POST BANK குழப்பமும் CORE BANKING திட்டமும் - இரண்டும் வெவ்வேறு
என்று விளக்கம்!
என்று விளக்கம்!
POST
BANK என்பது வேறு ! POSB என்பது வேறு ! இரண்டும் தனித்தனியே
இயங்கும் ! POST BANK என்பது COMPANIES ACT அடிப்படையில் ஒரு பொதுத்
துறை நிறுவனமாக செயல்படும் ! அதன் சம்பள விகிதம் என்பது வேறு ! அஞ்சல்
எழுத்தரின் சம்பள விகிதம் என்பது வேறு ! அதற்கென்று தனியே RECRUITMENT
செய்யப் படும் ! ஆனால் ஒரே அலுவலக வளாகத்தில் ஆரம்பத்தில் செயல்படும் !
முதலில் 50 இடங்களில் துவங்கப் படுவது POST BANK ஆகும் . இது 5
ஆண்டுகளில் 150 கிளைகளாக விரிவு படுத்தப் படும் . ஆனால் CORE BANKING
அடிப்படையில் POSB என்பது நாடு முழுவதும் விரிவு படுத்தப் பட்டு அது
POSB யாக அஞ்சல் துறையின் கீழ் செயல்படும் !.இதுதான் அரசின் இன்றைய திட்டம் ! பார்க்கவும் கீழே உள்ள செய்தியை !
August 13
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.
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