-The Hindu Replacement of systems more than 7 years old, Centre’s digital push lead to cutting down on new installations A combination of factors, including cash crunch following demonetisation of high value notes announced in November last, have led to commercial banks cutting down on the number of automated teller machines (ATMs) particularly those not located in branches (off-site ATMs), latest RBI data showed. According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), there were...

-TheWire.in The Indian farmer is not just a poor, helpless victim who deserves a waiver because he cannot pay. The root cause of the debt trap is that his income has not increased with rising expenditure due to state policies. As Punjab joins the list of states to declare farm loan waivers, the political scales are now heavily tilted in favour of this idea. The government of Telangana, followed by Andhra Pradesh,...

-TheWire.in At Axis Bank and YES Bank, it appears that a single auditor of a member firm of Ernst and Young has overlooked gross NPAs of a staggering Rs 13,655 crore. Recently, Axis Bank and YES Bank jolted the Indian banking community while releasing their annual results. Both banks disclosed a staggeringly large divergence between the banks’ audited accounts and the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI)  findings regarding bad loans on the...

-Livemint.com Experts say a government-sponsored pledge loan scheme could still help Maharashtra tide over the tur crisis and provide relief to farmers Could Maharashtra government and the Centre have mitigated Maharashtra’s tur (pigeon pea) crisis by facilitating and encouraging pledge loans? Yes, say farm sector experts, bankers, warehouse industry officials and former government officials. Pledge loans are loans secured by farmers from banks against their farm produce deposited at a warehouse. Timely government intervention...

-The Indian Express An expert panel set up by the green tribunal has said it would take 10 years and Rs 42 crore to revive the Yamuna floodplains, after the damage caused by the World Culture Festival. It was a mela Parvati never saw. The curtains had come up wherever she looked, even around the strip of land where her cows usually graze. “Bandhook leke seedhe khade hue the,” she said about...