Banks Board Bureau chief Vinod Rai has proposed performance-linked incentives for bank employees, but the staff unions are dead against the idea.
The unions have called for a strike against proposed closure of associate banks and their merger with the State Bank of India
Unlike the new private sector lenders, BoR employees' wages are still governed by the industry wage package negotiated by the Indian Banks Association with bank staff unions.
Of the three major Budget announcements related to the banking sector, privatisation of PSBs is the most audacious, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
As the new Tax Collection at Source (TCS) on foreign remittances is set to become applicable from October 1, travel agents' body TAAI has made a last-minute plea to the government, urging them to abolish the decision or defer its implementation until the next fiscal year to allow discussions on overseas tour packages. The government has raised the TCS on foreign remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) from 5 per cent to 20 per cent. This will be applicable to international travel, sending money abroad and other remittances.
'Das is friendly, but he finally does what he does. The quality of engagement is very good.'
Bad loans of PSU banks rose by 28.5 per cent.
'Forget your loss or profit in your portfolio.' 'Look at how much cash you have in hand.' 'If you don't have cash in hand, liquidate at least partially; get into about 20 per cent in cash.'
The Delhi Police Cyber Cell has arrested 12 people, including three HDFC Bank employees, for allegedly trying to withdraw money from the account of an NRI, officials said on Tuesday.
The challenge for the RBI in 2024 is likely to be less about containing elevated inflation and more about curbing excessive financial market exuberance and a 'problem of plenty', notes Sajjid Chinoy, Chief India Economist JP Morgan.
The message is clear: The 60-year-old wise uncles need to handhold the 40-year-old entrepreneurs when, obsessed with ambition and greed for growth, they become a victim of hubris, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The AISBOF wants bank employees' wage revision in parity with that of the Indian Administrative Services officers. Last month, the IBA had given an initial offer of 10 per cent wage hike, or a package which would cost the industry Rs 2,750 crore (Rs 27.5 billion), against Rs 2,220 crore (Rs 22.2 billion) in the eighth bipartite meeting between bank unions and IBA.
One97 Communications Ltd (OCL), the parent firm of fintech major Paytm, has denied reports about any investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the company, its associates, and its founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The company, in an exchange filing on Sunday, said it had cooperated with the authorities when users or merchants on its platform were subject to enquiries in the past. "We would like to set the record straight and deny any involvement in anti-money laundering activities.
The Ad hoc committee is tasked with overseeing and supervising WFI's operations, which include athlete selection, submitting entries for athletes to participate in international events, organising sports activities, handling bank accounts, managing the website, and other related responsibilities.
Making a strong case for banning cryptocurrencies, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar on Monday said they are even worse than ponzi schemes and threaten the financial sovereignty of a country. Observing that crypto-technology is underpinned by a philosophy to evade government controls, he said they have been specifically developed to bypass the regulated financial system. More substantially, he added, cryptocurrencies can wreck the currency system, monetary authority, banking system, and in general the government's ability to control the economy.
The apex bank is scheduled to announce the quarterly review of its annual monetary policy on January 29, when it is widely expected to hike the cash reserve ratio or the percentage of amount banks park with the RBI to absorb excess money from the system.
The rally in the equity markets in the second half of 2023 has led to a sharp surge in the cutoff for stocks to qualify as largecaps and midcaps. On the latest list put out by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), the smallest largecap stock now has a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 67,000 crore, 35 per cent higher than in July 2023. In the case of midcaps, the cutoff has surged 26 per cent to Rs 22,000 crore.
With the addition of the seven banks - South Indian Bank, Karur Vysya, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Bikaner, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Mysore, and Punjab and Sind Bank - the number of banks allowed to import the precious metals now stands at 30.
Soon, there will be an exchange-like platform for trading in loans.
The Enforcement Directorate, which has been investigating the Mahadev app-linked money laundering case for more than a year, alleged in the past that its probe has shown involvement of various high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh, where the two main promoters of the app hail from.
Severe heatwaves, responsible for thousands of deaths across India over the last few decades, are increasing with alarming frequency and soon the country could become one of the first places in the world to experience heatwaves that break the human survivability limit, according to a new report.
Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up on the bank? For now, he seems to be on a save-OCL mission. The bank will face its logical end, observes Tamal Bandopadhyay.
Officials said the IBA had three major agendas to discuss, the most important being to persuade the unions to accept the new pension scheme, otherwise known as the contributory pension scheme, for new bank employees. Currently, the bank unions are vehemently opposing it since unions of no other sector has accepted it to date.
Unlike any other business, banking is a turf where the captain's role is the most critical. Often a bank is defined by the personality of the CEO who runs it. Both HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are the creation of their CEOs, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The World Bank has approved loans totalling $1.75 billion (about Rs 13,834.54 crore) to fund India's PM Ayushman Bharat scheme and private investment to boost the economic growth. Of the total loan, $1 billion will go towards the health sector, while the rest $750 million will be in the form of development policy loan (DPL) to fill the financing gaps through private sector investment in the economy. The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved two complementary loans of $500 million each to support and enhance India's health sector.
It further asked the government to make suitable arrangements for smooth functioning of the bank.
India has received the fourth set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals and organisations as part of an annual automatic information exchange under which Switzerland has shared particulars of nearly 34 lakh financial accounts with 101 countries.
The All India Bank Employees Association, Bank Employees Federation of India, All India Bank Officers' Association and National Union of Bank Employees have given a call for one day country-wide strike.
At the heart of Paytm's slide lies the abject failure of its Super App strategy, notes Indrajit Gupta.
Banks would soon be able to determine whether a property is already mortgaged when a borrower approaches them for a loan against it and this would help in checking the increasing instances of housing loan frauds.
As against an allocated Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion), subscription by retail investors stood at Rs 4,500 crore (Rs 45 billion), while an additional subscription of nearly Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) came from other investors, including high net-worth individuals.
Banks are also weighing the option of hiring experts for help in specialised areas.
The Reserve Bank working group, constituted to revisit benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR), is likely to recommend two types of PLRs and may put a ceiling on banks' sub-PLR lending, a source said.
A remarkable story which helped in transforming a bureaucratic organization, to a customer centric organization. This experience may inspire several government / private organizations to modify or adopt digitisation to transform their business, notes Professor N Ravichandran (retd).
Tamil Nadu-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with pre-independence lineage on Friday lost its identity after its merger with the Indian subsidiary of Singapore's DBS Bank. The debt-ridden 94-year old old bank's fate was sealed with Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving Scheme of Amalagamation on Wednesday.
The bank will have around 501 branches.
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