-bhai terms? Will we see a rate cut on 30 October? 

The short answer: the chances are 60:40 in favour of a cut, since the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are back on talking terms......

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......The RBI had issued a show cause notice to the Talod Nagarik Sahakari Bank in response to which the bank had submitted a written reply. "After considering the facts of the case, the bank’s reply and also personal submissions in the matter, RBI came to the conclusion that the violation was substantiated and warranted imposition of penalty," the banking regulator stated.......

Read - BS

Anytime-anywhere banking, courtesy RBI

......The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the organisation set up by the RBI for all retail payments, has now launched the inter-bank mobile payment service for all merchants. This will allow customers to pay their bills for as little as 25 paise for each transaction. NPCI says, mobile phones will be the next walking talking bank. AP Hota, MD and CEO of National Payments Corporation of India said, "Real time money transfer is almost like RTGS for common man. It operates 24*7 and is operational on holidays."......

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SBI, ICICI lead the pack as m-banking gains currency

......Indeed, there is no comparison between m-banking and the use of credit and debit cards, but experts say the potential of the handheld device in the banking space is significant even as RBI is cautiously moving ahead.......

Read - Mint

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Addressing the media, Pratip Chaudhuri, Chairman State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday termed the RBI's move to cut CRR in its monetary policy review as significant.......

Read - ET

National Housing Bank may cut home loan rate

...... "More than our cost of funds, it is a conscious decision to signal a lower interest rates, which will also result in higher demand and more growth for the industry," NHB chairman and managing director R V Verma told TOI over the phone. Although the housing finance institution's signaling may not have the same impact as RBI, it still holds sway over HFCs, especially.....

Read - TOI

Bank of Baroda to hire 22,000 employees

......According to RBI, the banking sector is expected to grow by 17 percent this year. But Bank of Baroda will out grow the industry's average growth, Mallya said.......

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