Why isn’t anyone accepting Rs.5 notes in Hyderabad?

.........While the 50ps coin presents a minor problem, the issue of the 5-rupee note is yet to receive clarity. Most businesses do not accept 5-rupee notes, declaring that the “banks don’t take them anymore.” Countering this, officials from the RBI Hyderabad insist that no such move to phase out 5-rupee notes has been undertaken so far. “In the case of phased out notes or coins, you will realise that it is only the coins below 25 paise that have been phased out. The 1-rupee, 2-rupee and 5-rupee as well as the 50ps coins are still legal,” said an official of the RBI..................

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RBI not to ban banks from selling gold coins

.............Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting at the College of Agricultural Banking here, Subbarao said that he recognised that the attractiveness of gold was a consequence of high inflation, but pointed out the need to invest in financial savings which is good for the economy........

Read - HBL

Don’t leave banking to machines - V.K.Sharma, former Executive Director

..........Therefore, the key in leveraging technology in banking is humans being in control, command and on top of technology and not the other way around. We need to resist the temptation of cutting corners when it comes to investing in technology in-house as opposed to mindless, indiscriminate and injudicious outsourcing driven and motivated only by considerations of cutting costs to the bone at any cost.

Read - HBL

Are Depositors at the Mercy of Bank IT Systems?

Far too many glitches in banks' IT systems affect consumers adversely. Who checks whether redressal systems exist and operate in a fair and equitable manner? RBI should work at depositors' protection instead of sitting in an ivory tower and producing reports on "disincentivising cheque usage" by penalising depositors.......

Read - Moneylife

Best Practices To Help Banks In India Protect Cardholder Info

In light of cyber attacks getting increasingly targeted against financial institutions and fraudulent card use becoming more frequent in India, the Reserve Bank of India, India’s central bank, has mandated that banks in India put in place additional factor of authentication for all card not present (CNP) transactions, and introduce security measures to safeguard their customers against cyber attacks and misuse of electronic payment systems...........

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Doubts on Inflation Index Bonds? RBI’s FAQs out

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) plan to launch Inflation Indexed Bonds (IIBs) is old news and a lot has been written about . However, little was known about the fine points. The RBI has sought to bring some clarity on the scheme by bringing out a set of FAQ, we bring you ten most important fine points, you should know:............

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Exchange of Torn Currency

...... RBI’s reach with its presence restricted to just 19 centres is quite limited and commercial banks with their vide network of branches are better positioned to meet the requirements of common persons relating to currency and coins. The rationale behind the proposed move is to better serve the interest of the common person. However, RBI will continue to manage the distribution of bank notes and coins through the currency chests and bank branches.........

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PF set to cover all pay, not just basic

You may end up saving more in the months ahead with the Employees Provident Fund Organization getting ready to re-notify a new definition of “compensation” that will include all your allowances, amid intense lobbying against the move by industry bodies...............

 Read - TOI

My View on book review - 'Financial Policies'

I had seen your review early this morning.It is far too generous.Characteristic of you is to  set out things in a manner in which the reader is tempted to take a look at the book.This is the first review to appear and  I deeply appreciate your taking time to write the review.
Warm regards,
S.S.Tarapore

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Undoubtedly, this is an excellent review. I hold SST in high regard and used to have lot of interaction with him while he was E D and also D G. I must buy this book for my personal library as it covers almost the same period and problems, I have lived in/with. Hearty  congratulations!

Love and regards-----------------------------P B Kulkarni

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Dear Shri Ramachandran:

I read your review of  SST's book which I have gone through some time ago. The review does full justice to the author and to the contents of the book. As usual you have been objective and to the point. Congratulations.

Regards,

Vasudevan

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--  It is an arduous task to review a book containing 64 chapters .The job becomes more difficult when the author is SST who is precise ,clear and forceful.To leave out anything would be a painful decision Within these limitations you have done an excellent job..We must consider ourselves lucky to have known SST a man of great wisdom,courage to present facts without any fear and to crown it all abundant humility. May God give him good health and a long life

 Unni 

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Excellent review which gives a clear summary of the book which sounds very good. I would like to read the chapter with reference to Hayek. If  possible please xerox it for me later. Congrats on a superb performance.  Meenakshi  Tyagarajan

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Respected PPR thank you brilliant review.Dr Tarapore has a brilliant mind he is a towering colossus an astute statesman a quintessential statesman and is a fantastic human being he is very generous with time and actually takes the time to mentor and most by precept -I very greatly admire him and congratulate you on the review. Warm regards

 Deepali Pant Joshi

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As Mr Tarapore has mastery over economic and monetary policies , you have  mastery on reviewing books authored by veteran economists and this latest review has diligently brought out in a few words what Mr Tarapore has covered in his books, of course leaving the anxiety for the readers to have a complete reading of the contents of the book. Excellent effort and deserves appreciation.

With regards,
Dr.T.V.Gopalakrishnan 

Cobrapost exposures: What next? - M.G.Warrier

...........On an earlier occasion (Seventh Nurul Matin Memorial Lecture, Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management, Dhaka, 2007) speaking on “Ethics in Banking” Dr Jalan had this to say: “Adherence to the ‘Rule of Law’ in a democratic society is an essential minimum requirement of ethical behaviour” He agreed with Professor Nurul Islam who had observed on the same dais that “…..ethics in banking, economic transactions and in society in general, are all interrelated. The solution needs to cover all related areas, including the systematic political factors.” ...........

Read - Moneylife

Risks in New Banks Licensing -- Dr.T.V.Gopalakrishnan

.........RBI cannot take any regulatory risk damaging its own reputation as happened in the case of GTB in late 1990s.The fit and proper criteria of Directors of GTB was conveniently ignored and the bank had to be finally closed by merging it with OBCLtd in 2004. It is going to be a litmus test for RBI for  issue of licenses to Corporates to start banks.............

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13 co-op banks turned insolvent last fiscal

As many as 13 cooperative banks failed in 2012-13, resulting in credit insurance company DICGC paying nearly Rs 160 crore to depositors. Among the 13 cooperative banks, which failed to repay deposits to customers, nine are from Maharashtra, two from Gujarat and one each from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha............

Read - HBL

Reserve Bank Cancels the Licence of Arjun Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Solapur, (Maharashtra)

......Therefore, RBI took the extreme measure of cancelling the licence of the bank in the interest of bank's depositors. With the cancellation of licence and commencement of liquidation proceedings, the process of paying the depositors of the Arjun Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd, Solapur, (Maharashtra)) the amount insured as per the DICGC Act, will be set in motion subject to the terms and conditions of the Deposit Insurance Scheme. Consequent to the cancellation of its licence, Arjun Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Solapur, (Maharashtra) is prohibited from carrying on ‘banking business’ as defined in section 5(b) of the Act........

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BofA-ML expects RBI to cut rates in June

...."We think that the RBI cannot afford to wait much longer as the primary liquidity injected today will drive deposit growth six months later,..............

Read - Business Today

ICICI bid to stretch Kamath stint

 ICICI Bank intends to ask the Reserve Bank of India to relax its 70-year age limit for bank chairmen in order to give Kundapur Vaman Kamath the opportunity to stay on as chairman of the country’s second largest commercial bank until 2019.........

Read - The Telegraph

Fresh row in bank CMD appointments

Fresh controversy has broken out over appointments of new bank chiefs after the finance ministry changed an earlier proposal for appointments of at least half-a-dozen chairmen of public sector lenders. At the centre of the row is the change in the appointment policy for IDBI Bank CMD, where the ministry had decided against moving an existing bank chief to the Mumbai-based bank........

Read - TOI

An Analysis Of Financial Sector Reforms

.....India has been a witness to a sea change in the way banking has been done in the past more than two decades. Since 1991, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took steps to reform the Indian banking system at a measured pace so that growth could be achieved without exposure to any systemic risks. Some of these initiatives were deregulation of interest rates, dilution of the government stake in public sector banks (PSBs), guidelines being issued for risk management, asset classification, and provisioning. Technology has made tremendous impact in banking.................

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Central bank may switch to reverse repo if rains are normal

..........The RBI governor D. Subbarao has pointed out in his recent analyst conference call that “at the moment you recognize that we are still maintaining an anti-inflation stance. And as we have indicated, inflation threat is still very much there. There are a number of upside risk factors that could potentially come into play, so the expectation should be that liquidity will be in deficit for the next few months at least. How much (inflation moderation) is an open question. How much it comes down and whether we assess that decline in inflation to be pure sustained and durable, it will depend on that judgement”.............

Read - Mint

Gold’s journey in the last two decades…

The last 20 years have been spectacular for gold. From the world economic crisis to increasing investment demand and tight supplies, there were many reasons for the yellow metal’s glitter. If you had invested in gold in 1993, you would be sitting on a fortune now with the metal’s price having risen 400 per cent. ...........

Read - HBL

Banks cry foul as gold importers raise premium

..............“With banks almost stopping import of gold, there is a huge demand-supply mismatch, which has pushed up the premium. The objective of RBI, which was to discourage gold import, is not met,” ...............

Read | Business Standard

Indian Central Bank Kills "Trillion Rupee Gold Coin" Idea, Enforces More Gold Controls

.........Ironically, without imposing specific dimensional limitations, there was the risk that India may boldly go where only a bunch of financially illiterate, click-baiting media dilettantes, desperate to pitch the idiotic idea of a “trillion dollar coin” made out of platinum to bypass the debt ceiling limit (at least until the Treasury was forced to firmly crush this nonsense with a just as idiotic public statement), and arbitrage RBI directive loophole to create a massive coin, against which banks would subsequently lend out cash............

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RBI imposes restrictions on bank loans against gold

"...it is advised that while granting advance against the security of specially minted gold coins sold by them, banks should ensure that the weight of the coin does not exceed 50 grams per customer,"..............

Read - ET

SEBI reform can aid crackdown on Ponzi pedlars

...............Another problem is the grey area between ' deposit' and ' investment'. Many companies are promoting both deposit and investment activities. This leads to dual surveillance, both by the RBI and SEBI- or none at all. Both can shift the responsibility on the other. It is necessary for the two regulators to coordinate their surveillance activities. Perhaps the powers of the RBI may be delegated to SEBI, where the primary activity of a company is investment; and powers of SEBI may be delegated to the RBI, where the primary activity of a company is deposit. It is time that the finance and corporate affairs ministries clear up the ' no man's land' between the two regulators.

Read - FPJ

Vijaya Bank to open Aadhaar enrolment counters

.......Ultra-small branches (USBs), an initiative to bring banking services to rural areas, has been a success with many in the district availing themselves of benefits of USBs under Vijaya Bank’s financial inclusion project, assistant general manager of National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development Bindumadhava Vadavi said. The Direct Cash Transfer scheme will be introduced in the district shortly, R. Balakrishna, Assistant General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, said.........

Read | The Hindu

Merger of Banks in India: SBI and SBT on Verse, PSU Banks on way

........With the Union government gunning for two or three world-size banks in India, the merger of Kerala-based State Bank of Travancore with the State Bank of India is an eagerly awaited development in banking circles. While bosses in the two banks don’t deny the prospect of a merger, its timing remains a million dollar question. There are developments, which when strung together, cement the belief that merger could happen during this financial year..............

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Sebi: Hits, misses and the road ahead

.......It requires an unblinkered assessment of Sebi’s history to understand why Sebi has failed to stand up as a fearless watchdog of investor rights so far. At a time when the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) has proposed several new financial regulators, Sebi’s history serves as a cautionary tale, illustrating the gargantuan challenges in creating effective independent regulators in the country..............

Read - Mint