Rajan’s Peers Not Enthused by Cooperation Plan

The head of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ran into a wall of resistance on Friday when he urged some counterparts in developed economies to more formally consider the effects their domestic stimulus has on emerging markets. Alongside central bankers from the United States, Europe, and Brazil, Raghuram Rajan took the stage at a high-profile event here to list his proposals for better monetary cooperation and a global “safety net” that could provide funds for countries in case of economic emergency..........

Read - ET

Parties should not politicize office of RBI governor: Jalan

........"The tradition has been that the RBI governors haven’t been affected by changes in government. That is the normal rule," he said. "But anything can happen in our country. We shouldn’t politicize the office of the governor of the RBI." 

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BJP unlikely to change Rajan in haste

.........In New Delhi, party sources say the BJP views Rajan’s eight-month long stint as the RBI Governor positively. A senior party leader told Business Standard that the BJP appreciated that Rajan worked under enormous pressures from the finance ministry both as the chief economic adviser and later the RBI Governor. .........

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Cultivating Agriculture

...........Agriculture is far more important for the Indian economy and policymaking than its share of GDP suggests. It employs the largest proportion of the workforce and food has been the largest contributor to inflation for several years, preventing the Reserve Bank of India from cutting interest rates even as growth elsewhere has collapsed. The policy response to this problem has been muted thus far, and one wonders if it is because of a lack of understanding.............

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Obituary

Shri K.J Sebastian who retired  from TVM office and settled very near to our TVM regional Office is no more. He died after a severe heart attack early morning on 11-4-2014. He was very systematic in his work. While in service also he had suffered from a serious attack  from which he escaped narrowly but came to normalcy as he lived very systematically. May his soul rest in peace.

-- P N Nandakumar 

Reserve Bank Of India - Scholarship Scheme For Faculty Members From Academic Institutions

The Reserve Bank of India invites application as per prescribed format from full-time faculty members, teaching economics or finance in any UGC-recognized Universities/Colleges in India to undertake short term research in the areas of monetary and financial economics, banking, real sector issues and other areas of interest to the Reserve Bank. ............

Read - Greater Kashmir

Beware of emails promising windfall gains: RBI

............Chief General Manager, RBI, Alpana Killawala in an advisory `published on the website of central bank states: “Reserve Bank has advised the public not to remit or deposit money in such accounts in response to fictitious offers/representations. The public may immediately bring the details of such offers to the notice of local police authorities for booking the culprits.”

 The Reserve Bank advice came in the wake of many residents falling prey to such tempting offers and losing money in the recent past...........

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RBI to issue Rs 500, Rs 100 notes of 2014 soon

The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 100 denominations in the Mahatma Gandhi series with ‘2014’ as the printing year. ‘Rs 500 denomination banknotes incorporating rupee symbol on the obverse and reverse, with inset letter'E' in both the numbering panels, in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, will be soon issued,’ stated RBI ..................

Read - Deccan Chronicle

RBI relaxes some import/forex rules

.............Henceforth, RBI will not notify the names of foreign mining companies from which such an importer may import roughs by way of advance payments and without any limit or bank guarantee or standby letter of credit. However, banks remitting the advance payments must adhere to certain conditions. RBI says banks should undertake the transactions on their commercial judgment and ........

Read | Business Standard

Micro-steps to success

............Adhikary, 28, is a credit officer with Bandhan Financial Services, a little-known microfinance firm which early this month trumped several big names to win a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India. Started in 2002 in Bagnan town of Howrah district, Bandhan was conceived by Chandra Shekhar Ghosh to provide microcredit to farmers and small artisans, but predominantly women................

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Finance ministry considering proposal for fixed term for PSU bank chiefs

.......It has been pointed at many occasions that top executives are appointed for a short tenure that hampers implementation of medium or long-term strategies of banks, the official said. Therefore, the government is looking at correlating the the tenure with job-related performance, 

Read - ET

Urban co-op banks may be next in line for licences

.................RBI had in 2012 taken a step forward to give licences to urban cooperative entities, but private entities were somehow given priority. Only a few days ago, the RBI gave permission to two entities — IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services. Earlier,  the Malegam Committee too had suggested that UCBs play a useful role and there is need for a greater presence of UCBs in unbanked districts and centres with populations of less than 5 lakh people...............

Read - Deccan Herald

Push banks to take more responsibility

..............The central bank needs to come to terms with the fact that regulations for wealth management sales practices by banks can no longer be put on the back burner. Removing pre-payment penalties on floating rate loans or charges on maintaining minimum balances are important but still only incremental changes in the overall customer protection armour. Some bankers, in fact, argue that ................

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Our customers in rural areas are our brand ambassadors: Bandhan CEO

..........I focus on developing a relationship with the customer. Understanding your customer is very important in microfinance. Continuously training of your executives is a must.  We go to places where people do not have access to finance. India is a country where as much as 60 per cent of the people have no bank account, and only 10 per cent can access bank credit. How will these people run their business, who will give them credit? For the economy to grow, we need to develop.........

Read - Business Today

What experts make of RBI's game plan for NBFCs

............That is a broad thing. The thing is where the bargain is. If you say that a differentiated bank licence – essentially what is a characteristic of a bank and what is a risk that banks pose because they take short-term deposit payable on demand or otherwise there is always this question of a run and ultimately you are protecting the depositors against that kind of a eventuality happening

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How different will be differentiated bank licence?

.......The thinking in RBI has changed and it is getting ready to open doors for different types of banks even as the aspirants and banking consultants have been speculating on their profile. For instance, will there be different banks catering to different segments of borrowers or will they be structurally different? If RBI chooses to have niche banks for different segments, we may end up having mortgage banks and............

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Another dismal quarter for bank earnings

...............Yet there are some differences unique to the March quarter. One, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to use one-third of their counter-cyclical provisioning buffer for providing for bad loans. That should provide some relief to state-owned banks. Secondly, the so-called..............

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State-run banks under watch after a spike in NPAs

........."Those companies which are perennially in the habit of late servicing of loan payments or are rigging the system through multiple banking should be paying more for credit," said a senior finance ministry official, adding that the government-appointed committee will look into these issues.  The committee, which will include Reserve Bank of India (RBI) representatives, will also take up cases of 'quick mortality' related to loans turning going bad within a matter of months. 

Read more at: ET

Publish names of loan defaulters, say bank officers

.........The 73rd meeting of the Executive Committee of the Confederation held in Chennai expressed serious concerns over rising non-performing accounts (NPAs).  The meeting also demanded that wilful default should be made a criminal offence and FIRs lodged against such defaulters as directed by the Reserve Bank of India............

Read - HBL

Rajan calls for coordination among central banks

... "The current non-system in international monetary policy is, in my view, a source of substantial risk, both to sustainable growth as well as to the financial sector. It is not an industrial country problem, nor an emerging market problem; it is a problem of collective action. We are being ...........

Read | Business Standard