..............A Sentimental Journey describes a stroll on the Mall during which he and his cousins passed by Janki Das & Company, Lloyds Bank, Telegraph Office and Imperial Bank. Nevile takes us further on the Mall until we reach the splendid building of the General Post Office. Across the road, Nevile explains, stands the wonderful red-bricked building of the Reserve Bank of India. The mention of Imperial Bank and Reserve Bank as two distinct buildings on the Mall suggests that the Imperial Bank, after the creation of the Reserve Bank, moved to an adjacent building in the same vicinity, while the Reserve Bank operated from the erstwhile Bengal Bank Building..............
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.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
M S University clears way for Rs 2.50L recovery from deputy registrar
........The university had formed the committee after the embarrassment that it faced last year when the country's apex bank dragged the state university to Ahmedabad court by filing a civil suit demanding recovery of Rs 97,63,000 for not appointing a RBI Chair professor at the Department of Banking and Insurance at the Faculty of Commerce even as it had received Rs 50 lakh as corpus fund in 2002. The committee, which had professor Ranjan Aiyer as convener, submitted its report stating that no concrete efforts were made by those in-charge of the cell to get in touch with RBI..............
Read - TOI
Finance ministry plans to buy beaten-down shares of public sector banks
............"Banking stocks are at an all-time low. Our holding will increase if we directly infuse capital through preferential allotment of shares. Banks can explore other routes when conditions are conducive and the government will also get better return on its stake dilution," the official explained. Already some banks like Bank of Maharashtra have indicated to the finance ministry that they are not in a position to go ahead with their fund-raising plans through the qualified institutional placement route..............
No voting rights for foreign investors in Tamilnad Mercantile Bank: Court
.........The court, in its order dated July 29, 2013, said that since the Reserve Bank of India refused to acknowledge the holding of shares by the overseas investors, the banking company should be directed not to give effect to the transfer of shares. And, in case the transfer has been registered, the transferee shall not be entitled to voting rights, according to Chapter II amendment of Section 12B (3)...............
Tirupur exporters lash out at RBI
.........“It is ridiculous that the RBI is trying to suck out excess liquidity in the system by keeping the repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility unchanged at 7.25 per cent instead of looking at the actual problems that lead to liquidity and inflation,”................
Will RBI's rupee-revival policy work?
..........While a lot of views have been expressed over the recent liquidity tightening, RBI’s steps in the last few weeks have to be seen in the perspective of the recent developments in the foreign exchange market. The currency has been a major challenge for the central bank in the recent months. While the rupee has been in a depreciating trend since the global crisis of 2008, the volatility in the exchange rate has increased in the recent months...............
ATM malfunction at Hotel Pinewood
I write this so that ATM/Debit card holders are kept informed of the wrong doings by some banks. I was presented a bill for dining at Hotel Pinewood on 15th July, 2013. I paid vide ICICI Debit card and soon after I received a message on my mobile that the amount has been deducted from my account. The same message was repeated 3 times. After a minute or two the waiter came back returning the card saying it was not working and showing error in the Hotel’s Swipe machine. On investigation it was found that the receptionist had swiped the card 3 times which means payment of the same bill three times as it was showing error. On checking with AXIS Bank, since the swipe machine was that of AXIS, it was found that no amount had been credited to the Hotel Pinewood account. Ultimately I had to pay cash the next day. The Hotel employees say that this is a common feature with the swipe machine. I have since taken up the matter with both ICICI and AXIS bank authorities but the matter lies unresolved till today. The moot question is where has the money gone. Who will pay and who is responsible for such glitches ? This is very frightening as we read all the time about scamming, hacking, fraudulent activities in ATM booths, ATM card cloning etc. Even the Ombudsman RBI is quiet on this issue. Customers should be very careful of internet transactions.
- Nesfied B Sangma
Income-Tax dept expects 3 crore tax returns to be e-filed this year
File, smile and go. This is what taxpayers would be chanting this year while filing their returns, the income tax department claims. But with electronic filing having become mandatory for assessees having net taxable above Rs 5 lakh from this year, the pressure on the tax department to keep the system capable of handling the pressure has become enormous. According to an income tax official the department expects around three crore e-returns this year. Of these as on July 29, more than 82 lakh e-returns have been filed a 40 per cent rise compared to the same period last year, the official said. Six lakh returns were filed on Tuesday................
Bank of Maharashtra posts profit of 266.33 crore in Q1
.............The
bank’s chairman Narendra Singh said the bank is in the process of
reorganizing its business to prepare for the challenges of the new
customer dynamics. Among the initiatives,
the bank is planning to roll out doorstep cash collection and
withdrawal facility, acceptance of stamp fee and related government
payments and wealth management services to its high net worth clients...................
A misnomer called food security
CHILD STUNTING and wasting, and mortality, is more likely to be due to infections and illnesses due to unsanitary conditions that result in inadequate absorption of nutrients, than due to undernutrition. These in turn may be linked to inadequate maternal health, insufficient access to health services, safe water and toilet facilities..........
Friday, August 2, 2013
RBI Governor to launch CIAM on Aug 2
Hyderabad, Jul 31 : Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao will launch the Centre for Information Assurance and Management (CIAM), a pilot project on cloud computing, at the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology here on August 2. Dr Subbarao will also release the cloud security framework and present the prestigious IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards for the Year 2012 - 13 on the occasion, IDRBT said in a statement..........
Duvvuri Subbarao responds to P Chidambaram, says inflation hurts poor
...."You can't bring it down without some sacrifice in growth... Inflation is a very regressive tax. It hurts poor people more than relatively better off people. The voice of hundreds of millions of poor people is not heard through the media,"................RBI likely to bring urban banks under Ombudsman's ambit
A proposal has been mooted to bring in co-operative urban banks under the purview of Banking Ombudsman in view of their key role in banking activity in many states. The proposal had been mooted by an internal committee of RBI and a final decision would be taken after eliciting views of the state governments, A Madasamy, Banking Ombudsman for Kerala and Lakshadweep, told reporters here today. Madasamy said though there was a strong opinion in favour of the proposal state governments' views were important in the matter since co-operatives come under them....................
Read | Business Standard
Number of bank fraud cases down but amount involved zooms 324%
.........According to Dr K C Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), during the past few years, banking and financial service industry was most commonly victimized by fraud, which arose with sweeping changes in scope and magnitude of banking transactions, the emergence of hybrid financial products, increasing trend of overseas transactions, and dynamics of real-time fund movement and transformation. He was speaking at the National Conference on Financial Frauds organized by ASSOCHAM in New Delhi last week..............
HDFC Bank on rural Fin literacy drive in Goa
...........HDFC Bank will use the Financial Literacy Guide, provided by the RBI as the standard curriculum while conducting these camps. This material is currently available in Hindi and English. HDFC Bank has gone a step further in Goa and is the first bank to translate the guide into Konkani, which is the local language. This has been done in consultation with the RBI and will greatly increase the impact and efficacy of these camps in Goa. The Financial Literacy Guide is a comprehensive document that contains a note for trainers, guidelines for banks on how to conduct the camps, and financial literacy material. It also contains as well as a Financial Diary to track expenditure and a set of 16 posters. The purpose of this guide is to...............
Bus operators introduce plastic tokens flouting RBI norms
............."We know it is illegal and a violation of RBI guidelines, but we have no option. We approached the RBI several times to supply us with token in denominations of Rs 5, Rs 2 and Re 1 but we received no response. This forced us to resort to the illegal use plastic token,”..................
Demonstrations in front of Central Office Building on 8th August
Forum shall be holding massive silent demonstrations on the issues of pension updation and opening of pension option on..........
Read............
Read............
Cash fraud in the name of NABARD in W Midnapore
While the dust of the Saradha storm is yet to settle, a fresh bid to defraud gullible depositors is in the works in West Midnapore. In a clear throwback to the chit fund menace, which drew scores to park their hard-earned deposits in sham schemes, a gang of fraudsters have been going around several villages of the district, making collections in the name of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD),...................
Next RBI Governor - Succession planning desirable
It is surprising that GOI even at this late hour does not think of pragmatic succession plans for filing top positions like that of RBI Governor. Reserve Bank of India is one statutory body in the country which has been able to withstand the pangs of succession issues at the top for more than 7 decades of its existence, thanks to the maturity shown by those in charge of governance in Delhi. Recent developments brings to the fore the need to recall this and get a reassurance that whims and fancies of individuals destined to take decisions will not change this image. In 2011, the timely decision by Centre to give a two-year extension to RBI Governor Dr Subbarao stood apart as a decisive vote for stability at the Central Bank. This ensured continuity of policy perspective at a time when it was needed most and strengthened the RBI to pursue the right course it was following in different areas of its responsibility. A change of guard at that time would have resulted in slowing down of the processes of change in areas like fighting inflation, forex reserves management, financial inclusion and outreach and transparency in policy prescriptions where Dr Subbarao has made perceptible progress. Recent developments which saw easing out of a Deputy Governor (Subir Gokarn) for no fault of his and compulsions to retain another Deputy Governor for another year calls for a review of the selection and placement procedure at that level. Perhaps the pool from which selection is made and the age profile (raising the upper age limit by 3 to 5 years from the present ‘normal’ at 62 years) need a review. In the circumstances, it would be most appropriate to extend the tenure of Governor Dr Subbarao who is to retire within months, initially by another year at this juncture.
Formulating and implementing succession plans for top government/public sector jobs with professionalism and efficiency in a graceful manner is imperative for allowing the institutions to function with reasonable functional autonomy within the legislative mandates.
- M.G.Warrier
Next RBI Governor - Due diligence in selection required
It is not only the question of RBI GUV being from outside the political ambit which troubles the politicians, but the vested interest of bureaucracy as well. Remember when Montek Singh was appointed Finance Secretary, there were loud protests from the IAS as they considered this post to be their prerogative. Dr Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister cooly gave the reply "Find me a person from IAS who is as intelligent as Montek Singh, I will appoint him". The IAS lobby had no reply.The media wrote that Dr Manmohan Singh backed Montek Singh to the hilt which was published on the first page of the news papers. The sole claim of IAS to be RBI GUV is that IAS man will be able to coordinate with various ministries on economic matters and system will run smoothly. Initially, Dr Subbarao was subservient to MoF and kept fiscal policy aspects predominantly in mind, but after one and a half year, he became a confirmed monetarist. As Fin Secretary, his view was that public debt matters should be in Government domain, he did not find anything wrong with subsidies, 5% Fiscal Deficit, 4-5% Current Account Deficit, micro management of banks (Shri Mittal was Secretary Financial Services with Subbarao as Finance Secretary), conservative FDI/FII policy etc; but became more open and assertive as RBI GUV i.e. what was right as Fin Secretary appeared to be wrong as RBI GUV.The central idea is anybody who comes from IAS struggles a lot to be independent, much energy is wasted squabbles with MoF, he faces resistance and in the process becomes reactive. As IAS, he is supposed to be subservient to the political masters but as RBI GUV one is supposed to have spine. Therefore a perfect due diligence is required for selection of GUV. Invite
all from Academia, Indians in world class institutions, bureaucrats,
Chief Executives of private/public sector/DGs of RBI etc and let the
best man be selected.
- Sitendra Kumar
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