SBI officers protest against 7-day schedule

Lucknow, August 28: Officers of the State Bank of India held a demonstration in front of the bank's local head office on Tuesday to oppose the reported move of the bank's management for introducing seven-day banking in SBI.
Addressing the meeting, BK Awasthi, general secretary of State Bank of India Officers' Association said that in the present times when services of alternate channels like ATM, internet banking and mobile banking etc are available to customers, introduction of seven-day banking is not feasible. The move will not only adversely affect the staff of the bank but also drain out the valuable energy resource of the country.
He said that central government offices, secretariat and apex banks like RBI, Nabard etc are having 5-day week, where no difficulty is being experienced at their end. Besides employees' organisations in the banking industry are pleading for a 5-day week in the banking industry and the proposal is pending with the Indian Banks' Association, he added.

Knowledge helpline for SBI staff launched

The Web-based service, will be useful to the employees to get their doubts clarified about banking and in turn be more helpful to the customer in their service.

 

Hyderabad, Aug. 3.: Reserve Bank Governor D. Subbarao launched a ‘knowledge helpline’ for the staff of State Bank of India. The Web-based service, will be useful to the employees to get their doubts clarified about banking and in turn be more helpful to the customer in their service. The RBI Governor, who also inaugurated the “Swarn Udyan” and the renovated hostel blocks was the chief guest at the golden jubilee celebrations of the State Bank Staff College here on Friday.

 

Speaking on the occasion, he said banks have to regain the trust and confidence of people. Banking sector is going to be involved and engaged in financial inclusion. It is required to understand the psychology and economy of poor people to enhance financial inclusion. There is a need for innovative infrastructure financing in India as we are supply constraint economy.

 

SBI Chairman Pratip Chauduri and other dignitaries from the SBI, the RBI, other banks and educational institutions took part in the event. The State Bank Staff College set up in 1961 has emerged as a premier training institute for the banking industry. The college trains more than 6,000 officers every year, mostly middle- and senior-level executives, in credit management, international banking, leadership development, marketing skills, negotiation skills and communication skills etc.

 

Several public and private sector banks in India as well as banks from developing countries like Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Ghana, Maldives, etc., also send their officers for training. Several Govt. officials of revenue intelligence, enforcement directorate, CBI, income tax, central vigilance commission etc., are also trained in banking related areas at the College.

Knowledge helpline for SBI staff launched

The Web-based service, will be useful to the employees to get their doubts clarified about banking and in turn be more helpful to the customer in their service.

 

Hyderabad, Aug. 3.: Reserve Bank Governor D. Subbarao launched a ‘knowledge helpline’ for the staff of State Bank of India. The Web-based service, will be useful to the employees to get their doubts clarified about banking and in turn be more helpful to the customer in their service. The RBI Governor, who also inaugurated the “Swarn Udyan” and the renovated hostel blocks was the chief guest at the golden jubilee celebrations of the State Bank Staff College here on Friday.

 

Speaking on the occasion, he said banks have to regain the trust and confidence of people. Banking sector is going to be involved and engaged in financial inclusion. It is required to understand the psychology and economy of poor people to enhance financial inclusion. There is a need for innovative infrastructure financing in India as we are supply constraint economy.

 

SBI Chairman Pratip Chauduri and other dignitaries from the SBI, the RBI, other banks and educational institutions took part in the event. The State Bank Staff College set up in 1961 has emerged as a premier training institute for the banking industry. The college trains more than 6,000 officers every year, mostly middle- and senior-level executives, in credit management, international banking, leadership development, marketing skills, negotiation skills and communication skills etc.

 

Several public and private sector banks in India as well as banks from developing countries like Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Ghana, Maldives, etc., also send their officers for training. Several Govt. officials of revenue intelligence, enforcement directorate, CBI, income tax, central vigilance commission etc., are also trained in banking related areas at the College.

SBI cuts interest rates on Home & Car loans from August 7

Mumbai, August 1: The country's largest lender State Bank of India will cut rates on its home and auto loans. The move comes close on the heels of the Reserve Bank of India cutting the statutory liquidity ratio for banks in its policy statement on Tuesday.

 

SBI will cut rates on home loans by 25 bps and on auto loans by 50 bps, the bank's chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told ET NOW in an exclusive interview. The new rates will be effective from August 7. The bank, however, is not in a position to cut its base rate at present.

 

"We need to use interest rates as an instrument to increase credit flow. We are targeting home and auto loans because the pass through in both these segments will be the fastest," Mr Chaudhuri said. SBI's asset liability committee met on Wednesday evening to take a call on interest rates following the RBI's policy.

 

According to Mr Chaudhuri, "there is very weak corporate demand and it won't make business sense to cut rates for corporates at this juncture." However, he added that a pick-up in demand from corporates may lead to the bank looking at reducing rates for corporates.

 

SBI has in the recent past cut rates on its SME and auto loan portfolios but this is the first home loan rate cut by the bank in a few quarters.

 

Though the bank hasn't taken any call on deposit rates yet, Mr Chaudhuri mentioned that SBI is seeing a surfeit of deposits at a time when the rest of the banking industry is starved of deposits. The bank will declare its Q1 earnings on August 10.

 

PTI Reports:  New Delhi, August 1: State Bank of India today slashed lending rates on car and home loans by up to 0.5 per cent, a day after one per cent cut in SLR by the Reserve Bank. SBI has reduced interest rate on home loans of up to Rs 30 lakh to 10.25 per cent from existing 10.50 per cent (after 0.25 per cent concession over the card rate), a senior bank official said.

 

On the home loans of beyond Rs 30 lakh but less than Rs 75 lakh, the new rate will be 10.40 per cent against the existing 10.75 per cent, down 0.35 per cent.

 

The new rates will be effective from August 7, the official added. The base rate or minimum lending rate of SBI stands at 10 per cent. Base rate is the benchmark rate below which a bank cannot lend.

 

With regard to the car loan, the reduction is to the extent of 0.5 per cent. The new car loan would be 10.75 per cent against the existing rate of 11.25 per cent for a seven-year loan. Now for every Rs 1 lakh, a customer has to pay Rs 1,699 EMI against Rs 1,725 per month earlier. SBI claimed this as the lowest EMI. With the reduction, a borrower would end up saving Rs 312 per year on every one lakh.

 

Yesterday, RBI in its quarterly monetary policy review reduced Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), the amount of deposits that have to be invested in government bonds and other liquid assets, by 1 per cent. RBI Governor D Subbarao cut the SLR to 23 per cent, thereby releasing around Rs 68,000 crore of additional liquidity into the system, even as he left all the key interest rates unchanged in the anti-inflationary stance.