Exploitative banks

It’s intriguing that commercial banks are also levying cash handling charges in respect of the ‘forced’ cash deposits now being made by hapless customers following demonetisation. There’s neither rationale nor moral justification for levying these charges in the extant scenario. Is it not ‘monopolistic’ exploitation by banks of the highly volatile situation, to the disadvantage of unsuspecting account-holders? Will the RBI and/or finance ministry look into the matter and come to the rescue?

Kumar Gupt

Panchkula, Haryana

Rare indeed

Cho was a multifaceted personality who effectively and effortlessly used his fortnightly Tamil magazine, Thuglak , to criticise and commendpolitics and politicians, all the while maintaining healthy relationships. When Thuglak was launched in the early seventies, there were queues in the newspaper shop owned my father in Luz Corner, Mylapore, for the first copy. For the first six months or so, the order for every issue went up by 50 per cent over the previous fortnight’s order — such was the demand and such the magazine’s popularity.

The breaking up of the DMK into ADMK, led by MG Ramachandran and DMK led by M Karunanidhi, added fuel to the political fire because of Cho’s sharp observations. His tongue-in-cheek style evoked laughter, even from the person he addressed. Cho was a rare personality indeed.

RS Raghavan

Bengaluru

Transparent policy

With respect to Usha Thorat’s article, ‘Well-advised wait and watch stance’ (December 8), we must concede that the policy statement together with the post policy announcement interaction with the media by Team RBI have not left any issues ambiguous. As for the surprising unanimity, perhaps after deliberations, every member was convinced about the decisions. This mature approach is opposite to that adopted by the Financial Sector Regulatory Reforms Commission where the chairman wrote a report setting aside several dissenting views expressed by members.

The clarification by the RBI that demonetisation by itself will not have an immediate impact on its balance sheet should set at rest allegations about the Centre having an eye on windfall gains. In the business of banking, trust is paramount.

MG Warrier

Mumbai

The RBI is right as the full impact of demonetisation cannot be factored into this policy since things are in a fluid state. There is a definite time-lag between demonetisation and remonetisation; the short-term pain will be offset by long-term gains which cannot be fully accounted for in the present policy.

The rupee is some what stable, inflation is under control, the current account and fiscal deficit are very much manageable and there are possibilities of interest rate cut by banks themselves. The economy needs to be stimulated through enhanced demand for consumption, production, investment and fast pick up of credit for which more than the monetary policy, the fiscal policy can work wonders. The RBI perhaps wants the Government to take the initiative in that direction.

TV Gopalakrishnan

Bengaluru

One cannot dispute the fact that a rate cut at this juncture would have sent the right signals to the sagging economy. The RBI should come out with statistics from time to time on details of new notes printed against notes withdrawn. This would help alleviate the difficulties faced by the public. The single-minded focus on inflation control shows that it broadly agrees with the approach adopted by its predecessor.

Srinivasan Velamur

Chennai

It’s an audacious step in the context of the mounting pressure from various quarters on the need to spur growth. The global economic situation as perceived in the medium term is expected to remain fluid and volatile. It will be some time before we understand the real impact of demonetisation.

Srinivasan Umashankar

Nagpur

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