Shortage of Staff in Banks as on 31-03-2013

The requirement of manpower in Public Sector Banks (PSBs), interalia, depends upon the business volume, business growth, existing employee strength, retirements, etc. Accordingly, the Banks undertake recruitment of staff, including clerks and sub-staff, to fill vacancies on ongoing basis as per their requirements. Banks are not engaging employees on contractual employment against regular vacancies. A Statement showing vacant posts in PSBs in various cadres as on 31.03.2013 is annexed.

Statement showing vacant post in Public Sector Banks as on 31.03.2013

S. No.	Name of the Bank	Officers	Clerks	Sub staff
1	Allahabad Bank	1450	2627	300
2	Andhra Bank	1484	590	66
3	Bank of Baroda	5815	3615	0
4	Bank of India	1473	1468	1511
5	Bank of Maharashtra	935	292	408
6	Canara Bank	295	445	0
7	Central Bank of India	0	0	0
8	Corporation Bank	34	56	193
9	Dena Bank	1044	218	395
10	Indian Bank	597	553	716
11	Indian Overseas Bank	0	0	0
12	Oriental Bank of Commerce	877	882	311
13	Punjab & Sind Bank	1454	904	700
14	Punjab National Bank	1119	2204	1778
15	Syndicate Bank	1500	1400	450
16	UCO Bank	786	1000	0
17	Union Bank of India	895	61	546
18	United Bank of India	631	-132	194
19	Vijaya Bank	926	801	303
20	State Bank of India	0	0	0
21	State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur	510	1139	397
22	State Bank of Hyderabad	1029	0	0
23	State Bank of Mysore	20	564	420
24	State Bank of Patiala	170	1160	158
25	State Bank of Travancore	750	2500	1035

The above information was given by Min of Finance in reply of undermentioned loksabha question:-

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  FINANCE

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED  QUESTION NO 2455

ANSWERED ON   23.08.2013

SHORTAGE OF STAFF IN BANKS

2455 . Shri A.T. NANA PATIL

Will the Minister of FINANCE  be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the public sector banks are facing shortage of staff in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof, bank and cadre-wise during the last three years and the current year;
(c) whether the banks are engaging employees on contractual basis to meet this shortage’
(d) if so, the details thereof during the aforesaid period, bank-wise; and
(e) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to fill the vacant posts in banks?

ANSWER

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Shri Namo Narain Meena)

(a) to (e): ** see above **

Source: http://loksabha.nic.in

[http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/psearch/QResult15.aspx?qref=144431] 

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POST BANK OF INDIA SANS POSTAL EMPLOYEES

POST BANK OF INDIA SANS POSTAL EMPLOYEES
It seems that the Post Bank of India (PBI) may become a reality in the near future. For the last more than fifteen years we have been told about the Post Bank and even the Parliamentary standing committee on Communications & IT has repeatedly demanded the Government for commencing Post bank. Several attempts have been made, but the Finance Ministry always took a negative stand, for one reason or the other. Majority of the bank managements including nationalized banks have been opposing the entry of the Postal department into commercial banking. The reason is obvious. They foresee a potential threat to their existence once Post Bank enters into their field and during the course of time the Post Bank may become one of the biggest Bank.

Post Bank of India will be an independent entity, separate from the current operations of small savings schemes being carried out by the Department of Posts on behalf of Ministry of Finance. Department has accordingly submitted an application to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 28.06.2013 seeking banking license subject to necessary cabinet approval. RBI has said that new banks will have to set up at least three branches in villages with a population of less than 10000, for each branch they establish in other areas. Although Post Bank does not intend to open a bank in every Post office, the plan is to meet the financial inclusion goal through these Post offices. India Post had 1,54,822 Post offices across the country as on 31.03.2013, the largest for any department in the world, and close to 90% of them – 1,39,086 – are in rural India. This is more than four times the number of rural branches run by India’s Banks put together. According to plan prepared by Ernst & Young, India Post will become Post Bank of India’s banking correspondent. PBI will use Post office infrastructure but very frugally. Carefully done PBI can be a game – changer in rural areas.

India post is among 26 applicants that sought banking licenses from RBI. India Post has to develop the standards to meet RBI guidelines. In its guidelines for new banking licenses announced on 22nd February 2013, RBI required applicants to prove their eligibility on several fronts – from promoter holding to past experience to business plans. The minimum capital required by the applicants for license is Rs. 500 crores and foreign share holding in the new banks is capped at 49% for the first five years. The new banks have to be set up under a non-operative Financial Holding company (NOFHC). They also have to maintain minimum capital adequacy ratio – the ratio of risk weighed assets, a measure of financial strength of the bank – of 19 % for the first three years. New banks also need to list their shares within three years of starting operations.

The main argument put forward by those opposing the Post Bank is that Postal department has no experience when it comes to giving credit (loans). Department has only been taking deposits till now. Sanctioning and disbursing of credit needs an entirely different aptitude. India Post has no specialized experience in the business. It is reported that unlike many believe, the Post Bank of India will be a completely new entity with no legacies of a government department and very little to do with its parent department, except using some of its network. It will have an independent Board. Separate recruitment has been planned to have specialised banking staff. Of course, the Post Bank will be a subsidiary organisation of India Post, which need to be registered as a public sector Bank and Government equity in this new entity could be diluted. Whatever reforms and regulations Government implements in Nationalised Banking sector will be fully applicable to Post Bank of India also.

There are many talented and qualified Postal employees who want to switch over to the Post bank and to work as employees under the Post Bank. The reports that separate recruitment will be made for the Post Bank has cast shadow upon their hope to work in the Post Bank. NFPE demands that the existing Postal employees who want to switch over to the Post Bank shall be given chance to exercise option and if need be a trade test to assess their capability can also be conducted before selection. Selected officials can be imparted with intensive training in commercial banking business. In any case 100% open market direct recruitment is an injustice to those talented Postal employees who may not be able to apply for open recruitment due to age factor etc. we urge upon the Postal Board and Finance Ministry to give due consideration to this aspect, before the new Bank is rolled out.

Source : http://nfpe.blogspot.com/

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Safeguards in New Banking Licence Norms

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued guidelines for setting up new banks in the private sector vide Press Release dated 22.02.2013. The last date for receipt of applications was 01.07.2013. In all, RBI has received 26 (twenty six) applications. 

At the first stage, the applications will be screened by RBI to ensure prima facie eligibility of the applicants, including the assessment of ‘fit and proper’ status of applicants. Thereafter, the applications will be referred to a High Level Advisory Committee to be set up by RBI. In view of the processes involved, it is expected to issue ‘in-principle’ approvals for new banks by the first quarter of 2014. 

The safeguards and prudential regulations which have been put in place in the guidelines for the new bank, the parent Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC) and the consolidated bank to serve as adequate safeguards to deal with conflict of interest situations, inter-alia, include ‘fit and proper’ criteria; corporate structure of the Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC); no exposure to the promoter group by bank, NOFHC and other financial sector entity under the NOFHC and; corporate governance of NOFHC and stipulation of majority of independent directors on the Board of the Bank. 

This was stated by Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Source : PIB

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Your bank charges you for SMS alerts

NEW DELHI: Did you know that your bank is debiting money from your account for providing SMS alerts? If you didn't, it's time you checked the last bank statement or the passbook. 

Banks, led by State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, are charging Rs 60 annually to send text messages about cash withdrawals and other facilities. Others such as Canara Bank are charging more than Rs 100, while HDFC Bank said they were levying a Rs 60 fee only for "special alerts" such as bounced cheques, salary credits or the balance going below a specified level. Besides, the service was optional, it said. IDBI Bank and Vijaya Bank have excluded savings bank accounts from the paid SMS alert service. 

Finance minister P Chidambaram told Parliament on Friday that there were five public sector banks that were charging for SMS alerts. But enquiries by TOI showed that it isn't just the state-run players, even private banks such as ICICI and HDFC were charging customers. 

While most banks have shifted to a paid SMS alert system only this year, others like IDBI and Vijaya Bank passed on the cost to customers as far back as 2010-11. In fact, the finance minister told Parliament that in 2010-11, IDBI Bank collected more than Rs 1 crore through SMS alerts, while Vijaya Bank received nearly Rs 30 lakh last fiscal. 

In March 2011, the Reserve Bank of India had asked banks to send online alerts to customers for all transactions, but left it to banks whether or not to charge for it. Chidambaram said the government was not considering a proposal to withdraw the charge. 

An executive at a private sector lender said his bank began charging for SMS alerts as mobile operators raised the fee for bulk message from 2 paise per SMS to 20 paise, making a free service "unviable". Banks said they had sent out a message saying that the service would be charged but most consumers either ignored the SMS or did not respond — which was seen as a yes to being charged for alerts. 

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Follow uniform holiday calender for CTS cheque clearing: RBI

The Reserve Bank today directed banks to adopt a uniform holidays calender to streamline cheque clearing system for Cheque Truncation System (CTS) centres in New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.

"The CTS centres in New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai will adopt RTGS holidays as uniform holidays for the respective grid," RBI said in its directive.

The CTS based cheque clearing system ensures uniformity across all cheque forms issued by banks in the country.

Grid-based CTS has been in place in Chennai and Mumbai covering several states and union territories.

While, in New Delhi it is already in place since 2010 that encompasses CTS cheque clearing in the national capital and adjacent states.

However, all the state and union territories covered by the grid follow different schedule of holidays (on the basis of state calender).

"As local clearing houses are gradually being subsumed into the CTS, it has become necessary to devise a policy of uniform holidays so as to ensure the smooth functioning of grid-based CTS operations.

"Therefore, it has been decided to put in place the uniform holiday arrangement at the three CTS locations...with effect from October 7, 2013," RBI said.

Also, it said that CTS operations will be closed on such days when all the participating states in the grid are observing holidays, even though RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) is working on such days.

RBI has further directed the president of respective CTS location to notify the list of such uniform holidays well in advance to enable the participating banks to put in place inward clearing processing infrastructure at the grid location.

Source :The Economic Times

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Payment of commission in obtaining bank drafts by Postal Department from SBI/Nationalised Bank Branches...reg.

Directorate vide memo No. PA/BK-I/11-33/2013(26)/1683 to 1627 dated 26/7/2013 has directed to prevent unnecessary expenditure on payment of commission to the nationalised banks in obtaining bank drafts and asked to reiterate the instructions of RBI, GAD, Mumbai issued under No. DGBA.GAD.No.H2206/31.03.2011/2007-08 dated 28/8/2007 wherein it has been instructed that “all agency banks should provide remittance facility to Ministries / Departments of Central and State Governments to which they are accredited free of cost at their authorised branches, irrespective of the mode of such remittance”.

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Post Bank

Department of Posts has proposed to set up a Post Bank of India. This will be an independent entity, separate from the current operations of Small savings Schemes being carried out by the Department on behalf of Ministry of Finance. The Department of Posts has accordingly submitted an application to the RBI on 28.06.2013 seeking a banking license subject to necessary Cabinet approvals.

The details of financial services offered by the Post offices at present are as below:-

(1)         Small Savings Schemes of Government of India (on behalf of Ministry of Finance)

(i)                 Post Office Savings Account

(ii)               Post Office Time Deposit Account

(iii)             Post Office Recurring Deposit Account

(iv)             Post Office Monthly Income Account

(v)               Senior Citizens Savings Scheme Account

(vi)             Public Provident Fund Account

(vii)           National Savings Certificates (VIII)  and (IX) issue

(2)   Money Remittances

(i)              Money Order-Domestic

(ii)            Instant Money Order- Domestic (through selected post offices)

(iii)          Western Union Money Remittances –International Inward (through selected post offices)

(iv)          MoneyGram Money Remittances –International Inward (through selected post offices)

(v)            Money Order Videsh- International Inward and Outward (through selected post offices)

(vi)          Electronic International Money Order Service-Inward (through selected post offices)

This information was given by Dr. Smt. Killi Kruparani, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

Source : PIB Release, 14 August, 2013

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Supply of CTS-2010 Standard Cheque Books to POSB Customers

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Finance ministry asks India Post to reroute Bank proposal.

New Delhi: The expenditure department of the finance ministry has sent back India Post’s draft cabinet note seeking Rs.1,900 crore to set up a commercial bank to another wing of the ministry and asked it to first seek the approval of the expenditure finance committee (EFC). The entity is proposed to be named Post Bank of India.

The postal department is among 26 applicants that sought banking licences from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 1 July, part of the government’s initiative to expand the Rs.77 trillion banking industry and widen access to financial services among the 40% of the population that are yet not included in the system.

“Since the proposal has financial consequences, we have told India Post to first approach the expenditure finance committee with their proposal before going for an inter-ministerial consultation on the matter,” said a finance ministry official who didn’t want to be named.

A second finance ministry official confirmed this. He said the expenditure finance committee was yet to receive the note from the postal department. He said, however, that the committee was likely to clear the proposal once it’s received. 

“We cannot pre-empt how much money EFC will approve, however I am sure the proposal makes sense because they have such a vast network which they should utilize. The only thing is they have to develop the standards to meet the RBI guidelines,” he added.

Approval of the expenditure finance committee, headed by the expenditure secretary, is required for proposals involving spending of more than Rs.300 crore and the setting up of new autonomous organizations, regardless of the amount.

The postal department, faced with the dwindling of its main business as more people switch to electronic means of communication and courier companies, wants to leverage its extensive reach across India by entering the banking business. It’s currently involved in the financial industry to the extent that it runs post-office savings schemes, besides collecting deposits for tax-free savings programmes.

In its guidelines for new banking licences announced on 22 February, RBI required applicants to prove their eligibility on several fronts—from promoter holding to past experience to business plans. The minimum capital required by applicants for licences is Rs.500 crore, and foreign shareholding in the new banks is capped at 49% for the first five years.

The new banks have to be set up under a non-operative financial holding company (NOFHC), RBI said. They also have to maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio—the ratio of capital to risk-weighted assets, a measure of financial strength—of 13% for the first three years. New banks also need to list their shares within three years of starting operations.

The finance ministry has been reluctant to allow India Post to enter the commercial banking business.

In order to apply for a licence, the department of posts will have to create a legal entity to segregate its banking and postal businesses, said a second finance ministry official.

“It will have to be a government-owned company or a bank under a statute since a government department cannot become a bank,” said the official, who didn’t want to be identified.

“Added to that, the postal department has no experience when it comes to giving credit. They have only been taking deposits till now. Sanctioning and disbursing credit needs an entirely different aptitude,” the official said. “We had conveyed our views to EY, when they had approached us on this issue,” he added. EY (formerly Ernst & Young) is consultant to India Post’s bid for a banking licence.

A third finance ministry official said it will be difficult for India Post to get a banking licence from RBI since the guidelines call for a non-operative financial holding company.

Besides that, although India Post boasts of a strong 150,000 branch network, a majority of these may not get converted into bank branches in the event it gets a licence, this official added.

“Expertise in (handling) National Savings Certificates will not be enough for giving credit,” he added, making the point that the department has no specialized experience in the business.

India Post had 154,822 branches across the country as of 31 March, the latest data available, the largest for any postal department in the world, and close to 90% of them—139,086—are in rural India. This is more than four times the number of rural branches run by India’s banks.

RBI has clarified that the conditions it has set are merely the necessary ones and that all applicants meeting them won’t be given a licence. The central bank will screen the applications, refer them to an advisory committee and take a final call on licences based on its recommendations.

If the focus is financial inclusion, the focus should be on looking for solutions rather than raising barriers, said Ashvin Parekh, national leader, global financial services at EY.

“Nobody is saying to convert the existing Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) into a commercial bank. Post Bank of India has to be a subsidiary which needs to be registered as a company and the government equity in this new entity could be diluted,” he said. Through the POSB, India Post collects deposits starting as low as Rs.20 with an annual interest rate of 4%.

Naina Lal Kidwai, country head of HSBC India and president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry lobby group, said in an interview that though she is opposed to creating any more public sector banks, she supports the idea of the Post Bank of India.

“The postal authority is a very interesting one because of its ability to deliver cash where banks have never been able to reach. To create a post bank, which many countries have done, is quite interesting. So for those exceptions, we could and should look at giving (it a) banking licence,” she added.

However, Kidwai wants the government to reduce its share in the banking system from 70% now to 30-50%, besides which she’d like to see consolidation of the sector.

“We have to fund such banks through taxpayers’ money. These banks can rarely raise money from the capital market. Some of those can actually be merged so that we create fewer banks. So we should see a restructuring of our entire banking sector,” she added.

asit.m@livemint.com

courtesy:-http://www.livemint.com

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Bharatiya Mahila Bank: Proposal to setup All-women's Bank approved

Decks cleared for all-women’s bank
Hindustan Times New Delhi, August 09, 2013

The union cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to set up a state-owned all-women’s bank with an initial corpus of Rs. 1,000 crore, paving the way for setting up a financial institution dedicated to women in general, and women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in particular.

The proposed bank is likely to begin operations by November this year.

The proposal to set up the Bharatiya Mahila Bank was first announced by finance minister P Chidambaram's in this year’s budget speech in February.

According to sources, the government expects the bank to turn profitable by 2019. It plans to set to open 100 branches within that period.

Minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena had told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the government is planning to seek Parliament's nod for allocation of funds for setting up the bank.

Government has finalised the proposal to start the Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited with 6 branches, one each in North, South, East, West, Central and North Eastern parts of India, sources said.

The initial cadre of about 125 officers of the new women-focussed bank will be selected on deputation from other public sector banks, sources said.

Read more at Hindustan Times

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New banks licences to take some more time: RBI

MUMBAI: Ruling out relaxation in norms for granting new bank licences, the Reserve Bank today said that though it has started the scrutiny of applications, the exercise will take some time.

"We have started the scrutiny of applications. It is quite an extensive work because now, we are looking at corporate groups. The workload is quite heavy in that sense," deputy governor AnandSinha, in charge of banking supervision, told reporters here on the sidelines of a Ficci event. 

Sinha also said that RBI will be setting up an external scrutiny panel after the internal scrutiny is over.

Source : TOI dtd 05/08/2013

 [ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/New-banks-licences-to-take-some-more-time-RBI/articleshow/21627475.cms ]

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UIDAI, Banks disagree on use of biometric authentication at ATMs

MUMBAI: Will banks have to spend a fortune to give customers the choice of either putting their finger prints or swiping plastic cards to withdraw money from ATMs and pay for purchases? 

Not really, says the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency that issues the 12-digit Aadhaar numbers and is pushing for biometric authentication for credit card and ATM transactions. But bankers disagree. Besides the travails and risks of a new technology, upgrading each and every automated teller machine and point of sale terminal at thousands of merchant outlets will not come cheap, they argue. 

Indeed, 'cost' is emerging as one of the issues in the brewing debate - 'Aadhaar or plastic cards'. According to a source familiar with the subject, an RBI-constituted panel has pegged the cost of banks' readiness for Aadhaar at 4,259 crore compared with 3,556 crore thebanking industry has to spend to upgrade machines to match a different technology they think lowers the risk of card frauds. 

It's learnt that the UIDAI nominee on the panel is likely to issue a dissent note on the estimates the agency believes is significantly higher than what banks' migration to Aadhaar would cost. 

About a fortnight ago, the findings of the report were shared by Pulak Kumar Sinha, the SBI general manager who heads the panel, at a luncheon meeting with RBI Deputy Governor HR Khan. Other members of the working group were also present at the meeting. 

Cost the only point of conflict

According to a UIDAI spokesman, other than cost estimates, there is no other point on which UIDAI or any other member is in disagreement. 

Responding to ET's queries, Ashok Pal Singh, deputy director general, UIDAI, said nowhere does the report suggest that Aadhaar, in its current shape and form, is not recommended for large-scale adoption for the existing card base as an additional factor of authentication. 

"If need be, UIDAI will put a dissenting note by way of a disclaimer on the costing...I repeat that on no other point is UIDAI or any other member in disagreement with the rest of the draft report," he said. 

Asked whether the working group has voiced concerns on account of the fact that if Aadhaar of a cardholder is compromised, the cardholder's identity gets compromised for life, the UIDAI official said the report, which should be in public domain shortly, has not made any such observation. 

The Reserve bank spokesperson did not respond to ET's email query. 

UIDAI is of the view that Aadhar-based payment technology can be cost effective and beneficial as it will take electronic payments to the masses. "What is this great upgradation cost we are seized about? The comparison is between cost of deploying a technology that has peaked (chip and pin) versus a technology making its debut (Aadhaar-based biometric authentication) and yet to acquire economies of scale... The number of PoS terminals in the country is a pittance. A card does not get accepted beyond two dozen major cities. Does anyone seriously believe the aam aadmi will transact with a chip and pin card? Aadhaar uses a light PoS with no inbuilt intelligence as authentication takes place back end and the device is only a communication channel as against a device that must decode and read a chip. Even common sense will defy an assertion that the former will require a heavier and more expensive device," said Singh. 

Some of the credit card heads of banks ET spoke to said there was a distinct possibility that RBI would ask banks to gradually roll out Aadhaar-based biometric authentication as an additional authentication for card transactions. "RBI may not mandate banks immediately, but may nonetheless ask them to upgrade the technology. This is happening at a time banks are issuing credit and debit cards that are based on EMV technology," said a banker. 

In EMV cards, the card and CVC numbers are encrypted. And, unlike the EMV or the conventional magnetic stripe technology where cards have to be swiped, a biometric authentication involves the bank's ATM or PoS reading the fingerprints and matching them with the fingerprint records aggregated by authorised authentication service agents like VISA, National Payments Cop or Vodafone before the transaction is cleared.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

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