.............The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the banking regulator, until recently, remained content with issuing warnings about burgeoning bad loans. RBI governor, Dr Raghuram Rajan, in his early days in office, was more concerned that inquiries by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) that prevented bankers from functioning effectively. Is he now convinced that the bigger problem with Indian banking is the rot at the top? ..........
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.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
The elusive equilibrium - Book Review
........In his Overview, Dr. Jalan takes the stand that the main problem is not the so-called “policy paralysis” or lack of macroeconomic policy reforms, but simply that India’s administrative system has become ‘non-functional’ and non-responsive to the interests of an average citizen. He goes on to blame it on our failure to deliver essential services such as education, water and health. He refers to pervading corruption and how it affects public weal. If we leave out the minutiae, one may well argue that a great part of the failure in the delivery of services is due to the excessive concern over fiscal deficits and the austerity measures attached to them. If administrative failure was the cause, why was improvement in administration per se not made a part of the reform process?......
It’s a little too cosy now
..........Few can deny that Indian businesses remain highly vulnerable to discretionary government actions, despite economic liberalisation. As Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan pointed out in a recent speech, the effort and focus should shift from getting more and more politicians from “fixing” the system to “reforming” the system. Making the system of corporate-political funding fully transparent can be the all-important first step.
Finance ministry prefers amendment to RBI Act for appointing a COO
.........The finance ministry is not in favour of any ad hoc arrangement for a lateral hire, which essentially means that the COO appointment cannot be made in a hurry as changing the RBI Act could take a while. "An amendment to the Act can't be done just like that. It will be a political decision and require wider stakeholder consultation," said a ministry official, who added that the internal disquiet over the issue would also have to be taken into account. Some RBI employees have written to b ..
RBI's COO will be an internal candidate: Sources
....Now, the fifth deputy governor (DG) was suggested by the internal report as a COO because he or she was expected to look after the internal affairs of RBI. Now if it becomes a DG then it requires the amendment of the RBI Act but the report itself sees that COO position as an internal candidate because it has nothing external about it. An outsider can’t bring much to it. It has to be someone who has risen from the ranks who can reorganise or refashion the running of RBIs internal affairs..........
KYC for India
..........It was good to see Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan change the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, when his predecessor D Subbarao faced problems producing the necessary address proof to open a bank account after he moved to Hyderabad recently. This is one of the many good things Rajan has done so far in his short stint at Mint Road. .........
VITALINFO through running train...........
Dear all,
Today's limited edition of VITALINFO is being published through running train enroute Bangalore to Mumbai (now at Kurduwadi station). Much as I would wish to, I am able to bring out this limited edition only leaving many more important info items. Kindly bear with me.
Regards
Mangesh
Paying to use your own money?
Should you be charged for withdrawing your own money? The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) recent directive suggests that since you are using an additional facility of ATM, there should be charges. Banks justify the additional expenses by saying that since additional costs have to be incurred to maintain and provide ATM kiosks, account holders need to work out how to deal this new directive..........
A(ll) T(ime) M(ess) - Dr.Yerram Raju
My View on "Making ATM transactions expensive: Is RBI contradi...":
Strange that customer service for the RBI turned into Bank service. In most urban and metro ATMs they cease to be Any Time Money. The Banks feed in Rs.500 and/or Rs.1000 in the working ATMs. They expect the customer to go the bank counter to get the change for higher denominations!! Second, several ATMs refuse to function. For example, SBI ATM at Survey of India, Hyderabad under Prashantinagar branch limits works for only less than 100 days in a year and at times best known to the Bank. This position prevails for the past five years and there was absolute disregard to the customers of ATM. Just as the RBI wants to punsih the customer with a penalty for use in excess of 5 times to draw his own money, and treating even balance enquiry as use, it should penalise the Banks that do not feed the ATMs properly and that do not maintain the ATMs within the absolute reach and convenience of the customer.
- Dr.Yerram Raju
Recovery is the key
....“We believe private sector banks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank will perform well in the medium to long term. These banks may continue to take away market share of PSBs, as the latter are expected to go slow on lending amid bad loans and capital requirements. While we see things improving for PSBs too, we remain very selective on the space, with SBI and BoB among our top picks.”.....
RBI's Bharat Bill Payment System: What It Will Mean for You
......By interconnecting all the different organisations working in this space, the RBI wants to create a single brand image that can be used anytime, and anywhere. It is a great idea, one which should bring a lot of benefits to the customers. But getting all the different agencies on board is key to its success - it's a move that could help e-commerce a lot, for example. Right now, all online stores use different payment gateways, and ..........
Splitting bank CMD posts before board empowerment is like putting cart before horse
....experts warn that going ahead with the plan without properly empowering bank boards could be like putting the cart before the horse. Among those who have issued a note of caution are former Axis Bank chairman PJ Nayak, who headed a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel that originally recommended the separation of posts. The Nayak report had recommended separation of the two posts, but only at the end of a three-phase transition process to fully empower the boards. “Such board empowerment requires several complementary measures to be taken. It is unclear as yet whether they will be (taken),” ...........
RBI license to Coop Bank to open 12 more new branches
.......In a significant development in the banking sector of the remote A&N Islands, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted license to A&N State Coop Bank to open three more bank branches at Kamorta, Chouldari and Dollygunj. These branches are apart from the nine branches license for which was granted by the RBI in April this year. The nine branches to be opened across various places of A&N Islands include Long Island, Nimbutala, Kishori Nagar, Mahatma Gandhi Govt College Mayabunder, Junglighat, Burmanallah, Betapur, Chowra and Wandoor............
Read.......
Mauritius play abused by India Inc: CBI
.........The ministry has now taken up the matter with the Reserve Bank of India. A committee headed by then RBI governor D Subbarao had approved the recommendation of the panel that chose the now tainted SK Jain for the top job at Syndicate Bank. In separate letters written to banking secretary GS Sandhu and revenue secretary Shaktikant Das last week, the CBI chief has said that many corporate houses were indulging in “third-party transfers” in violation of RBI guidelines. Sinha has flagged to Sandhu that banks too have been party to these illegal “third-party transfers”, wherein billing is routed through an intermediary in a third location, which is frequently a tax haven.....
Banks ride on e-commerce wave to woo consumers
It is not just retailers that are cashing in on the e-commerce wave; banks, too, are not far behind in wooing customers by offering online deals and discounts. Private-sector banks have been either launching e-commerce sites exclusively for their customers or have been tying up with more online retailers to provide better offers.........
NPAs of PSBs could rise on tighter asset sale norms
.........Thanks to lax norms on asset sales, banks have resorted to aggressively selling bad assets to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) by paying up five per cent of the total value of security receipts issued by the ARC. By paying a small amount, banks were aggressively transferring bad debts to ARCs, .........
Saving capitalism from the government
.But often, honest candidates fail to make the cut, and corrupt politicians continue to be patronized by voters. Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan noted the same in a lecture presented last week: “Every so often we see the emergence of a group, usually upper middle class professionals, who want to clean up politics. But when these ‘good’ people stand for election, they tend to lose their deposits. Does the electorate really not want squeaky clean government?..........
Financial inclusion pangs
................There is no dearth of products launched by the government for financial inclusion. If there is any dearth, then that is in the implementation of such schemes. Often, inclusion measures give new tools in the hands of comparatively well-off people to earn more dishonest money. ........
Banks gear up for financial inclusion drive in 2 states
.............Having already covered over 95 per cent households in rural and urban areas under the existing financial inclusion plan in Punjab and Haryana, bankers expect the remaining households in these two states to be covered soon. In order to achieve the target in time, the banks have been allocated wards in urban areas and sub -service areas in rural areas by the convenor bank in these states.........
Banking imbroglio between India, Singapore
...."The very high and differential treatment in respect of applicability of AMR for Indian banks compared to other foreign banks is adversely impacting the viability and profitability of Indian QFBs present there. In fact, the high and differential AMR requirement is one reason why there is no application for a third QFB licence from any other (Indian) bank," .........
India: Central Bank to Determine Whether Mobile App Uber is Violating Foreign Exchange Rules
......The Association has accused Uber of dodging the routine two-stage credit card authentication process, mandated by the RBI, through the use of an international payment gateway. According to the complaint, fares collected in India should not be routed through an international payment gateway as Uber is just a facilitator for a transaction, between a driver and a customer, who are both Indian citizens. Two Indian citizens cannot do business in a foreign currency, unless one holds an RBI forex broking licence, the complaint adds........
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)