Indian Banks

State Bank of India (SBI) has financed many wind power projects in the country: Now it is setting up a few of them as well.

The country’s largest lender will set up wind power projects in Maharashtra (9 Mw), Tamil Nadu (5 Mw) and Gujarat (1.5 Mw) — with a combined capacity of 15.5 Mw — for its captive consumption at various SBI offices and branches in these three states.

A senior SBI official said the board of directors wanted the bank to explore the use of non-conventional energy resources, including solar and bio mass. “The power from such plants should help us to substitute thermal power,” he said.

In the process, SBI also wants to project itself as a green organisation — the buzzword these days — and a bank that promotes clean energy initiatives.

SBI has called for competitive bids for establishing captive wind power projects on turnkey basis, including land, infrastructure and permissions. The operations and maintenance would also be handled by the project contractors. The plants are expected to be commissioned by the middle of March next year.

The projects involve wheeling power to multiple consumption points, the official said. Policies, including taxes on those dealing with moving (wheeling) wind power across states and use are still evolving.

India ranks fifth in the world after the US, Germany, Spain and China with a wind power installed capacity (cumulative) of about 11,000 Mw. With the availability of better and efficient wind turbines and increased infrastructure for power evacuation, the wind power potential of the country, currently estimated to be over 45,000 Mw, could go up further.

The government has set a target for generation of 10,500 Mw from wind energy, out of the 14,000 Mw total renewable energy during the 11th Plan period. Also, it has announced a scheme for generation-based incentives of 50 paise per unit of electricity fed into the grid from wind power projects subject to a maximum of Rs 62 lakh per Mw to increase investor base.

(BS)

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According to 2008-09,  69,117 complaints received at 15 banking ombudsman offices throughout the country, 32 per cent or 21,982 complaints were against private banks, which is higher than their market share of 18 per cent.

Foreign banks received 11,700 complaints (17 per cent) from customers with regard to deficiencies in their service, against their market share of 5 per cent.

The banking ombudsman received about one-fifth of the total complaints against the 20 nationalised banks, which comprise 50 per cent of the market. None of the nationalised banks figure in the top five against which the highest number of  complaints were received last year, whereas two leading foreign banks with a significantly lower market share are in the list. Among the individual banks, SBI tops with 18,167 complaints in the year, followed by ICICI Bank (11,453), HDFC Bank (6,584), HSBC (2,838) and Citibank (2,563).

If the total share of government-owned banks is considered, their share in total complaints is 48 per cent, as against their market share of 74 per cent. In contrast, private and foreign banks combined have 49 per cent share in complaints, with 23 per cent market share. The remaining 3 per cent of complaints are against regional, rural and cooperative banks, which have 3 per cent market share.

In the preceding three years (FY’06-08), 29 per cent of the complaints were against the SBI group, while 27 per cent were against other nationalised banks, followed by private (25 per cent) and foreign banks (11 per cent).

The data shows that complaints against all categories of banks have been showing a rise each year, of which over three times is for private banks and four times for foreign banks.

For an effective complaint redressal mechanism and to strengthen customer services in banks, the Reserve Bank of India in July issued a circular for a four-tier institutional arrangement consisting of  a committee of the board, standing committee of executives, a nodal department at the head office and controlling offices, and a committee at the branch level, for customer service.(BS)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Concerned over the spiralling food prices, the RBI has indicated at tightening money supply to contain inflation. Effective assessment of the inflation process, and using monetary policy actions at the right time would be critical to enhance the effectiveness of the inflation management policy, Shyamala Gopinath, deputy governor, RBI said in Bangalore.
She said there is a risk of high inflation in essential commodities affecting inflation figures. Given the dominance of food price inflation on shaping the course of inflation, the challenge is to address the supply constraints,” she added.

AGENCIES

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SBI Recruitment 2010 : Probationary Officer

Total number of Vacancies : 1717

IMPORTANT DATES

WRITTEN EXAMINATION : 07.03.2010 (SUNDAY)

PAYMENT OF FEES : FROM 01.01.2010 TO 25.01.2010

ONLINE REGISTRATION WILL START FROM 01.01.2010

LAST DATE FOR RECEIPT OF ON-LINE APPLICATIONS : 31.01.2010

EMOLUMENTS:

They will draw a starting basic pay of Rs. 10000/-

Probation :

Selected candidates will be on probation for a period of two years.

HOW TO APPLY:

Candidates are required to go to any Branch of State Bank of India and pay the amount of prescribed fees and postage and get receipt from the branch. The receipt should be retained and produced at the time of written test. The candidates are required to apply online through website

Eligibility : Candidates interested to apply for this SBI recruitment,refer below :

Duplicate call letter:

Those candidates who do not receive call letters latest by 28/02/2010 should contact in person at the address indicated against examination centre opted by them along with print out of application and original fee receipt. No action is possible if contacted after 04/03/2010. Duplicate call letters will be issued on production of the fee receipt in original and print out of application, provided the application has not been rejected.

For full details of application, procedure how to fill online application, and other details refer to the relevant pages of advertisement in the bank’s official website:

(Apply Online Here)

RECRUITMENT OF PROBATIONARY OFFICERS

-FOR DOWNLOADING FORM CLICK HERE

-FOR DOWNLOADING VOUCHER CLICK HERE

For New  4500 jobs 2010

(Apply Online Here)

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LENDERS have asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow them to decide interest rates on loans below Rs 2 lakh to enable them reach out to unbanked sections which are presently serviced by microfinance institutions and money lenders at high rates.

At present, banks cannot charge more than their benchmark prime lending rates (which range from 11% to 16%) on loans up to Rs 2 lakh. This ceiling applies to borrowings by farmers and small businessmen in rural India as personal loans are exempt from this cap.

If banks are granted the freedom to decide the rate of interest on small loans, interest rates are bound to rise. But banks say they would still be competitive compared to microfinance institutions which charge in the range of 30% to 35%. Some private banks have told the RBI that given their distribution network they will be able to grow the market significantly if rates are freed.

The differential in rate gives scope for pilferage in the system leading to a situation where the beneficiary may not get the full benefit of lower rate, pointed out a banker who attended the meeting with the RBI. Bankers said there may be instances of branch officers taking personal favour to sanction the loan at low rates when MFI are charging double the rate.

When contacted by ET, Indian Banks Association (IBA) chairman MV Nair declined to comment on proposal made to the RBI. However, Mr Nairwho is also the chairman of Union Bank of Indiapointed out, Any distortion in the interest rate in the market place gives rise to malpractice . So long as banks make credit available in time at an appropriate price that market can bear it will be help in achieving finance inclusion.

But given the political pressures in India it is unlikely that the RBI may immediately look at deregulating rates for small borrowers. The cap on such loans is basically aimed at protecting the interests of small borrowers, who would otherwise be charged higher rates since the transaction cost of financing such loans is high for a bank.

The central bank should attack pilferage in the system rather than deregulating rates, suggested a general manager in-charge of priority sector lending in a commercial bank.

The working group on benchmark lending rates chaired by RBI executive director Deepak Mohanty had suggested that the interest rate for loans up to Rs 2 lakh may be deregulated.

Banks should be free to lend to small borrowers at fixed or floating rates, which would include the base rate and sector-specific operating cost, credit risk premium and tenor premium as in the case of other borrowers, said the report.

Source: ECONOMIC TIMES

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The Reserve Bank of India declared that short-term loans given by banks to housing finance companies (HFCs) for further lending to end borrowers will not be included in  priority sector lending.

Therefore RBI said that “Banks should note that if the tenor of such loans granted by them to HFCs is not co-terminus with the onlending of HFCs, they will not be eligible for classification under priority sector lending,”

As per apex bank , Since the housing loans are generally medium to long term taken by individuals, short-term loans with tenor of six months to one year granted by banks to HFCs for onlending purposes would not be same as the loans taken by the individuals.

(BS)

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Reserve Bank of India is likely to hike the cash reserve ratio (CRR) – the portion of deposits banks have to keep with the central bank – by 25-50 basis points without waiting for the scheduled review of the monetary policy in January 2010. The CRR remains unchanged since January 17, 2009 when it was cut 50 basis points to 5 per cent.
Duvvuri Subbarao (RBI Governor) met Pranab Mukherjee(Finance Minister) to discuss the macro-economic situation after the latter presented the mid-year review of the Indian economy today in Parliament . According to Mukherjee’s the growth outlook for the full year is likely to be 7.75 per cent or even higher.
As per, the finance ministry “ base effect gives , rise in the price index. Therefore unlike the finance ministry, the RBI is also worried about rising prices.
Inflation for November rise from 4% to 4.78%, which was 1.34% in the previous month.

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