Origo Commodities partners with PNB to finance farmers, MSMEs

Origo Commodities, which is into post-harvest management services, today said it has signed an agreement with the Punjab National Bank for providing finances to farmers and MSMEs against warehouse receipts.

Punjab National Bank has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Origo Commodities India Pvt Ltd for warehouse receipt financing and is targeting to disburse Rs. 500 crore this fiscal.

“Under this MoU, PNB, through warehouse receipts issued by Origo, will cater to the needs of MSMEs and farmers by providing financing against a pledge of agricultural commodities,” Origo Commodities said in a statement.

“Both MSMEs and farmers are expected to benefit greatly from this association as Origo and PNB target a disbursement of over Rs. 500 crore in the current financial year under this tie up,” it added.

The MoU has been signed on a pan-India basis, but there would be a significant focus in southern India.

Origo Commodities is a post-harvest solutions and warehouse management services company in India. It currently operates 300+ warehouses and has over 3.5 million tonnes of commodities with value of $1.5 billion under management.

Its services include commodity handling, collateral management and procurement services to farmers, producers, processors and corporate houses.

“This initiative would help change the dynamics of commodity supply chains at the farmer level by creating the opportunity for farmers to fetch a higher price for their produce and protect them from the hassles of distress selling,” said, SS Bhatia, GM, MSME, PNB.

MSME financing would help create agriculture and allied infrastructure at rural level and would support farmers and MSME entrepreneurs, he added.

Commenting on the tie-up, Origo Commodities Director Mayank Dhanuka said the association with PNB would help the company reach wider and diversified markets and play a significant role in transforming the rural supply chains.


Source : The Hindu

Read more »

Jan Dhan Yojana opens a new door for RuPay gateway

As Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the financial inclusion scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi late last month notches up impressive numbers and expects to meet its 7.5 crore accounts target well within 100 days, payment gateway RuPay is experiencing a boost in fortunes.

Payment gateways are platforms that help banks facilitate electronic money transfers. India is only the fourth country in the world after the US, Japan and China to have its own national payment gateway, in RuPay.

With the PMJDY getting nearly 2.5 crore new bank accounts within seven days of launch, each account holder gets a RuPay debit card along with his/her account.

As a result, RuPay is notching up numbers.

Fast-growing base

According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which developed the platform, the RuPay card has a current base of 2.5 crore users and is seeing about seven lakh inter-bank transactions a day.

With the financial inclusion scheme coming into play, the total number of RuPay card holders is likely to surge. NPCI will declare official numbers at the end of this quarter.

AP Hota, Managing Director and CEO of National Payments Corporation of India Ltd (NPCI), told BusinessLine that the target for the year-end was six crore cards. By March 2015, RuPay may be able to add an additional 10 crore accounts. If the Centre’s financial inclusion scheme lives up to its hype, the sheer number of RuPay cards in the country will create a critical mass that will help create a huge network of retailers who accept RuPay cards. According to Reserve Bank of India statistics, the total number of credit cards in India is currently at around 1.9 crore while the number of debit cards issued is at 40 crore. Currently, global organisations such as Visa and MasterCard dominate this space. But Hota says competing with MasterCard and Visa is not a priority. “The perceived competition with MasterCard and Visa is not relevant at this stage. They are global companies with trillion-dollar revenues and deep pockets. We are a small company with ₹100-crore capital,” he said.

Main challenges

The main challenges for RuPay are to get acceptance among the high-income bracket and to increase the number of transactions among those in the lower income bracket. Partner banks have an incentive to push RuPay to customers as transaction costs through this gateway are expected to be at least 40 per cent lower than through Visa and MasterCard.



Source : The Hindu

Read more »

Karnataka Bank appoints new additional director

Karnataka Bank Ltd has appointed BA Prabhakar, former Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Andhra Bank, as an Additional Director of the bank.

The bank informed the BSE on Monday that the board, which met on September 6, has appointed Prabhakar as an Additional Director of the bank.

Prabhakar, a chartered accountant, retired as CMD of Andhra Bank in August 2013. Prior to that, he had served as the Executive Director of Bank of India from October 2008 to December 2011. Before that, Prabhakar had served Bank of Baroda from October 1977 to October 2008, the statement said.



Source : The Hindu

Read more »

Jan Dhan Yojana: KPMG to validate number of accounts opened by banks

The Finance Ministry has roped in professional services firm KPMG to undertake a validation exercise of the number of basic bank accounts opened by the banks under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).

KPMG’s confirmation of the number of accounts opened will help the Centre pitch for an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for the maximum number of bank accounts opened in a day, banking industry sources said.

It would also provide some comfort to the Finance Ministry that the numbers submitted by the banks were accurate and reflected the true picture.

On August 28, the launch date of the PMJDY, the banking system had opened between 1.8 crore to 2 crore bank accounts, say bankers.

If one were to count the efforts of the next few days as well, then estimates put the number of accounts that may have been opened under the PMJDY at close to 3 crore accounts.

KPMG has already commenced work for this purpose and have approached banks to share information on the number of accounts opened under the PMJDY, sources close to the developments said.

Under the PMJDY, the Government is looking to open at least 7.5 crore basic bank accounts for 7.5 crore unbanked families in the country.

A basic bank account is not the same as a normal savings account and the simplest know-your-customer norms are being adopted for PMJDY so that the unbanked could have access to banking account and its facilities.

If high value transactions have to be entered into by the account holder, then the bank concerned can always upgrade the basic bank account to a regular savings account, a banker said.

The Jan Dhan accounts will be governed by the RBI guidelines for small accounts and therefore certain stipulations like maximum amount of ₹ 1 lakh to be deposited in a financial year in such accounts and maximum balance of Rs50,000 at any time in an account would have to be followed.

srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in.

Source : The Hindu

Read more »

SBI launches new products for children

State Bank of India on Friday launched two new Savings Bank products — Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan — for children.

Pehla Kadam is a Savings Bank account for minor of any age operated jointly with his/her parent/guardian, while Pehli Udaan is a singly operated Savings Bank Account for a minor aged 10 years and above and who can sign uniformly.

Specially branded passbook and cheque book have been designed for these products. All the account holders will be given an exclusively designed personalised photo ATM-cum-Debit Card, the bank said in a statement.

Other features bundled along with the two products include Internet banking with limited transaction facilities like bill payment, opening of fixed deposits, recurring deposits, etc. with per day transaction limit of Rs. 5,000, and mobile banking with limited transaction facilities like bill payment, and top-ups with per day transaction limit of Rs. 2,000.

While launching the products on Teachers day, students of the school were handed over account kits containing their personalised debit cards, pass books, cheque books, etc.



Source : The Hindu

Read more »