DAMODARAN REPORT
He is not the Nettur Damodaran who was the member of 1stloksabha
Chairman: M Damodaran (Ex SEBI chairman From Feb 2005-2008, presently Advisor and Chief Representative in India for theING Group of Netherlands)
* The committee, headed by former Sebi Chairman M Damodaran, has submitted its report to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs which would take appropriate steps after studying the recommendations.
WHY COMMITTEE FORMED:
* India ranked very low i.e. 132nd position in World Bank's ease of doing business list among total of 183 countries globally. The panel set-up in August last year to suggest ways for improving business climate in India.
Also India ranked below most of the SAARC countries(South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation-organisation ofSouth Asiannations, established on 8 December 1985 ;Bangladesh,Bhutan,India,Maldives,Nepal,Pakistan, andSri Lanka, Afghanistan;headquartered inKathmandu, Nepal) and was last among BRICS countries (Brazil,Russia,India,ChinaandSouth Africa).
* Recommendations titled 'Reforming the Regulatory Environment for doing Business in India'
* retrospective taxation as a big obstacle to attracting investment ALREADY an example of British telecom Vodafone in India(explained in mrunal sirs article)
Recommendations:
Regulatory body should be more autonomous with transparent in selecting the heads.
Faster resolution of dispute through consent settlement and arbitration.
Easier set of regulation for MSME (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises)
The Committee constituted in June last year to review the existing system of customer service and grievance redressal in the banking system
The key focus of the Committee, to review the functioning of theBanking Ombudsman Scheme.
The Banking Ombudsman(BO) Scheme was established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1995 to provide speedy solutions to grievances faced by bank customers. Although the number of complaints received has increased in recent times, the lack of awareness among the customers was a big concern.
The name 'ombudsman' is not easily understood by the common man and hence, it was suggested that it be changed to a more suitable name, 'lokpal'.(ANNA HAZARE)
To have more offices of the Ombudsman apart from the ones in Maharashtra and Goa, to make it more accessible to the masses.
another recommendation made by the unions was to have separate counters for senior citizens installed at bank branches between the 1st and 10th of every month, to make it easier for pensioners to collect theirmoney.
to enhance consumer protection
The Committee expected to undertake a strict review of the existing system of attending tocustomer service inbanks, including the approach, attitude and fair treatment to customers from retail, small and pensioners segment. The Committee asked to evaluate the existing system of grievance redressal system going in banks, its structure and recommend measures for fast resolution of complaints.
SENIOR CITIZENS HAVE LITTLE TO CHEER:
Recommendations on the subject ofpensionersand senior citizens reads as under:
" prioritised service should be given to senior citizens, physically handicapped persons by effective crowd/people management available at all bank branches.
"Banks should maintain and fine-tune the functioning of their Centralised Pension Processing Centres to ensure timely disbursal of pension, commencement of family pension on time and error-freecalculationof pension."
1. Each branch of a bank should have a separate count for attending to senior citizens/physically challenged customers, who should be given priority over other customers at that special counter.
2. Senior citizens and physically challenged customers should be provided with singlewindow service, without their having to move from counter to counter to complete all their banking transactions.
3. All the requests/requirementsof senior citizens and physically challenged customers must be attended to then and there,without telling them kal aayiye fir kal...., as is the practice in most bank branches.As, their request forcheque books,updating of pass books, pension payments, issue of deposit receipts, issue of interest/TDS (tax deduction at source) certificates, etc.
4. Senior citizens at present offered an additional interest of up to 1% on all fixed deposits. The same benefit of additional interest should be offered to them on their savings depositsalso, as there is no reason to exempt savings accounts from the given interest rates offered to them.
5. The penalty, if levied on withdrawal of deposits before maturity, should not be applied to senior citizens/physically-challenged customers, who should be given the normalrate of interestapplicable for the period for which the deposit has run, without any deductions. This is based on the assumption that in most cases, their medicalrequirementsmight force them to encash their deposits before maturity.
6. A certain percentage of safe deposits lockers, say 10%, may be reserved for senior citizens and physically challenged customers, so that they are have a reasonable chance of getting a locker facility in the same branch where they maintain their savings accounts. 7. In case the payment of pension to the customer is delayed due to the fault or mistake of the bank, the pensioner should be properly compensated by giving appropriate savings bank interest on the amount for the delayed period. If the delay beyond a reasonable period, say seven days, the bank should be asked to pay a penalty of Rs100 per day of delay, as is the system followed in failed ATM transactions.
8. At present, pensions disbursed only through - public sector banks, manypensionershave to travel long distances to get their monthly pension, causing strain on thepensioners. To prevent this problem, the RBI should arrange with both Central and state governments to disburse pensions through all banks in the private sector also, so that thepensionershave the option of getting pension from any commercial bank, public or private bank, nearer their place of residence.
9.Biggest problem faced bypensioners variation in their signatures due to passage of time and their old age. Banks should be asked to update the signatures of all senior citizens in the their records periodically, say once in two years or as often as required, so that banks do not have to dishonour their cheques due to variation in their signatures.
The other committees formed earlier for the same purpose:
Talwar Committee of 1975, the Goiporia Committee of 1990 and the Tarapore Committee of 2004.
REFERENCES:
1.MONEY LIFE
2.WIKIPEDIA
3.INDIAN EXPRESS N HINDU
by KARAN RAJPAL
