VisVoice

Gold Loan Draft Directions of RBI Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its ‘draft’ directions for lending against gold as collateral for comments by public. In this regard, I gave a few suggestions in my article in Business Line dated 09.12.2024 (please see box) emphasising that the regulator need to review the existing gold loan guidelines and practices followed by different regulated financial entities (REs). I am happy to share that some of the ‘draft’ directions of RBI, now released are in sync with my suggestions in the above article. (I do not claim that RBI read my article or that the suggestions were given due cognisance by the regulator, as it will be stretching my imagination a bit far).  RBI 'draft' directions that partly reflect my suggestions are 1. Whether the gold loan applications are sourced directly or through third parties like BCs (business correspondents), etc. the gold should be accepted in the branches of the lender only and apprising, valuation should al...

  RBI MPC: If the late Mr.Arthur Buchwald were alive…. (Below created characters and conversations are purely imaginary; might or might not reflect reality; Intention is not to hurt anyone, but to generate a debate. If it hurts anyone, my sincere apologies to him/her) I was   a fan of the late Mr.Arthur Buchwald (AB) (1925-2007) in my younger days. He was one of the sharpest political satirists and was a regular columnist in The Washington Post. His 'imaginary interviews' with the US political bigwigs then, attracted a lot of viewership and at the height of his popularity, across the nations, more than 500 newspapers carried his syndicated column. ( The Hindu was one of them and I read his articles, as my father insisted that I read an English news daily every day, to enhance my vocabulary skills). I was reminded of AB, when I heard the present RBI Governor’s first statement  on 7th February 2025  on the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) review on repo rate and its s...

  Happy SBH Day Today is 5th April. SBHians are celebrating their Bank formation day. I was privileged to be associated with SBH and its staff in my last term, prior to retirement. Eight years have passed by. SBH, which celebrated its 75th year of existence in 2016, is now part of history with a repertoire of its achievements on public display that are embedded in the heart of every SBHian as well. I am proud to share that even now, I am in regular touch with many of the SBHians and interact or share at least a message once in quarterly intervals. Yes, some of us are now retired since then and many are with SBI, carrying the flag of SBH high, through their excellence in performance.  Those days will not come back but are always enshrined in our hearts as pleasant and evergreen memories. Happy SBH Formation Day. Regards V. Viswanathan 5th April 2025