Banks open 7.73 cr Jan Dhan accounts with combined balance of Rs6,092 cr

Banks in India opened 7.73 crore accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) till November 19, according to Snehlata Shrivastava, Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Union Ministry of Finance.

In an informal chat with presspersons at a PMJDY mega camp organised by Corporation Bank at Vamanjoor village in Mangalore taluk on Saturday, she said that these accounts have a balance of Rs6,091.86 crore.

Of the 7.73 crore accounts, public sector banks have opened around 6.21 crore accounts with a balance of Rs4,946.03 crore, and they have distributed RuPay debit cards to around 4.3 crore accounts.

She said that the Prime Minister will be writing a letter to all the Chief Ministers and Governors asking them to link the payment of subsidies under the government schemes to PMJDY accounts.

Earlier addressing the customers of the bank at the mega camp, Snehlata Shrivastava said the objective of PMJDY is to bring more and more public into the banking system.

She said the overdraft of Rs5,000 will be given to head of the family, preferably women, under the scheme. Women have the habit of saving and prudent in their spending, she said.

Speaking on the occasion, SR Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director of Corporation Bank, said that the bank has opened around 12.83 lakh accounts under the PMJDY with a balance of Rs211.03 crore.

In Dakshina Kannada district, the bank has opened accounts of all un-banked households in the allotted villages and wards under PMJDY and achieved 100 per cent target, he said.

The bank is confident of reaching the target of 100 per cent coverage under the scheme by January 26.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Bank unions plan zone-wise relay strike from Dec 2

Employee unions of public sector banks across the country will go on zone-wise relay strike from December 2 to 5 to press for wage revision.

The public sector bank employees had stopped work on November 12 on the wage issue, affecting services like cheque clearance and withdrawal from branches across the country. The strike call was given by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).

“After the nationwide stir (on Nov 12), we are moving close to our next action — that is relay zonal strike scheduled from December 2 to 5.

“This will be first such strike in the banking industry,” C H Venkatchalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) told PTI.

AIBEA is a major constituent of UFBU, an umbrella organisation of nine bank employee and officer unions.

According to the programme finalised by the unions, the strike will be preceded by demonstrations in each zone.

Bank employees of Southern Zone will be the first to go on strike, on December 2, followed by Northern Zone (Dec 3), Eastern Zone (Dec 4) and Western Zone (Dec 5), said Venkatchalam.

“We hope the IBA (Indian Banks’ Association) and the Government would understand the seriousness of the issue and initiate steps to resolve it at the earliest.

“In the event of the issue remaining unresolved, we may be forced to resort to more strike actions, including indefinite strike, in the days to come,” he warned.

The wage revision of public sector bank employees has been due since November 2012. While the unions demanded a 25 per cent rise in wages and later scaled it down to 23 per cent, the IBA stuck to its position of 11 per cent increase.

There are 27 public sector banks in the country with employees’ strength of about 8 lakh. There are about 50,000 branches of these banks across the country.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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UCO Bank to add 50 e-lobbies by March next

Kolkata-headquartered UCO Bank is looking to add 50 e-lobbies to its existing five, by March 2015. The e-lobbies will enable users to withdraw cash, deposit cash or cheque and print passbooks.

Additionally, 500 self-service passbook printers have been purchased and are getting deployed in the branches, the banks said in a press release.

This apart, the bank is looking to expand its ATM network and is also mulling the possibility of having “ATMs through the wall”. It currently has 2160 ATMs.

Plans are also afoot to announce a reward points scheme for debit card users. The idea is to promote cashless transactions.

UCO Bank is also examining the option of acquiring POS machines at merchant sites.

According to the release, one of the most popular services has been the missed call facility. Customers can call on the number - 092787 92787 – that provides for balance enquiry across various accounts like current or savings bank accounts.

A missed call on 09213125125 provides customers with a mini-statement with last balance facilities on the accounts.

Missed call on 09210422122 & 09210222122 enables users to obtain the bank’s car loan and home loan schemes.

This apart, the bank has also introduced online savings bank and current account opening facility with provision to upload KYC documents. Thereafter, bank representative will contact the applicant and complete the residual formalities.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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YES Bank not looking at acquisitions as strategy for growth, says CEO Rana Kapoor

YES Bank would continue to focus on organic growth and is not unduly perturbed by the recent Kotak Mahindra Bank-ING Vysya Bank deal, its CEO and Managing Director Rana Kapoor has said.

The proposed absorption of ING Vysya Bank by Kotak Mahindra Bank would catapult the new combined entity to the fourth place in the private sector league table, dislodging YES Bank from the fourth position.

YES Bank will not look to grow through acquisitions although competition may resort to such route for growth, according to Kapoor.

“No.. There is a reason for it. When the economy rebounds, we can grow faster than any other bank. We can then step on the pedal. We are taking a very contrarian approach to what has happened (merger deal in front of us). We have total focus on quality and organic growth”, Kapoor told BusinessLine here.

He was replying to a BusinessLine question on whether YES Bank will in the wake of the Kotak Mahindra Bank-ING Vysya Bank deal announcement reorient its strategy and look at acquisitions for growth.

Kapoor said that the most important thing in banking was quality—Human Resource quality, asset quality, capital quality, management quality and there should be nothing to disturb that.

RBI POLICY

On expectations for the December 2 (policy review), Kapoor said there is a “dovishness” to this upcoming policy.and this should get percolated.

“My expectation is in 2015 we should have 2 per cent reduction (in interest rate)”, Kapoor said.

Given the softening inflation trend, there is wide expectation among industry that RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will on December 2 cut policy rates.

srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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Dhanlaxmi Bank independent director quits

Dhanlaxmi Bank in a release to the stock exchange said K Srikanth Reddy, Non-Executive Independent Director, had resigned from the board of directors of the bank with effect from November 15.


Source : Thehindubusinessline

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