Indian banking sector - role in triggering future growth - R.Gandhi

Valedictory address by Mr R Gandhi, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, at the 

6th ICC Banking Summit, Kolkata, 14 June 2014

........However, taking note of the predominant position of banks in the Indian financial system and taking a realistic view, can we expect the bank finance to comprehensively cater to all types of investment needs? Irrespective of whether it is short, medium or long term, or whether it is loan, debt or equity financing, or it is with low, medium or higher risk propositions? Should we turn our banks like...........

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HR KHAN'S TERM TO BE EXTENDED?

Yet another Deputy Governor's post at the Reserve Bank of India will fall vacant soon. The term of HR Khan, who was appointed for a three-year term in July 2011, is about to come to an end. But the question being asked is if it will get extended? The buzz is that the central banker who has been handling the markets may get his term extended by a year or so. If that's the case, then the next in line may have to wait a lot longer to get the DG position. Some close to retirement will be fuming though.

ET

CHANGES AFOOT AT RBI

With punters spinning new stories every other day, the RBI will revive its market intelligence unit, which has languished for years. Mint Street will also have an international relations division and reorganise itself into five clusters or verticals, while departments like DBOD, DNBS, UBD and RPCD will be renamed. This was the upshot of a video conference the RBI top brass had with different centres last week. For the staff, the more immediate question is: who will occupy the new post of `officer on special duty' ­ Executive Director Deepak Mohanty or former banker Nachiket Mor?

ET

RBI to shift 3 forex divisions to Delhi in July

................The three divisions to be shifted to New Delhi are Liaison/Branch/Project Office (LO/BO/PO) Division, Non Resident Foreign Account Division (NRFAD) and Immovable Property (IP) Division. These divisions would be located at Parliament Street office of the RBI. The new FED, CO Cell will be headed by P Shimrah, General Manager, RBI...............

Read - Ahmedabad Mirror

Slice of History - RBI at Loggerheads with its Own Entities

...........There were four areas of linkage in the relationship between the Reserve Bank and the two financial institutions. From RBI’s point of view, these were: management participation, staff and organisational support, financial support and policy support. The first two of these were not critical and were taken for granted since IDBI and UTI, after all, were set up by the central bank itself. It was ..................

Read - ET

Revamp the NPS

.................One option to salvage the credibility of NPS would be to restore the defined-benefit-based pension scheme for all employees who would have been eligible for such pension but for the introduction of NPS. Using the National Pension System to cover ..............

Read | Business Standard

RBI accords SRO status to Mfin

......Last year, the RBI had said that it would recognize industry associations as SROs based on the recommendations made by the Y.H. Malegam committee. Mfin claimed that this was the first time the RBI had bestowed SRO status on any industry body.

Read - Mint

Cautionary tale

...............It is flabbergasting to note that the top 30 loan defaulters account for one-third of gross NPA loans of public sector banks. The RBI should publish the top defaulters’ names to save depositors’ money being misused by mega borrowers. Swiss banks are ready to provide information about black money stocks. So can the RBI...........

Read - HBL

Mehengai ‘daayan’ revisits

........The Government will need to plan ahead to address supply-bottlenecks and logistics issues to make sure that food inflation does not spike. Timely release of staples from FCI, reforms in Agriculture Produce Market Committees and co-ordination of imports and exports of agricultural commodities will be necessary. The inflation will also moderate due to high base effect of last year. If there is no escalation of Iraq tension, I expect crude oil prices to remain benign. This will help to meet RBI expectations of sustainable lower inflation in the second half of the year. In this scenario, one cannot expect interest rate cuts from RBI in the near term..........

Read - DNA

Focusing on the supply side

..........The Narendra Modi government should not repeat the mistakes of the previous government by thinking that it is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s duty to address the issue of inflation. It is time for RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to remind the finance ministry of the importance of the "supply side"............

Read | Business Standard

Let a few national banks remain

........All this sounds quite nice, but will it improve things? The problem with public sector banks, as with the entire public sector, is that the long arm of the political executive exercises its influence in management matters through a pliant civil service (it also has its own agenda). This makes for lack of professionalism in management as well as no concern for the bottom line. There is no reason to suppose that simply by creating an extra layer - that is, the BIC - bank managements will become more professional and..........

Read | Business Standard

Syndicate Bank plans to appoint 5,000 new staff

............Among the 2,700 officers proposed to be recruited, 2,000 would be direct recruits through the IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection) route and the rest under the specialised officers’ category, said the bank’s Executive Director, M Anjaneya Prasad.............

Read - HBL

DBS Bank seeks relaxation on priority sector norms for WOS route

............In its guidelines on wholly-owned subsidiary for foreign banks released November last year, RBI said the priority sector lending requirement for foreign banks will be 40%, like their Indian rivals. Out of this, 18% of loans have to be offered to the farm sector. The current cut off for foreign lenders in the PSL segment is 32% (foreign banks with more than 20 branches, it is 40%) but once they take up the WOS route, banks will have to move to achieving.................

Read | Business Standard

Private banks double headcount in 5 yrs

.............“A lot of banks have been hiring in anticipation of a revival in economic growth. Some of them were also expanding their size and building infrastructure to grow their businesses. While I expect private banks to remain net recruiters, they might not be hiring at the same pace as before,” .............

Read | Business Standard

Uday Kotak seeks shareholders’ approval for term extension

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd will seek shareholders’ approval to re-appoint the bank’s founder, executive vice-chairman and managing director Uday Kotak for a further three-year term from January 2015 to December 2017, the private sector bank said in a notice to stock exchanges. Shareholders’ approval will also be sought to re-appoint Dipak Gupta as joint managing director for three years from January 2015 to.........................

Read - Mint

One Year on, UPA Showcase Mahila Bank Staring at Losses

........... “We don't mind having some losses initially,“ said its chairman and managing director, Usha Ananthasubramanian. “We need to be a differentiator and create an identity first.“...........

Read - ET

NAIDU'S LOAN WAIVER PLAN HITS RBI WALL

.........Waiving of the crop loans was expected to cost Rs 15,000 crore to the State exchequer. RBI Executive Director Deepali Pant Joshi has written to the Government saying the policies like waiving of loans will weaken the banking system in the country and it will be an injustice to the people who repay the loans on time. RBI official said that it would allow waiver of loan only if the State Government makes the payment in cash and it will not accept any securities from the State Government. The letter warned that the frequent waiver of loans will hurt..........

Read - The Pioneer

CM seeks revival of licences of 3 district banks in Vidarbha

............he RBI had cancelled licences of Nagpur, Wardha and Buldhana district co-operative banks while those at Solapur, Beed and Osmanabad were facing problems, Chavan said, adding that these made it difficult for farmers to avail crop loans. The Chief Minister requested the RBI officials to revive the licenses of the three banks as the government was ready to pay it Rs 320 crore. "NABARD should increase minimum interest crop loan and convert short term loans into long term loans," he added............

Read | Business Standard

RBI's stand should pave the way for a solution

My View on  "Special category financial profligacy": 

When Mr Naidu made this public pre-elections as part of Election Manifesto, why did not the RBI and IBA raise their objection to this? Second, why did not the Election Commission raise its objection by asking the parties to show resources for fulfilling such promises? Several other Agriculture States like Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Orissa (where floods and cyclones are as recurrent or more recurrent than AP), Haryana and UP, or for that matter resource-starved West Bengal as well, did not indulge in this luxury of loan write-off by the State in spite of continuing farmers suicides. What the farmers want is more loans at cheaper interest rates and cross holding of risks through insurance mechanism and market stabilization mechanism. Compromises became promises and they became noose around the neck of the State. Now that RBI made its stand clear, it should pave the way for a solution. 

- Yerram Raju

'Ratnakar Bank plans IPO of up to $250 mln in 2015'

...................On how much Ratnakar is looking to raise from the listing, Ahuja said the equity dilution would depend on the growth capital needs of the bank. He said nothing had been finalised. Ratnakar Bank's share offering will be the first Indian bank listing on domestic bourses since state-owned Punjab & Sind Bank raised $105 million through an IPO in 2010, according to Thomson Reuters data..............

Read - FE

State Bank to ramp up POS terminal network

................Overall, banks collectively had a network of 10.76 lakh POS terminals. According to Sushil Kumar Mishra, Deputy Managing Director, SBI, by adding 1.20 lakh POS terminals every year over the next couple of years, the bank will be catapulted to the numero uno position among all banks. Already, SBI has the largest network of ATMs..............

Read - HBL

'We're Here For The Long Haul'

..............India today has 150,000 ATMs across the country. A few years back there was big momentum, when ministry of finance came up with the tender to put up with ATMs for public sector banks.  However a lot of ATM operators went over-board in bidding for these tenders with private operators quoting interchange cost as low as Rs 7-8. No one looked at the long-term viability. Barring the operator who ran ATMs for SBI, all the other players are bleeding having contracted it with stringent guidelines. SBI was manageable because the customer base is higher and consequently number of transactions was also more. Banktech group having run ATM’s and PoS in Australia for 20 years understands the long term nature of the white label ATM business. While BTI came to India in 2006 and............ 

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Now, transfer funds from US to Indian bank accounts instantly

..........The instant money transfer will be done by using the Immediate Payment Services (IMPS), a unique remittance processing platform offered by the National Payment Corporation of India. “Through this tie-up, money can be transferred instantly by a Xoom user from the US to not only bank accounts held in Punjab National Bank but to any bank account in India,” KR Kamath, Chairman & Managing Director, PNB, said at a press conference here. At present, IMPS has 63 banks (in India) as part of its ecosystem..........

Read - HBL

ICICI Bank launches 'iMobile' app for Windows phones

..................The app also introduces the next level of customer convenience by offering one-touch access to important services on its dashboard, he added. The app lets the user select his favourite past recharge transaction and allows a quick recharge without having to enter all the details again...........

Read | Business Standard

India 3rd most hit by online banking malawares

...........India has made it to the top 3 most affected countries by online banking malwares after the US and Japan. The country slowly rose to the top 3 due to spike in the number of online customers in the country, which could be attributed to a vastly improved banking industry, the report said. Online banking malaware creators updated their portfolios yet again with the addition of new routines to their usual weapons of choice, it added...........

Read | Business Standard

Is it Time for India to Get Bitcoin Savvy?

........ As of now, Indian laws do not recognise any type of digital or virtual currency. The Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) provides an inclusive definition of the term currency and includes all currency notes, money orders, cheques, credit cards and such other similar instruments as may be notified by RBI. It is interesting to note that Fema gives RBI the power to notify “similar instruments“ as currency. In 2000, RBI had notified ATM Cards and debit cards as currency. Therefore, RBI has the power under Fema to also notify Bitcoins as currency if it is able to justify that it is similar to currency notes, cred it cards, etc............

Read - ET

How to shrink Rs.50,000 to Rs.248

...........Calling the policy “unconscionable”, the high court has declared the contract illegal and void and has asked the insurer to return Rs.50,000 to Kapoor along with Rs.10,000 towards expenses in filing the writ petition. It has also asked Irda to scrutinise SBI Life’s policies, and if found guilty of a breach, to wind up its business. The court has asked Irda to examine the policies for any hidden terms and charges with an objective to deceive the policyholder, and if found guilty, to direct SBI Life to discontinue such policies and................

Read - Mint

RBI is answerable to Parliament

.....Will the RBI be the only one that has autonomy with no accountability? That will be a dangerous thing. The RBI is a creation of Parliament. Therefore, it should be accountable to Parliament. The RBI is answerable to Parliament through the ministry of finance. If you want the ministry not to intervene in RBI affairs, you should make the RBI directly accountable to Parliament. To say that it will undermine the autonomy of the RBI is a wrong understanding of autonomy. Parliament has to resolve what level of inflation and interest rate is acceptable to them............

Read - The Week

FMC sets up panel to examine feasibility of CCC for commexes

.......Among other issues, the panel will review the membership categories and separation of clearing membership and trading membership with introduction of professional, self clearing members in commodities market. The five-member group, headed by V K Sharma, former RBI Executive Director, would comprise members from National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), Department of Economic Affairs, Warehouse Development Regulatory Authority and FMC........

Read - BS

Abolish post of revenue secy: Shome panel

.............“The present functions of the department of revenue should be allocated to the two Boards. This would empower the tax departments to carry out their assigned responsibilities efficiently,” the Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC) said. Instead of a revenue secretary who is an Indian Administrative Service officer, it suggested a governing council, headed by a chairperson of the two Boards, by rotation, and with participation from outside the government, to be set up at the apex level to oversee the functioning of the two Boards................

Read | Business Standard

Special category financial profligacy

.....In Seemandhra’s case if the money asked for was for fulfilling infrastructure gaps—as Hyderabad has gone to Telengana—there would have been some merit in the demand. But Naidu wants to write off farm loans. The demand should not even be considered. This is particularly so, since the limit on state borrowing imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the only obstacle to Naidu’s plans of throwing R54,000 crore at his pet project. To put the figure in context,..................

Read - Mint

Innovative financial inclusion models are the only solution

............Is this business profitable for Ratnakar Bank? Are you doing this for survival or by force? 

Ahuja: We started our journey as a new transformed bank two-three years ago. We had to pitch against SBI and so many other banks for the segment of the market which is quite well banked and understood. We bet that financial inclusion—what we call development banking—would become a fairly significant business for us in the next five to 10 years. We created a bank within a bank for that, our entire financial inclusion strategy is structured on a very different platform than the conventional bank. We don’t use the...................

Read - Mint

Large industries make MSMEs' cash flow lumpy, says RBI Dy Governor Gandhi

.........“There is also an oft-heard complaint from bankers that MSMEs are often quite lackadaisical when it comes to settling their dues. It needs to be recognised that MSMEs often act as ancillaries to large industries, and their cash flows are lumpy. The business orientation of large industries often affects the MSMEs directly, in turn hampering the recycling of funds and business operation of MSME units. “Banks need to take a proactive view, carefully analysing the linkages of the MSME units, when ..............

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RBI reviewing regulatory framework for NBFCs: RBI Deputy Governor

.......While delivering the 33rd Frank Moraes Memorial Lecture organised by United writer's association and the Frank Moraes foundation, Gandhi said as for the regulator, it is the constant endeavour of Reserve Bank to enable prudential growth of the sector, keeping in view the multiple objectives of financial stability, consumer and depositor protection, and need for more players in the financial market, addressing regulatory arbitrage concerns while not forgetting the uniqueness of NBFC sector.........

Read | Business Standard

Wage hike talks inconclusive

............So far about nine rounds of negotiations have taken place. While a senior IBA functionary dubbed the trade unions’ 25 per cent wage hike demand as ridiculous, the unions feel the bank managements are being plainly stubborn. The talks ended on an inconclusive note on Friday. The ninth five-year bipartite wage settlement, which ran from November 1, 2007, to October 31, 2012, resulted in bank employees getting a 17.5 per cent pay hike................

Read - HBL

RBI asks cos to have director to ensure AML norms compliance

............"If the director, in the course of any inquiry, finds that a reporting entity or its designated director on the Board or any of its employees has failed to comply with the obligations... He may by an order, levy a fine on such reporting entity or its designated director on the Board or any of its employees, which shall not be less than Rs 10,000 but may extend to Rs 1 lakh for each failure," RBI said in a notification today...........

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Make taxpayers’ life easier: Panel

A government panel on tax reforms has recommended sweeping changes, including pre-filled returns for individuals, a common return for I-T and wealth tax, and an overhaul of the administration to focus on customer satisfaction and reduce disputes. The Tax Administration Reforms Commission (TARC), headed by Parthasarathi Shome, has said that the government needs to ensure that refunds are paid, with interest, within a stipulated timeframe...............

Read - TOI

Clarification - Obituary

Dear Sir,

Regarding the obituary news of Mrs D Sukumaran Nair appearing in the Vitalinfo there is a small clarification. Mrs  Ramani Nair, W/o Shri Sukumaran Nair passed away. Shri Sukumaran Nair was working as DGM, DBOD ( Not Mrs Nair)

Regards

- KP Madhavan Nambissan 

P.S. The error is deeply regretted which occurred while editing the info correctly reported by Shri P.P.Ramachandran.

NBFCs: State Seeks Centre’s Intervention

...............The State Government has administrative limitation in enforcing the fair practice code prescribed by the RBI which necessitates unavoidable intervention by the Central Government. In view of this, the RBI was requested to take effective steps to check and control the rampant growth and operation of unlawfully functioning NBFCs,” Chennithala said in the letter. “However I feel that necessary directives from the Central Government to the RBI and all public sector financial institutions working in our state is necessary,” he said...........

Read - The New Indian Express

Payment banks barred from any other financial operations

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has accepted the Nachiket Mor panel’s recommendations on introducing payment banks, but has made significant changes on the characteristics of the proposed entities. To start with, the central bank will set the initial capital requirement at Rs 100 crore as opposed to Rs 50 crore suggested by the Mor panel. For the purpose of computing capital adequacy ratio, payment banks will only factor in operational risk and not market risk and credit risk, unlike full service banks.......

Read | Business Standard

RBI should reveal top defaulters’ names

............The RBI currently circulates a list containing details of non-suit filed accounts of defaulters owing Rs. 1 crore and above, besides that of wilful defaulters with outstandings of Rs. 25 lakh and above. But these are only to banks and financial institutions for their confidential use. According to the RBI, this information on defaulters is being held by it in a ‘fiduciary capacity’ on behalf of the banks. Such posturing, though, negates the very purpose of compilation of the defaulters’ list. In fact, one of the stated objectives of the Central bank when it first issued a circular on disclosure of information on defaulters (No DBOD No BC47/20.16.002/94 dated 23.04.1994) was to “make public the names of the borrowers who have defaulted”. The argument of banking secrecy will not wash any more....................

Read - HBL

Why should government fund PSU banks all the time?

......Press reports indicate that some of the public sector banks (PSBs) are seeking more capital ahead of the budget, which is scheduled to be presented by the second week of July. According to these reports, cash-strapped public sector banks "hit by a higher proportion of stressed assets and global Basel III requirements" have begun listing out capital requirements ahead of the budget in July.........

Read - Moneylife

PSU banks' asset quality woes likely to continue: Fitch

......RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan had recently said that though there was some moderation in non-performing assets of banks, it would be too early to say that the industry has left behind the worst. The Fitch report said that efforts to deal with reported NPLs may mean the peak in stressed assets could be lower than its earlier forecast of 15% by FY'15.........

Read | Business Standard

Cosmos Bank to open 4 branches in Tamil Nadu

.......The branches, one in Chennai city and one each in Coimbatore and Hosur, will be opened during this financial year. The four branches of Amravati Peoples’ Bank which merged into the Cosmos Bank, will be shifted to the State..........

Read - HBL

Mergers will cost SBI Rs 5,000 crore

............... “According to an internal assessment about Rs 1,000 crore is required for the merger of one associate bank to itself and it takes about a year to reorganise and rehabilitate the employees. Capital will be a key concern for the bank as it will also have to set aside funds for growth and expansion....................

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Dena Bank targets Rs 500 cr SME lending in UP

........The Bank has planned to establish specialised NRI Branches, Retail Processing Hubs and SME Processing Centre across India for faster transactions and loan approvals. "We are focussing on small advances to the agricultural and SME segments for increasing our lending portfolio and credit ratio," .......

Read | Business Standard

Central Bank in image makeover

..........The bank’s Executive Director, BK Divakara, was in the city to inaugurate the renovated premises of the bank’s Mid-Corporate Finance Branch and Main Branch on Friday. Speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of this function, he said the bank’s Board has set aside a sizeable budget for the refurbishment exercise. “This main branch commenced operations from this premises in March 1935,” he said, bringing to mind the rich tradition and history of the bank. The total outlay for refurbishment of branches has been estimated at Rs. 650 crore. Asked the need for taking up this mammoth exercise after all these years, he said, “We not only believe in customer satisfaction, but in their delight as well to sustain and survive in this competitive environment.”..........

Read - HBL

Sebi asks depository participants to share FPI info with banks

........The latest move is part of Sebi's efforts to harmonise KYC norms with that of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).  Sebi-approved depository participants are responsible for granting registration to FPIs under the new framework. "DDPs (Designated Depository Participants) are advised to share the relevant KYC documents with the banks concerned based on written authorisation from the FPIs," the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a circular. Accordingly, .......

Read | Business Standard

Hope for the disadvantaged? - Dr.S.S.Tarapore

..............While there is meant to be a Public Distribution System ( PDS) in place, it is common knowledge that the urban poor are just not able to access PDS supplies, as the goods are inedible or not available. For adopting best practices among the states, the 13th Finance Commission has already institutionalised this and set up a Centre for Innovative Practices in States (CIPS) within the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad. While supply side measures are important in controlling food inflation, generalised inflation needs effective monetary policy action. As such, the government should not be overarching on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to prematurely ease monetary policy.............

Read - FPJ

A potential jobs breakthrough - Dr.Subir Gokarn

............Several analysts, including myself, have been crying themselves hoarse about the importance of this reform. Flexible labour contracts are typically associated with faster employment growth. One can cite cross-country evidence in favour of this proposition, but why go that far? In our own context, the much faster growth in employment in the services sector compared with manufacturing is directly attributable to the fact that the former does not have to deal with the same job security mandates as the latter. The ability to................

Read | Business Standard

Appetite for Profit: The pathway for profit - Yerram Raju

.....Banking basically is about people – whether customers, clients or staff. Money spills through these three categories with systems connecting them. Products are created to take money and give money. Risk perceptions underwent a thorough change with the onset of recession in 2008 and its shadow is still hanging. While Banks in India and emerging economies in general have embraced the precautions set against the west-led recession in the financial sector, they did not indulge in the luxuries that enveloped those developed nations. The known unknowns – credit risk, and the unknown unknowns – market risk, are on the increase despite ............

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Local address proof no longer a hurdle for unbanked Indians

..............RBI’s waiver has removed a big hurdle in the path to opening a bank account for a large section of population that can be characterized as carrying out “low value, low risk” transactions—a category of individuals who would previously have been excluded due to KYC or AML compliance requirements placed on banks. In conjunction with a national unique identity repository, it will become possible to authenticate transactions on a real-time basis, thereby obviating the need for knowing the current location of a customer. Some would argue that..........................

Read - Mint

Stalemate in Negotiations - Great Strategy of UFBU for Delaying Tactics

......Frankly speaking IBA has not given commitment on any of issues relating to 100% DA for all pensioners and improvement in family pension; and appointments on compassionate grounds. However, as per UFBU version IBA is favourably inclined to consider demand of extending 100% DA for all pensioners.   IBA also seems to have shown positive response to improvement in Family Pension. However, UFBU still needs to do lot of work as IBA has not committed anything and only shown positive response. Thus,.........

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Rajan serious about his job

My View on  "Why Raghuram Rajan matters": 

In my article on future of RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan post-May 16, 2014 posted at moneylife.in during March 2014 I had observed:

“It has to be said to the credit of Government of India (GOI) that, even if it was in self-interest, generally, compared to other statutory bodies and public sector units (PSUs) the RBI has been getting a fair deal in selection and timely appointment of its head and his deputies. The appointment process in July-August 2013 was more transparent and at that time, all had accepted that among the candidates considered, the most meritorious had been selected.” to support my comment that to re-emphasize that “…the present RBI Governor has taken his present job seriously and any talk about de-stabilizing his position post-16th May can do harm to Indian economy, but may not have much impact on his pursuit of the objectives he cherish.” 

- M.G.Warrier

Midnight toil?

Former RBI Deputy Governor KC Chakrabarty is always in demand because he speaks his mind. At the launch of a book on the Sahara group, he was in his elements. He said a couple of things in the book came to him as a revelation. For instance, he went on, “There are references to some people working till midnight at the RBI. I never knew about this!

HBL

Mundra likely to be next RBI Deputy Governor

After throwing his weight behind Dalbir Singh Suhag as the next army chief, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has endorsed another choice of the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, by approving the name of Bank of Baroda chairman S S Mundra as a next deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)..................

Read | Business Standard

Rana Kapoor set to be re-appointed as MD & CEO of YES Bank

YES Bank’s shareholders, at their annual general meeting on Saturday, approved the official resolution on re-appointment of Rana Kapoor as managing director and chief executive officer, along with other directors, sources told Business Standard. The voting results were concluded on Sunday and will be sent to the exchanges on Monday morning. YES Bank could not be reached for comment.............

Read | Business Standard

SBI to organise banking and economics conclave on Jun 17

Country's largest lender State Bank of India is organising a national level banking conclave for the first time by bringing together Reserve Bank of India and stakeholders to a common platform in order to discuss state of the economy and the banking sector. 'The Banking and Economics Conclave 2014' will be inaugurated by Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan in the country's financial capital here on Tuesday..........

Read | Business Standard

Growth and inflation

.............Against this backdrop, the government's prioritisation of its fight against inflation is an extremely important development. It has to move quickly from intent to action on a variety of reforms, from procurement policy to subsidies and to investment in rural infrastructure. Many of these will generate benefits only over the medium term. So those expecting a growth stimulus from the Reserve Bank of India any time soon are bound to be in for a disappointment. Even so, room for optimism should come from the fact that ........

Read | Business Standard

Raining on animal spirits

.................The new government may well be wondering if luck will run in its favour as it tries to revive the animal spirits in an economy, which has been in stagflationary mode for over two years. The monsoon is playing hide-and-seek and the latest El Nino-related news is not good. Rainfall predictions were cut last week - the monsoon will be below normal, given a 70 per cent probability of El Nino patterns. A poor monsoon would lead to inflationary pressures on the food front. Since food has a huge weight (about 48 per cent) in the consumer price index (CPI), it would push retail inflation up. That would mean the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) refusing to cut policy rates...............

Read | Business Standard

To take credit, MLA comes up with misleading advertisements

......Lured by the advertisement, some depositors and farmers rushed to the bank to get their money back, only to return empty-handed.their invested and deposit amount, when the bank administration refused about such fund saying that the amount is not received yet. While after getting this fund bank can get permission for banking, which is banned by RBI since..............

Read - TOI

PMO seeks NPA details of Govt banks

.............. “NPAs formed one of the key talking points in the meeting of the prime minister with the secretaries of various ministries he held earlier this month. The two things that the PMO has desired to know are action taken in the last five years on the bad debt front and the reason for the bulge.” Economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram has been asked to revert with details. According to senior finance ministry officials top on the agenda was a quick recapitalisation drive and granting of functional freedom to bank chairmen.............

Read - DNA

The best deposits for senior citizens

With the interest rate cycle set to turn sooner rather than later, this is an opportune time to invest in bank deposits that offer good rates. Such deposits also suit the investment needs of senior citizens well, considering that safety is their top priority.  Rates for investors above 60 years of age are 30-50 basis points higher than the regular rates, giving seniors an added incentive to park their money in FDs. For many banks, differential rates apply .........

Read - HBL

IDFC Bank to be operational by October next year

Infrastructure finance company IDFC, which recently bagged a commercial banking licence, plans to start bank operations by October next year.  "It (IDFC Bank) should be operational by October 2015," IDFC Chairman Rajiv Lall told.....

Read | Business Standard

Good times ahead for banking?

....If one takes a close look at the data on bad assets, one is not convinced as yet that the good days are here but it seems that the worst is behind us. Collectively, the gross bad assets of 40 listed Indian banks have grown about 51% in 2013-14 that ended in March—from Rs.1.6 trillion to Rs.2.42 trillion—but in the last quarter, their bad assets actually dropped by 0.61%. Similarly, the net bad assets of these banks, after setting.......

Read - Mint

SBI to Hire 7,200 People, Increase Reliance on Tech

............“I am trying to get a lot of technology to help my people so that they spend less of their time on activities that don't really need a lot of thinking and knowledge. For routine stuff such as cash-counting, we are bringing more and more machines,“ said SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, adding that SBI should be able to manage with the number of people it planned to hire during 2014-15...............

Read - ET

Need To Fix India's Banking Sector Woes To Revive Economy - Analysis

.....The Indian banking sector is dominated by PSBs, which account for 73 per cent of the market share. The banks are constrained by excessive regulation and are forced to increase their exposure to credit constrained sectors. For instance, priority sector lending norms is one of the many stipulations imposed on PSBs by the RBI that erode their competitiveness. On an average, these priority sector loans have been responsible for a relatively higher share of the NPAs among the PSBs over the last ten years. Moreover, these banks have been found to have...........

Read | Eurasia Review

CII action plan for reviving non-banking finance sector

......."The non-banking financial company (NBFC) sector needs to be integrated to the core of Indian financial system with adequate policy support to help meet the financing needs of the economy and achieve financial inclusion," CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said...........

Read | Business Standard

Now’s the time to prepay your loan

In April, the Reserve Bank of India directed banks not to charge customers for pre-closing term loans taken on a ‘floating rate’ basis. Until this order, banks charged a foreclosure penalty of 3-4 per cent of the outstanding loan amount. Now, you might be looking for that catch in the fine print or you may simply be wary of switching your loan to a cheaper lender. Read on to clear some of those lingering doubts.........

Read - HBL

Indian Currency – Paper to Polymer

...........According to National Investigation Agency (NIA), it will a very challenging task for RBI to remove or stop the circulation of fake notes. Due to such problems, the economy of the country can face danger. Counterfeit notes adds onto the banknotes which are already printed by the government. With faster printing of money than the growth of real output, the value of money will be reduced which causes inflation. Moreover, governments prefers to print money when they are unable to finance the borrowings they have. Counterfeiting leads to introduction of more fake notes in the system. This effect of inflation thus leads to hyperinflation of the economy which ..............

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E-eye helps South Indian Bank foil yet another ATM loot bid

.....This is the latest in the series of events in which the Thrissur-based bank has foiled attempted burglary at its ATMs through effective e-surveillance.......

Read - HBL

Talking ATMs

.....The cards to be used at these ATMs are the same as those issued by banks currently. The machines, however, are different. Talking ATMs are designed according to “access to all” standards, which means that the keypads of the ATM should be at a height that’s easily accessible by someone who is wheelchair-bound, there should be ramps, provision for a headphone, voice guidance technology should be enabled and available in multiple languages, and there should be Braille stickers for visually challenged users..........

Read - Mint

18 banks fail to meet ATM setting target

.............As part of the target, a total of 34,668 onsite ATMs were to be installed by PSU banks during the last fiscal. However, they could set up only 25,331 such machines by March 2014, thus falling short by 9,337, as per Finance Ministry data. Installation of ATMs, especially by public sector lenders, has been a major priority for the government's efforts to ensure financial inclusion in the country...........

Read - Deccan Herald

Are additional charges justified?

As per point 4 of the RBI notification dated September 25th, 2013, it is unjustifiable on the merchant’s part to charge customers for buying goods and services as it is not permissible as per the agreement between the merchant and the bank which issued the POS (Point of sale) terminal or card swipe machine to the merchant. Such practices call for the banks to terminate their relationship with such merchants...............

Read - DNA Bangalore Edition Page 7

E-filing woes

...........We are in the middle of June and the filing deadline is July 31 but most of the e-filing forms are yet to be notified. The Budget was passed for the assessment year 2014-15 as early as March 2013. Why does it take such a long time to upload the e-forms on the income tax website?..............

Read | Business Standard

Why Raghuram Rajan matters

.................The RBI has evolved a studied position that capricious capital flows can make a mockery of monetary policy independence. Rajan can take this institutional knowledge forward. The RBI is trapped in a ‘trilemma’ — where both the exchange rate and interest rate can be simultaneously managed only when capital flows can be predicted and controlled. Its task is further complicated by rising government spending, exerting pressure on inflation and interest rates. As a result, it is left with very little room for manoeuvre. Rather than make matters more difficult for RBI, New Delhi should leave it to Rajan to manage a soft landing.

Read - HBL