NRIs can hedge currency risks with banks

The Reserve Bank of India has allowed non-residents to hedge their currency risk in respect of external commercial borrowings (ECB) denominated in rupees, with AD Category-I (authorised dealer) banks in India. In its notification on Thursday, the apex bank said the amount and tenor of the hedge should not exceed that of the underlying transaction. Besides, it should be in consonance with the extant regulations regarding tenor of payment or realisation of the proceeds. The NGOs (non-Government organisations) engaged in microfinance activities have been permitted to avail themselves of ECBs designated in Indian rupee under the automatic route from overseas organisations and individuals as per the ECB guidelines. The RBI said that the contracts, once cancelled, cannot be rebooked. The contracts may, however, be rolled over on or before maturity. On cancellation of the contracts, gains may be passed on to the customer.

HBL

NRE rate war could raise cost of funds for firms

As Kerala banks scramble to mop up NRI money following the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) freeing interest rates on December 16 to stem the massive slide of the rupee, the perennial challenge of bagging new customer deposits seems to be at bay for now. But cost of funds could rise significantly, as banks end up paying higher interest of 125-300 basis points on new deposits, say financial experts………….

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Kanakamahalakshmi Co-op bank to up presence

City-based Kanakamahalakshmi Cooperative Bank Limited (KCB) has got approval from the Reserve Bank of India to open branches across Andhra Pradesh. KCB initially started its operations in Visakhapatnam district and later got permission from the RBI to extend its jurisdiction to West Godavari district. “Now, we are eligible to start operations across the state. The bank is, therefore, planning to set up operations in other districts too,” P Raghunadha Rao, chairman of KCB, told Business Standard. It operates five branches at present of which three are in Visakhapatnam and two in West Godavari districts. Last fiscal, it took over loss-making Palakol Cooperative bank, and later opened a branch in Bhimavaram in West Godavari district. “This year we have opened two new branches at Anakapalli and Narsipatnam in Visakhapatnam district and are going to open two more branches by the end of February at Chodavaram in Visakhapatnam district and Eluru in West Godavari district,” Rao added. This apart, KCB has applied for licence to open two more branches in Visakhapatnam. The branches will begin operations before July. It is expecting significant growth in deposits on the back of these new branches. The bank has deposits of Rs 115 crore and advances at Rs 85 crore. “We are aiming to touch Rs 150 crore deposits by the end of this fiscal and next fiscal we would add another Rs 100 crore deposits,” he said.

BS

Insurance made child's play, with comic books

......The country's insurance regulator will use the power of comic books to drive home the basic concepts, needs and importance of insurance in one's life, starting right from the school level.........

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Banking grievances should be resolved at branch levels says Ashok Rawat

..........However, what is deterrent and what has not come out even in the Damodaran Committee report is that there are internal auditors in each bank wherein some banks say that if there is some compensation given to the customer, the branch manager will have to justify it. The justification is because if the branch manager compensates the customer, it would reduce the bank’s profit. This is a deterrent for branch managers while dealing with grievances. ........

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RBI Dy Governor inaugurates 'Mahabank Gram Seva Kendras' (MGSK)

Bank of Maharashtra, which has highest branch network in rural and semi urban areas of Maharashtra has pioneered in taking the banking to the door steps of remote villagers in real sense when its SIX Mahabank Gram Seva Kendras were inaugurated at the hands of Dr K.C.Chakrabarty, Dy Governor, RBI at Navghar village near Uran of Raigad District on 26-12-2011. As an innovation under the financial inclusion plan embarked by the Bank, Bank of Maharashtra established six Mahabank Gram Seva Kendras in the remote villages like Navghar (Raigad), Dhuktan (Thane), Panoli (Ahmednagar), Koli Boddkha (Aurangabad), Solu (Pune) and Survadi (Satara) on pilot basis. The Bank’s permanent staff member of the nearest parent branch, equipped with a laptop will be available in these villages to render all types of banking services on specified days every month, so that the villagers can avail the same at their doorsteps. This is an alternative model (others being Business Correspondents and CSP models) only under which Bank staff will directly be extending personalized banking services with the help of IT. The customers can do all kinds of their transactions including remittances through these Gram Seva Kendras. Dr Chakrabarty, who has been a force behind the implementation of Financial Inclusion Plan by Banks in India has appreciated the initiatives being taken by Bank of Maharashtra. He expressed that all banks in the Maharashtra and also in other states will take similar initiatives for early reaching of banks to the remote villages. He urged the people to take benefit of these facilities and participate in the process of financial inclusion. The technology has now facilitated out reach of banking services to remote villages. Shri A S Bhattacharya, Chairman & Managing Director of the Bank, speaking on the occasion informed that Bank is using state of the art technology to reach the unbanked areas for taking care of their banking needs and to support them to be in the mainstream of economy. He informed that under financial inclusion Bank of Maharahstra has covered all the 1215 villages allotted to them in India and is in the process of stabilizing services through the Business Correspondents and MGSKs. He thanked Dr Chakrabarty for the guidance being given by him to Bank of Maharashtra in implementing such new initiatives. The function was attended by the top management members of the Bank. Shri M G Sanghvi, Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra in his address, assured that Mahabank will continue to take all the steps which enable it to reach out the remotest villages in the country for fulfilling their banking needs. Bank of Maharashtra, as Convener of the State Level Bankers’ Committee of Maharashtra state has already ensured effective implementation of Financial Inclusion Plan by coordinating with other banks and state government officials in the state. As a result, all banks in the state have covered 3380 (80%) unbanked villages out of 4292 villages allotted to them. Residents of Navghar village and many of the residents of surrounding villages participated in the function and visited the Bank’s stall put up in the village to know about other rural development programmes of the Bank.

BS

Plea to improve credit flow to Agri sector

Kochi, Dec 28 (PTI): The credit flow to the agriculture sector needs improvement as it was essential for the success of the Food security programme of the government, Ernakulam District collector, P I Sheik Pareeth today said. Presiding over the District level Review committee meeting of the banks, here, he said educational loans are not being extended by all banks as per norms. Some banks are deviating from the rules and delaying sanction of the educational loans, he said adding he was getting several complaints in this regard. The next bank adalat in the district would be held on Jan 21 for settlement of small value loans in default. Pareeth sought the banks support in achieving the target set for employment to one lakh persons by starting small cottage and village industries. Ajith Patil, Secretary Kochi corporation, urged banks to promote schemes under USHUP and BSUP which are for the betterment of the poor. The corporation was planning to have a street vendor development scheme in national prespective to provide hygenic vendors in the city. Bank deposit increased by rs 685 crore during June to September this year to a level of total deposit of rs 38,463 crore. Advancse decreased by rs 3882 croer during the period to a level of rs 52,304, a bank press release said. Mayank Mehta, Deputy General Manager Union Bank of India; Jayaprakash K R, Lead District Manager; K D Joseph AGM Reserve Bank of India, were among those who participated in the meeting.

IBN Live

Fake phone banking scam: Woman cheated out of Rs 80,000

NEW DELHI: Watch out if you receive a call from an unknown number claiming to be your bank's customer care service asking for your credit card details. A female doctor in New Friends Colony became the latest victim of a 'fake phone banking' scam when she received a call from a person claiming to be a customer care executive representing a bank and enquired about an ongoing transaction on her credit card. When the victim denied carrying out any such transaction, the "executive" asked for her credit card details to stop the transaction. The victim soon learned that Rs 80,000 had been withdrawn from her card. As per the complaint lodged by the victim a few days back, a man claiming to represent her bank, called and informed her that a high value transaction in dollars was being carried out from her card. The person asked if she was the one carrying out the transactions, which the victim denied. He further explained to her that as per new RBI guidelines the bank had to take the customers approval before allowing such transactions. The man then transferred the call to the "customer service department" which would assist the woman in stopping the transaction from being processed. The woman told cops that, after holding the call for a minute, a woman, who claimed to be another 'bank executive' came on the line and enquired about her identity. The executive then asked for the victim's credit card number, date of birth, card expiry date which she readily gave in order to stop the 'fraudulent transaction'. "The executive directed me to send an SMS 'REFUND' along with some other information to a number within the next two minutes to stop the transaction, which I did," the victim told cops. The victim also received an SMS from that number the next minute in which it said that her card had been blocked. But soon to her horror, the victim received another message after some time - this time from her real bank informing her that a transaction of Rs 40,000 on her card had been made at one 'Techprocess Sol'. "I immediately called up the customer care number of my bank to ?enquire about the status of my request to decline the transaction.  It was then that I discovered that I had been cheated as the customer care executive gave me the details of two transactions which had occurred earlier that day of Rs 40,000 each and also informed that the bank had never called her," the victim said. The cops have now registered a case of fraud and are investigating the matter. Interestingly, the victim also received SMS from her bank informing her that her request for credit limit enhancement on her card been registered and that it would be processed within a week. The victim had never made this request. 

TOI

Financial reporting in the context of financial stability – a regulator’s view on some accounting issues – Anand Sinha

Address by Mr. Anand Sinha, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, at an event organised by Muscat Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, 21 December 2011.

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RTI RESOLUTION OF THE YEAR: Pune becomes the leading example

The prestigious Central Information Commission (CIC) annual convention in New Delhi in October witnessed Pune becoming a role model for some of its resolutions. Pune is the first city in the country to make a library for RTI. This is located in the Pune Municipal Corporation building and was the brainchild of leading RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar. Open Days in government offices is also a unique feature of Pune. Again thanks to Mr Kumbhar and other activists, the Pune Municipal Corporation keeps all its departments open for inspection of files under Section 4 of the RTI Act every Monday, between 3pm and 5 pm. The Pune Collector’s office is also open for such inspection every Friday. Also, State Information Commissioner Vijay Kuvalekar’s special initiative wherein he brings together the applicant, PIO as well as the first appellate authority for quicker disposal of appeals was well appreciated. The CIC Convention decided to adopt all these three unique practices in other parts of the country.

Sharad Phadke: He suffered a loss of Rs1,000 when he put in his ATM card to withdraw money. He did not get the cash, but the amount was debited from his account. He used the RTI to demand information regarding action taken against the bank officer who did not credit Rs1,000 to his bank account within the mandatory 12 days period as per the Reserve Bank of India rules. Mr Phadke also asked for information about the penalty which the bank had to pay him at the rate of Rs100 per day, for delay in not resolving the issue within 12 days. Bank of India, where Mr Phadke had account, subsequently was compelled to pay the penalty of Rs6,500 for a delay of 65 days. Mr Phadke did not stop at that. Stating that thousands of customers would be going through such harassment of banks, he has been filing RTI against several banks seeking information on the amount of penalty paid by them in such cases. The RBI has now reduced the number of days to 6 for crediting the wrongly debited amount beyond which the concerned bank has to pay the penalty of Rs100 per day to the customer. A couple of banks have installed software wherein the customer’s money gets automatically credited instantly in case of such faulty debit transaction from the customer’s bank account. All this was possible thanks to Mr Phadke’s tenacious campaign.

Moneylife

Regional rural banks still play an insignificant role in agricultural credit delivery

... RBI has been working on improving RRBs’ financial health through amalgamation and recapitalisation. At the same time, efforts are being made to increase the efficiency of services through computerisation and linking to the National Electronic Fund Transfer system. Despite the uneven performance of RRBs, they continue to be an important tool for the government in its financial-inclusion drive.

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RBI allows coop banks to fix NRE deposit rates

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today allowed cooperative and primary urban cooperative banks to fix their interest rates on various non-resident deposit schemes. Extending the ambit of its recent decision to deregulate deposit rates, RBI said, "Banks are free to determine their interest rates on both savings deposits and term deposits of maturity of one year and above under Non-Resident [External] Rupee deposit accounts and savings deposits under Ordinary Non-Resident accounts with immediate effect." The RBI issued two separate circulars addressed to primary urban cooperative banks and state and central cooperative banks. The apex bank, earlier this month, freed interest rates on various non-resident deposit schemes by scheduled commercial banks, a move intended attract more funds from NRIs and arrest the slide in rupee in the forex market. It had also put restrictions on forward contract in rupee to check speculations in the forex market. The RBI had already freed the saving and deposit rates for resident bank customers. The deregulation in rates on NRE and NRO deposits is intended to make such funds more attractive at a time when the rupee has depreciated sharply during last few months. The RBI in its last monetary review said it is closely watching the rupee situation and will respond to it as appropriate. The rupee has depreciated by over 15% in 2011 so far against the US dollar.

BS

RBI cautions banks on NRE deposit rates

Following the deregulation of interest rates on non-resident (external) rupee (NRE) deposits by the Reserve Bank of India, many banks have queued up to increase the interest rates on NRE and NRO (ordinary non-resident) deposits. Some of the banks have gone on to increase the rates by three-fold. This has, predictably, forced the Reserve Bank to advice banks to exercise caution. In a circular, the apex bank has made it clear that the interest rates offered by banks on NRE and NRO deposits cannot be higher than those offered by them on comparable domestic rupee deposits. It has further said that a prior approval of the board/ asset liability management committee may be obtained by banks while fixing interest rates on such deposits. At any point of time, individual banks should offer uniform rate at all their branches, the circular has said. “The revised deposit rates will apply only to fresh deposits and on renewal of maturing deposits. Further, banks should closely monitor their external liability arising out of such deregulation and ensure asset-liability compatibility from systemic risk point of view,'' the circular has said.  The RBI has also directed that state co-operative banks (StCBs) and district central co-operative banks (DCCBs) are free to determine their interest rates on NRE and NRO deposits of one year and above with immediate effect. Many banks have come out with attractive offers in the past few days. These include State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Indian Bank. The aim is to boost foreign currency inflows amid a depreciating rupee. SBI raised the interest rates on fixed deposits by NRIs of less than Rs. 1 crore with a maturity of one to two years to 9.25 per cent from 3.82 per cent earlier. Kotak Mahindra Bank has also hiked interest rates on deposits of one to two years to 9.25 per cent. The latest to join the rate hike bandwagon is ICICI Bank, which raised the rates by up to 9.25 per cent. Indian Bank has fixed rates on NRE term deposits. at 9.50 per cent for one year and above up to three years for deposits of less than Rs.15 lakh, and at 9.25 per cent for Rs.15 lakh and above and up to Rs.5 crores.

HBL

Watching the economy

............... As we approach the end of another year, the economy is being buffeted by multiple challenges on several fronts. While some of these problems are of our own making, there are others beyond our control..................

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New bank licences: The licenses that never came!

They were to come in 2011, they didn't. Will the elusive new bank licences ever come? Will it be a loss for the system if these new banks don't come up soon, or will it be a better place without them? If the optimism prevalent at the beginning of the year remained, then not having a bank licence would be a great opportunity lost. But with the slide in entrepreneurial spirit, many are thanking their stars that they did not have had to lock in hundreds of crores of rupees in capital with little business to show. To be fair to the Reserve Bank of India, it came out with the draft guidelines. The government, which is hardly able to push through any legislation, has to be blamed for not making it happen. Is that all? Even if the government is able to pass the required legislation for the RBI to begin issuing new licences, there may not be many takers. Thanks to the stringent guidelines, many entrepreneurs would choose to be just borrowers in these times of stress rather than risk their own capital. Enthusiastic investors were lapping up any stock with a potential to turn into a bank, including Shriram Transport and even Reliance Capital, after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee revealed in the last budget speech that new licences are round the corner. "The Indian banking system has emerged unscathed from the crisis," Mukherjee had said. "We need to ensure that the banking system grows in size and sophistication to meet the needs of a modern economy."  The draft guidelines seek to attract only serious players and they may not enthuse entrepreneurs who want to make a quick buck, or have an eye on the huge deposits they could access for their businesses.  More than anything else, the lessons of credit crisis (not the current one, but 2008's) have made RBI design the guidelines in such a way that there is little scope to make banking a casino as it happened in the West. Going by the rumours in the cocktail circuit, neither the potential bank promoters nor the central bank is feeling the absence of new banks. Will 2012 be a new dawn, or are we just waiting for Godot?

ET

10 million poor rural borrowers in AP may soon be labelled defaulters

HYDERABAD: Even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) attempts to address a large part of the concerns of the Andhra Pradesh government pertaining to the microfinance sector through a comprehensive regulatory framework, millions of rural poor borrowers in the state are running the risk of losing access to formal credit......

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Obituary

B.L.N.MURTHY(72) Retd RBI Manager Passed away on 25.12.2011 at Besant Nagar.

Contact: Sandhya Sekar- 24529686 / 9445154570 / sandhyasekar68@gmail.com

Hindu 

NAFSCUB: RBI’s frequent penalty disturbing

Echoing popular sentiment related to Urban Cooperative Bank, Mr Subhas Gupta Chief Executive of NAFSCUB said that it is a matter of concern for us that Urban Cooperative banks are frequently found faulting on banking norms by Reserve Bank of India. Readers can recall that RBI, the watchdog of banks on average penalizes a dozen Urban Cooperative banks per month on the issue of flouting of apex Banks’ norms. There are also frequent cases of cheating with depositors and banks going bust. Gujarat Mercantile Bank or Beed Central Cooperative bank or Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank are still fresh in our memories. Earlier Pen Cooperative Bank hogged media headlines for quite some time duping the helpless depositors of their hard-earned savings. In a free-wheeling chat with Indiancooperative.com Subhash Gupta Chief Executive of national federation of urban cooperative banks and credit expressed anguish at frequent imposition of penalities of Urban Cooperative Banks. He told that nafscub takes the RBI’s imposition of a penalty on the cooperative banks seriously. Nafscub is the apex body of Urban Cooperative Banks which is headed by H K Patil. Subhas Gupta is the Chief Executive of the Federation. G Krishna who occupied this position for a long time retired last year but has been retained as Advisor given his vast experience in handling Urban Cooperative Bank issues. The primary job of nafscub involves coordination between its member banks and government. Caught in a peculiar position between a corporate bank and rural bank, Urban Cooperative banks grapple with host of challenges in the fast moving economic scenario. The issue of imposition of income tax on cooperatives and cooperative banks is one of them. Provision of Direct Tax Code is another issue UCBs are dismayed with.The federation intends soon holding a seminar in cooperation with the economic intelligence unit of the RBI to identify the reasons responsible for the penalty as well as streamline the financial reporting. When asked about the election of nafcub, he made no comments saying the matter is sub judice. He informs that all possible preparations are underway to make the international year of cooperatives a success.

http://indiancooperative.com/?s=NAFSCUB%3A+RBI%E2%80%99s+frequent+penalty+disturbing+&.x=4&.y=8

RBI asks banks to issue Cheque Truncation System 2010 standard cheques from April 1

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank today directed all banks to issue cheques conforming to Cheque Truncation System (CTS) 2010 standard with uniform features from April 1, 2012, onwards. The new cheque standard 'CTS 2010' with set of minimum security features would ensure uniformity across all cheque forms issued by banks in the country and also help presenting banks while scrutinising and recognising cheques of drawee banks in an image-based processing scenario, RBI said in a notification. The homogeneity in security features is expected to act as a deterrent against cheque frauds, while the standardisation of field placements on cheque forms would enable straight-through-processing both under CTS and MICR clearing, it said.  It has been decided to prescribe a cut-off date for implement the 'CTS-2010 standards' across the country, it said.  All banks providing cheque facility to their customers, are, therefore, advised to issue only 'CTS-2010' standard cheques not later than April 1, 2012 on priority basis in northern and southern region which will be part of the northern and southern CTS grids respectively and across the country by September 30, 2012 through a time bound action plan, it said.  The introduction of new cheque standards 'CTS 2010' was warranted on account of several developments in the cheque clearing namely growing use of multi-city and payable-at-par cheques at any branch of a bank, increasing popularity of Speed Clearing for local processing of outstation cheques and implementation of grid based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) for image-based cheque processing etc, it said.

ET

RBI to issue special coins on century of civil aviation

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India Tuesday said it will shortly circulate coins of Rs.5 denomination to commemorate 100 years of civil aviation in the country. The apex bank in a statement said the commemorative coins will be a legal tender under the provisions of the Indian Coinage Act, 1906. According to the bank, the reverse side of the coin will bear the picture of an aircraft and 100 years. It will also have 'civil aviation' on the top and the years 1911-2011 at the bottom. "The face of the coin shall bear the picture of an aircraft and figure '100' with words 'years' in the centre flanked by words on the upper periphery and 'Civil Aviation' followed by 'India' below the figure '100'," the statement said. The country is celebrating 2011 as the centenary year of the first commercial flight in the country which took place on Feb 18, 1911, between Allahabad and Naini. The existing RS.5 coins will also continue to be legal tender, said the RBI.

ET

B'lore: NABARD Pegs State's Credit Potential at Rs 51,168 Cr for 2012-13

Bangalore, Dec 27: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has estimated Karnataka’s credit flow potential for 2012-13 to be of the order of Rs. 52,168 crore, marking an increase of 27 per cent over the previous year. The projected a credit potential was Rs. 41,085 crore for the farm and non-farm activities in the State in 2011-12. Karnataka’s Chief Secretary S V Ranganath released the State Focus Paper 2012-13 brought out by NABARD at a state credit seminar here on Tuesday. The State Focus Paper estimated a credit flow potential of Rs. 52,168 crore in the State for the year 2012-13, an increase of 27 per cent over the previous year. The projected share of crop loan is Rs 24,290.13 crore, formed 47 per cent of the total potential estimated, followed by other priority sector – Rs 14,228.27 crore (27 per cent), agricultural term loan – Rs 9848.58crore (19 per cent) and non-farm sector – Rs 3801.14 crore (7 per cent). The credit flow to crop loan sector for the year 2010-11 was Rs 17,982.25 crore and the target is Rs 17,440.67 crore in 2011-12. The State government has declared the decade 2011-20 as the `Irrigation decade’ and set a target to mobilise Rs. 50,000 crore for creation of irrigation potential to enhance agricultural operations. The credit flow to water resources sector in 2010-11 was Rs 1054.59 crore and the target for 2011-12 is Rs 1088.05 crore. The potential assessed for financing during 2012-13 is Rs 1096.02 crore. In his keynote address at the seminar, NABARD Executive Director B S Shekhawat highlighted the need for improving the per hectare credit in the State from the present level of around Rs. 23,000. Shekhawat said increased flow of agriculture term loans would facilitate capital formation in farm sector. He told bankers to exploit the full potential of around Rs. 3750 crore in the micro-finance sector as compared to the ground level credit flow of around Rs. 1400 crore at present. CEOs of public and private sector banks attended the seminar. Agrarian distress could be effectively addressed by ensuring enhanced credit flow to three lakh hectare of dry land developed on watershed basis in the State. He suggested that the state government may consider strengthening investment in areas of drinking water, setting up technical universities, post harvest management, and processing infrastructure. Uma Shankar, Regional Director, RBI, Bangalore, Syndicate Bank Chairman and Managing Director Basant Seth, CEOs of public and private sector banks, principal secretaries and secretaries of various departments and representatives of NGOs participated in the seminar.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=125847

PSU banks'credit panel can now approve loans up to 400 crore

The government has directed banks to set up a credit approval committee - comprising chairman, executive directors and three chief general managers who handle credit, finance and risk management functions. This group can approve credit proposals up to 400 crore.............

"Though a credit approval committee has replaced the board's management committee, the two are significantly different. The MCB has outside members such as RBI nominee and independent directors; the new committee comprises two EDs and chief general managers, who report to the CMD," said another retired chief of a nationalised bank.......

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Capital infusion in banks linked to targets

NEW DELHI: The government has put in place a mechanism for statement of intent (SoI) signed with public sector banks that sets out new targets for three years besides linking future capital infusion to meeting these yardsticks.  Sources said that banks are in the process of getting their boards to agree to the targets set by their managements and the finance ministry. In October, the revised SoIs with new parameters such as employee productivity were finalized.  SoIs were started more than five-years ago with chiefs of banks that meet the targets entitled to a year-end bonus. Although the practice did force banks to plan, annual targets were seen to be short-term planning. This prompted the finance ministry to review the system and put in place a mechanism spread over three years. "At least, medium term goals are required. Short-term issues such as strategy for particular sectors would be dealt with separately on a quarterly basis," said a government official. The move to tweak the parameters was also prompted by the change in the environment. For instance, the clause relating to productivity was the result of the enhanced use of technology and the sharp increase in wage bill in recent years. In fact, even the RBI has expressed concern over the issue. "There used to be a gap between new generation banks and public sector banks. That gap has disappeared. Today, salary per employee in a public sector bank is not that different from a private bank but productivity level is very different. So, that means that the governance standard is deteriorating. If public sector does not follow governance standards, the burden is borne more by the society. There is a moral hazard since the state has to bail them out in period of crisis," RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty told ToI. As a result, at least three staff-related criteria have been bundled in. These include net profit per employee, employees' cost-to-income ratio and staff ratio at branches.

TOI

Rash of banking reforms: Move aimed at improving solvency

...........“Off-balance sheet exposures of NBFCs have increased with the increased participation in currency options and futures and interest rate futures. It is therefore necessary that NBFCs move over to modern techniques of risk measurement to strengthen their capital framework,” RBI said in a notification. The decision is expected to improve solvency of the NBFCs though it might put additional financial burden on them. NBFCs will have to assign adequate weights to both on and off-balance sheet items while maintaining the mandatory CRAR (Capital to Risk Asset Ratio).............

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Mirwaiz urges RBI to facilitate Islamic Banking

....... “We will not refrain from meeting RBI and other government agencies if needed for establishing Islamic Banking. We have to make serious efforts for it and soon we will constitute a team of economists to come up with the contours of establishing the system................

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RBI asks banks to set aside more capital for investing in financial entities

.... "The performance of the subsidiaries affects the balance sheet of the bank,'' RBI deputy governor Anand Sinha said recently. "On account of varied activities carried on by the entities in the group which fall within the regulatory jurisdiction of multiple regulators, the risk to the system as a whole posed by such financial conglomerates is difficult to assess.''

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RBI cautions against fraudulent fund offers

GUWAHATI, Dec 27 – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned the public in general against falling prey to fictitious offers of cheap funds that are rampant in recent times. Often the fraudsters lure the public in the form of lottery prize money through letters, emails, SMS, etc., an official release stated. The RBI has observed that such fraudulent communications were even sent on fake letterheads of the Reserve Bank of India or other reputed organisations, purportedly signed by their top executives/ senior officials. It has also been noticed that many residents have fallen victims to such teasing and tempting offers and in the process, have lost huge sums of money. The fraudsters seeks money from people under different heads, such as processing fees, transaction fees, tax clearance charges, conversion charges, clearing fees, etc. They open multiple accounts in banks in the name of individuals or proprietary concerns in different bank branches for receiving such payments. The amount so remitted is withdrawn immediately, leaving the victims in the lurch. Evidently, the fraudsters’ strategy is to play upon the credulity of unsuspicious victims, the release added.

The Assam Tribune

Odisha cautions public against hoax banking, fraudulent offers

Bhubaneswar, Dec 27 (PTI) With hoax banking instances regularly hitting the gullible people in the state, Odisha government today cautioned the general public not to entertain fraudulent offers by e-mail, SMS and other modes, official sources said. "It is seen that fraudulent offers by e-mail, SMS and others pertaining to lottery/windfall payment, purported to have been sent with fabricated signature of high officials of Reserve Bank of India should not be entertained," finance secretary J K Mohapatra said in a statement. Stating that the RBI has on several occasions in the past have cautioned the members of the public not to fall prey to fictitious offers/lottery winnings/remittance of cheap funds in foreign currency from abroad by certain foreign entities, Mohapatra said certain individuals including Indian residents were also acting as representatives of such entities. "These offers are generally made though letters, e-mail, mobile phones, SMSs and other modes," Mohapatra said suggesting the people to read the ticker on the RBI's website (www.rbi.org.in) for details.  

IBN Live

Govt proposes unitary team to prevent financial crises

The Union Government aims to develop an early-warning system for the financial market. This has become important in view of the increased volatility in the currency and equity markets. Mr R. Gopalan, Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, chaired a high-level meeting on Monday to discuss structural issues of setting in place a Crisis Management Team for the financial sector. The meeting was attended by the Financial Service Secretary, Mr D.K. Mittal, the Disinvestment Secretary, Mr Mohammad Haleem Khan, and the Chief Economic Advisor, Mr Kaushik Basu, among others. A senior Finance Ministry official said, “The team will see, analyse and suggest measures to tackle any development which can stress the financial system.” This team will consist of five-six persons and will be a part of the Financial Stability and Development Council. The Government does not want to be taken by surprise, so early detection and co-ordinated efforts will help to carry over the crisis in most effective way, the official added. The Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India has been proposed to serve as the Chairman along with senior officials from the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India, the insurance regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, the pension regulator, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, and senior officials from the Ministry of Finance as members. A senior Government official familiar with the development said the effort was to bring a “sufficiently high level of representation, so that prompt decisions could be taken for effective crisis management”. The official added that though every segment of the financial sector has crisis-prevention systems in place, still an integrated system was needed to avoid shocks which can quickly spread across market segments and institutions. The genesis of the crisis may be different from time to time, but the manifestation is similar. Timely management of the crisis requires early detection of fault lines based on information on diverse institutions and markets, the official explained.

HBL

Led by SBI banks hike NRI rates: Aim to attract US dollars from NRIs

....... "The current weakness in the rupee is majorly speculative in nature and may not continue for long. The RBI measures combined with India's relatively better fundamentals should stabilise the currency soon,"........

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The impact of rate cuts

.... Will the interest rate cuts lead to a rebound in the economy? If so, how long does it take for the cuts to take effect? Will banks start making more profits and will markets start to go up as monetary easing takes effect? History should provide a guide..................

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Fearing financial feedback

Its own report should remind the RBI there’s no room for complacency about the stability of India’s financial system

If the real economy is not doing well then the financial system will reflect it. What is important is that the financial system should not add to the problems of the real world by generating volatility of its own making. The regulatory system should be alert to the downside created by the real economy, and take steps to maintain the stability of the financial system. If it does this, market players will be confident about the ability of the system to handle the downside and go about their work in a non-speculative manner. The latest half-yearly financial stability report of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has done this — both identified the downside and measured the sentiments of players to find them self-assured. Over half the players in the financial system, an RBI survey finds, are either “confident” or “very confident” about the stability of the Indian financial system. So the message is that there is absolutely no cause for any kind of systemic concern. Yet, given the stresses on the financial system that the report outlines, the RBI and the government have no room for complacency. A good example of how adverse fundamentals create negative sentiments as well as expectations and lead to speculative put-down is the manner in which the deteriorating balance of payments situation led to a steep decline in the external value of the rupee. The RBI’s action in coming down sharply on speculation that was accelerating the decline is an equally good example of how the regulator has to act with firmness so as to rein in volatility and restore market stability. But it should be clear that this is good only so far as it goes. Ultimate deliverance from problems created in the real world cannot come from firm financial management. The latter in fact slows down already slowing economic activity —and points to an inevitable period of grimness. Deliverance has to come from hard decisions taken to set the real world right. All the self-indulgence that India can allow itself is the thought that its financial system and its regulation are superior to those of China and so the pain of sharp, abrupt and somewhat draconian adjustment can be avoided. But the bad news from the real economy is real. Weakening growth is affecting the asset quality of banks and lowering capital adequacy, though it is claimed that this remains above regulatory levels. Continuing high inflation has been exacerbated by a depreciating rupee. Domestic firms’ reliance on foreign currency finance to take advantage of interest rate differentials is now coming home to roost with the rupee depreciation raising the cost of servicing such finance. The feedback loop from the real world to the financial world has taken down the stock market and, what is more worrisome, has lately been accompanied by derivatives volumes surging ahead of cash volumes, fuelled by proprietary trading. As the RBI itself acknowledges, this needs close watching.

BS

Reserve Bank, refocus

When the world economy faced a crisis in 2008, India prided itself on escaping relatively unhurt. Now that the Indian economy is slowing down, owing to the impact of both the global slowdown and uncertainty, and the policy framework in the domestic economy, a part of the blame is being put on monetary policy...............

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2012 could see lot more evolving regulations, better supervision for banks: Prabhat Gupta

..............The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other banks will be estimating the capital requirements under Basel III once the guidelines for implementation are released by Dec. 31, 2011. While implementing Basel III, the RBI`s main questions will be if they should continue with more stringent capital regulations and if should they adhere to the extended timetable or step up the implementation schedule, given the fact that the banking system would be comfortable at the starting point, i.e. at transition?...........

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Exchange blow

........................ In the first week of December, a surge in demand for capital and consumer goods led to higher imports, eating up $12 billion of India's foreign currency. The RBI reacted quickly and allowed banks to pay prevailing deposit rates on NRI accounts. This would create a natural arbitrage for those receiving dollar loans abroad and making bank deposits in Indian banks to earn higher interest returns, thus ensuring higher dollar inflows. Rating agency Moody's says the rupee would stabilise below 050 against the dollar in six months. But till then, the RBI will keep a close watch on it.

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2011: a year of positive regulations

..........Recommendations made by the Shyamala Gopinath committee to make small savings scheme market linked got accepted and implemented from December this year. The rate of interest on various small savings instruments is now pegged to the government securities (G-sec) rates of similar maturities. But don’t worry, you don’t have to track G-secs or ................

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"Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure and Financial Inclusion”

The Keynote Address delivered by Mr. V.K. Sharma, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India, at Central Zone Cooperative Conference at Raipur, Chhattisgarh State, India, organized by National Cooperative Union of India in collaboration with Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Union Ltd. on 11^th December, 2011 on "Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure and Financial Inclusion”.   

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Bank of Maharashtra goes to doorsteps of villagers

Mumbai, Dec. 26: Bank of Maharashtra has launched a financial inclusion service as an alternative model to the Business Correspondents format. Under this model, bank staff will visit villages and offer banking services at the homes of the villagers. The bank has launched six of these Mahabank Gram Seva Kendras (MGSKs) in villages in Raigad, Thane, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Pune and Satara districts on a pilot basis, said a press release issued by the bank.  The MGSKs were inaugurated by the RBI Deputy Governor, Dr K.C. Chakrabarty, in Raigad district. The bank's permanent staff member of the nearest parent branch, equipped with a laptop will go to these villages to render banking services on specified days every month. Mr A.S. Bhattacharya, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Maharashtra, said the bank has covered all the 1,215 villages allotted to it and is in the process of stabilising services through the Business Correspondents and MGSKs. 

HBL

Need to review and recast legislations in banking sector: RBI

MUMBAI: Absence of a uniform law governing various lenders has led to an uneven playing field, necessitating the need to review and recast the legislations governing the banking sector, says the Reserve Bank. Speaking at the 'Financial Planning Congress 2011' here RBI Deputy Governor Anand Sinha said each of the statutes was crafted in a contemporaneous setting, reflecting the needs and concerns of the time. "Since the origins of the banks have been historically different, they continue to be governed by the respective statutes as well as other general laws... However, the fact that different banks are governed by different laws has resulted in an uneven playing field which needs to be addressed," he said. The senior RBI official's recent speech here was released by the apex bank today in its website. "A single, harmonised and uniform legislation applicable to all banks will provide transparency, comprehensiveness and clarity and provide ease of regulation and supervision to the RBI... there is also a need to sort out the conflicts and overlaps between the primary laws governing the banking sector and other applicable laws," Sinha said. Banks are regulated and supervised under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Public sector banks like the State Bank of India (SBI), SBI's subsidiary banks and the nationalised banks, which are constituted under different statutes, are governed by their respective statutes. The provisions relating to the ownership and management of banking companies as contained in the Banking Regulation Act are not applicable to the public sector banks, he said. Similarly, cooperative banks are constituted by the respective state Cooperative Societies Acts and other legislations. Regarding the issue of management of banks, Sinha said RBI currently does not have the power to supersede the Board of Directors of a banking company and amendments for conferring such a power has been proposed in the Banking Laws Amendment Bill, 2011, which is now before Parliament.  "RBI should have the power to direct, by order, at any time that persons who are not fit and proper to hold equity or voting power in contravention of... provisions, shall not have voting power. The 2011 Bill proposes to confer such power on RBI. This will help prevent unscrupulous persons from exercising control over banks," Sinha said.  He said RBI should have the discretion to determine the level and intensity of regulation and supervision depending upon the risk to the system from entities like cooperative societies.

ET

Cash kept in bank locker eaten away by termites

Raipur: Little did he know that the hard-earned money that he was saving for his daughter's wedding would meet such a drastic fate. Ashok Agarwal, a resident of Mahavir Nagar, had kept Rs 1.5 lakh in cash and some gold ornaments in the locker of Uco Bank's Shailendra Nagar branch. To his horror, termites are believed to have chewed his money in the bank locker. A few days ago, when Agarwal opened the locker, he was bolt from the blue after he saw his cash was eaten away by termites. Agarwal said he had saved the money for his daugher's marriage and kept it in the bank locker about four months ago for safety reasons. He was paying Rs 885 per month for using the bank locker. Agarwal said he has sought compensation from the bank, but the management has not yet responded. The bank's Chief Manager, Dasrathi Sahu, said this was first such incident reported in the branch and he has apprised his seniors about the matter. Sahu said there was no provision for compensation in such cases, but the demand made by Agarwal is being considered.

Daily Bhaskar

Govt to interview 10 EDs for banks CMD post on January 4

MUMBAI: The appointments committee will interview executive directors of ten public sector banks on January 4, 2012 for CMD post in six banks. The ten candidates called for the interview include S.S. Mundra from Union Bank of India, R V Iyer and Rajiv Dubey from Central Bank of India, Ashwini Kumar of Corporation Bank, Archana Bhargava from Canara Bank, V Kannan from Oriental bank of Commerce, Ravi Chatterjee from Syndicate Bank, Rajeev Rishi from Indian Bank, Ashwani Kumar from Corporation Bank and Rakesh Sethi from Punjab National Bank. The candidates are being selected to fill vacancies in fiscal year 2012-13 in Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank and United bank of India. Meanwhile, the government has yet to issue notification for the post of executive director in bank like Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank, Even as the candidates names have been cleared.

ET

Subbarao to play Santa 2 weeks late; CRR cut in early Jan?

 ............. Tighter than expected liquidity conditions will force the Reserve Bank of India to cut CRR (cash reserve ratio) even before the third quarter policy review scheduled for 24 January 2012.....................

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Banks can't charge for account closure, directs RBI

MUMBAI: Banks have been told not to charge fees from customers who are closing their accounts as RBI moves to make modern banking accessible to millions of ordinary people, including pensioners and the poor. In a recent meeting between the banking regulator and heads of various banks, the central bank has told the banks not to charge any fee if a customer desires to opt out of a bank either due to a change in employment or a transfer to another city. "How can you penalise a customer for not offering a service. Secondly, how can a bank have the authority to debit money from their customers account and credit it to their own P&L?" RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty told bankers who resisted the move to waive the fee, a banker present in the meeting said on condition of anonymity. Coming just weeks after freeing savings rates, this diktat by RBI is likely to increase costs for all banks. But the worst-affected are likely to be the the private sector and foreign banks who charge high fees for account closures. The savings rate deregulation has already kicked off a rate war in the industry with aggressive new banks such as YES Bank and Kotak Mahindra increasing their rates to 7% and 6%, respectively. Account closures by people tempted by these high rates are likely to increase and banks are unlikely to have the freedom to impose any costs on such customers. But customers are likely to feel happy as it would make it easier for them when they move jobs or cities. "Waiver of fee for closing a deposit account is a natural corollary to waiver of pre-payment fee on floating rate home loans. The customer should have right to freely exit from their loan or deposit account and this should not attract any charge," is the message from RBI, a banker present in the meeting told ET. The central bank recently persuaded most banks to waive pre-payment penalty for customers who wish to prepay their home loans. Fees on closure of accounts is now on top of its agenda, especially after the Damodaran Committee report on improving customer service advocated that the customer should have a right to a basic savings account with cheque book and ATM card facilities. The committee was formed to look into banking services rendered to retail and small customers and pensioners. The committee was also mandated to look into the grievance redressed mechanism practiced by banks and suggest measures for expeditious resolution of complaints. It submitted its report in August this year. All banks charge customers for closing their accounts. In some cases, it is as low Rs 100, but private sector and foreign banks are known to charge anywhere between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. Recently, HDFC Bank quadrupled its fee to Rs 500 from January 1, 2012.  The meeting with RBI was attended by CMDs of some PSU banks and the CEOs of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar, and HDFC Bank's Aditya Puri. Officials said the private and foreign banks conveyed to RBI that there is cost involved in close an account which is being levied on the customers. 

ET

Banks mull consensus on troubled sectors’ lending

In a bid to pacify the rising concerns over bad debts of four major sectors — aviation, power, telecom and textiles — the Government convened a meeting of all the State-run banks to draw a strategy on lending and debt recast plans. Financial services secretary DK Mittal met the heads of top public sector banks in Bangalore last week to chalk out a plan amid the worsening situation in these major sectors due to grim economic outlook and activity. The Bank executives, however, did not confirm the development and said that it was a usual meeting. The plan, according to a Government official, was to reach a consensus among public sector players, who control nearly three quarters of the lending in the country. Sources said that the Finance Ministry was also planning to hold quarterly meetings with the bankers for a better consensus among banks. The move comes at a time when several banks have either restructured their loans to power companies and State utilities or have stopped lending at all. A debt recast for the textiles sector is already in the process. The Finance Ministry is considering a proposal of loan restructuring for the textile sector and a decision in this regard is expected soon. The Textiles Ministry has been following the matter with the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry after considering the industry’s demand for re-setting of bank loans worth Rs 1 lakh crore. The industry has been hit by a sharp fall in cotton yarn prices, poor domestic demands and curbs on cotton yarn exports in last December. Now, the textile units are facing difficulty to repay term loans and financing working capital. Similarly in the aviation sector, the Kingfisher Airlines, which is in a financial mess struggling to service its loans that have run up to over Rs 6,000 crore, has submitted a request for fresh funding assistance to the lenders led by State Bank of India. Loans given to Air India have already been restructured. The State-run carrier has an outstanding debt of Rs 43,000 crore, half of which is guaranteed by the Government. SBI Capital Markets (SBI Caps), the investment bank hired by Air India, has prepared a restructuring package for the balance of Rs 22,450 crore. For the already beleaguered telecom sector, Indian banks seem to be heading for a rough ride due to their perceived huge exposure in the sector. State Bank of India, for instance, has a total exposure of Rs 23,000 crore in the telecom segment, of which, Rs 15,000 crore is direct funding and the balance is non-fund based. The operators paid nearly Rs 1 lakh crore to the Government last year to acquire 3G and broadband spectrum. The gross credit exposure of the Indian banking industry to the telecom sector stood at Rs 94,319 crore as on June, 2011. The banks have already reached the brink of exceeding their lending exposure to the power sector which is suffering the most due to various issues like coal supply issues. The Reserve Bank of India, in its Financial Stability Report (FSR) last week, said, “The risk that banks face on account of their exposure to power sector is due to two reasons: rising losses and debt levels in SEBs (State Electricity Boards) and shortage of fuel availability for power sector.” The central bank has already warned of a further rise in bad loans in the banking system on the back of the slowing economy and fall in credit growth. The growth rate (year-on-year) of NPAs at 30.5 per cent as of end September 2011has outpaced credit growth of 19.2 per cent. On top of this, the RBI has expressed apprehension about underestimation in NPAs. “In RBI’s view, in certain cases, the statutory auditors have underestimated the extent of NPAs and the required provisioning. Since the RBI, as the supervisor of the banking system, relies and leverages on the work done by auditors, the profession should effectively address this issue,” RBI Governor D Subbarao said last week.

The Pioneer

Financial inclusion to soon fetch tax benefits for banks, institutions

....Banks and financial institutions may get tax benefits on profits made through activities leading to financial inclusion. Further, any losses these institutions incur, as a result, may also be allowed to be carried over for a longer period......

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RRBs move ahead with technology and consolidation

.......According to Dr N.K. Thingalaya, a regional rural banker who headed an RBI working group on RRBs in 1995, the expansion of service area after amalgamation has helped increase net profits of these banks. Earlier, RRBs were confined to one or two districts. The amalgamation of different RRBs of the same sponsor bank in a State helped the new entity increase business and profits............

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Risk-averse banks in a time of slowdown

....The fear of mounting NPAs (which as the RBI informs us exceeded credit growth between March and September 2011) would be a powerful deterrent for bankers; and if they do not lend business suffers. So even if interest rates begin their slow descent, rising risk aversion will offset any beneficial advantages of cheaper credit............

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Tighter norms for NBFCs

Even the as they are readying to ring in the new year with quite optimism, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has dampened their spirits by tightening rules for the non-banking finance companies. For one, the apex bank has made it clear that the NBFCs could participate in the credit default swap market only as users. “As users, they (NBFCs) would be permitted only to hedge their credit risk on corporate bonds they hold,'' the RBI said. However, they are not permitted to sell protection. Hence, “they are not permitted to enter into short positions in the credit default contracts,'' it made it clear. But they “are permitted to exit their bought CDS positions by unwinding them with the original counter-party or by assigning them in favour of buyer of the underlying bond,'' the apex bank said. For another, the RBI also has tightened the capital adequacy norms for all NBFCs. The rule tightening exercise comes in the wake of their stepped-up exposure to off- balance sheet items. The RBI has tightened the off-balance sheet regulatory framework by prescribing that the total risk weighted off-balance sheet credit exposure be calculated as the sum of the risk weighted amount of the market-related and non-market related off-balance sheet items. For the off-balance sheet items already contracted by NBFCs, the risk weight shall be applicable with effect from the financial year beginning April 1, 2012. “Off-balance sheet exposures of NBFCs have increased with the increased participation in the designated currency options and futures and interest rate futures as clients for the purpose of hedging their underlying exposures,'' the RBI said.

HBL

Implement Recommendations of Rangarajan Committee: Mufti

Ramban, Dec 26 : Reiterating resolve of his party to make Jammu and Kashmir an economically self-reliant state, former Chief Minister and patron of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today demanded implementation of the recommendations of the working group headed by former RBI Governor C Rangarajan. Rangarajan, who headed the Working Group on Economic Reconstruction, has recommended that two NHPC projects namely Dulhasti and Salal hydro electric projects should be handed over to Jammu and Kashmir. “For making Jammu and Kashmir an economic viable State it is necessary to implement recommendations of C Rangarajan,” said Mufti while addressing a public meeting at Ramban. He regretted that despite having huge water resources Jammu and Kashmir has to depend upon Government of India for economic development.

Kashmir Observer

RBI frees interest on co-op banks savings accounts

....The Reserve Bank on Monday deregulated interest rate on savings accounts in all State and Central Co-operative Banks, a move that will fetch better returns for depositors......

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Interest payable to claimants on deposits made by a deceased person may vary

For balances in current accounts, RBI has mandated banks to pay interest to the tune of savings deposit rate, from the date of death of the depositor till the date of repayment to the claimant..............

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RBI sop to AI augurs well for Kingfisher

...... Air India’s proposal for a financial restructuring got another shot in the arm last week when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) agreed to increase the period of provisioning of earnings from its cumulative preference share (CPS) issue to banks..............

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RBI bars MMLF from accepting deposits for 6 months

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today barred non-banking financial company Money Masters Leasing & Finance (MMLF) from accepting public deposits and selling its assets for six months for violation of directions on deposit acceptance. "The RBI has prohibited with immediate effect Money Masters Leasing & Finance from accepting public deposits from any person in any form whether by way of fresh deposits or renewal of the deposits or otherwise as well as from selling, transferring, creating charge or mortgage or deal in any manner with its property and assets...," the apex bank said in a statement. The RBI said that the NBCF has been barred from undertaking such operations without prior permission of the RBI for a period of six months. "It was observed during inspection of the books of account of MMLF with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2010, that the company has violated extant directions on the deposit acceptance," the statement said. Besides, the city-based MMLF has been directed to repay existing deposits as and when they mature. It, however, has been allowed to carry on other business activities in accordance with law. The company, which specialises in hire-purchase and leasing, is also engaged in consumer finance and public vehicle finance. The firm had secured NBFC registration in 1998.

BS

Non-resident gamble

...From a macro perspective, it may not be a bad idea for India to tap NRI fund sources at this juncture, when foreign investment inflows have dried up and the current account deficit cannot be brought down overnight. Their money certainly proved useful during the difficult sanctions period following the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests, when some $ 4.2 billion was mobilised through Resurgent India Bonds...........

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Sebi prescribes fewer, simpler MF products

.Sebi, in association with banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the insurance regulator, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda), is working on a national strategy for investor regulations, which would be cohesive and comprehensive norms that serve investor education and awareness purposes.........

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New premises for Corporation Bank's Jaipur zone

Mangalore, Dec. 25: Corporation Bank has inaugurated its new zonal office premises at Jaipur. A bank release said here that with a view to making branches more exclusive, Corporation Bank had created 12 new zones across the country, taking the total number of zones to 31. The Jaipur Zone has a wide network of branches in the areas of metro, urban, semi-urban and rural, covering the entire state of Rajasthan. The new zonal office premises was inaugurated by Mr Namo Narain Meena, Union Minister of State for Finance, in the presence of Dr Mahesh Joshi, Member of Parliament, Ms Jyoti Khandelwal, Mayor of Jaipur, and Mr B.P. Kanungo, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India. Mr Ajai Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, presided over the function. Mr V.K. Aggarwal, Deputy General Manager of the bank and Zonal Head of Jaipur, employees and customers of the bank were present on the occasion. The release said that Corporation Bank has a nationwide network of around 5,250 service outlets. This includes 1,375 branches of the bank, 1,256 ATMs and 2,618 branchless banking units. The bank has its representative offices in Dubai and Hong Kong to cater to the needs of NRI clients, it added.

HBL