COMMITTEE WILL BE SET UP TO STUDY ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW UCBS, SAYS RBI

Excerpts from Annual Policy Statement for the Year 2010-11 of the Reserve Bank of India dated 20.04.2010

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Conversion of Term Deposits, Daily Deposits or Recurring Deposits for Reinvestment in Term Deposits
104.    As per extant guidelines, banks should allow conversion of term deposits, daily deposits or recurring deposits to enable depositors to immediately reinvest the amount lying in the aforesaid deposits with the same bank in another term deposit. Banks are required to pay interest in respect of such term deposits without reducing the interest by way of penalty,

ഇ.പി.ശ്രീകുമാറിന് പുരസ്കാരം

കോഴിക്കോട് കേരള സാഹിത്യ സമിതിയുടെ നാല്പത്തി ഒന്‍പതാം വാര്ഷികതോടനുബന്ധിച്ചു ആദ്യമായി ഏര്‍പ്പെടുത്തിയ എസ്.കെ.പൊറ്റെക്കാട് കഥാ പുരസ്കാരം 'പരസ്യ ശരീരം' എന്ന കഥാ സമാഹാരത്തിനു  ഇ.പി.ശ്രീകുമാറിന് സമ്മാനിച്ചു.  ശ്രീ. എം.ടി.വാസുദേവന്‍ നായര്‍ ആണ് കോഴിക്കോട്  അളകാപുരിയില്‍ വെച്ച് നടന്ന ലളിതവും ഗംഭീരവുമായ  ചടങ്ങില്‍ വെച്ച് പുരസ്കാര സമര്‍പ്പണം നിര്‍വഹിച്ചത്.  

കേരളസാഹിത്യ അക്കാദമി പ്രസിഡന്റ് പി. വത്സല അധ്യക്ഷത വഹിച്ചു. പി.എം.നാരായണന്‍, ഡോ.സി.പി. ശിവദാസന്‍ എന്നിവര്‍ സംസാരിച്ചു. ശ്രീധരനുണ്ണി സ്വാഗതവും കാസിം വാടാനപ്പള്ളി നന്ദിയും പറഞ്ഞു.

കേരളത്തിലെ വര്‍ത്തമാന കാല കഥാ കൃത്തുക്കളില്‍ ഏറെ ശ്രദ്ധേയനായ ശ്രീകുമാര്‍ തൃപ്പൂണിത്തുറ പീപ്പിള്‍സ് അര്‍ബന്‍ സഹകരണ ബാങ്കിന്റെ ജനറല്‍ മാനജര്‍,  കേരള അര്‍ബന്‍ ബാങ്ക് ചീഫ് എക്സേക്യുട്ടീവ്സ് ഫോറം പ്രസിഡന്റ്‌ എന്നീ നിലകളില്‍ പ്രവര്‍ത്തിച്ചു വരുന്നു.  മലയാള സാഹിത്യ-സാംസ്കാരിക മേഖലയില്‍ ശ്രദ്ധേയമായ നേട്ടങ്ങള്‍ കൈവരിച്ച ശ്രീകുമാര്‍ സാറിനു അര്‍ബന്‍ ബാങ്ക്സ് ബുള്ളടിന്‍ അഭിനന്ദനങ്ങള്‍ അര്‍പ്പിക്കുന്നു.  

ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് കടപ്പാട് : ഡി.സി.ബുക്സ്, ezhuthnet.blogspot.com

Bank employees punished for overlooking prayer

Courtesy : KalingaTimes
Kendrapara, March 22: At a time when Gandhian ideology and preaching is on steady decline, a local urban cooperative bank here has set a precedent of sort by punishing its employees. The erring employees forgot to sing popular Gandhian prayer!
The whole of the staff including the branch manager in a local branch of Kendrapara urban cooperative bank in the town were served show-cause notices. Their offence- they broke the rule and overlooked to sing Gandhian prayer before the daily work.
“A day's salary of all staff in the old bus stand branch has been held up. All are asked to explain the circumstances leading to the skipping of the prayer”, said Sushil Kumar Samal, secretary of the cooperative bank.
To inculcate discipline, we have framed a rule by which all the staffs are duty bound to sing “Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je peed paraayi jaa ne re (one who is a vaishnav knows the pain of others). Before the daily banking function commences, it has been made mandatory to chant the prayer which Bapu loved it the most, he said.
But for some strange reason, the staffs did not pray recently before the commencement of work. After the lapse was detected, disciplinary action was initiated, said the official.
The introduction of ‘vaishnav jan….' prayer in our bank is a tribute to Bapu. In no other banking organizations from this region, Gandhiji is remembered everyday in such an austere manner, Samal claimed.

Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank needs only Rs400 cr for revival

Ahmedabad: The Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank (MMCB), which had been rendered comatose by the shady dealings of Ketan Parekh, may soon show signs of recovery.

The bank requires a revival dose of merely Rs400 crore and the bank’s board, chaired by a retired IAS officer, Radha Singh, is pressuring the finance ministry at the Centre to inject the required amount.
“Neither banks nor financial institutions want to invest in the crisis-ridden co-operative bank,” said a source apprised of the developments. “But with just Rs400 crore, the bank can be revived.” The source said that when the bank recovers, lakhs of people in rural areas who hold accounts with 268 connected banks will benefit.
The bank has not initiated the liquidation process so far because the future of the 268 co-operative banks depends on it, sources said. “The MMCB is supposed to pay Rs665 crore to these 268 banks,” the source said. “If the bank sinks, it will pull down the other banks which have the money of lakhs of people of Gujarat.”
The MMCB already has a fund of Rs250 crore, and by injecting another Rs400 crore, it will be able to repay some amount to the other co-operative banks, and thus to the account holders.

Courtesy : Himansh Dhomse / DNA  www.dnaindia.com

 

ATM cash withdrawal set to get easy for co-op bank customers

In a first of its kind project in the country, 294 urban and 18 district co-operative banks will be linked with the ATM network of private, PSU banks

In a first of its kind project in India, 294 urban and 18 district co-operative banks across Gujarat will be linked to the ATM network of private and public sector banks through a centralised data system. This development is expected to change the way cooperative banks operate — making them more customer friendly, modern, professional and transparent.
The project — the brainchild of the Gujarat Urban Cooperative Banks Federation (GUCBF) — is in its final stage and is expected to take off within a couple of months with the support of the state co-operative banks. Computers have been acquired by most of the banks and the staff training is over too. GUCBF is now in the process to invite tenders for application of the service providers. 

COURTESY : www.indianexpress.com  Dated 15.03.2010

Banks get 2 more yrs to meet IFRS norms

NEW DELHI: The government has given two more years to banks and non-banking finance companies to align their accounting practices with the international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

The core group of the ministry of corporate affairs extended the deadline to April 2013 at a meeting on March 29.

Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and urban co-operative banks with a networth lower than Rs 200 crore have been allowed to follow the current accounting standards, saving them from compliance costs.

“The decision is a step in the right direction,” said Amarjit Chopra, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. “Banks will take time to prepare their software required to enable the convergence,” he said.
All companies listed on NSE and BSE and those with a networth higher than Rs 500 crore will have to submit IFRS-compliant financial statements on April 1, 2011.

Convergence with the globally accepted accounting norms is meant for bringing in uniform accounting practices across the globe. It is part of the Indian government’s commitment at the last G20 summit last year. For insurance companies, the new convergence deadline will be April 2012, which is a year after the first tranche of IFRS convergence is due.

The core group of the ministry had earlier decided that the convergence process will be in phases. It decided to let off small-sized urban co-operative banks and unlisted NBFCs from the convergence process citing their low exposure to international markets.

courtesy :  ECONOMIC TIMES 1 Apr 2010

RBI wants role for depositors in management of urban co-ops

The Reserve Bank of India wants depositors' influence to act as a counter-balance to borrowers' in the management of urban co-operative banks.
To promote better governance and management, the central bank, in its financial stability report, has emphasised that the involvement of depositors in the management of co-operative banks needs to be enhanced by encouraging membership of depositors on par with borrowers.
The banking regulator's concern regarding corporate governance and management in co-operative banks stems from the fact that borrowers have a significant say in the management of these banks. Borrowers end up wielding influence on UCB (urban co-operative bank) managements as the former are required to subscribe to the banks' shares at the time of sanctioning of loans.
If one has to borrow from a co-operative bank, he/ she has to become a member by subscribing to the bank's shares to the extent of 2.5 per cent of the loan amount in the case of a secured loan and 5 per cent in the case of an unsecured loan.
Co-operative banks, in line with their Articles of Association, prescribe a cap on individual borrower's shareholding (in value terms). For example, in Maharashtra, many urban co-operative banks prescribe Rs 5 lakh as the cap.
The RBI has highlighted that as board members of co-operative banks are elected by borrowers, their policies are not always in congruence with the interests of depositors.
“In view of the propensity of these (co-operative) banks to pursue borrower-oriented policies, rather than policies that should be in favour of protecting depositors' interests, the involvement of depositors in the management of these banks needs to be enhanced by encouraging membership of depositors on par with borrowers,” said the report.
Asset quality
On the asset quality front, the UCBs fare poorly as compared to scheduled commercial banks (SCBs). As of March-end 2009, the gross NPAs to gross advances ratio of UCBs stood at 13.3 per cent compared to 2.3 per cent for SCBs.
According to Mr Satish Marathe, President, Sahakar Bharati (an all India institution promoting co-operatives in various fields), the influence of borrowers can be effectively checked by throwing open the membership of co-operative banks to depositors.
Another reason for impairment of governance in the cooperative banking structure, according to the report, is the interference in matters related to appointment of directors on the basis of political affiliations rather than on merit. This manifests itself in a lack of professional expertise at the board level and interference in decision-making, particularly in respect of loan sanctions which can adversely impact the banks' financial health.
As of March-end 2009, there were 1,721 urban co-operative banks in India. They had deposits and advances aggregating Rs 1,58,733 crore and Rs 97,918 crore, respectively.

courtesy :
K Ram Kumar
Mumbai, April 4  /  The Hindu Business Line

Major fraud in Cuttack urban cooperative bank

CUTTACK: The anti-corruption wing of State police has unearthed a major fraud in the Cuttack Urban Cooperative Bank involving some senior executives and a former president of the Bank. The vigilance sleuths have also arrested a former director and a former CEO of the bank in this connection while investigating into the role of former president and BJP leader Sajjan Sharma in the fraud.
The vigilance police have detected massive irregularities in the One-time settlement (OTS) scheme of the bank in which many loanees of the bank, including the former director Gautam Samal, have tried to dupe the bank by taking heavy loans.
According to sources, Samal had taken two loans of Rs. 12 lakh from the bank and soon turned out to be a defaulter by not paying any instalments.
Subsequently Samal, taking leeway of the OTS scheme, wanted to getaway with paying only Rs. 3 lakhs towards his loan and interest.

source : The Hindu 29.03.2010

Co-op banks have vital role in financial inclusion: RBI Gen. Manager

Co-operative banks can play a more proactive role than scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) in achieving financial inclusion, a senior Reserve Bank of India official said on Saturday.

“The role of co-operative banks is very important in the real last-mile financial inclusion. They can play a greater role than scheduled commercial banks in achieving the goals of financial inclusion,” Reserve Bank's General Manager (Urban Co-operative Banks Department), Uma Shankar, said at a seminar here.

“You (co-operative banks) people are playing a larger role for the grassroots community and you know better how we can achieve the goals of financial inclusion,” Ms. Shankar said.

“Your (co-operative banks) support is required so as to help people participate actively in the financial inclusion programme,” she said.

She advised co-operative banks to use advanced technology and recruit more efficient people to compete with commercial banks. “You need to use advanced technology for competing with commercial banks,” she said.

source : The Hindu (14.03.2010), PTI

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