MANGALORE: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will execute a union government's mandate to introduce plastic/polymer currency note of Rs 10 on a field trial basis in five cities in India. Depending on the success of the move and how these notes work, the RBI will then decide on the next denomination of such notes that have to be brought out, KC Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, RBI said. "It will not be tomorrow. There is a process involved," he said............
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013
On the cusp of change
Lower inflation will not only boost the case for a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it will also have other salutary effects. One of the reasons for lower inflation is softer international commodity prices, including much lower crude oil prices. This will help lower fuel subsidies and help narrow the fiscal deficit. ............
A rate cut by RBI is ‘not a done deal’, says Nomura
.......“We think monetary policy decisions based on WPI inflation (ignoring elevated core CPI inflation and supply constraints) will be erroneous. Monetary and fiscal policy should move hand in glove,”.............
NHGs falling prey to lure of ‘easy money’
..........Private moneylenders in the district are trying to interfere in the working of the NHGs by offering ‘easy money’ despite the existence of systematic banking programmes. The District Kudumbashree Mission has conceded that there are attempts by private moneylenders to provide loans to NHG members, overriding the rules and regulations stipulated by the state government and the RBI..............
‘Ignore messages offering money’
In response to complaints from customers that they get SMS saying they won large sum of money claiming to be from RBI, Deputy Governor K.C. Chakrabarty asked them to ignore such messages. He said that the RBI did not deal with individuals but was regulating the banks. “It is not a law enforcement agency,”......
AMC, Repalle hit by financial scam
......While the junior accountant has been arrested by the police, secretary of the AMC, Rajani, has been suspended by the Commissioner of Marketing after a report by the Joint Director, Vigilance, Marketing Department nailed the negligence of the AMC staff. The culpability of bank officials was also being investigated since the money was credited to the personal account of the junior accountant. “We have completed our inquiry which established the illegal diversion of AMC funds and on the basis of our report, and the police have taken action and arrested the accused. We will be writing to the Reserve Bank of India to take further action,” said Joint Director, Vigilance, Marketing Department, Lakshmanudu..........
“The day FI becomes their need, things will change”
....It is the beginning but banking culture is developing. And for this I give credit to the ‘ultra small branch’ model and fully support it. Though RBI says that unless it (USB) is manned by a bank employee it cannot be called a branch, the government says within the 5 km radius some structure should be available so that between the base branch and that place, the customer should have some place to visit............
The RBI view of India's macro challenges
.......The RBI acted fast post the crisis to reverse accommodative monetary policies, raising the policy rate 13 times by a cumulative 375 basis points, from 4.75% to 8.5%. Wage inflation has responded slowly but it has responded, falling from 10.9% in April 2010 to 6.6% by January 2013. Inevitably the RBI has taken some stick for tightening monetary policy, and has been blamed for "choking off growth", but Subbarao says that the bank will be sticking to its guns...........
Banking: Best Foot Forward
.........A lot of this has been made possible by a very balanced approach to regulation by the Indian regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The fact is that it plays 3 roles—one is of an economic advisor to the government, monetary policy maker, and the regulator of banking—only adds to its effectiveness.......
House panel seeks details of tax revenue foregone, bank bad loans
.....Noting that every public sector bank had two to three per cent non-performing assets (NPAs), the committee also demanded that the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry set up a group to study the issue. “We have asked the RBI and the Ministry that this group can submit a report on each NPA worth more than Rs 1 crore. This exercise should be done within three months,” a member of the panel said. A report with this recommendation will be submitted to Parliament during the second lap of the Budget session, slated to begin on April 22........
CII roots for reforms
.......“The RBI needs to work in tandem with the government to boost growth by easing interest rates by at least 100 basis points in the current fiscal. Early implementation of GST will help in adding 1-1.5 per cent to GDP,” ..........
Nagpur's coop banks now in better financial health
...... The regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) only considers the gross NPA as the yardstick of bank's financial health. However, the banks prefer to clean their balance sheet as far as net NPAs are concerned. For bringing net NPA to nil, the bad loans have to be brought down to minimal levels too. This requires diligent banking, say cooperative banking experts. According to RBI norms the gross-NPAs should not go beyond 10%............
Revision in wholesale inflation may worry Reserve Bank
......The March WPI figure is below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) projection. In the third-quarter review of the monetary policy held on January 29, RBI had said, "Keeping in view the expected moderation in non-food manufactured products, inflation, domestic supply-demand balances and global trends in commodity prices, we revised downwards the baseline WPI inflation projection for March 2013 from 7.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent.".........
Issues in PSU banks
........They not only lost manpower, but their technology was not developed to compete with fast and aggressive new banks. PSBs today do not attract the best of human resources from the market because of several inhibiting factors, such as poor salary structure............
Private banks better placed than public lenders
......Private sector banks are likely to have performed better than their public sector rivals in the fourth quarter of 2012-13 due to better asset quality, higher net interest margins and strong loan growth. One analyst report said January-March private bank profit would rise more than 20% and that of government-run lenders would drop close to 7% from the year-ago period.......
When Budget says don’t buy gold, why are banks selling yellow metal?
..........Replying to this, K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India, said that if a bank is selling gold, RBI will not come in its way. Banning a particular activity is a policy level decision. Stating that the issue is under examination, Chakrabarty said: “Personally I am in favour of your opinion.”.................
Fall in gold prices can impact asset quality of banks and NBFCs : India Ratings
....India Ratings said that the impact of falling gold prices could be felt across the industry, the gold loan NBFCs is more vulnerable than banks’, despite similar LTVs at the time of disbursal. Among the banks, south India based private sector banks are likely to be more impacted, primarily due to the higher proportion of gold loans in their books said Prakash Agarwal, associate director (Banks) of India Ratings in a note. He further said that agency is reviewing the gold loan portfolios of rated banks and NBFCs to evaluate the impact fall in gold prices on profitability......
Gold loan firm Manappuram Finance can't collect money for chit funds
.........The Reserve Bank of India had opposed the move by the management to utilise the branches of Manappuram for its group business, culminating in exchange of communication between the management and the banking regulator over the past few months........
Gold's Plunge Is Happy News for India's Brides and Economists
......Consumers aren’t the only people in India happy to see a bear market for gold. The country’s economic gurus, too, are no doubt relieved by the 19 percent fall in gold prices since the beginning of 2013. The high cost of gold has been a significant burden for the already struggling Indian economy............
Will go full throttle to recover dues from Kingfisher airline: Pratip Chaudhuri, SBI Chief
........."We have given instructions to recover and enforce all the securities. Our intention is to sell everything...all means of recovery (will be employed)...nothing would escape. Till such time as we will get back our dues in full, we will press our full recourse on all the securities that we possess,"....
BANK IN BHEL
The State Bank of Hyderabad, BHEL Ramachandrapuram, is rendering services since 30 years in the area. Since it is the only branch, the bank is unable to ensure personalised service to customers. Moreover, there is no other public sector bank like Andhra Bank or SBI. The bank ATMs also don’t work properly. No one is responding even after lodging a complaint. We request the RBI to establish another public sector bank in BHEL to meet customer needs.
- S. Viswanadham, Chikkadapally (HBL)
SBI mulls merging one of its associate banks this year
...."Now that the capital conditions are favourable for merger, we will think about it," Chaudhuri told reporters. However, he did not indicate any timeline. "For us, all five fingers are the same," he said when asked which of the remaining five associates would be considered first for merger.........
SBI loan growth in fiscal 2013 at 21%: Pratip Chaudhuri
 |
| .........“Only thing that impacts base rate is a cut in cash reserve ratio (CRR). If there is a one percentage point cut in CRR, I can assure you at least 20 basis points (bps) cut in our base rate,”......... |
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Sullivan Memorial gears up for summer
.......It is also proposed to present the Nilgiri Conservation Award to K. C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of RBI and M. Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Overseas Bank for the innovative and successful financial inclusion plan for the primitive tribes of Nilgiris.
RBI meet in Mangalore
.....A press release said here that RBI will conduct a ‘town hall meet’ for the benefit of customers of various banks at the auditorium of the corporate office of Corporation Bank in Mangalore at 11.30 am on April 16. K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of RBI, will be present.......
A missed opportunity?
It is well known that the public sector banks are going to see the full impact of a demographic transition over the next few years. With recruitment numbers having dropped off sharply since the liberalisation process got under way in 1991, large-scale retirements of people hired during the 1970s and 1980s will leave large gaps in the organisational structures of these banks. Now, one way of looking at this is that it presents a significant opportunity to restructure these entities ..........
‘Cash’ in on this numismatic’s collection at Pune Heritage Week
.....Tole has collected over 10,000 currency notes and 25,000 coins from 220 countries. He will be displaying them on Thursday at Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum as part of the ongoing Viraasat Pune Heritage Week organised by Janwani. Tole said he had collected not just coins and currency notes, but also proof sets both from within India and abroad. .......
Fear crashed gold. Now be greedy, not stupid
..........They say three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear, greed. Gold’s crash was triggered by fear. Now, you would be stupid not to become greedy.
RBI working on improving on housing finance database
........"The Reserve Bank is also developing a housing asset price monitoring system covering such details as LTV ratio, EMI to income ratio and price to income ratio based on housing loan data from select cities collected from select banks and HFCs." Said Deepak Mohanty, Executive Director, RBI at an international seminar orgainsed by the National Housing Bank last week. .......
Private banks don’t help financial inclusion
......That, of course, means that even if profits are positive, they are much lower than what would be earned if financial inclusion was not an objective. To expect private banks to settle for this lower profit margin and rate is to forget the nature of private incentive. It is only by presuming that private operators will not behave like private operators and have changed character since the 1950s and 1960s that the entry of the corporate sector into banking be seen as an instrument to advance financial inclusion........................
All in the bank
..............Suspicion has been raised from time to time that West Bengal is insufficiently served by banks and that it is the fault of the Central government that owns most banks. Now the Reserve Bank of India has published some statistics relating to bank branches which enable one to derive some crude indicators that can throw light upon the question. West Bengal’s population in 2011 was close to 7.5 per cent of India’s in 2011; the proportion is unlikely to have changed much since. Its gross domestic product in 2011-12 was roughly a 15th or 6.7 per cent; the average Bengali is a bit poorer than an average Indian, but not much ..............
ASSOCHAM favours initially ten new banks
.......... “Considering the uncertainties/volatilities associated with current business environment, RBI may consider giving out licences in a staggered manner to few players in a specific time frame. It could be a process, and not an event..........
M&M Financial Services keen to enter banking space
......Mahindra and Mahindra Group believes that it meets most of the criterion set out by the Reserve Bank of India for bagging a banking licence and is quite excited at the opportunity of floating a bank, said a top official. “We believe we qualify on most of the parameters set out in the guidelines like high credentials of the group and well-run financial services business, which has been profitable all through.......
A solo financial regulator
........ In fact, there should be complete cohesiveness between the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority..............
Rate cut in May for sure, but how much?
........It’s now fairly certain that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will go for a policy rate cut in May to prop up slowing economy, even though RBI governor had said in his last policy that the scope for monetary easing is limited. The question is: will D. Subbarao stick to his ‘baby step’ of a 25 bps rate cut or show boldness by combining it with a cut in banks’ cash reserve ratio (CRR)—the portion of deposits that commercial banks need to keep with RBI—by an identical margin?..........
RBI should take a call on rate cuts: FM
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has again made a pitch for lowering interest rates. Speaking to Business Standard here on Monday, he pointed to the latest inflation numbers to make his case. "Both core inflation and WPI inflation have come down for the month of March, CPI is down to 10.4 per cent, so these are indicators. I think the RBI governor will take note of the fact that core inflation, WPI inflation and CPI inflation have all come down and he will take a call.".........
RBI has leeway for a 50bps repo rate cut
..........Markets should not rule out a 50 basis point (bps) repo rate cut that day, though the RBI had sounded caution on further cuts in its March policy review where it cut the repo rate by 25 bps. At that time, the central bank was worried on food inflation, which was trending at 11.38%, leading to higher consumer price inflation and current account deficit (CAD) hitting record high levels. RBI’s concern on inflation and CAD remains, but indications are that both the measures are likely to trend down, going forward............
BS POLL: 25 bps rate cut buzz gains momentum
............. “We think RBI will support an easing monetary policy bias in the next few months. Consequently, we expect the central bank to cut the repo rate by clips of 25 basis points in the next two policy meetings (May and June),”..........
New law restricts securitisation in MFI
The microfinance industry saw 13% rise in deals involving sale of portfolio through securitisation and other bilateral transactions last financial year. However, the year-end Budget proposal to tax the special purpose vehicle (SPV) involved in the deals held back a number of deals. In addition, the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines on securitisation and direct assignment of loan receivables restricted the number of deals...........
Chidambaram should say in US it’s time to invest in the India story
........ For investors, there is no best time to jump into India. Chidambaram should remind the people he meets about Nathan Rothschild's advice to "Buy when there is blood on the streets."
Bank that encourages women entrepreneurs
........In all probability, the bank would be a pleasant reality given the fact that it will receive an initial capital of Rs 1,000 crore. Given that it would be a PSU bank, it would not need to be issued a special license by the RBI. In fact, we have woken to the reality quite late as our neighbour Pakistan already has one, running successfully for the last fourteen years with 38 branches across the country...............
J&K Bank bags Europe Business Assembly award for best enterprise
Jammu and Kashmir Bank, the only listed company of the state, has bagged the prestigious Best Enterprise award from the Europe Business Assembly (EBA) in London, a bank spokesman said on Monday. The spokesman said that the award has come as a strong international recognition for the bank’s enterprising performance in the field of banking and finance.......
SBI in talks with Vodafone for last-mile link to unbanked
The State Bank of India (SBI) is in talks with Vodafone India to make the UK-based telecom company its last-mile agent offering basic banking facilities to unbanked regions in the country, a person familiar with the discussions said.........
Monday, April 15, 2013
The RBI clutches at straws
By extending priority sector target to foreign banks, RBI has displayed a lack of understanding
.........After nearly five decades of regulation over 50 banks with nearly 100,000 bank branches enforced with penalty and policy coercion (banks that don’t meet targets are not given new branch licences) the status of the priority sector is pathetic. A case in point being the 26 million small enterprises. These contribute 17% of the gross domestic product, 45% of manufactured output and employ 60 million people. Yet, credit availability to these enterprises is meagre. In fact, it is less than 10% of aggregate net bank credit..........
Read - Mint
New banking could use some old time culture - DR. N. A. MUJUMDAR
.....What is required today is the same " small borrower friendly" banking culture, unlike profit- making micro finance institutions ( MFIs). Public sector bankers should go beyond profit- making and try to upgrade the enterprises to which they lend - may be for farm or non- farm enterprises - and catapult the borrower into a higher income trajectory. Mere tokenism of making banking services physically accessible will not do. Profitability and social banking need to be blended. Financial inclusion in a meaningful sense thus warrants the same commitment on the part of the bankers, particularly public sectors bankers, that they displayed during the Lead Bank Programme.......
Over 100 aspirants line up for banking licence, seek clarity
RBI has been flooded with requests for interpretation of its rules for grant of new banking licences and for clarifications on the 'ambiguity' in various areas, as more than 100 entities have evinced initial interest in seeking permission to set up banks. RBI released its guidelines for licensing of new banks in February this year, asking the aspirants to submit their applications by July 1, 2013. Later, the central bank asked all the interested parties to seek any clarifications they might have on the issue by April 10, a deadline that ended last week. Sources close to the development said that more than 100 entities appear to be interested in applying for the licence, going by the quantum of clarifications sought from RBI in this regard...........
An unfair appraisal system
..... Employees cannot be subject to any change in the policy guidelines with retrospective effect; it's against the rules of natural justice......
Birla, Tata review use of parent branding for bank
...........A senior Birla official said they were looking at the option of not using the parent brand, following the interpretation by their lawyers of RBI's guidelines. Hence, they had sought the regulator's clarifications on using the brand name before April 10, when the deadline for seeking clarifications from the regulator on bank applications expired............
Spreading banking
...The combination of a much lower transaction cost and the opportunity to greatly enhance banking reach has resulted in an increasing number of banks offering mobile banking services. This, in turn, coupled with the growing ubiquity of mobile phones has resulted in a very rapid growth in the number and value of mobile banking transactions taking place. According to RBI data released last week, the number of banking transactions doubled to 5.6 million between January 2012 and January 2013, while the value of these transactions more than trebled to R625 crore in January 2013 from R191 crore in January 2012. Now, the advantage of mobile banking for the banks is clear.............
Waiting at the bottom of a pyramid
.........More than seven years after the term was popularised by CK Prahalad, ‘bottom of the pyramid’ remains an exciting challenge and much like El Dorado continues to attract gold diggers, many of whom will vouch that it is more a myth than a reality. The industry, however, continues to view this opportunity with some suspicion but the government, perhaps out of political compulsions, continues to roll out schemes pushing money into rural India for the benefit of more than 700 million Indians. Under immense pressure from the Reserve Bank of India, banks have allocated significant resources and introduced the business correspondent model, which met with limited success......
SBH opens regional office
The State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), which became the first associate bank to cross Rs two lakh crore business in the last fiscal, unveiled its Regional Office (RO) here on Friday stressing its commitment to the eastern region States, particularly Odisha.......
“RBI may go for two rate cuts by September”
......Core
inflation is down and headline WPI (Wholesale Price Index) is somewhat
comfortable. It is likely that the RBI will take advantage of this to
push through two more rate cuts. We are certainly expecting one in May
and, perhaps, one more in the first half of the financial year. After
that, the base effect starts to work against inflation. Besides, the
diesel price hikes will have considerable second round impact across
sectors. In September, the inflation cycle reaches the bottom and will
pick up again thereafter. Hence, the central bank may decide to go easy
on rate cuts in the second half of the financial year...........
Ideas can not only ‘change your life’, but can destabilise financial sector!
An All Women’s Bank from FM, another NRK(Non-Resident Keralites) Bank from Government of Kerala, probably an ‘All Kids’ Bank’ from someone else…what next? This is what RBI Governor told ‘Weekly’ in Mauritius:
“You need to improve your domestic savings in order to reduce dependence on foreign savings. You need to generate domestic savings. For that you need to have a competitive and efficient banking sector which can give a higher rate of return to the savers but at the same time give competitive rates of interest to the borrowers. That means that the net interest margins of the banks must be small. In other words, banks must be more effi cient in financial intermediation. If you accept that improving domestic savings is a challenge, the remedy lies in the banking sector becoming more efficient.” Are these ‘ideas’ in conformity with Governor’s view?
- M.G.Warrier
Look beyond the gloss
...........Banks offer many ‘special’ privileges on special women’s accounts, right from lower minimum balance and extension of withdrawal limits, to free accident cover and concessional locker rates. For instance ICICI Bank’s Advantage woman savings account offers a zero balance facility and an air accident insurance of Rs. 50,000. The women’s savings account offered by HDFC offers accidental death cover of Rs 10 lakh, and accidental hospitalisation cover of Rs 1 lakh.........
A tale of two economic downturns
Now that most people believe the economy is at or near the bottom during the current cycle, it would be interesting to compare a few current economic indicators to where they were at the bottom of the previous cycle in the early 2000s, after the end of the technology boom. But isn’t the current downturn, coming as it does after a global financial crisis, much worse than the slowdown after the tech wreck? ..........
Cut the rates, never mind the spreads
..........With the pace of growth of deposits now having slowed to decade-lows, some banks have been compelled to up rates to be able to hold on to customers. So, at a time when banks should have been able to lower loan rates—in response to the signalling from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)—they’re not doing so. In a sluggish economic environment, loan growth too has decelerated—though it continues to outpace the increase in deposits—and it might have helped if banks had been able to stimulate some demand............
Mismatch in maturity profiles of banks’ assets & liabilities - K.Sivaraman, Former Regional Director
......It would have been more interesting if the Report had provided the share of ultra short-term, wholesale and high-cost deposits. One guess is that the share of such deposits could be anywhere between 15 and 20 per cent of the total deposits. The other issue is whether strict compliance with KYC norms has been achieved in obtaining such deposits. This assumes importance in the context of the reports of alleged money laundering and role, if any, played by banks in this regard.......
Economic revival not yet in sight
.....The pressure on the fisc and the worrisome current account deficit are negative factors for potential investors, domestic and foreign. Indeed, the situation is no better than the early ' 90s, when the government was forced to pledge gold with the Bank of England. The cushion of nearly $ 300 billion in forex reserves can evaporate quickly, should the pull- out by the FIIs gather speed. How to make India an attractive destination for foreign investment is the challenge for the economic policy- makers.....
Stable but critical
....... Although it is down slightly compared to last month, inflation is still above 10 per cent. As the Reserve Bank of India has been saying for some time, this significantly limits the monetary policy response to slowing growth. The ball is very much in the government's court, then, and the clock is running down very fast.
Policy makers should react stronger to revive growth
.....S S Tarapore, former deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India warns, "The Exim policy cannot be a substitute for prudent monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies. In the absence of shock therapy for dealing with inflation and CAD, there would be a major upheaval, as India would eventually face the ignominy of international censure." His prescription is that the RBI should buy when there are capital inflows to prevent an appreciation of the rupee and refrain from selling when there are outflows. "The upshot is that the rupee would depreciate as it indeed should. At the margin, it is preferable to have an undervalued rupee rather than an overvalued rupee", he says. ......
Well-known industrialist R P Goenka passes away in Kolkata
....He was a past president of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce & Industry and former chairman of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. He had served in the past as a director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, General Insurance Corporation of India, Steel Authority of India Limited and Industrial Development Bank of India.............
RBI to cancel licences of 26 loss-making cooperative banks
The Reserve Bank of India will shortly cancel licences of 26 loss-making cooperative banks, including 16 in Uttar Pradesh, Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty today said. A capital of Rs 2,000 crore is required for running 16 cooperatives banks in the state and RBI may not cancel the licenses of these banks if the state government supports them, Chakrabarty told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.............
Coop Bank launches USBs at North Andamans
DIGLIPUR - 12 Apr 2013 : Under Door Step Banking services, the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank (ANSCB) launched Ultra Small Branch (USB) at Radhanagar & Kishorinagar on 11th April, 2013 as per the Financial Inclusion Initiative (FII) of RBI...........
‘Constitute special task force to improve working efficiency in minority welfare projects’
......Pitching for the interest free banking, he wrote, “We accept that Interest free banking has yet to prove its safety standards. But that requires involvement of qualified and experienced professionals dealing in risk management of assets. Unprofessional management in a framework with number of regulatory hurdles for interest free banking has caused failures in past." You are supposed to represent the Government view point, but the community holds lot of expectations from you and hope that you would always do justice with the community striving hard to get faith based financial services, he added, urging him to “arrange healthy discussion over the issue between RBI, and financial experts serving the community under adverse regulatory conditions for interest free banking to get best possible way out under present regulatory framework.”.........
RBI mulls easing fund transfer norms for new cos to boost FDI
....The issue was recently discussed at a high level meeting presided over by Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram. The meeting was also attended by DIPP Secretary Saurabh Chandra, Chief Economic Advisor Rahguram Rajan and RBI officials. “The RBI’s proposal received in-principle nod at the meeting and it was asked to a draft notifications,” a source said. The proposal, sources said, will facilitate inward remittances to meet pre-incorporation expenses of a company by non-residents...........
Why central banks are a joke; we need more honest money
 |
| ............The media in general treats central bankers with far more respect than they deserve. Even more so in India. The statements of D Subbarao last week on the reasons for price increases in food commodities had “economic innocence” written all over them........ |
Common sense on capital flows
.... Though subject to caveats, the new thinking, which will condition the IMF’s surveillance and reporting efforts, explicitly recognises a few scenarios that call for intervention by individual countries to protect their interests. For emerging markets whose financial institutions and markets are still not fully developed, unbridled capital flows carry greater risks. This is a view that the Indian policy establishment has for long supported. Way back in July 2006, the Tarapore Committee on capital account convertibility prescribed macroeconomic adjustments and market development as essential prerequisites before relaxing capital controls.......
The RTI activists' fights
............A veteran of 90 such applications, retired banker Abhay Kolarkar has had better experience with central government agencies. " LIC, RBI and PF departments give quick replies." The information received is useful and clears ambiguity .........
Cobrapost expose: IRDA report likely next week
.....Yesterday, Deputy Governor of RBI, H R Khan had said the central bank is initiating action against ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank in connection with allegations of money laundering by Cobrapost. “Actions are on the way. Scrutiny has been done, action is being taken both in respect of systemic level and at the individual banks,” he had said when asked if RBI has completed investigations on Cobrapost exposes.......
Be world class, Narayana Murthy tells corporates -
.....Creating more jobs and better income is the way to removing hunger and ill-health from every part of the country. Only true leadership can bring in the change, he said. A.P.Hota, Managing Director, NPCI; Salim Gangadharan, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India; Shyam Srinivasan, MD, Federal Bank; P.G.Jayakumar, MD, Dhanlaxmi Bank; and C.V.George, president, Bankers’ Club, Kochi, and others spoke.
Finance ministry wants 20% dividend from banks
......"It's absurd to make such demands when banks are not doing well. It would be prudent to retain profits instead of paying steep dividends. Ultimately, the banks have to go back to the government for capital infusion,"........
Read - ET
Sliding rupee and CAD wrecking Indian economy
.....The pressure on rupee continued in 2012-13 because of the ongoing euro-zone crisis. The import cover for forex reserves as a result has declined from 14.4 months in 2007-08 to less than seven months now. It has further hit the rupee. Some estimates say if the situation does not improve it could go to Rs 60 and beyond. The RBI is scared of intervention. It has a cost. It leads to further dwindling of reserves. The liquidity of rupee also increases. It may stoke inflation, which already remains high. It impacts every aspect of the economy.......
FDI inflow
.....But, these figures could be misleading. Most of the businesses and industries operating in various states like Reliance and Tata have their Corporate Offices in Mumbai and the FDI flowing to them is taken as if in Maharashtra. Unless..........
Read - Kashmir Times
Wilful defaulter: Who will bell the cat?
.........According to the Reserve Bank of India, a wilful defaulter is one who has the ability to pay up but doesn’t pay; who diverts funds; or, who has sold the property that was used as a security to obtain the loan. Since money is fungible, it is extremely difficult to establish that a borrower has indeed diverted bank funds. After the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. that led to an unprecedented credit crisis globally and sharply eroded value of many companies, quite a few Indian corporations went shopping overseas...........
Finmin asks banks to bring down net NPA to 1% by Mar '14
......Banks are free to choose which ever way they would like to bring down their bad loans. Whether they do it through specialised recovery branch or other method, it is up to the individual banks to decide..........
Banks do one third of entire year's business in March
......According to figures released by Reserve Bank of India on Friday, bank deposits and credit have grown 17.4% and 17% respectively. The surge in deposit and credit growth in March has been so sharp as to enable the banking industry surpass Reserve Bank of India's credit and deposit growth target of 16% and 15%. Incidentally, banks have..........
India Security Press stir at Nashik called off: Union
A 'stop work' agitation at the India Security Press and Currency Note Press units here was called off today following assurance from top officials of the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India, a union leader said. "SPMCIL Deputy General Manager B J Gupta, New Delhi, and General Manager of India Security Press T R Gauda held meeting with the protesting union leaders and assured them of resolving the issue within a forth-night", said Working President of ISP labour unit Jagdish Godse. ...........
Is the gold boom over?
.....“People may prefer keeping gold in physical against electronic form because RBI (Reserve Bank of India) may come out with some gold deposit schemes. They may want to earn some interest on gold from deposit schemes rather than losing out on the management fees to the fund house as gold prices are falling.”..........
RBI turns its focus to gold loan cos
The crash in gold prices has turned the spotlight on gold
loans companies. The Reserve Bank of India has moved into a high-alert
mode and will call for information from gold loan companies and provide
directions to those with high loan-to-value ratio, sources said...........
Private banks eye a bigger share of agricultural loan business
...."The move will ensure a level playing field among public and private banks. Till now, public sector banks have been enjoying a cost advantage over us. Small and marginal farmers preferred public sector banks because of lower interest rates. The subvention scheme will allow us to compete with them,".....
Public Sector Banks Don’t Want to Play Aadhaar Cards
The
government’s plan to make the Aadhaar number the centrepiece of the
cash-transfer system is now facing opposition from a new quarter: banks.
Several banks, led by State Bank of India, have expressed reservation
against jettisoning their current systems in favour of the platform
created by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which
issues the Aadhaar number and wants to make it the basis to authenticate
an individual’s identity before every transaction in bank accounts into which welfare benefits are deposited..........
Read - ET
Read - ET
Banking agents encourage multiple transactions in bank accounts to earn higher commission
Business correspondents
(BCs) have found an innovative way to milk the government's financial
inclusion agenda by encouraging multiple transactions in bank accounts
to earn higher commission...........
Ponzi schemes: Familiar plots, different players
.....The reason why the schemes still sprout is the absence of clarity on who will police them. The financial sector regulators or Parliament have not drawn up solutions. The latter is worried about encroachments on state powers, so it is most commendable that UK Sinha’s team has taken it upon themselves to bring faith in the regulators and belief in a regulated financial sector.
RBI may suspend licence of Amanath Bank
The fate of thousands of small-time investors and savings bank account holders is uncertain as the Indian banking regulators started tightening its noose around minority cooperative society Amanath Bank. Now, the bank is staring a possible suspension of its licence by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the face........
Amanath leaves customers in spot
Bengaluru: Somashekhar, a resident of Shantinagar is worried over his aged father’s lifetime savings deposited at Amanath Bank. With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capping the withdrawal limit of accounts at the crisis ridden Amanath Bank at Rs 1,000, thousands of investors and account holders continued to crowd the bank’s branches posing questions on when they will get their money back.............
Abraham to move Lokayukta court in Wakf scam
.....Releasing a list, Abraham said that the total estimate of Karnataka Wakf properties scam is around Rs 2 lakh crore. "Reserve Bank of India has indicted Rehman Khan and others, including his sons, daughters, son-in-law, brothers, wife and relatives of embezzlement to the tune of around Rs 300 crore..........
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