YES Says ‘No’ to Staff for Sharing Internal Mails

YES Bank has sacked some employees after they forwarded an email from the CEO’s office to their friends. The mail was about the dos and donts following the Cobra Post sting operation. The mail shares no interesting fact, but the bank has taken an exception to the way a communication from the corner room was handled.

ET

IBA’S NEXT CHAIRMAN COULD BE FROM A PRIVATE BANK

In the last bankers’ conference (Bancon) held in Pune, finance minister P Chidambaram told the Indian Banks Association (IBA) members that its next chairman should be from a private bank since none of the top-level private bankers were present at the conference. The idea was to give the private sector a representation at IBA. The vacancy for the chairman’s (held by KR Kamath, CMD of PNB) post is a long way off. IBA could consider appointing an official from private banks for the CEO’s post which is due to be vacated by middle of this calendar year. In the past, ICICI CEO HN Sinor has been at the helm of the bankers’ body and made it a vibrant organisation.

ET

Mobile Payment Systems:What Can India Adopt From Kenya’s Success?

............The inactive low-income users expressed their keenness to restart using mobile money in the future subject to a reasonable pricing policy by the service provider. The study concludes that despite the immense potential of mobile money in promoting financial inclusion in India, very little efforts have been made by the RBI and banks to promote the model among the prospective low-income clients. Regulations in India permit mobile transactions only they are linked to a registered bank account, through which transactions take place.........

Read......

WHAT IS THE LIKELY DA INCREASE FOR BANK OFFICERS AND WORKMEN FROM May 2013 to July, 2013

The exact increase for DA cannot be given at this stage as GOI has yet to announce the CPI for the month of March 2013.   However, based on the CPI already announced for the month of January 2013 and February, 2013, we are doing this guess work.   The CPI announced and projected so far  are as follows:-..........

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

Tax dept wants to count your cash

Now, keeping cash more than Rs 50,000 with you may draw the attention of the Income Tax Department. In the new forms for income tax returns, the government may ask non-salaried individuals to declare in-hand cash of more than Rs 50,000.........

Read | Business Standard

The big rate puzzle

I get the point that some analysts are making: that despite the recent cuts in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) policy rate, bank lending rates are unlikely to come down. But I am not entirely convinced. Yes, some heavyweight banks have raised deposit rates recently and, if they are indeed interested in protecting their interest margins, it would be irrational for them to drop lending rates, even if repo rates are lower. That seems like a fair argument, but .......

Read | Business Standard

Videocon to enter banking, earmarks Rs 1,000 crore

............"The minimum requirement as per RBI is Rs 500 crore but we have set aside Rs 1,000 crore. There is a big market in rural and semi-urban areas."..........

Read.........

Banks in good spirits

.........While there is no doubt that banks have to be careful while lending and that they also need to provide more prudently than they have been doing so far, the recovery process must work smoothly; with net non-performing assets in the banking system estimated to be close ...........

Read - FE

Current account shocker - Renu Kohli

India’s current account deficit was a shocker as it zoomed to 6.7% of gross domestic product ($32.6 billion) in the last quarter of 2012. The $10 billion jump in just one quarter (from 5.4% of GDP in July-September) surpassed all forecasts by a yard and more. While much of the deterioration came..........

Read - Mint

Timeline: Changes to SLR for banks since 1949

Following is a timeline on changes in the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) since 1949...........

Read.........

Liquidity in banking system turns tight

.....Bankers expect some measures from RBI ahead of the policy because this fiscal it has been scheduled for May 3 whereas a large chunk of government borrowing is expected in April itself. Also with the rupee coming under pressure, RBI may be forced to intervene in the forex markets thereby reducing supply of funds as it infuses dollars and takes out rupee funds......

Read - TOI

Should banks pay interest on current accounts as well?

.....Now the only last bastion that remains to be liberated from the regulated interest rateregime is current accounts. And the SBI chief wants this to be deregulated along with the freedom to accept term deposits for periods as low as three days, as RBI permits acceptance of deposits for a minimum of seven days at present. The reasons for such a demand appear to be on the following grounds:.....

Read - Moneylife

Govt will argue for lowering of rates by RBI: Chidambaram

TOKYO: Government will continue to argue for lowering of interest rates by Reserve Bank in the backdrop of softening of headline inflation and the need to promote economic growth, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said...........

Read - ET

Reserve Bank of India : penalizes Sanmitra Sahakari Bank Ltd., Pune

.....RBI had issued Show Cause Notice to the bank in the response to which the bank had submitted a written reply and after considering facts of the case, bank's reply and personal submission in the matter, RBI came to the conclusion that the violation was sustained and warranted imposition of penalty.

Read........

State blamed for proliferation of fly-by-night companies

.....Addressing a media conference in this connection along with CPI district secretary J.V. Satyaranayana Murthy here on Tuesday, Mr. Anjaneyulu said at a time when the Centre and the RBI were talking of financial inclusion the common man was unable to approach the public sector banks, which were concentrating more on high value customers. He said in the last few months about half-a-dozen unscrupulous finance companies had downed shutters in Visakhapatnam resulting in several families going bankrupt.......

Read - The Hindu

IFRS implementation by banking cos unlikely before 2015: ICAI

New Delhi: Recommendations on implementation of IFRS standards by banking companies have been given to the Reserve Bank of India but are unlikely to come into force before 2015, according to accounting regulator ICAI. Going forward, Indian accounting standard would be converged with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)............

Read.........

KVP's kin summoned by ED

.........The ED which got the matter verified through RBI also came to a conclusion that a Fema case could be made out against Raju's firm. In fact, another Rs 600 crore too flowed into the Raju company through the same Mauritius route.......

Read - TOI

Crop loan waiver: farmers turn to CM as last resort

.....The RBI, in its “master circular-guidelines for relief measures by banks in areas affected by natural calamities” dated July 2, 2012, says: the principal amount of the short-term loan as well as the interest due for repayment in the year of occurrence of the natural calamity may be converted into term loan. Generally, the restructured period for repayment may be three to five years …. The restructured portion of the short term loans and term loans which have been converted into fresh loans may be treated as current dues and not be classified as NPA.”.......

Read - The Hindu

New thinking by an old hand

............As in the past when he was with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), he continued to look upon his role as one in search of issues (the more complex the better!) and to suggest solutions. He combines a breadth of vision with an intensity of gaze which is rare among monetarists! He relates monetary issues to the larger fiscal and developmental and weaves them organically.................

Read - The Hindu

RBI's powers not to be clipped: FSLRC

.........Autonomy and accountability are two sides of a coin and need to be balanced.........

..............."How can the finance ministry get more powers? There will be more autonomy for the RBI. Today, it depends on the personality of the Governor. Some Governors may be pliable, while some may be tough. The appointment of Governor also needs to be streamlined. The FM can't say you do this and the RBI can't say 'I got a call from the FM, so I'm doing it. Everything has to be in public domain." "The RBI is very much under the control of the government of India. The Centre can issue a policy directive, a policy directive is what the Centre says it is... All that won't be possible now as everything has to be put in the public domain as per our proposal. ................

Read - IE