RBI school quiz city edition held

GUWAHATI, Oct 15 – The Guwahati edition of Reserve Bank of India’s all-India RBI Inter-school Quiz was conducted today at the District Library auditorium. Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Rajgarh, Guwahati was declared as the winner of the quarterfinal. Barry O’Brien conducted the quiz. P.K.Jena, Regional Director for North Eastern States, RBI, Guwahati, inaugurated the event in the presence of a large gathering consisting of students, parents, and teachers of various schools of the city. A total of 33 schools participated in the event. There were two rounds – the first being the pre-quarterfinal which was a written test, where teams were required to answer the questions by writing in the answer sheets provided to them. Six teams qualified to participate in the quarterfinal round, which was an audio-visual round. The selected team will now participate in the zonal final to be held in November. The Regional Director, RBI, and the Director, Indian Institute of Bank Management, handed over the prizes to all the winners. All the participants were given attractive mementos, RBI’s special brochures and participation certificates. After the elimination round in all the 33 cities, one team from each of these places will be selected to represent in the zonal finals which would be conducted in mid-November and the national final will be held in Mumbai in December.

The Assam Tribune

RBI cautions public against mischievous mails

......"It has come to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India that an email has been sent in its name from mail id: Reserve Bank Of India and signed by RBI, Security Team offering a 'new online security protection' called 'Netsecured' to "reduce fraud and theft in various banking system (and) to enable all customer's online banking in all Indian Banks to get protected and Secured," an RBI release said.......

Read - Hindustan Times

Coin exhibition attracts investors

KANPUR: Mudra Mahotsava, a coin and currency exhibition, organized by UP Numismatic Society, attracted a large number of investors. An online auction was held on the last day of the exhibition on Sunday.  Numismatics, which earlier used to be a hobby of schoolchildren, had been recreated as an alternative insurance avenue designed to endure economic crisis. People are keen interest in such exhibitions. .......

Read - TOI

New RBI fellowship opens today, here’s more about it

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today announced a National Fellowship Scheme, in the name of Prof. K N Raj, a noted economist. RBI, on its website said: ‘The objective of this scheme is to encourage distinguished research scholars in India or abroad to work in academic institutions in India for a short period and to facilitate interaction between the scholar and other faculties of the institution in which the scholar would work.’..........

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MSMEs see no light at the end of the loan tunnel

The present spell of power crisis in most parts of the State has forced micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to approach the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with an interesting request: suspend the application of non-performing asset (NPA) norms till March 2013. Last week, associations representing MSMEs met RBI Regional Director N.S. Viswanathan in Chennai to press their case.......

Read - The Hindu

India’s reforms: don’t stop now

......RBI may find this idea too radical. Besides, supervision of different types of banks is not easy. But one thing is for sure that banking licence should be on tap and the “fit and proper” entities should be continuously allowed to set up banks. We need many of them.........

Read - FT

ICICI Bank looks to acquire Karnataka Bank

The country’s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, is learnt to have submitted a formal proposal to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to acquire Karnataka Bank, an old and listed private sector bank with a nationwide presence and over 500 branches. In May 2010, ICICI Bank had acquired Bank of Rajasthan, another old bank. According to sources close to the development, Kotak Bank, one of the new private sector banks, too had evinced interest in the 88-year old Karnataka Bank, but it is not clear if it has approached the banking regulator with a formal proposal. A possible acquisition of the bank has, in fact, been talked about for almost two years now. RBI did not respond to a detailed questionnaire mailed to it earlier in the day........

Read - Indian Express

IDI AND NOT FDI

Internal direct investment, rather than the foreign direct investment is needed in a developing country like India to mobilise the capital for investment and establishment of both SSIs and large scale industries to provide employment on a large-scale. When the Indian banks are in a position to infuse Rs. 17,000 crore for monetary liquidity because of reduction of CRR by 25 base points in September, as stated by the RBI Governor, there is no need for FDI.

- Rajram Palluru, Visakhapatnam (The Hindu)

PSL norms for foreign banks: K C Chakrabarty dismisses criticism

.......Dismissing criticism of RBI's stance of treating foreign banks at par with domestic peers with regard to priority sector lending, RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty today said overseas lenders who have been in India for over a hundred years should not complain about this issue.......... 

Read - ET

Govt, RBI mull ways to introduce Islamic banking

...........Supporters of Islamic banking say its implementation will lead to money coming in from organizations that can only make Shariah-compliant investments. Critics say it will destabilize the secular nature of the country’s banking system by imposing the laws of one religion, besides facilitating terror funding. D.K. Mittal, financial services secretary, declined to say whether the government was considering any change in laws to facilitate Islamic banking, saying it’s a “larger issue”. An email to RBI asking about the steps being taken to study the proposal was unanswered...........

Read - Mint

More innovation needed in priority sector lending: RBI

Foreign banks will bring more innovation in priority sector lending space and fill the void left by the “inefficiency” of public sector banks, K. C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, said. “We think they will bring new products, new services and innovation. More innovation is required in agriculture and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) rather than in the derivatives markets,” he said at the 2nd FT-YES Bank International Banking Summit.........

Read - HBL

Basel's impact on GDP temporary: Anand Sinha

Citing a study by the Basel Committee, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Anand Sinha said that the growth in gross domestic product (GDP) would dip by 0.22 per cent if Basel III was fully phased in 35 quarters. He was, however, quick to add that the course of GDP growth would shift back to the original path after 35 quarters.

Basel is the international regulatory framework for banks.....

Read - BS

Basel III's impact on GDP seen as a temporary phenomena

If Basel III is fully phased in 35 quarters the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will dip by 0.22% over 35 quarters, said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Anand Sinha mentioning about at a study done by Basel Committee. However, according to Sinha after this period is over the growth path will shift back to the original trend path. Speaking at the the Financial Times-Yes Bank organised banking summit Sinha said the pursuit of financial stability has costs in terms of growth. “The concern that is often voiced is that the capital buffer on the back of much higher level of equity required in the capital structure as per Basel III would leave banks with substantially lower return on equity and it would become difficult to retain investor's interest rendering capital raising difficult,” said Sinha........

Read - BS

Banks may find it tough to step up infra lending: RBI Dy Governor

......Capital augmentation for banks in future could be a challenge and this could constrain them from increasing their lending to infrastructure, cautioned a top Reserve Bank of India official. According to H.R. Khan, Deputy Governor, "There are two factors limiting the ability of the banks (to lend to infrastructure sector)..........

Read - HBL

SC refuses to stay FDI in retail, gives RBI 2 weeks to amend FEMA rules

.....The apex court on October 5 had sought the assistance of top law officers in hearing the PIL filed by Sharma against opening the multi-brand retail sector to FDI, saying there was a need for clarification since some link is missing pertaining to RBI regulation on the issue. The bench said RBI should have amended the FEMA regulations before the implementation of FDI policy and asked the banking regulator to take steps to remove the lacunae in the way of giving a final shape to the policy. "At least it can be said that it is an irregularity that is curable and as soon as amendment is brought, it would be cured," the bench said........

Read - Business Today

Why RBI may have lifted cap on loans against NRI deposits?

......Now, the RBI has lifted the cap again and allowed either the account holder or a third party to extend the balance in account. “Probably, the purpose of the limiting loan has been achieved now. It may have to do with liquidity in the system,'' he said. These loans are availed of by NRIs when they want to make investments in India but do not want to break their deposits, as it would attract penalty for premature withdrawal...........

Read - BS

Inflation inches up, hope of rate cut fades

.....Bank of Baroda chief economist, Rupa Rege Nitsure said, “The situation is not good and inflation is bound to remain high. It is possible that RBI will take the middle path of only lowering cash reserve ratio (CRR).” CRR is a zero interest balance that banks maintain with RBI against their deposits.......

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There is a case for a cut in CRR by a further 25 basis points: Ananth Narayan

Ananth Narayan, co-head of wholesale banking, South Asia, at Standard Chartered Bank, is of the view that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may either cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR) or indicate further open-market operations (OMOs) in the second quarter review of the monetary policy later this month........

Read - BS

RBI October policy review: Relief for borrowers unlikely

A Rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India now seems more unlikely when Governor D Subbarao releases the half-yearly monetary policy review on October 30. His tough stance on inflation is likely to prevent him from cutting the repo rate, when headline inflation is at a 10-month high. Subbarao has harped on “the containment of inflation and anchoring of inflation expectations” as his primary objective.......

Read - Indian Express

Hope RBI will be more benevolent with monetary policy: Arvind Mayaram

NEW DELHI: Exuding confidence that inflation would moderate by March, Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram has suggested that RBI be more "benevolent" in its monetary policy stance in wake of recent steps to help the economic growth. "We estimate that inflation will begin to moderate sometime in January and by March we will see full impact of moderation in inflation with the steps are being taken," he told Bloomberg Television in Tokyo......

Read - ET

The EMI club

.....In this face-off between the government and RBI, what is overlooked is the plight of those who have incurred equated monthly instalments (EMI) to either fund higher education, the acquisition of a house, or a means of transport..........

Read - Mint

STFC to foray into gold loan busines

Truck finance company Shriram Transport Finance Company (STFC) plans to enter the gold loan business from November. But the company will not compete with established players such as Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance, as the new service will be limited to existing customers. “We are doing this entirely for the benefit of our existing customer, so he doesn’t need to go out for a gold loan if he needs it,” said Umesh Revankar, managing director and CEO..........

Read - BS

Why robert vadras win

...........Instead of launching an inquiry, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),KC Chakrabarty assures us that Kingfisher Airlines “does not pose any systemic risk tothebanking system.” Does this mean that RBI will wait until the system is at risk and then organise a bailout at taxpayers’ expense? Is it practical for the mango-people to approach the courts to ask why the watchdog failed even to bark, far from biting?  .............

Read - Moneylife