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Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Management Tip of the Day :Make the Most of a Bad Job
'With inspiration, you can do the impossible'
Gaurav Choudhury, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 31, 2012
First generation entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala is a pioneer in the television, entertainment and gaming industry.
Screwvala, managing director, DisneyUTV, and founder trustee, Swades Foundation, spoke to HT on various aspects of leadership. Excerpts:
How do you define a leader? What are the most important traits of a leader?
A leader has to lead from the front, and lead by example. Most importantly, a great leader must build credibility and trust all around - with colleagues, customers and the public at large. Integrity of thought and word cannot be relegated to second place at any cost. It is also important to inspire, as with inspiration, you can get colleagues and others to turn the impossible into the possible. This is particularly true in times of crisis as at such times, everyone looks up to the leader for answers and solutions.
Can leadership be learnt? In other words, how can a manager become a leader?
Leadership has to come from within, and, if you look at yourself as a manager, then chances are that you may not emerge as a leader. It has to come naturally, instinctively and needs to be embedded in the DNA of the leader. In some ways you can "learn" or "train" leadership qualities and how to take charge, but, in my view, real leadership in areas such as entrepreneurship is more of a natural process.
What is the role of a professional leader in a promoter-driven company?
I think a lot is being made, incorrectly, of this "professional" versus "promoter" debate. This argument sometimes creates the impression that founders and promoters can never be professionals. I think an optimal combination of a professional leading and a promoter heading an organisation can inject dynamism into it. The promoter brings on the table his risk taking ability, pioneering spirit and quick decision-making, backed by action. A professional leader can add to this with sharp execution plans and skills, an unwavering focus on deliverables, in-depth research and a thorough understanding of the consumer and the rigour of a strong review process.
Since Septr 2008, the world has fallen into a maelstrom of serial crises. What is the role of a leader in these times?
Part of the reason why the world fell into this maelstrom is that a small minority of heads of companies thought they were great leaders and let their perceptions overtake reality. These leaders closed themselves to feedback on ground realities. These are traits every leader should consciously avoid, for these are the precise reasons that cause leaders to fall off the cliff.
Leaders often carry the cross of other's wrong doings and inefficiencies. Take the global banking sector today, for instance. What role can good leadership play to counter balance this image?
Leadership is very individualistic and cannot be generalised. A leader has to be viewed as a distinct entity and cannot make up for the inefficiencies of others. Actually, in each industry, one will see some clear leaders who stand out clearly, demonstrating that it is as much about the individual himself as much it is for the specific sector. Stay the course in your own belief and performance, and that will be noticed and respected.
Who are the leaders that have inspired you?
More than individuals or personalities, there are certain situations that have inspired me.
For instance, the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which held out great lessons in leadership. To see the entire management and staff, irrespective of seniority, thinking of every client in the hotel as a guest even at a time of such a grave emergency, was a remarkable lesson on ownership, commitment and pride in your work. This is a direct reflection of great leadership - of leading from the front, of credibility and of standing by your beliefs at all times.
What is worst decision you have taken as a leader?
Not taking a hard call to pull the plug on something even when all the signs pointed otherwise and not knowing at that moment that it's wiser to cut your losses and walk. This inability to take a tough call when needed can lead to some of the worst decisions.
What is the best decision that you have taken as a leader?
Staying the course clearly is not only one of the most important asp
Banks shy away from consumer goods loans
Sachin Kumar, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, November 04, 2012
If you are looking for a loan to buy a consumer durable this festive season, banks may not be the best place to seek them.
With banks shying away from disbursing loans for buying home appliances and consumer electronic goods, thanks to a slowing economy turning such loans into bad loans, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are cashing in on the opportunity.
Consumer durable loans by banks have declined 20% in the first half of the current fiscal, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
Outstanding consumer durable loans fell to Rs. 7,000 crore as on September 21, 2012 against Rs. 8,800 crore as on March 23, 2012.
On a year-on-year basis they fell from Rs. 8,500 crore as on September 23, 2011, down 17%.
Consumer durable loans are unsecured loans that not backed by any collateral. Since these also carry higher interest than other loans, the chances of them turning into bad loans are higher.
"Banks have become cautious regarding consumer durable loans because of the rise in bad loans," said Arvind Bopte, general manager, retail and third party products, Union Bank of India.
With the economic slowdown impacting the repayment abilities of individuals and companies, banks' non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans rose to 1.28% in 2011-12 from 0.97% in 2010-11.
Goods bought with loans account for around 10% of total consumer durable sales.
"The prices of electronic goods have been falling continuously in the last few years, which has obviated the need for customer to buy with bank finance," said a senior bank official.
But NBFCs are clear gainers. "The last six months have been great for us," said Devang Mody, president, consumer business, Bajaj Finserv Lending. "This summer we have witnessed an year-on-year growth of over 50% (in consumer durable lending)."
NBFCs even offer zero-finance facilities for durables -in which case they make money not from interest payments but from sales-linked payments from manufacturers.
C T S 2010.... What It Is ?
http://prashantnepayments.blogspot.in
Cheque Truncation System -- An Introduction
Like them or Dislike them, Cheques in India
Though the retail as well as corporate customers are slowing moving towards electronic payments modes (RTGS/NEFT/ECR/ATM/CARDS), there is still demand for paper Cheques.
Paper Cheques are widely preferred in the following Payment Needs: ---
01) Telephone/Electricity/Water Bills
02) Credit Card Payments.
03) Local Government Taxes.
04) Post dated commitments.
Etc
Hence, Reserve Bank of India
01) Safer 02) User-friendly 03) Faster
Toward this end, the Cheque Truncation System was sought to be intoruced in our country.
What is Cheque Truncation System?
- Truncation is the process of stopping the flow of the physical cheque issued by a drawer to the drawee branch.
- The physical instrument will be truncated at some point en-route to the drawee branch and an electronic image of the cheque would be sent to the drawee branch along with the relevant information like the MICR fields, date of Presentation, presenting banks etc.
- Thus with the implementation of cheque truncation, the need to move the physical instruments across branches would not be required, except in exceptional circumstances.
- This would effectively reduce the time required for payment of cheques, the associated cost of transit and delay in processing, etc., thus speeding up the process of collection or realization of the cheques.
Why Cheque Truncation in India
Cheque Truncation
i. speeds up collection of cheques and
ii. therefore enhances customer service,
iii. reduces the scope for clearing related frauds,
iv. minimizes cost of collection of cheques,
v. reduces reconciliation problems,
vi. Eliminates logistics problems etc.
With the other major product offering in the form of RTGS, the Reserve Bank created the capability to enable inter-bank payments online real time and facilitate corporate customer payments.
The other product, National Electronic Funds Transfer, is an electronic credit transfer system. However, to wish away cheques is simply not possible and that is the reason why the Reserve Bank of India
Moreover contrary to perceptions, Cheque Truncation is a more secure system than the current exchange of physical documents in which the cheque moves from one point to another, thus, not only creating delays but inconvenience to the customer in case the instrument is lost in transit or manipulated during the clearing cycle.
How the uniqueness of the cheque would be imparted to the image?
- The images captured at the presenting bank level would be transmitted to the Clearing House and then to the drawee branches with digital signatures of the presenting bank.
- Thus each image would carry the digital signature, apart from the physical endorsement of the presenting bank, in a prescribed manner.
- In order to ensure only images of requisite quality reach the drawee branches, there will be a quality check process at the level of the Capture Systems and the Clearing House Interface. This would ensure only images of requisite quality secured with the digital signatures of the presenting banks reach the drawee branches.
Who can participate in the Cheque truncation system?
- The criteria for banks participating in the Cheque truncation system are:
- Membership of the clearing house in the NCR. ( As CTS is still live only in NCR –
- Membership of the Indian Financial Network (INFINET)
How the non-INFINET member banks can participate in the CTS?
- In respect of banks who are not members of the INFINET, the following alternatives are available.
- They may become the sub-members of the direct members or such banks may use the infrastructure of the other banks having INFINET membership without being the INFINET members themselves and there clearing settlement can be done either directly or through the member through whom they are participating.
Thus the benefits could be summarized as:
a) Faster clearing cycle;
b) Better reconciliation/verification process
c) Better Customer Service Enhanced Customer Window
d) T+0 for Local Clearing and T + 1 for inter-city clearing.
e) Elimination of Float Incentive to shift to Credit Push payments.
f) The jurisdiction of Clearing House can be extended to the entire country. No Geographical Dependence
g) Operational Efficiency will benefit the bottom lines of banks Local Clearing activity is a high cost no revenue activity.
h) Minimises Transaction Costs.
i) Reduces operational risk by securing the transmission route.
Cheque Truncation System(CTS) in India
After the initial hiccups associated with CTS were staiblised, MICR clearing was abolished in NCR-New Delhi w.e.f 01/07/2009, and at present only CTS is functioning in NCR-New Delhi.
The next step for Cheque Truncation System (CTS) is Chennai.
However, before CTS is introduced in Chennai, Reserve Bank of India
Cheque Truncation System – 2010 – (CTS 2010) Guidance Note by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
Cheque Truncation System – 2010 – (CTS 2010) Guidance Note by National Payments Corporation of India
As the deadline for CTS-2010, is coming closer, the various stake-holders are getting their act together
As per RBI Notification No RBI/2009-10/323/DPSS.CO.CHD.No.1832/04.07.05/2009-10 dt.February 22, 2010, IBA(Indian Banks Association) and NPCI, are the coordinating agencies, for CTS - 2010.
Towards this end, NPCI has on 21st September, 2010 issued a Guidance Note for the roll-out.
The complete Guidance Note can be accessed at
The highlights of the Guidance Note are :
Orders placed by Banks for Cheque Forms, on or after 01/10/2010, must comply with CTS – 2010 Security features
The Security features contain Mandatory features as well as Optional features
The Mandatory Security features are : -
A) Water Mark (to be incorporated at the paper manufacturing stage)
B) Void Pantograph ( at printing stage)
C)Ultra-violet logo of Bank(at printing stage)
D) Standardized field placements of a cheque
E) Cheque printing colours and background.
F) Microlettering.
G) New Rupee Symbol at CAR (Courtesy Amount Recognition) amount in figure field.
H) Printer Name along with CTS – 2010
Optional Features:- These are optional features based on the Banks risk perception.
(i) Supplementary watermark containing their own logo - - - A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations in the paper
(ii) Embedded fluorescent fibres, - - - Invisible colored fluorescent fibres are embedded into the paper during the manufacturing process. The fibres are invisible to the naked eye, but become visible when viewed under an ultra violet lamp. This can be placed at random locations or at pre-determined locations on the Cheque forms.
(iii) fugitive ink, - - - Water fugitive ink is sensitive with most liquid solutions and will smear and stain the document. Most official stamps uses water fugitive inks (McGraw-Hill, 2007). This security feature makes it apparent if a document has been altered.
(iv) secondary fluorescent ink, - - - Fluorescent inks are naturally bright inks that reflect and emit light making use of UV light waves, which other inks cannot take advantage of.
(v) Toner fusing - - - Toner Fuse Technology causes Laser Toner to bond permanently to the paper surface. This covert security feature makes it impossible to "lift" words and numbers off the surface of the paper using adhesive tape, without destroying the paper surface.
(vi) check- sum.
(vii) Patterns
(vii) Floral designs
(ix) bleeding ink, - - - An option of bleeding ink could be implemented on a cheque which makes fraud impossible using any water based chemicals, if applied to the cheque a colored solvent reacts and spoils the cheque.
(x) Structural magnetic security thread
(xii) Hot stamped holograms on multi-city cheques and demand drafts
(xiii) auto-detection tools
(xiv) Use of UV band on sensitive and key areas of interest on a cheque such as Legal Amount Recognition (Amount in Words), Courtesy Amount Recognition (Amount in Figures), Signature, Beneficiary Name
(xv) pre-encoding of amount field on the MICR band for demand drafts / pay orders (above a self-decided cut-off) before issue to customers
(xvi) Use of check-sum on the face of demand drafts / pay orders (other than the MICR band), etc.
NPCI has advised banks that the additional security features adhere to CTS – 2010 specifications and also not Image heavy.
The deadline for implementation of the CTS 2010 standards is 31/12/2010.
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One of the interesting aspect of this Guidance Note is that the CTS 2010 Specifications are applicable to all Cheque forms, and not only for Cheques forms for branches under the CTS (Cheque Truncation System) locations.
This might be to ensure that the Speed Clearing process does not get de-railed and also to ensure uniformity amongst the Cheque forms, in our country.
As the INR symbol has been adopted, this also is finding place on the new Cheque Forms.
I guess the next Guidance note will be on the transition period for existing Cheque Forms, already in the financial system. As it is, still Non-MICR cheques are being issued by few Government Departments.
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SBI to accept cheques conforming toCTS2010standards from Jan 1
ET :5 NOV, 2012, 03.59PM IST,
NEW DELHI: State Bank of India (SBI) today said it will from January 1 accept only those cheques which conform to new standards.
The step has been taken as per the direction of the Reserve Bank of India.
To meet the objective, SBI has asked all its branches to issue only with uniform features conforming to CTS2010 standard cheques to their customers.
All other banks including private sector and foreign banks have also started the process of phasing out of non-CTS cheques for migration to this system.
For standardisation and enhancement of security features in cheque forms and its migration to CTS 2010 standard, all branches of the bank will now issue only CTS 2010 standard cheques to their customers, SBI said in a public notice.
"Non CTS cheques will be out of circulation with effect from December 31, 2012 and will not be acceptable in clearing system also," it said.
All the customers of the bank are requested to contact their branches immediately to submit their requisition for issuance of CTS 2010 standard cheques and surrender their existing non-CTS cheques for cancellation, it added.
The homogeneity in security features of CTS 2010 standard cheques will act as deterrent against frauds, and the fixed field placement specifications facilitate straight-through-processing at drawee banks' end through the use of optical or image character recognition technology.
The introduction of new cheque standards 'CTS 2010' was warranted on account of several developments in the cheque clearing namely growing use of multi-city and payable-at-par cheques at any branch of a bank, increasing popularity of speed clearing for local processing of outstation cheques and implementation of grid based CTS for image-based cheque processing etc.
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