Oriental Bank of Commerce Comes out of PCA. Congratulations to Entire OBC Family.

DA FOR BANKER 4 SLAB FROM FEB 2019

Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of October 2018 and November was 302 but declined by one point to 301 for the month of December 2018. Based on these CPI numbers DA increased by 0.40% for the next quarter, Feb to Apr 2019.

For the current quarter of November 2018 to January 2019 DA for bankers had increased by 6.60%. There was increase of 1.20% for the quarter Aug to Oct 18.

ORIENTAL BANK BOB AND CANARA BANK POST PROFIT IN Q3

ORIENTAL  BANK NET PROFIT 144.96 CR  IN Q3

CANARA BANK NET PROFIT 317.52 CR  IN Q3

Public sector lender Canara Bank on Monday reported over two-fold jump in net profit at Rs 317.52 crore for December quarter 2018 as provisioning for bad loans declined.  

The bank had logged a net profit of Rs 125.75 crore in October-December 2017.

Total income in the reported quarter stood at Rs 13,513.35 crore as compared to Rs 12,341.09 crore in the year-ago period, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

Bank of Baroda Q3 profit rises to Rs 471 crore

Public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) Tuesday reported an over four-fold jump in net profit at Rs 471.25 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018.

The bank had logged a net profit of Rs 111.78 crore in October-December 2017.

Axis Bank Q3 net profit surges 131% to Rs 1,681 crore

Private lender Axis Bank’s profit for the quarter ended December 2018 doubled over the previous year on back of strong growth in non-core income due to recoveries and stake sales.

The bank posted a growth of 131 per cent in net profit to Rs 1,681crore for the December quarter(Q3FY19), against Rs 726 crore a year ago. This was against a profit of Rs 790 crore in previous September(Q2FY19), said the bank in a filing to the exchanges.

India’s largest financial scam, Rs 1 lakh crore of public money lent to DHFL with no chance of recovery, Rs 20 crore donated to BJP

In what appears to be the biggest financial scam in Indian history, the primary promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) have been found to have siphoned off more than Rs. 31,000 crore of public money. The alleged scam has primarily been carried out through grants of loans and advances to shell companies and by using other means. Money has also been routed through these dubious companies and parked outside India, to acquire assets. Cobrapost claims to have unearthed the scam by closely analysing documents available with public authorities and information available in public domain.

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan happens to be the brand ambassador of this group.

The biggest victim of this alleged scam, according to Cobrapost, are Indian banks that are already reeling under enormous stress due to scams hitting the PNB, AXIS BANK and ICICI.

As illustrated in the table, together these banks have a cumulative liability of a whopping Rs 96,880 crore. These are mostly public sector banks with the exception of Kotak, ICICI, HDFC and Axis. Loans issued by the State Bank of India amounts to Rs 11,650 crore, while Bank of Baroda and Bank India loaned more than Rs 4,000 crores each.

Today’s revelation comes just days after the federal probe agency CBI booked former CEO and MD of ICICI, Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot, the promoter of Videocon along with several other big names from the banking industry in connection with a Rs 3,250 crore scam.

The anatomy of the scam, as highlighted by Cobrapost, has repercussions for the larger financial system in India. As an industry practice, loans are advanced to companies and are secured by not only the properties of the borrowers company but also by personal guaranty of the promoters of the companies.

By lending to shell companies without due diligence, the DHFL has ensured that the recovery of such dubious loans is impossible since the companies or their directors themselves do not own any assets.This way the properties/private wealth acquired by the Wadhawans and their associates by using the funds from these dubious loans are completely ring-fenced from any recovery process.

Another highlight of today’s expose by Cobrapost is the donation made by a group of companies belonging to DHFL to the ruling BJP. In total, companies owned by the DHFL have donated Rs 19.6 crore to the BJP. One of the subsidiaries, RK Developers, had hidden their donation of Rs 9.93 crore made to the BJP in their balance sheet.

The role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had come under a huge scanner after his close friends Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi fled India by defaulting the PNB worth over Rs 5,000 crore of loans. The opposition Congress has been causing grief to the ruling BJP and PM Modi for his alleged complicity in aiding Nirav Modi and Choksi to commit the large scale scam.

With the Lok Sabha elections scheduled in less than two months time, this expose is bound to have serious ramifications on the political discourse. It remains to be seen if the government will act with a lookout notice against the Wadhawans before they also leave India just like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi did.

from jantakareporter

REGARDING AIBOA AND AIBOC DRAMA -Every officer should read the excellent post.

Dear AIBOC, it's not the AIBOA that died. It's the entire officers community that was killed by you, by your LIVE AND LET DIE... Policy, instead of Live and Let Live...
It's not new that you have been habitually killing the Officers... Just the way a snake eats it's own eggs.
A tiger eats it's own cubs..

On the following occasions you killed the Bank Officers.

1) The starting basic of group one and scale one used to be same up to fourth bipartite settlement. In the next settlement you hurriedly signef for Rs 2100/-, whereas, it was Rs 2200/- for group one. That small disparity as pilferaged by you today lead to huge variation .
Who killed the officers?

2) In 1980 a history was about to be created by the entire workforce of banking industry, you ( AICOBOO) suddenly backed out from strike and killed officers movement. The AIBOA took birth at that time, to protect the rights, self respect and pride of the officers.
Who killed the officers?

3) When AIBOA , along with AIBEA fought and got the Pension, You have misguided your officers not to opt for Pension. And after a decade, you have requested the same AIBOA and AIBEA to demand IBA for one more option. Though it was not warranted, the leadership of AIBEA and AIBOA with a big heart forgiven your over jealousness, Again... Live and Let Live Policy.. got pension to our brothers, at the cost of Workmen and officers perks.

Who killed the officers.

4) Same AIBOC in all Banks.. But why disparity in Pay scale. Why SBI is paying more increments to officers. Have they come from Heaven. Why AIBOC is not demanding the same salary and perks to the Officers of other Banks. At least to the officers of Associate banks, why they failed. Why they betrayed the AIBOA rank and file who joined the AIBOC after mergers.

Who killed the officers?

5) The 21 st December strike, despite giving a clear mandate by majority of the Banks, you gave a strike call in all those Banks, instead of calling in 5 Banks. What answer you would give to the loss of pay caused to your officers.
You don't have guts to fight against the management of SBI. You want the alibi and aid of all your units to stand in front of SBI.
Even the demonstrations in front of SBI offices is at the mercy of the management. When they cut your Mike, you didn't even dare to protest, because you are habituated to buttering and forgot the ability to fight.

Who killed the AIBOC officers of Associate Banks?

6) You have approached the top most lawyer of Supreme Court, who advised that it was premature to file the case against Amalgamation. But you went ahead of filing in Delhi High Court on flimsy grounds that officers director is not there on Bank board and Govt.didnot consult the RBI. Who prevented you to fight with Govt.to get you on Board. Is it that you don't want it for certain inobvious reasons.
Again another lie you are floating that you have consulted all the unions, but no one joined at that time. You pretty knew that, you never consulted anyone. After knowing the illogical grounds of your writ, AIBOA filed the writ on clear logical grounds, which we have already explained.

Now tell me why are you killing your own officers?

Regarding your candle light demos etc., What you have achieved you only should tell.

On the other hand VBOU under the able guidance of it's Visionary leadership, sent letters to all the MPs of Loksabha and Rajyasabha, due to which, the Govt. was afraid of putting the scheme in both the houses of Parliament in the election year. AIBOA has filed the writ questioning this fundamental violation of law.

Now, just because we told that you are going on wrong foot, you felt that you are exposed, and your caders are doing negative propaganda and expressing RIP on AIBOA.

Please learn lessons from Past. Everyone learns out of mistakes. But you are stubborn in learning lessons due to your brutal majority. Now rank and file are observing your inabilities and incapabilities to fight. Now all butter is exhausted and you can't apply anymore.

Your chota mota Leaders are also timid and afraid of writing their name below the message. Is it not sheer timidity. At least express RIP with your personal name. On the other hand, VBOU or AIBOA sends the message by name.

So, please inculcate.. LIVE AND LET LIVE....

NOT.. LIVE AND LET DIE.

Livingly yours comrade

K. SRINIVASARAO. General Secretary VBOU

Affiliated to AIBOA.

PAPER TIGERS SURRENDERED -Yet another betrayal episode from AIBOA time for rethink in banking union

  Yet another betrayal episode from AIBOA
--------------------------------------
Report from National Youth Wing Headquarters
--------------------------------------

On the merger issue, UFBU declared a series of actions & AIBOC with an absolute majority support from officer cadre launched several protest programs against merger of Dena - Vijaya - BOB.

AIBOC hosted Protest Dharnas, Peoples Parliament & Candle light marches all over India

AIBOC initiated a signature campaign and collected lakhs of signatures from the nuke and corners of the country

AIBOC's noval inititative of "hash tag campign" had hit the social media and mobilised opinions against the unilateral merger motive in Twitter & Facebook.

AIBOC State Units wrote letters to the members of both Rajyasabha & Loksabha and met the major political leaders & submitted representation against merger.

In support of UFBU declared Strike, AIBOC paralysed the banking industry on 26th December 2018.

On 8th & 9th, when All India Trade unions went on strike AIBOC declared fraternal support & directed members not to do clerical work/accept cash keys.

Only  few state like Westebengal and kerala  where  we found a strong union of OBCEA   under leadership of  MR Kingshuk Bhattacharya and tapan Jha  even they  are retired,they  collapsed the banking industryno one dare to opened the bank. but in major state  AIBOA   OFFICER MANAGER  opend the bank and  done regular work. They have no backbone to   closed the bank. I request all india AIBOA leader   foloow OBCEA and learn something form them.
Mean while AIBOA leaders were busy opening branches & doing cash transactions on 8th & 9th as evident from the Strike reports.
AIBOC writ filed in Delhi High Court
On October 2018, AIBOC filed a case against merger in Delhi High court. AIBOA was also initimated and invited to implead in the case since it was for the general cause of Officers community.
But as usual, AIBOA leaders continued their irresponsible attitude & didnt turn out for support.
3 months passed & AIBOC was intimating all the developments to AIBOA requesting them to implead in the case. AIBOC had even shared all the affidavits & records of Delhi high court case with AIBOA leaders.
"Since many learned counsels from Supreme court & High Court advised that it may prove detrimental filing cases in different courts for the same litigation, it was advised not to file any further court case in other High court. It may be shifted to Supreme court which will deny a fair hearing for the parties and delay the judgment too"
The matter was also intimated and thoroughly discussed with AIBOA leaders.
But to the utter dismay, on a fine January morning AIBOA filed a case against merger in Bangalore High court.
Unfortunately its observed that all the
affidavits & records are copied line by line, dot to dot in the new court case.
Its the most pathetic betrayal and unethical move in the banking trade union movment.
AIBOA has lost senses & they are in fools paradise doing such political melodramas to seek attention.
This paradox should be properly addressed by the officers community, its high time such nasty moves are spoiling the trade union ethics & legacy among bank officers.
The dreams and aspirations of officers community are at stake through the illogical histrionic personality syndrome of AIBOA leaders, when they invite unwarranted judicial interventions for mere political mileage.
Its high time our officers should react & respond against such ill motivated hypocrats.
At this juncture, we request the membership of AIBOA to rethink & reunite to fail such drastic agendas spoiling our unity, integrity & dignity
----------------------------------------

PAPER TIGERS SURRENDERED ! Dear friends,
Banker’s movement in India has entered into a very decisive & interesting phase ! When as a Banker we r suppose to fight for our descent wage hike based on COD submitted by all the four officers organisations which includes AIBOA also on minimum wage concept in one & half year back, when work life parity as well as defined working hours r being demanded by the PSU Bankers to avoid the burnt out syndrome at workplace specially for GEN ‘Y’ bankers, when as PSU Bankers we r fighting for our descent revision of pension for dignified living at old age , when AIBOC has stepped up Officers movement to change the contours of banker’s logical aspirations , at this juncture the some of the meek leaders of UFBU r trying to surrender & slur the roads of Banking movement by accepting the meagre
/ paltry offers made by IBA ! Which is not only in dignified but also ridiculous!

Question is why so & Why such a predicament or fate accomple conditions in escalating our demands for the descent wage settlement for PSU bankers in India?
So the genesis of the present Bipartite talks is a bit interesting in the present context ! As a responsible majority organisation of officers, when We have started witnessing the paradigm shift in banking operations starting with the concept of Assets quality review to Amassed Huge NPA creation in banks , Which has dented the balance sheet of PSU banks with unsustainable huge losses accompanied with rampant provisioning of Private loan losses against Capital earned form public business! Thi

AIBOA is led by retirees and still the leaders are in the 1980's hangover its natural. please read the full article regarding the role in Bipartite talk

Reply to the Letter from AIBOA Leader Shri Sreenivasa Rao*

Sub : RIP AIBOA
----------------------------------------
_from the desk of Sreenath Induchoodan_
----------------------------------------

Dear sir,

The subject of the letter itself is thoroughly misunderstood, RIP when expanded is "Rest in Peace" and the undersigned failed to find a better replacment for that subject when AIBOA is literally "resting in peace" (Sitting idle) at the office and blaming AIBOC for all the turbulances in the banking industry.

In the write up several questions were raised out of which a single question is not replied, rather you have detailed the betrayal stories from 1970's and 1980's.

Since AIBOA is led by retirees and still the leaders are in the 1980's hangover its natural.

But sir, at present around 2. 5 lacs of officers who are born after 1980s are waiting to hear from trade unions, I am one among them.

In your reply you have used a phrase "live & let live". Ofcourse its a matter of life and dreams of lacs of officers to take wages comparable to the other working class.

When four officers union submitted their charter of demands to IBA all young generation officers proudly awaited for bipartite talks, since the COD itself was aspiring for Minimum wages and CPC salary, rendering wings to the dreams.

But AIBOA through the statment that *"2 per to 8 per offer is a great advancment"* has decieved the officers when all our officers felt ashamed about such paltry offer from IBA.

This attitute of AIBOA is detrimental to officers community as such...

So sir, we are least bothered about 1980s but we are eagerly waiting for the 11th bipartite.
This 11th bipartite is our last hope to get a decent wage hike and AIBOC has taken a bold stand not to take part in wage negotiations until the issues are resolved.

AIBOA also signed and sent letter to IBA that wage negotiations cant be forwarded until mandate issue is resolved. But now your association has conveniently backed out from the your stand and beautifully described the betrayal episode as *"mid course correction"*

_Mandate Issue & AIBOC Strike on 21st Dec 2018_

As a learned leader your observation pinches the trade union ethics when you are openly declaring that 5 banks should fight their battle alone.

Then why we are fighting against mergers...???
Now its the issue of BOB - Vijaya - Dena banks only.

Why we sacrificed our one day salary and participated in strike against merger of Vijaya - Dena - BOB on 26th December...???

Trade Unions are to support each other and the basic message of trade unionism itself is selfless thoughts and compassion towards fellow beings.

_*As a representative of an "about to be merged bank" pls ask your General secretary why the AIBOA left the UFBU meeting on 17th December before discussing the merger issue...???*_

Last but not the least when AIBOC is heading for a struggle against the sarcastic attitude of IBA, your association, AIBOA is sending messages that the Minimum wages formula based salary packages are day dreams..

Its astonishing to note that you have not replied to any of the questions pertinent to present day scenario...!!!!

So sir, its better that AIBOA, shall "rest in peace" in the office...

But dont worry sir, AIBOC with the support, involvment and energy of 3. 2 lac officer's have decided to fight this out...

We are trying to bring a change in the present system...

But AIBOA is still busy in blame games quoting history...

Sensibly yours

Sreenath Induchoodan
Youth wing, AIUBOF
9747773220

Great Bipartite Drama continues next bp talk on 2nd February 2019

Great Bipartite Drama continues...

It will be interesting to see whether AIBOC participate in the Bipartite meeting or not...

Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 IMPORTant FOR EVERY BANKER

Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2019

1. Commencement Certificate is mandatory now to be obtain within 6 months of Incorporation without which, it can not comment its business activity or borrow money.

2. The ROC can strike off a company if the address of Regd Office is bogus or incomplete/improper address.

3. Conversion of public Ltd to Pvt Ltd matters shifted from NCLT to Regional Directorate.

4. Company cannot issue shares at discount, - heavy penalty imposed on violation.

5. Alteration of Authorised Capital to be intimated within 30 days, default - penalty 1000 every day or 5 Lac whichever is less.

6. Creation of charge filing with ROC- time limit reduced from 300 days to 60 days.

7. Wrong statement/ information in filing Charge forms with ROC may lead to misrepresentation and jail

8. Annual Return should be filed within 60 days from AGM, failure to this, penalty of 100 per day to Company + directors max 5 Lakh apart from ROC delay charges is applicable.

9. Penalty of 5 lakh to Company secretary certifying wrong Annual Return.

10. Explanatory statement to be given with Notice of General Meeting must contain all details as required by Law, if no detail/short detail/misleading - penalty for Company + Directors + KMP - 50K

11. filing of Resolutions with ROC- delay will be very costly now. Penalty for defaulter increased substantially. 500 every day max 25 Lakh

12.Filing of Balance sheet with ROC within time limit- failure is costly for Company + Directors both. Penalty of 100 per day + 1 lakh to Company + Director each.

13. Resignation of Auditor must be filed by the resigning Auditor within 30 days, failure to which the resigning Auditor is liable for penalty of 50,000 + 500 per day.

14. A director can not become director in more than 20 companies. If he continues, he becomes disqualified now.

15. Appointment of CS on payroll (Pvt Co having paid-up capital 5 cr & above) is mandatory. Default is now very costly- penalty increased substantially.

16. ROC may strike off a company if subscribers have not paid initial share capital after incorporation of a Company within 6 months.

DETAILS BIPARTITE UPDATE AS ON 18.01.2018

Centre removes two PNB executive directors for lapses in Rs 13,500-cr fraud in NIROV MODI case

The Central government has removed two Punjab National Bank (PNB) Executive Directors -- Sanjiv Sharan and K.Veera Brahmaji Rao -- for the lapses in the Rs 13,500 crore fraud allegedly perpetrated by absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi.

The PNB has intimated the action to the stock exchanges on Friday.

"We welcome the Central government's action to dismiss the two Executive Directors. The scam of such proportions could not have happened without the knowledge of the top management," C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), told IANS.

"Perhaps for the first time, the Centra has removed the Executive Directors of a nationalised bank under the Nationalised Banks (Management and Miscellaneous Provision) Scheme, 1970. All these days it was said the top management of government-owned banks -- Chairman, Managing Director, Executive Directors -- are governed only by the contract of appointment.

"It is also good that the central government has followed the due process of giving the two PNB Executive Directors opportunity to put forth their views before dismissing them," Venkatachalam added.

According to the Central government's notification, on July 3, 2018, Sharan and Rao were issued a show cause notice as to why they could not be removed from office for having failed to exercise proper control over the functioning of PNB, thus enabling the fraud through the misuse of SWIFT at the bank's Brady House branch in Mumbai.

After considering Sharan and Rao's replies and the comments of the bank's Board, the Centre removed them from office as it found it was expedient in the interests of PNB.

According to the notification, the dismissal of Rao is subject to the outcome of a plea in the Delhi High Court.

"We are happy to see some action being taken. Whether it is only the two Executive Directors and other officials are also involved in the scam has to be probed in full," Venkatachalam said.

With the action taken on the top management, people will be satisfied that public sector bank officials are answerable for their lapses," Venkatachalam added.

UPDATE ON TODAY'S MEETING

BOB , VJB AND DENA banks, merger is unconstitutional and violation of article 14 of the constitution case filled at delhi high court

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Centre on a plea challenging the proposed merger of Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank and Bank of Baroda.

The merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank into Bank of Baroda, which is proposed to be effective from April 1, 2019, aims at consolidating and integrating smaller banks with bigger banks.

A bench led by Justice S Raveendra Bhat issued a notice to the finance ministry, RBI, Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank on a petition filed by the All India Bank Officers Confederation and the All India Vijaya Bank Officers Association against the proposed amalgamation scheme that was published on January 2 under Section 9(6) of the of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act(s), 1970/80.

Challenging the decision-making process involved in the merger, the petition contended that the proposed amalgamation of three public sector banks, which have sizable market share, affects the interests and fundamental rights of a large number of persons including members of the organisations.

They said that the decision was unconstitutional for not following the due process and being in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, and also for lacking effective consultation with RBI as is required under Section 9(1) of the Acts.

The petition also challenges Section 15 of the Bank Nationalisation Acts as ultra vires Article 14 of the Constitution, inasmuch as it validates proceedings of the boards of these banks despite a prolonged vacancy, amounting to abeyance, in the statutorily mandated posts of the workmen and officer employee directors in the board and to the extent that major decisions that significantly affect not only the service conditions of the employees, but also the very subsistence of the entity, can be taken without the participation of such workmen directors and officer employee directors. The two bodies said that there has been no effective consultation with the RBI inasmuch as the ministry “has repeatedly attempted to inaccurately describe the events leading up to the decision as to the amalgamation as if the boards of the banks have taken a voluntary and autonomous decision to amalgamate themselves into a single entity.”

UFBU intends to complete bipartite talk before 22.02.2019

*Emergency Meeting called by UFBU on 17.01.2019 at Mumbai*
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

*An emergency meeting is called by UFBU at Hotel Avion, Opposite Domestic Airport, Vile Parle (E), Mumbai on Thursday, 17.01. 2019 @ 03:30 p. m. owing to wage revision.*

❄ *Against amalgamation of the three banks*

❄ *Bank workmens' issues on Anti Labour policy by government.*

❄ *11th Bipartite Settlement*

❄ *5 Days Banking*

▪ *Owing to Lok Sabha elections Code of conduct will be implemented on 22.02.2019 as such UFBU intends to complete process before that.*

▪ *Elections of Lok Sabha and 11 Rajya Sabha will be held from 19th April which will continue for two months.*

▪ *As such wage negotiations meeting will be held only in the month of August, September 2019.*

▪ *As per situation arising bankers to get Arrears only in year 2020.*

Gold bond scheme opens for subscription: 10 things to know before buy

Gold bond scheme opens for subscription: 10 things to know

The sovereign gold bond scheme, which was launched in 2015, is basically government securities denominated in grams of gold. The bonds are denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram.

2) The minimum investment in sovereign gold bond scheme is 1 gram of gold and the maximum limit for individuals is 4 kg.
3) Sovereign gold bonds come with a maturity period of 8 years, with an exit option from the fifth year. Sovereign gold bonds are also traded on stock exchanges within a fortnight of issuance, offering an early exit option for investors.

4) The redemption price will be linked to the prevailing price of gold. The bond is issued by the RBI on behalf of the government.
5) The bonds will be sold through banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), designated post offices, and stock exchanges – BSE and NSE.

6) Gold bonds pay interest at the rate of 2.50% per annum on the amount of initial investment. Interest is credited semi-annually to the bank account of the investor
7) The interest on gold bonds is taxable according to provisions of the Income Tax Act but TDS is not applicable.

Capital gains tax arising from redemption of sovereign gold bonds has been exempted. Also, indexation benefit is provided to LTCG arising to any person on transfer of bonds.
9) Sovereign gold bonds can also be used as collateral for loans.

10) Experts say that sovereign gold bonds are a better alternative to holding gold in physical form, with risks and costs of storage eliminated. Investors are also assured of the market value of gold at the time of maturity and periodic interest payment on their investments.

NEXT BIPARTITE TALK WILL BE HELD ON 18.11.2018

\

2019 election date state wise

The 2014 Lok Sabha elections will be held between April 7 and May 12 in nine phases, said the Elections Commission on Wednesday. The counting of votes will be held on May 16. Following is the election schedule statewise. The first phase of polling will take place on April 7, covering 2 states and 6 constituencies, second phase on April 9, covering 5 states and 7 constituencies, third phase on April 10, covering 14 states and 92 constituencies, fourth phase on April 12, covering 3 states and 5 constituencies, fifth on April 17, covering 13 states and UTs and 122 constituencies, sixth phase on April 24, covering 12 states and 117 constituencies, seventh phase on April 30, covering 9 states and 89 constituencies, eighth phase on May 7, covering 7 states and 64 constituencies and ninth phase on May 12, covering 3 states and 41 constituencies. Election dates: Statewise East Bihar - April 10, 17, 24, 30, May 7, 12 Odisha - April 10, 17 West Bengal - April 17, 24, 30, May 7, 12 Jharkhand - April 10, 17, 24 Central India Chhattisgarh - April 10, 17, 24 Madhya Pradesh- April 10, 17, 24 West Goa - April 17 Gujarat - April 30 Maharashtra - April 10, 17, 24 Rajasthan - April 17, 24 North Haryana - April 10 Himachal Pradesh - May 7 Jammu and Kashmir - April 10, 17, 24, 30, May 7 Punjab - April 30 Uttar Pradesh - April 10, 17, 24, 30, May 7, 12 Uttarakhand - May 7 South Karnataka - April 17 Kerala - April 10 Tamil Nadu - April 24 Andhra Pradesh - April 30, May 7 Northeast Manipur - April 9, 17 Meghalaya - April 9 Mizoram - April 9 Nagaland - April 9 Arunachal Pradesh - April 9 Assam - April 7, 12, 24 Sikkim - April 12 Tripura - April 7, 12 Union Territories Andaman - April 10 Chandigarh - April 10 Dadra Nagar Haveli - April 30 Daman and Diu - April 30 Lakshadweep - April 10 NCT OF Delhi - April 10 Puducherry - April 24

Total NPA under MUDRA loans Rs 11000 crore in 2017-2018

RBI cautions government over NPA spike in MUDRA loans


The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised a red-flag on the spike in non-performing assets (NPAs) under the government's flagship scheme to support micro enterprises in the country -- the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.


According to Finance Ministry sources, RBI has cautioned the ministry that the scheme might turn-out to be the next big source of NPAs, which have plagued the banking system.

The central bank has flagged that bad loans under PMMY have risen to Rs 11,000 crore.
As per the annual report of PMMY, 2017-18, total disbursements under the scheme stood at Rs 2.46 trillion in FY 18.

MODI SIR after your 10% reservation for economically backward so called economically weaker section of the society, are likely to capture the reservations than the genuinely economically weaker.

A few years back, for a lack of a better word, there was a lot of hungama when the country came to realise that the poverty line cut off in urban India was just Rs 32-33 per day.

Many politicians at that point of time said that the poverty line cut off was too low. What they did not realise that the subject is not as simple as it seems. There is a reason why the poverty line cut off was set where it was.

In fact, economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya (both close to the current Modi government) explained the point lucidly in their book India's Tryst with Destiny. Let's try and understand what they had to say regarding the issue in some detail.

As Bhagwati and Panagariya write: "While people may differ on whether it is reasonable to further raise the poverty line, the subject is far more complex than commonly appreciated."

And what makes the subject complex? As Bhagwati and Panagariya ask: "Suppose we raise the rural poverty line to Rs 80 [PER DAY] and the urban one to Rs 100 [PER DAY] at 2009-10 prices. What would these lines imply?"As per this definition around 95% of rural population and 85% of the urban population would have been deemed to be poor, the economists point out.

The question is why does any government come up with a poverty line? A government needs a working definition of poverty. It needs a cut off. A cut off which can help it define who the poor are and then help them in various ways.

The moment a poverty line is raised it would raise the total number of poor. At the same time, the resources that the government has at its disposal to help the poor, everything from money to employees to infrastructure may not go up. In this situation, the government would end up spreading itself too thin.

As Bhagwati and Panagariya point out: "With tax revenues still relatively modest, significant redistribution in favour of the destitute requires limiting such redistributions to the bottom 40 percent or so of the population. Spreading them thinly over a vast population will give too little to the destitute to make a major dent in poverty."

Let's take a simple example to understand this rather important point. Let's say a government has Rs 500 to spend on poor people. The definition of poverty is so set that 25 out of the population of 100 are deemed to be poor. This would mean that every poor person would benefit to the extent of Rs 20.

Now let's say the definition of poverty is changed and 50 out of 100 people are deemed to be poor. Then the benefit per person would fall to Rs 10. In this process, the government would end up spreading itself too thin and not be able to help the poorest of the poor, as much as it did in the past.

The larger point being that the government only has so much money to spend and hence, it should spend it on people who need it the most. This is the reason why the poverty line cut off is so low. The government doesn't have the resources to take on a higher cut off.

Dear Reader, you must be wondering why have I gone into such detail explaining the poverty line, in a piece which is headlined to be on reservations. Allow me to explain.Yesterday (January 8, 2019), the Lok Sabha passed a Bill which proposes a 10% reservation in government jobs and higher education, for the economically weaker sections of the society, who currently do not benefit from any form of reservation.

The problem is the definition of being economically weaker is too broad. Let's take a look at this pointwise.

1) In order to qualify for the reservation, the annual household income should be Rs 8 lakh or lower. The per capita income for 2018-2019 was released a few days back and is expected to be Rs 1,25,397. The average size of a household in India is five. Hence, the average household income amounts to a little over Rs 6.25 lakh, which is considerably less than the Rs 8 lakh cut off. Is the government trying to say that a household which earns more money than the average Indian household, is economically weak? That sounds so absurd. In fact, if we just look at the income criterion, nearly 95% of the Indians are eligible for the economically weaker quota.

2) Any Indian earning a taxable income of more than Rs 2.5 lakh is liable to pay tax. Now compare this with the economically weaker cut off of Rs 8 lakh. Again, an absurd situation. A family which has two working individuals earning a taxable income of more than Rs 2.5 lakh each, but an income of less than Rs 8 lakh, might be deemed to be economically weaker. What is happening here?

3) Then there is the land-holding criterion of owning less than five acres of agricultural land. The provisional results of the Agriculture Census of 2015-2016 were recently released. As per this survey, up to 86.2% of the agricultural landholdings are of less than two hectares in size (i.e. marginal and small holdings). One hectare equals 2.47 acre. This means two hectares equal 4.94 acres or almost five acres. Hence, it is safe to say that more than 86% of the landholdings are less than five acres in size.

4) What all this basically tells us is that when it comes to being deemed as economically weaker, the government has set very wide definitions. And given this, a large proportion of the population will qualify. In this scenario, like is the case with a higher poverty line, resources will be spread thin.

Allow me to explain in slightly more detail. Let's take the case of government jobs. As I had explained in yesterday's piece, the government does not create any jobs anymore. Hence, as far as jobs are concerned, these reservations (or the reservations that are already in place) on the whole aren't going to make any difference.

But they are bound to make some difference when it comes to reservations in higher education, or so goes the general thinking. The question that needs to be asked is that with a large section of the population which doesn't come in any reserved category currently, qualifying for the reservation for the economically weaker, what is the point of this reservation anyway?

5) Also, while the politicians may not bat an eyelid while passing the reservations Bill, it will be interesting to see if it passes the judicial scrutiny. In the past the Supreme Court has said that reservations cannot be a tool for economic upliftment, unless economic backwardness stems from having been socially backward. This is a tricky area.

6) Another important point that no one is talking about is that this reservation will hurt people who are genuinely economically weaker. Anyone in a family with a household income of Rs 7.5 lakh will have more resources at his or her disposal, to compete for government jobs and higher education positions, than with a family with a household income of Rs 2.5 lakh. In this scenario, the richer of the so called economically weaker section of the society, are likely to capture the reservations than the genuinely economically weaker.