Indian Banks & Financial System

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nawabs
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by nawabs »

XPost:

Banks can open A/cs for Bangladeshi nationals sans RBI nod

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 448362.cms
The Reserve Bank today said banks are permitted to now open non-resident ordinary rupee (NRO) account of Bangladeshi nationals without its prior approval.

"...it has been decided that henceforth, banks would be permitted to open NRO account of individual/s of Bangladesh nationality without the approval of the Reserve Bank," it said in a notification.

The permission is granted subject to the conditions the bank should satisfy itself that the individual holds a valid visa and valid residential permit.

The RBI said banks should put in place a system of quarterly reporting whereby each branch of the bank shall maintain a record of the bank accounts opened by individual(s) of Bangladesh nationality and details of such account shall be forwarded to their head office.

The head office of the concerned bank shall furnish details of such accounts --containing the name, date of arrival in India, passport number, residential permit reference, name of the Foreigner Registration Office ( FRO), and address and contact number of the bank branch where the account is maintained -- on quarterly basis to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

However, opening of accounts by entities of Bangladesh ownership shall continue to require approval of RBI, it added further.

As per the extant guidelines, opening of Non-Resident Ordinary Rupee (NRO) accounts by individuals/entities of Bangladesh/Pakistan nationality/ ownership requires approval of Reserve Bank.
ManjaM
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by ManjaM »

Is this in any way related to Camerons visit to desh?


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/busi ... 631796.cms


India poised to issue bank licences to corporate players
MUMBAI: Indian companies from any business sector will be allowed to seek entry to the country's the banking industry as the government looks to bring banking services to the large proportion of the population without bank accounts.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced rules that would allow any type of company to apply for a banking licence, paving the way for India's first new banks since the formation of Yes Bank in 2004.

Draft rules issued in 2011 had barred companies in the property and brokerage industries from applying, and disagreement between the central bank and finance ministry over exclusions had slowed the release of the final rules.


Some critics, including the International Monetary Fund, had also voiced concern over the possibility of new banks issuing potentially risky loans to their related companies.

However, the final rules on Friday did not make any particular exclusions.

The move to issue new bank licences is intended to increase competition and bring fresh capital to an industry dominated by state lenders and reaches only about half of Indian households. Newly licenced banks will be required to open 25 per cent of their branches in rural areas that lack banking services.

"India has a huge population of unbanked ... and the real concern is financial inclusion," said Rupa Rege Nitsure, chief economist at Bank of Baroda.

Applicants lining up

At least 10 companies, mostly from the financial services sector, are expected to apply for licences. L&T Finance, part of construction and infrastructure conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd, and billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital are among those that have said they are keen to apply.

The RBI will allow applications until July 1 and successful applicants have a year to set up a bank. New banks must make a stock market listing within three years — one year longer than had been proposed in the draft rules.

The RBI said licences will be issued on a "very selective basis" to applicants with "an impeccable track record".

The rules are intended to ring-fence a company's regulated financial services operations from the rest of the group, the RBI said on Friday.

"What is good is that the RBI has put in a lot of checks and balances. The exposure norms they have defined have taken care of all the risks that people would have been worried about," said Naresh Makhijani, executive director at KPMG.

Religare Enterprises Ltd, Aditya Birla Financial Services and Mahindra Financial Services all said on Friday that they plan to apply for licences.
arun
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by arun »

Sting operation by Cobra Post alleges multiple cases of money laundering covering many employees and branches of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank :
Cobrapost's Shocking Mega Expose: Major Indian Private Sector Banks, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, Are Blatantly Running A Huge Nation-wide Money Laundering Racket

New Delhi: A Cobrapost pan-India undercover investigation spanning several months, unearths a vast, nation-wide money laundering racket being run by HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank. The brazen criminal activity by these banks is channelizing vast amounts of black money into the regular banking system as laundered white money.

Our investigation, conducted across dozens and dozens of branches of these banks and their insurance affiliates, across all five zones of the country, revealed these shocking facts:

That these money laundering practices are part of a standard set of procedures within these banks;
* These money laundering services are being openly offered to even walk-in customers who wish to launder their illicit money;
* A variety of options for laundering ill-gotten cash are being offered brazenly;
* These money laundering services are being offered practically as a standard product across the country.

This huge money-laundering racket being run by these banks has been captured by Cobrapost, on video-tape, running into hundreds of hours. The evidence is graphic, crystal-clear and clinching. ………………………………….
Read it all at the below link. Also check out the embedded links named after the 3 named banks on the left hand side of the below page. That link carries details of the alleged breaches along with sting videos:

Clicky
Virupaksha
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Virupaksha »

Ask any medium level branch manager including PSUs- many of them have got offers of converting minimum 10000 crores(yes, no a typo - ten thousand crores) into white. The percentage share offered to him/her is around 1-2%.

I know of cases in maharashtra, karnataka. Cooperative banks are head and tail into this, but the prize catch was if a PSU branch manager was willing.
arun
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by arun »

Reaction of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to the Cobra Post sting that has made allegations that these banks were involved in money laundering:

ICICI, HDFC Bank, Axis probing money laundering accusations

Reaction of the Income Tax Department to the Cobra Post sting that has made allegations that HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have indulged in money laundering:

After sting op, I-T dept to probe role of ICICI, HDFC, Axis in money laundering
Aditya_V
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Aditya_V »

This cobrapost is a wing of Tehlka, why attack the Private Banks now? Surely they could have done many stings in the MOD since 2004?
member_20292
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by member_20292 »

http://www.firstpost.com/business/cobra ... 56391.html


ollowing up on its sting on three of India’s premier private banks – HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank – which exposed how its mid-level and top-level managers facilitated money laundering, Cobrapost’s latest expose shows 23 institutions – both public and private – doing the same.

In an interview, Bahal told Firstpost that such practices seem to be the norm and not the exception in the Indian financial system. He also said that the rot will not stop till our ‘toothless’ regulator takes strict action and the government decides to investigate the practices of these banks.
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Vipul »

Bank branches in India cross 1 lakh landmark: Crisil study.

Banking services in India continue to gain ground, with the number of savings accounts and bank branches registering their fastest growth in four years. As many as 11.7 crore new savings accounts opened in fiscal 2013, an annual increase of 16.8 per cent. Bank branches also registered the fastest growth in the last four years and crossed the one-lakh landmark.

These were the findings of a new report by ratings and research firm Crisil which released its updated scores for Crisil Inclusix, an index that measures financial inclusion in each of the 652 districts in India. The index is based not only on the latest data (March 2013) provided by the Reserve Bank of India, but also for the first time includes the contribution of microfinance institutions.

Growth in credit accounts, however, exhibited a mixed trend. While agricultural accounts increased by 15.7 per cent in fiscal 2013, total credit accounts witnessed a decline for the first time in the past four years due to a decline in small-borrower accounts.

The decline in bank credit accounts at the national level by two per cent during fiscal 2013 can be attributed to a sharp decline in bank credit accounts in the western region, Crisil said. Bank credit accounts in the western region declined by 24.2 per cent in fiscal 2013 because of a 31 per cent decline in small-borrower accounts.

Maharashtra witnessed a sharp decline in bank credit accounts because of a 34.8 per cent decline in small-borrower accounts. Most of the decline was in high credit-penetration districts of Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Nagpur and Pune.

In financial inclusion, the gap between south and the rest remains wide. South continues to lead with a score of 76, substantially higher than the all-India Inclusix score of 50.1. All other regions lag the all-India Inclusix score. While the western region hovers near the all-India score, north-east, east and the north are way lower. Among large states, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were the top scoring states in Crisil Inclusix, while Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand were at the bottom.

Moreover, basic financial services remains underpenetrated, the study said. A large part of India's population does not have access to formal banking services or credit from MFIs. A third of Indians did not have a bank savings account at the end of fiscal 2013, while only one in seven had access to credit.

The improvement in Inclusix could be much faster with increased focus on enhancing credit beyond the south. Tailwinds from policy steps such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, and differentiated banking licenses are expected to boost financial inclusion over the medium term. However, policy makers will have to continue to incentivise expansion of branch, deposit, and credit in certain districts to hasten financial inclusion across the country, Crisil said.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

Let me post here too: Could the Faithful here pls provide some suggestions / recommendations on banks to handle Indian PIS from phoren for my 6th coujin 4 times removed hu eej in Yoo Ess?

He has vast experience of IndusInd Bank and considers them to be 400% idiots. Keep bothering him about the Customer Updation Phorm, though he has sent it to them hajaar times already - the idiots don't seem to have any filing system or connections between their different oiseules.
Any other banks?

Seriously, IndusInd is reminescent of Michael Crichton's CONGO: Fine technology, with ***** apes sitting in front of them snarling and lying to customers. Led by sh1ts.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

Is IDBI caught yet? The only reason why IndusInd wouldn't get caught in this is that the buggers would type 10,000 as 000,01 and not know the difference.
nandakumar
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by nandakumar »

UlanBatori wrote:Let me post here too: Could the Faithful here pls provide some suggestions / recommendations on banks to handle Indian PIS from phoren for my 6th coujin 4 times removed hu eej in Yoo Ess?

He has vast experience of IndusInd Bank and considers them to be 400% idiots. Keep bothering him about the Customer Updation Phorm, though he has sent it to them hajaar times already - the idiots don't seem to have any filing system or connections between their different oiseules.
Any other banks?

Seriously, IndusInd is reminescent of Michael Crichton's CONGO: Fine technology, with ***** apes sitting in front of them snarling and lying to customers. Led by sh1ts.
What is PIS?
Avinash R
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Avinash R »

Image
Avinash R
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Avinash R »

^ what was the purpose of the britishers to invade india?
to steal from the heathens in the name of the English queen.

when the people started opposing their rule, they left behind maculayputras to loot the heathens and send the money to secret swiss bank accounts which were used by the queen and her cronies for their nefarious purposes around the world.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

What is PIS?
Pakistan Institute of (never mind, missing one S)

Portfolio Investment Services (I think). Account set up in a bank so that stock trading company can be paid for stocks purchased, and receive sales proceeds and dividends. These processes must happen very fast and accurately and reliably.

In the case of IndusInd Bank, PIS is so that they can 'freeze' the account if the customer is not indulging in day-trading, and otherwise create havoc, and delay payments until several reminders are sent back and forth.

In Mongolia, this is all transparent: one deals directly with an investment firm, who have their bank to do the transactions. And they try to employ humans, and those hired in stock firms seem to have pretty steep discipline and responsiveness requirements set on them.

Indian guvrmand assumes that anyone from phoren who invests in India must be crooked as Babus/Mantris. Combine with the sheer nincompoopism practised by Indian banks, and 99% of the time and resources are spent in getting same "KYC" (Kill Your Customer) or Customer Blood Pressure Updation Forms filled in again and again and sent back and forth across continents using DHL, Air India etc.

Search for IndusInd on fB (not the Ophisial Site) and u will c what I mean. :roll: And those are the ones who actually do something, at least party and post on fB.
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Bade »

This KYC bizness is BS of the highest order. The story is about shiti bank yen-ar-eye account. We filled the forms while in India, shq not being present they wanted it all done at the local office in the usa. So we went with all our forms and gave to the local liaison. He said all this paper work is not required. In any case we gave all the docs and he reluctantly accepted it to be sent to the Mumbai office.

Within a month or so we got a reminder again to submit our KYC form. Nowadays, I ignore these requests as it goes into a black hole looks like. ICICI's is even worse, they have some automated robot which sends out these requests periodically when there is a low period in the bots activity.
Picklu
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Picklu »

ICICI was rather famous for flooding their document storage every monsoon but last few years they are doing better is what I hear.
Bade
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Bade »

Recently closed a re-fi on a housing loan with the same citi in the US. Very different experience. The only hold-up in the end was IRS tax return transcripts getting delayed, due to the hack on their system. Each step was clearly laid out and updated.

Something is wrong in the way Indian bankers operate, even when the bank has foreign origins.
Yagnasri
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Yagnasri »

I am using SBI only. My experience with SBI is ok.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

Nowadays, I ignore these requests
I would too, except that when a stock was bought, these oiseules closed themselves on the payment - account frozen. Clock was really ticking on that. Had to fill out a form explaining why I wasn't doing more trading - I scratched out what the form said, and wrote that the account was maintained for when the customer wanted to trade and felt that it was appropriate to trade (not when their goats demanded it, but I didn't write that :eek: ).
The KYC threat is the only thing that arrives like clockwork, and it gets more threatening each time. They seem immune to abuse on that as well. But... let's see.. :twisted: :evil: 8)
Bade
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Bade »

They (ICICI) find new ways to harass their customers. As if KYC nonsense is not sufficient torture, they give cold calls from yes, private cell phones to their customers every month or so to do gup-shup, another form of KYC, asking me why I have not logged in to my account recently or made any money transfers. :-) I tell them I have no money onlee, what to do. For a long time they had not realized that I had a NRO acct too open with zero balance like for almost 10 yrs. Then I had put some local change < Rs5k in it once, all of a sudden they are on my case. Now it is about minimum balance requirement not being met. This charade has to go on, as I need them whenever I visit India to use the local ATM...though it gets blocked each time I visit India due to inactivity for more than six months.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

Funny thing is that they seemed at the start to be the most systematic about putting in TDS - then they 'benchmarked' down below the nationalized banks, then equalized to the other private scams where the idea of reporting TDS was haraam. I have not had time or mental fortitude to sit down and look at that this year since Mongolian Tax and Tribute Din.

My local agint (nephew) was right then - the Indusindiots are no worse idiots than their Benchmarks icici and hdfc, who also now have see bee eye attenshun. What about IDBI? I don't see any horror stories about them, but after one look at their 'PIS' opening phorms, I can see that that aspect is no better. Strongly considering preparing a small concise form for bankers to apply to deal with Ulan Bator News & Conspiracies. Will need their CEO and Chairman to provide imprints of their musharrafs, duly self-attested by Sonia Gandy and Bawb Vadera.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

I have had 2 ATM cards for about dus saal now: one gleaming EnnAarOh, one EnnAarEye which does not matter because there is not enough there to pay for ATM charges if I ever have to use it. But never had to. Never can use them - if I go to desh and ask them to provide the code and activate, they claim the code has to come from HeadQuarters where their major chimpanzees biss on their jackasses. Their robot, the only IQ>0 in the whole establishment, brilliantly sends the code to Mongolia!! Then it is expired because it hasn't been used inside 3 weeks or whatever, since they have no branch in Mongolia to go activate it. No way to ask BEFORE I go to desh because then would need the ATM card to ask their chimpanzees about it.

Like I said, classic CONGO. Huge technology investments, with monkeys or donkeys 'operating' it. I DID find the email of the Chairman, Chief Executive Ourangutan, Chief Operating Ourangutan etc online though. :evil:
Satya_anveshi
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Satya_anveshi »

Was in a ditto situation and I think I still am. On my recent visit, walked into local branch in my dehat and got my age old account transferred from bengaluru, kerala. But in order for them take any action, I put a pitch that I have *this* much in my 401(k) which is gathering dust and paying zilch. If I move that to ennarryee, it will at least pay 8.5% risk free and tax free(in India). Oh btw it helps big time if your address and mobile number is local so you can change the passwords which at times have to go thru your mobile number.

That made them move a bit but not sooner than their life insurance/ULIPs selling sheetsheads gheraoing me.

Had to shoo them away saying I have enough life cover but can hear their 'advise' on high growth/high risk mutual funds.

Appears that per current rules, EnnArrEyes from US cannot invest in mutual funds and I believe it has to do with US objecting to it as all IndianAmericans will move enmass to Indian capital market. This is a clear oppty to attract investments from retail customers from US/CAN into Indian capital market.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

EnnArrEyes from US cannot invest in mutual funds and I believe it has to do with US objecting to it as all IndianAmericans will move enmass to Indian capital market.
I had not heard of this. Any links pls? Last I had heard from US EnnArrEyes and desis visiting Mongolia, desi rules for ANY EnnArrEye investment in mutual funds were predicated on the assumption that the customer is a crook. There were so many conflicting rules and they kept changing every week. But there are several US mutual funds focusing on Indian stocks, and some exclusively in Indian stocks that made Big$$ last year (unphortunately not any that one accessed from Mongolia :(( )

One can sign up in ITI if one is a US EnnArrEye, hain? (and is crazy to get into that paperwork nightmare..). If one is a USC and an OCI what stops one from signing up? US tax forms don't classify Indian mutual funds as illegal tax shelters AFAIK. Yet.

IMO the problem is the sheer bloody-minded baboon-cracy creating so many paperwork rules and then not keeping any records.
One reason I ask is that if there is such a prohibition it may be something to take up for, say local Ulan Bator chapter of an organization like Global Indian Chamber of Commerce.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

BTW on Life Insurance. Long time back (I should be dead long b4 now per LIC) I tried to get an LIC policy. After all, I had and paid back such a policy decades ago, so hey, why should I have any difficulty at all? Smooth process. They set up everything, but I should have known when the cheque preceded the tests. Apparently the amt was bit over what they had usually seen, so there was a general demeanor of cats around a goldfish bowl.

Test results also came back Amazingly EXCELLENT. I thought it was because the guy that owned the lab was a former classmate. I was wrong. Cheque was cashed, I returned to Mongolia.

2 months passed. A form came in the mail. "just sign and return". It was a blanket agreement to let them change my premium level based on their interpretation, whatever that might be, of test results!!!!! . They cited the (honest) words I had written in the form. Apparently that is just not "done" in desh - see (alleged :mrgreen: ) Khobragade attitude towards filling out forms.

I said :P. No dice. Festivities went on for a couple of months. Lots of pressure to "Just Sign". I guess they felt they were immune to lawsuits etc, who the heck has the time and resources to sue LIC for fraud? Then I called my cricket friend and frequent former Opposing Captain on the dust bowls in desh and sent him a letter to take to the Division Chief personally. His young relative worked in EllEyeSee at another branch. She walked into office of Division Chief. The bugger who sent me the Form got a written reprimand, I got my premium back, the Agint was out the money spent on tests etc and any bribes he gave out in the process. Of course they expected that I would then sign up with said relative of friend, but :rotfl: I don't have many other friends left if that went sour.
Shock and sorrow and :(( in desh EllEyeSee circles.

Absolutely no ethics, even in the so-called PeeEssYoos, until/unless one bares one's canines. Very sad.
But like I said, I have now lived longer than the 7 years needed to pay up the premium at the accelerated rate I had offered. By now the proceeds should have faar exceeded the policy face value. So, their loss. :P
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Satya_anveshi »

<here it is. Though this is not US "objecting to NRI investment" as I put it in my post but then we would be jerks to read it anything otherwise of US intentions>

Dear NRI Investors, Sorry!
The new US government law that has led to Indian AMCs shunning NRI investors could easily lead to protests from those NRIs
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA): This is a US government law that makes it compulsory for all financial institutions to provide details of transactions made with them by US persons. These financial institutions include fund companies in India, which for various reasons didn't find it feasible enough to report investments made with them by US persons.
NRIs are, after all, losing out on investing in India when it is probably the best time to invest in India. With so much optimism in the air, it is natural for non-resident Indians to want a piece of the pie they've left behind. But unfortunately, there's nothing they can do. The law is such that there's no way around it. And one can't even blame the Indian AMCs, the penalties of not reporting transactions are too stringent for them to take a risk with that. Looks like they'd rather just lose out on NRI investments.
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

Like most desi reports, this one is completely screwed-up on the facts. I think GOTUS asks institutions worldwide to respond if they ask for such a list, to cross-check against the data reported by USC citjens evey year. Why should an Indian institution respond if a foreign government demands something, except as a courtesy? OTOH, if the institution has branches in the US, they have to provide the data, no escape there. It is like India asking Swiss banks for data on Sonia &Co.

So the problem is that Indian institutions' traditional oiseule-ness, they don't bother to do ANY accounting. So it is a case of inability to provide data because they are so screwed-up or crooked.

My advice is, don't deal with any institution that won't provide data to the govt. It is probably because they are crooked and most of their bijnej is from Pakistan.
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Satya_anveshi »

I checked with both ICICI and HDFC and they are advising NRIs against direct investing in MFs thru them. I suspect it is same with others.
member_20292
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by member_20292 »

So,

if you live in the US, and want a piece of the lovely 17% CAGR that the Indian stock market provides, over the long term....what are you supposed to do?

If you are in US or Canada, no Indian MF will accept your monies. None. Not even Franklin Templeton India.

Then what? Are the India focussed funds in the US as good as the funds in India? Good Indian funds will return 20% CAGR over the long run. Can ANYTHING except Berkshire Hathaway, give you something like that, for small sums invested monthly, systematically??
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

I checked with both ICICI and HDFC
Now THAT is something on which my mind is clear. I am **NOT** planning to put money in either of those. In Gleat Satanic Anti-terrist circles, those would be like painting a giant target on one's musharraf.
For this "good indian funds 20%", well.. yes, because it is a rapidly growing stock market and lots of hype present. Also, IMO good prospects because the black money is going to get chased out (ok, about 0.001%) out of real-crook-estate, so they have to find some legit place to put it where there no long term capital gain. But real long-term return on stock market is going to settle down to maybe 8% max, so there will be crashes. **When** (not IF) Indian mutual funds crash, is when the corruption and absence of credible regulation will really hurt the small investor. Circa 2008 I think the so-called "insulated", teflon Indian economy went down much deeper than the US where the problems originated. This figures, it is a cost of going after big returns.

The main problem may be that the desi firms will face American lawsuits if that happens - and all the skeletons in their closets will tumble out. Indian lawsuits are of course a joke to them - it's worse than in Colombia as you can see. If they can't put a mofo such as Salman DUI Khan in jail 13 years after he killed people and hit-and-ran, much less hang him, and where Jayalalithaa walks free as a Tyranosaurus Regina, where is the hope for a small investor? The Consumer Court will say: "Hain, Rich EnnArrEye/Phorener? Leave ur money hiyar, bye-bye onlee!" and the crooked lawyers will scam the client anyway.

BTW, I strongly agree, for the above reasons, that NRIs should avoid Indian Mutual Fund vendors like the plague. Have looked enough into their Forms and Regulations to run fast. :eek: :shock:
Question for me is how long I can afford to deal with the Zoo aka desi Banks.

Amazingly, Form 16 just came in from a major nationalized bank, and it's not even July and I haven't sent out a single reminder/request yet. May have something to do with the letter I wrote to the Chairman, cc the whole Board. :twisted: That got sent DOWN from the top, leading to some interesting reactions.

Of course, at IndusIndBank there is no such fear. The Director of Escalation Management (aka Flunky In Charge Of CoverUp) has promised to 'look into it' - a week ago. The immense task before them is to download what I sent with their Kill Your Customer / Customer Updation forms for the 5 th time, and FILE IT properly and tell me that it is all cleared and their idiot Computer is not going to send us threats. Tough task, no doubt. See above regarding their filing system.
member_20292
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by member_20292 »

^ could be. But stocks usually are better than bonds and gold and cash.

Thus indian stocks

and thus the qn. How does a US based nri get a piece of the Indian action?
panduranghari
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by panduranghari »

Bade wrote:This KYC bizness is BS of the highest order.
A mandatory requirement of Basel iii norms which RBI signed up to. Cant make this shit up!!
Satya_anveshi
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Satya_anveshi »

mahadevbhu wrote:....what are you supposed to do?
Bhajan!

You shall not trade in Indian equities directly nor will be able to buy/sell MFs at will thru your direct acct. Due to offenses of few, wholesale public is being deprived of a good oppty.

Easier (not so good) way is to participate thru ULIPs which gets passed as insurance. If you are paying it via NRE account, the maturity amount will be fully repatriable and tax free (double check on this).
However, they are marred with high expense ratio, lower returns, and other riders.
Do note the issues Guruji is highlighting above.
UlanBatori
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by UlanBatori »

You shall not trade in Indian equities directly nor will be able to buy/sell MFs at will thru your direct acct.
Well.. the term "directly" may be the issue. I see no bar to trading through an equities trading company provided you have someone that you can trust to make the stock purchases etc - IOW, you don't have the seat on the stock exchange, they do. There ARE prohibitions against day trading by NRIs, and individual companies have rules on phoren ownership. So sometimes you try to buy a stock, and whammo! They say you can't do that - your 3 paise would bring the entire company down. Needs RBI permission (which apparently is just a matter of asking).

All in all, the buggers just create more 'rules' to stick it to NRIs. If you travelled through Mumbai airport in the 1980s u know the feeling - arrive at 2AM after a 30-hour journey, jet-lagged, sleep-deprived and exhausted - you squeeze through Customs, then say "phew" and push the baggage cart out - into a waiting horde of con-artists, pick-pockets, plain daakuus, all operating right under the eye of the Baboons and the Pandus.

You have to push your cart out into this pot-holed Rann of Kutch in the monsoon rain, waiting for the Transit Bus from International to Domeshtik - two buildings that share the same taxiways and runways, but the only way to get from one to the other is in a PRIVATE BUS run by goons. They charge you an arm and a leg to load the bags, and then to unload them. They all want handouts. You are all the time trying to monitor the presence of your wallet, passport, credit cards, money, children if any, watching SHQ's handbag as well..

You finally get on the bus. It goes through 3 miles of slums. The ambient coal dust and CO in the atmosphere (thankfully washed away by the monsoon though you are now wet through) gets in your nose. The bus is pitch dark and you trip over all the hand baggage stacked in the aisle, or dodge those falling from the luggage rack above, and wonder if your main bags are going to survive on the top of the swaying, lurching bus in the rain.


You finally get to the Domeshtick. They all have their hands out again, for you to get united with your baggage again. Then they make you wait outside because the Domeshtick isn't open yet.
....
About 3/4 of a day later, you come out at COK. You try to walk out carrying/pushing your own baggage, You are stopped by these goons who ORDER you to go back and pay $100 to the goon sitting behind a desk. Why? Porter's Union. They don't have to do any work, but you have to pay them to get out of the airport.
I won't start my Cochin Customs story here.. takes too long and brings out long-suppressed rage - suffice it to say that I chased the Customs Babu into the Naval Base, the guard let me through after checking my passport, and eventually I got my bags out without paying a paisa to anyone, and after giving the Liaison Baboon a short Introduction to Facts Of Life.

Why am I writing all this? Because all those **** goons have now become Bank Managers and Mutual Fund Aphsars in India now. Same mentality. Same ethics. Rip off the hard-working.
srin
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by srin »

I'm currently waging battle against $hiti-bank. You'd think an MNC bank would have some clue about wire transfers but they seem to be complete morons.
I'm trying to exercise my khan-based private startup's esops and need to do a wire-transfer of around fifty dollars.
First the RBI issues a stupid regulation which contains a requirement that the options are issued on a "uniform global basis". Not sure whatever they are trying to achieve, but simply more running around - both here and in HQ. And they call it "Liberalized remittance scheme". Not sure what is liberalized about it.
Then the banks have created some 5 forms based on that - where i write the same details, my name, account number, amount, beneficiary, swift code.
Next, this glorious bank that never sleeps blocks the remittance and when I go to branch, tells me that the Mumbai office has blocked it because I need to give them the names of all India employees having ESOPs and how many they have as per "RBI regulation". :-o When I demand the regulation, they very helpfully give me the date of the master circular. I open up the circular on RBI website and show them it only says that Indian company should send "list to the RBI via the AD", not that I have to send them anything.
When i say I want to talk to this genius guy in Mumbai office, they say that these guys won't talk to customers !

Still going on. My company has already cut the perquisite tax from salary but wire transfer not yet gone through. All this for lousy fifty dollars.

My luckier/smarter friends with ICICI accounts could transfer it within a day - almost no questions asked.

If you want to improve the banking system, delete half the RBI regulations and fire all the babus there. Would be a good start.
A_Gupta
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by A_Gupta »

https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/AnnualRe ... px?Id=1144
Governor’s Overview: Annual Report, 2014-15
46. RBI is an efficient organisation, which has steadily reduced its employee count from 35,500 in 1981 to 16,700 today, even while performing ever increasing quantities of work. The surplus it generated from its activities this year is ₹659 billion, which has been paid out entirely to the Government.
JohnTitor
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by JohnTitor »

X-post from demonetisation thread
Bart S wrote:You seem to have an unfairly dim view of the Indian banking system. Fraud protection for international transactions is very much active on Indian bank cards as well, most people travelling internationally from India (frequent travellers) take care to inform the banks of the countries they are visiting and the dates, as a precaution. Otherwise your transaction can be blocked, and they also call you from the call center. It's good to notify them as a best practice so they add a note in their system since our mobile phone might not be reachable when that happens.

Heck, I have even gotten calls within 2 mins for using my card from India on a foreign website for a forex transaction.

Not only that, but Indian cards have had 2FA and mandatory chip cards before many countries including the US.
Apologies. My intention wasn't to put down the banking system in India. I still believe India's banking system is one of the best primarily because the government is a big player (barring some of the corrupt loan grants - but this is a larger symptom not confined to banking).

Fraud detection is what is key as far as banks go, and I don't think Indian banks lag here. Where they do lag, however, is efficiently rectifying the situation. For instance, cancelling the card and providing the customer with a new card after 7 days (again, I may be completely wrong as I'm using the example someone posted here. I've never had to deal with such a situation in India). Fraudulent transactions can be blocked and the card itself disabled until the customer can be contacted and the situation dealt with i.e. contacting the customer for each transaction to ensure it isn't fraudulent. This would allow the customer to use the card until a replacement is available.

And yes - you are right. India has had chip & PIN for a while, also used in the UK. US on the other hand still largely relies on signatures (even today!!), which we all know can be forged.

As Chandragupta pointed out (in that same thread), a lot of fraud management of western countries is done in India. This means the experience & talent to deal with these things is available within the country and need to be utilised by Indian banks (particularly PSUs)
Nick_S
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Nick_S »

Bad Loans rising -

Image
Manish_P
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Manish_P »

Bank Users Could Be Asked To Pay Tax For Every ATM Withdrawal, Every Cheque Issued!
In a surprise move, Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGST) has contacted all leading banks and asked them to pay tax on the ‘free services’ offered by them to customers.

Banks such as State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are among those, who have been asked to pay this tax. Other banks shall be soon contacted for the same.

As DGGST directive, retrospective tax, dating back to 5 years have been asked to pay.
Every bank charges an amount from their customers if the minimum balance is not maintained. In lieu of this charge, banks provide basic banking services such as ATM withdrawals, chequebooks, online banking etc.

In case the customer maintains the minimum balance, then no extra charge is deduced, and the banking services are anyways offered.

Now, the tax authorities have determined that these services offered by banks have to be charged.

In case a bank incurs revenue after charging customers for maintaining low account balance, then tax on that amount has also been provisioned.
Aditya_V
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Re: Indian Banks & Financial System

Post by Aditya_V »

These Babuns in Taxation departments are always creative but it is against the tenants of GST. It will soon be clarified and withdrawn.
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