series news RBI RBI tells lenders to push mobile banking * To improve the penetration of mobile banking, RBI has asked banks to provide customers multiple options for easy registration, reducing the need to visit a branch. The time taken between registration and activation of mobile banking services should be minimal, RBI said on Thursday. There is need for more standardisation in procedures for bringing customers, new and existing, on- board for mobile banking. So, too, for the subsequent authentication process and accessible options for generating marketing partner identification numbers (MPINs) by customers, it said. The account opening form should clearly indicate the option for mobile banking. The option in the form should be clear and distinct from the contact details of the customer where the mobile number is also accepted. It should also be clearly indicated that alerts (if sent through SMS) will be sent to this registered number. RBI added. (BS) Enable Easy Generation of MPIN through ATMs, RBI Tells Banks(ET) RBI keen on pushing mobile banking(HBL) All in Names of RBI Fraudsters Lure People with Cash, Credit Cards * Taking bank lottery scam to a new level, scamsters are using the name and picture of RBI chief Raghuram Rajan to lure gullible people into making a cash deposit of ` 15,500 to get a winning amount of ` 5.50 crore.The lottery amount that they promise to credit into the account of those giving an approval fee is claimed to be part of funds given to RBI by the British Government. In the scam email, purportedly sent by Rajan and ending with his hearty congratulations, the targetted beneficiary is also informed that his or her name was decided pursuant to a meeting he had with the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon in September. (FE) RBI announces norms for trade receivables discounting system * To make it easier and faster for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to get their dues, the RBI put out final guidelines for setting up of a Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS). TReDS will be like an exchange where an MSME that has some receivables pending from a large corporate will be able to trade the bill. So, if an MSME has to realise `100 from a corporate, it can exchange the bill with one of the participating entities on the exchange for, say, `95. The buyer of the bill will then recover the `100 from the corporate concerned, pocketing the profit of `5. (HBL) ECONOMY Goldman Sachs says Indias GDP growth to outpace Chinas * A day after global brokerage firm Macquarie painted a rosy picture of the Indian economy and raised its target level for the stock indices for the next 12 months, Goldman Sachs said India was set to overtake China and become the fastest- growing emerging market during 2016- 18. Goldman Sachs India managing director and chief India economist Tushar Poddar and chief Asia Pacific strategist Timothy Moe said on Thursday they believed the Indian economy was beginning a new growth cycle, driven by reduced macro imbalances, benign global conditions (lower commodity prices) and structural reforms. The Asia- Pacific research division of the foreign investment banking firm believes the Indian economy is on the mend. (BS) Bond yields might fall sharply by end- Dec on rate cut hopes in 2015 * While government bond yields have not have moved much since the RBI s monetary policy review on Tuesday, yields might move down by end- December on softer inflation numbers and demand for bonds in anticipation of interest rate cuts in 2015. The yield on the 10- year bond ended stable at 7.97 per cent on Thursday compared to the previous close. The yield had ended at the same level on December 2 when RBI announced the monetary policy review. According to experts, the yield is moving towards 7.80- 7.85 per cent by the end of this month. (BS) Indian Economy May Outpace China in 2 Yrs * Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani expects the Indian economy to outpace China to become the worlds fastest growing in two years, but the country needs mature governance to tackle infrastructure issues. He said that businesses are upbeat as a sense of confidence has replaced the feeling of helplessness that prevailed earlier, and the country is lucky that oil prices, a big chunk of Indias imports, are much lower this year. I clearly see with both inflows and internal stability, we will gradually increase our growth rate and I have no doubt in my mind that we will be the fastest growing economy in the world in the next 2-3 years. We will exceed Chinas growth rate, he told a private television channel. (ET) Panel Set up to Check Money Laundering * The government has set up a high-level panel to look into trade-based money laundering activities involving manipulation of export and import invoices in particular, a measure that is part of the efforts to clamp down on generation of black money by Indian entities both within and outside the country. The director general (DG) of the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) will be the convener of the committee, set up recently, to suggest steps to check trade-based money laundering activities.The committee comprises the DG of the CEIB, DG of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate, director of the Financial Intelligence Unit and the investigation wing of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. (ET) LPG cash subsidy transfer: OMCs still awaiting full reimbursement * The Government still owes about `1,500 crore to public sector oil retailers for 2013-14 as part of the reimbursement for direct benefit transfer for domestic LPG (DBTL) launched on June 1, 2013 during the UPA regime covering 291 districts. The amount owed to Indian Oil Corporation is about `600 crore. While the Petroleum Ministry is confident that the Finance Ministry will reimburse the amount, the companies are still unclear about when this will happen, as the scheme was discontinued on March 14, 2014. A modified scheme has been introduced from November 15 in 54 districts; this will be extended to the rest of the country by January 1, 2015. (HBL) Foreign Trade Policy stuck in inter- ministerial tussle * The National Democratic Alliance government has not introduced the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) for 2014- 2019 because of a standoff between the ministries of finance and commerce over allocation of extra funds as incentives for exporters. Ever since the Narendra Modi government came to power, there was speculation the FTP would be unveiled immediately after the Budget. The ministry of commerce and industry raised expectations of exporters that the new FTP, which runs for a period of five years with annual revisions, would have a bag full of incentives. Expectations were also heightened by the fact that Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman doubled up as minister of state of finance. The commerce ministry has been working on the draft FTP since May in consultation with exporters, export promotion councils, industry chambers and other stakeholders. But with export growth rate touching double digits, the government decided to delay it. (BS) BANKING HDFC Bank rules out JV for a payment bank * HDFC Bank has become the first in the sector to rule out a joint venture partnership with any applicant for one of the proposed payment banks (PBs). We will not do a joint venture for this. We are a full bank ourselves and dont need to form an alliance, said Aditya Puri, managing director. In final guidelines issued last week, the RBI has allowed entities to form an alliance with a lender to form a PB. The idea is that PBs would tap unbanked areas and such an alliance would help. Analysts believe other large lenders might similarly not be keen on partnering with either prepaid payment issuers ( such as credit cards), telecom companies or other the niche banks for which RBI would invite applications. (BS) SIM- swap fraud: A new way of stealing money * With mobile phones becoming a convenient tool for banking, fraudsters have begun to use SIM- swap. The modus operandi: A fraudster obtains your bank account details and registers your mobile phone number through phishing or malware. He approaches your mobile service provider with your fake identity proof and, claiming loss of handset or SIM damage, seeks a duplicate SIM card. Following verification, the original SIM is deactivated and a new one is issued to the fraudster. He then initiates financial transactions from your bank account, details of which he had earlier stolen, and receives payment confirmation requests on the duplicate SIM. Since the original SIM has been deactivated, you remain unaware about the fraudulent transactions he makes. (BS) Panel suggests creation of postal bank with independent role * A government-constituted task force to review the operations of India Post has suggested creation of a Postal Bank of India (PBI), which would work independently within the postal department with banking professionals. The task force headed by former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian has also suggested setting up of three subsidiaries as a part of a holding company under the postal department for extending services in the fields of banking, e-commerce and insurance. The report was submitted to telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday. The minister announced there would be no lay-off of India Post employees in the process of any restructuring. (FE) Bank Credit may Get Cheaper Soon * Bank credit may turn cheaper even before the RBI kicks off a benign interest rate cycle next year as lenders facing dip in loans are looking to realign their base rates with market forces. Companies are reluctant to take bank loans as cheaper resources are available in the money market forcing banks to review their lending strategy. Funds mobilised through commercial papers and external sources are about 150-200 basis points cheaper than bank base rates. High cost of deposits was holding back banks from lowering lending rates and some lenders such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have reduced their deposit rates, a move thats seen as the first step towards availability of cheaper credit. (ET) Govt May split CMD posts in PSBs akin to private banks * The Government is likely to implement the proposal of bifurcating the post of Chairman and Managing Director in public sector banks from the next fiscal to strengthen corporate governance. The Finance Ministry is actively considering the proposal of splitting the CMD post in state-owned banks and it could be implemented from the next fiscal, sources said. For the selection of non-executive chairman, a panel could be formed headed by RBI Governor, they added. Other members of the selection panel will include Financial Services Secretary and experts in the banking sector, they said. In line with private sector banks, there would be Managing Director and CEO with non-executive chairman. (FE) INTERNATIONAL ECB leaves rates unchanged, to weigh fresh stimulus next year * European Central Bank head Mario Draghi says the bank has stepped up preparations for launching new stimulus measures - but expects to make a decision on any new steps early next year. Draghi didnt unveil further stimulus on Thursday after the bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.05 percent. The rate decision was expected as the bank says the benchmark is so low it cannot be reduced further. Draghi said the ECB will reassess early next year the success of its existing stimulus programs and the impact of weak oil prices on the euro zone economy. (FE) Soft bank investments $250 m in grab Taxi to fend off Uber * SoftBank Corp. (9984), the technology company controlled by Masayoshi Son, invested $250 million in Grab Taxi Holdings Pte as the cab-booking service fends off competition from Uber Technologies Inc. in Southeast Asia. SoftBank will become the largest investor in GrabTaxi, Anthony Tan, who set up the mobile-phone application in 2012, said in an interview in Bangkok yesterday without providing stake details. GrabTaxi has raised about $340 million in the last 14 months, it said in a statement. GrabTaxis funding comes as Uber is said to be close to raising a round of financing that would give it a valuation of as much as $40 billion. (FE) Japan An Oasis For Bitcoin Entrepreneurs * The man who single-handedly made Japan an oasis for bitcoin entrepreneurs was holding court with political supporters. The price of admission: $83.75. Squeezed into a tiny private room at a Chinese restaurant not far from Tokyos Capitol Hill, Mineyuki Fukuda was at the head of the table with a half-dozen techies. Fukuda started by explaining how he, a second-term lawmaker on an obscure subcommittee overseeing electronic payment systems, wound up in charge of Japans bitcoin policy. Nine months ago, no more than a handful of Japanese officials had even heard of the digital currency, let alone something called Mt. Gox, a bitcoin bank run by a Frenchman who just happened to live in Tokyo. (FC) ARTICLES The geopolitical impact of cheap oil * The future price of oil will be lower than industry participants expected until just a few months ago. Says Martin Feldstein , an emeritus professor of economics at Harvard (BS) An industry built on black money * As real estate is about a tenth of the Indian economy, the extent of back money floating around in the sector is huge many times more than what is said to be stashed away abroad. Says Bhupesh Bhandari, (BS) Weakening rupee a sign of volatility ahead * Further decline in currency could offset some of the gains from lower crude oil. Says Malini Bhupta (BS) Getting the missing taxpayers * Reasonable tax rates with bare minimum exemptions is the best recipe, Jaitley should look at reviving the original DTC which had this as the basic principle. Says Santosh Tiwari, (FE) Emerging Markets Mock the Pessimists * Chinas weak growth isnt the only encouraging global indicator. India too is on the way to becoming a globally significant economy. Its already about the same size as Italy in current dollar terms. Says Jim ONeil (FE) Agenda 2015-30: Stemming Illicit Financial Flows * In 2011, Global Financial Integrity Institute estimates the developing world lost almost a trillion dollars illegally transferred to the developed world. Says Bjorn Lomborg, Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center NEXT WEEK: Population (ET) Should we make in India or in Bharat? * With a little push, rural small-scale industry can propel jobs and growth, while modernising farming as well. Says Pradeep S Mehta, secretary-general of CUTS International. (HBL) RBI set to enter the inflation targeting club * It may be worth revisiting arguments made in favour of and against inflation targeting. Says Ira Dugal assistant managing editor , Mint. (MINT) You will soon get alerts from your bank before high value cheques are cleared * Next time you deposit a high a value cheque for clearing to your bank, you will be intimated before the cheque is cleared. Says Vivina Vishwanathan (MINT) We need to bank on the RBI a lot more * The RBI has been making noises for too long that it would check the growth of bad loans. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley recently met the chiefs of the State-run banks and gave them a subtle warning to take decisions professionally. But the rot in the system will prevail unless the supervisor, the RBI, is serious. Says KL Khetarpaul, former executive director of the RBI (HT) Future of Jan Dhan Yojana * Ever since bank nationalization took place in 1969, many schemes aimed at financial inclusion have been launched. Most have flopped. There is a denger of the same thing happening with the Jan Dhan Yojana.Says Prdeep S Mehta, secretary-general of CUTS International. (AA) get more details email us [email protected] visit our website:https://facebook/groups/sunshine123/
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 07:04:04 +0000
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