IBM to help Indian Co-operative Banks enhance customer services

.......India is home to a large number of urban and rural co-operative banks. These banks are facing challenges in many aspects and are trying to transform themselves in a complex business environment. For example, regulatory requirements are not only leading to data proliferation but the banks also need more secure management of data. With the growth of mobile computing and Internet services, customers are becoming increasingly technology savvy and looking for improved and expanded service options...........

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

Gold buying muted after RBI measure

Gold buying in India, the world's biggest buyer of the metal, came to a halt on Tuesday, a day after the central bank restricted gold imports on consignment basis and jewellery sellers saw a sharp rise in festival sales. Yesterday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned gold imports through consignment, and traders awaited for more clarity from the central bank...........

Read | Business Standard

Gold duty may go up; banks slow coin sales

.......For nearly a week now, domestic banks have cut down on orders for gold coins to international bullion banks. Traders from the physical market said banks had stopped placing fresh orders for Swiss coins after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restricted imports on a consignment basis. The RBI notified the change in policy on Monday after making the announcement in its annual policy statement on May 3,2013.” Even as they are looking to get rid of the backlog of gold coins they hold, banks have more or less stopped placing fresh orders,” said a trader...........

Read - FE

Govt, RBI are again getting it all wrong on Gold

.........All this takes gumption and a farsighted vision of what gold can really do for the economy. Instead, GoI and RBI are treating us like addicts. They are hoping that giving us the cold turkey will set things right. But you can never fight human nature. Clampdown on gold will be like the prohibition on liquor in Gujarat. Consumers and smugglers will have the last laugh.

Read - ET

Results can wait: SBI chief wants to be with Sonia

.......Sure, bank chairmen do make it a point to turn up for ribbon cutting ceremonies by politicians at branch openings, etc. But Chaudhuri apparently went one further. The Expressreport says that the bank actually cancelled a board meeting scheduled for 15 May – about which the stock exchanges had already been notified – because Chaudhuri had to show up in Rae Bareli for Sonia’s inauguration of 12 branches of the bank...........

Read..........

SBI chairman flags NPA as area of concern

State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri today said Non Performing Assets (NPA) remained an area of concern for the Indian banks. He attributed the build up of NPAs in the banking sector to the general slowdown in the domestic economy over the last couple of years, which had seriously impaired the repayment capacity of borrowers...........

Read | Business Standard

Tried to warn against chits: Minister

........"There was an indication of the things to come. It was not unknown. I have done my duty. I tried to make everybody aware. I spoke with Sebi and RBI on the matter in the last two years and they asked me to report the matter to the state government. I have been conducting this awareness campaign for one year," ................

Read - TOI

In Villages, Credit is Still All About Moneylenders

...........The Reserve Bank of India’s argument that new banking licences are needed to achieve financial inclusion, mainly in rural areas, has new research supporting it, thanks to banks’ falling share in rural credit. Policy makers’ push to increase institutional credit to rural areas has had reasonable progress since independence, but only at a snail’s pace. The performance of banks, which have been assigned targets by the regulator to increase their rural credit, has been dismal as their share of total credit fell to less than a quarter in 2002, from over 29% a decade ago, a research paper from the Reserve Bank of India’s economists show...............

Read - ET

Moneylenders rule the roost in rural India, says Reserve Bank of India study

....While the paper uses a decade old data from the last round of All-India Debt and Investment Survey, it points out to a persisting problem of banks not being able to cover un-banked areas. In March, Deputy Governor KC Chakrabarty said in a speech that banking has not been made accessible and reliable to people. Indeed, the key reason for informal sources of credit to thrive has been the ease at which loans can be accessed and the absence of a regular repayment............

Read - FE

Sebi starts repayment to investors in Sahara case

......Sebi has already written to Enforcement Directorate, RBI, and other government agencies to look into possible violations of rules by Sahara in this matter, including any money laundering activities through fictitious entities.  However, the regulator is going ahead with the process of refunding the money to genuine individual investors, sources said.............

Read - The Hindu

Adnan Sami not likely to get Indian citizenship

.......Sami had allegedly purchased eight immovable properties in Mumbai in blatant violation of FEMA, without Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permission. He also opened a savings bank account without RBI permission. A probe was conducted by the Enforcement Directorate in all these cases. "In view of the specific report of the special branch, it was decided to submit a special report to the Centre. It submitted that his application for citizenship should be rejected and accordingly, it should be communicated to him,''..........

Read - TOI

Writing Reserve Bank’s obituary - Dr.N.A.Mujumdar

.....Alas! This institution seems to be in mortal danger. The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission ( FSLRC), which submitted its report in March 2013, is all set out to write as it were, an obituary of the RBI. It seeks to do so in two ways: first by dismembering the RBI, and by making it a department of the ministry of finance. The central government would give quantitative monitable objective to the RBI, within which framework the latter would have to operate. Secondly, the central government would create a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), dominated by its nominees on the committee that would determine the policy interest rate. These are indeed dangerous recommendations that would destroy the illustrious institution - an institution, which has taken years to build. We therefore urge the government to constitute an independent select committee of financial experts, including some former governors of the RBI, to scrutinise these recommendations, before even considering them...........

Read - FPJ

Thankfully We Have RBI Which Is Not Like CBI

............. During my childhood days, whenever I asked my father (an Ex-RBI official) if he is a central government employee, he used to say proudly that RBI is an autonomous body, government can guide but can’t rule it. Now I feel the importance of that autonomous institution, in its recent annual monetary policy review, against much pressure from the industry and government’s wish, it decided to go with its hawkish stance and reduced the interest rate (repo rate) by a quarter percent only and said that there is little room for further policy easing. One will be surprised, why I am supporting that stance if the whole share market, industry and the government was expecting a dovish stand by the RBI............

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

A.S.Rao, Regional Director on UCBs in Andhra Pradesh

Regional Director of A.P,RBI,Hyderabad A.S.Rao had given a speech in the event of starting a Tirumala Cooperative Bank in mallakpet,Hyderabad on 13th may 2013. He had given the details and up to date status of urban cooperative banks of Andhra Pradesh the urban banks has a better average as compared to national average but the only drawback is capital,capital has not increased it has same value as compared to the previous years.In the end he requested all the members of urban banks to increase their capitalization as soon as possible.....

Watch the video...............

If bank boards aren't capable, nothing much can be done: K C Chakrabarty

.........So far as reputation is concerned, the board and the management of the bank is the first line of defence. If they don’t bother for their reputation, who else can? Also, reputation will be hampered if one or two banks do it. If everyone indulges in this, where is the issue of reputation? What we need in such cases is systemic change..........

Read | Business Standard

RBI probes Cobrapost report, reveals violations by banks

..........Cobrapost editor Aniruddha Bahal claimed that both banks and the insurance companies flouted the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) rules, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and KYC norms. The website alleged that banks accepted unaccounted cash and invested in insurance products thereby hinting at a two-way street between the two.............

Read..........

RBI probe upholds Cobrapost charges on 3 private banks

.............The RBI probe supports these charges, of systemic misuse. It has found use of fictitious permanent account numbers issued by the income tax department, use of  unknown non-resident ordinary (NRO) accounts, unauthorised gold sale and rampant non-compliance of Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. Apart from irregular staff junkets to bank officials selling insurance...........

Read | Business Standard

Banks suppressing alerts on suspect dealings: RBI probe

....The report comes against a virtual clean chit given by some RBI executives, including Deputy Governor K C Chakraborty.  The RBI probe found that there were several instances of cash deposits below Rs 10 lakh to avoid being reported as CTR (cash transaction report), and it found that banks were accepting Rs 50,000 and above without PAN or "there were multiple and large value transactions in Form 60 accounts in some cases"............

Read - TOI

RBI doing its bit to ease interest rates, what about banks?

...........Despite the easing of interest rates by RBI, the weighted average lending rates of banks have declined by less than 0.5 percent, according to RBI data. Banks have said they are not in a position to reduce lending rates because of tight liquidity in the system. Also, to reduce lending rates, they should be in a position to cut deposit rates as well, which they may not be able to do at a time when the growth in deposits has been slow..........

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

Five steps towards better banking

While the Reserve Bank of India has cut interest rates by a meagre 25 basis points in its annual monetary policy review, it has announced some measures, which, if implemented, could translate into a better banking experience for customers. Here's a look at the most important ones........

Read - ET