Pratip Chaudhuri said lateral recruitment has to be done with a lot of care

Mumbai, September 4: State Bank of India Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri on Monday said that lateral hiring in banks had led to frustration among existing employees.
Speaking at the curtain-raiser of the Ficci Banking Conclave, Chaudhuri said, “A high degree of lateral recruitment brings disappointment and frustration to the existing cadre and they end up saying ‘what was our fault’.”
Chaudhuri said lateral recruitment has to be done with a lot of care. In addition, he said, lateral recruitment done by some banks at general manager level, except in specialist positions such as economists or law, has not worked out well.
For SBI, Chaudhuri said, there is very little lateral recruitment, and attrition is at the end of career span (after 30-35 years).
Talking about banking in rural areas, he was of the view that employees are not ready to relocate to rural areas. “Mostly what happens is that if you say that an employee is posted at Mumbai, he/she is very happy. But the day you tell them that you have to relocate to Surat or Nashik, that is when attrition happens.”
As a solution to this issue and to boost financial inclusion, Chaudhuri suggested that banks change the way they compensate people. He explained that the compensation structure of any employee was biased in favour of metros.
“I think we need to have a reverse compensation.
There should be a compensation to work in rural, semi-urban areas. In the next wage revision with the Indian Banks’ Association, this would one of the things (that would be addressed),” he added.

SBI car loan disbursals doubled to Rs 900 crore in August

Mumbai, September 4: State Bank of India on Tuesday said its car loan disbursals almost doubled to Rs 900 crore in August, following an interest rate cut. The disbursals jumped to Rs 900 crore from the earlier Rs 550 crore in July on the back of 0.50 per cent cut in its auto loan offering, chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said.

He said the rise in advances has been observed even as the nation’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki’s production has dipped due to internal issues. SBI cut interest rates on auto and home loans in the first week of August, after the Reserve Bank cut the SLR (statutory liquidity requirement) holdings which was preceded by a raising of limits on export refinance.

Both the moves made additional liquidity available for the bank which the bank decided to pass on, without announcing a cut in its base rate or the minimum rate of lending. “The home loan impact will take some time to come, but car loans have gone up...

SBI revises interest rate on FCNR(B) deposits

India’s largest lender the State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday revised its interest rates on FCNR(B) (Foreign Currency Non-resident – Bank Account) deposits available in different foreign currencies. While the lender mostly hiked rates in US dollar schemes, it slashed the same with Euro deposits. The new rates are effective from September 01, 2012.

At the same time, SBI introduced four new currencies including Swiss Franc (CHF), New Zealand Dollar (NZD), Swedish Krona (SEK) and Danish Krone (DKK).

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SBI sees retail loan uptick after rate cut

Following the reduction in interest rate for retail credit by large banks, demand for such advances was picking up, said Pratip Chaudhuri, chairman, State Bank of India (SBI).

SBI, which had reduced auto and home loans, has seen disbursements double following the rate cut. Lenders such as Union Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank of India had also lowered their interest rates on home loans and car loans.

Punjab National Bank on Monday said it would now lower home loan rates to base rate, which stands at 10.5 per cent, from the earlier 10.75 per cent. It also reduced car loan interest rate by 50 basis points. Kolkata based-Allahabad Bank reduced retail interest rates and waived processing fees on retail loans. It has slashed home loan rates by up to 200 basis points and car loans by 25 basis points. The cut in interest rate by banks came after Finance Minister P Chidambaram appealed to banks to lower the rates to kick-start consumer...

MODEL PAPER FOR SUBORDINATE STAFF PROMOTION EXAM

Model paper for Subordinate to Clerical cadre promotion exam (to be held on 09.09.2012)

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SBI Gujarat circle records lowest NPAs

While being on the forefront of the industrial development, Gujarat-based borrowers have set a unique example of maintaining strict discipline as far as loan repayments are concerned. As per the senior officials of the country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), Gujarat has lowest rate of non-performing assets (NPAs) for the bank as compared to other states in the country.
"Our Ahmedabad circle has lowest NPAs in the country in terms of units as well as in terms of percentage to the total advances. While bank's overall gross NPAs stand at around 4.9 per cent, that of Gujarat circle hovers around 1.2 per cent. This is mainly due to healthy industries in the state," said A Krishna Kumar, MD & group executive (national banking), State Bank of India (SBI).
Kumar, who was on a visit to the city on Wednesday, informed that over the years Gujarat-based borrowers have shown strict discipline of repayment of loans. "It is not that other states are not doing it, but comparatively Gujarat has performed well in terms of keeping the NPAs low," he added.
SBI's Ahmedabad circle includes Gujarat state and union territories of Diu, Daman and Dadra Nagar Haveli and has larger exposures to sectors like retail, agriculture and mid-cap companies. "Industries are comparatively healthy in Gujarat. Generally, they maintain loan repayment schedules. Therefore our gross NPAs stay low," informed Ramesh Rangan, chief general manager (CGM), SBI - Ahmedabad circle. As on July, 31, 2012, Ahmedabad circle reported total deposits of Rs 73,254 crore and advances of Rs 29,569 crore. The circle has over 1500 ATMs with branch network of 1230 across the state.
Nationally, for the first quarter ended June 30, 2012, SBI's standalone net profit stood at Rs 3,752 crore as against Rs 1,584 crore in the same period last year. Bank's total advances grew by 18.9 per cent to Rs 916,841 crore from Rs 770,891 crore in the corresponding period last year.
While, total deposits for the bank stood at Rs 1,102,926 crore as on June 30, 2012, up from Rs 950,072 crore, showing a growth of 16.1 per cent. Gross NPAs for the period stood at around 5 per cent.

SBI signs MoU with Japan Bank for International Cooperation to help Japanese SMEs

MUMBAI: The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) today signed an MoU with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to help small companies from the far east nation to do business here.
Regional banks from Japan do not have a presence in India but SMEs from that country operating here or planning to enter the market here need to avail of financial services and "This MOU would assist JSMEs (Japanese small and medium enterprises) to meet their financial requirements from SBI," the SBI statement said.
JBIC has been mandated by the Japanese government to coordinate with regard to the needs of JSMEs.
The MoU was signed by SBI's managing director and group executive (International Banking) Hemant Contractor and managing executive officer of JBIC, Kazuo Yuhara, today.