Banking services

This refers to ‘Banks must gear up for disruption’ (September 9). The fear of fall in usage of banking services as visualised in the article does not seem justified at least in the near term. However, banks need to scale up and create new methods for utilising their services. For commercial and manufacturing sectors, banking services are still vital. For the society as a whole too, the requirements of banking services are likely to increase in tandem with the rise in financial status of the people.

Coimbatore

Apropos the editorial ‘Economy in doldrums' (September 9), demonetisation alone shouldn’t be adjudged the spoiler, rather, it is the accumulation of huge NPAs over the years by public sector banks and poor foresight by certain industrial sectors that have worsened the situation. Any policy change like GST comes with initial hiccups, but will deliver in the long term. For reviving the economy from its current slump, undoubtedly credit creation alone won’t do. Nowadays, consumers spend prudently; they want value for money. India’s, it appears, is only a temporary slowdown, and not stagnation as is evident in other countries

Gurugram, Haryana

This refers to ‘Ratings review’ (September 9). The criticality of rating agencies cannot be overemphasised. It is one of the most main cogs of the financial sector and it becomes all the more important during an economic slowdown when lenders are wary of lending. All those companies which have cash-flow or financial-management issues would like their ratings not to be downgraded. But this is the time for the raters to do their job as diligently as possible. Window dressing or creative accounting becomes routine in times like these.

Noida

An erudite lawyer who strode like a colossus and always held in high esteem by the legal fraternity for his sharp, incisive and bold arguments, Ram Jethamalani has left an indelible mark in the annals of the legal profession. His death marks the end of an illustrious legal career spanning several decades with lessons of greater value to the budding lawyers of the country. At the age of 17, he became a law graduate and since then there was no looking back. He was more than a fiery litigator. He wore different hats, ranging from member of parliament to union minister, but never failed to leave his unique footprint by speaking his mind with unflinching courage.

Sholavandan, TN

Apropos ‘18 PSBs hit by 2,480 cases of fraud of ₹32,000 cr in Q1: RTI’ (September 9), it goes without saying that such a worrisome development (during the first quarter of this fiscal itself), must truly serve as a wake-up call for the RBI and the Centre alike. However, it was quite disturbing to learn that the country’s largest lender State Bank of India notched the ‘top’ slot with 38 per cent share with the detection of as many as 1,197 cases of cheating.

However, the moot question that obviously arises is: By whom and at what stage were these massive frauds actually detected? If the RBI unearthed the same, it may be fine. But if other investigative agencies like the CBI and the ED played a vital role, it must certainly ring some alarm bells in the RBI as also in North Block.

Panchkula, Haryana

With reference to the editorial ‘Ratings review’ (September 9 ), a total revamp is proposed in redefining the scope and expectations from the credit rating business. The failure of rating rationales was exposed, especially after the IL&FS fiasco. In a real economic slowdown scenario, if CRAs resort to fair due-diligence and analysis and portray their reports on a realistic basis, the volume of probable defaulting companies would increase by leaps and bounds much to the embarrassment of banks.

Bengaluru

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