Finance Ministry has decided to look into detail the matter of issuance of Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) by banks. It is sensed that the number of cards being issued as read in bank books is not the same as the actual number of farm lending accounts maintained by banks.

Banks are continuously under pressure of meeting agricultural lending targets set by the government. It is assumed that they might have been issuing multiple cards to...

Public sector lender, IDBI Bank is planning to bring out 'White label ATMs' in a tie up with private ATM service providers. The new series of ATMs will not be tied to any bank and would be an altogether different entity.

We will soon approach RBI (Reserve Bank of India) with our plan," R M Malla, CMD of the bank said.

The 'White label ATMs' will allow customers to withdraw as well as deposit money from...

India's first own payment service network, Rupay is expected to take a launch in the upcoming 18 months. The project is being handled by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Rupay when introduced will come as a competition to payment service majors, MasterCard and Visa.

"Our consultant has just started working. It would review the strategy document that we had prepared internally, and is expected to take six-eight weeks. Much would depend on the timeline...

The Madurai police has nabbed fake currency amounting to Rs 16,500 in the city. The currency was sent to Reserve Bank of India recently from four banks.

It has been found that the currency was sent from Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank, State Bank of India, Corporation Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.

The notes were sent in denominations of Rs 10, 500 and 1000.

A complaint was filed by RBI Manager (Chennai), Kumarakutti in this regard.

Foreign lender, Barclays Bank is going to take a close review of its credit card business. Sources familiar to the matter have indicated that the bank may even consider selling its business in this segment in India.

"The credit card business is one, which has to be reviewed very closely because it is a business where scale counts a lot," sources said.

However, no such bid has been invited by the bank so far in...

Telecom major, Reliance communications and joined hands with State Bank of India and introduced mobile banking facilities for its GSM customers.

"Reliance consumers can use facilities like balance enquiry, mini statement, fund transfer, cheque book issuance, mobile recharge and bill payment at any time and place through the use of their cell phones," the company said.

Reliance customers will not need to have any special service or GPRS in their phones. The only requirement would be...

Banking and monetary regulator, Reserve Bank of India has alarmed banks on the negative effects of internet banking which is gaining platform on a massive scale.

"The use of e-banking has brought many concerns from different stakeholders. Everybody's primary concern is security. As more and more people are exposed to the information superhighway, privacy of information and the security that goes hand and hand with this information is crucial to the growth of electronic transactions,'' said...

Public sector lender, Corporation Bank has introduced the mobile wallet facility which will allow its customers to use their mobile phones for making transactions.

The scheme has been named, 'ypaycash' through which any account holder of the bank can make purchases with his mobile phone.

Customers can now avail this service by transferring upto Rs 5000 from their bank account to mobile wallet.

"A special application is installed on the customer's mobile phone through which a transaction...

Private sector lender, IndusInd Bank has finally made an entry into credit card industry of India by acquiring the credit card business of the Indian operations of Deutsche Bank.

The lender will now get a customer base of 2,00,000 card customers with this deal.

According to Mr Romesh Sobti, MD and CEO, the credit card business will allow the bank to enter into this segment of the banking industry too and qiucken its pace in...

Public sector lender, Corporation Bank has tied up with another lender, Karnataka Bank regarding payments using point of sale (POS) terminals at merchant outlets.

The two lenders have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard.

As part of the deal, Corporation Bank would be offering Visa Access Point and MasterCard Interface Processor. Speaking on the issue, Mr P. Jayarama Bhat, Managing Director of Karnataka Bank Ltd, said that the new facility coming iup...

Private sector lender HDFC Bank has entered into a pact with the Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple in Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu regarding offering of donations by devotees.

The agreement will now allow devotees to make donations through online payment gateway. Those who cannot make it to the temple in person to make donations will now benefit by this route.

Also HDFC Bank debit as well as credit card can be used to make payments.

The bank's Country Head,...

Public sector lender, Oriental Bank of Commerce has introduced income tax payment facility in its ATMs.

The process has been first incepted by Union Bank of India, another public sector lender. This facility would enable customers to pay tax without having to go through hassles of long queues and long form fillings.

The process is user friendly and would also ensure that Direct Taxes earned would increase, said Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra who also launched...

Gone is the time when one had to stand in long hours of queue to drop a cheque or pay a bill. This process not only involved increased physical efforts but also increases risk of penalty in case of failure to pay timely.

Internet banking facilities for bill payments are not considered a convenient option by many people. To their aid, thus comes Electronic Clearing Service (ECS). It not only offers to pay bills on time...

Regulator Reserve Bank of India has generated alerts to the public regarding any fraudulent e mail coming to them from scammers.

"The Reserve Bank never asks for your bank account details. The RBI has clarified that it has not sent any such email," the central bank said.

RBI has cautioned that the mails that people are getting "to update their bank account details against online phishing" are fake and should not be replied to.

"The RBI has appealed...

Corporate houses should not be offered license to start banks in India, feels former chief economist of IMF, Mr. Raghuram Rajan.

"I think the old RBI policy of not allowing corporates banking licence was good one. I still stand by that. Whether it will continue with this or not is a different question," Rajan said.

He is also the honorary advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

According to him, non banking finance companies (NBFCs) and micro finance institutions...

The Reserve Bank of India has clarified that all banks need to send online alerts of all card not present (CNP) transactions of all credit cards to customers.

The alerts have to be sent by June 30, 2011 and for all transactions irrespective of any amount.

It was earlier directed to banks that they should send CNP alerts for transactions of Rs 5000 and above.

The amount condition has been withdrawn by RBI so as to put...

Foreign lender, Standard Chartered Bank has introduced the first cash management tool for its customers in the name of SME Banking World Debit Card. The card is targetted towards offering rewards as well as convenience and savings to small and medium enterprise (SME) customers.

All SME customers having an account with the bank will be offered this card.

"The card is a feature of Standard Chartered's strengthened SME Banking offering launched last year," said the bank...

Private sector lender, Ratnakar Bank has inked a deal with AGS Transact Technologies following which the company will provide 250 ATMs to the bank under the outsourcing model.

AGS currently provides technology based services to banking, retail, petroleum and postal sectors. It will look into implementation as well as management of the ATMs for the bank, said a release.

"The ATM deployment is a part of our plan towards aggressive expansion in the country. We have...

It has been decided by the Social Justice and Empowerment Department of Haryana that all types of pension schemes will be dealt with the Electronic Banking Transfer System from now onwards. The move comes as a follow up of the smart card scheme of the RBI and Union ministry. This way pension can directly be deposited in the beneficiary's bank account.

According to Geeta Bhukkal, Haryana social justice and empowerment minister, this new system would require...

Private sector lender, Kotak Mahindra Bank has also incorporated the Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS).

With the introduction of this facility, customers will be able to avail 24X7 instant fund transfer facility thereby enabling immediate credit receipt, said the bank.

IMPS has been introduced under the umbrella of National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), Mumbai.

"IMPS is India's first instant, real-time, 24x7 funds transfer facility in the retail payment sector. With the explosion of mobile penetration...