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Awareness Fridays: [Update] Guidelines on Detection and Impounding of Counterfeit Notes at Indian Banks

by Vinaya HS on January 9, 2009

in Finance

On the subject of detection and impounding of counterfeit notes by banks operating in India, the Reserve Bank of India notes that,

Complaints are being received from the public that while impounding a counterfeit note, the tenderer is not informed the reasons for deeming a note as counterfeit. It is therefore advised that the format of the receipt provided in Annex I of the Master Circular [on Detection and Impounding of Counterfeit Currency] has been modified with immediate effect to indicate the parameters on which a note is deemed as counterfeit.

While I do not agree with all of the measures adopted by the Reserve Bank of India (the recent liquidity infusions, for example), I do agree that we have the best banking and financial regulator in the world. What do you think?

Awareness Fridays is my initiative to spread awareness on topics relevant to personal finance — every Friday. I urge you to take some time off and absorb this information — it’s pretty useful. And, as always, do spread the word if you find this useful.

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Awareness Fridays: A Guide to the Indian Banking Ombudsman Scheme

by Vinaya HS on January 2, 2009

in Finance

The Reserve Bank of India also governs the Banking Ombudsman Scheme which provides an “expeditious and inexpensive forum to bank customers for resolution of their complaints relating to banking services.” The objective of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme is to be a visible and reliable system of dispute resolution mechanism for bank customers.

Though the Ombudsman was launched way back in 1995, how many among us are really aware of when and how to approach the Banking Ombudsman? Thankfully, as always, the Reserve Bank of India has recently released a guide on this very topic.

As the report points out,

Two major challenges in effective implementation of Banking Ombudsman Scheme are creating widespread awareness about the Scheme and providing easy access to grievance redressal under the Scheme.

By publishing this post, I have, hopefully, managed to address the first challenge to a small extent. I’d like you to continue this effort by forwarding this post (or the guide) to whoever you believe can benefit from reading it.

Awareness Fridays is my initiative to spread awareness on topics relevant to personal finance — every Friday. I urge you to take some time off and absorb this information — it’s pretty useful. And, as always, do spread the word if you find this useful.

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Awareness Fridays: Easy Reading — Mitigating Spillovers and Contagion Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis

December 12, 2008

Today’s topic is an easy to understand and informative read for the weekend. It’s a speech delivered by Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India at the RBI-BIS Seminar on “Mitigating Spillovers and Contagion – Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis” (click to download) at Hyderabad earlier this month. Of significance is this quote [...]

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Why It’s a Good Idea to Save Regularly for Your Annual Expenses and How to Go About Doing That?

December 10, 2008

Each month we’re so caught up in managing our day to day expenses that we tend to lose focus on our annual expenses. Generally speaking, any expense that you pay for once a year counts as an annual expense. Typical examples are insurance payments, property tax payments, maintenance contracts, and such. We tend to lose [...]

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Awareness Fridays: Guidelines on Detection and Impounding of Counterfeit Notes at Indian Banks

December 5, 2008

Most of you must have faced a situation in which you visit a bank to deposit money and the teller starts observing each note under an ultraviolet lamp. What the teller is trying to do is to detect counterfeit currency notes. Most of us are unaware about our rights when it comes to such situations. [...]

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Awareness Fridays: Guidelines for Exchanging Mutilated Currency Notes at Indian Banks

November 28, 2008

We’ve all had our fair share of receiving torn or soiled currency notes. Sometimes banks refuse to exchange these notes and we’re left fuming since we’ve no idea what the rules are with respect to exchange of such notes. Thankfully, the Reserve Bank of India has published guidelines for exchanging such currency. Click here to [...]

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Awareness Fridays: Guidelines for Credit Card Operations of Indian Banks

November 21, 2008

Reader Shankar asks, Is there any Master Circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India on Credit Cards issued by Indian Banks? There certainly is: Download the Master Circular on Credit Card Operations of Indian Banks. Download an update to the Master Circular. There’s some pretty useful information in these documents. Again, take some time [...]

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Awareness Fridays: Guidelines for Customer Service in Indian Banks

November 14, 2008

The Reserve Bank of India time and again issues various instructions/guidelines in the area of customer service to bring about improvements in the quality of customer service in banks and their branches. But whether banks actually implement these guidelines is a different matter altogether. As bank customers, however, it’s prudent on our part to know [...]

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Awareness Fridays: A Case Study that Illustrates how the Deposit Insurance System Works in India

November 7, 2008

Three weeks back, I wrote about the deposit insurance system in India. While that guide served as a ready reckoner, there’s nothing better to drive the point home than a real case study. One such case study — and a live one at that — involves Saraswat Bank’s takeover of South Indian Cooperative Bank (SICB). [...]

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Awareness Fridays: A Reader Success Story…All It Takes is a Little Bit of Research

October 31, 2008

A while back, reader Lakshmi wrote to me saying, My mom is particularly concerned that my brother’s job is non-pensionable and recently she heard about the SBI Life Insurance Pension Fund. Please throw some light on this matter. I couldn’t write back since I was held up with other work. But Lakshmi soon wrote back [...]

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Awareness Fridays: How to Understand the Basics of Personal Finance

October 24, 2008

A solid understanding of the basics of personal finance can only come through rigorous self-education. There is no shortcut. There are, however, excellent resources — both in print and on the internet (see below) — which can guide you with useful information on this journey. But the real learning happens when you analyze and apply [...]

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Awareness Fridays: A Guide to the Deposit Insurance System in India

October 17, 2008

You might have heard recent news about the government’s plan to double the deposit insurance cover for your bank deposits (savings, fixed, current, recurring, etc.). I welcome this move — though not for the reasons you hear in the media. I welcome this move simply because it’s good for you and me. Did you know [...]

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Awareness Fridays: The National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) System

October 10, 2008

Most of us would have, knowingly or unknowingly, used the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system to facilitate online transfer of funds from any bank branch to any other bank branch within India. Since NEFT forms the backbone for a good percentage of our financial transactions, it’s good to have some in depth knowledge on [...]

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Learn Corporate Finance Online

May 2, 2007

One of the best resources I have ever found on the Internet is the Corporate Finance lecture webcast by Aswath Damodaran, a Professor of Finance and David Margolis Teaching Fellow at the Stern School of Business at New York University. I had Financial Management as part of my curriculum and it was one of my [...]

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