Page 6 - Banking Finance September 2020

BANK UPDATE

Ashish will be based out of Bandhan ies were much lower at 51 per cent of In the light of the economic and busi-
Bank's headquarters in Kolkata and will the pre-COVID period in January-Feb- ness environment in India besides the
report to Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, ruary and 57 per cent of the levels downward pressures in the financial
Managing Director and Chief Executive observed in July-August last year. sector, increase in NPAs, slow growth
Officer. in overall business variables, among
Personal bankruptcy: SC others, the bank gauges the capital
PSBs see faster uptick in rejects SBI appeal against requirements for the near to medium
retail credit inquiries dur- Anil Ambani term from time to time, it said.
ing Jul-Aug The Supreme Court dismissed the ap- 12 PSBs join to launch

The state-run lenders are seeing faster peal of State Bank of India (SBI) seek- Doorstep Banking Services
pick up in retail credit inquiries than ing vacation of the stay granted by the
their private counterparts on quicker Delhi High Court on personal bank- The 12 public sector banks (PSBs) in
reopening of branch network, a report ruptcy proceedings initiated by the the country have forged an alliance to
by a credit information company (CIC) bank against Reliance Group chairman launch Doorstep Banking Services
said. Despite the inroads done by digi- Anil Ambani. (DBS) at 100 top deposit centres across
the country.
tal alternatives, through which lenders SBI's case is that it had granted credit
are receiving inquiries and even dis- facilities to Reliance Communications This move is part of the EASE (En-
bursing loans online, branch offices (RCom) and Reliance Infratel (RTIL) in hanced Access and Service Excellence)
continue to play an important role, 2015 and the same were personally Reforms for PSBs.
Transunion Cibil said in the report.
guaranteed by Ambani pursuant to a Initially, non-financial services will be
The lenders get in touch with CICs deed of personal guarantee of Septem- available to all customers, especially
while doing diligence on every credit ber 23, 2016, furnished by him. senior citizens, persons with disabili-
proposal, which triggers in inquiries. ties, and defence forces, among oth-
It can be noted that many analysts J&K Bank to raise up to ers. The non-financial services include
have said that a large share of the in- Rs. 4,500 cr capital pick-up of cheque / demand draft / pay
cremental credit demand is coming order; new cheque book requisition
from the more aggressive private sec- through equity, debt slip, 15G / 15H forms, IT / GST challan;
tor lenders who also have larger capi- Public sector Jammu and Kashmir Bank issue of request for standing instruc-
tal buffers. is looking to raise up to Rs 4,500 crore tions; and request for account state-
through equities and debt, according ment.
"Public (sector) lenders saw the biggest
rebound in inquiries in July and August to its annual report. The services will also include delivery
2020, most likely because they were The bank will seek shareholders' ap- of non-personalised cheque book;
early in recommencing operations than proval for the fund raise proposal in its term-deposit receipt; acknowledg-
their private and NBFC (non-bank fi- annual general meeting to be held on ment; TDS / Form 16 certificate issu-
nance companies) counterparts," the September 28, 2020, the lender said in ance; and pre-paid instrument / gift
report by Cibil said. its Annual Report 2019-20. card.
Inquiries from over a dozen state-run The implementation of Basel III guide- Financial services - cash pick-up and
lenders for the two months were at lines has necessitated the need for delivery - will be available from Octo-
102 per cent of the same observed in banks in India to augment their capi- ber 2020. The services, which will be
January-February this year and 118 per tal base. interoperable among these banks, will
cent of that in the same period a year This becomes important as Basel III be gradually scaled up beyond the 100
ago, it said. capital requirements call for increase locations.
The same numbers for the private sec- in quantity and quality of capital, be- The services will be rendered by the
tor lenders were at 70 per cent and 78 sides providing for capital buffer dur- Doorstep Banking Agents deployed by
per cent, respectively, while for NBFCs ing economic downturn, the lender the selected Service Providers at 100
and housing finance companies, inquir- said in its report. centres across the country. T

6 | 2020 | SEPTEMBER | BANKING FINANCE