Core banking solutions in six post offices of Nagpur Region from June

Core banking solutions in six post offices of Nagpur Region from June

Dear Comrades,

NAGPUR: Six post offices of Nagpur region are among the 124 offices in the country where India Post will be first implementing core banking solutions (CBS). This initiative is part of postal department efforts towards modernization of its services.

In the pilot phase, eight postal circles have been selected. They include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The six offices from Nagpur Region are Nagpur City head office (HO), Nagpur GPO; Gondia HO, Khamgaon HO, Wardha HO and Yavatmal HO. Offices coming under these HOs will be also covered under the project.

"In CBS, the small saving scheme customers would be able to conduct transactions of their accounts from any other post office which is also covered under the system. Other offices will be covered under CBS in another two more phases," post master general of Nagpur Region ME Haq said.

In Nagpur Region, the CBS is scheduled to become operational by June. According to the department officials, everything is on track. "We hope to implement the system as per schedule unless there is some glitch. The National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) is helping us in this process while TCS is conducting training of our employees," said Haq.

The CBC process might also prove to be the groundwork for the entry of the postal department into banking services as it has already got approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "Definitely, this is a part of the foundation work. Among all the central government departments we have the biggest network in the country and deepest penetration in rural areas. So, we have a ready-made infrastructure for such an endeavour. But no other directive has come to us from the top in this regard," Haq said.

There are also plans to introduce ATMs, about 1000 of them, in all HOs, said Haq adding, "ATM reduces the cost of transaction for the postal department. While each counter transaction costs about Rs25, ATM transaction costs Rs10-14 per transaction."

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  FINANCE

RAJYA SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-3153

ANSWERED ON-23.04.2013

Functioning of post offices as banks

3153 .       SHRI C.P. NARAYANAN

(a)            the reasons for not allowing Indian Post Office system to function as a banking system to mop upmoney lying idle with people while the declared policy of the Union Government is inclusive development and extension of banking operations to all rural people;

(b)   whether post would be enrolled as one among the new banks with about 1,55,000 branches all over the country and with a good track record of successfully running Post Office Savings Bank for many years; and

(c)    whether it is possible to substantially improve the quality of service of post offices in the process if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Shri Namo Narain Meena)

Department of Posts raised a proposal for setting up the Post Bank of India and providing banking services with a network of 1.55 lakh post offices with special focus on rural areas and financial inclusion. 

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that all commercial banks have been constituted by the Government by various Acts of the Parliament. 

Hence, to set up the Post Bank of India (PBI) by an Act of Parliament, necessary legislation will need to be framed and passed by the Parliament. 

Or to set up the Post Bank as banking company, the same would require a banking licence from RBI as per RBI’s extant guidelines issued in February, 2013. 

RBI is of the view that it is useful to take up a detailed Cost Benefit Analysis on the proposal. 

In addition, viability and strategic study, market research, business plan and profitability analysis including business projections for next 4-5 years needs to be carried out to assess the commercial viability of the proposal. 

The above information was submitted by Fin Min in reply of undermentioned Rajya Sabha Questions

(a)            to (c): **see above**

Source: Rajya Sabha Q&A [qref=191160]

EX CIRCLE SECRETARY COM S. SUNDARAMOORTHY LETTER TO NFPE

EX CIRCLE SECRETARY COM S. SUNDARAMOORTHY LETTER TO NFPE

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COPY OF THE LETTER

No merger of D.A. but seventh pay commission likely this year

According to our sources in New Delhi, there is no chance of any merger of Dearness Allowance with basic pay as demanded by the associations. But the Government is considering the formation of seventh pay commission.

The seventh CPC is scheduled to be effective from 1.1.2016 and if it is formed this year, there will be ample time to finalize it’s recommendations. Moreover, if it is not effective from an earlier date, the Govt. will be free from any burden of paying arrears, which may adversely effect the fiscal situation.

Most significantly, in the eve of general election, the Govt. may spread a "feel good" situation among the employees without having to pay an extra penny from the exchequer. In the other hand merging D.A. with basic pay will lead to a considerable expense and as there is definite negative recommendation of sixth CPC in this respect, Govt. can easily deny this demand.

After formation of seventh CPC, if the ruling party fails to come back in the corridors of power, the entire liability will have to be borne by the new Govt. So, it’s a win win situation of the ruling party and most likely, it will be announced in the later half of the year.

Early Decision – No need to pay Arrears on DA and 7th CPC

Early Decision – No need to pay Arrears on DA and 7th CPC

Decision in the right time –will avoid more funds to allocate as arrears!

At last, the most eagerly awaited announcement of additional dearness allowance has been declared by the cabinet, due from January 2013 to Central Government employees and Pensioners.

In general the announcement of dearness allowance has been made in the month of March every year. But this year this has been declared in the month of April. Though it was announced after some delay, there is no any loss, as the dearness allowance hike has to be paid with effect from 01-01-2013.

Before this announcement, there was a rumour that 50% dearness allowance will be merged with basic pay or otherwise dearness allowance will not be hiked, but the cabinet committeedecision cleared these doubts.

Employees and Pensioners will get one more month arrear from January to April. Governmenthas to allocate more funds as arrear due to delay.

If the decisions concluded in the right time, there will be no chance to allocate more fund for thepayment of arrears and also prevent practical problems to accounting staff.

Even the National anomaly committee, after six years it was formed, has not solved all theproblems raised due to the implementation of 6 CPC.

After the implementation of 6CPC in 2008 with effect from 01.01.2006 , arrears had to be paid to Central Government servants. To avoid the additional financial burden, the Central Government decided to pay the arrears’ in two installments in 2008 and 2009. For this,government had to allocate more fund from budget. It can be avoided by early constitution of 7thpay commission.

So, to find the solution to all including disbursing authorities, setting up of 7th Central Pay Commission at early stage to implement in the right time, the same is demanding by the central trade unions and associations.

Every decision in the right time –will avoid more funds to allocate as arrears!

Source : www.govtempdiary.com

1) Statutory Minimum wages Rs 10,000. 2) Pension scheme limit of Rs 6,500 3) Enhance Bonus Act Rs 3500 To negotiate the above demands Cabinet sub panel will meet the unions by May

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

1) Statutory Minimum wages Rs 10,000. 2) Pension scheme limit of Rs 6,500 3) Enhance Bonus Act Rs 3500 To negotiate the above demands Cabinet sub panel will meet the unions by May

NEW DELHI: The Congress may have a surprise trick up its sleeve for the coming general elections, if workers, like citizens, vote with their feet. Nearly 10 years of UPA rule seems to have changed the loyalties of workers as the Grand Old Party's trade union INTUC has claimed a ten-fold rise in its membership between 2002 and 2013.

From a membership base of 38,92,000 in 2002, the Indian National Trade Union Congress has now claimed that it has 3.33 crore members in its submission to the Central Labour Commissioner's office. If these numbers, which would now be subjected to scrutiny and verification, hold true, it could make the Congress' union the country's largest employee representative body, displacing the BhartiyaJanata Party's trade union arm, the BhartiyaMazdoorSabha (BMS) -which has led trade union rankings over the last two decades. The BMS, on its part,has also claimed a significant jump in its member base, from62lakh in 2002 to 1.71 crore in 2013. The Communist Party of India's trade union All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has also staked claim on a larger membership over the past decade from 33.42 lakh to 1.42 crore.

Both these unions' claims, however, pale in comparison to the INTUC's submission. The last time there was a headcount of trade union members' allegiances, the AITUC had displaced the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s union called CITU, to become the third largest union in the country. This time around, CITU has claimed that its membership has more than doubled from 26.77 lakh in 2002 to around 57 lakh. The Hind MazdoorSabha, one of the few apolitical unions in the country, has claimed that membership has nearly tripled from32.22 lakh in 2002 to 92 lakh in 2013. The HMS is in charge of the union at India's largest employer - the Indian Railways.

HMS' All India Railwaymen's Federation, is well known for its unprecedented Railways strike in the 1970s spearheaded by George Fernandes. Taken together, submissions by around ten central trade unions indicate that their membership base has crossed 10 crore.

Speaking on conditions of anonymity, senior union leaders expressed surprised at this surge in membership claims. "The world over, trade unions are facing such a decline that their relevance is under threat. But Indian unions are claiming that their followers have grown fivefold from2.48 crore in 2002 to over 10 crore in 2013. This is hard to believe," said the general secretary of one of the top five unions. Among the smaller unions, the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's LPF has claimed a membership of 19 lakh, while Sewa, which represents women's self-help groups, has submitted membership numbers of 17 lakh. The Trinamool Congress' union is learnt to have avoided getting their membership numbers vetted in this round.

The advisor of one of the smaller unions told ET: "Most unions, unlike us, present highly inflated membership claims — as high as twice or thrice their actual numbers.

This is to take advantage of the faulty verification system in place,which helps those who inflate numbers." Trade unions place a lot of importance to their membership rankings as their bargaining power with the government as well as in tripartite negotiations is linked to the strength of the numbers they represent.