BELOW THE LINE. Banking for you

With the Reserve Bank of India restricting free monthly ATM usage, banks have found a novel way to cash in.

“ATMs are loaded with only 100-rupee notes in the first 10 days of the month. If I withdraw ₹10,000 after getting my salary then I exhaust my limit at the start of the month as the ATM machine can dispense only 100 notes per transaction,” said Arun Prasad, a harried private sector bank customer. For every subsequent withdrawal there is a charge of ₹20 even for withdrawal of ₹500. No fair!

The media yen for news

Despite being a Sunday, the media was in full attendance at the Aditya Birla Group press conference, hoping there would be an announcement on the merger of Century Cement with UltraTech Cement. However there was disappointment when it turned out that the event was for the group realigning its retail business.

The chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla, was aware of this when he started the conference saying “You people sometime listen to what we have to say…” When a probing journalist asked whether the rumour was being fuelled because of the Holcim-Lafarge merger, he hit back saying, “I really do not know…you people who are fuelling (the rumour) should be knowing better.” Well, who knows who knows…

The new normal?

The rules have changed when it comes to bikes and affordability. Gone are the days when a ₹30,000 bike was something to be proud of! At a recently held conference of Indian Motors, the company that makes high-end bikes, upwards of ₹22 lakh, a gentleman asked the management a very simple question: “A Harley Sportster comes at ₹7 lakh; when are you guys going to price your bike at that affordable rate?” So, when?

High spirits

Last month, the employees of United Spirits got a pleasant surprise when top players of their IPL team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, including captain Virat Kohli and storm-trooper Chris Gayle came down to meet them at their offices during lunch hour. This was a delightful departure from the standard practice of only members of the management committee being given a chance to meet the players.

Clearly, some things are changing at the Diageo-owned company even though it hasn’t exactly been hunky-dory so far for the London-based liquor maker. For the employees that day, though, it was fair play.

The successor’s successor

Ever since she took oath a year ago as successor to Narendra Modi, the rumour mills have been working overtime that Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel’s “replacement” is imminent. What gave credence to this was the ruling BJP’s “principle” followed at the Centre that septuagenarian leaders should yield place to younger ones.

The party has formed a ‘Margdarshak Mandal’ (literally translated by some as ‘Board of Directors’!) — initiated by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah — for leaders and veterans such as LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to be placed in what is now seen by some as a ‘retirement home’.

Anandiben will turn 75 this year and speculation is rife over her possible successor. It intensified a few months ago, when she visited the US. The recent visit of the BJP-RSS veteran Sanjay Joshi, Modi’s number one , and his hectic interaction with party leaders and workers, have only added grist to the rumour mill. Keep watching this space.

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