RBI transfers Rs16,010-cr profit to government

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will transfer a net Rs16,010 crore of surplus profit to the government for the year ended 30 June 2012, against the profit share of Rs15,009 crore transferred for the year ended 30 June 2011.

The RBI's central board, at its meeting held today, approved the transfer of surplus profit to the Government of India, RBI said in a release today.

The RBI's central board of directors met today at Mumbai. Governor D Subbarao chaired the meeting. Board members Anil Kakodkar, Kiran Karnik, Y H Malegam, Azim Premji, Dipankar Gupta, Najeeb Jung, G M Rao, Ela Bhatt and Indira Rajaraman were present at the meeting today.

RBI deputy governors KC Chakrabarty, Subir Gokarn, Anand Sinha and H R Khan were also present. The meeting was also attended by DK Mittal, secretary, financial services and Arvind Mayaram, secretary, economic affairs, government nominee directors on the central board. Mayaram replaces R Gopalan on the board.

The meeting also reviewed key economic, monetary and financial developments in the country.

The Central Board meets at least once every quarter. Apart from holding meetings in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and one in New Delhi after the union budget, which is addressed by the finance minister, the rest of the meetings are held in other state capitals by rotation.

The main function of the central board of directors is to provide overall direction to the Reserve Bank's affairs. Later, at a specially convened meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), the RBI governor met chairmen of select public sector banks and senior officials of the state government and the Reserve Bank to discuss state specific issues.

Banks have been asked to ensure qualitative coverage of financial inclusion through proper functioning of banking correspondents.

Banks have been asked to properly publicise the fact that `No Frill Accounts' are not scheme specific and should be used for all type of banking transactions.

Other decisions include:

• SLBC should complete allocation of villages of population of less than 2,000 for the purpose of coverage of financial inclusion by 15 September 2012;
  
• The four lead banks in the state should organise convention of all banking correspondents in their respective districts in collaboration with the district administration to assess the issues affecting the smooth operation of BC-ICT model in the villages;
  
• Along with the five districts identified in the Union Budget for electronic payment (EBT) in the state, in eight previously selected blocks, banks should ensure that accounts opened for beneficiaries are linked for payment of social and subsidy benefits under various government schemes;
  
• In seven districts, where District Central Cooperative Banks are under directions of the Reserve Bank, lead banks should ensure that the credit gap is filled in by commercial banks with operational support from primary agricultural cooperative societies and field level officials of cooperation department.
  
• In case of Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs), for which land has been allocated and financial grant has been released by the state government, banks should ensure that the training establishments are set up at the earliest.