4 லாரிகளில் இருந்து ரூ.200 கோடி பணம், நகை பறிமுதல்

மும்பை வருமான வரித்துறை அலுவலகத்தில் செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை போலீஸ் பாதுகாப்பில் வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள பணம், நகைகள் எடுத்துச் சென்ற 4 லாரிகள்.

By dn, மும்பை :: 03 July 2013 04:08 AM IST

மும்பையில் வருமான வரித்துறை, தேசிய புலனாய்வு அமைப்பினர் நடத்திய அதிரடி சோதனையில் 150 பைகளில் இருந்த பணம், நகைகள் பறிமுதல் செய்யப்பட்டன.

4 லாரிகளில் எடுத்து வரப்பட்ட இந்த பணம், நகைகளின் மதிப்பு ரூ.200 கோடிக்கு மேல் இருக்கும் எனத் தெரிகிறது.

மும்பையில் இருந்து குஜராத்துக்கு தனியார் கூரியர் சேவை மூலம் லாரிகளில் கட்டுக்கட்டாக பணமும், நகைகளும் அனுப்பப்பட்டுள்ளன. ஒவ்வொரு லாரியிலும் சுமார் 15 பேர் வரை பாதுகாப்புக்கு வந்துள்ளனர்.

இது தொடர்பாக வருமான வரித்துறை (விசாரணைப் பிரிவு) இயக்குநர் ஜெனரல் ஸ்வதந்திர குமார் கூறியது: தெற்கு மும்பை, மத்திய ரயில்வே நிலையம் அருகே நடத்தப்பட்ட சோதனையில் 4 லாரிகளில் எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்ட பணம், நகைகள் கைப்பற்றப்பட்டன. வருமான வரித்துறையினரும், தேசிய புலனாய்வு அமைப்பினரும் (என்ஐஏ) இணைந்து திங்கள்கிழமை இரவு இந்த சோதனையை மேற்கொண்டனர்.

கணக்கில் காட்டப்படாத பெருமளவிலான பணம் மும்பையில் இருந்து குஜராத்துக்கு லாரிகளில் கடத்தப்படுவதாக வருமான வரித்துறைக்கு கிடைத்த ரகசியத் தகவல் மூலம் இந்த நடவடிக்கை மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டது.

பணத்தை எண்ணுவதிலும், தங்க, வைர நகைகளை எடைபோட்டு மதிப்பிடும் பணியிலும் 50 வருமான வரித்துறை அதிகாரிகள் ஈடுபட்டுள்ளனர். அப்பணி முடிந்த பின்புதான் அவற்றின் மொத்த மதிப்பை சரியாகக் கூற முடியும்.

சில ஊடகங்கள் கூறியுள்ளதுபோல ரூ.1000 கோடி பணம், நகைகள் கைப்பற்றப்படவில்லை என்றார். இந்தப் பணம் முழுவதும் கணக்கில் வராதவை. அவற்றின் மதிப்பு நிச்சயமாக ரூ.200 கோடிக்கு மேல் இருக்கும் என்று வருமான வரித்துறை வட்டாரங்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. இப்பணம் ஹவாலா பரிமாற்றம் மூலம் கொண்டு வரப்பட்டது என்றும் தகவல் வெளியாகியுள்ளது.

யாருக்கு எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்டது? 

இப்பணம் பயங்கரவாதிகளுக்காக கொண்டு செல்லப்பட்டதா, அல்லது அரசியல் கட்சிகளின் நிதிக்காக எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்டதா என்பது உறுதி செய்யப்படவில்லை. இது தொடர்பாக பேசிய மகாராஷ்டிர உள்துறை அமைச்சர் ஆர்.ஆர். பாட்டீல், "இந்த சம்பவத்தில் பயங்கரவாதத் தொடர்பு இருந்தால் விசாரணை மும்பை போலீஸிடம் ஒப்படைக்கப்படும். இந்தப் பணம் எங்கிருந்து வந்தது என்பது குறித்து வருமான வரித்துறையினர் விசாரிப்பார்கள்' என்றார்.

போலீஸ் பாதுகாப்புடன்... பணம் எடுத்துச் சென்ற லாரிகள் மும்பை போலீஸ் பாதுகாப்புடன் சென்றுள்ளன.

தனியார் கூரியர் நிறுவனங்கள் மூலம் பணம், நகை போன்ற மதிப்புமிக்க பொருள்கள் எடுத்துச் செல்லப்படும்போது, கொள்ளையர்களிடம் இருந்து பாதுகாக்க போலீஸ் பாதுகாப்பு அளிக்கப்படுவது வழக்கம்தான் என்று மும்பை போலீஸ் தரப்பில் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

இவ்வாறு எடுத்துச் செல்லப்படும் பணம், நகைகள் கணக்கில் காட்டப்பட்டவைதானா என்பதை உறுதி செய்வது போலீஸாரின் பணியல்ல என்று மும்பை போலீஸ் உயரதிகாரி ஒருவர் கூறினார்.

SBI celebrates 58th bank day

BL ; 3 July 2013

State Bank of India celebrated its 58th bank day in Chennai on Monday.

It was on this day, July 1, 1955, the Imperial Bank of India was reconstituted by an Act of Parliament to to create State Bank of India to perform the functions of a commercial bank. This marked the start of a new era in banking in the country, said a press release from SBI.

At launch of the day’s events, Varsha Purandare, Chief General Manager, SBI, delivering the presidential address, emphasised the importance of ‘prompt and positive response’ by the staff to every opportunity that helps grow the bank and maintain its leadership. She urged the staff to take personal responsibility for sustaining the bank’s position as the leader and pioneer in financial services. General Managers, S. Krithivasan and Sanjiv Chadha, were present on the occasion.

CULTURAL EVENTS

As a part of the celebrations, a melange of cultural events was organised, with active participation of staff members.

Three outstanding social workers – Padma Venkataraman, Chairman, Women’s Indian Association; C. Ramasubramanian, Founder of Chellamuthu Trust and Research Foundation, Madurai; and James E. Kimpton, President, Reaching the Unreached, Madurai — were honoured with shield and cash award. The bank also honoured three State toppers in the recently held Plus Two examinations.

 

Bank licences: If some of these guys can run a bank, so can I

FP : R Jagannathan Jul 2, 2013

When George Mallory was trying to raise money from New Yorkers for an expedition to conquer Mount Everest in the mid-1920s, he was asked why anyone would want to climb the highest mountain. His answer: “Because it’s there.”

If you were to ask many of the 26 hopefuls who have queued up at the Reserve Bank’s window for private banking licences, their answer could be similar: “Because, it may be available.”

Given half a chance, it seems, Indian promoters will take any opportunity they get to start a new business whether they have the capability or financial muscle for it.

On Monday, the Reserve Bank (RBI) put out a list of those seeking licences and the list is an eye-opener. If you leave out a few obvious big businesses with the right pedigree to consider creating a bank – the Tatas, Birlas, L&T Finance, and IDFC, among them – the list includes many businesses for whom it makes little sense to think of banking as a core competence.

Given half a chance, it seems, Indian promoters will take any opportunity they get to start a new business whether they have the capability or financial muscle for it. Reuters

Why should broking houses likeJM Financial or a Tourism Finance Corporation or an infra company like SREI Infra want to start a bank? Why should India Post, which runs a fairly inefficient postal service and a shoddy postal savings scheme, think it can run a bank? The RBI has been busy trying to circumscribe gold loan companies from expanding their operations, but that hasn’t stopped Muthoot Finance from throwing its hat into the ring.

Maybe, just maybe, the Muthoots of the world want to become banks merely because the RBI is not so nice to gold loan companies.

This is not about prejudging the capabilities of any of these hopefuls in setting up a successful bank, but about asking why. Why do so many people want to run a bank?

Consider the hurdles they have to cross: first, they have to plonk Rs 500 crore on the table as capital on Day One. Then, 25 percent of their branches have to be in “unbanked” rural areas. The RBI’s definition of unbanked areas is villages with a population below 10,000. Assuming this means 2,000 households, it means putting up a branch for fewer than 2,000 live accounts. A quarter of the branches will lose money from Day One.

In the current regulatory environment, roughly 27 percent of your deposits have to be locked up in low-yield government bonds (23 percent) and no-interest cash reserve ratio (4 percent). After pre-empting 27 percent, the rest has to be lent out to make a profit, but 40 percent of the credit has to go to “priority” areas, including agriculture, exports, loans to risky small units, etc.

Why would anyone except the strongest financial groups want to do this?

The prime reason why HDFC – the housing finance pioneer – does not want to merge with its bank is regulatory pre-emption. HDFC Managing Director Keki Mistry tells TamalBandyopadhyay in his book, Bank for the Buck: “If we were to merge with the bank, we would need a huge reserve requirement. That’s the biggest issue….If the regulator excuses us from these pre-emptions for five years or allows us to maintain SLR and CRR on incremental deposits and not on the existing balance-sheet, it would make tremendous sense for both HDFC and the bank.”

Once again, it’s worth asking: why are unknown companies rushing where HDFC, which has lots of cash in the vault, fears to tread?

And let’s not forget, some of the best-known and solvent names in non-banking financial services – like Sundaram Finance – are not getting into banking. Nor is the biggest Ambani, Mukesh Ambani. The Reliance Group that has sought a banking licence is Anil Ambani’sReliance Capital. The man with oodles of cash, brother Mukesh, is waiting and watching. Maybe he will do it the next time, but he is clearly in no hurry.

On the other hand, look at the names at the starting post. Do companies such as Bandhan Financial Services (microfinance), INMACS Management Services (an MIS developer, among other things), UAE Exchange (a foreign exchange remitter) and Suryamani Financing Co Pvt Ltd (Kolkata-based finance company) remotely look like someone one would associate with banking?

Or why would a Life Insurance Corporation of India want to start a new bank, when it is already a substantial equity holder in three banks – Oriental Bank of Commerce, Corporation Bank, and UTI Bank.

Yet, they are all there in the RBI’s list of 26 hopefuls.

The chances are that not more than four or five of the 26 will get a look-in in the first list of new bankers.

As we noted before, even if you are not deterred by the regulatory hurdles, the RBI plans to erect some more of them in picking its licence recipients. One is it’s omnibus “fit and proper criteria”, which demands that promoters must have sound credentials and integrity (sounds good, but isn’t that a given?); then they should have had a ‘successful’ track record of 10 years (what is “successful for the RBI?); and they must have a good rating from the other regulators (if you have crossed Sebi’s or Irda’s path unfavourably, watch out).

As we wrote in March, “The biggest wet blanket is the condition that the “promoter/promoter groups’ business model and business culture should not be misaligned with the banking model and their business should not potentially put the bank and the banking system at risk on account of group activities such as those which are speculative in nature or subject to high asset price volatility.” (Italics ours)”

The RBI also warned that even if a promoter meets all its criteria, he may still not be allowed near the starting post. “Banking being a highly leveraged business, licences shall be issued on a very selective basis to those who conform to the above requirements, who have an impeccable track record and who are likely to conform to the best international and domestic standards of customer service and efficiency. Therefore, it may not be possible for RBI to issue licences to all the applicants meeting the eligibility criteria prescribed above. (Italics ours)”.

Back to the question: why then are so many promoters willing to try their luck?

This writer believes that it is merely the respectability of the banking business that makes it so attractive. Some entrepreneurs want to run an airline even if it burns a hole in their pockets; others think owning a bank is like a licence to print money and looks good on your business card.

The other reason is the push effect: when the RBI looks at non-bank financial companies with varying degrees of suspicion, some of them might feel that they will be able to do better as banks.

There is no other reason why brokers, realtors, postal service providers and sundry promoters with some kind of finance businesses in their repertoire would want a banking licence.

It may be as simple as that.

Why rupee might even touch 65-70 to a dollar

FP :by Vivek Kaul : 3 July : 2013

The rupee crossed 60 to a dollar again and touched 60.06, briefly in early morning trade today. As I write this one dollar is worth around Rs 59.97. This should not be surprising given that the demand for dollars is much more than their supply.

The external debt of India stood at $ 390 billion as on March 31,2013. Nearly 44.2% or $172.4 billion of this debt has a residual maturity of less than one year i.e. it needs to be repaid by March 31, 2014. The external debt typically consists of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) raised by companies, NRI deposits, loans raised from the IMF and other countries, short term trade credit etc.

Every time an Indian borrower repays external debt he needs to sell rupees to buy dollars. When this happens the demand for dollars goes up, and leads to the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar. The demand for dollars for repayment of external debt is likely to remain high all through the year.  Data from the RBI suggests that NRI deposits worth nearly $49 billion mature on or before March 31, 2014. With the rupee depreciating against the dollar, the perception of currency risk is high and thus NRIs are likely to repatriate these deposits rather than renew them. This will mean a demand for dollars and thus pressure on the rupee.

External commercial borrowings of $21 billion raised by companies need to be repaid before March 31, 2014. Companies which have cash, might look to repay their foreign loans sooner rather than later. This is simply because as the rupee depreciates against the dollar, it takes a greater amount of rupees to buy dollars. So if companies have idle cash lying around, it makes tremendous sense for them to prepay dollar loans. The trouble is that if a lot of companies decide to prepay loans then it will add to the demand for dollars and thus put further pressure on the rupee.

Things are not looking good on the trade deficit front as well. Trade deficit is the difference between imports and exports. Indian imports during the month of May 2013, stood at $44.65 billion. Exports fell by 1.1% to $24.51 billion. This meant that India had a trade deficit of more than $20 billion. Trade deficit for the year 2012-2013 (i.e. the period between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013) had stood at $191 billion. The broader point is that India is not exporting enough to earn a sufficient amount of dollars to pay for its imports.

Every time an Indian borrower repays external debt he needs to sell rupees to buy dollars. Reuters

The trade deficit for the month of April 2013 had stood at $17.8 billion. If we add this to the trade deficit of $20.1 billion for the month of May 2013, we get a trade deficit of nearly $38 billion for the first two months of the year.  With the way things currently are it is safe to say that the trade deficit for 2013-2014(or the period between April 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014) is likely to be similar to that of last year, if not higher. What will add to the import pressure is a fall in the price of gold.

Hence, if we add the foreign debt of $172 billion that needs to be repaid during 2013-2014, to the likely trade deficit of $191 billion, we get $363 billion. This is going to be the likely demand for dollars for repayment of foreign debt and for payment of excess of imports over exports, during the course of the year.  A further demand for dollars is likely to come from foreign investors pulling money out of the Indian stock and bond market. The foreign investors pulled out investments worth more than Rs 44,000 crore or around $7.53 billion, from the Indian bond and stock markets during the month of June, 2013.

This is likely to continue in the days to come given that the Federal Reserve of United States, the American central bank, has indicated that it will go slow on printing dollars in the days to come. This means that interest rates in the United States are likely to go up, and thus close a cheap source of funding for the foreign investors.
Now lets compare this demand for dollars with India’s foreign exchange reserves. As on June 21, 2013, the foreign exchange reserves of India stood at $287.85 billion. Even if we were to ignore the demand for dollars that will come from foreign investors exiting India, the foreign exchange reserves are significantly lower than the $363 billion that is likely to be required for repayment of foreign debt and for payment of excess of imports over exports.

This clearly tells us that India is in a messy situation on this front. If we were to just look at the ratio of foreign exchange reserves to imports we come to the same conclusion. The current foreign exchange reserves are good enough to cover around six and a half months of imports ($287.85 billion of foreign exchange reserves divided by $44.65 billion of monthly imports). This is a very precarious situation and was last seen in the early 1990s, when India had just started the liberalisation programme. This is a very low number when we compare it to other BRIC economies(i.e. Brazil, Russia and China), which have an import cover of 19 to 21 months.
That’s one side of the equation addressing the demand for dollars. But what about the supply? Dollars can come into India through the foreign direct investment(FDI) route. When dollars come into India through the FDI route they need to be exchanged for rupees. Hence, dollars are sold and rupees are bought. This pushes up the demand for rupees, while increasing the supply of dollars, thus helping the rupee gain value against the dollar or at least hold stable.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently pointed out that the foreign direct investment in India fell by 29% to $26 billion in 2012. So things are not looking good on the FDI front for India. A spate of scams from 2G to coalgate is likely to keep foreign businesses away as well. The recent mess in India’s telecom policy and the Jet-Etihad deal, which would have been the biggest FDI in India’s aviation sector till date, doesn’t help either.

The other big route through which dollars can come is through foreign investors getting in money to invest in the Indian stock and bond market. But as explained above that is likely to be come down this year with the Federal Reserve of United States announcing that it will go slow on its money printing programme in the months to come.  NRI remittances can ease the pressure a bit. India is the world’s largest receiver of remittances. In 2012, it received $69 billion, as per World Bank data. But even this will not help much to plug the gap between the demand for dollars and their supply.

Then come the NRI deposits. As on March 31, 2013, they stood at around $70.8 billion, having gone up nearly 20.8% since March 31, 2012. NRIs typically invest in India because the interest that they earn on deposits is higher in comparison to what they would earn by investing in the countries that they live in.

Interest rates offered on bank deposits continue to remain high in India in comparison to the western countries. So does that mean that NRIs will renew their deposits and not take their money out of India? Interest is not the only thing NRIs need to consider while investing money in India. They also need to take currency risk into account. With the rupee depreciating against the dollar, the ‘perception’ of currency risk has gone up. Lets understand this through an example.

An NRI invests $10,000 in India. At the point he gets money into India $1 is worth Rs 55. So $10,000 when converted into rupees, amounts to Rs 5.5 lakh. This money lets assume is invested at an interest rate of 10%. A year later Rs 5.5 lakh has grown to Rs 6.05 lakh (Rs 5.5 lakh + 10% interest on Rs 5.5 lakh). The NRI now has to repatriate this money back. At this point of time lets say $1 is worth Rs 60. So when the NRI converts rupees into dollars he gets $10,080 or more or less the same amount of money that he had invested.

Given this, NRIs are unlikely to bring in as many dollars into the country as they did during the course of the last financial year (i.e. the period between April 1, 2012 and March 31,2013).

In short, the demand for dollars is likely to continue to be more than their supply in the time to come. This will ensure that the rupee will keep depreciating against the dollar. Economist Rajiv Mallik of CLSA summarised the situation best in a recent column “Prepare for the rupee at 65-70 per US dollar next year. That still won’t be the end of the story.”

How Tony Fernandes roped in Ratan Tata into AirAsia India

by Cuckoo Paul  : First Post : 2 June 2013 32 mts before

Though not a formal part of AirAsia India’s management, the chairman-emeritus of the Tata group Ratan Tata is obviously a very integral part of the venture.

The 76-year-old  flew AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes, his partner Dato Kamarudin and new AirAsia India CEO Mittu Chandilya to Delhi on his business jet on Tuesday.

He will also accompany the team to meet with the minister for civil aviation Ajit Singh and other senior ministers.

Pic: Tony Fernandes’ Twitter handle

Tata has a choice between two Falcon 2000s and a P180 Avanti, all owned by Taj Air, that he flies frequently, to ferry the team. Joking about the trip, Fernandes said his business partner, the low key deputy chief executive of AirAsia, Kamarudin Meranun, was scared of getting on the flight. “But Mr Tata let it be known that he has recently finished his recurrent training.”

The AirAsia executives had met with senior Tata group officials and Cyrus Mistry at Bombay House on Monday.

Speaking fondly of his relationship with Tata, the charismatic entrepreneur says, “We’ve known each other only briefly, yet we are like friends now.” The former TCS chairman S Ramadorai is the AirAsia India chairman, but Tata is the sounding board for ideas and strategies that are still evolving.

The Tata group has a 30% stake in the airline company, without any operational responsibility. AirAisa Bhd has 49%, and Delhi Telestra Tradeplace have the remaining 21%.

 Coming Together

In an informal chat with Forbes India, Fernandes spoke of how he roped in Tata into the venture. Their first interaction was about seven years ago when he was dreaming about building cars.

“I wanted JLR as a partner and I wrote to him asking if we could meet.” Tata had responded and the two spoke of possibilities. They could never reach an understanding.

“We started talking about planes, and I said one day there might be an AirAsia India- this was six/seven years ago. But I knew India was closed, and it was no use thinking about it,” he says.

The auto-tie up with Tata Motors never got off the ground. Fernandes, continued with his dream, and has formed a joint venture with European car-maker Renault to build a sports utility vehicle for the mass market.

In October last year, Fernandes was in Delhi for a meeting with the Airports Authority of India and saw a framed picture of JRD Tata on the wall. The picture also had a copy of JRD’s flying licence, and Fernandes texted Ratan Tata to tell him about it.

After a short conversation, the two decided to meet up. The Indian government had liberalised rules for foreign investments in airlines, and Ratan Tata had always been keen on starting one. He flew over to Singapore to meet with Fernandes.

It was at the Shangri-La hotel in Singapore that Tata decided to take the plunge into the low-cost carrier business with Fernandes. Things moved quickly thereafter, he says. At Bombay House, the transition was already in the progress. The reigns of the $100 billion Tata group were being handed over to Cyrus Mistry.

The AirAsia team came over to make a presentation to the Tata board. The board approved the deal and AirAsia India was born.

Fraudulent money transfer: Delhi High Court asks PNB to deposit Rs 45 lakh

PTI Jun 23, 2013, 11.48AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked a nationalised bank to deposit with it Rs 45 lakh, awarded as damage in an illegal fund transfer case, till the final disposal of its appeal.

The court stayed the Maharashtra adjudicating officer's February 25 order which asked Punjab National Bank (PNB) to pay Rs 45 lakh to Poona Auto Ancillaries as a fraudster transfered Rs 80.10 lakh from the PNB account of the MD of the Pune-based firm.

The vacation bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the bank to deposit the damage amount with theRegistrar General of the high court till the final disposal of its appeal.

"Operation of the impugned order be stayed subject to the petitioner deposits Rs 45 lakh with the RG of this court," the court said.

Issuing notices to the ministries of Commerce and Information and Technology, the court sought their replies by August 13.

The Centre's counsel Sumit Pushkarna accepted the notices. The court order came on an appeal filed by PNB against the adjudicating officer's order on the complaint of Poona Auto Ancillaries under the Information and Technology Act alleging fraudulent transfer of funds from its current account with PNB branch Pune to the account of M/s Sutlej Textile with the PNB's Kathua branch in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2011.

According to the complainant company, the amounts were transferred in 40 transactions of Rs 2 lakh each and one transaction of Rs 10,000 in quick successions.

Canara Bank unveils eLounge, eLobby services

   L N Revathi :BL :COIMBATORE, JUNE 25:2013

  

 

Have you dreaded going to a bank’s branch for some reason or other? 

Well, you may not have to wait indefinitely to get into the ‘do-it-yourself’ act, if you are a customer of Canara Bank.

The bank’s latest technology initiative — the eLounge or eLobby — aims to help the customer do all his transactions, including pass book updation himself.

“There will be no manual intervention,’’ said R.K. Dubey, Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank.

While the eLobby service will be available round-the-clock, all through the year, it will not be available at the customer’s door-step. Rather, the bank is planning to set up the facility in its own premises.

Canara Bank has already launched the eLounge service in Bangalore and Delhi. Dubey indicated that the bank would look to create one in each city, including Coimbatore.

The eLounge will have a cash dispensing machine, cash deposit and cheque deposit unit, passbook printing machine, an online trading terminal and another machine working like an eKiosk, for Internet banking operations, he said.

While the initiative is expected to lure tech-savvy customers, Dubey made it clear that proper use of the eLounge alone would help the bank benefit from the roll-out of such an initiative.

(This article was published on June 25, 2013)

Keywords: Canara Bank, eLounge service, eLobby service, Canara Bank new tech initiative,