Banks have approached Reserve Bank of India with a proposal for allowing them to provide doorstep cash delivery services to individual customers.
For the first time, the Data Security Council of India assembled a joint task force to source threat intelligence at the origin and ensure coordinated action across the cybersecurity spectrum.
In Kerala's society, known for its high material standard of living, plunging into a state of having nothing overnight can be terrible for one's social standing and sense of self-esteem. Rehabilitation entails piecing a community back together after a disturbance and while its aim is noble, the act of reassembling will bring alive disparities and inequalities, explains Shyam G Menon.
A section of the public sector banking employees will go on two-day all-India strike from Wednesday to protest against financial sector reforms and outsourcing of jobs.
It is Finance Minister P Chidambaram's meeting with leaders of public sector bank unions that averted the three-day bank strike proposed from March 28.
Micro-finance institutions (MFIs) are planning to take legal action against YES Bank's move to recall a part of its loans to them.
The strike could have put customers to inconvenience, since banking services would have remained disrupted almost the entire next week, and for the government, as tax payments for 2006-07 have to be made by March 31.
In an effort to boost credit flow to the housing sector, public sector banks are going to finalise the new interest rate regime for home loans up to Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) on Thursday.
This is not a new or unknown problem, but every time it crops up, our policy-makers have tried to wish it away. In the present circumstances too, the government has stopgap arrangements. It is borrowing from the World Bank (that's window-dressing fiscal deficit), says Ajit Ranade.
Public sector banks on Monday announced that home loans up to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000) would be given at a maximum interest rate of 8.5 per cent, while those between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh (Rs 500,000 and Rs 2 million) would be offered at 9.25 per cent.
Banks in India will need about $100 billion (Rs 5 lakh crore) of capital over the next decade as the system grows to meet credit requirements of an expanding economy, Om Prakash Bhatt, chairman of the State Bank of India said.
The free run at automated teller machines might end soon, with banks petitioning the Reserve Bank of India to put curbs on cash withdrawals at third-party ATMs. Representatives from the Indian Banks Association, who met central bank officials late last month to make a case, said RBI had accepted most of their suggestions and these are likely to come into effect soon.
Banks want the government to bear the cost of providing cover under the proposed credit guarantee scheme for distressed farmers.
Among other demands, the unions are also seeking immediate introduction of five-day week in full and reduction of cash transaction hours and regulated working hours.
Using ATMs beyond the permissible free transactions for cash as well as non-cash purposes will cost more from Saturday. As per the Reserve Bank directive issued in June, the banking customers would be required to pay Rs 21 per transaction with effect from January 1, 2022 for transactions beyond the free permissible limit. Presently, banks are allowed to charge Rs 20 for such transactions through ATMs.
When AS-15 became operative in 2006, the initial estimate for additional pension provisioning was estimated at Rs 6,000 crore. However, the latest wage revision may bring in an additional 275,000 bank employees who opted for PF. Banks may also provide for the pension liabilities of 65,000 employees who have retired but have been seeking resort to the defined pension scheme since 1996. This will require additional provisioning of Rs 6,000 crore.
The banking industry could witness another round of prime lending rate hikes beginning next week, a top Indian Banks' Association official said on Wednesday.
More than 200,000 bank officers began a one-day strike on Friday to demand a wage increase, a move unions said would halt banking operations.
Foreign banks operating in India want the Reserve Bank of India to prepare a vision document on policy changes they can expect after March 2009.
However, the likely impact of strike may not be much excluding few areas, said SBI.
The exodus of FPIs from the Indian equity markets continued unabated, as they withdrew over Rs 7,300 crore (about $840 million) in the first week of this month due to global trade tensions, with the US imposing tariffs on countries such as Canada, Mexico, and China. This came following an outflow of Rs 78,027 crore in the entire January. Before that, they invested Rs 15,446 crore in December, data with the depositories showed.
Rescue efforts continue in Telangana for eight people trapped in a collapsed tunnel, but hopes for their survival are fading as experts from the Geological Survey of India and the National Geographical Research Institute have been brought in. The tunnel is filled with debris, making the rescue operation extremely difficult. Despite relentless efforts by the Indian Army, Navy, NDRF, and other agencies, no breakthrough has been achieved so far.
The US Trade Representative noted that India's average applied tariff rate stood at 17% per cent, the highest of any major world economy.
The United Forum of Bank Employees Unions (UFBEU) representing about 9.5 lakh (950,000) bank employees across the country, has given a two-day nation-wide bank strike call on August 6 and 7 in support of their expedite settlement of wage revision demands.
Over 8.5 lakh employees, majorly from public sector banks (PSBs), will get a 15 per cent hike in pay, with the conclusion of the 11th Bipartite Wage Negotiations on Wednesday. After three years of intense negotiations, the UFBU, which represents four bank officer associations and five workman unions, and the IBA on July 22 entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for an annual wage hike of 15 per cent.
Interest subsidy to cost Rs 200 cr for the government.
The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) on Friday asked Reserve Bank to allow home-grown banks to set up intermediate holding companies for raising capital for their insurance, asset management and allied businesses.
Acknowledging that the credit delivery system is not functioning as expected, RBI has constituted two committees as directed by the ministry.
The cultural richness that began from a narrow bank of the Yamuna has continued for over 7 centuries. And you literally go underground for as little at Rs 50 to see it!
Thousands of public sector bank employees across the country now have reason to rejoice.
The Centre is planning to raise the ceiling on foreign equity holding in public sector banks to enable them to mop up the required capital for meeting higher capital requirements and to fund growth.
Bank unions on Thursday called for a nationwide strike on August 24 to protest the 'negative attitude' of the Indian Bank Association over employees' wage revision.
'They have since only tried to improve systems. Also, with regulatory guidance from time to time, we are in a position to assess a situation and react in time.'
Banks all over the country will observe a day's strike on August 24 in protest against the delay in settlement of wage negotiations.
Indian Banks' Association on Thursday said banks cannot lower their lending and deposit rates any further under the current scenario.
