Think India Foundation

Indians more willing to share personal information than others: Study

Mumbai: Even as cases of financial fraud are dotting cyber space across the world, Indians seem more forthcoming in giving out their personal information for personalised services and simplification of finance management than their global counterparts, a study by Cisco has said.

According to the Cisco report, 72 percent of respondents from India said they would provide more personal information to simplify management of finances compared to 56 percent participants agreeing globally. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

‘Growth of informal sector, a challenge to banking business’

MANGALORE : The challenge before the banking industry is the growth in the informal sector, according to a bank executive.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new campus of Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD) here on Friday, B. K. Srivastav, Executive Director of Corporation Bank, said the challenge before the banking industry is to outgrow the informal sector. So many incidents have been happening in different parts of the country with the latest one in West Bengal. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

Hudco slashes lending rates

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd (Hudco) effected a significant reduction in its lending rates for government and public sector borrowers for various housing and infrastructure development projects. A reduction of 25 basis points has been effected in respect of its entire housing portfolio covering economically weaker sections, low income groups, middle income groups and all other categories of housing. With this reduction, the EWS and LIG category housing projects would get loans from Hudco at 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent. The reduction also includes land acquisition for housing purposes.

The interest rates have been reduced for core infrastructure projects also covering water supply, sewerage, drainage, solid waste management, urban/city roads and social infrastructure. Read more

Source : newindianexpress.com

Open new branches, provide easy loans: P Chidambaram tells banks in Bihar

Rajgir: Union finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday set ambitious targets for the commercial banks in Bihar and asked them to open more branches in the state and provide easy loans for education, agriculture and small scale industries.

Attending the 44th state-level bankers committee meeting at the Rajgir International Convention Centre, he expressed concern over the poor number of bank branches per 1000 population, saying the national average is one branch for 12,000 population but in Bihar it is 22,000. Last year, 1700 branches were to be opened in the state but only 135 could materialize. He set them a target of opening at least 750 branches in 2013-14. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

West Bengal for social security scheme for investors

Kolkata: West Bengal is planning to start a social security scheme for depositors and investors to ensure proper return of public money following the Saradha chit fund mess, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata on Wednesday. "In the wake of growing financial insecurity, we are thinking of a social security scheme. It will ensure proper safety of public money and ensure safe and proper return. We will shortly put out a proposal on the website of the finance department to seek public comments," Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata.

Mamata said that after seeking public opinion, the government will finalise the scheme and subsequently pass a law.

She said that after seeking public opinion, the government will finalise the scheme and subsequently pass a law. "When there is a people's government, it has accountability towards them. People have been subjected to atrocities by these chit funds," she said. Read more

Source : ibnlive.in.com

RBI throws water on bankers' govt-cash hopes

Mumbai : Opening up the government's large cash balances will not solve the liquidity crisis for banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a post-policy interaction with analysts and researchers on Monday.

Bankers had met the central bank prior to its annual monetary and credit policy meet where it cut the repo rate by 25 basis points, to consider the possibility of auctioning the government’s large cash balances to commercial banks. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Innovate to make debt available, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia

NEW DELHI: Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has urged multilateral development banks like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and others to come up with innovative ways that will enable domestic debt to be raised and invested in infrastructure development in the country. 

According to Ahluwalia, we need institutional arrangements that will mobilise all domestic savings and transform them in the long-term debt which is rupee denominated.

India has set a target of investing $1 trillion in infrastructure in the 12th five-year plan (2012-17). Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

ADB to retain $2 bn lending for India for next 3 years

However, ADB chief didn't specify which new projects will get the funding

Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh) : Asian Development Bank President Takehiko Nakao today said lending to India will be maintained at $2 billion a year for the next three years, but did not specify which new projects would get the funding.

Takehiko Nakao, ADB

For the entire Asian region, ADB would be lending at least $10 billion a year, he told reporters at the concluding day of the four-day annual general meeting of the board of governors of the development bank. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Lead bank scheme to enter metros soon

Bangalore : Forty-four years after it was conceived by the Gadgil Study Group in October 1969, and its consequent implementation by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) the same year, the ‘Lead Bank Scheme’ (LBS) will finally be introduced in metropolitan cities, with the intention of addressing a much neglected constituency -- the urban poor.

“The scheme emphasises making specific banks in each of the cities key instruments of local development by entrusting them with the responsibility of locating growth centres, assessing deposit potential, identifying credit gaps and evolving a co-ordinated approach to credit deployment, in concert with other banks and credit agencies,” an RBI official said on Saturday. Read more

Source : www.deccanherald.com

Banks advised not to reject loans for renewable projects: govt

Minister says banks have been advised by the govt to play a pro-active role in financing renewable energy projects 

New Delhi: The government on Friday said banks have been advised not to reject financing proposals for renewable energy projects on the grounds that power sector as a whole is under stress.

Minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena. Photo: Mint

Minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena in a written reply to the Lok Sabha said that banks are providing loans to renewable energy projects. “To promote clean energy, banks have been advised by the government to play a pro-active role in financing renewable energy projects and not to reject any proposal for financing otherwise viable renewable energy project on the ground that power sector as a whole is under stress,” he said. Read more

Source : www.livemint.com

Taking away capital mgmt from RBI not advisable: Subbarao

Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao, who is known to have mind of his own, and has many times been at odds with the Finance Minister today voiced his discontent about the Financial Sector Legislative Reform Commission(FSLRC’s) recommendations regarding capital inflows.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh, he stressed that taking away capital management from Reserve Bank of India is not advisable and that the central bank had made this suggestion to FSRLC when it was consulted. Read more

Source : www.moneycontrol.com

Two SBI officials among 8 held in fake cheque scam in Patna

Patna: Bihar police have arrested eight people, including two officials of the State Bank of India, for their alleged involvement in withdrawing cash running into crores of rupees from government accounts using forged cheques, officials said Friday. 

Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Ravinder Kumar said that the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the state police have busted an inter-state gang and arrested eight of its members. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

RBI puts onus on government for monetary easing in future

NEW DELHI: RBI has once again lobbed the ball into the government's court, asking it to create the enabling conditions through fresh reform measures for future easing of monetary policy.

For the central bank, the two big risk factors are the current account deficit and the stubborn food inflation. While the government has been upbeat about growth prospects in the coming months, RBI seems to be taking a more conservative view on growth and inflation. Policymakers in the government have been euphoric about the moderation in wholesale price inflation but the central bank is worried about the supply constraints. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

West Bengal govt responsible for the chit fund scam?

SUCI activists take part in a protest rally against chit fund scam in Kolkata recently - PTI

Trinamul patronised Saradha  

 

A.B. Bardhan, senior leader of the CPI

 

The chit fund scam in West Bengal has left lakhs of people lamenting the loss of their life savings.

 

Majority of them are poor and daily wage labourers who do not even have bank accounts. They were lured into contributing their daily, weekly or monthly earnings to the chit funds, which generally paint a rosy picture about the amount getting doubled within a few months. Read more

Source : www.deccanchronicle.com

Global equity investors turn to India for green projects

Return on investment in other markets plateaus

NEW DELHI : India is becoming an attractive destination for global private equity investors who are strengthening their funding strategies in the renewable energy space, particularly in emerging markets. This is because opportunities in other markets have plateaued in the past few years.

Industry observers say India’s renewable energy space is witnessing significant uptake from quite a few big North American pension funds and Japanese postal funds. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

ATM expansion has urban bias

Mumbai : It’s difficult for customers living in semi-urban and rural areas to find ATMs (automated teller machines) while easy for those in metro cities. The reason being banks are installing more ATMs in urban areas than in rural ones. Banks have installed just 1,931 ATMs in the rural areas while in metro cities lenders installed 6,453 machines in 2012, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. Total number of ATMs in metro cities stood at 36,441 while in rural areas it was just 9,896 at the end of 2012. 

“Banks are providing banking services in rural areas through business correspondents which reach out the rural customers directly,” said senior official of a public sector bank who head retail banking. “Also banks are planning to install solar-powered ATMs in rural areas to overcome the problem of shortage of electricity.” Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Infrastructure financing: How to raise $1 trillion

The government faces hard but doable choices: create a sustainable bond market and cut the fiscal deficit

The recent slowdown of the Indian economy has brought to light a critical challenge facing policy makers, namely how to shift infrastructure spending into higher gear. Without a significant increase in investment, the country will not be able to raise growth rates to its full potential, build up infrastructure and, in turn, attract greater private investment in the economy. It would also slow progress in raising households out of poverty. Underscoring this challenge, the Planning Commission has identified $1 trillion in infrastructure investment finance requirements over the next five years. The good news is that the government was largely successful in meeting its earlier five-year target. The helpful news is that over the next five years, the government is not alone and can depend on the private sector, including through public-private-partnership initiatives, to help finance nearly half of the $1 trillion investment needed.

The ability to meet this target will critically depend on two factors. First, the authorities' ability to successfully increase reliance on the bond market as an alternative source of financing to bank loans and, second, their ability to implement fiscal consolidation as a means of freeing up bank lending and reducing upward pressure on interest rates. The two are closely linked. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

A plot to destroy RBI

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission wants to restructure, or effectively dismember, the RBI by arguing that it has too much on its plate.

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) claims that it has set out a new legislative structure which would meet the requirements of the future. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

Risks without returns

External commercial borrowing for low-cost housing is a bad idea

It has been reported that a high-level committee of officials from the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India is due to meet soon in order to consider whether affordable or low-cost housing projects can access more external commercial borrowing, after being treated like "infrastructure" sectors. It makes economic sense for traditional infrastructure companies, such as those building highways or pipelines, to obtain financing at lower rates and for longer time periods, as infrastructure development is not like most other investments - a large number of people share the benefits, making it hard to keep out free riders and thus equally hard to fund; there are high externalities for local entrepreneurs and business; and the initial investment can sometimes be recovered only in decades. Housing in general, while it does have considerable social and economic externalities, does not feature the exclusion or the free rider problem. Nor do companies see pay-offs in the same decades-long time frames as do real infrastructure firms. The economic logic to treating them identically is shaky.

On the other hand, current real estate companies have been signally unable to take advantage of the demand for affordable housing. According to the Report of the Working Group on Financing Urban Infrastructure for the 12th Five-Year Plan, 99 per cent of the housing shortage of 24.7 million units at the end of the 10th Plan was related to low-income groups. The financing required for affordable housing during the 12th Plan, the report concludes, is Rs 8.5 lakh crore, of which Rs 2 lakh crore is needed for building and upgrading the surrounding infrastructure. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Learning from the inflationary mistakes of the past

New Delhi : Global macroeconomic stability was troubled the least after major central banks adopted inflation targeting

In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said that after the ongoing “great recession”, central banks should rethink their position on inflation targeting.

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) report too did not insist on inflation targeting. The central government can specify price stability, a fixed exchange rate, or the nominal GDP as the predominant objective in consultation with the RBI. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Odisha readies plan to deal with chit fund fraud

Additional DGP declined to speak anything when asked about the action taken in connection with the Saradha chit fund fraud case

Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar : Waking up to the interests of small depositors in Odisha in the backdrop of large scale chit fund scam by Kolkata-based Saradha Group, the state government said, the crime branch team is in touch with its counterparts in neighbouring West Bengal to decide on appropriate course of action.

"The officials of economic offences wing under the state crime branch have collated some information relating to fraud perpetrated by the Saradha Group at places like Balasore and Puri in Odisha. The additional director general of police has said that they are coordinating with their counterparts in West Bengal to decide on appropriate action to be taken," said J K Mohapatra, additional chief secretary (finance) cum development commissioner. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

West Bengal warned of ponzi menace, CM chose not to act

New Delhi : In the fast moving developments around the chit fund controversy in West Bengal, it now transpires that West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra and Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh were a part of the state level bankers' committee which pointed out that deposits in public sector banks and post offices were drastically falling in favour of ponzi investment schemes. But the government apparently remained indifferent to the threat.

On September 25 last year, the state level bankers' committee, headed by former United Bank of India, chairman Bhaskar Sen met at the National Liabrary hall, where state finance minister Amit Mitra, Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh and other state finance department and micro, small and medium enterprises department officials represented the state government. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

In story of Saradha's crores, Bengal's forgotten hundreds

Kazi Saifuddin is to appear for his Class XI final examinations soon. But the 17-year-old student of a private school in Howrah has had little time to study as he has been running around all week as part of protest demonstrations against Saradha.

Mala Mandal, one of the thousands of investors agitating across the state against the Saradha Group, seeking their money back. She fell sick and had to receive medical attention

He is among the hundreds of agents who worked for the company raising money from thousands of small depositors. On April 20, he joined 5,000 others in a demonstration outside the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Tiljala, seeking relief and return of the money he had collected from the depositors. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

SEBI digs deeper, chit scam gets bigger

Kolkata : Saradha Realty Ltd, which has gone bust now, may be just the beginning of the unfolding of a deeply entrenched Ponzi scheme network involving dozens of other companies in West Bengal, some of which also wield considerable media power given their ownership of television channels and newspapers.

Agents and investors of Saradha Group protest in Kolkata on Thursday. Partha Paul

According to information available with the union corporate affairs and finance ministries, six companies, against whom market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has already moved, are running a variety of doubtful and exotic deposit schemes and have raised in excess of Rs 7,000 crore so far. But, regulatory sources said, most of these companies have developed political connections with the ruling party, resulting in a situation where SEBI's every move is resisted by the state government and the police. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Saradha Group’s 63 boxes, Boston servers kept Sebi at bay for 3 years

New Delhi : The collapse of West Bengal’s Saradha Realty may have come as a big surprise to investors, but the state’s authorities and the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India have been pursuing the case for over three years while failing to make any headway. During this time, Saradha ran circles around Sebi, giving it 63 cartons of meaningless records, promising another 170 more boxes, and even saying the records were located in servers in Boston, the codes of which were with staffers.

In other such collective investment schemes that Sebi is pursuing, the markets regulator has admitted that companies have found it easy to get stays from various courts. According to a Sebi official, Sebi also took up the matter at the level of the Financial Stability and Development Council — the highest authority in India dealing with the financial sector — and asked for the Sebi Act to be amended to give it full powers to monitor such schemes. Read more

Source : www.financialexpress.com

RBI scrutinising banks’ adherence to KYC norms in Bengal

KOLKATA : The regional office (West Bengal and Sikkim) of Reserve Bank of India has conducted a preliminary scrutiny of banks’ adherence to know-your-customer and anti money-laundering guidelines.

The scrutiny was initiated in the wake of the Rs 120-crore fraud involving forgery of term deposit receipts. Read more

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com

Bengal has appetite for credit: RBI

Regarding financial inclusion in West Bengal, he said that so far 9805 villages with a population of 2000 each was covered 

Despite banks attributing West Bengal's low credit-deposit ratio to lack of demand, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) views the state has a reasonable appetite for credit.

"I do not agree to the banks maintaining that credit absorption in low in West Bengal due to lack of growth, the state has a good appetite for credit", regional director (east) of RBI B P Kanungo said. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Nagpur's coop banks now in better financial health

NAGPUR: Cooperative banks of the city, often in news for wrong reasons, are now also showing signs of a turnaround. Some of the banks earlier in trouble have achieved a zero net non-performing assets (NPA) ratio recently.

NPAs are classified as gross and net. The latter is the figure arrived after setting aside funds from profits to make good for losses likely due to loan defaults. However, for some banks zero net NPA also means locking a chunk of the profits or reserves. The regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) only considers the gross NPA as the yardstick of bank's financial health. However, the banks prefer to clean their balance sheet as far as net NPAs are concerned. For bringing net NPA to nil, the bad loans have to be brought down to minimal levels too. This requires diligent banking, say cooperative banking experts. According to RBI norms the gross-NPAs should not go beyond 10%. Read more

Source : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Assocham bats for venture capital creation in Odisha

Assocham has offered a string of recommendations for growth and development of SMEs in Odisha

The apex trade body, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), has pitched for creation of venture capital for the knowledge and technology based industries in Odisha.

"Venture Capital is ideal for knowledge and technology based industries. The IT (information technology) sector- software industry and related business such as e-commerce, networking, multi-media, data communication and value added communication services- is a growing sector and SME (small & medium enterprises) units venturing into these areas need to be assisted," the industry body said in a report titled 'Odisha-Promoting SMEs for sustainable growth - A Knowledge Study'. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Maharashtra's first all-women post office launched

Mumbai: The state's first Mahila Dak Ghar, a post office entirely operated by women, was inaugurated here on Friday. 

Located near the collectorate, the Old Customs House, Asiatic Library and the Reserve Bank of India in south Mumbai, the post office will be open from 10 am to 6 pm. Read more

Source : zeenews.india.com

Micro-pension scheme for women launched

A micro-pension scheme for women, a joint venture of UTI, Ujjivan and Invest India Micro Pension Service Private Limited (IIMPS), launched on Monday is aimed at benefiting the urban poor. Women from the lower income groups would benefit. The scheme works on principle of micro-financing beneficiaries deposit a monthly premium. After fixed years of payment, they would get pension. Jolly Zachariah, chief operating officer (COO) of Ujjivan Financial Services, said the old age pension would help in alleviation of urban poverty. "Development happens when we integrate today with tomorrow," he said.

Gautam Bharadwaj, MD and co-founder of IIMPS, said, "The scheme of micro-pension offers financial security for the urban poor. To simply the process, the card is the only document to be maintained." Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

Officials bleed Karnataka Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank

If the financial performance of the Karnataka State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Ltd is not good, part of the blame should go to some of its own officials.

The bank calls a monthly meeting of all the 12 members of the managing committee in Bangalore, and as per its by-laws, the officials stationed at various places can claim bus or train fare, or Rs 8 per km travelled if they come in their cars or jeeps. But since 2010, four of the members have been producing false travelling bills as if they have been using their own vehicles and claiming travel allowances running into lakhs now. This came to light through a reply to an RTI application by advocate N Sriram Reddy of Bangalore. Read more

Source : newindianexpress.com

Deposit-taking companies make hay in West Bengal

Though they exist across India, proliferation of deposit-taking firms has been most noticeable in eastern states

An advertisement by Sumangal Industries in a Bengali newspaper offers attractive returns on potato bonds. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

Kolkata: India’s capital market regulator has written to the Union finance ministry at least twice in the recent past to appoint a watchdog to oversee the rapid expansion of deposit-taking companies.

Though they exist across the country, their proliferation has been most noticeable in the past few years in eastern Indian states such as West Bengal. Read more

Source : www.livemint.com

All women bank branch inaugurated at Muzaffarpur

MUZAFFARPUR (BIHAR): An all women bank branch was inaugurated on Sunday in MDDM Women's College here. 

The branch of North Bihar Grameen Bank, having all women employees in officer as well non-officer cadre, was inaugurated through remote control by the Grameen Bank President R S B S Hari Lal from Hajipur. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Gujarat banks see record increase in NRI deposits

Ahmedabad : For the first time in six years, pockets of banks in Gujarat bulged with non-resident Indians (NRI) deposits in 2012. Reason may be either removal of interest rate cap by RBI or the depraiciating currency or both, but with Rs 5,734 crore more, deposits increased by 22% with the banks during this period. The total NRI deposits with banks in Gujarat increased to Rs 31,179 crore by end of December 2012. NRI deposits contribute about Rs 3.48 lakh crore, i.e., 9% of total deposits in Gujarat, reveals a State-level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), December 2012 report.

Till 2011, NRIs used to get interest on deposits of around 4%. “Last year, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) removed the cap. With that, NRIs too could get rate of interest equivalent to citizens of the country. This is the basic reason of huge hike in NRI deposits in 2012,” said SLBC Convener and general manager of Dena Bank, Suresh Patel. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

DSK launches Mobiliz for farmers

Pune : Now farmers staying in remote villages will be able to carry out financial transactions and use banking facilities on their doorstep. City-based construction group DSK has launched a multifunctional portable device called Mobiliz which can be used by the banking sector to simplify the monitory transaction process, especially for people staying in rural parts of the country. 

Raghunath Mashelkar (2nd from R) launched Mobiliz designed by DSK Group on Friday. Also seen are DS Kulkarni, wife Hemanti and son Shirish Snehil Sakhare | DNA  

Mobiliz can be operated on electricity, battery and even solar power. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

India Rate Cut Eclipsed as Singh Ally Quits Coalition

The Indian central bank’s second interest-rate cut this year to spur growth was overshadowed by political drama as a key ally withdrew support for the coalition government, imperiling a push for reforms to revive investment.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the largest ally, said today it would stop support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s administration. The Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai lowered the repurchase rate to 7.5 percent from 7.75 percent, as predicted by 30 of 35 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. Read more

Source : www.bloomberg.com

Karnataka plans VC fund for pharma sector

The fund will have initial corpus of Rs 50 cr

The Karnataka government has proposed to set up a venture capital (VC) fund with a corpus of Rs 50 crore to support budding entrepreneurs in the pharmaceutical sector.

The move to set up an exclusive VC fund for the pharma sector has been spelt out in the Karnataka Pharma Policy 2012, which was unveiled recently. Through the new policy framework, the state government aims to build a leadership position in the pharmaceutical sector. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Laundering sting prods banks to act

NEW DELHI: The money laundering scam has begun to unravel with three top private banks — HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank — virtually acknowledging that their managers were offering banking channels to launder black money for high networth clients. In a development that lends credence to the charge made by a website that had carried out countrywide sting operations, HDFC Bank on Saturday suspended 20 of the stung officials, while Axis Bank put 16 managers in the dog house by asking them to report to its administrative office.ICICI Bank had suspended 18 executives on Friday. 

HDFC Bank on Saturday suspended 20 of the stung officials.

The action is seen as a kind of confirmation of malpractices as well as an effort to deflect deflecting criticism about illegalities and lax procedures of these otherwise respected banks. The action also comes in the wake of the Reserve Bank stepping in to probe the allegations (although the laundering operation, if true, would also be seen as a lapse on the part of the RBI which is the bank regulator). Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation deposit papers fake: Bank

KOLKATA: Investigators probing the fraudulent bulk transfer of Rs 120 crore from the West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (WBIDFC) to UCO Bank through the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system have come across an RBI directive on the transfer procedure.

The RBI mandates the customer - in this case WBIDFC - to approach the bank branch and ascertain whether it is able to transfer funds through RTGS system. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Banks likely to miss farm loan target in West Bengal

KOLKATA: Farmers in West Bengal don't get bank loans as desired as bank shy away from lending in the state, making the Mamata Banerjee government unhappy ahead of the panchayat polls.

 

The government estimates suggest that banks could achieve about 65-70% of the annual farm loan targets in 2012-13 despite tall promises by the banking fraternity of the state and extending Kisan Credit Cards to more farmers. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Union Budget 2013-14: India's first all-women bank by October: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: The country is all set to get an all-women bank by this year with the government announcing an initial capital of Rs 1,000 crore for the purpose.

First all women bank to be set up, says Chidambaram

Announcing the Budget proposals for 2013-14, finance minister P Chidambaram said the bank is likely to be set by October this year. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NABARD sees 31 pc increase in its credit flow in Karnataka

BANGALORE: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has estimated a credit flow of Rs 68,172.27 crore under priority sector in Karnataka for the year 2013-14, an increase of 31 per cent over the current year (2012-13). 

While releasing the state credit plan, Chief Secretary S V Ranganath called for concerted efforts of banks in improving rural credit flow in the state and assured support of the government for its implementation. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Cyber fraud costs banks Rs 130 crore in 3 years

MUMBAI: Nearly a month after the Mulund police successfully busted a Rs 1 crore cyber fraud, data submitted to the finance ministry has revealed that cyber criminals have defrauded banks in the country of a whopping Rs 130 crore in the last three years. Most of these banks are based in the city. 

The largest number of cases of cyber fraud were registered by ICICI bank.

According to a senior finance ministry official, a record 32,928 cases of frauds pertaining to ATMs, debit and credit cards and Internet banking were registered in the period involving 50 nationalised and other banks across the country. The most number of banks are from Mumbai and it appears that the law enforcing agencies have failed to detect the frauds. In fact, some of the crucial cases were not entrusted to the specially set up cyber branch or cyber police station. As a result, these cases are being probed by ill-trained police officials at the police stations,'' he said. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Private companies, PSUs can set up banks, says RBI

MUMBAI: Almost three years after it was first promised in the Union Budget of 2010-11, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed all private and public sector companies to apply for bank licences, paving the way for business houses such as the Tatas, Aditya Birla group, L&T, ADAG, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance to throw their hat into the ring.

RBI released final guidelines for issuing new bank licenses on Friday, paving the way for corporate houses to enter the banking sector.

Besides these large groups, financial service companies like Bajaj Finserv, Shriram Capital, Srei Finance and some public sector finance companies such as Power Finance Corporation,Rural Electrification Co and LIC Housing Finance may also seek a licence. The last time the RBI issued a licence to a private player was in 2004 to Yes Bank. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Customers give thumbs up to all-women bank branch in Vadodara

VARANASI: For those who believe that women are not good at accounts and banking, a visit to the bank in Arya Mahila Degree College premises is a must. Emboldening the concept of women empowerment when the country is intensely discussing issues related to women, theArya Mahila Degree College branch of Bank of Baroda in Varanasi has become the first bank in Eastern Uttar Pradesh to have an all-female staff.

From accepting deposits, sanctioning loans, making demand drafts and assisting customers with their accounts, female employees of the bank are confidently handling all banking jobs from officer to fourth grade level, considered a male bastion for many years in the country. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Banks to be shut for three days in Maharashtra from today

MUMBAI: Banking services will be hit on Wednesday and Thursday because of a nationwide strike called by trade unions. It is a three-day disruption for Maharashtra, which is observing Tuesday as a bank holiday on account of Chhatrapati Shivaji Jayanti. 

Bank unions have claimed that 10 lakh bank employees will be striking work in nearly 90,000 bank branches. Anticipating the strike, State Bank of India announced extended working hours on Monday to make up for some of the inconvenience that would be caused because of the strike. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Two-day bank strike from February 20

NEW DELHI: There may be no banking transaction for two whole days in the country, as "not just the nationalised bank unions including their officers but even some of the private banks except ICICI Bank, have agreed to strike work on February 20 and 21," said CPI leader and AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta on Saturday.

Petrol pumps could also run out of gas for those two days, as oil and gas supplies will be hit. Road transport, telecom sector, coal production and supply, oil and gas supply, power sector defence production, are going to participate in a big way in the 48-hour strike, the trade union leaders said, while addressing a joint press conference here on Saturday. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

CDR in Bihar inches up to 39.42% till Dec: Sushil Kumar Modi

PATNA: In an indication of an increase in lending by banks to consumers in various sectors, the Credit Deposit Ratio (CDR) in Bihar has inched up to 39.42 per cent till December 2012, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said today.

"There has been a significant improvement in loan disbursal by the banking institutions during the past few quarters as a result of which the CDR has increased to 39.42 per cent till December 2012", he told reporters after presiding over the State-Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meeting here. Read more

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Venture capitalists go green

CHENNAI: The venture capital funding market for renewable energy is expected to triple globally by 2020 due to positive regulatory policies, environmental support for a lower carbon footprint, and innovation in renewable technologies.

Analysis from Frost & Sullivan reveals that Europe and North America would be hubs for main deal activity in renewable energy. "Bidders are also looking at south Asia and Asia Pacific as emerging regions of renewable energy development," Frost & Sullivan said. The research covers venture capital investment opportunities in solar, wind, biofuels, and geothermal and marine/hydro energy segments. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com