The very purpose of VITALINFO is to provide a platform for wider dissemination of updated information related to and happening of events in and around RBI.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
RBI’s unanswered questions - A.Seshan
MASSIVE DHARNA BY ALL INDIA BANK PENSIONERS AND RETIREES CONFEDERAION (AIBPARC)
.....The issue of Pension Updation and Family Pension is also a very live issue concerning the RETIREES and more particularly the FUTURE RETIREES and hence AIBPARC is soliciting the support of all serving Employees and Officers organisations..........
Senior citizens seek better treatment at banks
Most banks in the country want to catch their customers young — a desirable objective, given India’s young demographic profile. But in the process of welcoming the young, banks are overlooking the needs of older customers. According to SBI’s annual report of last fiscal (2012-13), of its 286 lakh savings bank accounts, 34.7 lakh were pension accounts.Some bankers, especially at the senior level, are considerate and treat the aged with respect. But they are a vanishing tribe who would be retiring soon..........
Obituary
Dr. P. Laxminarayanan, from Nagpur Office,
passed away on Friday the 6th September, 2013. He was seriously ill and
was admitted in hospital, but was discharged few days before his death. His last rites were performed at Ambazari ghat in Nagpur on the same day. He is survived by his wife. Pray Almighty that his soul may rest in peace. MANY
OF OUR GROUP
MEMBERS might be knowing who worked in Nagpur Office or have met him in
Staff college our friend Dr. P. Laxminarayanan was a powerful personality with large frame and loud voice, once met cannot
forget him. When he spoke entire floor could hear him. Highly qualified
did his PhD in Economics, accepted Grade B promotion but soon opted for
reversion - was regular visiting professor for Nagpur University. He was very active in most of the organizations - we has his own values and views.
-K.S.Iyer
A lonely man
.... Relations between the boss of North Block and the head of the country’s Central bank and apex monetary authority have not always been smooth. But rarely have their differences of opinion been so out in the open. Duvvuri Subbarao was literally hand-picked for the post of finance secretary by Mr Chidambaram. But the two stopped seeing eye-to-eye after the former became governor of the Reserve Bank of India.............
CPI and inflation
In the forthcoming mid-quarter review of policy the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should announce shifting its focus to consumer price index (CPI) from wholesale price index (WPI). It has already given up the inappropriate use of the concept of "core inflation" derived from WPI. ...........
Exchange risk
........In the proposed swap, the RBI is only subsidising the swap cost which actually is forward premium determined by market forces. The RBI would be earning only nominal return on its dollar funds - thus the effective cost to RBI is higher..........
Easing troubles in the long run
....Monetary policy in these economies will be at the mercy of the policies of central banks in the main centres of global finance. What emerging markets face is not so much the classical ‘trilemma’ posed by the ‘impossible trinity’ but a dilemma: to have an independent monetary policy or free capital flows. They cannot have both..........
A tale of two mistakes
It is a rarest of rare case when Reserve Bank of India (RBI) publicly acknowledges its mistake, even if committed inadvertently. Last Friday, a press statement from the central bank -- on the highly sensitive issue of new bank licences -- said, it has inadvertently left out an applicant's name from the list of companies that has applied for bank licence..................
Lazy banking targeted by Rajan helps lower yields
...The days of lazy banking are going to be over soon, Vishal Narnolia, Mumbai-based analyst at SMC Global Securities Ltd., said in an interview on 5 September. The central bank has made it clear that they will be looking at pushing loans and balance sheets have to be cleaned up. Although there could be pain in the short term, profitability at lenders will go up in the long term........
Thank You Governor, but What Do We Do With Our Police and Politicians?
Letter from a Banker
............As
a banker, what made me extremely pleased is the way you particularly
approached the bad loans issue. The banking industry is crippled because
of spiralling bad loans. I dare to write to you because I believe you
mean business. Sir, you said that promoters do not have a “divine
right” to continue if an enterprise flops and use the banking system to
recapitalise their failed ventures. And how right you are when you said
that we need to deal separately with wilful and genuine defaulters.
Banks act as a proxy to the economy and so when the economy isn’t doing
too well, we are bound to see some rise in NPAs...........
IS #RRR 007?
.........To his credit, the previous Governor D Subbarao, on more than one occasion, admitted that the RBI Governor is an unelected official, and he, therefore, needs to be subjected to accountability before he can make too many noises about autonomy. Rao wanted accountability before a select committee of Parliament; but having been a finance secretary in an earlier avatar, he never made a direct pitch to be treated outside the control of the finance minister. Having worked as a North Block mandarin for 12 months,#RRR, too, has hinted in the inaugural statement his role to serve an elected Government’s policies (the two question marks are mine):..........
In Love with Rajan, Re may Flirt with 60
..............The
local currency had its best four-day rally in four decades after
Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan moved to reverse sentiment
on policymaking, introducing several measures soon after taking over
last Wednesday.........
The ‘Rajan-effect’ on India’s rupee may not last long
.....The “Rajan effect” is not lost on markets. The rupee rallied 2.2% from Friday to 63.84 per dollar yesterday. The currency, which fell to a record 68.845 on August 28, climbed 6% in the past four days, the most since at least 1973, according to Bloomberg data. Stock markets seem very optimistic too. The benchmark Sensex index rallied over 1,700 points in 4 days, 727 yesterday alone, to cross the 20,000 mark. Time to think the former International Monetary Fund chief economist is the miracle man to drive India’s ailing economy out of its worst financial crisis since 1991? Have a closer look at the deeper issues. ..........
RBI asks banks to consider options to meet note, coin demand
........."Banks may explore the possibility of offering these services through business correspondents and consider engaging the services of cash in transit entities for the purpose of distribution of banknotes and coins, thereby addressing the last-mile connectivity issues," .................
HC seeks affidavit on launch of ‘parallel economy’
Acknowledging the PIL filed on the introduction of coupons and due slips instead of currency by several private bus operators, the Calcutta High Court Tuesday directed the Centre, Reserve Bank of India and the state government to file an affidavit within four weeks. India's Smile, a social organisation, has filed a petition alleging that private bus operators had printed coupons and manufactured plastic coins, which they forced the passengers to accept instead of currency notes and coins........
Sebi: Transfers on slow track
............A lot of transfers, which were due to take place in the new financial year, are yet to go through, according to a person familiar with the matter. The bulk of the pending transfers may only take place after there is clarity on the term of U K Sinha, chairman of Sebi, said the person. Sinha's initial three year-term would end in February 2014, around six months from now...........
Panel headed by former Sebi chief submits report
The high-level committee, set up by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) last year under the former Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman M Damodaran, has submitted its report on changing India’s regulatory environment for making business environment investment friendly.............
Disclose details of 100 dormant accounts: CIC to postal dept
.........During the hearing Agrawal claimed that the postal department in its reply had said that unclaimed balance of Rs 752.44 crore are lying in 2.49 crore accounts. He claimed postal authorities have taken no steps to return the money to the legitimate claimants. During his arguments, Agrawal said that unclaimed balances are prone to fraud. He claimed Reserve Bank of India has now directed banks to transfer dormant balances to the government of India after a period of 10 years as is being done in case of unpaid dividends which are required to be transferred to the government after three years..........
Women’s bank likely to begin operations on 19 November
......The bank, named Bharatiya Mahila Bank, will begin operations with 6 branches spread across the country. Headquartered in Delhi, it will be scaled up to 39 branches and 127 cash machines and serve more than 33,000 customers at the end of the first year. It aims to become profitable by the fifth year of operations. The bank aims to service women and women-run businesses, support women’s self-help groups and their livelihoods and promote further financial inclusion in a country where only 35% of Indian adults have access to a bank account. Usha Ananthasubramanian, Executive Director at Punjab National Bank, will head the bank, which will predominantly employ women. The bank will initially be staffed by officials seconded from other public-sector banks...........
RBI launches inflation survey
......The RBI has requested other interested individuals not covered by the survey to give their inputs by downloading the survey form from its Web site and then sending it to the central bank by email. The RBI uses the results of this survey as one of the important inputs to the monetary policy.
RBI compliances getting tougher for NBFCs
............There were times when non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) had their own set of privileges over banks. The compliances laid down by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) were far more lenient for NBFCs than those for banks. But gone are those golden days and now even the NBFCs are under RBI’s continuous screening. Having said this, the new compliances for NBFC came from the famous Sahara Case..........
KMSS lambasts nationalised banks
GUWAHATI, Sept 10 – The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) today lambasted the nationalised banks for allegedly siphoning off the lion’s share of the money deposited by the people of the NE region to other areas of the country. The Samiti has announced an agitational programme to gherao the local headquarters of the State Bank of India (SBI) here tomorrow in protest against this activity of the nationalised banks........
Criteria for new banks
..The objectives of licensing new private banks haven’t gone beyond the generality of hoping they make banking more ‘inclusive’. But objectives are vastly different from motives — the former are for public consumption while the latter is the hidden reality. To hope all private banks with their profit, or worse, private agendas, to drive ‘inclusive banking’ is a joke. And one’s certain a man of Jalan’s experience knows this only too well. Still, he has a mandate to be fulfilled as best as he can..................
Has mobile payment bug bitten you yet?
........Mobile payments have covered the first few miles in terms of popularity, but still have a long way to go, especially when we look at plans afoot. In his first speech after taking over as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Raghuram Rajan stated that mobile payments can be a game-changer both for the financial sector as well as for mobile phone companies. In fact, keeping retail customers in mind, he plans to set up a technical committee to examine the feasibility of using encrypted SMS-based funds transfer using an application that can run on any type of handset. If you are not already making your payments through mobile phones, we’ll help you understand the systems...........
RBI penalises Jamia Cooperative Bank Ltd,
......The penalty has been imposed on the bank for violation of (i) Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) norms insofar as carrying out sufficient customer identification procedures, ascertaining the identification of natural persons behind entities, carrying out enhanced due diligence and appropriate risk categorisation were concerned; (ii) non-compliance of Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms by transfer of funds from one account to another; (iii) involvement of the directors in day-to-day affairs of the bank; and (iv) diversion of funds from loan accounts through current/savings bank accounts of borrowers to firms in which directors have an interest.............
Urban co-op banks can now lend more for house repair, alterations
...............The new ceiling on such loans will be Rs 2 lakh (Rs 1 lakh earlier) in rural and semi-urban areas and Rs 5 lakh (Rs 2 lakh) in urban areas. Loans granted under the enhanced limits will also be eligible for classification under priority sector, the RBI said in a notification. The exposure limit of UCBs to housing and commercial real estate loans continues at 10 per cent of their total assets.................
The e-friendly face of the tax department
......E-filing of tax return has undoubtedly eased the process by bringing in transparency and visibility. Individuals no longer need to stand in long queues to file their return; in fact, it is now mandatory to file online if the taxable income exceeds Rs 5 lakh. The return forms, with relevant instructions, are available on the official Web site. To make e-filing more user-friendly, the department plans to introduce electronic PIN-based verification from this year. This will help ease the post-filing requirement of sending a hard copy of the acknowledgment ITR-V to the Centralised Processing Centre in Bangalore. The new portal will also provide pre-filled information, such as tax credits, in the form. This will help speed up the refund process...........
RBI relaxes KYC norms for urban cooperative banks to cater to foreign students
............"UCBs may open a non-resident ordinary (NRO) bank account of a foreign student on the basis of his/her passport (with appropriate visa and immigration) which contains proof of identity and address in the home country along with a photograph and a letter offering admission from the educational institution," RBI said in a notification on Tuesday. It further said that within 30 days of opening the said account, the student concerned should submit a valid local address proof, which could be a rent agreement or a letter from his/her educational institution............
HDFC Bank's credit card base shrinks
.........“HDFC Bank’s model for card acquisition is dependent on tele-marketing calls. In recent times, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has become extremely vigilant and warned banks not to make unsolicited calls to numbers in the do-not-disturb registry. This has affected the bank’s new card acquisition. Also, attrition numbers are high, as HDFC Bank has a very large base of credit card holders. These factors have contributed towards the month-on-month decline in the bank’s credit card portfolio,” said a senior executive of a large private sector bank...............
Cosmos Bank launches mobile banking
In yet another achievement, the fastest growing Urban Co-op Bank Cosmos launched mobile banking service for its customers on last Saturday at the hands of Shrinivas Patil, Governor of Sikkim. The Chairman, Krishnakumar Goyal, Vice-Chairman, Milind Kale, Managing Director, Vikrant Ponkshe, Jt. Managing Director, Suhas Gokhale, Directors of the Board, Members and Customers of the Bank were present for this function........
Canara Bank to charge Rs 60 a year for SMS alerts
............“We wish to inform that in line with the industry trend, our bank is compelled to charge Rs 15 per quarter per customer with effect from October 1, 2013, for SMS services and those who have opted for SMS alerts,” Canara Bank said in a notification. However, the bank said senior citizens, small savings account holders, basic bank accounts holders, and financial inclusion savings account holders will not be charged any such fee......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)