Wake up Call for Dormant Accounts

RBI asks banks to track down inactive account holders. If you are not operating your bank account due to any reason, you can get a call or an email from your banker very soon for clarifications. Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has instructed banks to track dormant accountholders or the person who introduced them to the bank. According to the reports, the central bank has decided to take this step as commercial banks have around 10 million inoperative accounts with unclaimed deposit of around Rs 1,700 crore. The RBI has decided either to revive the dormant account or the balance can be transferred to a new account or legal heirs. An account, whether savings and current, is treated as dormant if there are no transactions in them for over two years. If you give suitable reasons for not operating your account, bank should continue classifying the account as an operative account for one more year. 

Is a further hike in interest rates by the RBI required to keep inflation in check?

The majority concurs that the Reserve Bank of India should increase rates.  The central bank raised interest rates six times in 2010 to help tame inflation. But analysts are divided over whether further rate increases will help in combating inflation. The problem now is not demand-pull inflation. Food prices, which are stoking inflationary expectations in the economy, are being driven by supply bottlenecks. An increase in key rates will do little to check food inflation. Further rate increases will only take a toll on India's growth story just when the economy is recovering from the slowdown. The growing interest rate differential between India and the US will also attract a torrent of capital, putting pressure on the rupee and hurting the interests of exporters.