by mahatma gandhi that customer is king and the very reason for the existence of the enterprise. but is it reflected in employee behaviour at the ground level. does the board / top management have the right attitude towards customers. do the banks have a policy of assigning a unique identity to all customers? if not, can we accurately say how many customers a bank has? most of the time, the figures given are that of the number of accounts. but by doing so, essentially we are not differentiating between a ledger page and a customer. so, in my opinion, a radical transformation of attitude right from top management to ground level employees is the first step towards improving customer service. the challenge for all of us in the banking industry is to develop the right kind of attitude to render service. can we define the standards of behaviour? perhaps it may be easier to identify the elements of unacceptable behaviour and try to redress and improve the situation. the behaviour standards especially of the front - line managers are implicit in the acceptance of the codes by the banks. communication is at the root of effective customer care in a service industry especially like banking, where the documents, terms and conditions, practices & precedents are all heavily loaded against the customer. how do you communicate with the customers when a complaint is lodged? do you inform him how soon it will be resolved and give him a complaint number? how effective and timely is your customer grievance redressal system? do you have a system of analysing the average time taken to resolve complaints and monitor the consumer complaints? in an arrangement that is based on terms of agreement that are bis central bankers ’ speeches unequal, enforceability of contracts poses a major challenge. introduction of most important terms and conditions ( mitc ) for all major products and services offered by banks is expected to help the consumers analyze the suitability of a product from their perspective. many bank customers walk into a branch with a rough sketch of what they want. we must understand the customer ’ s needs and sell him what he / she needs. the mitcs must be distinguishable from marketing or promotional material. web based information is becoming an extensive source of communication with bank customers. how many banks can give a commitment that they will promptly update their web sites to reflect any and every change in pricing of their products / services, mitcs governing important products / services, change in working hours, change in key personnel etc.? compensation policies – the banks have framed and placed in

strains visible on the external sector and various other demands being placed on the reserves, funding of such ventures out of reserves does not seem a viable option. the other alternatives including overseas borrowing against sovereign backing or domestic resource raising through special cess and utilization of private sector resources in a ppp model need to be evaluated for this purpose. bis central bankers ’ speeches h. way forward investments by individuals & llps today, we have an enabling regulatory environment for encouraging overseas investments by individuals. we, however, need to examine the existing caps and link it to the monetary ceilings applicable under the liberalized remittance scheme ( lrs ) ( remittance of us $ 200, 000 for permitted current and capital account transactions ). some of the ceilings which may require rationalization include ceiling to acquire qualification shares and shares of a foreign entity in part / full consideration of professional services rendered to the foreign company or in lieu of director ’ s remuneration, to acquire shares offered through an esop scheme globally, on uniform basis, in a foreign company which has an equity stake, directly or indirectly, in the indian company. the reserve bank of india in consultation with the ministries concerned has since decided to a ) remove the existing cap of one per cent on the ceiling for resident individuals to acquire qualification shares and to link the same to the monetary ceiling under the lrs ; b ) to grant general permission to resident individuals to acquire shares of a foreign entity in part / full consideration of professional services rendered to the foreign company or in lieu of director ’ s remuneration with monetary ceiling as per the limit prescribed under lrs ; and c ) to grant general permission to indian resident employees or directors to acquire shares through an esop scheme globally on uniform basis in a foreign company which has an equity stake, directly or indirectly, in the indian company. issues relating to allowing individuals to set - up jvs / wos abroad under a transparent policy framework within the lrs ceiling are also being examined. the extant regulations allow registered partnership firms to invest abroad. with the passing of the llp act, there is a need to review the regulation and examine if llps can also be permitted to invest in jv / wos abroad. approach towards multi - layered structures in the context of multi layered structures, taxation remains a contentious issue and a subject of debate. this issue, euphemistically, referred to as “ treaty shopping ” or “ tax planning ” or “ tax avoidance ”, has implications for