......At first glance, it is hard to quarrel with this policy configuration. After all, the external financial shock hit so badly precisely because of imbalances caused by past monetary-fiscal laxities; adjustment means tightening these. There’s little to squabble about fiscal belt-tightening; this was long overdue, so seeing it firmly in the saddle now vis-à-vis budgeted targets is a positive development. The problem is with inflation and monetary policy: Which inflation? How much must interest rates rise to contain food price-triggered inflation expectations and bring back savers from gold?..........
The very purpose of VITALINFO is to provide a platform for wider dissemination of updated information related to and happening of events in and around RBI.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Financial inclusion is not a new dispensation - Dr.Deepali Pant Joshi
Speech by Dr Deepali Pant Joshi, Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India, at the Vth Dun & Bradstreet Conclave on Financial Inclusion, Kolkatta, 28 October 2013
.....Access to finance for those who are getting crowded out of the credit markets is an equally important element. Therefore, the Reserve Bank has reinforced its efforts to improve financial access, especially for small businesses and individual households. The RBI has set up a Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low Income Households under the Chairmanship of Dr. Nachiket Mor a Director on the RBI Central Board of Directors. The mandate of the Mor Committee is to frame a clear and detailed vision of financial Inclusion and Financial Deepening in India and to lay down a set of design principles that will guide the development of institutional frameworks and regulation for ensuring these outcomes..........
Why India should steer clear of sovereign wealth funds - Charan Singh
The Government of India, according to press reports, is considering approaching sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) to invest in India. This is an interesting idea that needs to be examined closely. In the recent financial crisis, SWFs are known to have played a stabilising role but that has not been their historical image. In fact, the threats posed by the SWFs and their intentions were characterised by the ........
Successful inning coming to an end...........
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| File photo |
- C.B. Paunikar, PS to Regional Director
Rejuvenating VITALINFO............
Dear
Mangesh
Viewing
each edition of your VITALINFO is an eye opener, refreshner and rejuvenating. We are all proud of you and bit jealous of
your CONVICTION, COMMITMENT AND PERSEVERANCE IN KEEPING ALL UPDATES AVAILABLE IN
YOUR SITE. I am shortly coming to Pune and will try my best to meet you in
person to congratulate you. Regards.
- P N Nandakumar
Secretary, Reserve Bank Retired Employees Assn Kochi
HDFC Bank launches rural financial literacy initiative in Chhattisgarh
HDFC Bank Ltd had launched its rural Financial Literacy Initiative in Chhattisgarh under the aegis of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at the village of Jamgaon near here. Through this initiative, the bank will conduct a series of two literacy camps in each of its rural branches in Chhattisgarh. This is the first programme to be organised by the bank in the state in the presence of Nirmal Chand, General Manager of the RBI and other senior officials of the bank............
It's raining new notes, coins
.............According to sources, this initiative by RBI is to break the monopoly of money-changers in parts of the city including Manek Chowk, who offer new notes and currencies at a cost. "Many times these money-changers exploit traders and extract unnecessary amounts of new notes", said an official..............
Clarification should end speculation
My View on "I have never applied for citizenship of another co...":
This issue was first raised in ‘public’ by a politician and the ‘gossip’ was enjoyed by some idle mailers. Hopefully, this clarification coming from Rajan will end the speculation. We are forgetting that such uninformed allegations will affect the prestige of Indians as a community. World citizens like Dr Rajan may take it in their stride and take time to explain the real position. But this has an impact on the Indians whom we call ‘NRIs’ who are holding high positions abroad to the mason or tailor from Kerala or Bihar who has just landed in UAE for employment.
- M.G.Warrier
Instant rapport
..................At the Reserve Bank of India too, women have been in leading roles—Shyamala Gopinath, K.J. Udeshi and Usha Thorat have been Deputy Governors. But what makes Arundhati Bhattacharya’s appointment unique is the fact that she heads a 206-year-old institution which is on the cusp of a major overhauling as banking practices are churning not only in India, but globally. As the head of the country’s largest banking organisation—SBI along with its subsidiaries controls more than one fifth of all banking assets in India—she has to strike a balance between the government’s larger vision for the economy and the bank’s vision for its own growth, simultaneously ensuring that the employees remain happy and contented and become a partner in the growth process...............
For bogus charge of fake currency, 2 ITBP men slap Rs. 30-lakh defamation case on top UT officials
..........The branch manager found 91 currency notes of 1,000 each to be fake, and called the police who arrested the two men. The police even procured four-day remand for further interrogation, but when the notes were got checked by the Reserve Bank of India two days later, it was found that "all the suspected forged notes.. [are] genuine". Based on the report, judicial magistrate Aashish Saldi, on May 20, discharged both personnel. They have now said the UT police did nothing to investigate. They said that the truth had come out only after intervention of ITBP officials, who sought the help of the RBI.
Urban cooperative banks misused for money laundering
.............The matter of misuse of UCBs, over which there is dual control by central or state governments through multi-state cooperative societies or state cooperative societies, was discussed during a a recent meeting of Economic Intelligence Council (EIC), chaired by Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The meeting, which was attended by senior officials of Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Finance Ministry, stressed for devising ways to check money laundering through these banks.............
Hapless depositors of urban co-operative banks
..........First, and foremost, there is an urgent need to force the liquidators to do their primary job of submitting the claim to DICGC, get the amount due and disburse the same to the depositors of failed banks without any further delay. If the liquidators are not amenable to the directions they should be replaced without any fear or favour and steps should be taken to appoint liquidators who comply with the orders of the authorities concerned. The DICGC should not only pay the amount of insured deposits against such a claim, but also pay interest at the bank rate on these deposits over and above the insured deposit amount, as the delay is only due to the failure of the government appointed liquidators.........
Bank licence: RBI may miss deadline
...........“I hope to announce the licences within, or soon after, the term of Deputy Governor Anand Sinha, who has been shepherding the process. His term expires in January 2014,” Rajan had said on September 4, the day he took charge of the central bank. The applications have come from a wide range, from conglomerates to micro lenders. RBI has deployed additional hands to screen these. Apart from officials of its department of banking operations and development, which drafted the licence norms, around 20 others are learnt to be involved..............
Foreign banks wait for norms on fully-owned subsidiaries
...........“There was nothing new said yesterday (Tuesday). Earlier, RBI had already clarified subsidiarisation wouldn’t be made mandatory. The promise of near-national treatment has also been made in the past. We will need to see the final guidelines to decide if subsidiarisation makes sense,” .............
Sleep was hard to come by when rupee was plummeting: Raghuram Rajan to NDTV
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that tough measures like raising rates are needed to tackle inflation in India. In an exclusive interview to NDTV's Prannoy Roy, Dr Rajan's message to India Inc is: Bear with us. If we don't fix inflation now, the problem will get worse..........
Rajan may ask govt to help with infra exposure of PSBs
..........RBI has reason to be worried as the government plans to hold at least two major auctions within this fiscal for telecom spectrum and coal blocks. But a clutch of leading public sector banks have informed the RBI they will not be able to lend to companies for these auctions since their infra lending has peaked............
For now RBI is done with rate hike: Rajan
.......A better way of describing what the RBI is doing on interest rates is that " when there is lot of uncertainty you may move a little less than what everybody thinks may be necessary... and also because there are forces that you can't quite estimate which may come in and help or hinder your effort," Rajan said..............
RBI’s heady cocktail
.......... In this way, the RBI expects to address inflation as well as back growth. While growth may be supported by credit-financed personal expenditures, it is unclear why the demand this generates would not add to inflationary pressures just because the repo rate is being hiked. Reading between the lines the argument seems to be that this would result in the higher repo rate “anchoring inflation expectations”, whatever that nebulous phrase may imply.
A mass of jumbled signals
...........If growth were indeed slowing, so would salary and wage increases, leading to tapering of disposable income; and concerns of potential job loss leading to reduction in discretionary spending and propensity to spend, which is at odds with observed segmental inflation. If households were spending more on food, fuel and transport, given a presumed lack of income growth, should not discretionary spends, and hence pricing power, come down? So, the obvious question is: has growth really slowed as the data seems to suggest? Or is there some other source of income which is not getting captured in the data? For RBI, this quandary must be clear and present.............
RBI policy does not help industry: BCIC
............While appreciating that RBI has limited room to manoeuvre given persistently high inflation, BCIC pointed out that GDP will be significantly lower if industrial and service sectors continued to languish at current levels.............
We are in a better position to face tapering: Rajan
......Rajan said the RBI and the government have spent a fair amount of time trying to narrow the Current Account Deficit (CAD). As far as CAD is concerned, he believed, India will be in a comfortable position. “As of yesterday the Foreign Currency Non-Resident Account (Banks) deposits plus capital raising by the banks has reached $ 12 billion.......
RBI Governor Rajan: India isn't in danger of crisis
............Quite unusually for a central banker, Mr Rajan also revealed that although he tries not to comment on the appropriate level of the rupee as he "knows when it has gone too far". In his opinion, 68 rupees per US dollar that was hit at the end of August was "too weak", while 50 is probably "too strong" relative to the fundamentals of the economy. In terms of getting the balance right between fighting inflation and supporting economic growth, Mr Rajan describes the process as "muddling through"...........
RBI rate hike: When Mauni baba takes onus for economy woes
........“Yes, the three Rs were so humble and docile while they were in Delhi,” said Chidu. “Wonder what happened to them as soon as they landed in Mumbai.” “Next time we will appoint my man Monty to the post,” said Mauni baba. “At least he will listen to me and stay silent.” “Yes sir. That sounds like a great idea,” remarked Chidu. “Madam will also like it.” “Also, we should move the Reserve Bank to Delhi, then it will be easier to keep the governors under control.”..........
Back to the government
.........The RBI knows that monetary policy cannot affect food inflation directly, but argues it can influence the consequent build-up of inflationary expectations. This mechanism is much debated among economists, but given the fact that the RBI has now come down clearly on one side of the argument, the government must accept that the ball is in its court; everything depends on its ability to control food inflation...........
Back to a business-as-usual mode: Sunil Kaushal
........The fact that the market reaction to the monetary policy was 'according to expectations' was a compliment to the way RBI managed expectations. However, the governor would have his hands full with the challenges on inflation and,.....
Now NBFCs 'name and shame' guarantors for loan defaulters
Joining banks in naming and shaming wilful loan defaulters, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) have also begun publishing photographs of such borrowers and their guarantors in newspapers. Tata Capital Financial Services Ltd, an NBFC entity from salt-to-software conglomerate Tata group, today published pictures of two persons in connection with default in repayment schedule of Rs 15 crore loan granted to Jalandhar- based Sameet Motors Private Ltd......
SBI board approval for Rs 2k cr capital infusion
.......The SBI board at its meeting held on Wednesday decided to go ahead with the funds infusion, which will be done by way of preferential allotment of equity shares in favour of the government, SBI informed BSE on Wednesday.........
Syndicate Bank to pay interest on monthly basis
HYDERABAD, OCT. 30:
Syndicate Bank has decided to exercise the option of paying interest on a monthly basis from next month, a change from the existing system of quarterly basis. Reserve Bank of India, in its monetary policy on Tuesday, had decided to give banks the option to paying interest on savings deposits and term deposits at intervals shorter than the existing quarterly intervals, since all banks are on core banking platforms..............
TCPSL plans to rollout value-added products
......Last year, Reserve Bank of India had allowed corporates to set up white label ATMs to increase the penetration of ATMs in several areas of the country. TCPSL, among others, had bagged a licence for the same. "By December, we expect the number of indicash branded white label ATMs to touch 1500 and then we hope to begin rolling out value-added services from these ATMs or its sites," .....
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Raghuram Rajan: A Volcker at RBI
..........Rajan is also clear that RBI’s job is to tackle inflation and, Volcker-like, break the back of inflationary expectations that have built up over the past few years. His preferred measure of inflation appears to be the Consumer Price index, not only because it is a more comprehensive gauge than the wholesale index, but also because it is the benchmark on which retail inflationary expectations are formed and against which real returns are measured. ...........I have never applied for citizenship of another country: Raghuram Rajan
...........“I have never applied for a citizenship of another country, have never been a citizenship of another country and I have never taken pledge of allegiance to another country… On occasions I have held an Indian diplomatic passport because my father was in the foreign services and when I have travelled on behalf of the Ministry of Finance.”..........
Expert group on new bank licences to hold meeting on Nov 1
A high-level panel chaired by former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan that will scrutinise applications for new bank licences will hold its first meeting on November 1. Other members of the high-level advisory committee (HLAC) are former RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat, former Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman C B Bhave, and Nachiket M Mor, director of the Central Board of Directors of RBI, Governor Raghuram Rajan said. The committee will hold its first meeting on November 1, Rajan said today in the RBI's Second Quarter Review of Monetary............
Bankers ask RBI to avoid regulatory arbitrage in specialised banking licence
..........."In today's meeting, they (RBI) were wanting to hear our views. The biggest issue is that we should not disturb the equation of regulation and create a regulatory arbitrage. When we talk of (specialised) licensing, the biggest thing that needs to be kept in mind is that we do not allow a regulatory arbitrage to get created. That is the point that was really made," Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer of the country's largest private lender ICICI Bank, said.........
Red carpet welcome
..........But Raghuram Rajan’s statement that now foreign banks could take-over Indian banks, indicates looming dangers to the Indian banking system. It is an open secret that banks abroad, especially European and American banks are going bankrupt, losing confidence of the people. Our prime minister Manmohan Singh has also been saying very proudly that Indian banking systems is one of the safest banking systems and is insulated from the global financial upheavals. And now the present RBI governor’s endeavor to allow foreign banks to take over Indian banks, may create dangers to the existence of the ‘safe’ Indian banking system. ...........
‘People still unaware of banking Lok Pal’
The banking regulator, Lok Pal of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had received over 3,900 complaints, most of them related to ATMs against both private and public sector banks functioning in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. The banks included SBI, PNB, HDFC, and ICICI in most cases, said Ashok Kumar, AGM, RBI. Bank customers lodged complaints with the RBI Lok Pal, Chandigarh, after erring banks did not take remedial measures. But customers in Himachal had little awareness about the banking Lok Pal as 98 per cent complaints were lodged by customers in Punjab, Chandigarh and three district of Haryana covered under the Lokpal in the region, said the AGM.
These facts came to light here as the RBI Lokpal has staged an exhibition at the Kullu Dasehra ground to create awareness among people of the state. “We have put the exhibition last year here as well to create awareness about the Lok Pal and how to get redressal of complaints against erring banks,” said Ashok, who is handling the exhibition here. He said most complaints related to the ATM withdrawals. The amount was debited from customer’s bank account even when cash was not dispensed by the ATM. In such case, dispute arose when two banks were involved — the account holder bank and the ATM withdrawal bank — he added.
Ashok said bank account holders should know that the Lok Pal entertained complaint against a bank if a customer was account holder of a bank concerned and had apprised the bank about the complaint. A customer could file a complaint with the Lok Pal and await its redressal within one month, he added. He said more than 95 per cent complaints had been redressed by the Lok Pal. “If the Lok Pal does not redress the complaint in time, the customer can lodge an appeal before the RBI Deputy Governor to get justice,” he added. He said, “The RBI imposes fine on erring banks and orders repayment of amount along with the penalty as provided under the provisions of the Lok Pal.”
The Tribune
RBI asks banks to charge for SMS alerts on actual usage basis
........."Banks are advised to leverage the technology available with them and the telecom service providers to ensure that such (SMS) charges are levied on all customers on actual usage basis," the Reserve Bank of India said in its Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14...............
Frequency freedom
...........“As all commercial banks are now on core banking platforms, it has been decided to give banks the option to pay interest on savings deposits and term deposits at intervals shorter than quarterly intervals,” RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said in the second quarter review of the monetary policy for 2013-14.................
Banks asked not to pay over Rs. 50,000 in cash for at-par cheques
To mitigate the risk of money laundering and terror funding, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks not to pay more than Rs 50,000 in cash to customers holding at-par cheques............
RBI to launch inflation-indexed national saving securities
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to launch two new instruments by the end of the current calendar year namely Inflation Indexed National Saving Securities (IINSSs) and cash settled 10-year Interest Rate Futures (IRFs). However, the street opines these two instruments may not find significant investors interest..............
Dr Rajan, will RBI look after consumer protection finally?
.......It’s good to see that Rajan is talking about skill upgradation and certification of the RBI staff and of the entities RBI regulates. But he needs to go much further than just consolidating instructions, getting bankers certified and issuing fresh guidelines. There is an urgent need to see the rot in the bank branches and the harm that toxic retail financial products are doing to households that have been tricked into investing in them by their bankers...........
The RBI tweaks it right - A.Seshan
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| The option of living with inflation is no longer seen as an option |
............The Reserve Bank of India should be congratulated for coming out with a realistic policy review supported by a document that leaves no illusion in the minds of the readers as to the state of the economy. It has brought down the estimate of the growth rate of the economy to 5.0 per cent and raised the projected consumer inflation to 9 per cent..................
RBI's overdrive to tame inflation may backfire - Charan Singh
The limits of star power
.......The central bank governor can't sort out the trade deficit, the fiscal deficit or the lagging education system. These are among the persistent issues that have plagued India's growth. But, a central bank governor can inspire confidence that he can manage financial stability and has the tools to address a potential crisis. So far, it looks like Mr Rajan has done a lot in just two months. But, can he prevent a crisis? And will the Rajan rally last?............
Rajan toes the Subbarao line
Rajan does a Subbarao, sacrifices growth to control inflation
.....But the second quarter policy has nothing in it to help revive growth. Rajan is following his predecessor, D Subbarao’s footsteps in fighting inflation and sacrificing growth. We very well know where this policy landed us. For that, we will have to wait for his development policies to be unveiled. Till then we will continue to move with the governor’s foot on the brake pedal...........
Finance ministry remains silent on RBI's actions
......In the past the finance ministry had openly expressed its displeasure over repo rate increase or status quo maintained by the then RBI governor D Subbarao but the official said now the priorities have changed and finance ministry also realizes that taming inflation is also important along with GDP growth.............
Rangarajan differs with RBI on inflation projection
.............."Well I think the inflation rate may not be as high as (RBI) report seems to suggest. I would really think as far as WPI is concerned, it will be around 5.5 to 6%. I don't think that it will exceed 6%...I expect the WPI as well as CPI to remain at slightly lower level than indicated," ........
Maturing with Rajan
Saving the Rupee: 10 questions for Raghuram Rajan
........To anybody who understood even the very basic tenets of Austrian Economics, it was amply evident that the previous two RBI Governors, Reddy and Subba Rao, were running highly inflationary policies at the behest of their political masters. But the financial media being filled with people who probably haven’t even heard of Austrian Economics, were very dutiful in paying encomiums to these RBI governors. If anything, they were out-competing in complimenting them. Not only did the previous two RBI Governors debase the Indian currency enormously and continuously over their tenures, their understanding of basic economics in itself was highly questionable..........
Read...................
IS GOVERNOR RAJAN SHYING AWAY FROM COMMITMENT?
........What is of surprise is the lack of clear - cut commitment on important macroeconomic issues -- growth and inflation. It was expected that Raghuram Rajan would follow the central bank governor’s ‘ Dharma’ of anchoring inflation expectations. With just a mention of both rising WPI and CPI, it is unclear what the R B I Governor wishes to focus on...........
RBI rate hike: Will North block mandarins get Rajan’s message?
Rajan unveils ‘five pillars’ to strengthen banking system
Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday unveiled his five-point plan to overhaul the RBI's developmental measures over the next few quarters. The first of the "five pillars" of the plan is clarifying and strengthening the monetary policy framework..............
5% GDP growth wishful thinking; trajectory at around 4.5%
........On 29th October, we have been told what RBI itself thinks. There is a confidence interval, but RBI expects 5% for the full year. If you look at the latest round of projections, everyone outside the government expects growth at less than 5%. Finance Ministry expects 5 to 5.5% (at the time of the budget, talk was of 6.7%) and Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council expects 5.3%. To show its independence from government, RBI is borderline at 5%. In Q1 we had 4.4%, say 4.5%. Q2 is over..................
Read - ET
Rajan cuts to the chase
If simplicity is the greatest form of sophistication, Raghuram Rajan has been doing just that by making small and nuanced changes in the policy document, to the delight of seasoned policy watchers and even those who are trying to de-code it for the first time. Rajan's intention of presenting a clear and precise policy document that clearly lays out the road map for future monetary actions builds on the policy framework he outlined when he took charge of the governor's office.......
Why higher interest rates may eventually be good for growth
.......The stock of financial savings by households has almost been stagnant in recent years because of the shift to real estate and gold—which means that Indian companies could face borrowing constraints when the economic cycle turns. Higher real interest rates on financial assets are a useful way to convince ordinary Indian savers to move money back into the banking system, as inflation comes down and nominal interest rates rise......
Costly mistake
What Raghuram Rajan said on onions
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan may not have been expecting a pointed question on onion prices during the press interaction post the central bank's second quarter monetary policy review, where it hiked repo rate- the rate at which it lends short term money to banks by 0.25 per cent, but the question did come up...........
Why Raghuram Rajan needs to call Sachin Pilot, the minister of corporate affairs
................However, much contrary to the RBI’s intent of encouraging the bond market, the scope for non-banking non-financial companies to issue corporate bonds is almost completely dried up, with the rules for the public deposits, draft of which was unveiled by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs recently. For those who are wondering as to why public deposit rules affect corporate bonds, it must be understood that in India, public deposits include corporate bonds too, unless the bonds fall in one of the exempted categories.........
RBI policy: Rajan’s war on inflation signals UPA’s death knell
.........The RBI’s policy agenda is amply clear. After two successive rate hikes in less than two months since Rajan took over as Governor, he has signalled his hawkish intent to beat down inflation even if it means sacrificing growth. The bad news for the government is that Rajan’s hammer (interest rates) will only have a limited impact on inflation..............
Rajan Needs Help From Delhi in Inflation Fight
......If India wants to get out of this rut New Delhi and the
Mumbai-based RBI have to work together. New Delhi needs to open its
economy more and lower government spending which is pushing up interest rates
and demand, economists said. The central government also needs to help
encourage investment in the country’s overburdened supply chains, roads, ports
and power plants which exacerbate inflation by adding to costs of delivery and
production...
Increase in term repo rate is a positive step: Pratip Chaudhuri, SBI
......So having increased the term repo rate is a positive which takes the country into the money market more towards the term market. But the RBI has been cautious because they are not complacent on the exchange part because ......
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
RBI and transparency in policies - Charan Singh
Superman or not, Raghuram Rajan has indeed made a difference
Read..........
Is it time for members of Dr Chakrabarty Financial Inclusion Committee to resign en masse?
........So, I feel that the time is now ripe for the Dr KC Chakrabarty headed financial inclusion committee (appointed in 11 October 2012) to resign en masse so that the Dr Nachiket Mor chaired concurrent financial inclusion committee (appointed on 23 September 2013) gets a free reign to pursue its mandate in a comprehensive manner. I am sure that the respected governor of the RBI, the deputy governors’ and independent board members of the RBI will agree on the need to save scare resources (at a time of economic crisis such as this) and not have two high powered committees on the financial inclusion working concurrently at the RBI!.......
PRATHYASA
Veterans like Shri P.P.R.Nayar, Shri Sitendra Kumar, Shri L.R.Parab,
Shri G. Mohandas (Chennai) have also written strongly on the issue of pension
updation.......
Read............ - A bulletin of Reserve Bank Retired Employees Association, Kochi
FinMin relaxes norms for top jobs in govt banks
...........The selection committee is headed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan and includes officials from finance ministry and academic world. According to banking industry sources, the new RBI governor is likely to break the tradition of sending his nominee (which is a deputy governor) and would be himself present during the interviews and conduct them. The interviews will be conducted at State Bank of India head office in Mumbai, and not in New Delhi as earlier practiced.........
All-women bank gets branch in iconic Mumbai tower
The iconic Air India building at Nariman Point overlooking the Arabian Sea would house India’s first state-owned women-only Bharatiya Mahila Bank. The ground floor of the sprawling building is already being renovated to house the bank’s Mumbai branch, which is all set to start operations next month. Women employees from other public sector banks have been invited to join the mahila bank on deputation or resign from their current positions to join the bank without interruption of service.........
Next, please?
........Rumours are also doing the rounds that financial services secretary Rajiv Takru might be moved into North Block as expenditure secretary and Das could go to the banking division in his place.
Finance Minister Sachin?
Tea Leaves
......Were RBI to read the tea leaves right, despite there being ‘upside risk’ to inflation rising, producers have virtually no pricing power—indeed, given the rupee stabilising, some part of the inflation potential has been taken care of. Indeed, with the median FY14 forecast of GDP growth being cut from 5.7% in the last survey to 4.8% now and from 6.5% to 5.8% for FY15, it is clear the economy needs a growth shot.........
Banks to recast crop loan in flood-hit areas
......Behera urged the commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks to restructure existing loans at affected areas as per Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) guidelines. Banks should also stress on sanctioning fresh loans for the affected farmers to help resume normal business, he added. Besides, he advised the banks to focus on crop finance for the Rabi season and meet the annual credit target for the agriculture and allied sectors in 2013-14...........
Four PSU banks face scrutiny for fall in agriculture credit
Four public sector banks may come under the finance ministry's scrutiny for reporting a fall in credit to agriculture, designated as a priority sector for lending by the Reserve Bank of India. .......
RBI shields bank-defaulters
.............Making names public will save private parties from giving loans to defaulters thus also resulting in checking large number court-cases filed for loan-recoveries by individuals and private parties. Central Information Commission (CIC) in larger public-interest should decide petition against RBI in this regard on propriety basis.
Depositors’ body seeks inflation-linked saving scheme
.........“In substance, the depositors have experienced a negative rate of return (adjusted to the double digit annualised consumer price index-based inflation). This has not only eroded the value of depositors’ savings, but has also shaken their confidence in being able to earn a steady real interest income on their savings with banks.”.........
Walking a tightrope between depositors and deposits
Learning its lessons from the collapse of several collective investment schemes in recent times run by fly-by-night “companies,” the government has proposed stringent rules under the new Companies Act 2013 to protect depositors. Notified last week, these rules propose that companies (other than non-banking finance companies) should henceforth insure the deposits that they take from the public............
Political uncertainties impacting capital markets: RBI
Political developments on account of the forthcoming elections, in addition to other domestic and global factors, are impacting the capital markets, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said today..........
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