A bank run by beggars, for beggars in Bihar town-Times of India 29.03.2015
GAYA (Bihar): A group of beggars in this Bihar town has opened their own bank, which they run and manage to provide financial security in times of crisis.Dozens of beggars, who have been depending for their survival on alms from hundreds of Hindu devotees at the gate of 'Maa Manglagauri Mandir' (temple) in Gaya town for years, have started the bank.
The beggars call it Mangala Bank.
"It is true that we have established a bank for ourselves," said Raj Kumar Manjhi, one of the 40 beggars who are members of this unique "bank".
"Bank's manager, treasurer and secretary along with one agent and other member, who are running and managing it, are all beggars," Manjhi told IANS in Gaya, about 100 km from here. Manjhi, incidentally, is the manager of the bank.
Manjhi, who is literate enough to manage the accounts and other works of the bank, said: "Each of us (beggars) deposits Rs.20 every Tuesday in the bank that comes to Rs.800 weekly deposit."
Malti Devi, who is secretary of the bank that was established six months ago, said: "It began last year with a big hope and to fulfill aspirations of beggars. We are still not treated well in the society because we are poorest of the poor."
Malti now reaches out to more and more beggars by opening their account.
"Most of the beggars who are members of the 'bank' have neither BPL (Below Poverty Line) card nor Aadhaar card," she said.
Manjhi's wife Nagina Devi is treasurer of the bank. She said: "My duty is to manage the deposit money."
Bank's agent Vanarik Paswan said his job is to collect money from each member weekly for deposit.
Manjhi said their bank helped him when he faced an emergency.
"Early this month, my daughter and sister sustained burn injuries while cooking. The bank has provided me a loan of Rs.8,000 for their medical treatment. It is an example of how the bank can help a beggar like me without any paper work or guarantor as practiced in nationalised and private banks," he said.
Manjhi would not have to pay interest on his loan for a month.
"The bank has made it mandatory to pay interest on a loan at the rate of 2 to 5 percent from next month to put pressure to pay back loan amount," Malti said.
Beggars like Nathun Budha, Basant Manjhi, Rita Masomat, Dhaula Devi said that they were happy that at least now they have their own bank.
"We saved some money at least now and deposit in the bank," said Basant.
Rita said they have been depositing money in the bank to meet her future needs.
Nathun added that what was unique about their bank is the fact that it is owned and managed by beggars who decide on the rules and regulations themselves.
The beggars were encouraged to start their own bank by officials of State Society for Ultra Poor and Social Welfare last year.
Media Bashing of Bankers Must Stop : Every Year Media Makes a Hue and Cry for Bank Holidays - It is a Shame on Media that They Misrepresent Facts-By Rajesh Goyal (source: allbankingsolutions.com)
The recent trends indicate that media is always trying to pick up one or the other issue and tries to paint the banks and bankers as the villain. The feelings of the general public [who is already biased against bankers. on account of wrong perceptions like high salaries, frequent strikes calls, most of which are called off, poor services], are aroused by media by placing distorted facts about Indian banking.
I have recently come across a series of articles in reputed media circles, which have tried to paint as if the whole banking industry will be shut down for most of the days in next 10 days (i.e. from 28th March to 5th April). I am giving below some of the links which have appeared recently in the media:-
Though I am no more in active service of the bank and I am not much affected by the public perception, yet when I read such distorted articles, my blood boils. Thus, today I could not resist myself to write an article about how media is creating negative sentiments about bankers. I know bankers in the active service find it difficult to make a detailed analysis and are left by everybody to fend for themselves.
A cursory reading of these articles gives an impression that bankers will be enjoying long weekends and taking rest at homes or going on holidays for tourist purposes. Whereas, every banker knows it well that this is the most critical part of the whole year, when they are going to be under extraordinary stress for meeting the targets, closing the bank account (some banks find it difficult to complete closing on account of problems with the software, connectivity problems etc.). I am sure some of the poor bankers will be spending their nights at the branches so that the branch work is not affected on the next working day.
However, these media personnel, who have hardly the taste of banking and problems relating to closing, have tried their best to paint bankers as the villain and easy going breed. It is a shame on our media that they publish such articles without actually verifying the facts with the concerned bankers. These articles are cheap gimmick to gain extra reading by arousing the sentiments of general public who is least aware of the actual facts.
I have tried to compile the list of bank holidays in different States/UTs during last week of March and first week of April 2015, which are given below:-
Date When it is a Holiday in some States / UTs
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Out of 36 States+ UTs, only following States /UTs will observe bank holidays
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28th March, 2015
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Bihar, Daman & Diu, HP, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, MP, Orissa, Punjab, Sikkim, UP, Uttarakhand
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29th March, 2015
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SUNDAY - It is holiday as per law and available across all sectors
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30th March, 2015
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Banks to Remain Open Across India
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31st March , 2015
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Banks to Remain Open Across India
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1st April, 2015
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Bank Closing (It is mandatory for banks to close their accounts). Unlike other Govt offices, where they keep on issuing cheques in back dates and close their accounts at their will, banks are compulsorily required to close their books as on 31st March every year by next day i.e. 1st April.
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2nd April, 2015 & 3rd April 20145
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Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and UP, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu
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(i) Thus, we find that majority of Indian States will not face any long holidays. Out of 36 States / UT, only 11 will remain closed on 28th and 29th March (including Sunday). Remaining 25 States / UT will close only and only for Sunday.
(ii) As far as 1st, 2nd and 3rd April is concerned only 7 states will have bank holidays for continuous three days (out of which one is on account of compulsory bank closing). Remaining 29 States/UT will remain closed for maximum for two days out of these three days. On the other hand few States will remain closed only and only on 1st April, and they will be working for full days on 2nd and 3rd April (e.g. Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, J&K)
All the news links given above are from reputed and well established media houses. It is not expected that they will give such a distorted picture about the banks and bankers through their media channels. I have never seen that these media houses have taken up seriously the problems being faced by bankers, such as low salaries of young bankers and denial of proper pension to retired bankers.
I also feel disgusted to note that bank unions who were known for their militancy have become so much coward that they fail to issue rejoinders and force these media house to publish the true facts as we have tried to collect and point out above.
This type of media bashing of bankers has resulted into bankers facing the wrath of the public for issues where bankers are absolutely correct.
I hope bankers will share this view with not only with their friends and relatives, but also with media houses, union leaders so that public is not befooled by such distorted facts placed by media.
I Wish all my serving banker colleagues a smooth annual closing.
RBI for tighter bank exposure norms
Plans to cap bank exposure limit at 25% of tier-I capital-Business Standard
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to tighten the norms for large exposure by capping a bank's exposure to 25 per cent of its tier-I capital, both for single borrower and also for the group.
At present, banks can lend up to 15 per cent of their net worth to a single borrower and there's an additional five per cent leeway for firms involved in infrastructure development. The additional five per cent leeway is given to the banks' board. So, in effect, the total single company exposure of a bank could go up to 25 per cent of its net worth. Similarly, group exposure is capped at 55 per cent of the net worth of a bank.
"Under the proposed LE (large exposure) Framework, the sum of all the exposure values of a bank to a single counter-party or to a group of connected counter-parties must not be higher than 25 per cent of the bank's available eligible capital base at all times," RBI said in the 'Discussion Paper on Large Exposures Framework and Enhancing Credit Supply through Market Mechanism', released on its website on Friday.
Under the proposed LE framework, banks will get additional headroom for taking exposures towards single-name counter-parties. However, the exposure ceilings toward groups of borrowers will be significantly reduced in comparison with the present exposure ceilings.
The central bank said the new norms would come into effect from 1 April, 2019.
"A group of connected counter-parties will be identified on the basis of 'control' as well as 'economic interdependence' criteria against only 'control' criteria under the extant RBI exposure norms," it said.
Currently, banks are allowed group exposure of up to 55 per cent of their capital funds. However, the discussion paper noted that a study of 20 largest group exposures of 10 largest banks showed that the average group exposure of banks is only 10.60 percent of the capital funds.
The discussion paper highlighted the need for companies to rely more on market borrowings such as commercial paper and corporate bonds to meet their working capital needs rather than looking for bank funding.
"The discussion paper also invites comments on a proposal to make large corporates, enjoying working capital and term loan limits above a certain threshold, to meet a portion of both their short term and long term funding needs through the market mechanism such as Commercial Papers and Corporate Bonds," it said.
The paper noted that banks should avoid taking any additional exposure in cases where their exposure is above the exposure limit prescribed under this new framework.
The bank board has been advised to devise a smooth, non-disruptive transition plan for existing exposures which are currently in excess of the proposed LE limit.
"Such transition may be by way of either reducing the exposure or by increasing the eligible capital base or both," the paper said.
At present, banks can lend up to 15 per cent of their net worth to a single borrower and there's an additional five per cent leeway for firms involved in infrastructure development. The additional five per cent leeway is given to the banks' board. So, in effect, the total single company exposure of a bank could go up to 25 per cent of its net worth. Similarly, group exposure is capped at 55 per cent of the net worth of a bank.
"Under the proposed LE (large exposure) Framework, the sum of all the exposure values of a bank to a single counter-party or to a group of connected counter-parties must not be higher than 25 per cent of the bank's available eligible capital base at all times," RBI said in the 'Discussion Paper on Large Exposures Framework and Enhancing Credit Supply through Market Mechanism', released on its website on Friday.
Under the proposed LE framework, banks will get additional headroom for taking exposures towards single-name counter-parties. However, the exposure ceilings toward groups of borrowers will be significantly reduced in comparison with the present exposure ceilings.
The central bank said the new norms would come into effect from 1 April, 2019.
"A group of connected counter-parties will be identified on the basis of 'control' as well as 'economic interdependence' criteria against only 'control' criteria under the extant RBI exposure norms," it said.
Currently, banks are allowed group exposure of up to 55 per cent of their capital funds. However, the discussion paper noted that a study of 20 largest group exposures of 10 largest banks showed that the average group exposure of banks is only 10.60 percent of the capital funds.
The discussion paper highlighted the need for companies to rely more on market borrowings such as commercial paper and corporate bonds to meet their working capital needs rather than looking for bank funding.
"The discussion paper also invites comments on a proposal to make large corporates, enjoying working capital and term loan limits above a certain threshold, to meet a portion of both their short term and long term funding needs through the market mechanism such as Commercial Papers and Corporate Bonds," it said.
The paper noted that banks should avoid taking any additional exposure in cases where their exposure is above the exposure limit prescribed under this new framework.
The bank board has been advised to devise a smooth, non-disruptive transition plan for existing exposures which are currently in excess of the proposed LE limit.
"Such transition may be by way of either reducing the exposure or by increasing the eligible capital base or both," the paper said.
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