Empowering women

Women in India for long have been economically dependent on men. Self help group loan facility for women had made them more united and progressive and offered them economic freedom in a developing India.

Different governments both at the Centre as well as States recognised this important requirement and advised all commercial banks to lend substantially for their upliftment. Formation of a group of minimum 10 members in every village, town and cities was instant and bankers have supported them financially for their economic needs.

Fortunately the repayments of loans by these groups was marvellous and hardly 4-5 per cent of their total borrowings have become NPAs which is a good sign for a developing country.

By and large women borrowers have proved to honest which has to be kept up. It is high time that all States take up the responsibility of paying interest portion to the bankers for a balanced growth.

This will certainly motivate the SHG members to take up more occupations and assist their families in these days of Covid-induced financial crisis.

Katuru Durga Prasad Rao

Hyderabad

Bank consolidation

With reference to the news report ‘Consolidation is good for the banking industry: SBI Chairman’ (December 6), having so many banks with similar business model and types of services does not bring any value to the customers. In some places we see branches of almost all banks in the same vicinity.

By consolidating the banks, the fixed costs can be reduced which will not only improve their viability but also help reduce charges for services. Bigger banks can take bigger credit risks which are in any case shared by many banks now.

Small finance banks and NBFCs may continue in their space complementing big banks. The consolidation that has happened in PSBs should be continued and small private sector banks should be nudged to get merged with larger banks as depositors face higher risk with them.

M Raghuraman

Mumbai

Small investors still vulnerable

Because of their large shareholding institutional shareholders do have an important say in corporate governance and are in a position to thwart the malafide intent of the promoters. But the small investor is still at the mercy of the promoters.

If the LIC had not rejected the open offer of Vedanta, the small investor would have had no place to hide. The SEBI is supposed to protect the interests of the small investor. but had been spectacularly unsuccessful in doing so for whatever reason.

There are many entities in the market ecosystem like promoters, brokers and registrars who seem to be hell bent on taking the small investor for a ride.

It has become imperative to secure such investors and protect their interests if the stock market wants a better class of investors than those who want to double their money in six months!

Anthony Henriques

Mumbai

Omicron threat

With reference to news report, ‘First Omicron case in Delhi was double- vaccinated’, Omicron is creating panic across the globe and whether we will have a similar situation here in India in coming days or not, no one can predict.

But knowing that Delhi’s first Omicron case is a fully vaccinated person, we know very well that we can not afford to lower our guard at any cost.

The least we must do is to adhere Covid protocols of wearing masks, washing our hands etc.

The government must enforce a specific day’s quarantine for all foreign travellers.

We must not forget the hard and painful lessons of the second wave and remain vigilant.

Bal Govind

Noida

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