`Only a Resolute FM can Help PSBs Deliver

......... “So, you need a purposive board. You need talented and skilled professionals to sit on boards. There are many such people on boards today, but if you talk to bankers today, such people are small proportion of these boards. You don't have independent board members today, it's a complete violation of the listing agreement,'' ............

Read - ET

Is India Ready to Relinquish Control of its State-Owned Banks?

...Still, New Delhi has been reluctant to relinquish control. The state-run banks account for no less than three-fourths of the lending in the country. Politicians and bureaucrats sometimes try to use them to promote their causes, a benefit they do not want to give up. State-run banks have two masters – the Finance Ministry as well as the Reserve Bank of India.  In addition to the regulatory orders from the RBI, they regularly receive missives from the ministry to push the social agenda of the government. In the period from October 2012 to January 2014, for example, the Finance Ministry issued 82 circulars to public sector banks, the RBI panel report said. “It is a fundamental irony that presently the government disadvantages the very banks it has invested in,” the report said......

Read.......

Lenders Should Come Under Cos Act, Says Chief Of RBI Panel On Corp Governance

..“The Bank Nationalisation Act of 1969 was necessary at that time and its enactment was for government ownership of the banks. But 45 years after the Act was promulgated, it is important for us to ask if this is the best legislative structure under which the banks should now function. For a long time, we had an unreformed Companies Act, but in 2013 we got the new Companies Act which creates good governance structure at the level of the board.” According to Nayak, one of the perspectives that guided the panel was that there should be only one kind of bank licence irrespective of ownership and all banks should come under the Companies Act. “.......

Read - TOI

Esha Media Research aims to monitor 200 channels in next 2 months

...“Private sector banks enjoy a higher multiple in terms of price to book value over their public sector cousins and thereby a better valuation on the stock market. Our monthly report for April also endorses that the private sector banks have been able to occupy more TV media space than public sector banks, deriving better perception points,” he added. The research report further found that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) occupies 22 per cent space of the total news in the banking sector on TV. And RBI’s credit policy governs the news coverage. “Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan occupies more space than the vocal deputy governor K C Chakrabarty,” the research further added........

Read.....

Investments in RIDF can be counted towards priority sector lending: RBI

............RBI has now allowed them to include the outstanding deposits in RIDF as part of indirect agriculture lending. Accordingly, the deposits as on 31 March under RIDF and a few other funds with Nabard will be treated as part of indirect agriculture loans and will count towards their overall priority lending target, RBI said in a notification. Nabard has an RIDF outstanding of about Rs.75,000 crore on 31 March..............

Read - Mint

RBI, Finance Ministry talk contingency plan for May 16

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has discussed contingency plans with the finance ministry and the stock market regulator to deal with any excessive volatility from election results to be unveiled on Friday, Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday. The RBI will also be ready to deal with any volatility in the rupee, Rajan said during a news briefing after the RBI's board meeting in Shimla.....

Read - BS

After Two Years of Firefighting, PC Logs Out of North Block

........Soon after that, he had to battle another crisis -a seemingly inexorable slide in the rupee that was triggered by Ben Bernanke's comments about the US Federal Reserve tapering its stimulus. He put in place measures to rein in the ballooning current account deficit ­ curbs on gold imports and plans to shore up reserves. He was joined in battle by Raghuram Rajan as the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Rajan took over the post in September last year after serving as Chidambaram's chief economic adviser..............

Will the next FM rise to the challenge?

............As the banking system is the backbone of the economy, the government will have to recapitalise state-owned banks adequately and make sure their stressed assets come down. Their needs are assessed at Rs 5 lakh crore by 2019. As the government cannot meet the financial needs of the banks from its budgetary resources, the finance ministry is evaluating options such as a special purpose vehicle, a holding company and employee stock options. It should consider the report of an RBI panel which talks of divesting stakes in state-owned banks to less than 50 per cent. It may also look at consolidation of public sector banks which UPA could not do. To achieve economies of scale, it is imperative and bank unions should be taken into confidence..........

Read | Business Standard

Modi impact on Rupee

..........If a Modi government comes to power, the belief is the R will move up to levels of 57-58. Much of this is predicated on FIIs remaining bullish on Indian markets—since mid-February, they’ve bought $8.6 billion worth of stocks and bonds. In the short run, the R could well surge to those levels, but it is likely to retreat thereafter. For one, while RBI may not explicitly express its views on where the R should be trading, the central bank’s commentary suggests it concurs with the finance ministry's view that 60-62 is reasonable...........

Read - FE

The inflationary pincer

.........Does this mean, then, that it should lower rates to stimulate growth? Unfortunately, tempting as this inference may be, it is not necessarily correct. While lowering inflation may be proving to be a huge challenge, provoking it to accelerate will turn out to be surprisingly easy. The first sign of the RBI having lowered its priority on inflation fighting could trigger a spiral, which, historical experience tells us, is extremely difficult to contain. Frustrating, no doubt, but this is the price that the economy must pay for ..........

Read | Business Standard

RBI's best tool to control inflation is interest rate: Rajan

..."We do not use rupee as the way of managing inflation. We are not trying to rely on a particular level of rupee to help us on inflation front," he said. He said sometimes it can prove dangerous if "you become overly reliant" on certain level of rupee. Instead what RBI has focused on is creating conditions inside the country for reduction in inflation. "Thus far we feel comfortable with the pace of progress. Of course, there are blips up and down...," 

Read - BS

Mayaram upbeat about fall in inflation but cautions on El Nino

..."We are encouraged that the inflation numbers are coming down... On the whole at the moment, it appears that we are on track as far as inflation is concerned...(it is) something to smile about,"......

Read - BS

SBI opens RASMECC in Shillong

.......The RASMECCC is a is a specialized loan processing, sanctioning and maintenance hub, which deals with the Personal and SME loans of 21 city based branches, handling more than 20000 loan accounts including big branches in the state. The centralization of loan processing, sanctioning and maintenance enables the bank to give better customer service, besides.................

Read - BS

Why you must thank RBI for ending penalties on pre-paying home loans

......This clearly shows that pre-paying a loan benefits you tremendously. Now with no pre-payment penalty, the amount you save is even higher. For the above example, if a pre-payment penalty of, say, around 3 percent was still applicable on the sum of all pre-payments made, the prepayment fee would have added up to Rs 7,800. But, with the apex bank’s new move, you can even save this amount.

Read.............

Banking on governance

..............In the larger context of financial sector reform, which Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has set so much store by, this is the third in a series of reports - following the Nachiket Mor and Urjit Patel Committee reports - blueprinting significant changes in the system. Like the previous two, its recommendations are worth serious consideration; they do offer the government a way out of an increasingly difficult situation, which does no good for anybody. However, like the other two, this report is also likely to step on a number of toes, perhaps even more so...........

Read | Business Standard

The BIC bank reform

.......But irrespective of its political feasibility, the idea of a BIC — a separate state-owned holding company for PSBs similar to Singapore’s Temasek or the UK government’s UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKIL) — is worth replicating across public sector undertakings. The BIC model will firstly free PSBs from the regime of dual regulation by the Finance Ministry in addition to the RBI. It will allow the PSBs to become fully professional board-managed entities, hopefully immune from North Block directives. The appointment of CEOs, independent and whole-time directors, recruitment to senior management positions, policies pertaining to salaries and promotions, and all other strategic managerial functions would become the responsibility of bank boards..........

Read - HBL

Sensible banking

......Without dwelling too much on the past—why public sector lenders are poorly supervised, why they have become so inefficient and financially fragile—it is more than evident that boards of banks need to be revamped, professionalised and made more accountable. But for this to happen, there needs to be a drastic overhaul of rules and regulations. Which is probably why the committe believes the way out is for banks to be incorporated under the Companies Act and for the government to transfer its holdings to a Bank Investment Company (BIC). The BIC, will over a period of time, say, three years, pass on several of its powers to the boards of banks; that way banks cam be spared the damage being caused by dual regulation—by RBI and the finance ministry...........

Read - FE

Withdraw RBI panel report: AIBEA

......“It is sad that the panel had recommended public sector banks to be handed over to private hands at a time when the bulk of the bad loans are attributable to the private sector. More than four lakh crore rupees of bad loans are due from the big private corporate and business enterprises. Given the bad track record of the private banks in our country, all the private banks should be nationalised and brought under public sector banking.”...........

Read - The Hindu

RBI, not FinMin, should oversee PSU bank regulations: Panel

The PJ Nayak-led panel on governance of bank boards has recommended that public sector banks should be answerable only to the RBI, and not to both RBI and the Finance Ministry as is the case now. This would provide a level playing field for state-owned banks vis-à-vis their private sector counterparts, the panel said............

Read..........

Nayak panel wants RBI to let banks decide when to go public

...In its report presented yesterday, the Nayak committee said three years is a short time to gauge whether a bank has the management skills to create a value proposition, while factors such as market interest in the stock and determining the future financial trajectory are also difficult. The committee said insistence on a three-year window for listing incentivises "poor governance" promoters to exit, while "good governance" promoters who want to grow a business slowly are disincentivised..........

Read - BS

PSU bank boards reasonably professional

...........In an interview to CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy, Chaudhuri said boards of PSU banks were reasonably professional as of now. On whether the recommendations of the PJ Nayak panel on governance of bank boards would be accepted, Chaudhuri said it would depend on the political leanings of the next government.

Read............

All govt banks violate Sebi listing norms: PJ Nayak

............In an interaction with Business Standard – his first after submitting the report to the Reserve bank of India on Wednesday – Nayak said there was an urgent need to remove the discriminatory external shackles so that they could compete fairly with their private sector peers, one of them being the dual regulation of public sector banks............

Read | Business Standard

Critical vacancies in regulatory posts stare at the new govt

............Topping the list is the appointment of two deputy governors at the Reserve Bank of India. These will be the two successors to KC Chakrabarty and HR Khan. The deputy governors will, in turn, be members of the selection committees that will recruit public sector bank chairmen and executive directors. Around 12 such posts will come up till March 2015...........

Read | The Indian Express

The Manmohan decade

I was an employee of the RBI and Dr. Singh was the Governor for a brief period. In this role, he was simplicity personified, and anyone could meet him in his room. His car never sported a red beacon. He was always graceful and never harsh. It is unfortunate that he fell into the web of politics and became easy prey for politicians. He is free now but has retired hurt. 

- S. Venugopalan, Chennai

The Hindu

Forget firing, he is needed for fire fighting......

My View on  "Far from sacking him, Raghuram Rajan is the man th...": 

A well researched article. The penultimate para quoted here is significant. For those who may not read the full article, let me quote the concluding two paragraphs:

"However, there is one indisputable fact: far from thinking of replacing the RBI governor, the new government would do well to allow him the flexibility and freedom to keep a close watch on inflation so that any future reform measures do not lead to serious inflationary consequences.

Rajan knows this only too well, as he demonstrated last week when he said the government could fire him if it wanted but it was he as RBI governor who would set interest rates. A smart government will know that in this situation Rajan is one of the men the economy will depend on the most. Forget firing him, the government will need him for fire fighting. There are quite a few fires still to be fought." 

- M.G.Warrier

‘Motivated’ Media discussion

My View on  "Could RBI Governor Rajan Be Ousted By a New Govern...": 

It is not the lack of RBI’s allegiance to legislative supremacy of the government of the day that made Dr Rajan assert his eagerness to protect the mandated role(in deciding monetary policy) of RBI. The assertion of ‘ownership rights’ by lower level functionaries of GOI over all public sector organisations including statutory bodies like RBI and their interference in the legitimate functioning of institutions even in HR issues deny the top managements of these institutions a level playing field with their counterparts elsewhere. There is no point in sidetracking the issue of ‘political interference’. Even the present ‘motivated’ media discussion on continuance of present incumbent as Governor, post-16 May serves perhaps only one purpose. It gives an opportunity to those who are not generally RBI-watchers and to those who are really serious about understanding the ‘equation’ between RBI Governor and the finance ministry to ponder deeper. Suffice to say that the debate may not affect the continuity at Mint Road or more specifically the broad policy perspectives of RBI. 

- M.G.Warrier

RBL Bank appoints Rama Bijapurkar as independent director

............."Rama is well recognised as one of India's most respected thought leaders on market strategy...As we have embarked on an aggressive growth path with a keen eye on our consumer business, we look forward to her deep insights to aid our board decisions in achieving these goals," Vishwavir Ahuja, managing director and chief executive officer of RBL Bank, said in a statement................

Read | Business Standard

May 16 holiday plea

.......This must be one of the most unusual requests the Election Commission has received. A traders' body has asked the Commission to declare May 16 a national holiday so that people can watch live updates of the election results without the interruption of office work..........

Read | Business Standard

Painting for a cause

My Multi Talented Daughter Ms Priya Kumar has started painting for a cause. Proceeds of sales will go for Under Privileged Children.  Will you like to join hands with her by buying/promoting?

With Regards, 

Mrs.Sona Kumar, Ex-AM, Insp.Dept. Mumbai

(Ex-RBITES)

+9198201 95874

Sona Sarovar Trust - What began with just a bowl of water, is now a full fledged initiative to aid the underprivileged. Join hands to add your share of goodness to the world. To know more, click here

Follow Sona Sarovar Trust on Facebook & YouTube

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Otta kaal anna finds pride of place here

..........He sells ‘otta kaal anna’ (coin with a hole in the centre), ‘oru anna’ (one anna), and five and ten paise coins, among others. Students, cinema production teams and coin collectors frequently approach him for purchasing the coins. “When I worked in a shop earlier, I would keep aside coins of different shapes. My interest in coins began then,” he says. The coins are priced according to their value, ranging between Rs. 3 and Rs. 1,000. He goes to various districts and States to collect the coins. “Most coins are found on river beds as there used to be a practice of dropping coins while bathing. I have found many coins in Thanjavur, Karaikudi, Mumbai and Kolkata,”.........

Read - The Hindu

India Post to re-apply under new guidelines: Fin Min

......"India Post was not considered under these guidelines due to the special nature of India Post," the finance ministry said. It said that on the issue of capitalisation of India Post no view has been taken by the finance ministry nor has the communication been sent to RBI.........

Read | Business Standard

FM to meet financial advisors today

.............As he is likely to resign on May 17 to make way for the next finance minister, the exercise would not have much repercussion. The new government might take a fresh look at the Budget Estimates (BE) for 2014-15 in the Budget to be presented in late June or early July...............

Read | Business Standard

Show me real money

..............Money is something we use to purchase something we want. It is issued and guaranteed by the government and the central bank (the RBI in our country). But what happens when unscrupulous people, for their own greed, produce money that is not real or issued by the government or RBI? Does it still hold the same value? Counterfeit money or fake currency is illegitimate currency and its actual value is much lower. Printing or even possessing fake currency notes is a punishable offence. So not only does it decrease the real value of money, but it also creates a situation where people are reluctant to accept currency of higher denominations. Even though, counterfeit money is being printed in large quantities, there are ways you can identify fake notes. .............

Read..........

Ponzi schemes out

This refers to the editorial "Probing Saradha" (May 13). If we have to plug the regulatory gaps in deposit schemes, we may consider vesting all residual responsibilities with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that has the capacity to punish the wrongdoers. RBI can also have district-level sub offices where anybody can go to seek clarifications about such schemes. ........

Read | Business Standard

Why is SBI going easy on Kingfisher?

.....On Wednesday, DNA reported how officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation had to return empty-handed when it asked the country’s largest bank for details regarding loans given to the now-grounded Kingfisher Airlines . Sources told the newspaper SBI did not cooperate with officials from the investigative agency and reportedly said that “there was no fraud involved [in the Kingfisher case] and that it was simply a case of business failure”.

Read...........

RBI forbearance for three Andhra Pradesh MFIs

.......“We tried for a second round of restructuring. Since it was not approved by the RBI, we struck a deal with the banks for an alternative arrangement. Initially, it was difficult to convince some of the public sector banks in the consortium for additional funding. However, based on good portfolio performance of Share outside Andhra Pradesh, and long term plans on merger of Share and Asmitha, banks finally agreed to lend us,”...............

Read | Business Standard

Bandhan appoints Deloitte as management consultant

Leading micro finance institution Bandhan Financial Services, which has obtained banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in April, on Wednesday appointed Deloitte as its management consultant............

Read.........

Indian banking at crossroads - challenge of risk management from globalisation to financial inclusion : R.Gandhi

Valedictory address by Mr R Gandhi, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, on the occasion of Seminar on Banking, organized by the Indian Merchant's Chamber, Mumbai, 8 May 2014

....... The Reserve Bank too has adopted a proactive and calibrated approach towards demanding and facilitating robust risk management efforts by the banks. Reserve Bank has been adopting a considered approach of limiting the systemic risk originating from both the pro-cyclicality as well as interconnectedness dimensions. For example, countercyclical measures were adopted as early as 2004 to stall heating up of certain specific sectors by increasing the risk weights and provisioning ratios for sensitive sectors such as capital market, housing, commercial real estate during the period when the boom was building up. Several measures were taken to reduce the inter-connectedness among banks on the one hand and between banks and NBFCs on the other, to address the cross-sectional dimension of systemic risk and regulatory limits have been placed on exposures to capital market exposures. Such.........

Read.........

50% Indians Without Bank Accounts Represents a Revolution of Demand: Dr Deepali Pant Joshi, RBI

.....“Fifty percent Indians still don’t have a bank account. How do you allow this 50% to be part of the economy? You thus have a revolution of demand. How will you ensure that they can avail of banking services? How will you use technology to reach out to them and at the same time give a better and more user friendly experience - that is the biggest challenge and opportunity facing the Indian banking industry,” said Dr Deepali Pant Joshi, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI)...........

Read.........

RBI goes to school to spread financial literacy

.............RBI's Assistant General Manager Shailaja Singh highlighted the importance of passwords for online transactions and said passwords must be kept confidential. "People should not 'pass the (pass) word'," she said and added customers, instead of making verbal complaints about the deficiency of services of any bank, should write the complaint, get it duplicated, submit the same to the bank authorities concerned and get it 'received' on the duplicate. This documented proof of complaint would enable them to approach the RBI later, if need be. In his address, RBI's Bihar-Jharkhand Regional Director M K Verma dealt with a plethora of topics, including the recent RBI move to allow minors above the age of 10 years to open and operate savings bank accounts independently, if they so desired...............

Read - TOI

Canara Bank launches credit scoring model to finance SMEs

.........The eligibility is decided based upon aggregate scores secured by the loan applicant on various parameters prescribed under behavioural, management, business and financial aspects. The model was launched here yesterday by Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Deepali Pant Joshi.

Read..........

The Economist who can rescue India

.......For now, though, Rajan faces what may be the toughest job in global economics. Instead of becoming Modi’s monetary lackey, Rajan should speak truth to power the way central bankers in the US and Europe did once upon a time. Rajan is just the man to play the honest-broker role New Delhi has lacked during the past decade. If he can turn the tables..........

Read - Mint

Will high inflation, low IIP set the stage for a clash between RBI and BJP-led govt?

........Does that suggest any softening of the Reserve Bank of India’s stance on interest rates? Probably not. With the monsoon expected largely to be below normal as a result of El Nino (a global weather phenomenon that causes floods and droughts), it’s unlikely that RBI governor Raghuram Rajan will be in any position to cut interest rates..........

Read...........

After the victory, avoid pitfalls

.............So what should the Modi regime focus on to improve governance? One way to address this question would be to list what the new government should avoid doing. There are three clear decisions that it should not contemplate in the current situation. In spite of some provocations from sections within the BJP, it should avoid tinkering with the functioning of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Maintaining the apex bank's functional autonomy should be as important as allowing the current governor to remain focused on the job to manage the supervision of monetary policy and banking regulation. In other words, there is no need to change the RBI governor............

Read | Business Standard

Far from sacking him, Raghuram Rajan is the man the new govt will need the most

.....However, there is one indisputable fact: far from thinking of replacing the RBI governor, the new government would do well to allow him the flexibility and freedom to keep a close watch on  inflation so that any future reform measures do not lead to serious inflationary consequences.

Read - Forbes India

Could RBI Governor Rajan Be Ousted By a New Government?

As India appears to be on the threshold of political change, some economists, executives and investors are wondering whether a new government would dare to try to push out the country’s hawkish central bank governor Raghuram Rajan. The Reserve Bank of India governor is appointed by the government, and can technically be fired by the government as well......

Read.........

Rajan Keeps Fingers Crossed Amid Change of Guard in Delhi

...........That was Rajan’s way of sending a message that he is no pushover to some sceptics who reckon that he may have a tough time ahead when a new political formation comes to power in Delhi next week. But the RBI governor, who has earned praise both at home and abroad for his handling of external sector management and approach towards cleaning up the mess in the banking sector, could well be up against one of his biggest challenges soon. A change in guard in Delhi and with it a new approach towards economic policy management could trigger a review of the current stance on monetary policy with its singular focus on inflation control. ...........

Read - ET

Needless controversy

.......... No other finance minister has needled and harassed successive RBI governors as much as Chidambaram did in order to impose his own arbitrary will on the central bank. Even when the new government is yet to be constituted, a media- driven controversy on the fate of Rajan, in which the outgoing finance minister needlessly waded in, could unnecessarily sour relations between the RBI Governor and the new boss in the finance ministry. Regardless, ...........

Read - FPJ

A wait and watch policy expected from RBI next month

In a struggle between growth and inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may decide to maintain a status quo in key policy rates on June 3. According to experts though Consumer Price Index (CPI) linked inflation has risen once again in April, but there has not been significant uptick in core inflation. Besides that the fiscal stance of the soon to be formed new government will be a key driver before making any changes in the policy stance by RBI......

Read | Business Standard

Nayak report calls for single bank licensing regime

........"It would be desirable for the bank licensing regime to move to a uniform license across all broad-based banks, irrespective of ownership, subject to inter-jurisdictional reciprocity considerations in respect of foreign banks, and niche licenses for banks with more narrowly defined businesses,"............

Read...........

A window of opportunity

.......Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has been a consistent advocate of floating exchange rates and this may come in the way of his willingness to buy up dollars, thereby preventing the rupee from discovering its true value. However, this is not a position that should be cast in stone, particularly when the issue is viewed in the broader context of financial stability. While........

Read - BS

RBI panel for diluting govt stake in public sector banks to below 50 %

............The panel, headed by ex-Chairman of Axis Bank, P. J. Nayak, said governance at the 26 public sector banks (PSBs) suffered due to several ‘externally imposed constraints’ like dual regulation by the RBI and the Finance Ministry, and external vigilance by agencies such as the CVC and CAG, among others. “If the government stake in these banks were to reduce to less than 50 per cent, together with certain other executive measures, all these external constraints would disappear,” the report says............

Read - The Hindu

Chidambaram chairs tenth meeting of Financial Stability and Development Council

.................he Council took stock of the Indian economy and deliberated on domestic and global growth scenario, fiscal, monetary and external sector, foreign capital flows, inflation, developments in financial markets, as also the outlook and challenges facing the economy.

The Council also discussed the detailed assessment of ...........

Read | Business Standard

Even bank fixed deposits have variants

.....The first thing to remember is that most FDs are tax inefficient. If you are in the 30.9% income tax bracket, an 8.50% annual return from an FD gets reduced to a net return of 5.87%. For 20.6% tax bracket, net return will be 6.75%, and 7.62% for those in the 10.3% bracket. Opt for an FD only if you are in the lowest tax bracket or have no tax liability..........

Read - Mint

Cash crunch at SBI ATMs

..........ATM services of India’s largest public sector bank are hit across Jharkhand and Bihar wherever SIS Services Private Limited, a leading cash-in-transit (CIT) or money-ferrying company, services them, as the company struck work five days ago in the two states over a dues-related row. According to SIS officials, cash management major National Cash Register (NCR), which outsourced them the job in Jharkhand and Bihar, stopped paying them since October 2013................

Read - The Telegraph

Switch to Digi-money Will Mean More Transparency

...........Competition between e-money payment system and internet based transactions using bank accounts may benefit consumers. The mobile payment system may become the ‘rails’ for product distribution by financial intermediaries. Business model for MNOs would develop around products pushed through the e-money-paymentsystem and ownership of patterns of financial behavior in the e-money economy. MNOs in their existing legal form could be licensed as ‘domestic money exchanges’ and as ‘payment operators’, which may require multiple regulators, but one for each function --RBI and Trai.............

Read - ET

Consolidated fund of Telangana a/c opened

............With Governor’s approval, Secretary, Finance, went to Mumbai on Tuesday to sign an agreement with the RBI and open an account for Telangana State which will become operational from June 2. According to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2014, the cash balance and credit balance of the existing State of Andhra Pradesh will be divided between the two successor States on the basis of population ratio. This apportioning will be carried out by adjusting the credit balances for the two States in RBI books........

Read - The Hindu

Madhu Kapur accuses Rana Kapoor of misusing his post at YES Bank

..........."Mr Rana Kapoor is misusing his position as managing director of the bank. The resources of the bank are being used by Mr Rana Kapoor to directly and indirectly deny us our rights, including by using the bank and independent directors as a front to raise untenable preliminary objections...In view of the above, you are requested to give no approval to the appointment of any person as chairman or managing director of the bank, unless it is jointly recommended by Mr Rana Kapoor and is according to the articles of association," Madhu Kapur and her children wrote in a letter addressed to one of the RBI deputy governors..............

Read | Business Standard

Take RBI Into Confidence and build the economy strong - Dr.T.V.Gopalakrishnan

......The need for a coordinated approach between the Government and RBI has been  all the more very vital now when there is a change of Government and this is the crucial period to sink   the differences if any in their opinions in policy matters. This is the time to find ways and means to set right the policy lapses and bring back the economy on the trajectory of growth. Confidence building is the need of the hour and the Government and RBI have a major role to play here.........

Read.......

Music, Yes, but High-Pitched

My View on  "A Modi Victory may Not be Music to Rajan’s Ears": 

This refers to ‘A Modi Victory may Not be Music to Rajan’s Ears’ (ET, May 12). Let us see how Raghuram Rajan manages “surging inflows”, if that really happens. The figures of external debt and forex reserves quoted in the report do not lead one to assume a crisis. After all, the richest country has a debt of around $16 trillion, and its “reserves”, whatever the level, did not save that country from problems in recent years. No central bank can insulate itself from problems. What the world will be interested in knowing is how best the problems are tackled.  

- M.G.Warrier

Published in ET

No More Salsa?

So, has he done all his reading, travelling and salsa dancing? Otherwise, why opt for the dry world of consulting. Ex-RBI guv D Subbarao, who had famously said in 2013 that he'll spend time with books, travel and dancing lessons, is taking up an assignment with the Boston Consulting Group. ET hears RBI has already given its go ahead. Subbarao can take tips from one of RBI's deputy guvs, Urijit Patel, who was a BCG man before he discovered the joys of central banking. 

ET

Conned Indian Financial Consumer

.....Who better to endorse this than Dr KC Chakrabarty, the former deputy governor, who never failed to say that it took years to implement even obvious decisions in India? Personally, I see the 6th and 7th May directives as a signal that Dr Rajan is beginning to take a hard look at how customers are treated. RBI is focused on financial inclusion, but without a clear consumer protection framework which spells out accountability and punishment. As a result, every effort to bring in new customers will only lead to more disenchantment.

Read - Moneylife

Cricket credit card by Ratnakar Bank

........This is an innovative and special credit card with many exciting features. Those who will avail this card will get the chance to get the IPL passes of the match featuring Delhi Daredevils. This platinum card with lot more features. Customer will also get the facility of gift vouchers, redemption of points collected on each purchase.........

Read.........

Obituary

Shri C.JAYACHANDRAN (89 YEARS), Retd. Exchange Control Officer, RBI, Chennai passed away on May 11, 2014. He was an active Office Bearer of the erstwhile Reserve Bank Retired Officers Association. His son Sri J.Balaji is a serving employee of the Bank and residing at PH Road Qrs. 

Address: 

C/O. Sri J.Ravinder, 880/1, 11th Street, Syndicate Bank Colony, Anna Nagar West Extn. Chennai 600101 

We convey our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and pray for his soul to rest in peace. 

- Balasubramanian K

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