Banks Hike Interest Rate To Cheer Depositors

Dear Comrades,

Savers have a reason to cheer as banks have started to revise upwards rates on fixed deposits. On Monday, India’s largest bank, the State Bank of India, raised interest rates on fixed deposits by 0.5 to 1.5 per cent per annum.

Another public sector lender, the Bank of India, has also revised rates on fixed deposits by up to 1 per cent. However, these rates will be applicable only on deposits made on or after December 7.

If you have an existing fixed deposit, you will continue to get the old rate. Other public sector banks are likely to follow suit over the next few days.

Financial advisers suggest that at this point, it may be preferable to go in for short term deposits because rates may increase further. A customer with a long term deposit will get locked in at a lower rate.

“Deposit rates for the overall banking system could go up further as there is still tightness in the liquidity situation of banks,” says Mr Siddhartha Sanyal, economist, Barclays Bank.

“Deposits are not growing fast enough to keep pace with the strong supply in government papers and a likely uptick in credit growth in the busy season. Also, in many cases, the bank fixed deposit rates are even lower than postal deposit rates, so it needs to go up even to match that level,” he adds.

Stock prices of banks fell sharply during the day today, with leading public sector banks such as SBI, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and BoB down 3.5 to 4 per cent.

Analysts feel that while banks are being forced to raise deposit rates, they will be unable to raise loan rates, thus pushing margins down.

“Deposits are growing at a slower pace than lending, so banks need to attract more of them,” says Mr Bhavesh Kanani, analyst with Sharekhan.

“There may be scope to hike loan rates if the demand increases,” he adds. Indian banks have seen net interest margins — the difference between what the banks charge on loans and what they pay on deposits, of over 3 per cent in the recent quarters.

Such margins are unsustainable, says Mr Vaibhav Agrawal, analyst with Angel Broking. Rates on deposits may increase further, he says. “Before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, fixed deposit rates were as high as 10.5 per cent, whereas now they are just around 8 per cent,” he says.

Deccan
December 7th, 2010

Products Through Post Offices - a PIB Release

Dear Comrades,

The Department of Posts has signed agreements with financial institutions including many other organisations to sell their products through Post Offices in the country. List of products sold at national level is as given below.

Sl.No. Name of Company/Financial Institution Description of product/service

1 Western Union Money Transfer International money transfer to India

2 UTI Mutual Funds Sale of UTI Mutual Funds through post offices

3 Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority Point of Presence for National Pension Scheme Accounts

4 M/s Nirmal Packaging Systems Sale of Corrugated boxes and Paper board envelops.

5 M/s Narsingh Dass & Co. Sale of Tyvek Envelops

6 Ministry of Railways Booking/cancellation of Railway Reservation Tickets under PRS Scheme

7 CBOP( Now merged with HDFC Bank) Sale/Purchase of foreign exchange

8 Reliance Money Infrastructure Limited Sale of Gold Coins

9 BSNL Sale of recharge coupons Sancharnet Cards etc.

10. India Post SBI tie-up Department sells assets and liability products of SBI through identified postal outlets.

11. NABARD-SHG linkage scheme India Post has entered into a tie-up with NABARD to disburse micro credit to women self help groups (SHGs) on pilot basis.

The Central and State Governments take various measures from time to time to promote and popularize small saving schemes through print and electronic media as well as holding seminars, meetings and providing training to various agencies involved in mobilizing deposits under the schemes. As part of this ongoing exercise, Government has taken following steps to make the small savings schemes more attractive and investor friendly:-

-Introduction of Bonus at the rate of 5% on the deposits made under Post Office Monthly Income Account (POMIA) Scheme on or after 8th December, 2007 upon the maturity of the deposit.

-The benefit of Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 has been extended to the investments made under 5-Year Post Office Time Deposits Account and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, with effect from 01.04.2007.

-With effect from 1.8.2007, the maximum deposit ceilings of Rs.3.00 lakh and Rs.6.00 lakh under the Post Office Monthly Income Account (POMIA) Scheme has been raised to Rs.4.50 lakh and Rs.9.00 lakh in respect of single and joint accounts respectively.

-The penalty on pre-mature withdrawal of deposits under the Post Office Monthly Income Account (POMIA) scheme has been rationalized from 3.5% to 2% on withdrawal on or before expiry of three years and 1% on withdrawal after expiry of three years.

-All categories of pensioners have been allowed to open and maintain ‘Pension Account’ under Post Office Savings Account Rules, with effect from 11th July, 2007.

-The restriction on opening of more than one account during a calendar month under the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme has been removed with effect from 24th May, 2007.

-Opening of “Zero deposit/Zero Balance” accounts for workers employed under NREG Act, under Post Office Savings Account Rules, with effect from 26th August 2008.

-Opening of “Zero deposit/Zero Balance” accounts for Old Age Pensioner Account under Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme, Widows Pensioner Account under Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and Disabled Pensioner Account under Indira Gandhi National Disabled Pension Scheme with effect from 13th October 2009.

-National Savings Institute, a subordinate organization under the Department of Economic Affairs (Budget Division) also maintains its web site i.e nsiindia.gov.in in collaboration with National Informatics Centre to facilitate interface with the public through wider dissemination of information on small savings and on-line registration and settlement of investor’s grievances.

This information was given in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today by Shri Gurudas K amat, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

Monday, December 06, 2010, 14:42 IST SP/AT   PIB

India Post to replace paper stamps with e-stamps for commercial services

Dear Comrades,

It may not ring a bell for a generation fed on emails and SMSes, but those who grew up sending and receiving letters and greetings will take note: paper stamps will be replaced by an electronic version in another two years.

Licking and sticking will be a thing of the past with India Post deciding to use e-stamps for all its commercial services, including post cards, inland letters and registered post across the country, 156 years after British East India Company introduced the country’s first stamp featuring Queen Victoria.

“The electronic form of postal stamps will fully substitute paper stamps in two years,” said an official with the ministry of communications and Information Technology. India Post currently has electronic stamping facility in select urban postal circles.

The postal department is working with USbased consulting firm Accenture to prepare a detailed modernisation plan that includes shifting to the e-stamp system, which is already in place in several developed countries. India Post, employing 5 lakh people in more than 1.5 lakh post offices, is the largest postal service in the world.

Vacancy in DOP - a PIB Release

Dear Comrades,

The number of posts lying vacant in the Postal Department category-wise and scale-wise is as under:

Number of posts in the pay scales of Group ‘A’ lying vacant   103

Number of posts in the pay scales of Group ‘B’ lying vacant   2404

Number of posts in the pay scales of Group ‘C’ lying vacant   46506

The vacancies are either meant to be filled up by promotion or by direct recruitment according to the provisions in the Recruitment Rules. The Departmental Promotion Committees are meeting periodically to fill up the posts by promotion. Also the Departmental Examination is held regularly to fill up promotional posts wherever the Departmental examinations are prescribed. The vacancies meant to be filled up by direct recruitment are also being filled up in accordance with the policies of the Government.

The shortage of manpower due to promotions, retirement, death or leave is managed by adhoc arrangements, redistribution and combination of duties and by engagement of Short Duty Staff in the Post Offices and paid substitutes for delivery of postal articles. These steps ensure that postal services are not adversely affected.

This information was given by Shri Sachin Pilot in written reply to a question today in Rajya Sabha the Minister of Stare for Communication and Information Technology.

PIB 18:08 IST  

MP supports postal employees’ demand

Dear Comrades,

MANDYA: MP Chaluvarayaswamy on Sunday promised to fulfil demands of the postal employees by bringing to the notice of the minister concerned.

Speaking after inaugurating the second anniversary celebrations of the All India Postal Employees Association here on Sunday, he said he has not been able to understand their problems due to time constraint.

He suggested the association to send a detailed report that includes discussion on disparity in wages, decisions taken and others. In reply, the MP said he would take up the issue with the concerned Minister and officers at the central level.

Dak sevak’s problems

They also discussed the various problems faced by the Dak sevaks and the disparity in wages on the occasion.

Rural Dak Sevak Regional president Prahallad Rao, V R Swamy, Post Master Rangaswamy, Group C Employees Association President M C Bhaskar and K V Anand participated.

Mandya, November 28, DH News Service.

Gadgets to be used for NREGS work - India Post

Dear Comrades,

India Post will provide gadgets such as biometric fingerprint scanners , magnetic strip readers and thermal printers to its 1,30,000 rural offices to smoothen the process of verification and payment under the national rural employment guarantee scheme .

It has charted out an ambitious rural information technology (IT) plan that will make the wage disbursement under the scheme paperless, said an official with the department who asked not to be named. Although NREGA is administered by the ministry of rural development, payments under the UPA government’s flagship job safety programme are routed through the postal network and bank branches. The postal department services more than half of the wage earners under the scheme in most states of the country.

The government has allocated Rs 40,100 crore for NREGA in 2010-11 . It is estimated that the rural development ministry will be able to utilise only about Rs 35,000 crore in the current year. A total of 179,43,189 families have been provided employment under the scheme till June 30 this year.

The devices offered to the post offices will have an in-built global positioning system (GPS) to determine the frequency of the postal staff’s visits to the villages, which will ensure accountability on the part of the branch post masters. This will also help the department map its delivery territory.

The move will help the hugely popular scheme to check leakage of funds owing to fake attendance under the scheme.  In some states of North East, it was found that funds were transferred under the scheme to even doctors and engineers. In Uttar Pradesh alone the leakage is estimated at . 850 crore annually. The department has invited participation of private players in this regard. The IT revamp, which will happen in phases, is expected to be completed in two years, said an official with the ministry of communications and information technology.

To ensure that the process is made hassle-free , the devices will have portable web cameras with enabling features such as bluetooth and wifi access for seamless transfer of data that may be required under the verification process for accounts.  Transactions under the scheme will happen only when the wage earner’s biometric information is matched with data stored in the department’s electronic database.

“Our devices will be compliant with standards issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India,” said YP Rai, deputy director general (rural business) at India Post.  As network availability in most rural areas is inconsistent, the devices will have facility to function both online and offline. To address the problem of inadequate power supply, the devises will have an in-built battery with solar chargers.

India Post has released a Special Cover to commemorate 20 years of Young World.

Dear Comrades,

To celebrate the 20th birthday of Young World a special postal cover was released by M.S. Ramanujan, Postmaster General, Chennai City Region, which was received by Mr. N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu.

Now, Young World has been etched in the portals of history and is recorded in the postal archives for posterity. The Special Cover also has Philatelic value, specially if it is cancelled.

The special cover is the way the Departments of Posts honours an event. On the day of the issue it is cancelled with a special cancellation and the event and date are given on the cover in English and Hindi, explained Philatelist, Mr. Sheshadri.

These special covers are specially designed and it has to be approved by the Chief Post Master General, in this case, of Tamil Nadu Circle, Chennai 600002.

24th All India Postal Hockey Tournament begins today

Dear Comrades,

Twenty-fourth All India Postal Hockey Tournament is all set to begin at the Astro Turf Stadium in Morahbadi on Monday. The tournament is scheduled from November 29 to December 3. Six teams of the State's Postal Offices include Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a Press conference at the Doranda Post Office on Sunday, KK Sinha, and Postmaster General informed about the tournament. He said: "Hockey has been one of the prime games of the State and we are trying to give exposure to our players. A hockey tournament organised in 2004 had seen good performances. The post office has a special quota for the international and nationally acclaimed players during the recruitments. Such players of the several post offices will play during the tournament." The inaugural of the tournament will be done by KV Sundar Rajan, Chief Postmaster General, Jharkhand. Silvanus Dungdung, Former Olympian and Manohar Topno, former hockey player will be the special guests during the inaugural day boosting the confidence of the players.

The National Postal Board, the authority for organising the games has appointed Harishank from Uttar Prasdeh, Nazir Mulla from Maharashtra and Devendra Pal Singh from Punjab as the supervisor. Cultural programmes will also be organised on December 2 to display the wonderful array of cultural tradition across the State by acclaimed local artistes. Kaushalendra Kumar Sinha, Postmaster General (Business development, technology and business marketing) will felicitate the teams on the concluding ceremony.

PNS, Ranchi
December 02, 2010 11:49:19 PM

Certificate Verification Process completed

Dear Comrades,

The Certificate verification process of 37 new PAs have been completed on 30.11.2010. It is learnt that very soon their training programme will also held in Orissa Circle itself.

Inauguration of P R Peta SO new rented building with SPM's residence

Dear Comrades,

Due to sincere efforts of Com. K N Rao with support of our comrades, the P R Peta S.O. has been able to shift to a new building to 3rd line of P R Peta with SPM residence. The newly shifted office was inaugurated on 30.11.2010 by our SSPOs, Shri B G Satpathy in presence of Com. P C Maharana, Com. S Arun Kumar, Com. B Ghosh, Com. P Suresh Kumar, Com. R K Behera, Com. H S Behera, Com. K Choudhury Com. Panda and others. Here are few pics of the occasion.