Clarity On Holiday On 2nd And 4th Saturday

Facebook News which appears to be correct is reproduced below9 ( PNB officers association)

IBA Circular regarding 2nd and 4th Saturday Off for Banks in India
Following is the Original Copy of IBA ( Indian Bank's Association ) regarding negotiation between Bank Union and IBA regarding 2nd and 4th Saturday
Holiday for Banks in India under NI act.
...

Our Verdict : With so many rounds of negotiations finally we have seen that some conclusion has been arrived or at least some positive have come for the poor public sector bankers, by going through this circular dated 21 April 2015, we can say that sooner or later there will be 2nd and 4th Saturday off for bankers then exact date is not known but we can assume that it may happen from June or July 2015.

Regarding the issue on number of Holidays , it seems that IBA wants to reduce the number of holiday under NI act for bankers but this seems to be a tough nut to crack as the holidays available to banker under NI act are lesser as compared to State / Central government employees presently. And these days the holidays or festivals are becoming more of a political tool , we assume that hardly there will be any reduction in the existing holidays for banks and one or the another state government announcing holiday on Festivals and Birthdays of old prominence leaders in days to come we may see even increase in the number of festival holidays for banks state wise.

Banks Set for Cost Rises on New Loan Provisioning Rules-NDTV 25.04.2015

India's banks could see their lending-related costs rise by up to a fifth as a recent rule change means they must make bigger provisions for restructured debt, crimping their profits at a time when consumers and firms are starting to borrow more.

This could make banks cautious about lending, hurting an economy that is emerging from its weakest growth since the 1980s. The stricter provisioning norms may also affect the recovery chances of troubled borrowers as more loans are classified as bad instead of attempts to restructure them.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ended last month what it called a period of "forbearance", dating back to the financial crisis. During this time, problematic loans that were being restructured required provisions amounting to only 5 per cent of their value, instead of 15 per cent for the loans classified as "bad".

"If an account needs to be restructured, then they would have to provide for that as if it were a non-performing loan. So the credit cost is going to go up," said Ananda Bhoumik, a senior director at ratings agency India Ratings and Research.

Brokerage Macquarie estimates credit costs for the state-run lenders, including State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank, who dominate the Indian banking landscape, will rise from 1.18 per cent of their total loans in fiscal year 2013-14 to 1.3-1.4 per cent through 2016-17.

The state-controlled banks not only have a higher percentage of poor quality loans of their total loans than privately owned banks such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, they are also under-provisioned.

Macquarie expects gross non-performing loans for state-owned banks to increase 40 to 50 basis points to 6.2 per cent in the current financial year as they won't have the flexibility to classify loans as restructured.

No reprieve

After the 2008 financial crisis, the RBI had allowed banks to treat restructured loans differently, in order to put distressed projects back on track. But critics say banks have been using the window to avoid classifying loans as bad.

Despite the central bank flagging the rule change well in advance banks were hopeful of a reprieve until almost the last minute.

As it started to become clear that the RBI was in no mood to relent, banks rushed to take advantage of the lower provisions, likely causing a spike in restructured loans in the March quarter, analysts and bankers said.

Among the largest was Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering's more than $1 billion debt, cleared for restructuring just days before the window closed.

"The restructured portfolio will go up very substantially," said state-owned Andhra Bank's chairman, C V R Rajendran, referring to the fourth quarter as a "peak".

Unseasonal rain could impact banks' profitability: India Ratings-Times of India

COIMBATORE: The asset quality of India's agricultural credit could be significantly impacted by crop damage due to untimely hail and rain in March 2015, according to India Ratings and Research.

The NPL (non-performing loans) ratio of the agricultural loan portfolio could double for some banks, though the reduction of overall return on asset may be muted at between 4 bps-6 bps or 0.04%-0.06%, which is about 10% of the profitability of government banks, the agency said.

The unseasonal rain followed one of the weakest and most deficient (12%) monsoons that the country had experienced in 2014-15, which has heightened the impact. Agricultural loans grew 16% in 2014-15 and have contributed 25% to incremental credit growth since March 2014

With delinquencies in the agricultural loan portfolio likely to rise, they would add to the already stressed assets of banks (10.6% of loans on 31 December 2014), India Ratings said. States highly impacted by these excess rain make up a significant portion (37%) of the overall agricultural credit extended by banks in 2013-14.

India Ratings estimates that system-wide agricultural NPLs as a percentage of total agricultural advances will rise to 16.9% by 2015-16 from 13% in 2013-14 as a direct result of the unseasonal rain. The gross NPL ratio on total advances for the banking system will increase by 40 bps or 0.4%, the agency said. This will translate into a profitability impact of 2 bps-3 bps (0.02%-0.03%) on system-wide post tax return on assets, according to India Ratings.

The impact of the unseasonal rain will be felt with a lag, as NPA recognition policies for agricultural loans (one or two crop seasons past due) differ from those of corporate or retail loans (90 days past due). India Ratings, which is part of the Fitch Group, expects the profitability impact to be felt in the second half of 2015-16.

Governmental support through subsidies may not significantly benefit banks as the amount of support (Rs 2,500 per acre) to be provided is marginal compared with the extent of the losses (Rs 20,000 per acre). Also, it is unlikely that the support money will be used by impacted farmers to repay bank loans.