Friday, April 12, 2013

Many slots empty, PSU banks told to ease promotions

..........RBI data shows there are about 4 lakh officers in the 29 PSU banks as on March 31, 2011. Nearly 20 per cent of them are expected to retire by 2015 while the pace of recruitment is far lower. The new rules circulated to banks by the finance ministry say they can lower the minimum experience required for a scale by three months and also relax the minimum marks in the annual performance appraisals..........

Chidambaram to sell India story in Canada, US next week

.....The Minister is likely to spell out steps taken by the government to streamline FII investment in the debt market. Sources said Chidambaram, accompanied by senior Finance Ministry officials and RBI Deputy Governor Urjit Patel, would also seek investments into various sectors, mainly infrastructure for which the government has pegged expenditure at nearly $1 trillion during the 12th Plan (2012-17)........

Bank outlook bleak

.....To be sure, the figures above are a broad brush summary. Private banks, as has been seen in the past several quarters, are likely to post earnings growth of 20% or more. Still, the economic environment being depressed as it is, banks would have depended on factors such as trading gains to shore up their profit........

Reserve Bank of India calls for FDI amendments to stop clandestine flow of cash to tobacco firms

..............RBI in a letter sent to the finance ministry has highlighted the fact that there is a need to check "circumvention of FDI norms by international tobacco companies and their conduits", sources said. The central bank has recommended that the government should incorporate a specific clause to plug this loophole. RBI has cited the example of the lottery business, in which the government has banned FDI and also introduced a specific clause pertaining to marketing as well...........


NABARD - Request for Enhancement/Revision of facilities to Officers at par with that of officers in RBI

Please refer to various provisos of NABARD Act, 1982 and NABARD Staff Rules, 1982 on the captioned subject matter. In terms of the provisos under reference, the practice in vogue since the inception of  NABARD and as per the agreed upon and settlement of the  issue under reference, we request the improvement/enhancement/revision of the following facilities to Officers of NABARD- .......

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Cooperative societies to promote self-help groups

.....A senior official in NABARD said that only good working/well functioning credit societies in the district would be involved as SHPIs. The designated SHPIs will be given ‘promotional grant assistances’ by NABARD for each of the self help groups that were credit linked with it. “These grants are going to be profits for the societies,” NABARD sources said.......

Nabard starts direct credit line to coop banks

......As on March 31, 2013, five DCCBs have been sanctioned a direct credit line of Rs 181 crore by Nabard. "This is the first time that we have started such a credit line to DCCBs in Uttarakhand," said state Nabard chief general manager, S Selvaraj. Under the programme, Rs 22 crore has been released to the DCCBs of Nainital, Pauri and Udham Singh Nagar......

Kapol Cooperative Bank Files Complaint With Cyber Cell Of Crime Branch

........And the latest victim to this malicious attack is the Kapol Cooperative Bank. Since yesterday morning wild rumours stating that “”RBI cancelled licences of Kapol Bank if any body have money please take it as soon as possible. Please inform if anyone has the account in the bank”…” “Kapol Bank Marve Branch ma bahu moti line lagi che there is a rumour in mkt ke bank uthi gai che plz withdraw a money in Kapol Bank any branch plz passed on message on u r friend relative etc” As the rumour spread like wildfire, worried customers rushed to make inquiries. However, the 75 year old bank which stands on solid financial ground with total business about Rs 1800 cores has refuted any shortcomings and has lodged a complaint with the Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Police..........

Mobile banking transactions double, payments rise threefold

.......ICICI Bank, which has the largest share in mobile banking payments, makes periodic offers to its customers to encourage them in using its mobile banking services. The bank has partnered several service providers to offer its customers discounts on their products and services. It has also tied up with different billers to allow its customers in making utility bill payments........

Cheating case against Ingen

................According to complainant Dr M K Mohammed Basheer, Van Ingen entered into an agreement to sell the entire Katikulam and Alathur estates in Wayanad that comprises 246 acres of coffee estate in 2004, for which he had even taken permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RBI permission is mandatory for selling immovable property owned in India by foreign nationals...........

Meeting Basel-III norms may affect infra funding, says ICRA


As banks move to meet their capital requirements for the Basel-III norms, they might be left with less money to fund infrastructure expansion in the country, according to a study by credit ratings agency ICRA. Therefore, infrastructure-based non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) might fill in the spots that banks vacate......

Lines of foreign control

.....What the new RBI norms would do, subject to approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, is to define control as the right to appoint a majority of directors on board or to control management and policy decisions, issues that companies typically spell out in their articles of association anyway. That is how, for instance, the Tata group was able to retain management control of what was then called Tisco even though several Birla firms collectively owned a larger stake in it than the Tatas through the eighties. The draft norms, however, would go some way towards clearing up a critical issue,......

Arms Length Pricing – RBI Approvals are deemed irrelevant

.........The RBI is only concerned with the foreign exchange and, therefore, would look into the matter from that point of view. The RBI, at the time of giving such permission would not keep in mind the provisions of the I T Act and that is the function of the income tax authorities ................

PSU banks fret as MF debt assets outpace fixed deposits

........Worried by this development, some bankers of state-run banks have met finance ministry and Reserve Bank of India officials, expressing their concerns over the growing debt asset size of mutual funds, said a person close to the industry who didn't want to be identified. .........

Banks, mutual funds earn abnormally high returns in money markets by breaching RBI rules

.....The trades have taken place as India considers forming a unified regulatory authority that would assume oversight of trading in currency, bond and derivatives markets from the central bank. The proposal does not address regulation of money markets, which is handled by the RBI. It was unclear whether the RBI is aware of the practices. A spokeswoman for the central bank declined to comment after being provided detailed verbal and emailed queries from Reuters...........

The capital inflow problem revisited

..............Corporate debt, which serves as a signal of easy credit policy, is already at alarming levels in many of Asia’s vibrant economies. In the case of China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, such borrowing is already over the gross domestic products of their respective nations. India’s corporate debt levels look much more manageable at about half the country’s GDP, something that might be attributed to the Reserve Bank of India’s relatively conservative stance since 2008.............

Sahara victimised for years, but won't give up: Subrata Roy

Subrata Roy, the chief of the Sahara conglomerate, one of India's biggest corporate groups, has said he feels victimised by a chain-reaction of events that began with a political vendetta, followed by regulatory clampdowns by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)............


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NHB to seek RBI nod for $ 200 m ECB this fiscal


National Housing Bank (NHB) will soon seek RBI nod to allow the housing finance regulator to raise $ 200 million external commercial borrowing (ECB) under the ‘affordable housing’ window this fiscal. Although NHB had last fiscal received RBI nod for the ECB mop-up, it could not go ahead with the transaction as the approval came in the later part of last fiscal........

KSIDC partners with Islamic fund

......RBI Governor D. Subbarao, during his recent visit to the city to declare Ernakulam as a fully banked district, had responded to the issue, stating that the Banking Regulation Act did not permit Islamic banking in the country. He had also said that alternative modes were available for raising funds. While the RBI is understood to have retained its position so far, the KSIDC has chosen an alternative route to join hands with the Islamic fund managers.......

Manippady demands resignation of Union Minister Rahman Khan over bank scam

.........After investigations pointed out to Mr. Khan’s complicity and that neither the Union Finance Ministry nor the Reserve Bank of India initiated action against him, the Minorities Commission had raised the issue with the Karnataka Lokayukta in December 2012 but there has been no progress since.