by admin | May 25, 2021 | Finance, News, Politics
New Delhi : Following the demonetisation of high-value Indian cuurency notes in November last year, Nepal on Tuesday sought a mechanism whereby such notes that were in circulation could be exchanged.
Delivering a talk on “Nepal Today” organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club here, Nepal’s Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay said that Nepal’s central bank and the Reserve Bank of India have held several rounds of discussion have been held so that the old Indian Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 could be exchanged by Nepali citizens.
Expressing hope that the issue would be resolved soon, he said the mostly people in Nepal’s mountainous regions and pensioners have been mostly affected by the demonetisation move.
“I got many calls from the people in the mountains. I assured them that all your currency notes will be exchanged,” he said.
He said that with the festive season around the corner, and with almost every Nepali family having a member in India, “a window” for the exchange of such currency notes should be created for Nepal.
According to the Ambassador, while Nepal sought Rs 25,000 for each account Nepalis hold, India only offered Rs 4,500 in exchange.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Banking, Corporate, Corporate finance, Corporate Governance, News
By Meghna Mittal,
New Delhi : While the RBI launched the 200-rupee note a week ago, it may take up to three months for ATMs to start dispensing the new denomination currency as it will involve a huge exercise of recalibration.
Some banks have even asked the ATM companies to begin testing the new note for recalibration of the machines, though they have not got supplies of the new currency. Only last year, the banks were involved in recalibration of ATM machines after the demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did issue a statement saying that the supply of the new Rs 200 notes would soon be ramped up, but has not given any time-frame by which it will be available in adequate numbers.
ATM manufacturing companies said that they have not received any directive from the RBI regarding the recalibration of ATMs for the new Rs 200 note. They disclosed that some banks have at an informal level have asked them to start testing of the new note, since it is of a different size.
It is yet to be seen whether all the 2.25 lakh ATM machines across India would be recalibrated for dispensing the new note.
Ravi B Goyal, Chairman and Managing Director, AGS Transact Technologies Limited, which claims to have an installed base of 60,000 ATMs, told IANS, “The process of recalibration will begin once we receive the directive from the RBI. The size of the new notes is different from the existing ones and so, once we receive the new notes, we will have to understand its dimensions and accordingly reconfigure the ATM cassettes. Next, we will have to check if the supply of notes is good enough to run the cassettes at full capacity.”
“The entire process of recalibration can be completed within 90 days without affecting the regular functionality of ATMs to a large extent. In fact, the ATMs will continue to be fully operational during recalibration and will continue to supply Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denominations,” he said.
Among the other companies operating in the sector are NCR Corporation, which has over 1,08,000 machines, and BTI Payments, which has 4,500 cash dispensers.
NCR Corporation said that while some banks have reached out to them to start testing of the new note, they were yet to receive the supply to begin the process.
“Banks have started getting in touch with us for testing the same. They will let us know which machines they wish to configure for Rs 200, which will require physical visits to ATMs. However, the new notes are still to be provided to us by the respective banks so that the testing can begin,” Anand Garollu, General Manager (Services), NCR Corporation said.
K. Srinivas, Managing Director and CEO of BTI Payments, an RBI-licensed firm that operates cash dispensers not owned and managed by banks, said, “Recalibration will begin as and when we receive adequate quantity of Rs 200 notes. We are looking to roll this out as quickly as possible.”
He said that the industry was expecting Rs 200 notes to be available over a period of time across various geographies.
“The recalibration can be done progressively as and when the new denomination note starts to become available. Unlike the last time around (during demonetisation), when we had to recalibrate all machines in one go,” Srinivas added.
The ATM companies said that they were expecting to receive official communication on recalibration of ATMs soon. However, e-mails to RBI in this regard did not elicit any reply, they said.
“The production of these (Rs 200) notes is being ramped up by the currency printing presses and over time, as more notes are printed, it will be distributed across the country through the banking channels and will be available for public in adequate quantity,” the RBI had said in a statement.
Currently, Rs 200 notes are available only through select RBI offices and some banks.
While State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank are reported to have received the new Rs 200 notes, Eknath Baliga, Manger, KYC-Antimoney Laundering Cell, Corporation Bank, Mangalore, told IANS that none of its branches across the country had received the Rs 200 notes so far.
The Rs 200 note is currently being printed only by RBI presses. Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL) sources told IANS that the company has not received any indent so far for the printing of Rs 200 notes. India’s two currency presses are owned by RBI and two by SPMCIL, which is a government-owned company.
How the ATM recalibration happens:
Usually, an ATM holds four cassettes — three of which can continue to be used for Rs 100, Rs 500, Rs 2,000, and the fourth cassette can be used for the new Rs 200 notes. On an average, each cassette has a capacity to hold 2,000-2,500 notes depending upon the quality of cash issued by banks. However, there are many ATMs that only have either two or three cassettes.
The number of slots in the ATM can be configured as per the bank’s preference. The banks decide which denomination needs to be configured in a machine on the basis of the customer profile in the area where the ATM is located and the number of transactions on that machine.
The banks need to make requisite changes at their ATM switch before the roll-out of the physical recalibration at the ATMs in the field.
The recalibration of a new denomination takes 30-45 minutes per ATM. The process of recalibration is not very difficult but is time-consuming given an engineer has to visit every ATM and configure it to dispense the requisite denomination.
The introduction of the Rs 200 note has been welcomed as it would ease the currency circulation in the market as people prefer lower denomination cash withdrawals from ATMs. Rs 200 would also be more convenient for rural consumers.
(Meghna Mittal can be reached at meghna.m@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News
Mumbai:(IANS) Slide in the Chinese stock markets and yuan value dented the Indian rupee in the off-shore markets on Tuesday, as the Indian currency touched its lowest levels in the last 33 months at Rs.65.47 to a US dollar.
The partially convertible Indian rupee stooped to its lowest levels in the last 33 months during the intra-day trade on Tuesday. It closed at Rs.65.32 to a US dollar.
However, the impact of rupee’s decline was contained as the domestic interbank foreign exchange markets were closed on account of the Parsi New Year.
The Indian rupee had touched a new two-year low at Rs.65.33 to a US dollar on Monday.
The rupee had hit its lowest level in around 23 months on August 13 at Rs.65.23 to a greenback. It had ended last week (August 14) at Rs.64.99 against a US dollar.
Analysts predict that the ripple effect of Tuesday’s off-shore rupee movement to impact its standings in the domestic markets on Wednesday.
“The ripple effects are expected to impact the rupee movements tomorrow. However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to intervene in the case of a massive depreciation,” Hiren Sharma, senior vice president, currency advisory at Anand Rathi Financial Services told IANS.
“The slide in the Chinese markets by around 6 percent today had spooked investors. If the trend continues then we can see another round of battering tomorrow.”
Other major catalyst for the rupee’s fall has been the devaluation of yuan, intended to boost Chinese exports.
China’s central bank devalued yuan by two percent on August 11. This was the biggest devaluation in the Chinese currency since 1994.
The currency fell again by another two percent on August 12 panicking the world economy.
The measure to devaluate the yuan is seen as an attempt to arrest the implosion in the Chinese markets. Othere, however view it as an attempt to corner the international export markets from other emerging trading powers such as India and the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) grouping.
The move has strengthened the dollar value, which has negatively impacted major world currencies including the Indian rupee.
“The Indian rupee continues to react negatively to the Chinese yuan’s devaluation. The yuan has fallen by 4.6 percent till now since August 11. All the major Asian currencies are at their lowest levels since the Asian financial crises,” Anindya Banerjee, senior manager for currency derivatives with Kotak Securities, told IANS.
The world markets are fearful of the fact that the $10 trillion dollar-worth Chinese economy has the ability to dump unlimited amount of goods and services, thereby cornering the entire international exports customers.
“The Chinese have estimated that their currency is nearly 25-30 percent more expensive than its peers in the emerging markets. They have hinted at further devaluation but that kind of a move will be gradual,” Sharma elaborated.
Meanwhile, Banerjee pointed out that the international fluctuations has widened the RBI’s comfort zone regarding rupee’s movements.
The Reserve Bank has been pretty active in the forward purchase markets since the last 22 months. It used to sell dollars whenever the rupee crossed the Rs.64 mark and buys when it falls below Rs.63 to a dollar.
Though at a very short movement, RBI was seen comfortable that time with the rupee ranging anywhere between Rs.63.20-Rs.64.30 per dollar.
“Given the new reality of yuan devaluation, stalled reforms, deficient monsoon and high interest rates, the RBI’s comfort range will be some where between Rs.64.20-Rs.65.30 per dollar in the short term,” Banerjee said.
The RBI’s strong control over the rupee had given the currency strength and resilience to withstand international financial crisis like the recent Greece debt issue.
Experts further cited factors such as a sharp fall in July trade data, deficient monsoon rainfall and diminishing hopes of a rate cut coupled-with the upcoming decision on interest rates by the US Fed as other major reasons for the rupee’s slide.
