Indian Banks

State Bank of India (SBI) is seeking qualified and experienced candidate for the position of Chief Economist (CE) on a contract basis at its Corporate Centre at Mumbai. Advertisement No.CRPD/SCO/2011/04.

How To Apply: The complete application on the prescribed format along with photocopies of testimonials should reach us at following address by ordinary post: “State Bank of  India, Central Recruitment & Promotion Department, Tulsiani Chambers, 1st Floor, West Wing, 212, Free Press Journal Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021, Maharashtra.” Last Date for receipt of application is 30.06.2011.

Detailed Info: http://www.sbi.co.in/webfiles/uploads/directcontent/1307777630137_SBI_CRPD_CHIEF_ECONOMIST_DETAILED_AD.pdf

Application Form:http://www.sbi.co.in/webfiles/uploads/directcontent/1307777630137_SBI_CRPD_CHIEF_ECONOMIST_ENG

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Punjab National Bank (PNB) a Government of India Undertaking invites online application for the following Specialist Officers in various categories.

Last Date for Apply Online: 15.07.2011, further detailed information available in Employment News dated 25th June 2011 (25.06.2011).

Detailed Info: https://www.pnbindia.in/En/ui/Recruitment.aspx

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has re-allocated the portfolios of its executive directors (EDs) following the induction of two new ones. RBI has increased the number of executive directors to nine from seven earlier.

Among the two new ones, B Mahapatra has been given the charge of four departments, including the department of banking operations and development and department of government and bank accounts. P Vijaya Bhasker has taken charge of the department of banking supervision and the department of non-banking supervision, apart from the central security cell.

Before taking charge as ED, Mahapatra was a chief general manager in the department of banking operations and development, while Vijaya Bhasker was the regional director at Bangalore.

Earlier, R Gandhi was looking after the banking operations and development department, while both the department of banking supervision and the department of non-banking supervision were under G Gopalakrishna. Gopalakrishna has now been given charge of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation.Gopalakrishna is also a contender for the deputy governor’s post.

One of the deputy governors of RBI, Shyamala Gopinath, will retire on June 20 and seven executive directors has been interviewed for the post. Following the induction of a new deputy governor, the central bank may re-allocate deputy governor’s portfolios. Gopinath handles nine portfolios at present, including foreign exchange department and external investment and operations.

For the past few years, DICGC has been headed by an ED-rank officer. The chief executive officer’s post in DICGC — a wholly owned subsidiary of RBI – has been lying vacant since October 31 after H N Prasad’s retirement.

In the new scheme of things, Gandhi will take charge of the department of external investment and operations which was earlier with H R Khan.

(BS)

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The debt market remained largely unaffected by the policy rate increase of 25 basis points on Thursday. Yields on the 10-year benchmark 7.80 per cent government bond eased 10 bps instead, on the back of mounting uncertainty in growth prospects of the global economy.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its mid-quarter review that factors like high global commodity prices, the Japanese earthquake, monetary tightening in emerging market economies and uncertainty in resolution of the sovereign debt problem in the euro area had increased the downside risks to global growth prospects.

“The rate hike was in line with market expectations and was already factored in. The bond market has reacted to the global events, with the outlook for growth globally having deteriorated inthe past couple of days,” said Piyush Wadhwa, executive director & head, rates trading-India, Nomura.

RBI said the global economy weakened in the April-June quarter and lead indicators suggested growth moderation in both advanced economies and emerging markets. It maintained its earlier outlook on domestic growth but said that given the high degree of integration with the global economy, recent macroeconomic developments abroad pose some risk to domestic growth. The central bank said one objective of on Thursday’s rate rise was to mitigate the risk to growth from potentially adverse global developments.

“We expect the 10-year benchmark government bond to trade between 8.4-8.5 per cent, going forward,” said Hemant Mishr, managing director and head-global markets, South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank.

On the shorter end, it is expected the rates would not show significant movement. “The overnight call rates will adjust to the new corridor but the rates on the certificates of deposits (CDs) and commercial papers (CPs) will stay largely unaffected,” said Ajay Manglunia, senior vice-president, Edelweiss Securities.

The weighted average rate on overnight interbank call money closed at 7.43 per cent on Thursday, up from 7.36 per cent yesterday. CDs maturing in three months were issued at around 9.3 per cent and one-year CDs at 9.85 per cent on Thursday. The volumes in the CP market stayed muted, due to high rates and lack of investor appetite.

(BS)

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Loans are set to become more expensive, with most banks preparing to increase their lending rates after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised key policy rates for the 10th occasion in 15 months.

Banks, however, may wait till month-end before raising rates, as credit growth continues to dwindle due to the rising cost of funds. Typically, demand for bank credit remains slow in the first three months of a financial year. However, with the sharp rise in lending rates, banks fear the sluggishness may spill to the next quarter.

The central bank raised the repo rate (at which banks may borrow from RBI) by 25 basis points, to 7.5 per cent. Consequently, the reverse repo rate (at which RBI borrows from banks) was revised to 6.5 per cent to contain inflation and anchor inflationary expectations by curbing demand-side pressures.

Most banks are looking to increase their lending rates to ease pressure on their margins, which have been squeezed because of a series of policy rate rises in the past year and a half.

“RBI’s decision to increase the repo rate by 25 bps in its mid-quarter review on Thursday was on expected lines, considering the recent inflation data release for May was at nine per cent. This measure and the prevailing systemic liquidity conditions could lead to an increase in funding costs for banks and in lending rates,” said Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive of ICICI Bank.

Similar views were echoed by chief executives of both other private sector banks and state-run ones, who felt it was necessary to raise rates to prevent further erosion in margins.

“Today’s rate hike signals that inflationary threats to growth cannot be ignored. Banks are more likely to transmit the hike to borrowers, as their interest spread is already strained,” said M Narendra, chairman and managing director (CMD) of Indian Overseas Bank.

However, with credit growth moderating because of the sharp rise in cost of funds, some banks prefer to wait a bit. “Rate hikes will depend on liquidity conditions. If liquidity remains tight, we will have to increase our lending rates. At present, credit growth is showing some signs of moderation. We will wait for some time to assess the situation,” said MD Mallya, the CMD of Bank of Baroda.

Bank credit grew by 21 per cent over the year in the fortnight to June 3, compared with 22 per cent growth in the previous fortnight.

“The policy rate hike will put an upward pressure on lending rates of banks. Loans to rate-sensitive sectors may moderate because of this,” said Alok Misra, the CMD of Bank of India.

With deposit growth accelerating, banks don’t foresee any immediate rise in deposit rates across maturities. Bank deposits grew 18.2 per cent annually in the fortnight to June 3, higher than 17.37 per cent in the previous fortnight.

(BS)

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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.

(BS)

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High inflation and the consequential policy rate increases are likely to impact domestic growth in the future, said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Financial Stability Report released today. A slowdown in investment demand and the slackening global recovery also pose downside risks to growth.

The central bank said inflation was likely to remain high, as the entire impact of the rise in oil and coal prices was yet to be felt. The government’s higher expenditure on subsidy and rise in wages and raw material prices would prevent inflation from declining.

“Growth is likely to moderate, while inflation is likely to remain firm due to rising commodity prices,” RBI said in the report. Rising commodity prices are expected to have an adverse impact on the fiscal consolidation process, it said, adding there were risks to the fiscal deficit projections of 2011-12, since subsidies were likely to exceed budgetary provisions, owing to higher international commodity prices.

Headline inflation numbers again picked up in May on the back of higher prices of food and non-food manufactured goods. While the wholesale price index stood at 9.1 per cent in May, up from 8.7 per cent in April, food inflation rose to 8 per cent in May, compared with 7.6 per cent in April. Non-food manufactured inflation rose to 7.2 per cent from 6.3 per cent in April.

Higher oil and commodity prices may also led to widening of the current account deficit, though higher growth in software export and remittances is likely to provide cushioning.

According to the central bank, financing the current account deficit would be a challenge, as advanced countries exit their accommodative monetary policy stance. “This could slow down capital inflows to emerging market economies, including India, as investors rebalance their portfolios,” RBI said.

There is considerable uncertainty in the global financial recovery, owing to recent developments like the eurozone debt crisis, the earthquake in Japan and the geopolitical turmoil in major oil producing countries, RBI said. It added these developments may hit the confidence of investors and the spending decisions of corporations and households.

The central bank also cautioned against uncertainties in the West Asian and North African (Mena) countries. “If tensions in Mena continue, or spill over into bigger economies in the region, the impact on Indian financial markets would be difficult to contain, particularly because India’s fiscal improvement is expected to slow this year,” it said.

(BS)

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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Advertisement for the post of Chief Archivist in Grade ‘D’ (DGM) for Department of Economic and Policy Research.

How to Apply: ON-LINE: The candidate can apply ON-LINE using the link/URLhttp://onlinedr.rbi.org.in The ON-LINE applications can be submitted through the system till 11.59 P.M. on July 18, 2011.

OFF-LINE: Application or printout of the ON-LINE Application, as the case may be, along with copies of relevant certificates have to be sent by ordinary post to “The General Manager, Reserve Bank of India Services Board, Post Bag No. 4618, Mumbai Central Post Office, Mumbai-400008″ Application or the printout of the ON-LINE Application (hard copy), as the case may be, should reach the Board’s Office on or before 6.00 P.M. on July 25, 2011.

For Detailed Information: http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/bs_viewcontent.aspx?Id=2370

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