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.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Effectiveness of interest rates limited when fiscal position stressed
‘Foreign exchange has emerged as a critical resource’
......Savithri V. Ramani, Senior Officer from the Reserve Bank of India, Chennai, detailed various activities of the Foreign Exchange Department of RBI. With Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which was effected from June 1, 2000, the objective of RBI had shifted from conservation of foreign exchange to facilitating external trade and payment and promoting the orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India. “RBI has brought in structural changes in exchange control administration and framed certain transparent regulations for dealing with various types of foreign exchange transactions. Foreign exchange has emerged as a critical resource with a direct relationship to economic performance at a time when the share of the external sector in the national output has soared significantly. The integration of the world economy over the past two to three decades has been dramatic and the real gainers from globalisation are the developing countries that have been able to seize the opportunities to participate in the process,” she added........
Portable ATMs gain popularity among banks
......Private sector banks have started introducing mobile ATMs that are migrating from one religious fair to another throughout the year. HDFC Bank, the second largest private lender in the country, has sent its mobile ATM to the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad this year. It is estimated over 100 million people will attend this year's Maha Kumbh Mela, which began last month........
Worn-out currency can be deposited at a bank
......Well, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations say that under special circumstances, the central bank may exchange such notes. And it has mandated every bank to have designated branches to provide the facility of exchanging such notes. So you can visit these branches and get such currency notes exchanged or deposited but there are few conditions you need to keep in mind.............
A growth budget all the way
.......Even RBI is very puzzled as to why India’s inflation rate, historically moderate and lower than most emerging economies, is among the highest in the world since 2010. In a recent public address, RBI’s Executive Director and a reputed monetary economist, Deepak Mohanty, described the current phase of growth collapse and elevated inflation as a big puzzle. He said in 62 years since 1951, India’s WPI inflation rate was 6.7%. “This was not a very high rate considering many developed and developing countries experienced very high inflation in their modern development history. World inflation averaged around 17% in the 1980s and 1990s.”.........
India pushes for expanded banking links with China
....Ambassador to China S. Jaishankar said India had now become the largest market for project exports from China, with over $ 55 billion worth of projects – from infrastructure to power – under execution. “In this background, expanded banking relations between India and China is very important,” he said. “The Reserve Bank of India and the China Banking Regulatory Commission have already reached agreement to expedite processing of licenses... It is only when our banks are more connected that we can be said to have achieved the full spectrum relationship that is natural to neighbours.”..........
Grant Industry Status to Business Correspondents: FINO PayTech Ltd
......According to RBI, "Financial inclusion is the process of ensuring access to appropriate financial products and services needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low-income groups at an affordable cost in a fair and transparent manner by mainstream institutional players." According to FINO PayTech, BCs as an alternate channel have to be given its own place under the sun. The scale that the BC industry has achieved thus far is of paramount significance and impact both at macro and micro level economics of the rural poor & those at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP).......
Microlenders may move Supreme Court
....“Notwithstanding this recognition of RBI’s primacy as the regulator of NBFC-MFIs by the court, the court has allowed the dual regulation situation to exist in the state,” he said. NBFCs are non-banking finance companies. “One can only hope that the state govt will take constructive note of the signal given by the high court and either repeal the state law or make it applicable only to MFIs which are not under the regulatory umbrella of the RBI,” Prasad said. “We are actively considering moving to the Supreme Court to get redressal.”.........
RBI employees to participate in strike
.....A statement issued by All India Reserve Bank Employees Association and All India Reserve Bank Workers Federation here said that its employees would support the strike and the Central Bank would remain closed.
Nabard staff to join strike
All India Nabard Employees’ Association (AINBEA) will join the two-day strike called by the central trade unions. This was decided at its ninth annual conference held in Hyderabad............
My View on "Two-day trade unions strike to hit life, banking"
For
a change, I would like to do some back of the envelope, reverse
accounting, keeping in mind the estimated loss of 15,000 to 20,000
crore, if the two-day strike really happens. (i) The loss to the
employees joining government and public sector services pursuant to
introduction of New Pension System (ii) The recurring loss to the
workforce in India due to faulty working out of and non-implementation
of minimum wages (iii) The loss to the Indian consumer due to irrational
and one-sided pricing policies (iv) The loss suffered by Indian
citizens availing transport services from airlines, Railways and other
public transport systems (Railways, sometimes, do not even care to
identify the individuals who die while traveling, story of delayed and
denied compensations too is agonizing). Just to remind that GDP is an
aggregation of efforts made by millions of people and occasionally,
those in charge should remember the roots.
- M G WARRIER
- M G WARRIER
Change of Guard, Change of Culture
As
long as DK Mittal was the Secretary, Financial Services, many chairmen
were critical of Mittal because they found him to be hands-on. Now,
after Mittal left, his replacement Rajiv Takru is seen to have a
different approach. In a recent meeting the new Secretary, Financial
Services, Takru made it clear that he will not entertain any banker
below the CMD rank, a wide departure from Mittal’s way of functioning.
Mittal never hesitated to interact with officers who were involved with
the task assigned even if the officer was a DGM rank.
ET
ET
Top jobs at banks, regulators set to fall vacant
.................Come
September, and the Reserve Bank of India too would be in for a change
with D Subbarao, who like Hari Narayan is an IAS officer of the Andhra
Pradesh cadre, due to complete his extended two-year term. It is early
to gauge who will replace Subbarao but it is unlikely that a bureaucrat
will move into the governor’s office on the 18th floor on Mumbai’s Mint
Road..........
Read - TOI
FinMin to appoint 9 new CMDs for PSU banks, 10 shortlisted
.......There was a six-member interview board, which took interviews for CMDs' posts. They were Rajiv Takru, secretary - department of financial services; Anand Sinha, Deputy Governor - RBI, Jagdish Capoor, former Deputy Governor - RBI (1997-2001) and a few other experts including two directors from Indian Institute of Management - Calcutta and IIM- Kozhikode. To step into CMD's shoes, an executive director has to have minimum of two years of service life...........
SBI STAFF DON’T MIND OVERTIME
The
staff at state-run companies don’t have much of a reputation for
performing to their full potential even during normal work hours.But SBI
has managed to work overtime on Monday due to a holiday on Tuesday and a
worker strike on Wednesday and Thursday. The staff had worked extra
hours a day in advance to compensate customers for the strike. Insiders
credit chairman Pratip Chaudhuri who has promised rewards if this
practice is observed. SBI was the only state-owned bank to keep its
domestic branches open for two additional hours — earning the goodwill
of its customers.
ET
ET
HDFC Bank replacing merchant terminals due to 'skimming' fraud
Country's largest credit card issuer HDFC Bank has started replacing some points of sale machines at merchant establishments following card 'skimming' frauds, a top official has said. "We are replacing machines at some merchants," the bank's head for credit card and merchant acquiring, Parag Rao told reporters here last evening. Rao said cases of 'skimming' have been witnessed in the country of late, wherein the card data is copied illegally in an otherwise legitimate transaction, only to be used fraudulently later................
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
RBI Governor: Room for monetary easing limited
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" There is pressure on the government to consolidate fiscally. There is pressure on the central bank to bring about an environment of price stability, and for the government to understand that we need fiscal consolidation, price stability for long- term growth,"
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RBI must scrap the no-cheque idea
........Unfortunately, various departments of RBI seem to operate in distinct silos which neither talk to each other or to their stakeholders. The customer services department, like Dr Chakrabarty, has a callous disregard for urban consumers. But different departments framing policy and regulation that directly affects customers don’t seem to be talking to the customer services department either. Here are two examples.........
...... The very premise that we will move to a ‘less cash’ society by forcing depositors to adopt electronic payments is ridiculous. The failure to get 120 million newly-minted customers in un-banked areas to use their bank accounts even once has not taught RBI any lesson on the futility of coercive action.........
Value of currency note has not kept pace with inflation: RBI study
The empirical study on modelling currency demand said the average value of a currency note (for denominations of Rs 10 and above) increased nearly eight-fold while there was a 18-fold rise in the price level............
Read - HBL
'Bank losses due to NPAs push up interest rate for borrowers'
...."RBI needs to address such anomalies in the interest of justice and fair play," Alva said at an award ceremony for SHGs organised tonight by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) here. In her address, she also highlighted the issue of recovery of loans by microfinance companies using "unethical" methods and said such practices should be abolished. "Microfinance companies exploiting helpless poor women with exorbitant interest on their loans and resorting to unethical and even violent methods for recovery.........
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