Sunday, February 28, 2010

Better to give donation than to lend and then waive

Government has been using banks as convenient method for mobilization of rural votes since long. They are for this purpose announcing waiver of loan frequently. This time they have extended repayment period further for six months because they know very well that farmers have developed a habit not to repay the dues of the bank till government comes forward with new scheme of either waiver of loan or compromise scheme for delayed repayment. Gradually small traders have also developed this tendency not to repay the loan availed by them from banks.

As a result banks have either to waive the loan given to farmers and small traders or treat the bad account as standard account till government announces new relief scheme. There is no repayment culture and I am unable to understand how long this vicious circle of reckless and blind lending and then waiver of credit may help banks survive. How long concocted and window dressed balance sheet may help banks in portraying attractive picture in balance sheet.

To add fuel to fire government has allowed private banks to be established in all districts to act as local banks. Already numerous Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative banks are actively participating in rural credit and suffering from huge loss due to non-repayment culture created by vote bank politics of ruling party. Health of these cooperative banks is so bad that government has to keep interest free fund in these banks in many states and also prove capital to them to ensure survival of these banks on ventilator. Many cooperative banks have declared bankruptcy during last two three decades. Now addition of rural banks will add fuel to fire. Either these local banks will exploit the rural people by charging high interest rate or by keeping their properties or gold in mortgage as they used to do before nationalization of banks. Both ways it is farmers who will suffer and ultimately they will either leave farming or migrate to towns in search of labour oriented unskilled job or commit suicide or make the banks sick by not repaying the bank's loan.

I fail to understand why politicians of this country do not understand the ground reality and try to please farmers and banks by jeopardizing their health and killing them through slow poison. At present they talk of Indian growth story and speak with pride that Indian government is decoupled with sub prime crisis of America. They should know that due to high standard of living and low earning capacity most of the American used to take loans from banks for consumption and there were many bankers (Indian government is also increasing number of banks in rural areas through addition of newly conceptualized private local banks) who were ready to lend them though at higher rate of interest. But consequence of this unhealthy practice ultimately precipitated Sub prime crisis when banks started falling like playing cards and poor American started committing suicide or selling their blood for survival

Danendra Jain
Ganaraj Choumuhani Agartala 799001
1st march 2010

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Manmohan Singh

Arbitrary promotion and whimsical transfer is the root cause of rampant corruption and culture of flattery to superiors. Culture of flattery to bosses and tendency to become Yesman of Ministers, MPs and MLAs is the root cause of all maladies prevailing in the society. Every employee in our country knows the bitter truth that only those who are yesmen of bosses can get elevation in their career or get cream and comfortable posting.

Most of MLS, MP and Ministers have accumulated properties worth many crores of rupees. Department of vigilance or CBI or Anti corruption cell or Economic offenders cell are silent spectators.

So many IAS and IPS officers have been found indulged in corrupt practices only because they have got the blessings of their mentor Ministers.

So many bank officers and executives have properties worth crores of rupees, which is far more than their total earning in their entire tenure. It is possible only because there is practically none to look into corrupt practices prevailing in the bank at higher level.

When Head of any department or office is corrupt, or when any minister in the government is corrupt it will be foolish to imagine of healthy culture down the line.
It is very difficult to survive with dignity when the boss is corrupt and when boss likes flattery.
Only when boss loves real performance, employees feel delighted in working sincerely.

When real performers are awarded, there will be positive motivation. On the contrary if corrupt is promoted and given good posting, it is but natural that people will be tempted to toe the line of boss even if it is wrong and unethical and against the interest of the organization

As long as we are unable to provide a reasoning based transfer and merit based promotion and as long as the wrong doers are not punished by either head of the department or by the courts we cannot imagine of stopping corrupt practices prevailing in the system and spreading like cancer in the society.

Old proverb survival for the fittest no more holds good. Now a days survival is possible only for the person who is well versed in flattery to bosses, who can earn money through ill methods and share the same with his bosses.

The bitter truth is that there is no foolproof method of providing perfectly merit-based promotion or seniority based promotion in any office. None of the promotion processes can ensure justice to all, justice to the organization and discomfort to none as long as the person responsible for carrying out the promotion process is dishonest and corrupt. When protectors become destructors, damage to society cannot be stopped,

One easy way to stop whimsical transfer and arbitrary promotion is to maintain transparency and abolish the requirement of passing through Interview for existing employees for getting promotion. Interview is such a test where Interviewers can easily spoil the candidates career.

During interview, key role is played by elements like bribe, gift, sources, godfathers, and flattery possessed by employee whose performance is assessed during interview. When Interviewer desires to promote an employee he raises easy questions or do not raise any question and give higher marks and on the contrary he may raises toughest and irrelevant questions before the candidate to reject him in the promotion process.

The interviewer as per his whims and fancies gives marks for interview and unfortunately there is no method to penalize such malicious interviewers or the interview team made of birds of the same feather. There is hardly any place for merit in the mind of Interview panel and this why whimsical promotions take place and a reign of injustice and that of corruption spreads like epidemic and is followed by inefficiency, frustration, depression and what not.

Last but not the least; our courts cannot deliver justice in decades. This eliminates the fear from the minds of interviewer and the aggrieved employee is constrained to bear with the rejection in promotion process. Justice delayed is justice denied. And when there is no hope of justice even from court, aggrieved person in promotion process is left with no alternative other than digesting the poison of injustice.

It is an open secret in our society that victim is afraid of lodging complain in police department against any type of criminal. Not to speak of promotions, management can torture an employee by using his power of transfer and posting an employee in the name of exigencies as per his sweet will.

I therefore request you to take immediate steps to ensure merit based transparent promotion and reasoning based transfers and posting in all offices. Only one remedy to cure disease of corruption is to award honest performers and sideline corrupt performers. Only the bearer knows where the shoe pinches is a right proverb in this regard.

IN BANKING INDUSTRY THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF OFFICERS WHO ARE FACING TRANSFER EVEN TWICE OR THRICE A YEAR WHEREAS OFFICERS SITTING IN METROS ARE SITTING IN ONE TOWN SINCE JOINING SAY FOR TWO OR THREE DECADES.
EVEN POLICY OF RURAL POSTING IS MISUSED BY THE MANAGEMENT TO ISOLATE NON FLATTERERS .
EVEN POLICY OF POSTING OUTSIDE STATE AFTER PROMOTION IS MISUSED TO FAVOUR THE PEOPLE OF WEST BENGAL OR THAT OF MAHARASHTRA.
POLICY OF NORTH EAST POSTING IS USED TO ISOLATE NON FLATTERERS. POLICY OF TRANSFER FOR NON PERFORMERS IS ALSO USED BY THE EXECUTIVE TO KEEP NON FLATTERES AWAY.
NOWHERE AND NONE OF POLICIES ARE USED TO PROMOTE THE CULTURE OF PERFORMANCE.
AS SUCH IT IS COMPARATIVELY BENEFICIAL TO ELIMINATE THE ELEMENTS OF DISCRETION OR DISCRIMINATION IN THE INTERNAL PROMOTION PROCESS AND TRANSFER POLICY.THE MORE TRANSPARENT WILL BE THE POLICIES , THE LESS WILL BE QUANTUM OF FLATTERY IN THE MIND OF WORKING OFFICERS.
EXECUTIVES WHO ARE INDULGED IN CORRUPT PRACTICES WHILE RELEASING ORDER OF TRANSFER OF PUTTING THEIR SIGNATURE ON PROMOTION ORDERS MUST BE SUITABLY PUNISHED SO THAT RECURRENCE OF SUCH MALPRACTICE DO NOT TAKE PLACE.
JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED. YOU CANNOT IGNORE THE RESENTMENT, FRUSTRATION AND DEPRESSION PREVAILING IN THE FIELD LEVEL FOR LONG WITHOUT INVITING STRIKE AND LARGE SCALE REVOLT AND RAMPAGE

Danendra Jain
Agartala

Monday, February 08, 2010

Restructure of loan is not permanent cure for ill banks

Since long I have been pointing out that banks cannot remain in good health by concealing its bad assets. Restructuring of bad loans was allowed by RBI in the year 2008 to give so called relief to developers of real estate after collapse of Lehman Brothers in USA. In fact at that time also there was no any linkage of weakness of Indian developers with that of crisis erupted by dint of Lehman Brother. Rather Real estate developers were in the best health they could ever imagine, earning highest profit by selling their flats and commercial places at exorbitant high prices and by starting new projects beyond their financial capacity.

In fact real estate developer had enlarged their area of work beyond their financial capacity by availing disproportionate huge loans from banks. As soon as crisis of liquidity in USA erupted, Indians government and Indian banks apprehended delay in receipt of export proceeds and consequently fear of liquidity crisis started haunting their mind. When banks were tightened by RBI, the developers started feeling pain in their abdomen and it is they who could not pay their dues to banks as per scheduled time, rather expressed more hunger for more loans to complete their incomplete projects .Such demand triggered so called liquidity crisis.

It was consumers who had to pay the price. Prices of all landed properties went on increasing and government of Manmohan Singh remained silent spectator because there was a clear nexus between profit-maker developers and the government. It is not astonishing that prices of all essential commodities have been going up and up despite all hue and cries by consumers and opposition parties.

So far as banks are concerned RBI knows very well that banks are falsely being portrayed as healthy by management of PSU banks in collusion with RBI and Finance Minister. In fact each PSU banks have thousands of accounts as bad but shown as standard. Real Non Performing Assets (NPA) in each PSU banks is in alarming position and it existed in the month of September 2008 also.

Collapse of Lehman Brother or Sub Prime Crisis in USA gave an excuse to RBI and Government of India to hide bad assets in the name of restructuring of loan .Government of India got an opportunity to hide adverse affects of its bad policies formulated at the instance of dirty politicians of the country. Waiver of agricultural or small loans to the tune of Rs.75000/ crores had already damaged the health of the banks.

But hiding of cancerous disease cannot keep the body healthy for long and eventual death of the system in unavoidable and again the looser will be retail customer for none of their fault. Banks have been demanding therefore one more occasion to conceal bad loans in the name of restructuring. A few months ago banks had raised demand of relaxing in prudential norms which RBI accepted to some extent by allowing lesser provision for housing loan and lesser capital requirements.

Bankers know the bitter truth of the system and each CMD somehow or the other aspires to pass his tenure by hiding the malady .None of CMDs and hence none of his subordinate in the banks have the courage to accept the reality and declare all bad assets as bad assets. But how long this vicious circle of concealment will continue and how long banks will be able to cook balance sheets, only God knows. Banks are however clever enough to show bad loans as lesser or negligible percentage of bad loans compared to overall loans of the banks. This is made possible by extending bulk loans to corporate or selling bad loans to AMC. In this way they are simply trying to pass on time and trying their best to appear as if they are genuinely growing, as if there is no inherent weakness.

I therefore praise RBI that they have taken a bold step to deny the demand of banks to allow them one more occasion to restructure the loan. If RBI does not bow down under pressure built by CMDs of banks or under pressure of government of India to maintain concocted but positive image, I hope reality of some CMD will precipitate on the floor and government will be able to distinguish flatterers from performers. People of India will be able to distinguish between really strong banks and factual weak bank.

Not only this, prices of all landed properties will start coming down and ultimately become affordable for common men. Prices of flats will also come down and come within the rich of common men again. There will be not fall in demand but abnormal rise in demand for landed property and constructed flats. As such the current step of RBI may appear to be curse for developers and bankers but ultimately it will prove to be boon for consumers, bankers and developers also.
Danendra jain Ganaraj Choumuhani Agartala 79001
9th Feb 2010