Khandu urges RBI to ensure detection of fake currencies

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has asked to keep note-sorting machines for all banks in the state to check the increasing cases of circulation of fake currency notes.  Raising this issue during a meeting with Shyamala Gopinath, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), at Itanagar last evening, Mr Khandu lamented the fact that even the banks in the state have been mistakenly issuing fake currency notes in absence of proper note-sorting machines and devices. He said the issue needs to be seriously tackled to safeguard the nation’s economy. Expressing concern over the shortage of staff in the banks, he said it is causing severe inconvenience in the customers who stands in long queues to get their work done. The Chief Minister further suggested for increasing the strength of the staff in the banks and requested to conduct recruitment in the state so that more and more local youths could participate in the procedure and get job in banks. During the discussion, the Deputy Governor informed about unscrupulous activities of unincorporated bodies operating in the state which needed to be content immediately by enacting a Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, setting up of Economic Offences Wing and Framing of Rules under Chit Fund Act, 1982. She said the state government being the administrator under the money Circulation 1978 can authorise an official to initiate section against such bodies. ''Out of 34 unbanked blocks in Arunachal Pradesh, 11 have been selected for opening of bank branches which would be opened by March 2012,'' the Deputy Governor revealed.  She, however, requested the state government to put in place suitable infrastructure and ensure that necessary amenities in terms of road, telephone, electricity, premises and connectivity are in place. She further highlighted the need to implement the Crop Insurance scheme for the farmers of the state for which the union government would be providing 50 per cent and the state government needs to provide the rest. Responding to the suggestion, Mr Khandu agreed to issue appropriate directives to the departments concerned to take up the plan immediately in view of the state facing regular flood problems every year wherein instance of crop damages have become a regular feature. Apart from the regular discussion, issue on setting up of Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI) was also discussed. The RBI sought land for setting up of the RSETI in all districts to which the Chief Minister assured to provide all possible assistance.

Savak Soharab Tarapore blasts inflation-pussyfooting, says RBI failed so far

Former Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Savak Soharab Tarapore has said the "soft and calibrated monetary policy measures" taken by the central bank so far to batten down runaway inflation have failed and has called for more sterner and concerted steps to tackle price rise that has become a national crisis. "There is no alternative to unequivocal and unswerving policy action to tackle inflation that has now become a major structural problem. The efforts of the RBI in controlling inflation have failed so far," he told at a function organised by research agency Dun & Bradstreet at Mumbai over the weekend.  Warning that the government's as well as RBI's pre-occupation with high growth at the cost of inflation will be counterproductive and disastrous, he called for "a proactive, forward-looking monetary policy to batten down inflation and not the baby-step measures as it has been recently doing." Stating we can't get away from the fact that inflation is all pervasive as it has become generalised, Tarapore, who played a key role during his days at RBI in monetary policy, foreign exchange regulation as well as on capital account convertibility, said, "the over 13 per cent food inflation just cannot be wished away as a supply-side problem." "Even after a 4 percentage point slump last week, the number is intolerably high and gnaws into the vitals of large tracts of the population." Arguing that "there is no soft monetary policy" when it comes to fighting inflation, he blasted the belief gaining currency among policymakers that it is possible to curb price rise by resorting to small, calibrated steps thus not hurting growth. "You can't slay the dragon of inflation without hurting growth," he said, quoting economist CA Yandle.  "There is an element of disenchantment with inflation targeting at RBI now. This does not mean it cannot wield a strong monetary policy to control inflation," Tarapore said. "If the timely action is delayed and inflation rises to unacceptably high levels, the monetary policy required is very harsh, as a cold turkey approach becomes inevitable." Stating that the most important remit of any central bank is to keep inflation low, he said, since the Reserve Bank cannot keep prices low by producing more goods, it must ensure that there isn't too much money in the system chasing too few goods. Pointing out that the consumer price index-based inflation is the globally accepted measure of price rise, he said, "the WPI-based inflation, which we follow even now, is a poor indicator of inflation at the grassroots level," and lamented that we are yet to have a consumer price index (CPI), which can be used for policy purposes. Quoting an NCAER study, he said as many as 40% of the households account for only 14 per cent of income, but spend as much as 63% of their incomes on food, leaving little for saving. On the other hand, the top 20% account a vast 52% of total income and bulk of savings and also 45% of aggregate non-food consumption. Warning that the biggest treat to the high growth story is the inflation spiral, he said, "given the large number of the poor in our country, a 6-7% sustained growth with a 3-4% inflation would be preferable to a 9% growth with a 9-10% inflation. "High economic growth with high inflation is not a sustainable policy option," the eminent economist and monetary policy expert concluded.

Banks seek shorter term for tax-saving deposits

Banks have once again knocked on the doors of the Government to reduce the duration of the tax-saving term-deposit scheme to three years from five years. They want this change so that the resources so raised not only support infrastructure lending, which has gained traction over the last one year or so, but also suitably address the duration mismatch between assets and liabilities. Banks have not been able to make much headway in mobilising funds under the tax-saving term-deposit scheme. Given that they could miss out on higher returns should interest rates head north, savers perceive the five years lock-in as too long a duration to commit funds. “The tax savings term-deposit scheme in the current form is not favoured by savers as funds get locked in for five years. As premature withdrawal of the deposit is not allowed, the saver will have to forego an opportunity to earn better returns in case interest rates go up. Further, loan/overdraft against these deposits is not available,” said Mr K. Unnikrishnan, Deputy Chief Executive, Indian Banks' Association. Savers will be willing to park their money in the tax-saving term-deposit scheme if the duration is cut to three years, he added. Banks had made a similar representation to the Finance Ministry last year also. Banks pay around 8.5 per cent interest on tax-saving term deposits. According to the Bank Term Deposit Scheme, 2006, deduction is available on investments under Section 80C of the Income-Tax Act, 1961, on investments (minimum of Rs 100 and up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh a year) in term deposits of five years' maturity in a scheduled bank. Under Section 80C, premium towards life insurance and unit-linked insurance plans, subscription to public-provident fund, employee's contribution to provident fund, investment in National Savings Certificate and equity-linked savings scheme, and repayment of principal amount in a home loan qualify for deduction (up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh a year) from a taxpayer's gross total income.

BYST Entrepreneur Awards 2010

Runner up- Ms Madhvi Khandve from Rural Maharashtra (BYST- BoB Entrepreneur) being felicitated by Hon’ble Ms Usha Thorat, Former Deputy Governor, RBI & Pramit Thaveri, CEO, Citi India.Business - Mfg of Ladies Garment at BYST Entrepreneurs win - Citi-Group Micro Entrepreneur Awards 2010. Award Function on January 27, 2011. at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Every year BYST nominates its entrepreneurs for various national and international awards for entrepreneurial excellence. Citi-Group Micro Entrepreneur Award is one of those. The Citi Micro Entrepreneur Awards program is an endeavor to recognize the spirit of enterprise that has taken persons from poverty to a life of dignity. The awards acknowledge individual micro entrepreneurs, who have exhibited a superior ability to emerge from the below the poverty line through the use of micro-credit to build self-sustaining enterprises, create employment and contribute meaningfully to their communities. This year 6 of BYST’s entrepreneurs have won this prestigious award, for best entrepreneur of the year Out of these 6 entrepreneurs- 5 are the ones jointly supported by BYST & Bank of Baroda under BYST-BoB Entrepreneur Development Program. The awards function was held on Thursday, January 27, 2011 at Mumbai. Hon’ble Mrs. Usha Thorat, Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India was the Chief Guest at the ceremony. She along with Mr. Pramit Thaveri, CEO, Citi India, felicited the awardees from across all the four regions of the country, East and North East, West and Central India, North and South India. The awards are presented under the categories of National winner, National Runner-up and the Social Responsibility Category winner.

RBI may review KYC norms for tainted cos

The Reserve Bank of India may review ``Know Your Customer'' (KYC) and `"customer due diligence'' procedures followed by banks for loans to companies that have come under the scanner of investigating authorities.    Banks that have lent to DB Realty have said that their funds are fully secured. However, in addition to ensuring security of loans, RBI has asked banks to do ``enhanced customer due diligence'' for loans where a ``politically exposed person'' is the final beneficiary. In the case of DB Realty, the firm had availed of bank loans and had also provided an indirect loan to Kalaignar TV, a company which would qualify under the RBI definition of a `politically exposed entity''. RBI guidelines require banks to get approval from their top management to loans whenever a ``politically exposed persons'' benefits from a bank loan.

‘Cheque bounce cases at place of transaction’

The Delhi high court has ruled that cases of cheque bounce can only be entertained by courts at the place of transaction. The ruling has come in response to an appeal filed by Zeenat Insaf, a resident of Mumbai. She had challenged a Delhi trial court’s jurisdiction to entertain a complaint by Dr Sudanshu Bhattacharya, a cardio thoracic vascular surgeon in Mumbai. Bhattacharya had operated upon Insaf’s father at Breach Candy Hospital.  She had made a payment through a cheque of a bank located in Mumbai. Bhattacharya gave the cheque before his bank in Mumbai. The cheque bounced. The cardiologist contacted his lawyer in Delhi. He sent a notice to Insaf. A complaint against her was filed before a Delhi court on the grounds that the lawyer who sent the notice was located in Delhi. The Delhi high court said that sending a notice from Delhi would not confer jurisdiction on Delhi courts. Delhi courts have no territorial jurisdiction to entertain and try complaints filed by a respondent who is based in Mumbai.

RBI holds district-level quarterly meet

The Reserve Bank of India General Manager Vikram S Bajwa presided over the quarterly meeting of the District level review committee. The District advisory committee was held in the Punjab National Bank zonal training centre in Dehradun on Friday. Addressing senior bank officials,  Bajwa said that banks should work to further improve customer services and ensure their full contribution towards facilitating financial inclusion. He said that banking services should be provided through POS machine/BC module in villages with a population of more than 2,000 and Atal Adarsh villages.  The PNB circle head V.K.Srivastav, officials of various banks in the District, heads and representatives of different departments concerned were also among those present.  

India’s ATM market is set to grow more than three-fold by 2015

In 1987, HSBC set up the country’s first automated teller machine (ATM) in Mumbai’s Andheri East. Soon, almost all banks followed suit. By end March 2010, India had 59,737 ATMs. And the number is set to grow manifold in the future, too. There will be about 175,000 ATMs by 2015, according to the latest forecast by Retail Banking Research (RBR), a strategic research and consulting company based in the UK. That is an expected growth rate of 193 per cent in ATMs. And it is this lucrative prospect that makes the big two ATM vendors in the world — Diebold and NCR — drool. “We are pretty overwhelmed with the prospects for 2015. The installed ATM base is growing at more than 20 per cent year-on-year,” says Naresh Hosangady, South Asia vice-president and managing director of Diebold. “There are only 51 ATMs out here for a million heads,” points out Jaivinder Gill, who runs the show at NCR India. The comparative ATM numbers per million for Brazil, Russia and China are higher — 704, 536 and 155, respectively.  According to RBR, ATM growth in the first half of this decade was driven by private banks. State-run banks have since taken charge, with the State Bank of India and its eight associate banks leading the pack. The SBI Group set up 18,000 ATMs in the past seven years. Its share of installed ATM terminals went up from 32 per cent to 36 per cent during this period. The group created a world record in ATM shipments when it set up 10,000 terminals in 2009-10. It was the key reason why the share of state-run banks in ATMs now stands at 70 per cent, up from 50 per cent in 2003. Six others — private players such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, and the state-run Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India and Canara Bank — have together set up more than 2,000 ATMs. They account for a combined market share of 34 per cent. ATM numbers will move up sharply.  “The places where you have ATMs are also going up. Take malls, for instance,” says Gill, referring to the retail boom — you have many more places to swipe when you shop, eat and play. Then you have debit cards, which are to reach 450 million by 2015, double the current base. Of course, it remains to be seen if point-of-sale swipes will mean that many less number of people will flock to ATMs. If so, it can technically act as a brake on ATM installations. But the counter point is that with cheque-truncation, ATMs are now more than just cash dispensers. The shared-ATM networks of banks have dramatically changed the story. Currently, there are five of them — the National Financial Switch (NFS), Cashnet, Cashtree, Mitr and BANCS. NFS is the leader. In March 2010, NFS had 56,711  ATMs of 38 banks — 95 per cent of the country’s ATMs were on it. And ATM usage got a huge boost when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks not to charge cardholders of their rivals. Users can now make five free transactions a month on an ATM of other banks. You pay for more of such usage.         

MBGB branches placed under CBS

All the branches of Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank (MBGB) have been put under the central banking system ( CBS) and, therefore, all the customers of a particular branch of the bank have been linked to its all other branches.  MBGB chairman P N Singh said this on Thursday at a function held here to celebrate the foundation of the bank.  RBI Regional Director G Mahalingam inaugurated the cultural function. Singh also received a trophy and award for the best Gramin Bank from NABARD General Manager V Mohan Doss. He was also given a personal award for being the best chairman among all the chairmen of the various gramin banks in the state. Among others, Punjab National Bank General Manager V Sriniwasan also praised the performance of MBGB.

95% households in NE do not have access to banking – Shyamala Gopinath, Deputy Governor, RBI

Altogether 95 per cent households in North East do not have access to banking services against the national average of 43 per cent, RBI Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath said. "Despite efforts by RBI during the last 75 years, there are as many as 145 million households in the country not having access to banking", she said while speaking at the RBI's Financial Outreach camp at Karsingsa near. She said RBI has been launching such programmes in all the states of the region to extend banking services to every unbanked village. "Our institution has taken a conscious decision to bring the households into the banking fold which will not only result in making available the affordable banking services to everyone but will inculcate savings and investment habits among the people", she said.  "The challenge is enormous, but necessary, because financial inclusion is what will give people an opportunity to build better lives for themselves and their children", she added. Karsingsa, a village within the vicinity of the state's capital, having a population of over 2000 does not have banking facilities. The camp has served as a boon for the denizens as 203 No Frill Account (Zero Balance Account) with zero deposits were opened with SBI branches at Nirjuli and Naharlagun.

Central banks must respond in real time, says Subbarao

When Duvvuri Subbarao took charge as the twenty-second governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in September, 2008, he had to act swiftly to counter the impact of the global economic slowdown on the Indian economy.  Subbarao’s first eight months in office saw RBI reducing its repo rate six times and reverse repo rate four times, to support a slowing domestic economy. Repo rate was reduced 475 basis points and reverse repo rate 275 basis points during this period.  “When asked what he thought of the French Revolution, Mao Zedong had famously replied: It is too early to tell. People who take a long view of history, like Mao, take the position that it is just too soon to draw the lessons of the crisis,” Subbarao said on Friday in his welcome remarks at the start of the third PR Brahmananda Memorial Lecture by Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel.  “Policy practitioners do not have the luxury of historians; they have to respond to unfolding developments in real time,” Subbarao added.  It appears that RBI’s efforts to pull the domestic economy out of slumber have succeeded, as India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is seen accelerating to 8.6 per cent in the current financial year. The country’s economy had expanded 8 per cent in 2009-10 and 6.8 per cent in 2008-09.  However, inflation appears to be playing the spoilsport, with the headline number climbing to 8.4 per cent in December, driven by high food prices. The central bank has also revised its inflation forecast for March to 7 per cent from 5.5 per cent earlier.  Rising prices have prompted RBI to raise its key policy rates seven times since March 2010. The repo rate has been raised 175 basis points to 6.5 per cent, while the reverse repo rate was raised 225 basis points to 5.5 per cent during this period. Things have become complicated, as the growth in India’s industrial output in December slid to a 20-month low of 1.6 per cent. Earlier this week, in Bhopal, Subbarao had admitted that balancing growth and inflation was a tough act.  “We want to set interest rates in a way that inflation can be contained without hampering the growth rate. But, this is not going to be an easy balancing act to resort to,” he had told reporters.  Most analysts reckon slow growth in industrial production is unlikely to convince RBI to keep rates unchanged in its next policy met, due on March 17, as inflation continues to remain a major concern.  “While there is a deceleration in growth, inflation is a bigger problem... we thus maintain our view of the RBI raising (rates) by an additional 50 basis points in 2011 and 2012,” Rohini Malkani and Anushka Shah, analysts with Citigroup Global Markets, said in a note.  Goldman Sachs expects RBI to increase rates 25 basis points in March and another 50 basis points in this calendar year. Some analysts, who did not wish to be named, however, said it was too early to take a long-term view on the direction of interest rates, with food inflation cooling to a seven-week low of 13 per cent for the week ended January 29 and growth in industrial production faltering.  A further slowdown in investment activities, coupled with easing food prices, might encourage RBI to take a pause before raising rates again, they said.  Subbarao, himself, believes that the central bank’s policy should take into consideration the present macroeconomic challenges.  “The central bankers were a triumphant lot in the years before the crisis.... The crisis then came as a serious blow to the credibility of central banks... the challenge for central banks, as indeed for all policy makers, is to learn the lessons of the crisis and reflect them in their policies,” Subbarao said. 

Cap likely on home loan pre-payment penalty

Home loan borrowers may get a piece of good news soon. Pre-payment penalties, which are 2 per cent or above of the outstanding loan for most banks at present, may be brought down to 0.5-1 per cent.  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in talks with banks to bring down pre-payment penalty charges and has sought their views on how much the cap should be. People in the banking industry say a consensus has emerged among lenders that a penalty within 1 per cent of the outstanding loan will be feasible.  “There are two reasons why banks charge pre-payment penalty. First, from the asset-liability management perspective, when a bank lends for a longer tenure, it also needs to raise funds accordingly. So, there are liabilities to be paid off over a period of time. This becomes difficult when loans are paid before time. Second, in view of the administration and processing costs, banks may tend to charge less in the initial years in the hope that charging more in future would make up for it,” IDBI Bank Executive Director R K Bansal said.  The regulator’s objection to high charges is with respect to fair treatment to customers.

Lifting FDI curbs will help India trigger fund inflows: Locke

Reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers and lifting restrictions on foreign direct investment ( FDI )) could help India trigger fund inflows, crucial to help fix the country's creaking infrastructure, US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said here Friday.  Earlier Friday, Locke met with the famed Dabbawalas of Mumbai and appreciated their management skills and strategising abilities.  Locke also met the Reserve Bank of India Governor D.Subbarao.

SBI's loan mela inaugurated by G.Mahalingam, Regional Director, RBI

A large number of prospective loan seekers thronged the SBI's three-day-long 'Vasant Rin Utsav' which was inaugurated by Reserve Bank of India's Regional Director G Mahalingam at S K Memorial Hall here on Friday.  After the inauguration, keys of six cars and sanction letters of five loans were given away to borrowers by the chief general manager, SBI, Jeevandas Narayan, who was present as chief guest.  The main attraction of the fair is 50 % concession in processing fee for car loans and 0.25% concession in interest rate from 37th month till the tenure of the home loans. About 12 car dealers and 20 builders have put up their stalls at the fair.

Star TV Talent Leadership and HR Awards at the World HRD Congress

Sandip Ghose, Regional Director, RBI, New Delhi distributing Star TV Talent Leadership and HR Awards at the World HRD Congress

RBI Governor holds talks with CS

Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao and senior RBI officials held talks with the Chief Secretary Awani Vaish and senior officials of the State Government at Bhopal on Thursday. They expressed concern over the ratio reduction in loan deposit in tribal-dominated districts. It was informed at the meeting that there was 40 per cent depletion in loan deposit in eight tribal districts. The Reserve Bank of India Governor instructed the banks to come up with improvement in this regard. There should be 65 per cent loan deposit in the state and 40 per cent in tribal districts. The banks assured that they would extend the figure in next financial year. Welcoming the visit of Reserve Bank of India Governor to Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Secretary said that the regional office of Reserve Bank of India was working actively. The Reserve Bank of India Governor said that he was very much impressed with the State Government for designing joint agenda, which could not be seen in other States. At the meeting, the State Government drew the attention of the Reserve Bank of India Governor to State Government grant to set up hand held device, smart card and bio metric ATM by banks. Subbarao was informed that banking facility at the village more than 2000 population needed in Madhya Pradesh. Subbarao appreciated this initiative and said it would be decided only after positive results of financial audit in next financial year. E-kiosk is being used by State Bank of India that should be conducted by other banks too. The RBI Governor was apprised of education loan for the education of poor children under Government guarantee. Subbarao asked the banks to provide educational loan of Rs 4 lakh without guarantee so as to benefit maximum people. The security to banks was also discussed at the meeting. 

BOB opens its all Ladies staff Branch at Pune

Bank of Baroda has opened its all women staff branch at Sinhgad Road,Pune.The branch was inaugurated at the hands of Shri R K Bakshi,ED of Bank of Baroda,in the presence of Ms Kamala Rajan, CGM & Principal, College of Agriculture Banking, RBI, Pune. N Ramani,Corporate General Manager and C D Kalkar,GM-Maharashtra & Goa Zone of the Bank.Speaking on the occasion,R K Bakshi said that women are making mark in all walks of life and banking is no exception.He assured the customers that the branch will be providing advisory services to the customers in addition to normal banking products and services.

RBI again raps banks on teaser loans

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has once again expressed its discomfort over teaser loan rates and questioned banks’ business model for offering such schemes.  “Some banks are taking deposits at an interest rate of 9 per cent and giving long-term loans, especially home loans, at 8.5 per cent. I don’t know what type of accounting is needed to show that this is not a very profitable business,” RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty said, while addressing a seminar on International Financial Reporting Standards.  October, RBI had raised the standard provisioning requirement for teaser loans five-fold, to two per cent, to discourage banks from offering such schemes. Teaser loans are those which charge lower interest rates in the initial period and a higher one in later years. State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest bank, has been running such a scheme for the past two years. SBI tweaked the scheme following the increase in provisioning requirement. It has since written to RBI to exempt these from the requirement.    Its defense of the scheme is that it has helped the common man. SBI chairman O P Bhatt recently said, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, that almost 80 per cent of the home loans given by SBI were below Rs 10 lakh, which meant the ‘aam admi’ was being empowered. He said the bank had given home loans to nearly 300,000 people in India. “I am not fighting with RBI, but only clarifying. We only gave a discount on the rate for the first two to three years and the rate is higher than the cost of my funds. So, what is wrong in what SBI does?” Bhatt had said. However, the banking regulator believes such schemes expose banks to the risk of defaults in future, as the borrower might not be aware of the scale of increase in monthly installments as interest rates rise. Most lenders which had offered such home loan schemes had then withdrawn these, such as HDFC and ICICI banks, following the regulator’s expressed concern.   

Flexible inflation targeting best, says Bank of Israel Governor

Bank of Israel Governor and a former official of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Stanley Fischer has argued that "flexible inflation targeting is the best way of conducting money policy". "The tripartite set of goals of money policy set out in modern central bank laws provide the best understanding of what a central bank should try to achieve.  Among other issues a central bank should aim to maintain price stability, to support the other goals of economic policy, particularly growth and employment, so long as medium term price stability ­over the course of a year or two or even three ­is preserved, and to support and promote the stability and efficiency of the financial system," Fischer said while delivering the third PR Brahmananda Memorial Lecture on `Central Bank Lessons from the GlobalCrisis'.  "But 'flexible' does not mean that a country should not intervene in the foreign exchange market, or that the capital account should be completely open. Rather, it means that the country should not draw an exchange rate line in the sand and declare 'thus far, and no further'. Countries should not commit themselves to defending a particular exchange rate," he said.

RBI Board meets at Bhopal

The Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India met today in Bhopal. The meeting reviewed key economic, monetary and financial developments. Dr D. Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India chaired the meeting. Shri Y.H. Malegam, Prof. Suresh Tendulkar, Prof. U.R. Rao, Shri Lakshmi Chand, Shri H.P. Ranina, Smt. Shashi Rajagopalan, Shri Suresh Neotia, Dr. A. Vaidyanathan, Prof M. M. Sharma and Shri Sanjay Labroo were present at the meeting of the Central Board. Deputy Governors of the Reserve Bank, Smt. Shyamala Gopinath, Dr. K.C. Chakrabarty, Dr. Subir Gokarn and Shri Anand Sinha were also present.  The Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank meets at least once every quarter. The Board has scheduled meetings in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata each year. The post-budget meeting of the Board, traditionally held in New Delhi, is addressed by the Union Finance Minister. The other meetings of the Board are held in the remaining state capitals by rotation. The main function of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank is to provide overall direction to its affairs.  The Governor had a meeting today with the senior State Government and bank officials. The banks agreed to achieve a overall target of 65% CD ratio and target of 40% CD ratio in the 8 low CD ratio districts, mostly tribal by 2011-12. It was decided that a team of officers from Reserve Bank of India, Commercial Banks and State Government would  visit villages to make assessment of the work done, prepare a financial inclusion plan and ensure that by end of March 2012 all 2736 villages with population of above 2000 are covered in Madhya Pradesh. The banks may also draw up a special plan to include nearby villages below 2000 population. The State Government has also assured to include financial education in the curriculum of schools at higher secondary level by the academic year 2012-13. The other issues discussed at the meeting included higher credit flow for education loans, issues relating to urban co-operative banks and security of bank branches.   Earlier, on February 7 and 8, 2011, Dr. Subbarao visited Chhattisgarh. The Governor visited Khadma Village in Dharmatri district of Chhattisgarh for an outreach programme, where he interacted with the villagers, school children and SHGs, etc. The Governor called on the Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh and discussed issues of mutual interest. Along with the Chief Minister, he laid the foundation stone of office building for RBI Office at Naya Raipur.  The Governor also interacted with students of IIM, Raipur.