Bank employees to strike work on July 7

About 10 lakh bank employees across the country will go on strike on July 7 to protest against the government's policies on public sector banks, the United Forum of Bank Unions has today.

"The Centre is following a policy that will destroy public sector banks in the country," AK Ramesh, National President of Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) told reporters here.

The striking employees are demanding no privatisation of public sector banks, non merger of banks and ban on outsourcing, he said.

Source: Business Standard

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India likely to be largest economy by 2050: Robert Blake

KOLKATA: US Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of South and central Asian affairs) Robert O Blake today said the future of Indian economy seems very bright and the country is likely to become the world's third largest economy by 2030, and the largest by 2050.

He added, "The incredible growth of India's economy has resulted in positive spillover effect for the US between 2002-2009, US goods exports to India quadrupled, growing from $ 4.1 bn to more than $ 16.4 bn in 2009."

"US services exports to India more than tripled from $ 3.2 bn to $ 9.9 bn during the period," he said.

Last year, US-India trade in goods broke a record with US exports increasing by 17 per cent and US imports from India rising by 40 per cent, he said during a seminar on 'West Bengal and Beyond: US-India business links and prospects' here.

"This surge of nearly 30 per cent to a high of $ 48.8 bn in goods trade moved India up two notches to become our 12th largest goods trading partner. This positive trend continues, with two-way trade up 19 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, over the same period last year," he said.

Blake said US trade with India was very much a two-way exchange with mutual benefits to both the countries.

"Robust two-way trade means citizens from Kolkata to Kansas will see the benefits of our trade agreement," he added.

Source: EconomicTimes

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Saurabh Agrawal to join StanChart as i-banking head

Saurabh Agrawal, the high-profile banker known for his deal-making skill in sectors like telecom, media, technology and infrastructure, is all set to join Standard Chartered Bank as head of its investment banking division for south and south-east Asia, sources said.

Agrawal, 42, will join Standard Chartered Bank after a 16-year stint with DSP Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America Merrill Lynch) where he is currently the managing director and head of investment banking.

The top position at Standard Chartered Bank’s investment banking division has been vacant since Anantharaman Venkataramanan resigned earlier this year.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Agrawal is expected to join Standard Chartered Bank in September this year. He will be responsible for corporate financing and M&A (mergers and acquisitions) advisory businesses of the bank.

He did not wish to comment for this story.

Standard Chartered Bank also declined comments, while officials of Bank of America Merrill Lynch could not be reached immediately.

Agrawal is credited with managing successful initial public offers of top Indian companies in telecom and technology space. He was the banker to the country’s largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and India’s third largest telecom company by revenue, Idea Cellular, when these companies went public in 2004 and 2007, respectively.

He is believed to be close to the Aditya Birla Group as he managed several deals, including merger between Idea and Spice Communications and Telecom Malaysia buying stake in the Indian mobile phone services company.

But he has been equally active in managing deals of the Tata Group of companies, including TCS’ acquisition of Citigroup’s captive business process outsourcing unit in 2008.

“Saurabh Agrawal is a very good banker. He has vast experience in telecom, technology and other sectors. I’m sure wherever he goes, he will be successful,” said Hemendra Kothari, former chairman of DSP Merrill Lynch.

In the infrastructure sector, Agrawal was the man behind the deal between GMR Infrastructure and Intergen. He was also the banker to transactions like Turner buying majority stake in NDTV Imagine, Walt Disney acquiring stake in UTV Software and Oracle buying i-Flex.

Source: Business Standard

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Rajasthan to set up mini banks

JAIPUR: Rajasthan government is planning to set up mini cooperative banks at Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra. The state cooperative minister Parsadilal Meena Tapesh Panwar told ET that these mini banks will reach out to small and marginal farmers of villages which are out of cooperative net.

There are 9,184 village panchayats and 249 panchayat Samiti in the state out of which more than 1000 villages don't have any cooperative set up. "We are not able to disburse agriculture loans at panchayats which are not covered by central cooperative banks and village cooperative societies. Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra provides us an opportunity to set up a one-room computerized mini bank which can not only disburse agri-loan but also bring unbanked population under the banking net," he said.

The mini banks will be empowered to disburse agriculture loan up to Rs 1 lakh based on the credit credentials of the farmer. This year, the state government has set a disbursement target of Rs 6000 crore as against last year's disbursement of Rs 5500 crore. "So far we have bee able to disburse Rs 1600 crore in this kharif season. These mini banks will help us in achieving our target," he said.

Besides, these mini banks will also double up as a payment points for NREGA workers. The cooperative banks account for 35-40% of the total NREGA payments. NREGA workers in unbanked areas get their wages through post offices. "With these banks in place the payment records too will be computerized bringing in more transparency," said a cooperative department official.

This is part of Rajasthan government's ambitious e-governance project for rural areas, where Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra will be used as multi-utility points. The state government has earmarked Rs 500 crore for the computerisation of all seva kendra in the state. Under this, each of the 249 blocks in Rajasthan would have one Kendra which would facilitate rural citizens in payment of various types of bills, in making rail reservations and in procuring copies of birth/death/caste certificates without 'usual harassment and delay'.

Source: EconomicTimes

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RBI credit policy: Home, auto loans to become costlier on rate hike

MUMBAI: Be prepared to pay more every month on your home, auto and other loans, as the Reserve Bank today, for the 10th time since March, 2010, raised key interest rates by 25 basis points in its effort to control spiralling inflation.

The RBI has raised the short-term lending (repo) rate by 25 basis points to 7.50 per cent and the short-term borrowing (reverse repo) rate will move up by a similar margin to 6.5 per cent. It kept other rates and ratios unchanged.

The mid-quarterly policy initiatives, the RBI said, are expected to contain inflation, which is currently over 9 per cent, much above the comfort level of the central bank.

"The RBI has sought to maintain an interest rate environment that moderates inflation and checks inflationary expectations," the Finance Ministry said in a statement, adding that this was on expected lines.

"We need to have price stability for sustaining growth in the medium term," it added.

Bankers said the move would put pressure on interest rates and may make loans costlier subsequently.

"It (RBI's move) will put pressure on short-term deposit rates and subsequently on the lending rates. But rate hike by banks would not be immediate," Indian Overseas Bank CMD M Narendra told PTI.

While announcing the measures, the RBI said that tightening of the monetary policy would impact economic growth, which is already under pressure, in the short term.

With the rise in the repo rate, the interest rate for the additional lending facility of the RBI under the marginal standing facility (MSF) has gone up by 25 basis points to 8.5 per cent. This facility was introduced in the annual policy that was unveiled on May 3.

The monetary policy stance, the RBI said, "remains firmly anti-inflationary, recognising that, in the current circumstances, some short-run deceleration in growth may be unavoidable in bringing inflation under control."

The economic growth rate in the fourth quarter of the last financial year decelerated to 7.8 per cent from 9.4 per cent in the same period a year ago, raising fears of a slowdown.

Also, industrial production during April, 2011, moderated to 6.3 per cent from over 13 per cent in the same month last year.

Source: EconomicTimes

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