The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned general public from depositing money with two firms claiming to be Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) despite not receiving requisite Certificate of Registration (CoR), said deputy general manager, RBI, Ahmedabad, in a public notice issued here. The public notice was issued by deputy general manager, RBI, Ahmedabad, on August 2............
The very purpose of VITALINFO is to provide a platform for wider dissemination of updated information related to and happening of events in and around RBI.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
NBFCs Guard Their Golden Turf Despite Tough RBI Code
..........It is reckoned that nearly 65 per cent of household gold holdings in rural markets. The reach by the likes of Muthoot Finance, which has over 4,400 branches across the country, will help them to tap this growing market. “RBI’s view to maintain the loan-to-value for bank’s gold loans for non-agricultural end uses is a fair one and it shows that the regulators want to shape up this emerging sector for long term giving level playing field to all players,” ..........
Telangana officials to thrash out loan issues with RBI
.....However, the RBI has written to government that it will agree only for rescheduling of loans taken during last year (2013-14). They also informed that they will consider rescheduling of loans only in 377 mandals that were declared cyclone and drought-affected in 2013. Hence, the 77 mandals that were recently declared Phailin-affected last month will not meet the criterion and will not be considered eligible................
Friday, August 1, 2014
SS Mundra assumes office as RBI Deputy Governor
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| Subhash Sheoratan Mundra |
Bank of Baroda announces cessation of Chairman cum Managing Director
Bank of Baroda announced that the Central Government, vide its notification dated 30 July 2014, has appointed S. S. Mundra, Chairman & Managing Director of the Bank as Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India for a period of three years from the date of his taking over charge of the post. Accordingly, he has been relieved from Bank of Baroda on 30 July 2014 on the close of working hours and therefore ceased to be Chairman & Managing Director of the Bank.
Gold Bank - An idea whose time has come - M.G.Warrier
If RBI is able to make the right moves and convince Government of India about the advantages of setting up the Gold Bank, the move could alter India's Gold landscape forever!............
Gold premiums in relative check
...........In June, there was a widespread expectation of a cut in the Union Budget in the tariff on gold. From mid-June till Budget was presented on July 10, gold was even quoted at a discount to the cost. RBI had also, in May, permitted star trading houses to import gold, resulting in a steep increase in June inflows. In that month, 92 tonnes arrived in India officially. Importers were offering gold...............
Suggestion merits consideration
My View on "Small banks or banks for ‘small’ people? - Vijay M...":
Vijay Mahajan has proposed most important changes needed in the draft guidelines of the RBI. The area limitation has affected the growth of RRBs and later LABs. Of course, Basix, the parent organisation of Vijay Mahajan has also a LAB and with all its excellent team and resources available, it is unable to expand. Similarly, his suggestion to keep a cap on the loan amount to one unit (individual/firm/co) merits consideration as otherwise the unbanked and the underbanked will continue to be excluded. In fact, the asset portfolio of small banks should have at least 85% of their loans to the financially excluded. Add the non-asset based services such as remittance services for all, pension services for all, insurance services for all etc.
- S.Santhanam
Govt looks to extend mobile banking to all types of phones: Arun Jaitley
..................The government plans to use a mix of small branches, kiosks, ATMs (automated teller machines), business correspondents and mobile banking to ensure better and faster access to banking services for the rural and urban population. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is also in touch with various entrepreneurs to look for innovative technologies that can enable mobile banking to be used on all types of phones. To be sure, bankers admit that this will be a difficult task...........
The monetary policy angle
..........This is the ideal moment for RBI to give a signal that it favours soft rates to maintain the growth momentum visible in industry and elsewhere.
At a turn and yet not
..........But can it be said with certainty that inflation risks have altogether disappeared? There is, of course, the near-term risk of a deficient monsoon, which could push up food inflation. Looking to long-term inflation expectations, RBI could well choose to see through a short-term, transient spike. But the sequential rise in inflation momentum is a factor. More subdued at retail levels, the pick-up in core-WPI inflation has steadily sustained for eight, successive months; quite unlike CPI-core inflation, which shows......
RBI policy: The danger has not yet passed
............That said, the policy implication is clear. The government needs to tackle food inflation on a war footing, releasing stocks of cereals, importing pulses and oilseeds, cracking down on speculative hoarding and transporting food stocks quickly from surplus to deficient areas. And the RBI needs to maintain its anti-inflationary stance to ensure wage pressures remain muted. All told, the need for a complementary policy stance between Delhi and Mumbai could not be greater. We, therefore, expect the RBI to............
Reserve Bank likely to focus on liquidity management
............Harding believes RBI has a choice between a cut in policy rates or to raise the amount of refinance from the overnight repo counter from the current 0.25 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL). In July, RBI has infused about Rs 170,000 crore by way of term repos; even so, overnight rates continue to be volatile. Banks have not been tapping the Marginal Standing Facility of RBI much and there have also been .....
RBI: Three burning questions
We continue to expect RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to hold rates on August 5. That said, three questions arise. When will the central bank cut rates to support growth? We do not see any material change .........
Reserve Bank of India to unveil third bi-monthly policy review on August 5
MUMBAI: Amid expectations of a rate cut to boost industrial activities, the Reserve Bank today said it will come out with its third bi-monthly Monetary Policy Review on Tuesday. The central bank in a release said: "The Reserve Bank of India will announce the Third Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Review, 2014-15 on Tuesday, August 5, 2014." ..............
Watch out! tricksters with fake notes on prowl
...........The ease with which they are able to exchange fake notes for genuine ones is mainly attributed to people’s negligence and ignorance of the features of a valid currency note, and sources of distribution of the currency. In the Kalidindi incident, counterfeit notes worth nearly Rs. 5 lakh were seized from eight persons who cheated gullible customers across Krishna and West Godavari districts. Six more accused in the same case were nabbed at Gudivada on Wednesday and Rs 2.10 lakh worth currency was seized from their possession. Tracking the original sources of fake notes in these two instances proved to be a daunting task for the police who have not yet found definite clues........
The Blue Boy ReTyres.............
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| Shri Mukund Sakulkar - The Blue Boy...... |
I retired from Bank’s service
as at the close of business on July 31, 2014 after putting in long 39 years of
service in this premier institution. During these long years, I had the
opportunity of working with many of you. When I reminisce the bygone years, I
am flooded with a sense of nostalgic feelings of many sweet memories. I owe a
lot to all of you for your unstinted personal and professional support and
guidance. As it would not be possible on my part to interact with all of you at
this point of time directly, I take this privilege to convey my sincere
gratitude to all of you. I will treasure the happy memories of my pleasant
association with all of you and earnestly look forward to interact with you in
future.
- M.P.Sakulkar, Manager, CAB, Pune
Financial Inclusion Mission to be big I-Day announcement
.........“The government is targeting the individual household rather than the village … this is a marked shift from earlier efforts where only opening of account was the focus of the financial inclusion drive,” Mr. Jaitley said. This is a big challenge and there are several difficulties such as lack of connectivity and infrastructure,........
High court lets Canara Bank take over Amanath
.........ustice Ram Mohan Reddy passed an order to this effect while hearing a batch of petitions filed by stakeholders both in support as well as against the merger. He has adjourned further hearing to November. Canara Bank will take over specified assets and liabilities of ACB. The doubtful assets will remain with Amanath Cooperative Society. The court also asked authorities to publicize through newspapers and television the working hours of the branches of ACB.........
Corporate Governance of Banks- About Time for Some CoCo?
............If CoCos issued to bank executives and directors have accounting trigger, they ought to have higher triggers than those issued to the investors, to align their interests strongly to the CoCo investors. Higher trigger for CoCos issued to Directors can in fact convey a leading signal for banking firms to recapitalize. The RBI has already recognised contingent capital instruments as Additional Tier I instruments in its recently released Basel III Guidelines. The RBI should augment that apparatus by mandating key banking personnel and non-executive independent directors to be paid equally in contingent convertible bonds and equity-based pay so that............
Banks bet on core bonds
............However, Chanda Kochhar, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, today said it was early to say whether funding costs would indeed come down. “We look at the pricing of loans based on the overall cost of funds. It is too premature to say what it (the RBI steps) will do to the overall cost of funding,” she said. Kochhar confirmed that the bank had launched an infrastructure bond to raise Rs 500 crore. The issue........
SBI Caps to make report on PSU bank merger within a month
.........."We have asked SBI Caps to do a study... We have given them two assignments. One is on the recapitalisation and other on bank consolidation. I hope within a month or so we will be getting something," .......
Expect turbulence with public sector bank mergers
............While mergers take care of accounting, legal and regulatory requirements, the banks face challenges of wages and compensation fitment, culture and systems and info technology platform integration, said experts and senior PSB executives. And, the resistance from bank staff and employees unions and local political interest could pose a formidable challenge. C H Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), said there is absolutely no case for consolidation. There is enough space for many banks to do business when half the population is yet come under the ambit of financial services.........
RBI faces challenges in issuing differentiated banking licences
...............The new players will have to take banking solutions to the doorsteps of rural folks using technologies that can process transactions instantly. But why would a customer go to payment banks when post offices exist in every nook and corner of the country? There are over 1.55 lakh post offices and 90 per cent of them are in rural areas. People are also familiar with post office savings product that offers four per cent interest a year and five-year recurring deposits with 8.4 per cent a year. But experts are not amused. "Post offices don't have the technology backbone. The model is brick and mortar, which is a costly way of doing business," says Gupta. People's interaction with post offices is diminishing. "Nobody in metros or urban areas goes to post offices to send letters," says Amit Lakhotia, Vice President (Payments) at Paytm, an RBI-licensed prepaid card provider.........
Stake dilution in govt banks to start in November: Sandhu
.............“It will be a combination of follow-on public offer (FPO) and, in some cases, it will be through qualified institutional placement. It may start around Diwali, most likely November,” he told reporters after a meeting with the heads of PSBs and other financial institutions............
AP CM speaks with RBI Governor on loan recast
..........Following the conversation the RBI Governor has suggested to the state government to send a team of officials to discuss the issue with his executive director, according to the statement.
Madras HC appoints provisional liquidator for First Leasing
.............The bank counsel alleged company officials and employees colluded and stripped the company. At least two forensic reports have come out on the financial issues in the company - one from the Reserve Bank of India and another by an expert appointed by the company's board of directors. A large number of employees had submitted their resignation letters and under this circumstances, the operations of the company had to be taken care by a provisional liquidator, he argued...........
ARCs lap up half of bank bad loans on sale
..............he remaining consideration is issued as security receipts to the banks in lieu of payments that ARCs will make over a period of eight years based on their recovery. In order to prevent a pile-up of NPAs, the regulator has asked banks to segregate accounts on the date of repayment from the time they are 30 days due, 60 days due and 90 days. Banks such as SBI and BoI have started selling off accounts from the time they are due for 60 days. According to the RBI data, the gross NPAs of commercial banks were 4% of total advances in March 2014, while in the year-ago period it was 3.4%.....
Bitcoin Thriller
.......It is a villain. I believe the Bitcoin is bad in its current avatar. But a better version of it might emerge in the future, with more control. Right now the Bitcoin is about anonymity. It uses a protocol called TOR (The Onion Router) that allows the giver and receiver to remain anonymous, which makes it dangerous. In my book, it's used by the criminal underworld..........
It's Not Too Late to File Returns
Missed the deadline to file in come tax returns on July 31? Don't feel dejected. You can still file the returns without paying any penalty. Yes, contrary to the perception of many tax payers, there's still enough time to file your returns until March 31, 2015. However, there will be some implications. In fact, tax payers are allowed to file belated returns for two preceding financial years, even after the deadline. That is,...........
Read - ET
Read - ET
Women investors are confident, not overconfident
Finance and investments are generally considered masculine areas. A cursory look at the proportion of women in the finance profession as compared to, say, teaching or information technology, tells the story. However, careful academic research has established that women are more suited for stock trading than men. The chief differentiating factor between the two genders is the level of overconfidence in matters pertaining to finance. ...........
Loans targeted at women are beneficial
.............Though women-specific loans offer benefits, the case isn’t the same with women-specific deposits. Banks offer savings bank accounts for women with additional features but often, the minimum balance required is higher. For instance, the quarterly minimum balance required in case of Federal Bank’s regular savings bank account is Rs 1,000. But for its Mahila Mitra savings bank deposit for women, the requirement is Rs 5,000........
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Govt appoints S S Mundra as RBI Deputy Governor
Small banks or banks for ‘small’ people? - Vijay Mahajan
............Comparing this with the RBI Guidelines on Small Banks released a few days ago, one can see how consistent Raghuram Rajan has been and how he has implemented the idea faithfully now that he is able to, as the RBI Governor. For this he, his RBI Board colleague Nachiket Mor and the senior RBI team all deserve congratulations. The draft guidelines have only a few minor flaws and, if these are attended to, we can hope to see the rise of a new generation of financial service providers, who would help end the currently unacceptable situation in terms of gross spatial, sectoral and segmental inequalities in terms of access to financial services...........
Is RBI Honest With Money Markets?
.........``The intent is to provide sufficient liquidity to the markets, that means both short term liquidity consistent with maintaining the call money rate close to the policy rate,’’ RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had said. But the reality seems to be different. The central bank’s efforts to funding the market with term repos, i.e., funds for a longer duration, have not helped. Because the RBI which believes that the banking system has to be deficient for its interest rate policy to be effective, is behind the curve. RBI which wanted banks to do better forecasting ...........
RBI Guidelines: A Balanced View At Last
..........It may be considered that presenting details relating to the RBI valuation may in fact lead to confusion as it may not be equal to the final transaction price. Internationally, too, specific valuation considerations are rarely disclosed, with most financial reporting aimed at allocation of the purchase price rather than how it was arrived at. Another small observation is that the disclosure requirements do not mention issue of shares/ convertible debentures. Further, issue/ transfer of CCPS is not covered. This could perhaps be an oversight, but in any case, it may be a good idea for this clause to be taken up for further debate. Overall, the RBI has certainly lived up to expectations by liberalizing the pricing guidelines and opening up the valuation of cross-border transactions to the wider principles of fair market value. It is a well-balanced move and will be welcomed by companies and investors alike.
Read - Business World
Women empowerment: Narendra Modi govt may merge Bharatiya Mahila Bank, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh
.............She said the performance of Bharatiya Mahila Bank and Rashtriya Mahila Kosh was not satisfactory and that is why government was mulling merger of the two to strengthen the lending facility to women. "There is already a women's bank in the Finance Ministry which has not worked and we have Rashtriya Mahila Kosh which too has not worked," Gandhi said in an interview. Listing empowerment of women as a priority area, Gandhi said facilitating funding needs of poor women will be one of the priority initiatives of her Ministry.......
Regulating banks: The number fixation
..........In the absence of a suspected conspiracy amongst so many banks in a particular case, should not the punitive action be in relation to the weaknesses of the general lending standards of a specific bank? In that case, should the prime accused not be the Kolkata-based nationalized bank which had reported a huge increase in bad loans some time ago?...................
Bank staffer's holiday turns tragic, loses wife & mom-in-law
Twenty-four-year-old Vitthal survived under the debris for five hours. An employee of State Bank's branch at Mazewadi in Pune, Vitthal Titkare had come to spend a holiday with his wife at her maternal home in the ill-fated Malin village. His wife, Deepali, and mother-in-law, however, lost their lives in the landslide that flattened the entire vil lage early on Wednesday .........
Read - TOI
Read - TOI
Double standard
Unlike banks and regulators in US and other european countries, in India, bank managements do not have courage to classify a wilful defaulter as a wilful defaulter. The case in point is Kingfisher Airlines. While the Consortium leader SBI has not yet classified the loan to KFA as a wilful default, one of the lender banks have classfied their portion as wilful default. RBI is also dead silent about it. But, when it comes to small loans almost all the loans defaulted are classified as wilful defaults by banks and actions initiated against the borrowers. When the KFA was solvent the banks chose to convert their debts into equities at over Rs.60 per share which is languishing at just Rs.2 today. But, the lead bank does not want to classify the loan as a wilful defaulter. It is just funny. This double standard of bank managements for reasons best known to them in dealing with corporate defaulters is the main reason for the sorry state of affairs of increasing NPAs in banks in India. Chapter 11 may suit US but not India as most of the corporate loans are given by PSBs and a large proportion of them were given not on the basis of proper appraisal but out of various external considerations. Corrupt bankers have spoiled the system and RBI should have taken action against such bankers. So, there is merit in setting up of a body to oversee the functions of RBI and fix accountability so that corruption at bank level in dealing with corporate loans can be prevented.
- S.Santhanam
Trust in 'governance'
My View on "Trust deficit":
While recording this response, I remembered a recent VITLINFO caption: "T(rust) lost between U and I". Nation cannot survive without building trust in 'governance' in the minds of the majority of its population.
- M G Warrier
RBI will offer clarity on age bar for private bank chiefs soon: Sobti
..................."RBI has not yet come out with any policy as far as the age bar for private sector banks is concerned. But we understand that they are working on a policy and that we should have one shortly, sooner than later. Once that policy comes then we will know what happens in the future. So, as things stand today, the extension is for one year, which is till January of 2015. But we expect, .........
RBI paper mill to save Rs 1,280 crore of imports annually
.........The new paper mill has a production capacity of 12,000 metric tonnes and will cost Rs 1,500 crore to build. It is expected to cut India's import demand by more than half. India, which prints more than 20 billion notes annually, requires about 22,000 metric tonne of bank note paper. According to information sourced through a Right to Information request from Bank Note Paper Mill India Pvt Ltd, an RBI subsidiary, there is likely to be a delay of about one year in setting up the mill from the original schedule of April 2014.........
J&K continues to be focal point for fake currency, drugs smuggling cartels
.......As per the official data available with EXCELSIOR, Rs 1.16 crore worth counterfeit currency was seized during the past four years (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (up to June 30) in Jammu and Kashmir. During the year 2011, a total of 6855 fake currency notes were seized in the State. Of these 2320 were recovered by different branches of RBI and 4535 seized by police. Total value of these fake currency notes was worked out at Rs 38,63,590 and in this connection 39 FIRs were registered against 73 accused persons. In 2012, a total of 7201 fake currency notes worth Rs 31,74,350 were seized and accordingly ...........
RBI Likely to Keep Interest Rates on Hold in August: HSBC
.............In the June 3 policy review, the RBI left key rates unchanged and unlocked about Rs. 40,000 crore of funds by reducing the amount of deposits banks are required to park in government securities. This was the second time in a row that interest rates were left unchanged amid demands for moderation to spur growth. The RBI's next credit policy review is scheduled on August 5.........
A rate cut seems unlikely
..........A couple of years ago, RBI decided there would be eight policies to reduce the noise in the market and make things more predictive. But when there was the forex crisis last year, interventions brought in some correction. The latest stance is there will be six policies with the right to intervene when required. But the direction seems to be clearly on reducing uncertainty in the markets as when players start to guess every time, they tend to create distortions. The content of policy has changed. There was a time when the policy document touched on every aspect of the financial system and there were sections on bank lending, prudential regulation, market development, ULBs, etc. It was a comprehensive review and way forward for the entire system. This has also been dispensed with as RBI has separated all reforms and financial sector issues from monetary policy. The credit policy is now just a call on monetary policy measures with.......
Bankers split over rate cut
.........“It's a close call for the RBI in August. Weak food inflation in June allows the central bank to give more time for the government's supply-side measures to work. However, headline inflation is still too close to the year-end target to dismiss the prospect of a rate hike. In the end, we think the RBI is likely to pause again in Au gust to get a better sense of the inflation trajectory,“ .............
Read - TOI
A good time to start reducing policy rate
............In other words, the economy is trying to enter a positive territory. Given this scenario, one would expect RBI to move towards ensuring availability of adequate liquidity. The central bank has already taken cognizance of it. The budget has a provision for “lending to infrastructure sector with minimum regulatory pre-emption such as CRR, SLR and priority sector lending”.................
Andhra govt exploring other options on farm loan recast
.............. “If RBI refuses to recast the loans, the only alternative is to clear the loans of borrowers and take money from the government at a later date, as promised.” He added if the borrowers didn’t repay the loans, they might have to pay interest on the overdue, as these loans wouldn’t get interest subvention and might surpass the loan waiver cap of Rs 1.5 lakh a family, as fixed by the state government. Earlier, RBI had told state government officials in case it considered restructuring the loans, it would extend the facility only to.....
Rural India does not need loan waivers
...............Banking being a Central subject, there is a clear need for an RBI diktat against using public institutions — which are repositories of public money — for acts that can vitiate the repayment culture. Should public institutions like banks be used for mere political gains? To carry forward the principle of “minimum government and maximum governance”, what banks need is autonomy in its true sense. However, many feel even the Central bank is only constitutionally independent, and the Government has the power to direct its actions. But this needs to change. Election manifestos of political parties, which carry such populist schemes, should be treated as a party liability and not a sovereign liability of the state with taxpayer’s money..........
India must build a credit history database
.............India’s financial inclusion strategy has failed primarily due to information asymmetry: The inability of institutions to gather information about the repayment capacity of a borrower pushed these institutions to be extra cautious in extending credit. Many expected that micro finance schemes would solve this problem by creating social networks. These networks, they hoped, would act as replacements, establishing the link between the users and the institutions by facilitating...........
FinMin sets up panel to give more teeth to debt recovery laws
.............The members of the panel entrusted to revisit existing debt recovery laws include Anurag Jain, Joint Secretary Department of Financial Services, Former law Secretary V K Bhasin, representatives of DRT, RBI, IBA and bar associations, sources added. Besides, panel has been also assigned to draft as new statute with harsh penal provisions for wilful defaulters. The panel was set up to plug the loopholes in the current legal framework for debt recovery..........
Indian banks start to shift loan books from Singapore after facing aggresive scrutiny by Monetary Authority of Singapore
.........Officials from commercial banks said these norms have been in place for a while, but following the global financial crisis, MAS has been closely monitoring the situation. Indian banks had brought this issue to the notice of the finance ministry following which the Reserve Bank of India has been asked to take up the matter with MAS. According to an RBI official, a substantial portion of Indian banks' book comprises loans that are not for funding operations in the Singapore market...............
Russian, Indian Central Banks Could Use National Currencies in Payments
The Bank of Russia and the Reserve Bank of India have agreed to set up a working group to devise tools to use national currencies in bilateral payments, the Russian regulator said Wednesday. The group, that may involve representatives of banks and also ministries and agencies of both countries, will be controlled by the central banks of Russia and India..........
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Good going, Governor
The banks may be owned by the central government, but the money they lend belongs to the public. Governor Rajan has done well to stick to his guns, and finance minister Jaitley in not pressuring him to do otherwise
.............Given that the state will now contest RBI’s claims with its own set of data, it is obvious the chapter is far from closed, and a lot will depend on whether or not the central government weighs in favour of the state or remains a neutral observer. But what is important is RBI has not just learnt the lessons of the last Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver just ahead of the 2009 general elections—farm repayments slowed the next year also as farmers realised banks could be arm-twisted—it is willing to do something about it as well. It is not as if, in the past, RBI has not tried to block the political class from taking matters in its own hand; it is just that it has been quite unsuccessful. In Andhra Pradesh, RBI was helpless when the government said that loans to MFIs need not be repaid as they were at usurious rates, though RBI tried to fix things later through a committee tasked with regulating MFIs. .........RBI's action is unquestionable - Dr.Yerram Raju
My View on t "Loan Waiver: Raghuram Rajan's RBI puts spanner in ...":
In a Round table of Farmers organized by the Farmers Rural Science Foundation and the Confederation of Kisan Organisations during the first week of July this year that was well attended by farmers from both the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, farmers responded to a question whether they wanted loan wavers or more timely loans the reply was affirmative to the latter. RBI's action is unquestionable at the moment for its investigation revealed the true position.
- Dr.Yerram Raju
RBI query jolts AP govt over record paddy production amid drought
.........The RBI said the Directorate of Economics and Statistics figures show that the state achieved record production of paddy last year, but the state report says 572 mandals were affected by cyclone, heavy rains and drought. The RBI wanted to know how record production of paddy was possible, when almost all the mandals were affected by cyclone or drought. The RBI letter said that according to the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, all mandals yielded more than 50 per cent paddy. It added that if............
NSEL crisis: Lessons aplenty for everyone
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| File photo |
Monetary policy: A rate cut mirage
......................No central bank, least of all RBI, operates in a political vacuum and the last policy statement is best interpreted as another salvo in the ongoing game of cat and mouse between RBI and North Block (where India’s finance ministry is housed). The deliberate downplaying of latent upside inflation risks and emphasis on the scope for rate cuts provided the appropriate fiscal policy, must be viewed as an understandable, even laudable, attempt by RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to establish a co-operative equilibrium with the new National Democratic Alliance government. Finance minister Arun Jaitley’s budget, delivered on 10 July, however, is likely to have left Rajan underwhelmed. .............
Small Banks Are Here, But Are They Dead On Arrival?
............But if there are questions of viability for these institutions, it would be difficult to comply with the rules. The central bank has moved swiftly ahead with Governor Raghuram Rajan’s desire to deliver on his promises. But the minds of the conservatives that frame the rules at Mint Street are moving at snail’s pace. The proof of the soundness of the rule will reflect in the number of applicants, or the amount of easing rules the applicants lobby for.
Will Lady Luck Finally Smile on BoB's Mundra?
The 4-month wait of Bank of Baroda chairman S S Mundra may come to an end this week.
The government is likely to announce the replacement for RBI deputy governor K C Chakrabarty, who quit a few months ahead of his scheduled retirement. It is said that just one signature, that of the prime minister, is awaited. Had the government notification not come before the end of the month, he would have lost the opportunity to be a central banker since he is retiring this month end. Rumour mills churn out a story saying CMD of a Delhi-based bank, known for his never-say-die attitude, is still hoping and lobbying for it.
ET
The government is likely to announce the replacement for RBI deputy governor K C Chakrabarty, who quit a few months ahead of his scheduled retirement. It is said that just one signature, that of the prime minister, is awaited. Had the government notification not come before the end of the month, he would have lost the opportunity to be a central banker since he is retiring this month end. Rumour mills churn out a story saying CMD of a Delhi-based bank, known for his never-say-die attitude, is still hoping and lobbying for it.
ET
Trust deficit
.................The need to keep managers and workers equally satisfied and secure for improving productivity has been brought out well in the article. The conflict between those who want to treat employees as partners and those who want to exploit labour will continue as long as the ownership of resources and laws governing their management continues to be in the hands of those who represent the latter......
LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT - RBI's Experiment Turns Volatile
The Reserve Bank of India's new liquidity management experiment backed by deputy governor Urjit Patil panel's monetary framework has created more volatility in the money market than reducing it, making some believe that it is tightening of interest rates by stealth. Interbank rates for overnight money which are supposed to be closer to the policy rates, in this case the repo rate -the rate at which the central bank lends to banks -have been going widely off the mark in the past three months......
Read - ET
Read - ET
Black Money Floats Despite Currency Withdrawal Drive
The Reserve Bank of India’s drive to weed out pre-2005 currency notes does not appear to have helped flush out much black money from secret vaults as it shredded notes worth less than Rs 15,000 crore till June. Although the central bank had said while launching the exercise in January that it was aimed at reining in counterfeit notes, some experts also saw it as an effort to flush out black money. The value of notes collected and shredded as part of the drive in the first six months, however, make the exercise appear rather routine. RBI shredded 6.18 crore 1,000 rupee notes amounting to.............
Read - ET
Read - ET
RBI survey finds 47% of banking agents ‘untraceable’
................A recent survey conducted by the RBI College for Agriculture Banking and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) reveals that not only were a substantive number of banking agents untraceable, but that even among those found to be working, a significant number have never conducted even a single transaction. According to the survey, which tried to contact 2,358 agents across 15 large states in the period between September and November 2013, only 53 per cent could be reached and the remaining 47 per cent could not be reached...........
Bank of Baroda installs cash-recycling ATMs
............These ATMs allow cash recycling operation where by the deposited cash can be dispensed in future transactions. This helps in improving the efficiency for the bank ATMs ..........
Vijayan Spoke His Mind, But Look For That Caveat
Insurance regulatory chief T S Vijayan's first major outing since he took charge was revealing in more ways than one. The man who had troubling last days at the Life Insurance Corporation showed signs of overcoming his reluctance to air his views. He was quite open about many things that the audience at the foundation day celebration of New India Assurance were not prepared for. His topics ranged from transparency in insurance products to the need for foreign direct investment in insurance sector and many more. To hear the views of the regulator at public forums is what everyone eagerly waits for -be it the industry or media. But to everyone's disappointment, his disclaimer was “these are my personal views“ and it should not be deemed as the regulator's view. An insurer present at the function said there is no insurance that these would be taken as personal views.
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ET
Staying Back Late? Top Pvt Bank Wants To Know Why
A top private sector bank seems to have created a flutter by asking its staff to send a mail justifying why they had to stay back longer than normal working hours. The flummoxed staff, which did not get the instructions in writing, is wondering whether it is to make them efficient, or that if they send a mail, it would be part of the record which could come back to haunt them at the time of performance review. Many have decided, for the time being, not to write any mails since nothing has come from the officials.
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ET
Aspirants can chase more than one lakh jobs
Finally, 'acche din' seems to be around the corner for government job seekers. At least 80,000 jobs will be available in the banking sector by the end of this year. The reason behind this spurt is that the number of nationalised banks in the country has now gone up to 21. Apart from the banking sector, thousands of jobs will also be available in insurance, Intelligence Bureau, Staff Selection Committees and various other sections. Since there are a lot of vacancies in these sections, aspirants are making a beeline..........
OLD MONEY MEETS NEW - GOLD AND BITCOIN COURTSHIP PICKS PACE
Call it bitgold. It's what you get when you combine bitcoin, one of the world's newest would-be currencies, and gold, one of the oldest. Add mistrust of centralised authority, a dash of rebelliousness and a dollop of profit motive and you might have the Independence Coin, the first gold-backed crypto-money, unveiled this month at F reedomFest, a liber tarian convention in -where else? -Las Vegas.............
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