Bank auditors to detail financial impact of pension & gratuity liability of PSBs

The accounting regulator has asked bank auditors to detail the financial impact of the pension and gratuity liability of public sector banks in their audit of 2010-11 accounts.

The move will provide clarity on the contingent liabilities of banks, which have risen sharply after the government hiked the gratuity limit and changed pension rules. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to adjust the liability over five years.

The accounting regulator has issued guidelines for treating these liabilities, but said the outgo needs to be quantified even if it is spread over five years. "Highlighting the overall impact will help in properly assessing the financial strength of a bank in the long-term," said an official at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), requesting anonymity.

In May last year, the government amended the Gratuity Act to raise the limit on gratuity an employee would receive on retirement to 10 lakh from 3.5 lakh. It also re-opened the pension option for existing employees who had not opted for it earlier and had instead decided in favour of a lump sum on retirement.

State-run banks had estimated the outgo on pension to be around 4,000 crore and had sought relief from the RBI and the regulator saying the total outgo could be as high as 10,000 crore.

The RBI allowed banks to spread the financial impact of the total liability incurred in the previous fiscal over a period of five years. But the amortised amount could not be less than a fifth of the total liability.

The move has insulated the financials of banks from being impacted severely in the current fiscal. But the disclosure will give stakeholders clarity on the financial impact of the increase in gratuity benefits.

The I CAI has asked its member auditors to clearly disclose the financial impact of such liabilities had they been provided in the current year itself.

The matter was discussed at a recent meeting of the governing council of the ICAI, which then circulated a detailed reporting format to all members. It has asked auditors to disclose the impact as part of notes to accounts and not make them a part of their qualifications.

Banks install 19,000 ATMs in 2010-11

MUMBAI: In what is reflective of banks' increasing thrust on using the cheaper automated teller machines ( ATM) channel for service delivery, nearly 19,000 ATMs were added last fiscal to the National Financial Switch.

"The number of ATMs connected to National Financial Switch (NFS) being operated by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has grown by about 19,000 in one year," a release issued here by the NPCI said.

The total number of ATMs under the NFS now stands at 75,178, it said, adding, SBI and associate banks own the largest number of ATMs at 25,060 followed by Axis Bank (6,270), ICICI Bank (6,104), HDFC Bank (5,471) and Punjab National Bank (5,050).

The NFS now has 54 member banks and requests of five others are currently under process to join the network, the release said.

M Y Khan

Dr. M. Y. Khan has a Doctorate in Business Management (PhD) from Burkes University in UK.  He is currently the Chairman of the Banking and Advisory council of YES Bank Ltd., after a stint as the Chairman of J&K Bank. He is also a Director on the Board of Bharat Hotels and an Advisor for Berenson & Company, New York. Prior to J&K Bank, Dr. Khan was the Managing Director of J&K Agro Industries Development Corporation and Managing Director of J&K Tourism Development Corporation for five years.Dr. Khan was nominated as member of the Chattisgarh Economic Advisory Council - Government of India. He is also a Member of the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee of FICCI and Member of the Managing Committee of Indian Banking Association , Mumbai. Dr. Khan has received several prestigious awards notably "Udyog Rattan", "Pride of India & IMM" for excellence as top professional manager, "Excellence Award" by Institute of Economic Studies and "Star Achievers Award" among several others.

Don't 'invite' yourself to a Facebook threat!

If you are an avid Facebooker, you must have been invited to click on posts like "Facebook is shutting down", "See who visited your Facebook profile!", and "Facebook is clearing their entire data base and deleting users"; that too, from people on your friend list. All that you get by clicking on such posts is your friends complaining about you sending the same post to them, thus forming a vicious chain. In some cases, you might unknowingly reveal your FB password to the scammers or unwillingly participate in online surveys as well, all at the behest of a click!

Such is the lightning fast speed of scams on the popular social networking site that no one has been spared from them. And if such malicious posts weren't enough, phishers have now taken the route of sending event invites to Facebook users. Take the case of the latest scam in FB town, which goes by the event title, "Who blocked you from his friend list?" Once you are tempted into clicking in the affirmative for this event, you'll be slyly invited to sign up. IT security and data protection firm, Sophos, claims that this bogus event invite has already tricked more than 165,000 people into signing-up, with a staggering 10.3 million users still debating whether to respond or not.

According to Sophos, the scammers embed instructions into the 'More info' section of the event's summary, which leads unsuspecting Facebook users into visiting webpages for online surveys or competitions, designed to earn commission for those behind the scheme. In some instances, users are also asked for a mobile phone number, which is then signed up to an expensive premium rate service.

So, think twice before accepting unsolicited invitations from suspicious events and clicking on links received via FB. When it comes to the virtual world, it's very simple to be fooled by a big bad wolf dressed up as grandma, which in this case would be a seemingly innocent 'event invite'. Remember, not every Red riding hood story has a happy ending!

Maserati rolls into India

Italian luxury car maker makes its official India debut with its complete range - the Quattroporte, the GranTurismo and the GranCabrio. Prices range from Rs 1.2 crore to 1.43 crore, ex-Delhi

Maserati Quattroporte

Legendary Italian luxury car marque Maserati has made its entry into the Indian market with its complete range of cars. A part of the Fiat Group, Maserati will bring its cars into India via the Complete-Built-Unit (CBU) route, much like other European luxury car makers. On the shelf will be variants of its three existing models – the four-door Quattroporte sedan, its two-door GT Coupe GranTurismo cousin, and the GranTurismo’s topless version – the GranCabrio. Maserati has partnered with the Shreyans Group for the retail, and the first Indian showroom will open in Mumbai this year. Plans are well advanced to open a second dealership in New Delhi in early 2012, with plans to cater to seven major Indian cities by 2015.

All three cars have been launched with their respective variants, powered by an option of two engines – a 400PS 4.2-litre V8 and a 430-440PS 4.7-litre V8. The cars will be brought in unmodified straight from the company’s plant in Modena, Italy, and will need no specific adjustments for Indian conditions according to Maserati officials.

Maserati GranTurismo

The range begins from the sensual Pininfarina-designed GranTurismo coupe, which will be available with its 4.2-litre engine for Rs 1.2 crore, ex-showroom Delhi. The GranTurismo S powered by the 4.7-litre engine will be available in two versions too – with the 6-speed ZF automatic transmission for Rs 1.3 crore and with the more hardcore MC-Shift semi-automatic gearbox for Rs 1.37 crore. Further down the range buyers will find the Quattroporte four-door saloon, and the GranCabrio convertible, which will be available only in the fully-blown out 440PS 4.7-litre V8.

Maserati GranCabrio

Watch out for more in-depth information on all three cars in our special Maserati welcome package online on ZigWheels.com!

Model	Price (ex-showroom Delhi)
GranTurismo 4.2 Auto	Rs 1,20,29,000
GranTurismo S 4.7 Auto	Rs 1,29,81,000
GranTurismo S 4.7	Rs 1,37,13,000
Quattroporte FL 4.2	Rs 1,23,22,000
Quattroporte S FL 4.7	Rs 1,32,74,000
Quattroporte Sport GTS 4.7	Rs 1,42,99,000
GranCabrio 4.7	Rs 1,42,99,000

Social activist Anna Hazare's fast enters third day

Published on Thu, Apr 07, 2011 at 10:42   |  Updated at Thu, Apr 07, 2011 at 14:14   |  Source : PTI

Social activist Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death entered the third day here today even as a large number of people from various walks of life continued to extend support to the crusader for a stronger anti-corruption law.

72-year-old Hazare's protest has led to the resignation of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar from the Group of Ministers on corruption after the Gandhian took potshots at him.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had yesterday discussed with some Cabinet colleagues the issue after which indications emerged that one or two ministers could be nominated to talk to the activist.

The general sense at the informal confabulations was that there was a need to defuse the situation that had arisen due to the fast-unto-death campaign launched on Tuesday which is getting support from the increasing number of people.

Fear led to KPs’ migration: Jagmohan

NEW DELHI, Apr 3: Distancing himself from the issue of migration of Kashmiri Pandits and massacres of protesters in 1990, former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan today said that 'minority fear' was the reason for exodus of the community and he didn't order killing of any innocent. Jagmohan said, "Vested interests blame me for the exodus of the Pandits. But matter of the fact is that when I assumed charge as Governor in third week of January 1990, 25,000 Pandits had already migrated and were living in camps in Jammu." "When I took over as Governor, a Pandit delegation called on me and I urged them to stay back. I told them if they feel insecure I'll make special camps for them in the Valley itself in Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag and Budgam," he said.

Lashing out at those who blame him for the exodus, he said, "They want the nation to believe that it was not the ruthless Kalashnikov, bomb explosions in the second half of 1989, the sinister design of killing one and frightening one thousand, but some unspelt inducements that had impelled the Pandits to abandon their homes and hearths in the Valley and move to the inhospitable camps of Jammu."

"How is it possible that a community will leave on the instructions of a single person? If the Kashmiri Pandits had come away from the Valley at my instance, why did they not return after I demitted office in May 1990? Why could they not be sent back either by G.C. Saxena's or by General Rao's administration?" he asked.

"Determined efforts were being made by me to instill confidence in the public by re-erecting the collapsed structure of administration. But killings of eminent Kashmiri Pandits, including poet Sarvanand Koul and his young son Virender, engineer B K Ganjoo, Doordarshan Station Director Lassa Kaul and Prof Ganjoo had sent shock waves among the community," he added.

Asked to comment about the propaganda launched by some Pandit organizations that massacre of the community was carried out by the Kashmiri Muslims and in the backdrop of recent reports that 209 Pandits were killed in the Valley from 1989 to 2008 while as thousands of Muslims got killed, Jagmohan said, "Do you want to say every Pandit should have been killed first and then they should have migrated?"

Asked about his role in the massacres carried in Kashmir when he was the Governor, Jagmohan said, "Do you want to say I should have allowed rioters to take over Secretariat and other institutions. Aren't rioters being killed now"?

The former Governor grew angry when this reporter asked him to comment on Hawal massacre in which more than 60 people were killed on May 21, 1990 during funeral procession of Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq. "Do you want to say I ordered the CRPF men to kill people? I had no information and it was only after DIG called me that I came to know about the incident," he said.

"Why don't you ask who killed Molvi Farooq," Jagmohan asked.

"As my track record as an administrator during my first term was excellent, pro-Pak elements were afraid of me and they launched propaganda against me. I didn't order killing of any innocent as killing one innocent person is killing whole humanity," he added.

The former Governor has recently completed second part of his book on Kashmir "My Frozen Turbulences".

"I've also written seven other books and these days writing is my main job," he added.

The latest edition of "My Frozen Turbulences" touched issues from stone pelting to Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer issue and killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Jagmohan has word of advice for Kashmiri youth. "Go by records and don't believe in rumors." (KNS)

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