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| (L-R) are : Shri. Madhukar Choudhari, Commissioner, Cooperation, GoM, Shri. M. V. Ashok Chief General Manager, NABARD, Smt. Phulan Kumar, Regional Director, Nagpur, RBI, Shri. J. B. Bhoria, Regional Director, Maharashtra & Goa, RBI, Shri. Narendra Singh C & MD, Bank of Maharashtra & Chairman, SLBC – Maharashtra, Shri Munaf Hakim, Chairman, Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, Shri C. VR. Rajendran, Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra, Shri Shravan Hardikar, CEO, Maharashtra State Livelihood Mission and Shri A. A. Magdum, General Manager, Priority & Convener, SLBC, Maharashtra |
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.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Bank of Maharashtra convenes 118th SLBC Meeting
Come April, you can use RuPay even online
......These online-enabled cards may turn attractive for mainstream banks, unlike ATM-only and debit ones, which are targeted more towards co-operative and regional rural banks, and rural and semi-urban bank branches, respectively, because of less internet-savvy clientele there. “Mainstream banks will not issue RuPay cards to their customers till the e-commerce option is enabled. From April, they will start issuing,” said A P Hota, managing director and CEO, NPCI. To begin with, two banks will issue new RuPay cards from the second half of April, and others are likely to follow suit, Hota added. ........
RBI puts off Basel norms for forex derivatives to January 2014
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank today postponed the implementation of Basel-III regulations for currency derivatives segment to next January pending resolution of norms regarding trade settlement, even as it said the new capital adequacy requirements will kick in from April 1..............
RBI notifies new rates for small saving schemes
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today notified 0.1 per cent reduction each in the interest rates on Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) to be effective from fiscal beginning April 1, 2013...............
Chidambaram to inaugurate 300 new bank branches
......."At the meeting with RBI Governor D Subbarao on Jan 15, state chief minister Akhilesh Yadav requested him to open 3000 more bank branches keeping in mind the population of the state. Now RBI and state government has fixed the time table to open these branches by March 31, 2014", ..........
ACP envisages Rs. 3391.25 crore under priority sector
The Annual Credit Plan for Thanjavur district for the year 2013-14 envisages a total plan outlay of Rs. 3391.25 crore under the priority sector, which is an increase of Rs. 798.91 crore (31 per cent) over the last year's plan, said K.Baskaran, Collector, here on Wednesday.............
Rupee Bank to auction four properties to raise Rs 14 crore
PUNE: The administrative board of the city-based Rupee Cooperative Bank Ltd has decided to auction four properties together valued at Rs 14 crore to improve the bank's recovery, said Sanjaykumar Bhosale, one of the administrators of the bank, told reporters on Thursday..........
The Bhuj Mercantile Co-operative Bank Ltd., Ahmedabad now to be under RBI Directions till October 02, 2013
The Reserve Bank of India has extended the period of directions imposed on the The Bhuj Mercantile Co-operative Bank Ltd., Ahmedabad for further six months. The Bank with thus continue to be under directions from April 02, 2013 to October 02, 2013. The modified directive has been displayed on the bank premises for interested members of public to peruse.........
Read......
Read......
SBI wages rate war, undercuts competition
.A senior SBI executive, who is responsible for the “rate war” and does not want to be named, says there is no war and his bank can lend at a rate which is cheaper than many others for the simple reason that it has a lower base rate than others. SBI’s base rate is 9.7%, the same as that of HDFC Bank Ltd. India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank Ltd’s base rate is 9.75%, but most other banks have pegged their base at 10% or even higher. For instance, the base rate of both Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda is 10.25%.....
Thursday, March 28, 2013
RBI eases KYC norms for Self Help Group
.........“KYC verification of all the members of SHG need not be done while opening the savings bank account of the SHG and KYC (Know Your Customer) verification of all the office bearers would suffice,”............
Dr. Sandip - H(isto)R(y) persona lays down office today............
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| An institution within institution, Dr. Sandip Ghose, CGM-I-C, HRMD lays down office today. RBI PS Fraternity & VITALINFO wish him a very happy n healthy Re-Tyred life ........... |
Reputational risk is the bank’s responsibility
.........It is not as though the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not undertaken corrective measures in the past. Other than issuing direct guidelines for combating money laundering and potential for terrorism financing, RBI has issued loan recovery, credit card and fair practices codes from time to time. Blaming the regulator for lax supervision is escapism. We do not aspire to be a nanny state. RBI, warts and all, is already an admirably stringent regulator. There is a limit to how much can be achieved by policing. For example, it is not possible for RBI or the department of financial services to oversee the safety of women in bank workplaces. However, it is critical enough to expose banks to enormous reputational risk..........
Sting-less operation
After a recent meeting between bankers and the Reserve Bank of India on risk-based supervision, reporters were keen to know whether the cobrapost sting, in which officials in some banks were caught on camera offering to launder clients' black money, figured in the discussion, especially given the topic on hand. One chairman and managing director of a public sector bank quipped, "No wild animals were discussed, including cobra."
Banks and Liquidity Management - Dr.T.V.Gopalakrishnan
.............The mismatch in ALM is bank's own making and despite this RBI has come to their rescue in several ways which include cut in CRR and interest rate. Banks' approach to business has undergone a sea change and their dependence on borrowed funds rather than deposits can be identified as the major cause for their liquidity problems..............
BURA NA MANO HOLI HAI
Dear friends,
Pension updation
is the subject which seems to be haunting the retired RBItes the most.
Whenever retired employees, may they be in group or pair meet, the
conversation invariably turns to the subject. With every passing day,
desperation seems to have crept in the minds. Judges may come and judges
may go, the case will still stand at the same stage. By the time the
decision comes, if it comes, many of us will have retired from the life.
I have a suggestion. You should leave instruction to utter the words 'pension updation case has been won' if the crow does not pick the
riceball (pind) at the time of shraddha, to your relatives and I am sure
the crow will fly away with the entire stock.
BURA NA MANO HOLI HAI.......
- Sharad Fadnavis, Ex-RBItes, Nagpur
Why should we unnecessarily burden the close relative with one more mantra that the 'Pension updation case has been won'? Now itself we can alienate our mind from pension updation and make up our mind that we will reach salvation notwithstanding the positive/negative result of the case. Anyhow good imagination! Our children who will be in a hurry to leave the country, may not even notice whether the crow has taken the pind. Why bother about that ?
- Vathsala Jayarman, Ex-RBItes, Chennai
Why should we unnecessarily burden the close relative with one more mantra that the 'Pension updation case has been won'? Now itself we can alienate our mind from pension updation and make up our mind that we will reach salvation notwithstanding the positive/negative result of the case. Anyhow good imagination! Our children who will be in a hurry to leave the country, may not even notice whether the crow has taken the pind. Why bother about that ?
- Vathsala Jayarman, Ex-RBItes, Chennai
Ex-appreciable VITALINFO.............
VITALINFO helps to keep us abreast with the developments in the shortest possible time and the service rendered by you in this regard is most appreciable. But many a time response is limited to a mere "thanks". It not intentional. In the midst of daily routines many a time there is not enough time to react in a fitting manner. Please bear with us. We are always grateful.
Thanks and regards,
C S R Nair, Ex-RBIte (via e-mail)
Finance companies violating RBI, Sebi norms
GUMLA: The financial establishments here, which were sealed on Monday, were violating directives of the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).............
KMSS for shutdown of all NBFCs
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is at present working on a plan to train the state police personnel to tackle the rising fake financial companies
............."There are hundreds of such NBFCs operating in the state. Many companies have already cheated investors of crores of rupees, shut down their operations and escaped from here. However, apart from arresting some of the officials, police have done nothing. We want the state government to take stern action to reimburse those who have lost their assets," ........
Govt bank staff await entry of new private players
Manoj has been watching the business papers closely ever since the Reserve Bank of India announced giving out licences for new banks. A junior officer with State Bank of India, he sees the entry of new entities into banking will not only energise the sector but also get him a lucrative job. And, he is not alone. Many among the over seven lakh public sector bank employees are hoping to switch to new private banks..............
Banks make progress, but more challenges lie ahead
.....The villages in India are witnessing a flurry of activity, thanks to the financial inclusion initiatives of banks. Most of the banks are now busy appointing business correspondents (BC) or opening up ultra small branches in villages under the financial inclusion plan. As the new financial year, 2013-14, is round the corner, the focus on is meeting targets........
FDI funds may be routed via independent accounts with banks to protect investors
..........The Reserve Bank of India is considering making it mandatory for foreigners to route foreign direct investment (FDI) into India through independent accounts with banks to ensure funds are not misused by company issuing shares. The move comes after the central bank detected that some companies were
using the flexibility in the rules to retain the funds remitted by the
foreign investor for as long as three months and return that later
without issuing any equity...........
Decking up small savings
.....Small savings schemes have witnessed net withdrawals over the last two years, mainly because the returns offered were much lower than those on bank deposits and other investment avenues. The situation, however, is now set to reverse. With the RBI cutting its policy rates by 75 basis points in the last one year, banks have revised their term deposit rates by a similar degree. What is more, further deposit rate cuts of 50 basis points too appear likely over the next one year, with the pressure on banks to reduce lending rates. .....
'BRICS bank could become future World Bank'
The BRICS bank, the setting up of which was approved by the group's leaders today, could become a World Bank in future due to the increasing influence of emerging countries, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management said today..............
World Bank ready to work closely with BRICS bank
............"We welcome the announcement of the establishment of a BRICS development bank and stand ready to work closely with the new bank to end poverty and build shared prosperity throughout the developing world," ..............
Banks stare at MTM losses as bond yields surge
Banks are staring at huge mark-to-market (MTM) losses on their government bond portfolio in the fourth quarter, as yields on most liquid papers have moved up following the Reserve bank of India’s (RBI’s) hawkish tone in the mid-quarter review of its monetary policy.......
With fiscal-end nigh, banks gasp for cash
..........“In view of the anticipated large volume of banking transactions during the annual closing of account for financial year 2012-13, the RBI, in order to facilitate smooth and non-disruptive conduct of banking operations, has decided to conduct additional liquidity operations,..........
Can banks hound friends of defaulters for loan repayment?
.........Co-incidentally on the same day I saw a newspaper headline that said that India’s largest bank was all set to publish photographs of defaulters in newspapers and their own branches. This was an attempt to name and shame the “willful” defaulters into paying their over dues. In my opinion publishing of defaulters photo in newspapers is against the BCSBI code which requires that the bank respect the privacy of the borrower. This co-incidental overlapping of two separate incidents regarding collection practices by banks set me thinking............
Checklist before going electronic
Indian policymakers are keen to push bank depositors to write fewer cheques and make more transactions through the electronic route. The key benefit of e-payment is that transfer of funds is almost instantaneous. While the campaign is yet to kick off, we think that you should be aware of all the nuances of making e-payments before taking the plunge.........
Be careful with fancy credit cards
Planning to get a new credit card? Well, if you thought you just had a silver, gold or platinum card to consider, think again. The array of the credit card types available is quite bewildering. Besides these basic cards, there are a number of specialised ones which appear to offer more value or seem more attractive.........
Karur Vysya Bank will have new operation model
......“While innovation and technology adoption have helped capture the market initially, continuous improvement in branch operation model would help improve the in-branch experience,” .......
FirstRand Bank eyes break-even by '14-end
.....“We are hopeful that our commercial (corporate) banking arm will break even by the end of the next fiscal. The balance sheet of our India franchise stood at $200 million as of 2012, with an asset base of $52 million,” .........
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Pangs of Separation: Debt Mgmt & Monetary Policy
Well over 15 years ago, a working group of the Reserve Bank of India first suggested the separation of its debt management and monetary policy functions of the central bank. In keeping with global practices of the time, the group made out a case
for separating the role of a bank in managing borrowings for the
central and state governments, leaving the RBI to focus mainly on setting interest rates and price stability. Although the government first announced its intention to form a new
debt management office in 2007, there has been little progress. The move
came appropriately at a time when the process of fiscal consolidation
was well underway.............
My View on "Leveraging the debt office"
- M.G.Warrier (Business Standard)
Reserve Bank of India : RBI holds Annual Statistics Conference 2013
The Annual Statistics Conference 2013 of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was organised by the Department of Statistics and Information Management during March 22-23, 2013 in Mumbai. The conference provided a platform to the statisticians of the Reserve Bank to present their research before external experts and receive their feedback in order to make the analysis more meaningful for policy and research. Dr. Urjit R. Patel, Deputy Governor inaugurated the conference. Shri Deepak Mohanty, Executive Director; heads of select central office departments of the Reserve Bank; renowned statisticians and economists from the academia; and the statisticians of the Reserve Bank participated in the conference..........
A Banking Revolution
.......Due
to significant country specific differences in banking regulations,
income distribution, customer needs and mobile usage, this revolution is
going to be complex as multiple players jostle for position… More
importantly, banks will be myopic if they view mobile as just another
channel for doing business.............
Read - ET
Co-op sector would sink if mining halt continues: Parrikar
....The chief minister said he would meet RBI Governor, who is currently out of the country. "Something has to be done about these loans. I will meet RBI Governor seeking his intervention," he said. ......
Thoughts on the Post Bank
This
refers to ‘Post Bank of India is an Excellent Idea’ (ET, Mar 26).
Though it is a great idea, the question that needs to be answered is:
will the government be able to manage public service and business,
together? Post offices are mostly of the public service category and
giving them a banking licence will dilute their core area, i.e., postal
services. Instead of nationalising post offices for banking, why not
have a PPP model? This will benefit all, ensure transparency and
efficiency and technological advancement.
- ANAND WADADEKAR, Pune (ET)
- ANAND WADADEKAR, Pune (ET)
If India Post can run a bank, so can anyone with land
............ A prime reason for issue of new bank licences is financial inclusion. By that criterion, India Post is an automatic choice. With close to 1,55,000 offices, a majority of them in rural and semi-urban areas, and 30 crore deposit accounts, India Post can do what commercial banks have tried to over the years, but with limited success." Look at the logic closely and what the editorial is saying is this: India Post has a lot of real estate in villages and financially excluded places, It is already taking in deposits, so it is ready to become a bank. If it were that simple, any retailer with real estate in the right places should be ideally positioned to become a bank. How about Bata as a semi-urban bank? Why not every rural police station? Even better, they could guard the cash better. There are lots of kirana stores in rural areas. Why not give them a bank franchise?............
Balance of problems
When the Q3 balance of payments data comes out Thursday, RBI Governor D Subbarao has already warned us, the current account deficit (CAD) is likely to be much worse than it was for Q2. While Q2 CAD was a record 5.4% of GDP, a Citi estimate puts the likely Q3 CAD at a whopping 6.5% of GDP. While we have to wait for Thursday to know if the estimate is right, a sharp worsening looks likely since, even after a 4% yoy hike in February exports, April-February exports are down 4% yoy. .......
Fake currency rings get organized
......"Semi-literate youths in
the hinterland with very little exposure to the world were found
involved in making fake notes in cottage industry like set-ups. Many of
them don't know that they are committing a crime. We are planning to
initiate awareness campaigns in schools and colleges to prevent youths
from falling prey to such practices,"..............
Rupee co-op bank could recover only 14 crore last fiscal
......"The bank had posted a net
loss of Rs 504 crore in 2011-12, which will now touch the Rs 540 crore
mark, with only five days left for the end of the financial year. In the
last 11 months, only Rs 14 crore were recovered when actual recovery
should have been Rs 200 crore,.......
Post-Cyprus truth: There is risk in banks, gold, realt
The average Indian is certain of three things apart from death and taxes. One is that banks in India cannot fail, two is that gold prices cannot fall and three is that real estate prices cannot fall. Indians have reasons to believe these three certainties of banks not failing and gold and real estate prices not falling. After all banks have not failed in India over the years and those who have failed have been taken over by other banks (Global Trust Bank is one example where RBI made sure it was taken over by a stronger bank, the Oriental Bank of Commerce). Cooperative banks keep failing and RBI cancels their licences frequently...........
Financial Inclusion In 2012: South Asian Highlights
.......In India multiple forces in Government continue to push branchless banking. This has been a priority for financial inclusion by the Ministry of Finance and RBI, but this has been added to by linking accounts to newly established unique identification numbers (Aadhaar) to disburse social welfare payments and subsidies. Although the momentum is strong, there are concerns over agent network quality, and the lack of account use, even though bank accounts have been opened for the poor at a rate unseen in the country before........
Banks lending to MFI on the rise
CHENNAI: The dust in the micro finance industry that began in October 2010 in Andhra Pradesh is settling down with banks' advances to the sector showing a pick up. "The supply side shock is behind us now. During 2011 (Jan-Dec ), we had raised Rs 950 crore from banks and this moved up to Rs 2,150 crore last year," S Dilli Raj, chief financial officer, SKS Microfinance said...........
Indian Banks: Caught in Liquidity Squeeze or is it a Liquidity Trap?
There has been a consistent demand by corporate India to reduce current elevated interest rates and the RBI has, so far, obliged by reducing the repo rate by 75 bps over the past one year. However, the transmission of the same by the banking system has been limited.......
RBI will cut rates by another 50 bps by mid-2013: BarCap
...... "We read the policy statement as balanced, and in an environment of weak growth and softer core inflation, we expect the RBI to eventually lower the repo rate by another 50 bps by mid-2013," .....
As 300 mn ready to enter banking net, ATM makers prepare for the party
.....By 2017, research provided by NCR Corporation, another ATM maker, suggests that the installed base of these machines in India will reach 400,000 machines, from about 100,000 in the third quarter of 2012. This translates into a compound annual growth rate (CARG) of 28 per cent compared to 2011, and overall growth of 350 per cent during the full period. That is precisely why some of the world's largest ATM makers, such as Diebold and NCR Corporation, are fixated with India - and Finance Minister P Chidambaram's Budget announcement, that every public sector bank branch in the country will have an ATM by March next year, has only added to the momentum.......
Merger with SBI strong catalyst for SBT and SBBJ
Re-surfacing of the buzz regarding consolidation of Indian public sector banks in recent times merits a re-look at the merger of State Bank of India’s (SBI) subsidiaries with itself. The consolidation will catapult SBI as one of the world’s top 10 largest banks. SBI has completed merger of two of its subsidiaries, namely State Bank of Indore and State Bank of Saurashtra earlier and now has five remaining subsidiaries...........
At last, he gets loan
.....“During earlier days, the officials denied the loan without giving reason for the rejection even though Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines stipulate the banks to accord adequate reason for not considering education loan application,”........
Banks raise cautionary bar on gold loan companies but see no liquidity risks
.............RBI’s new norms could impact asset quality of the Gold loan companies adversely in the short term. This was so as the borrowers who wanted to refinance their loans would end up, getting eligible for a lower amount of loan than the existing loans availed before RBI’s new guidelines’, ICRA said.
Ravi Pillai eyes minority stake in Dhanlaxmi Bank
KOCHI: Ravi Pillai, chairman of Bahrain-based RP Group, is acquiring a minority stake in Thrissur-based Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd. Pillai will shell out Rs 25.2 crore for 4.49% of the bank shares......
Gold loan companies lower rates
.......With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capping the advances at 60% of the value of jewellery (loan to value) i.e. Rs 60 for every gram of gold pledged, companies are rolling out various offers to get more customers into their fold. The RBI's cap of 60% LTV was done to ensure banks were not put at disadvantage as lending by banks against gold is capped at 60%, while NBFCs enjoyed 85% or Rs 85 for every gram limit..............
Himachal Pradesh High Court restrains Sahara Group from collecting money
..........Passing an interim order restraining the Sahara Group Companies from collection of public money, the court also said that the matter can be further investigated by the banking regulator RBI and capital markets watchdog Sebi. The order was passed following a petition against five entities.............
Returns on PPF a tad lower, but it’s still worth it
.......Now that small savings schemes have become market linked the rates are expected to vary every year. Keep in mind that in case of PPF, the rate of return on your investment would change every year but for other instruments that need one time lump sum investments, such as NSC, time deposit and SCSS, the rate of return will not change during the tenor. Given the tax benefits PPF remains a preferred choice of investment. However, for others do a return comparison before you decide to lock-in your money............
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
More independence a prerequisite for policy committee: Subbarao
Port Louis: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) needs greater independence before it can adopt a monetary policy committee structure, Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Monday. The RBI is one of the few major central banks where monetary policy decisions rest in the hands of the governor, as opposed to a committee. While the RBI is not statutorily independent, in practice it has wide latitude in setting monetary policy...........
RBI wearing too many hats: Ex-Sebi chief Damodaran
.........Let us take this as two separate issues. Let us look at the RBI issue. One of the problems with our financial sector at a conceptual level has always been the multiple hats that RBI has been wearing. Often because of that there is unavoidable conflict. If you try to play two roles where there is conflict built into those roles, no matter what your intentions are there will be some element of conflict. There will at least be a perception of conflict and perception is as important as reality.........
Leveraging the debt office
.........in the Indian context, there is also a potential conflict of interest in the government managing the debt function (even if it is housed in a notionally independent organisation). Since the majority of the banking system in volume terms is owned by the government, which consistently runs a fiscal deficit, what is to stop it from asking the banks that it owns to buy up more and more of its debt, so that yields can be kept artificially low? That could happen even under the current arrangement, but there are some checks by way of the RBI ensuring that yields are not out of line with market conditions. The transition could simply result in a monetary conflict of interest being converted into a fiscal conflict of interest...........
Read | Business Standard
Turf war in the offing
........In almost every country where regulators have been unified as the financial system has become more complex and as regulatory walls have become hurdles to better regulation, existing regulators have fought back. The past and present staff of various regulatory bodies are amongst the biggest opponents of regulatory institutional change. No doubt, in India too, turf war will take place. The commission, in recommending a non-sectoral law, will no doubt make regulators and many regulated entities, happy in the present set up, quite unhappy. .................
Proposed unified regulator good start
.......The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating, and one would know the efficacy of the Srikrishna panel recommendations only after they are implemented. One hopes that the road map suggested is a purely Indian one within an Indian environment because, if it has been borrowed from the West, it would be problematic as the West has seen total failure in oversight of its financial sector.............
FSLRC says deposit-taking NBFCs must obtain license to operate as a bank
......The WG headed by Kishori Udeshi, former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said, “...deposit taking NBFCs, and functionally provides the same service as a bank. Yet there is neither a level playing field nor equal treatment between banks and NBFCs. A deposit taking NBFC is not subject to the same prudential regulations (such as branch licensing) as is applicable to a bank. This gives NBFCs a competitive advantage over traditional banks.".......
No story
.................Reporters rushed to the briefing in anticipation of the "big story" of the day, only to find that the report would be made public in the "next few days". The finance minister asked everyone not to share the details of the report. In fact, he made sure that "no papers are left behind" by FSLRC members who were carrying printed copies of the report.............
RBI offices, banks to work through March 29-31
........“With a view to providing greater convenience to the tax payers, it has been decided that all designated branches of agency banks and RBI offices conducting Government business will keep their counters open on March 29, 30 and 31, 2013 to accept Government taxes,”..........
Financial inclusion: New Post Bank of India is an excellent idea
.....It can bring vast unbanked sections of the population under the formal
banking network. It already does virtually everything a bank does,
except granting loans. Most post offices are already
computerised and interest rates on small savings have been partly
deregulated, so there is no reason why it cannot upgrade its operations
and take up the full gamut of banking operations. There are enough examples all over the world, notably in Japan and Germany, of post offices successfully offering banking services. What about the strict norms laid down by the RBI for grant of new bank licences? Will India Post be able to make the grade?......
“Take service to doorstep of villagers”
Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India K.C. Chakrabarty has urged banks to render technology enabled service at the doorstep of villagers. Speaking at a function organised here on Sunday to celebrate Pandyan Grama Bank’s 37th year of service in rural development, he said that the bank, which has been ranked fifth among regional rural banks (RRBs) in the country should betters its own record and emerge as the number one RRB...........
Banks start crackdown on wilful defaulters
...........In a communication to the chief executive of public sector banks, the finance ministry has asked them to take their board’s approval to start proceedings regarding penal measures. The ministry has also also asked banks to lodge formal complaints against the auditors of the borrowers with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), in case it is observed that the auditors were negligent or deficient in conducting the audit...............
Risks & opportunities for upcoming banks
............. It is perhaps a good time to think of a new bank because it is one of the worst times for the industry - a period of learning and correcting..............
Are banks spending enough on employees?
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao says banking is not attracting the best talent. But are banks paying enough to be able to do that? Leaving aside qualitative factors such as job satisfaction and employee fulfilment, do banks in India pay enough to attract talent?.........
ICICI Bank, HSBC starts expanding credit card base
After a gap of almost four years, ICICI Bank and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp (HSBC) have started expanding their credit card base. The duo, once the most aggressive credit card players in the country, have not been growing this business since 2008-09 as uncertain economic environment increased the risk of delinquencies. It appears that the two banks are now convinced that increasing their credit card portfolios will not lead to significant erosion in asset quality........
Micro and macro pain from reduction in interest rate on small savings
....It is bad news from the macro perspective because the need of the hour is to increase investment in financial instruments of which small savings is an important component. Instead by making small savings less attractive than before, investment in such savings is likely to decline even as investment in assets like gold and real estate increases.............
Interest rate on small savings, PPF lowered by 0.1%
..........Based on the decisions taken by the government on the recommendations of the Shyamala Gopinath Committee for Comprehensive Review of National Small Savings Fund (NSSF), the interest rates for small saving schemes are to be notified every financial year, before April 1 of that year.............
What does RBI’s 25 bps repo rate cut mean to you and me?
.....We may therefore, have to wait till RBI makes known its monetary policy stance for 2013-14 sometime in April-May, 2013. Till then interest rates may continue at the present level, as no bank has committed to lower the base rate even after a week of the announcement of the mid-quarter monetary policy review last week......
Cobrapost counters RBI's attempt to defend banks in money laundering charge
.........“For the RBI to say that there is no offence as there was ‘no transaction’ is a very novice reading of the law and a wilful ignorance of rules and regulations supposed to be crafted and implemented by the RBI itself,” .........
India's need for a credit line
This refers to Subir Gokarn's column "Capital flow conundrums" (Muddy Waters, March 25). The article was excellent and comprehensive; however, there was one important omission. The author did not mention the role of an international credit line as a safeguard against sudden outflow of capital from an economy. Such a credit line is an option - not an obligation - to borrow internationally in the event of a crisis when the usual credit market tends to dry up.........
PMO’S WAYS
Between October 2012 and March 2013 I have written five letters to the Prime Minister’s Office about harassment and extra recovery of money by bankers on Kisan Credit Card from my father, a farmer in Buxar district of Bihar. To this day I have not received any word from the PMO but one day around a month ago I got a call from Indian Overseas Bank asking me against which bank I had complained to the PMO because the letter mentions the problem is with a branch of the Bank of India but the PMO has forwarded my letter to them. I replied that I had complained against the Bank of India only but by mistake the PMO seemed to have sent it to IOB so could they please return it to the PMO? Again after a few days I got a call from NABARD and the question was the same! In this way my problem, pertaining to the much talked abut loan waiver scheme of 2008, is moving from one office to another but not getting solved. I now have more than ten letters from NABARD and RBI but the only thing mentioned in all of them is that my letter is being forwarded to this office or that!
- Rakesh Kumar, Village Pokharaha Tola, District Buxar (Bihar) - The Hindu
Colour-coding of mutual fund schemes is a childish move
..............investment success is significantly based on when you buy and when you sell. The problem of the first is taken care of somewhat by rupee cost averaging which is one of the best-known ways of dealing with risk.
Deposit-taking companies make hay in West Bengal
............Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao and Deputy Governor K.C. Chakrabarty have said several times in the recent past that these companies, though receiving public deposits, do not come under the banking regulator’s jurisdiction. The products these firms mostly sell to raise money from the public are so designed that under the current legal framework, neither Sebi nor RBI can regulate them. Indeed, CIS falls within Sebi’s jurisdiction, but most of these companies take money selling products that cannot be classified under such schemes.............
India to circulate plastic currency
......Until the mid-1990s, retracted banknotes were burnt. Today, as in many other countries, soiled paper notes are shredded. "But then the question becomes: what do we do with the shreds?" R Gandhi, Executive Director of the RBI, said. "So far, we haven't succeeded in figuring out any successful commercial takers for that." The RBI has tried to recycle shredded notes into novelty paperweights, bricks or cardboard. But Mr Gandhi said they discovered the paper was so finely shredded that they could not even give it away. The shredded notes now make their way to landfills and land reclamations................
DON’T ALTER SIZE OF COINS
This is regarding the report “RBI to issue new currency notes” which appeared in The Hindu on March 19, 2013. It is hard to differentiate between coins of various denominations since their shape and size are almost similar. Ideally, each denomination must have a unique size. Even if inscription is altered, the shape and size of the coin must not be changed.
- Subhash S., Valiyaveli - The Hindu
AP Grameena Vikas Bank opens 50 branches
...........Of the 50 new branches, 34 are in rural centres, 15 in semi-urban while one is an urban branch. All the new branches are integrated with core banking solution through V-sat installation.........
ED questions Kalmadi in CWG case
New Delhi: Sacked CWG organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi was on Monday quizzed for nearly six hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its probe into alleged forex violations in the run up to the 2010 sporting extravaganza. During the questioning, the Pune MP was asked about other clearances that the Organising Committee (OC) of the CWG obtained from RBI to conduct overseas transactions, they said........
A few questions Sinha should ask Sahara
...........Even a small hike of, say, 25 basis points by the Reserve Bank of India, scuttles the share prices of banks and rate-sensitive sectors because investors feel the hike would hit investors. How is Sahara not affected by the interest rate hikes and cuts in the economy as it is able to keep rates constant?..............
Muthoot Fincorp launches mobile phone app to store jewellery virtually
......Muthoot Fincorp, the flagship and also a diversified financial services company of The Muthoot Pappachan Group, has developed the innovative mobile application 'My Jewel Box', Thomas George Muthoot, Director at Muthoot Pappachan Group said. The application is a a tech-savvy option to store gold jewellery on a virtual platform and enable customers to assess its value just within a few seconds..........
Bankers now Enjoy the Necessity of a Luxury Run
.....Bhatia is not the only one who has laughed all the way away from the bank.
More than half-a-dozen luxury entrepreneurs in the country now are
former bankers. Experts say their wide contacts and inside-out knowledge
of lifestyles, preferences and tastes of the uber rich make bankers a
perfect fit for luxury business...........
Guide to financing your education
......Thanks to the recent reforms and initiatives, it has never been easier
to finance one's own education. For instance, under the revised model education loan
scheme designed by the Indian Banks' Association, merit students taking
admission in recognised private institutions under the management quota
will also be eligible for study loans...........
PSU banks look attractive near current valuations: Analysts
The rate sensitive banking sector has been under intense pressure recently following a sting operation alleging a money laundering scam and a hawkish commentary by the Reserve Bank of India. The S&P BSE Bankex has fallen 5.15 per cent in the past one week and 7.50 per cent in the last one month. Investors with long-term perspective can look for buying opportunities
in some of the banking counters near current and lower levels as
valuations look attractive, say analysts......
Monday, March 25, 2013
Capital flow conundrums - Dr.Subir Gokarn
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