Year 2010 ended with a bang. The year was hot in news for many reasons in India and abroad too. Most memorable events were the 9/11 of 2001 and Global Recession of 2008. Terrorism has been at its peak in all parts of the world. Nevertheless, the countries and economies have been smart enough to recover very fast and Life goes on and on.
In India too, there were mixed events and developments in political, economic and sports arena. It was so unfortunate that as many as fifteen types of Scams in almost all the fields like Sports, Judiciary, Defence, Banking, Telecommunication, Religion, etc took place. At the same time in just an year there were twenty five Heads of States from different countries including USA, UK, France, China, Russia, etc visited India for exchange and business.
We all hope that the new year 2011 and the second decade would usher in much more in every walk of life.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
my bank, my career
I have today read the ‘Books of Account’ review on SBI story with the title “Tale of how a behemoth changed trajectory” by Shri D Murali . My sincere appreciation to Mr Murali for a detailed column summarizing the book “GRIT, GUTS and GUMPTION” by Rajesh Chakrabarti.
SBI being a giant PSB, has always played a responsible role since inception even as IBI when RBI was non-existent. The first mandate to SBI was to go rural and it did. Today, the industry has a variety of players in public, old and new private, foreign, cooperative, RRBs and Local Area Banks. And there are NBFCs, Financial Institutions and Micro Finance Institutions too.
SBI should, in fact, be designated as a Maha Nava Ratna Bank for its contributions to the nation, economy and industry for nearly two centuries. But unfortunately, many tend to blame the bank while “Best Banks Surveys” always undervalue SBI. How sad! For example, in a recent survey published by Business Today (Dec 26, 2010) issue, the list of top-10 Best Banks for over seventeen years since 1993 SBI appears only once at no. 10 level in 2002.
In the early years of economic and financial sector reforms, the list was dominated by foreign banks like BoA, Bank of Tokyo, ABN Amro, Amex, Citi, etc. No wonder. Over the years, India's private sector banks and public sector banks also found their place. By 2009, the top ten list had six PSBs, 2 new Private (Axis and HDFC Bank), 1 old private (Federal) and one foreign bank (Citi) were listed. Again in 2010, the list is headed by Axis Bank (new private). Some times economies of scale appear to be going against the public sector banks who are burdened with rural banking which is not cost-effective; and size is a hindrance.
New Private Sector Banks and foreign banks are not loaded with old legacies, non-performing assets, not so well qualified or trained staff and so on. SBI, hence is far above all these factors and a front runner. RBI looks to its support, experience, exposure and guidance in making many policies (IBI was its predecessor, after all). Under these conditions, if the bank had transforted into a modern bank of world standards, I compliment the author Mr R Chakrabarti and reviewer Mr Murali of Business Line for their factual story.
SBI being a giant PSB, has always played a responsible role since inception even as IBI when RBI was non-existent. The first mandate to SBI was to go rural and it did. Today, the industry has a variety of players in public, old and new private, foreign, cooperative, RRBs and Local Area Banks. And there are NBFCs, Financial Institutions and Micro Finance Institutions too.
SBI should, in fact, be designated as a Maha Nava Ratna Bank for its contributions to the nation, economy and industry for nearly two centuries. But unfortunately, many tend to blame the bank while “Best Banks Surveys” always undervalue SBI. How sad! For example, in a recent survey published by Business Today (Dec 26, 2010) issue, the list of top-10 Best Banks for over seventeen years since 1993 SBI appears only once at no. 10 level in 2002.
In the early years of economic and financial sector reforms, the list was dominated by foreign banks like BoA, Bank of Tokyo, ABN Amro, Amex, Citi, etc. No wonder. Over the years, India's private sector banks and public sector banks also found their place. By 2009, the top ten list had six PSBs, 2 new Private (Axis and HDFC Bank), 1 old private (Federal) and one foreign bank (Citi) were listed. Again in 2010, the list is headed by Axis Bank (new private). Some times economies of scale appear to be going against the public sector banks who are burdened with rural banking which is not cost-effective; and size is a hindrance.
New Private Sector Banks and foreign banks are not loaded with old legacies, non-performing assets, not so well qualified or trained staff and so on. SBI, hence is far above all these factors and a front runner. RBI looks to its support, experience, exposure and guidance in making many policies (IBI was its predecessor, after all). Under these conditions, if the bank had transforted into a modern bank of world standards, I compliment the author Mr R Chakrabarti and reviewer Mr Murali of Business Line for their factual story.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Kabhi Kabhi climex1
How does one feel when meeting an old girl/boy friend from college after a gap of 20 plus years? It can only be experienced but not expressed. Each dialogue, scene and song is so powerful. Lovely.
Good Bye to 2010 - the infamous year of scams!
Year 2010 is coming to close in next two days. It is also the last of the years for the first decade of the new millenneum. We experienced many good developments and events during not only the decade but the year too. The decade witnessed the Dot Com Crash, 9/11 in USA, Change of guard in New Delhi, 26/11 in Mumbai, Election of an Afro-American, Mr Obama as President of USA, Global Meltdown all over the world (and a quick recovery too), display of strength by China in hosting the Olympics, the Satyam saga in India, introduction if i-pads and so on.
Unfortunately, in India we witnessed nearly fifteen scams of all types committed by a variety of individuals through out the year. The latest in the news are PF Scam, allegations of scam by ex-CJI and the last being Citi Bank employee in Gurgaon embezzling about Rs. 400 crores. Most shameful scandal was that of 2G resulting in a loss of Rs. 1,76,000 crores to the exchequer and that of Ashirvad Apartments affecting the Kargil War victims (by Defence Personnel). At this rate, Bankers, Administrators (IAS) or Bureaucrats, Businessmen, Sanyasis (Nityananda), Judges, Defence Personnel, MCI Chairperson, Politicians (BSY and his ministers), Micro Finance Institutions and promoters (Vikram Akula), IPL organiser Modi, are all involved directly or indirectly in these shameful incidents. All these are done at whose cost? AAM AADMI.
Unfortunately, in India we witnessed nearly fifteen scams of all types committed by a variety of individuals through out the year. The latest in the news are PF Scam, allegations of scam by ex-CJI and the last being Citi Bank employee in Gurgaon embezzling about Rs. 400 crores. Most shameful scandal was that of 2G resulting in a loss of Rs. 1,76,000 crores to the exchequer and that of Ashirvad Apartments affecting the Kargil War victims (by Defence Personnel). At this rate, Bankers, Administrators (IAS) or Bureaucrats, Businessmen, Sanyasis (Nityananda), Judges, Defence Personnel, MCI Chairperson, Politicians (BSY and his ministers), Micro Finance Institutions and promoters (Vikram Akula), IPL organiser Modi, are all involved directly or indirectly in these shameful incidents. All these are done at whose cost? AAM AADMI.
SBI in News
I was watching NDTV 24x7 yesterday morning and seen a news item on GOI working for appointment of a successor to the incumbent Chairman of SBI. Shri OP Bhatt would be retiring in March 2011 after about five years successful tenure as Chairman of the Bank leading the bank to greater heights with several innovative reforms and maintaining the market leadership. Interestingly, a recent survey of best banks in India conducted by Business Today does not reckon SBI as one among the top-10 (if not the top most). In the last seventeen years, only once that too at no. 10 its name appeared while in all other years / positions there have been several Public, Private (Old or New) and Foreign Banks finding their place. I expressed my view to the Editor in a mail that 'looks like to be the biggest is a curse; while small seems to be beautiful'. After all, it is a game of numbers and averages and so the smaller banks could throw up high averages!
Coming back to the Organisational structure of SBI, it is the only bank in our country with a Chairman, 2 Managing Directors and over a dozen of Deputy Managing Directors at the top. All these are positions at least more superior to CMDs of different public / private banks. GOI seems to be considering adding two more Managing Directors in order to handle large size business of the bank. Of the lot of DyMDs, five of them are heading the Associate Banks in Bikaner & Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mysore, Patiala and Travancore (Saurashtra and Indore were already merged with SBI). The news is that even though there are two MDs in service, because they have less than two more years of service ahead of them, GOI shortlisted a few names of senior Dy MDs like Pratik Chaudhary, Hemant Contractor and others for the post of Chairman. The exact name would be finalised before March 2011 so that the giant bank continues to have its leader in place.
Coming back to the Organisational structure of SBI, it is the only bank in our country with a Chairman, 2 Managing Directors and over a dozen of Deputy Managing Directors at the top. All these are positions at least more superior to CMDs of different public / private banks. GOI seems to be considering adding two more Managing Directors in order to handle large size business of the bank. Of the lot of DyMDs, five of them are heading the Associate Banks in Bikaner & Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mysore, Patiala and Travancore (Saurashtra and Indore were already merged with SBI). The news is that even though there are two MDs in service, because they have less than two more years of service ahead of them, GOI shortlisted a few names of senior Dy MDs like Pratik Chaudhary, Hemant Contractor and others for the post of Chairman. The exact name would be finalised before March 2011 so that the giant bank continues to have its leader in place.
Citi falls asleep!
The tag line of Citibank was "Citi never sleeps" meaning over the globe, at any point time, branches of Citibank are always functioning and cater to the customer needs. Wonderful.
What an unfortunate development that a news item hit headlines in print and electronic media in this week that the bank was caught sleeping. An employee in their Gurgaon branch appeared to have single handedly handled the wealth management accounts of priority customers and indulged in a fraud to the tune of Rs. 400 crores. After all, all those employed in Foreign Banks are supposed to be smart and highly intelligent when compared to PSB staff. In the last two decades these PSB staff have been competing with Foreign Banks in order to render first class customer service at door steps.
What an unfortunate development that a news item hit headlines in print and electronic media in this week that the bank was caught sleeping. An employee in their Gurgaon branch appeared to have single handedly handled the wealth management accounts of priority customers and indulged in a fraud to the tune of Rs. 400 crores. After all, all those employed in Foreign Banks are supposed to be smart and highly intelligent when compared to PSB staff. In the last two decades these PSB staff have been competing with Foreign Banks in order to render first class customer service at door steps.
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