What people say about us!

Certainly a new concept and worthwhile.

Anita Kothari

POLITICS

Only Jaitley can defeat Sheila Dixit ?
Who can defeat Delhi CM Sheila Dixit in ensuing Vidhan Sabha elections? Majority of the BJP leaders feel that only Arun Jaitley can defeat her.

Interview --- BoB CMD for enhancing tech reach
S.S. Mundra, who assumed the charge as Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Baroda on January 21, 2013 was, prior to his elevation, Executive Director of Union Bank of India.Born on July 18, 1954, Mundra holds a Masters Degree in Commerce and is a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (CAIIB). Mundra, who started his career as a Probationary Officer in Bank of Baroda on March 21, 1977, has over three decades of experience in Banking.
Mundra has held wide range of responsibilities in Domestic as well as International Operations of the Bank, in various capacities before his elevation as Executive Director of Union Bank of India in 2010.Mundra has diverse experience in Treasury, International Operations and Credit. He has held key leadership positions as Zonal Head of Maharashtra & Goa Zone. He was also the Chief Executive of Bank of Baroda's UK Operations for a period of 3 years.
He talked to our Business Editor Abul Hassan and shared his views on certain current situations in the Bank and the economy.
Following are the excerpts :

You assumed this new office as Chief of Bank of Baroda recently. What are your three top priorities for the bank?

The bank has been doing well in all the parameters. But broadly, I am clearly having three priorities. One, I want to continuously be focused on asset quality. There are signs of stress in economy as well as in banking. We will intensify the recovery efforts.

Second, in business area I want to slightly shift the gear to bring a more widespread growth like in the credit side instead of remaining too much wholesale banking focused. I would like my growth from agriculture, retail, small and medium enterprises (SME). It should be slightly higher than the corporate book growth. Consequently, the whole balancing in your portfolio becomes more evenly distributed. The same would be true towards the deposit side that you try to improve more retail deposits.

Thirdly I want to enhance the technology reach or rather say, alternate channel reach of bank substantially. As of today in my opinion, our Automated Teller Machine (ATM) network in respect to number of branches is slightly on lower side compared to peer groups. So, there is lot of scope that I can enhance the number of ATMs, may be number of point of sale (POS) terminals, more promotion of internet banking.

In which business sector, according to you, there is enough scope for the banks with least risk?

In the emerging macro economic environment, there is abundant scope for lending to infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and service sector activities. Among them, to my mind, in order of risk adjusted return, loan for Agriculture, MSME, Retail and Mid-Corporate will be the preferred sector. In a competitive environment lending to these sectors will be advantageous both from the point of distribution of risk and enhancement of return. Banks have been lending to these sectors for several years playing a critical role in the development of the economy. The need is to accelerate the pace of lending to these core sectors for diversified growth of the bank.

Current Accounts And Savings Accounts (CASA) are two important components of any bank. How do you plan to improve them?

We have been able to maintain our CASA percentage vis-Ã -vis the total deposits which has always remained at 30 percent plus. So, we are able to defend that. However, it is a challenge to get an incremental percentage. It is not that easy that I must agree. We have also been mobilizing CASA by using the newly opened branches and alternate delivery channels, more particularly from rural and semi urban centres. In a way, CASA can be considered as the lifeline of the bank.

What is your opinion about the growth in gold loan portfolio? Do you plan to promote it? If yes, by how much?

Gold loan is an important business segment useful to the individuals. Since gold is commonly held in the form of jewelry lending against it provides a secured portfolio and a reasonable return. We have been extending gold loans to individuals and farmers as one of the products offered by the bank which has become more popular in smaller centres. We have no plans to offer gold loans in a big way due to volatility of gold price and policy of maintaining good loan to value ratios.

The banking industry, at large, is believed to be selective in corporate lending these days? Would you also continue to be?

Corporate sector is engaged in trade and commerce in a big way and the enterprise stems from their activities. It is necessary for banks to lend to the corporate sector as a part of building enterprise in the country. The upswing and downswing in the economy are common and cyclical in nature. The slowdown in the activities need not discourage banks from lending to the corporate sector. Its products are a part of larger shelf that helps entrepreneurs to choose their needs. Our bank would continue to lend to the corporate sector as in the past to support the growth of the economy.

Would the bank be able to achieve priority sector lending target this year?

As most of the banks have also indicated that because of the significant change in definition (of PSL) at the beginning year there would be a gap. While formulating the scheme the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also realized it. I also feel that we will have some gap but it may take a year or two to fill in that gap and reach back to the old percentage (40 percent).

Where do you see pockets of stress?

When stress is in economy then every sector is facing the pressure and going by whatever happened in last six months to one year. I don't think that SME and agriculture are showing any worse performance than these so-called large corporates have shown. So, that being the case the advantage is that you have a widely disbursed credit risk when you are addressing to this constituency and they have been with us for very long years. So, I don't perceive that it will be per se a risky strategy.

Are bulk deposits in your bank still higher than the government mandate of 15%?

We have shed bulk deposits quite substantially. It used to be around 27-28 percent at one point of time and by December it was already reduced to between 18-19 percent. At the close of the fiscal year, we should be not more than 15-16 percent which is very much within the guideline or within the target which we have set for us.

How do you rate the overall performance of your bank this financial year?

The Bank is doing good despite the signs of slowdown in the economy. We have given more focus on small and medium loans and continued to lend to midcorporates to help large number of borrowers. Though the final numbers are yet to emerge, in many parameters the Bank is expected to perform beyond the industry level.

My last question, you being a veteran banker with elongated experience, how will your headship be different with your predecessors as far as setting a bench mark in history of Bank of Baroda is concerned

Having begun my career in Bank of Baroda, I am aware about the strengths of the people and latent opportunities that can be harnessed. I believe in continuity of best practices while at the same time being contemporary in leadership approach. Promoting the spirit of teamwork and recognition for good work will be hallmark of my guidance. With the competent team of the Bank, I am sure that Bank would continue to forge ahead in its journey to remain competitive in the market.

BUREAUCRACY

Empanelment of 1994 batch IAS soon
Empanelment of 1994 batch IAS officers to the rank of Joint Secretary in the Government of India is expected to take place soon.

Justice Kaul to be CJ of Punjab and Haryana HC ?
Senior most Judge of the Delhi High Court Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul is likely to be appointed Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Stuti Narain Kackar gets additional charge of Social Justice
Secretary, Disability, Stuti Narain Kackar has been given additional charge of Secretary, Social Justice in the Government of India. She is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Ranglal Jamuda to be AS, Agriculture !
Ranglal Jamuda is being tipped to be new Additional Secretary Agriculture. He is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Orissa cadre.
(We said this on March 27, 2013)

Angurana to be MD of Trifed !
Ashok Kumar Angurana is reportedly being appointed MD, Trifed. He is a 1980 batch IAS officer of J & K cadre.

Nikunj Srivastava to be Director, Petroleum
Nikunj Srivastava is joining the Government of India as Director, Petroleum. He is a 1998 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

New air in Banks !
Now promotions and appointments in the nationalized banks are going to be decentralised. Barring promotions of EDs and CMDs the Ministry of Banking has reportedly decided to decentralise such things to the respective banks.

Orders of Mahesh Kumar as Member (Staff) issued
Orders of Mahesh Kumar as Member (Staff) Railway Board have been issued. He will succeed A K Vohra.
(We said this on April 29, 2013)

Arunendra Kumar takes over as Member (Mechanical), Railway Board
Arunendra Kumar, General Manager of South East Central Railway has taken over as Member (Mechanical) Railway Board and ex officio Secretary to the Government of India.
(We said this on April 29, 2013)

Steel Ministry unwilling to appoint Jain as MD, FSNL
Despite the selection at PESB meeting and vigilance approval with all required proceedings, the Ministry of Steel is reportedly unwilling to appoint K K Jain, GM, SAIL, as Managing Director, Ferro Scrap Nigam Limited (FSNL).

Who will be new Chairman of CBDT?
Only two names are to be considered for the post of Chairman CBDT-Ms Sudha Sharma and K V Chowdary. Search Committee is meeting on May 7.

Shankar Narayan is Dy CAG, Report Cent. & Local Bodies
Shankar Narayan, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General (Report Central & Local Bodies), has been appointed as Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General in this office.

Orders of M Ravindran as Director (HR), GAIL issued
The orders of M Ravindran, ED, GAIL, for the appointment as Director (Human Resources), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) have been issued by the Government of India.
(We said this on November 29, 2012)

Dr C V Ananda Bose Chaired and advocated the UN's Habitat Agenda
The global housing fraternity across 107 countries gathered at the UN-HABITAT on the occasion of 24th Session of the UN Habitat in Nairobi on April 30. The Kenyan President inaugurated the General Council Session. The Session created, and mooted as well, a Global Habitat Fund (GHF) with an initial corpus of US $ 2 billion. Dr C V Ananda Bose, Chairman of Habitat Alliance, UN's Habitat Agenda partner, said that the fund will consist of contributions made by the National Governments, corporate, philanthropic organisations and others committed to the cause of providing affordable housing to the homeless millions in the world. The fund will be operated by the housing wing of the United Nations. 107 countries participated in the session at the minister level. Bose, a 1977 batch former IAS, recipient of the Global Best Practice award of the UN has recently been inducted to the Governing council of the UN Habitat.

Rajiv Topno denied promotion in Gujarat
Rajiv Topno who is presently working as Director in the PMO is reportedly denied promotion by the Gujarat Government to the super-time scale. He is a 1996 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

J N Singh is new MD of SSNNL
On return from central deputation J N Singh has been appointed Managing Director (MD) of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL). He is a 1983 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

Sidhu either to join CBI or ED
Harpreet Singh Sidhu is likely to join central deputation at Inspector General level in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Government of India. He is a 1992 batch IPS officer of Punjab cadre.

Vineet Chaudhary gets ACS rank in Himachal
In a fresh bureaucratic reshuffle in Himachal Pradesh Vineet Chaudhary has been promoted to the rank of Additional Chief Secretary. He is a 1982 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre.

Vacancy of CMD arises in HOCL
The vacancy of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) has arisen in Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL) with the present incumbent, R N Madangeri retired on April 30, 2013. On the other hand, the orders of R Nair V B, who was selected for the post, have not been issued so far by the Government of India.

18 IPS Probationers allocated UP cadre
As many as 18 Probationers of Indian Police Service (IPS) of 2011 batch have been allocated Uttar Pradesh cadre. They are: Garima Singh, Santosh Kumar Mishra, Sumer Partap Singh, Sankalp Sharma, Ashish Tiwari, Vijay Dhull, Anshul Gupta, Pratap Gopendra Yadav, Preeti Priyadarshini, Sachindra Patel,Abhishek Yadav, Sujata Singh, Patil Salmantaj Jafertaj, Ghule Sushil Chandrabhan, Vipin Tada, Somen Barma, Hemraj Meena and Yamuna Prasad.

Two posts of SP vacant in NCRB
Two posts of Superintendent of Police (SP) are lying vacant in National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB).

CG High Court gets two Addl. Judges
Justice Ghulam Minhajuddin and Justice Radhe Shyam Sharma have been appointed as Additional Judges of the High Court of Chhattisgarh.

Tenure of Justice Ghulam Minhajuddin extended
The tenure of Justice Ghulam Minhajuddin as Additional Judge, Chhattisgarh has been extended till July 11, 2013.

Book 'Shirdi Sai Baba- the Perfect Master' penned by S C Panda released
The book titled 'Shirdi Sai Baba - The Perfect Master' penned by S C Panda and his wife Mrs Smita Panda was released by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde at a function held on April 24, 2013. Speaking on the occasion, Shinde highlighted the life and teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba while Guruji C B Satpathy told the gathering the relevance of teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba in today's world. He is presently Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Panda is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Ganesan R empanelled as Joint Secretary in GoI
Ganesan R has been empanelled for the post of Joint Secretary or equivalent in Government of India. He is a 1982 batch Indian Telecommunication Service officer.

Gururaj to move from Ho Chi Minh City
Consul in Ho Chi Minh City R Gururaj has been moved as Second Secretary to Astana in place of Ram Singh First Secretary who is already posted in Bahrain.

14 IPS officers shifted in MP
As many as 14 officers of Indian Police Service (IPS) have been transferred and posted at different places in Madhya Pradesh. Accordingly, J S Sanswal has been appointed as DIG, Gwalior range while Raman Singh Sikarwar will now be SP, Sehore and K B Sharma is SP, Shivpuri. Similarly, B P Chandravanshi has been appointed as Commandant 18th battalion, Shivpuri; Sushant Kumar Saxena as SP, Rajgarh; Rudolf Alvares as SP, Neemuch; R A Choubey as Commandant 25th Battalion, Bhopal; Abid Khan as Addl SP, Ujjain; Nimish Agrawal as Addl SP, Jabalpur; Ashutosh Pratap Singh as Addl SP, Bhopal; Yusuf Qureshi as Addl SP, Gwalior, D Kalyan Chakravorty as Addl SP, Indore and Siddharth Bahuguna has been appointed as Addl SP, Jabalpur.

Brandon to be Member of NMC ?
Whispers in the corridors of power have it that Rohit R Brandon is poised to be given as Member, National Minority Commission (NMC). Brandon, a 1981 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre is, reportedly, midway through, VRS.

D S Poonia gets extension (UPDATED)
D S Poonia, Chief Secretary, Manipur, who was to retire on April 30, 2013, has been given an extension of three months in the office. He is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre.

Mahesh Kumar takes over as Member (Staff), Railway Board (UPDATED)
Mahesh Kumar, General Manager, Western Railway, has taken over as Member (Staff) Railway Board and ex officio Secretary to the Government of India.
(We said this on April 29, 2013)

CORPORATE

Deepak Parekh steps down from IDFC
Non-Executive Chairman of Infrastructure Financing Company (IDFC) Deepak Parekh has stepped down from his post.

Godrej to be ED, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd has appointed Ms Nisaba Godrej as an Executive Director of the company w.e.f. July 1, 2013.

Gambhir appointed MD, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd
Vivek Gambhir has been appointed as the Managing Director of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd w.e.f. July 1, 2013

Das re-designated as CFO, Kesoram Industries Ltd
Tridib Kumar Das, President (Finance) has been re-designated as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Kesoram Industries Ltd.

Asopa to continue as Senior Joint President (Finance), Kesoram Industries Ltd
U S Asopa will continue as the Senior Joint President (Finance), Kesoram Industries Ltd.

Bhadupota resigns as Independent Director, Byke Hospitality Ltd
Manoj Kumar Bhadupota has resigned as Independent Director of Byke Hospitality Ltd.

Two Independent Directors appointed on Board of Byke Hospitality Ltd
Dr Utpal Kumar Mukhopadhyay and Bharat Thakkar have been appointed as Independent Directors of Byke Hospitality Ltd.

Chhabria to cease to be Chairman of Finolex Cables Ltd on June 30?
P P Chhabria will ceased to be Chairman of Finolex Cables Ltd w.e.f. June 30, 2013

Sridhar resigns as Director, LML Ltd
S Sridhar has resigned as Director of LML Ltd.

Shah resigns as Independent Director, Tricom Fruit Products Ltd
Bipin Shah has resigned as Independent Director of Tricom Fruit Products Ltd.

Dubey appointed Addl. Independent Director, India Home Loan Ltd
India Home Loan Ltd has appointed Mayur Dubey as an Additional Independent Director of the company

(The views expressed in this column are of the contributors. We do not owe any responsibility, whatsoever, of the views of our surfers as they are their personal opinion. However, we would also request our contributors not to be personal, directly or indirectly, in presenting their views. Instead of countering the views which ‘X’ has already expressed, our contributors are advised to present their own views. Also be brief, say about 200 words at the most since any views longer than that if eliminated at our end would carry the risk of the contrbutor’s item losing its original essence)

Stagnation in CSSS?

Again, DoPT has formed a Committee to restructure CSS. What about stagnation in CSSS?

Lal Gulab

Disquiet among officers of Central Armed Forces

Surprised to learn that even Group 'A' Officers of a Force like BSF are not from 'Organised Cadre' as per GOI. Such an elite Armed Force of the Indian Union which is manning 30%of LOC in J&K having war time role, committed for maintaining the sanctity of the long International Boundary along Pakistan & Bangladesh and excellently fighting against the terrorist & Naxals under the outstanding leadership of its cadre officers but are "Un-organised Cadre". What an irony? It is really ridiculous. The Cadre officers of the BSF has no 'Peace tenure' like Army after every 2-3 years, but only 'Field tenure' through the career and professional life full of hardships. Reasons attributable for such a callousness and injustice is poor leadership of IPS Officers on the top who have been successful in befooling the Ministry of Home Affairs for their petty interests but at the cost of National interests. Poor Governance has compelled such a disciplined cadre officers to knock the doors of the High Court Delhi!. GOI needs to take decision keeping in view the National interests rather than protecting the petty interests of IPS lobby. Hope BSF Cadre Officers will get justice in due course of time.

Radha Raman (Retired Principal from BSF School)

Disquiet amongst officers of Central Armed Forces

It is very unfortunate that CAPFs group "A" officers who are approx.. 8000 in numbers had to approach Delhi High Court for their legitimate and justified demand of getting NFU. (Non Functional Financial Upgradation) It is rather more unfortunate and disheartening to know that their so called leaders and policy makers for these Forces who come from IPS stream are instrumental behind denial of this Financial Upgradation, whereas, main intent of implementing this scheme was to benefit the cadres/officers who are suffering from stagnation, and CAPF Officers are most eligible for this scheme. Such types of demotivational and unjustified move of IPS officers raises lot of questions about their leadership. Time is not far away when they had to give answers of such questions to the Court/GOI, and they may be asked to handover reins of these Forces to their cadre officers who are more professional and competent, if they continue to behave in this manner.

Pyare Mohan

Benefit of reservation has been cornered

True, Benefit of reservation has been cornered by the elite in SC/ST Communities. Solution is 15% should be broken into two parts. One part say 5% should be open to all. Remaining part should be for economically backward among SCs. Similar formula for STs and OBCs.

AK

Civil Services Awards- are always biased

If Dr Kalam etc have spoken in this function, that does not make the selection process of awardees unbiased. Speakers have no role is selection and they come and speak only because they are invited. Why other services are less represented, the blame to some extent lies with these services also. Why they don't send good works of their officer to the award committee.

Shan Kapur

Caste can't be ignored

In our country when everything from politics to patronage to jobs in services, promotion in services, social interactions are made on caste line, it is too idealistic to argue that we should not discuss caste.

Rajesh Tiwari

Empanelment of private hospitals under CGHS

Government is reviewing the list of empanelled hospitals in Delhi and may put new hospitals under CGHS without evaluating their quality of treatment. One may find new hospitals as a big surprise as their treatment history may not be of standard quality. The good private hospitals have not only good facilities but good doctors to take care of any situation. Government is going to conduct a trail of hospitals on CGHS beneficiaries. Now a day's cost of treatment has gone up due to inflation, this point should be remembered by Govt. It is submitted that private good hospitals in Delhi should be first empanelled before making big list of 200 hospitals which are of no use. The gap which has been created by removing Max, Escorts, Batra, Orthonova etc. cannot be filled even empanelling 20 more sub-standard hospitals. Please take care of health of CGHS beneficiaries.

N Prakash

Caste Vs Poverty

Excellent views by Singh R.K. Even a Higher Income Group retired Ambassador from SC is denied his right to lodge an FIR under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The concerned Police Station took 126 days to register an FIR. The case was well within the knowledge of DCP, ACP and SHO. Ultimately the SC Commission has to step in. Haay ri Caste! Will you leave me even in a developed western country where such foolish caste based news/advs are rampant.

Zile Singh