Additional feature available with Interbank Mobile Payment Service

In a move aimed at giving a boost to the mobile banking facility the Reserve Bank of India has allowed National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) to provide additional feature under the facility of Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) which would allow a bank customer to transfer money from ATM or internet to beneficiary’s mobile.

IMPS, which was launched in August last year has grown at a slower pace than anticipated despite the fact that the number of banks providing this facility have increased from 4 at its inception to 28 in October this year.

The Managing Director and CEO of NPCI, Mr. A. P. Hota said “The IMPS has so far facilitated instant inter-bank funds transfer between the sender and the receiver using the mobile. Now, following the RBI's permission, the IMPS will also facilitate funds transfer from ATM to mobile and the Internet to mobile.”

The daily limit of this service is set at Rs. 50,000 per day per customer which includes fund transfer as well as purchase of goods.

Fixed deposit options for Non-Resident Indians

Fixed deposits have become a preferred choice to make investments in the last few years because of the surge in the deposit rates. The facility of deposit schemes is not only available for the resident Indian citizens but even Non-Resident Indians can avail the benefits of this facility.

The time duration for Foreign Currency Non-Resident Account (Banks) Scheme ( FCNR) scheme can vary from minimum 12 months to a maximum of 60 months, for Non-Resident Rupee (NRE) Account Scheme and Non-Resident Ordinary Rupee Account Scheme (NRO Account) it depends on the bank which is offering that scheme.

There are two types of schemes out of which a person can choose from, one is Special Term Deposits where the interest is compounded and then added to the principal amount and then the entire amount is paid after the maturity of the scheme.

The other is Ordinary Term Deposit Scheme where the interest earned is credited to the account of the customer on monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly basis, it can vary from bank to bank the most beneficial out of them is when the interest is compounded monthly.

An investor can even borrow a loan from the bank against his deposits.

Absolutely right time to invest under term deposit scheme

For a person who is not in any immediate requirement of funds can make the most of the moment by investing his savings under fixed deposits scheme. The facility of fixed deposits is available with almost all the banks and at this point of time all of them are offering lucrative deposit schemes.

As a effect of the monetary policy of Reserve Bank of India which it has adopted to rein in the inflation by increasing the policy rates at regular intervals that has prompted the lenders to increase their lending rates due to which there has been a dip in the number of new borrowers applying for loan.

In order to arrange for the much required funds banks are offering increased rates on the term deposits facility to lure customer. This is the best time for people who believe in risk free investing as there is no risk involved to the investments made under this facility plus an investor can avail maximum possible rates.

The rates are at their all time high which had provided a perfect platform for the people to maximize their savings.

Fixed Deposits are always the safest investment option

Fixed deposits are believed to be the safest investment options, a person can invest under fixed deposits scheme and he can be sure about the returns that he will get after the invested money has matured, but in that gives duration there are certain events that may occur which can make an investor uncertain about his investments in case of liquidation, cancellation of banking licenses or merger.

Under such circumstance Deposit Insurance Scheme by deposit insurance and credit guarantee corporation (DICGC) can keep the investor in high spirits. Fixed deposit of all the banks is insured by (DICGC) and more importantly the cost of premium is to be borne by the bank itself.

An investor can get up to 1 lac including principal and interest amount if any such situation arises, but if the person has also got some due pending on the lender to be paid then the amount will be deducted from the amount that the person is entitled to receive.

Investors also need not to get involved in the claim settlement procedure, everything will be taken care of by DICGC and hence a person can be sure about his returns, whatever the situation may be.

Job opportunities for retired bank officials

Retired bank officials that are still willing to work finally have something to cheer for. Kerala based Manappuram Finance has invited application form the retired bankers for a specific area of expertise. The total head count of the group is around 23,000 and out of them close to 1,300 are the retired bank officials.

The Executive Chairman of the group, Mr. V.P. Nandakumar said “We are planning to hire 5,000 people in the next three months. At least 1,000 of the new entrants will be retired bank officials. This is essentially to increase the proportion of experienced hands at the level of branch heads and area managers.”

Indian lenders not ready for saving rate deregulation

The lenders in India have expressed their dissatisfied over the proposal of the Reserve Bank of India about the de-regulation of the saving account deposit rates.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Banks’ Association, Mr. K.Ramakrishnan said “Given the conditions in which we are today, the bankers felt it will not be appropriate for actually not going in for deregulation at this point of time.”

Recently the reserve Bank of India had imposed several amendments about the calculation of the interest rates on the saving accounts on the banks and then it mandated the lender to increase the interest rate applicable on the saving account deposits to 4%.

A banker with private sector lender said “Established banks will be against it and new banks be in favour because if I have rate as a tool to compete in the market, it makes it that bit easier.”

“Right now, the liquidity is really tight and in this kind of an environment you can’t deregulate a product which can potentially throw nasty surprises to bankers on how to manage their deposit base,” said an analyst with brokerage firm.

Indian Post to implement Core Banking at its branches

Indian Post, one of the most trusted names in the country is working very aggressively toward the Financial Inclusion Plan and has announced to roll out the Core Banking facility at around 150 branches with in next two months.

Indian Post has an extensive network that also covers the rural and remote areas of the country. The Post Master General (Karnataka Circle), Vaumitra said that around 4000 branches would be included under the Core Banking Facility very soon.

"The operations would be carried out in a phase by phase manner and in the first phase nearly 1,000 Departmental Post offices would have core banking," he said. The first phase of the project will start by implementing CBS at 150 branches in Karnataka.

He also said that due to the presence of India Post even in the far-flung areas in the country a lot of banks are willing to partner with them.

All about CIBIL Credit Information Report (CIR)

Credit report forms an integral part of home loan procedure as lenders are a lot dependent on the credit score of a borrower to evaluate the credit worthiness of a borrower. If the score of an applicant is impressive then he can get a good home loan deal but if it is not that good then things can get a little rough for him.

As a credit report can have a great impact on the finalization of the home loan, so it becomes necessary for a person to be aware about certain facts related to credit report. CIBIL is one of the agencies that provide credit reports and lenders take it as a very reliable report provider.

The first thing that people must know is that CIBIL does not prepare the report itself but it is based on the information that lenders and various financial institutions provide about a person. It is a common scenario that sometimes even if a person has repaid the entire borrowed amount still then he is categorized as a defaulter in the report, it is because the related lenders has not made aware CIBIL about the developments.

A borrower need not to panic in situations like these, the matter can be sorted out very easily, that person jus have to visit the lender and ask him to forward the details to CIBIL, CIBIL will update the credit report the person as soon as it receive updates. To avoid such a condition a person must keep checking his credit report at regular intervals.

A person can get access to his Credit Information Report (CIR) by filling a application form available at CIBIL website, the applicant also need to pay a nominal fees of Rs. 142 to get his CIBIL report. One more very important thing is that CIBIL does not decide whether one should be allocated loan or not, it just makes available the credit history of that person rest is on the lender.