Credit cards: RBI keen on ‘zero liability' to customer

Banks have not done enough to extend mobile banking: RBI ED Mr. G. Padmanabhan



Mr G. Padmanabhan, Executive Director, RBI (left); along with Mr A. K. Jagannathan, MD and CEO, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, and Mr M. Balakrishnan, COO, National Payment Corporation of India, at the launch of Mobile Banking in TMB, in Chennai on Monday



Chennai, Jan. 9: The Reserve Bank of India on Monday indicated that it would like to bring in a system under which a credit card holder is not liable for transactions done fraudulently using his card. Speaking at a the launch of the mobile banking facilities of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, Mr G. Padmanabhan, Executive Director, RBI, posed a question as to whether it the time was not ripe “to implement a zero liability policy”. While leaving it to the industry to debate and discuss the issue, Mr Padmanabhan compared the situation as obtains in India and the developed world, and noted that countries such as the US have adopted a ‘zero liability policy'. However, in India, the liability is on the customers. Generally the credit card issuers are not liable for fraudulent transactions unless the customer reports the unauthorised transactions immediately. So the shift in liability from customers to banks comes into effect only after the customer informs the bank. Banks argue that they take adequate steps to ensure safety of card transactions, and the least they expect from the customer is to report the card loss immediately. While “this is understandable and logical” a consequence of this is that if a customer has adhered to all the risk measures prescribed by the bank, but yet unauthorised transactions have taken place in his account, “should the responsibility then not be with the card issuing bank?” Observing the huge mobile phone penetration in India, which is more than the penetration of banking services, Mr Padmanabhan asked if it was not time for banks to embrace mobile banking. Giving a data-point, he said that in October 2011, 22.45 lakh transactions worth Rs 161 crore happened over mobile phones. Close to 10 million customers have registered themselves for mobile banking. Yet, these numbers are “a drop in the ocean,” Mr Padmanabhan said.  “What this means is that banks have not really made a significant penetration even amongst their existing customers to extend mobile banking services,” he said. Mr Padmanabhan said that often questions such as ‘who owns the customer?' and ‘who controls the transaction' keep cropping up. “Has there been any worthwhile attempt to resolve them in a mature way? Or like sulking infants, is each one trying to wear out the other, including the regulator? “Let me say that if the latter is true, it can be a painfully long and expensive process benefiting none and does not help in our efforts to achieve true financial inclusion,” he said, assuring everyone that RBI was committed to the success of mobile banking.

HBL  

Read the full speech............

Cash retraction system in ATMs may be removed

Mumbai, Jan. 9:  The cash retraction system in ATM machines may soon be a thing of the past. The Reserve Bank of India has agreed to the National Payments Corporation of India's proposal to remove this functionality from all machines after a pilot proved extremely effective in curbing misuse. The central bank is taking this step as it has come across cases of people forcibly trying to defraud the banking system by holding on to a few pieces of notes in ATM machines that has cash retraction system (that is, cash getting sucked back by the machine, if not removed within a specified time, often seconds), and then claiming non-receipt of cash. “Of course due notice will be given to all customers. So remember, hereafter if you are careless to walk away from an ATM forgetting to collect your cash, it is lottery for the next user!,” said Mr G. Padmanabhan, Executive Director, RBI, at a function to launch the Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank's mobile banking service in Chennai.

HBL

Government to have two nominees on RBI board

Move to increase coordination with central bank

The government has amended its laws to have a bigger say in the decision making of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by having two members on the central bank’s board as compared to one now. At a time when the entire country was busy tracking the Lok Pal Bill debate in December, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed the Factoring Regulation Bill, 2011. The law, which aims at addressing problems faced by small and medium enterprises, also amends the RBI Act, 1934, to have two government officials on the board on the central bank. At present, economic affairs secretary R Gopalan is the government nominee on the 17-member RBI board. “In clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 8, for the words ‘one Government official’, the words ‘two Government officials’ shall be substituted,” the Schedule of the Bill said. Section 8 (1) (d) of the RBI Act, gives the power to the government to nominate directors on the board. The government has justified the move to increase its officials in the board to improve coordination with the central bank. But what has surprised many RBI officials is the manner in which the amendment was made. Sources said the amendment was done in last minute and was not in the agenda earlier. The Bill had mooted amendment of acts like the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, and The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, since the beginning of the deliberations. But the amendment to the RBI Act was introduced at the last moment. The Factoring Regulation Bill stipulates all companies engaged in factoring activity to take prior approval of RBI to commence business. The act also gives power to RBI to penalize or cancel licence for violating norms. The central board of RBI consists of official directors and non-official directors, and 10 non-official directors and one government official is nominated by the government. Directors are nominated for a period of four years. The RBI Governor and four deputy governors are official directors in the central board. The move to increase government’s say in RBI matters was being contemplated by the government in recent times. Earlier, a Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was operationalised which is chaired by the finance minister and the subcommittee is headed by RBI Governor. Along with the introduction of FSDC, the High Level Coordination Committee on Financial and Capital Markets was scrapped which was headed by the RBI Governor.

BS 

RBI sets up currency literacy cell

Chennai : To educate the common man, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with special television commercials, a micro website called paisa bolta hai listing features of genuine notes (http://www.paisaboltahai.rbi.org.in/), and even set up an exclusive currency literacy cell. “Apart from banks and enforcement authorities, we train individual retail establishments dealing with huge cash, free of cost,” said an RBI official. Recently, the Chennai cell trained the staff of Tasmac outlets in all 32 districts of the state to identify fake notes, he added. While 4,35,607 fake currency notes were detected by RBI during last year, the figure, just within five months of 2011, crossed half that number. From April to September 2011 alone, RBI detected 2,64,282 FICN notes in circulation. Keen to address the growing FICN menace, RBI is working in tandem with ministries and intelligence agencies to thwart activities that aim to destabilise the country’s economy. While the government has constituted a terror-funding and fake currency cell to focus on such cases and has empowered the national investigating agency to take up such cases, RBI is in the process of upgrading the security features in the high-value currency notes and strengthening the mechanism for detection of counterfeit notes by banks. Considering that there were 64,577 million pieces of banknotes (worth Rs 9,35,856 crore) in circulation as on March 31, 2011, the detection of forged notes last year was 6.74 pieces per million pieces of banknotes in circulation. Of the 4 lakh counterfeit notes identified last year, about 90 per cent were detected at bank branches, says a senior RBI official.  In view of this, RBI has directed banks to process notes in the denomination of Rs 100 and above only through machines conforming to ‘note authentication and fitness sorting parameters’ prescribed by it. RBI is even trying to introduce polymer/plastic bank notes on a ‘field trial’ in select locations of the country. Detecting fake notes, mostly in the denominations of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, is becoming difficult as Pakistan and India procure the paper for currency from the same supplier in London, say intelligence officials.

DC

Pay for inoperative a/cs, cash deposits

You will now have to pay if you don't operate your savings or current account for a year. HDFC Bank, the second largest private sector lender in the country, has decided to charge Rs 50 per month if a customer's savings or current account has remained inoperative for a year. Brace yourself for more. The bank will also charge its "non-managed" customer if he deposits over Rs 100,000 in cash during a day in their savings account at the home branch. Non-managed customers are typically those clients who do not have a private banking or wealth management relationship with the bank. The customer will have to pay Rs 25 for every Rs 50,000 cash deposit in a day over Rs 100,000 in their home branch. These fees are part of the new set of service charges introduced by HDFC Bank from January 1, 2012. According to senior officials at HDFC Bank, the bank introduced these charges after reviewing and benchmarking them with its peers in the public sector, private sector and foreign banking space. "These charges are not something new. Many of the public sector, private and foreign banks already charge their clients on these grounds. We found some of these charges logical and hence decided to introduce them. For instance, we don't want our savings account clients to use these accounts for business purpose. Hence, we decided to levy a charge on cash deposit at the home branch beyond Rs 100,000 a day" said an official. The official added that the "managed clients" mostly do large ticket transactions, and hence are excluded from this charge. The new service charges also include penalty if a standing instruction is rejected, fees on regeneration and physical dispatch of personal identification number (PIN) for phone-banking and internet banking, charges on any deliverable returned due to change in consignee's address."Some of these charges are introduced keeping in mind the customers' interest. We want to encourage our customers to generate their net banking PIN online because the scope for fraud increases if there is a physical dispatch. Hence, this charge was introduced. Similarly, we have decided to charge only if a consignment is not delivered because of negative reasons like the consignee has changed the address. There is again a scope for fraud there," said another official of the bank. HDFC Bank is the first large private banks to introduce new charges and revise existing fees on savings and current account this calendar year. HDFC Bank has so far not increased the interest rate on savings deposit accounts after the rate was deregulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) late October, 2011. Some of the mid-sized private lenders including YES Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Ratnakar Bank, and Karnataka Bank have already announced a hike in their savings deposit rates. The bank has also decided to levy a penalty for non-maintenance of minimum balance on monthly basis instead of quarterly basis. So, a regular savings deposit account holder in one of HDFC Bank's metro or urban branch will have to pay Rs 250 per month if his average monthly balance in between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000. If the average monthly balance is less than Rs 5,000 then the charge will be Rs 350 per month. Earlier, the bank used to charge Rs 750 per quarter for non-maintenance of minimum balance. The bank has also discontinued the option of maintaining a fixed deposit of Rs 50,000 and Rs 100,000 in lieu of average quarterly balance in the savings accounts. If the average monthly balance is not maintained, customers will be permitted only three branch transactions through cheques and two cash transactions free of cost in a month. For every additional branch transaction there will be a charge of Rs 75 and the customer will have to pay Rs 100 for every additional cash transaction. The private lender also said a customer will have to pay Rs 500 if he closes his savings account within a year. The client, however, will not be charged if the account is closed within 14 days. Earlier, the account closure charge was only Rs 100 but only if the account is closed after 14 days and before six months. The charges on cheques deposited but returned unpaid, photo and signature attestation, address confirmation have been doubled to Rs 100 per instance.

BS

Delayed payments by large companies add to SME sickness

........ To mitigate problems arising out of delayed payments, the PHD Chamber has suggested large corporations report to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with details of payments not made to MSMEs within the stipulated 45 days. Companies which falter in settling dues to MSMEs should have their names put up on the RBI website.........

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Missing fiscal deficit target of 4.6% will have implications: RBI

The government has already admitted that adhering to the 4.6 per cent fiscal deficit target would be a challenge on account of lower than expected revenue mop-up and the global financial crisis.The fiscal deficit target of 4.6 per cent of GDP in 2011-12 could be missed and this will have serious implications on inflation, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "In 2011-12, developments so far indicate that the fiscal deficit target of 4.6 per cent of GDP could be breached which will have implications for domestic inflation. "The moderation in private demand resulting from anti-inflationary monetary policy stance of the RBI will be partly offset by the expansion in public sector demand in terms of the size of the fiscal deficit," RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan said. Speaking at the 10th National Management Seminar in Bhubaneswar recently, Khan said while shrinking value of money on account of high price rise called for a tight monetary policy, there is also a need to maintain a balance between controlling inflation and boosting growth. The transcript of Khan's speech was made available in the RBI's website. The government has already admitted that adhering to the 4.6 per cent fiscal deficit target would be a challenge on account of lower than expected revenue mop-up and the global financial crisis. "Shrinking value of money because of persistent high inflation explains the importance of anti-inflationary monetary policy," the RBI Deputy Governor said. Khan said for a country like India with a large percentage of population still living below the poverty line, inflation works as a regressive tax. "Economic welfare of the population at large could be enhanced primarily through higher growth, that too in a low and stable inflation environment. That suggests why balancing growth and inflation becomes so important to monetary policy," he said. Khan said inflation within the threshold level would not mean erosion in purchasing power since higher growth would also raise the income levels, resulting in increased net purchasing power. "Unless the benefits of growth get equitably distributed, this net increase in purchasing power may not happen to all. At the aggregate level, some inflation that coexists with high growth could be welfare maximising. "At high inflation, particularly above threshold level, growth may, however, moderate, and both high inflation and low growth could erode welfare," he said. According to Khan, while the global commodity price index has gone up by more than 85 per cent between February 2009 to October 2011, India's Wholesale Price Index (WPI) during that period has risen by about 27.6 per cent. 

NDTV Profit

Basel III: RBI norms more stringent than BIS', says Moody's

Mumbai, Jan. 9: The Reserve Bank of India's draft guidelines for the implementation of Basel III norms are credit positive for the banking sector as they are more conservative than the Bank for International Settlements norms, according to global credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service. Basel III is a global regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy, liquidity and leverage agreed upon by members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Moody's said the key differences between the RBI's Basel III guidelines and the BIS' Basel III norms are: a more stringent minimum common equity Tier 1 capital of 5.5 per cent (versus BIS's 4.5 per cent); and an earlier deadline for the implementation of a 2.5 per cent capital conservation buffer at March 2017 (BIS' deadline is January 2019).  Further, the RBI has prescribed a more aggressive schedule for minimum total capital ratio, targeting 11.5 per cent by March 2017, versus BIS' 10.5 per cent by January 2019. The rating agency said the RBI's timetable implies an extra capital buffer for Indian banks of 2.25 per cent during 2015-17, which is clearly credit positive for the sector. Moody's observed that it expects the effect on individual banks to vary, with Central Bank of India and IDBI Bank likely to be the most affected because both currently have core equity capital significantly below 8 per cent. Thus, these two banks would face the difficult choice of either raising fresh equity capital or reducing business growth and risk-weighted assets. The rating agency also expects Indian Overseas Bank, Yes Bank, and State Bank of India, all of which rely heavily on Tier-2 debt capital instruments to support their total capital levels, to face pressure to strengthen their capital under the new regime.

HBL

Time to act - RBI must not lose yet another year to wait-and-watch

After clearly stating that the interest rate cycle had peaked, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been tight-lipped about timing a trend reversal. The official stand has been one of wait-and-watch, particularly on the inflation front. There are good enough reasons for RBI to maintain that stance because inflation still remains a concern; whatever decline we are witnessing in food prices is on account of the base effect. Noises are still being raised that overall inflation numbers are going remain in the problem zone, especially, given the fact that the rupee has declined in the past couple of weeks. So, it is argued that RBI should be in no hurry to slash rates. This, we believe, is a fallacious argument. Growth numbers have been falling for some time now, and the prime minister’s latest forecast that GDP growth will come down to 7 per cent from 8.5 per cent a year ago is cause for serious concern. Worse, estimates by some research houses indicate a free fall to even below the 6 per cent mark; in the past, their predictions have often been more accurate than the government’s projections. The results season kicking off this week does not indicate healthy tidings. In addition to infrastructure firms, which have been lagging for a long time now, companies focused on domestic consumption are likely to witness contraction this time around. We are of the opinion that RBI should take urgent note of the fact that growth is slowing at a much faster clip than most policymakers had anticipated. If corrective measures are not initiated now, then things are going to turn worse from here on, making economic revival a difficult task to manage. Rather than follow textbook remedies that argue against administering interest rate cuts till inflation is tamed over a consistently long and stable period of time, it would make sense for the central bank to adopt out-of-the-box prescriptions at its forthcoming review without waiting for number signals on the health of the economy. Though, at first instance, that may seem a bitter pill to swallow on part of RBI, considering that it continued to raise rates till as late as October, if that is what is required to save the economy, so be it. In our issue dated Monday, FC published an exhaustive report on how retailers were being forced into discount sales in peak season. This is indication that, on the ground, the economic slowdown has started taking roots and it is time for policymakers to act. Peak festival sales have traditionally been high in north India, and much of the rest of the country, in winter, adding significantly to corporate bottom lines. Weak sales this season by both large-format corporate retailers and medium-sized companies will soon reflect in government numbers, dragging down an entire chain of small suppliers and vendors. This makes it imperative on part of policymakers to create a robust economic climate that can revive demand. Already, the economy has lost a valuable year to tight money policy measures adopted by the central bank in deciding between growth and high prices. Also, the government seems trapped in a state of policy paralysis, with economic decision making grinding to a halt. If timely measures are not initiated by the central bank to kick-start the economy and get production and employment opportunities moving, yet another year may be lost in the wait-and-watch game in a year that is globally predicted to be worse than the year just gone by. The time to act is now.

FC

Legislating immorality

.... The country still enjoys a savings rate of 30% and the central bank has been increasing interest rates. Last I heard, no member of its monetary policy committee has been proposing any quantitative easing programme.......

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'Need to remove structural bottlenecks for sustained growth –

Bhalchandra Mungekar, Indian Economic Association

.... I had sought in the Rajya Sabha RBI intervention in the forex market by selling some dollars. The RBI did it for some time that somewhat contained depreciation. Since we don’t have real forex surplus, the RBI cannot do that infinitely. But I appreciate the balanced and cautious approach that the RBI has all along adopted.....

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India needs a currency stability fund

.... Ideally RBI should work within a band and intervene directly to stabilize the rupee. The central bank’s judgment can be used when looking at, say, the real effective rate that also adjusts the exchange rate with relative inflation......

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A perfect storm

.... I am one of the few commentators who would endorse the RBI’s logic in remaining on the sidelines in the recent plunge of the rupee. Irrespective of the proximate cause of the depreciation, it has been effective in signalling that, in a turbulent global and domestic environment, the RBI is willing to allow the nominal exchange rate to take the burden of adjustment.A harder question is whether it can now afford to ease up on interest rates given the slowing economy. Other things being equal, a depreciating rupee calls for monetary tightening rather than loosening, as does the need to reaffirm the role of the RBI’s inflation target as a credible nominal anchor for the system. The contribution we can expect of monetary policy this time round will be less than in the past....

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Bankers may seek policy rate cut at RBI meet

MUMBAI: Bank chiefs are likely to suggest that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should cut policy rates in view of the slowdown in the demand for loan, at a meeting to be chaired by Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn on Tuesday. The customary pre-policy meeting will help the RBI gauge bankers' assessment of the economic growth and liquidity conditions ahead of its next monetary policy review on January 24. The meeting assumes significance in the context of the current debate on whether the RBI should give importance to growth over inflation. The economy grew by 6.9% in the September quarter, lower than the 8.5% a year ago. At the same time, headline inflation is around 9.11%, higher than the 7% the central bank had targeted for March 2012. "A 25 bps rate cut could make a lot of difference to improve the sentiments in the economy, which has been low for quiet some time now," S Raman, the chairman and managing director (CMD) of Canara Bank, told ET. The CMD of Punjab National Bank, KR Kamath, also aired similar views. "A rate cut is one of the measures that will help revive sentiments in the economy. It may be a signal of other things to follow," he said. The RBI raised interest rates since March 2010 to tame inflation and paused for the first time in its last policy statement in December. Every quarter, RBI holds an interactive session with the chiefs of select banks to understand their views on various issues like credit growth, liquidity conditions and interest rates. Bankers are expected to urge the RBI to cut policy rate as they witness a slowdown in the demand for loan. Credit has grown 17% on a year-on-year basis as on December 16, as against 23% a year ago. Bankers have attributed the slowdown in demand to rising interest rates and input costs, promoting corporates to delay their expansion plans. Aggregate deposits has risen 18% on a y-o-y basis .

ET

Possible interest rate reduction to spurt economy: Kochhar

"Interest rates are likely to be reduced in the near future which will support the growth prospects during this year,"

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Limited space in the room

....The central bank will be loath to see the gains from a series of interest rate hikes being squandered by undue haste in reversing them. Policy headroom in 2012 is so much smaller than it was in 2009. The climb will be longer this time around.

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Clean up RBI’s mess

....The RBI believes the only way to combat inflation is through rate hikes. Milton Friedman must be happy with the conservative monetarists who follow textbook undergraduate macroeconomic theory. The simple Friedman logic is: the only reason for inflation is over-supply of money. According to Friedman’s k-per cent rule, if the money supply is squeezed, prices will come down. It is fallacious on many counts, just two of which are: nobody has succeeded in fighting food inflation or fuel inflation through monetary policy. Demand-side controls will not succeed in a country like India. It has to be dealt with on the supply side, which means good governance. Inflation, driven by cost-push factors and supply-side constraints, cannot be fought through rate hikes......

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Banks told to rejig officers holding key posts

Concerned with instances of alleged irregularities in public sector banks, the Central Vigilance Commission has directed them to ensure timely rotation of officials working in sensitive posts to check corruption and avoid " vested interest"..............

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‘Farmers can get interest subsidy on loans for another six mths’

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank on Monday said farmers will get loan at concessional rates for an additional period of up to six months post-harvest, a step aimed at encouraging storage of farm produce in warehouses. "In order to discourage distress by farmers and to encourage them to store their produce in warehousing against warehouse receipts, the benefits of interest subvention will be available to small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Card for a further period of up to six months post harvest ...," it said. At present, concessional crop loan at 7 percent with interest rate subsidy is available to farmers as pre-harvest loan. The RBI also asked banks to "immediately" submit their estimates of short-term production credit to farmers for up to Rs 3 lakh during the year 2011-12, to enable it to provide government with an estimate of the likely amount of subsidy. The government has raised the subsidy for timely repayment of crop loans to 3 percent for 2011-12, thus making the effective rate of interest for such farmers to 4 percent per annum.

Zee News

Two-week breather for Noida banks

A month after the Supreme Court cracked the whip on banks operating illegally from residential colonies in Noida, the rule was relaxed temporarily with the Court suspending sealing of banks for next two weeks. On an application moved by the banks’ association, many of whom are operating within Noida’s residential colonies, the bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Rajana Desai stayed operation of its December 5 judgment for two weeks. The bench summoned Chief Executive Officer of Noida to remain personally present on the next date of hearing to detail the steps taken to provide alternate locations to the displaced banks. The order had affected the operations of 22 banks and 21 ATMs involving nationalized banks that affected lakhs of customers in Noida. Appearing for the banks, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted that the banks were yet to get alternate land. In this connection, he added, they approached the Noida CEO and even advertised in newspapers for rented accommodation. Further, Rohatgi said that setting up banks required strict adherence to guidelines of Reserve Bank of India and Central Vigilance Commission.

The Pioneer

Banks to cough up penalty on delayed transactions

Next time your online transaction or money transfers get delayed, you will be entitled to get penalty and interest on the delay, thanks to a new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular. The circular issued last week said that in cases of delayed credits, banks resort to value-dating of the credit in the customer’s account to avoid payment of penalty, which is not in accordance with the instruction issued by RBI in this regard. This is being viewed seriously and is in violation of our instructions, the circular said, adding penal interest of 10.5 per cent would have to be paid for such delays. “RBI will invoke penal action against banks that do not implement the new National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) guidelines in the next 15 days,” said RBI executive director, G Padmanabhan. As per the guidelines, banks are supposed to pay penal interest at the current RBI repo rate (which is at present at 8.5 per cent) plus 2 per cent for the period of delay. So for example, if you are transferring Rs 50,000, and it gets delayed by two days, you will be entitled to penal interest of 10.5 per cent of Rs 50,000 for two days. Padmanabhan said that it was found that banks were not following the NEFT guidelines properly. “Banks may forthwith put up a stop to this practice and strictly adhere to the extant instructions of paying penal interest at the stipulated rate to the customers suo-moto, without waiting for a claim from the customers,” said RBI in a circular. “Many banks were not providing confirmation receipts of fund transfer to the sender. Only the receivers received confirmations against both concerned parties receiving messages and that was a problem,” he said. Padmanabhan was in Chennai for launch of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank’s mobile banking services. Stating mobile banking as an example, he said, banks have not made an attempt to familiarise mobile banking services to customers and have not done all the required rules to meet customer protection. As on October 2011, of the 52 banks, which got a nod from the RBI to provide mobile banking services, only 44 banks were providing the service, he observed. There were 22.45 lakh transactions worth Rs 161 crore, which is 9 per cent growth on a month-on-month basis. “The numbers are impressive, but not heartening,” said Padmanabhan.

FC

Banking frauds

Apropos of ‘Pvt. banks see more fraud cases than public ones’ (January 9), the information obtained from RBI under RTI Act on banking frauds is astonishing. It is unbelievable that private banks, known for their perfection and prompt services, are more prone to such frauds. Thus, it will be convenient to conclude that security level at public sector banks is better. But is it really so? It is well known that with internet and mobile banking services, cases of cyber crimes are on rise. The customer’s ignorance about functioning of e-banking facilities lands him in the clutches of frauds, resulting in financial losses. Less number of frauds in public sector banks does not necessarily mean that customers of public sector banks are more careful/computer literate. A careful study of banks’ records and scrutiny of fraud cases will throw light in this matter.

— Kishorkumar J Ved (DNA)

Nominate to avert trouble

Have you filled the nomination form for your bank accounts and safe deposit locker? If so, have you got an acknowledgement from the bank, confirming registration of the nomination? If your answer to either or both of these questions is in the negative, I would suggest that you complete these essential formalities without any delay and also take your bank to task for not reminding you of it. The banking regulator has been asking banks to comply with these legal formalities, but banks often ignore this important advisory. In some cases, they might get the new customers to fill up the form, but not bother to ensure that old customers also follow suit. In fact, in its latest master circular on customer service released in July this year, the Reserve Bank refers to an observation made by Allahabad High Court, wherein it said, “It will be most appropriate that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues guidelines to the effect that no savings account or fixed deposit in single name be accepted unless name of the nominee is given by the depositors. It will go a long way to serve the purpose of the innocent widows and children, who are dragged on long drawn proceedings in the court for claiming the amount, which lawfully belongs to them.” The regulator also points out that some banks do not have a system of acknowledging the receipt of the duly completed nomination form. Saying that this did not meet with the legal requirements, the RBI says that “banks should strictly comply with the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and the Banking Companies (Nomination) Rules, 1985, and devise a system of acknowledging the receipt of the duly completed form of nomination, cancellation and even changes in the nomination. Such acknowledgement should be given to customers irrespective of whether the same is demanded by them.” The regulator also emphasises that banks are required to register in their books, the nominations and alterations (if any) made by the customers.  The RBI also advises banks to indicate on the passbook, whether the account holder has availed of the nomination facility and whether it has been duly registered by stamping the inscription “nomination registered”. The regulator has also asked banks to educate customers on the importance of nomination and give the subject wide publicity — even put reminders in cheque books. So if your bank is not following this mandate, get them to do it. Complain, if necessary, to the RBI.

The Telegraph

Plea to write IIT entrance in Tamil

A woman has approached the Madras high court seeking direction to the Union government to include regional languages listed under the VIII Schedule of the Constitution, preferably Tamil in Tamil Nadu, as a mode of writing answers in the IIT joint entrance examinations (JEE) scheduled on April 8. A division bench of Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam ordered notice to the chairman, IIT council and the Union government on a public interest litigation by R. Ovia of Chennai. The petitioner said that in 2010-11 about three lakh students in Tamil Nadu took the higher secondary examination in Tamil and several students were from a rural background. The information broucher for the JEE, Ovia pointed out, said that candidates can opt to take the test in English or Hindi but would have to exercise the choice while applying.  The Union Public Service Commission and the Railway Recruitment Board conduct examinations for recruitment in various categories in regional languages, she said. The RBI Young Scholars Award Scheme is also being conducted in 12 regional languages by the RBI and National Council of Education, Research and Training, she said. Hence, the Centre not including regional languages as a mode of examination is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, she said.

DC

'Auditors should work to cope with new risks'

Accounting professionals and auditors of banks have to gear up to cope with newer risks and shocks in the banking and financial institutions segment, said K C Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In a keynote address, to a two-day international conference on the accountancy profession, he said they and auditors should work with the regulator to bring resilience to risk and shock in the banking sector. The bank management and auditors have to ask pointed and relevant questions on the adequacy of capital and advances to make banks pro-actively block risks and shocks. "The recent global financial crisis underscored the fact that risks and shocks are unavoidable. Taking risk is an inevitable part of the business of banks," he said. "If we have to improve the role of auditing profession in managing the resilience to risk and shocks, our entire audit system has to undergo change," he added. Accountants need to come out from the narrow consideration of accounting standards and come at specific answers. Similarly, auditors need a system-wise understanding of markets, products and their connectedness, especially in times of stress. Auditors have to move beyond narrow transaction audits and considered to look at the larger picture. The diversification of activities of banks from the traditional function of lending and borrowing to various other activities, including corporate advisory consulting and the technology-driven nature of the sector in modern times has changed the risk and shock profile of banks. It is also critical that periodical stress-test results are incorporated in the business and capital assessment and planning exercise of banks. The overall acceptable levels of expected (risk) and unexpected (shock) loss willing to be incurred by banks should be a management decision, based on rigorous and analytical assessment of available information, he said.

BS

VITALINFO - Never to miss.........

 

Banks viewing financial inclusion as an opportunity and not just obligation

The banking sector is poised to see significant changes in the immediate future. Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) & the government are taking several steps to strengthen and liberalise the Indian financial system. These steps are expected to transform and boost the banking sector further.......

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Coins' hoarders claim to be RBI dealers

AHMEDABAD: Hoarders and transporters of four tones of coins have got out on bail. The duo was arrested in connection with the huge consignment of coins headed for Indore in a truck. Commercial tax department officials had intercepted the truck and reported the matter to Reserve Bank of India (RBI). A city session court on Saturday released city-based trader Ravi Gupta and his accomplice from Chhatisgarh, Jeteendra Rajai, on bail. Surprisingly, the bail application submitted by the duo's lawyer before the court says: "We are RBI's official dealers for trading in old and mutilated currency notes and coins. RBI has written letters to different banks about us being official dealers. Exchange of small coins is a legal business so we take coins from RBI and send it to places or businessmen where it is needed." "After learning about the letter, in which the duo claimed that they are RBI dealers, when we spoke to RBI officials, they denied having any such dealers," said Ajay Tomar, joint commissioner of police, Sector-1. RBI, in its police complaint against Gupta and Rajai, had claimed that the duo was part of a conspiracy to misuse currency coins. RBI and other investigating agencies have cracked down on gangs that melt currency coins and use the metal as raw material for a variety of products. Gupta was sending the coin consignment to Indore using a fake dispatch order claiming that the consignment consisted of nuts and bolts. Rajai was the consignee of the coins, but his name was not mentioned in the order.Referring to the bank's letter submitted along with the bail application, an RBI official said: "The letter, dated June 29, 2010, issued by RBI just requests the manager of Punjab National Bank's Mascati Market branch in Kalupur to extend exchange facility of old and mutilated notes and coins to Gupta and six others. However, Gupta was blacklisted in February, 2011, when we suspected him to be misusing the facility for profit-mongering." The RBI official added, "As per the Indian Coinage Act 1906, coins of the value of less than one rupee are termed as 'small coin.' However, the currency coins found in 72 gunny bags are of Rs one, two and five denominations."

Coin cruise

Dec 27: A truck with four tonnes of currency coins intercepted at Dahod Checkposts by Gujarat commercial tax department official.

Dec 29: City-based trader Ravi Gupta and Chhattisgarh-resident Jeetendra Rajai goes to the tax department claiming themselves as dealers of RBI and asks them to release the seized consignment. However, the plot fails when tax sleuths call RBI officials to verify their claims.

Dec 30: RBI files a police complaint against Gupta and Rajai at Naranpura police station. RBI accuses the duo of fraudulently hoarding currency coins and misusing them.

Jan 2: A local court turns down bail application of the duo. During hearing, investigating official tells the court that the custody of the seized coins is yet to be secured and that they are lying at Dahod checkposts.

Jan 6: City session court hears bail application of the duo. Investigating officer tells the court that they were yet to take the coins in their custody. The duo's lawyer submits a letter claiming that Gupta is a registered RBI dealer and so he can trade in coins. The court grants them bail in an order on January 7.

Jan 8: A team of Naranpura police station officials leaves for Dahod to bring the coins and truck to Ahmedabad. Officials open one of the 72 gunny bags to find Rs 2 coins packed in small packets inside.

TOI

Now, a malware that can steal your bank account

....According to Trusteer, a security company which detected the attack, the software, which steals your bank passwords to give access to your account, waits for you to enter the same banking details before "adjusting" what you see. The idea is to gives criminals more time to use debit card details on fraudulent transactions without the person realising it's happening,.....

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RBI to ask banks to have ombudsmen in zones

To prevent the recovery agents from harassing customers and to stem the tide of customer complaints, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will shortly direct all banks to have independent banking ombudsman at all zonal offices and at the central office. The central bank expects to add about 500 banking ombudsman all over India to channelise complaints from all corners of the country. The banks could appoint advocates or retired bank officials who will be paid by the bank but work independently and report directly to the RBI regional ombudsman. The State Bank of India, the largest bank by bank branches, for example, will alone have to set up 75 banking ombudsman one each at its zonal offices. An RBI official told Financial Chronicle that the present banking ombudsman scheme has limitations as it has only 15 banking ombudsman one in each of its regional offices all over the country. “We feel that this network is to small to capture all the complains that the customers have.” In 2010-11, though the total number of customer complaints against banks declined by 7,992 to 71,274, there was a large number of complaints with regard to direct selling agents harassing customers against new private sector banks and foreign banks. “A point to be noted at this juncture is the concentration of complaints with regard to DSA against new private sector banks and foreign banks,” RBI in the latest Banking Trends report has noted. “In 2010-11, more than 90 per cent of total complaints relating to DSA were received against foreign banks and new private sector banks. Further, more than 50 per cent of the complaints related to hidden charges were received against private sector banks and foreign banks. Such complaints were relatively less in case of public sector banks. However, more than 95 per cent of the complaints regarding pension were received against public sector banks.” Due to the large network and a large number of branches in rural and semi-urban areas, the public sector banks have seen an increase in complaints against them in 2010- 11, over the previous year, whereas the number of complaints against private sector banks and foreign banks witnessed a decline over the same period. Number of complaints per branch was particularly high for foreign banks at 22.34 in 2010-11. In 2010-11, almost one fourth of the total complaints were received against credit/debit/ATM cards.

FC

Banks resorting to value-dating come under scanner

The practice of banks resorting to value-dating of credit in the customer's account to avoid payment of penalty has caught the banking regulator's eye. It has asked banks to put up a stop to this practice forthwith and strictly adhere to the extant instructions of paying penal interest at the stipulated rate to the customers' suo motu without waiting for a claim from customers. Value date is the date on which an account holder can use funds from deposited cheques that have passed through the bank's clearing cycle. Under the extant RBI guidelines, banks are required to pay penal interest at the current RBI LAF Repo Rate (8.50 per cent) plus two per cent for the period of delay/till the date of refund as the case may be to the affected customers. These measures on payment of penal interest for delayed credit/refunds of national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) transactions were instituted with the objective of enhancing customer service and efficiency parameters of the system in view of large-scale growth in electronic payment transactions. Banks have been asked to keep contact details of their CFCs updated at all times and also advise changes, if any, immediately to the National Clearing Cell for updating the central directory placed on the RBI Web site. Emphasising that CFCs are the first point of contact for aggrieved customers and play a vital role in success of NEFT system, the RBI observed that in many instances, the CFC contact details given are non-functional/out-dated and/or there is no response from these numbers or mail-ids, thereby defeating the very purpose of setting up such centres. Banks should ensure that calls made/e-mails sent to CFCs are promptly attended to and sufficient resources are dedicated for the same. Compliance to this effect should also be submitted to the Board of the bank in its next meeting and a copy of the same should be sent to the RBI immediately after the board meeting.

HBL

Private banks more prone to fraud

The public sector banks (PSBs) may have a 75% market share, but the number of banking frauds by private banks is five times that of PSBs. Information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), revealed that while private banks, including foreign banks, have reported about 15,000 cases during 2010-11, PSBs, comprising 19 nationalised banks, including the State Bank of India and its six associates, recorded 3,700 cases. While PSBs lost approximately Rs2,500 crore, their better equipped counterparts in the private sector lost Rs1,100 crore. According to data released by the RBI as on June-end 2011, PSBs accounted for 74.6% of bank deposits while private sector banks had only 18%, with the rest of the funds lying with regional rural banks and foreign banks. Interestingly, it is the private banks, including foreign banks, which stand for perfection and are known for prompt service that appear to be more prone to banking frauds. During 2010-11, the ICICI and HSBC banks put together have reported 13,067 cases. SBI tops the list of PSBs with the highest number of fraud cases reported in the current financial year.
SBI reported 784 cases involving Rs298 crore for the year 2010-11, the RTI query revealed. ICICI Bank alone accounted for almost half of the total frauds reported to the RBI. Of the 5,319 cases reported in the current financial year (till September) by 29 private banks, a whopping 3,304 were from ICICI. Similarly, in 2010-11, ICICI reported 10,684 of the total 19,845 cases. The second highest numbers of cases were reported by HSBC at 2,383 for the same period. With the advent of mobile and internet banking, the number of banking frauds in the country is on the rise as banks are losing money to the tune of Rs2,500 crore every year. While the figure for 2010-11 was Rs3,500 crore, for the current financial year (till September) it is about Rs1,800 crore. Further, state-wise list of information on banking frauds shows Maharashtra reporting the highest number of cases to the RBI. In the last financial year, banks in the Maharashtra reported 1,179 cases with Rs1,141 crore being lost to such frauds. Maharashtra is followed by Uttar Pradesh with 385 cases during the same period.

DNA

Eleven executive directors in race for six CMD posts

As many as 11 Executive Directors are in the fray to fill the six posts of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of public sector banks that will fall vacant in financial year 2012-13. A top-level panel, comprising a RBI Deputy Governor, Financial Services Secretary as well as certain external experts, is to meet here on January 12, to conduct interviews for the top slots in six public sector lenders, sources said. The public sector banks where the incumbent chief executives are to retire during the next financial year are Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India and Dena Bank. This panel will shortlist the names and also do allotment of banks. The names are expected to be finalised the same day after discussions with the RBI Governor. The names of the selected candidates would be forwarded to the Union Finance Minister and then to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, sources said. After a gap of two years, the panel may also look at the possibility of lateral movement of existing CMDs to the large banks (category A banks – over Rs 3 lakh crore turnover). In the next financial year, the CMDs of three large banks (Category A) — Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Canara Bank — are to superannuate, raising expectations that some existing CMDs in mid-sized banks may get to move over to these banks. Over the last two years, the Government and the RBI have opted to elevate Executive Directors to the posts of CMDs rather than looking at lateral movement of CMDs.

HBL

Basel Norms

This refers to “Basel-III overlooks our growth needs” (Business Line, January 6). Basel-III provides transparency, accountability and minimises the risk of lending loans, thus reducing NPAs. The management should train the concerned staff towards implementation of the Basel norms and the need to adhere to guidelines so that the financial structure is strong and will withstand global competition.

- Vedula Krishna (HBL)

Allopathy, not apathy

..... the current bout of policymaking—allopathic economic policy—is countering the tendencies of the economy, but is not addressing the pathological problems or leveraging the structural strengths of the system. For instance, the measures taken to increase the inflows of foreign savings and help “broaden the class of investors and provide more depth to the market” can be of little macroeconomic consequence when the rate of savings in the economy at present is a staggering 36% of gross domestic product.....

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Strengthening the financial system

..........Basel-III norms seek to build a strong banking system with adequate capital, sufficient liquidity in times of stress, and reduced systemic risk in the long run, but these norms are bound to put pressure on the banks to raise capital in uncertain macro-economic conditions, particularly in a period when the government's finances and ability to meet the incremental capital needs are already stressed.

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Specifics of risk management strategies for hedging

Edited excerpts of the speech delivered by Shri V.K.Sharma, Executive Director of RBI at Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on January 5

..................Therefore, to my mind, nothing conveys and expresses the Risk Management mantra more trenchantly than the following: “Just as you make friends when you don't need them, not when you need them and certainly not after you need them, so also you hedge when you don't need it, not when you need it and certainly not after you need it”. Complete internalisation and ingraining of this holistic risk hedging culture, attitude and temper by business and industry will, in equilibrium, reduce cost of both debt and equity capital by reducing volatility of ROE as markets will perceive them as much less risky and more safe. If they do this, they will exemplify the following fairy tale ending viz. “And they lived happily ever after”!

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Facing a twin challenge

....A sound non-inflationary growth stimulus in the coming budget can contribute to building consumer and investor confidence and help RBI tackle inflation and manage external value of the rupee. A performance audit of fiscal stimulus package in the coming budget will be necessary to assess how far the target of growth with controlled inflation is successful......

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Basel-III norms: Government must gear up for financial reforms

The objective of the draft guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on implementation of Basel-III capital regulations is unexceptionable. It is to "improve the banking sector's ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress, whatever the source, thus reducing the risk of spillovers from the financial sector to the real economy". After the 2008 financial crises, the ripple effects of which we are still living through, few will dispute this is a critical objective. It is only appropriate, therefore, that the latest guidelines should introduce new buffers like leverage ratios and counter-cyclical capital buffers. Thus, banks have been directed to build capital buffers during normal times that they could draw down when losses are incurred during periods of stress. The crisis threw up new kinds of risks such as those posed by inter-connectedness among large financial players and deterioration in counter-party credit risk. These did not figure in Basel-II; but, rightly, find place in Basel-III. The guidelines also try to improve the quality of capital by doing away with ingenious instruments that masqueraded as equity in the past. Consequently, tier-I capital will henceforth predominantly consist of common equity. The net effect is that banks will have to find additional sources of capital. This is not going to be easy even though banks have been told to ensure compliance in a phased manner commencing January 2013 and ending January 2015. The government's unwillingness to reduce its stake in public sector banks (PSBs) means the additional capital for PSBs will have to come from public coffers. Given the opportunity cost of this additional capital, especially when government finances are very constrained, it is far from certain the cost-benefit trade-off justifies such infusion.  Opting out is not an option. As one of the members of the Basel Committee, India has played a key role in developing the Basel-III safeguards. The government must be prepared to dilute its stake down to 51% in state-owned banks, and churn other assets. Sell holdings in other public enterprises and slash subsidies, use the proceeds to infuse fresh capital in the banks.

ET

Rate cut unlikely, but CRR may be cut

..... A rate cut could be a couple of months away, but RBI may use other monetary tools such as a cut in CRR to improve liquidity and see through the government’s hefty borrowing programme......

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A new low on earnings front likely

.... Although the earnings of Indian firms are unlikely to bring cheer anytime soon, the silver lining is that depleting margins could provide RBI with a cue to start cutting policy rates significantly.....

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Three regulatory changes that will make NRIs happy

.... RBI has accepted some of the recommendations made by the committee headed by K.J. Udeshi, which was set up to review the facilities for individuals under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema), 1999. The apex bank has liberalized certain provision of Fema, which besides helping NRIs would also help resident Indians......

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Recovery of loans

It is a welcome move by the Reserve Bank of India in asking banks to acknowledge MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) loan applications. At the same time, the central bank should strengthen banks, especially public sector banks, in the recovery of these loans. These loans most often become NPAs and the poor bankers have limited ways to recover them. Even securitisation is not helping banks in the recovery of loans. Also, the rights are not exercised by the genuine and needy borrowers. Not only MSME loans, even crop loans are not taken by the needy. There is no income-generation in the loans given to self-help groups. The RBI should ensure that loans are disbursed only to the really needy. If strict legislation with regard to recovery is enacted, any number of rights can be given to borrowers and the banks can be made accountable.

- I. Rama Rao, Visakhapatnam (HBL)

Bank on banks for better returns

.... To contain inflation, the RBI has raised rates 13 times by 425 basis points (bps) and, as a result, FD rates reached close to 10 per cent towards the end of last year. But it is almost certain that such a high rate is unlikely to continue and investors will be wiser if they rush to banks now.......

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Will RBI go for a Rate Cut Just Yet?

For industrialists and consumers facing uncertain times, an imminent cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India appears to be the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. But the tunnel may be longer than it appears. A cut in policy rates, promised by RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao, will begin to ease the pressure from next fiscal, but the revival of investments and return to 9% economic growth may take longer as the economy nurses its wounds. Just as taming inflation took longer than expected due to the RBI’s ‘baby steps’, the revival of animal spirits could be equally prolonged as the government gets its act together. “An interest rate cut is just one of the pillars to boost revival in the economy,” says Romesh Sobti, CEO at IndusInd Bank. “There are a variety of factors that would fuel growth, which include fiscal measures, and excise rate cuts.” Squeezed by rising funding costs for nearly two years and administrative inaction, industry is looking to the RBI for relief. The central bank has ruled out raising interest rates, but it is not saying when it will begin easing. Economic activity is not as weak as the dodgy industrial output numbers suggest. Costly crude oil, suppressed inflation in the form of administered prices of items such as coal, deteriorating fiscal position and a weak currency are delaying the cut. After 13 increases, the repo rate — the rate RBI charges banks for lending — is at 8.5%. “The monetary cycle has peaked,” RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said last week. “That does not necessarily say that a quick reversal is in order because inflation risks are still visible, still high.” HSBC’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for India, more relied upon than the government’s Index of Industrial Production, rose to 54.2 in December, from 51 in November. It was driven by a jump in output growth at 55.8 compared to 50.5 a month ago. New orders were at 57.9, up from 52.8. Services sector activity accelerated to 54.2 from 53.2 in November. “It is premature to replace inflation with growth as the dominant policy concern,” said Leif Lybecker Eskesen, chief economist for India and Asean at HSBC.  “A rate cut is, therefore, not just around the corner, but will have to await a sustained decline in core and not just headline inflation. This will take a while to materialise.”  Not many are betting on a rate cut when the governor announces the quarterly monetary policy review on January 24, though falling food prices could take the Wholesale Price Index closer to the RBI’s target of 7% by March, from 9.11% in November. “With the sharp depreciation of the currency constituting a de facto loosening of monetary conditions and the fiscal slippage expected to be strong, policy is looser than commonly thought,” said Sajjid Chinoy, economist at JPMorgan. “In this environment, it would be imprudent for the RBI to start easing monetary policy. We don’t expect any rate cuts in the first quarter of 2012, at least.” Unlike in the previous downtrend after the 2008 credit crisis, commodity prices are not falling enough to substantially ease inflationary pressure and the sliding Indian rupee has negated any declines. Crude oil, India’s main import, is up 18% in the last year. The 16% fall in the rupee against the US dollar is amplifying the rise in price. “The rupee sustained sharp losses in 2008-09, but at that time there was little passthrough to inflation as global commodity prices collapsed concurrently,” said Taimur Baig, economist at Deutsche Bank, who doesn’t expect a cut this month. “In contrast, energy price inflation continues to be a major risk this year. We think the RBI has become more concerned about growth over the past six months, but not to the extent of seeing the need for immediate easing measures.” But with economic expansion, which fell to 6.9% in the September quarter from 8.5% a year ago, expected to slow further as the European crisis dampens exports and state elections resulting in lack of policy measures, there could be room to cut interest rates by March. “We expect the RBI to cut rates by March,” said Indranil Sengupta, economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Most lead indicators suggest growth is slowing,” he said, adding a delay in cutting rates could lead to the RBI falling behind the curve.  By then, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee might have also announced the Union Budget for the next financial year, which could address the concerns on deficit where the government will miss the 4.6% of the gross domestic product target by a wide margin this year. Although various different factors point to better times, the industry is looking for concrete action before readying to cheer. “The Deputy Governor has indicated that we have reached the ceiling on interest rates. That’s good, but he hasn’t told us when he is going to do that (easing),” said Anand Mahindra, vicechairman and managing director, Mahindra & Mahindra.

ET

Interest rate cuts are just a matter of time

.... In terms of expectations, I think it is going to be a 50-50 kind of probability because RBI may want to look out for more evidence of growth slowing. I think that’s going to more or less happen. I think growth is going to meaningfully disappoint over the next two to three months, but it’s a matter of time before RBI cuts rates. Be it now or be it later in the year, perhaps sometime towards the end of the first quarter, but I would expect them to cut rates at some point over the first half of this year.........

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Think global but act local

..................A redeeming feature of the reform scenario is RBI's introspection and transparency. It has admitted openly the mistakes committed and set out to correct distortions. The interest rate structure is a case in point. RBI's call for total financial inclusion articulated forcefully in this Report, one hopes, will spur all PSBS to achieve the goal.

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Volatility eases in currency market after RBI measures

.....“The real effective exchange rate that measures the rupee’s value against major currencies shows that the rupee is moving towards a neutral territory,” Gokarn said, adding that RBI does not want to protect any level but will check the volatility................

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RBI cautions investors against illegal finance companies

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Saturday asked people not to deposit their hard earned money in unauthorised non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and institutions in the hope of getting hefty returns. "Please do not fall into the trap of hefty returns in quick succession," said RBI executive director S. Karuppasamy at a financial outreach camp at remote Bagmara village, 135 km north of Tripura capital Agartala. "The authorities are taking steps against the NBFCs and the unrecognised bodies. Simultaneously, people also must be aware about the nature and appropriateness of those institutions where they have been depositing their money," he said. The RBI as part of its platinum jubilee celebrations has been organising financial outreach camps in semi-urban, rural and remote areas since 2009 across the country to make people aware about the banking services, dubious activities of NBFCs and institutions, besides bringing all the people under the banking services. Since 2009, the RBI has held 17 outreach and financial literacy camps in seven northeastern states. Unauthorised NBFCs have mushroomed in the northeastern region in recent years. They mobilise deposits from people by promising abnormally high rates of interest, at 25 to 30 percent per annum. After collecting the money, they shut down their operations and leave the area. "The NBFCs not recognised by the RBI, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority or the Securities and Exchange Board of India cannot do any monetary business or take deposits from people," Karuppasamy said. Top nationalised banks, NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), regional rural bank officials attended an outreach and financial literacy camp at Bagmara, a village with mixed populattion in Tripura's Dhalai district. The RBI and top bank officials explained to the local people about opening a no-frill (zero balance) account, taking loans from the banks with trouble-free method, increasing credit-deposit ratio and safe deposit of their well-merited money. In a separate programme in western Tripura, United Bank of India (UBI) chairman-cum-managing director Bhaskar Sen said mainstream banking services would be provided to all unbanked semi-urban, rural and remote areas having population of 2,000 by March this year. "Of the 72,900 unbanked villages and human habitations, having population of 2,000 or more, across the country, over 65 percent such areas have already been covered by some form of banking services," Sen told reporters. "Banks in India will soon start cashless transactions in a big way to boost the market and economy," the UBI chief said.

SME Times