should there be dissemination. the third set relates to the timing of communication with reference to its market impact. the fourth relates to the quality of information and the possible ways in which it could be perceived. thus, alleged incoherence or an element of ambiguity at times on the part of central bankers in explaining policies is as much a reflection of the complexity of the issues as it is of the differing perceptions of a variety of audiences to which the communication is addressed. perhaps, the diversity in the audience needs to be explained. broadly speaking, any communication from a central bank is addressed to several constituencies namely, the regulated entities ; participants in financial markets ; financial analysts ; economists - cum - researchers or opinion makers in the academia ; the multilateral bodies including the international monetary fund ; the world bank and of course credit rating agencies ; the immediate stakeholder being the government or parliament ; and the ultimate stakeholder being the public at large. each of these constituencies has its own concerns, time - frame, perception and technical expertise. while there is some scope for designing specific communications to be of use to a particular constituency on its unique requirements, a large part of communications has to be addressed to all constituencies. in any case, all communications, unless they are very confidential in nature are rightly accessible to all the constituencies and selective dissemination is almost impossible in modern days of high technology and vibrant democracy. so, often the practical issue is to design an array of instruments and a menu - approach keeping in view the sensitivities and complexities, recognising that the users and uses of a central bank ’ s communications are varied. an illustration is, how to craft a press release or website release that produces hard information to professionals but does not keep away the interests of general public. in designing and effectuating a communications policy, it is also necessary to recognise the variety in media. traditionally the press, i. e., the print media has been the most dominant and perhaps continues to be so especially to reach a wide audience and for analysis. the electronic media is a more recent phenomenon, which is becoming increasingly dominant. the speed with which wire agencies can impact the markets is of special significance to a central bank. the visual impact is more in respect of television and of course, debates on televisions are likely. an important means of communication in the recent past has been website and also e - mail. the problem before a central banker is to cater to the needs of the different means of communication with appropriate

no. that ’ s why bill gates said what he said – “ banking is necessary, but banks are not ”. 20. how this happened? admittedly, it is the technology and the customer expectations which chunked away or which enabled chunking away the different elements of banking. will banks really cease to exist? 21. that ’ s a moot point. at least, as the pwc research report says “ while we are not looking at the end of banking, we are surely looking at the end of banking and banks as we currently know them ”. 22. the chunking away of banking from the banks have given enormous business and growth for these non - banks. with their specialization and focussed service rendering, they are able to offer that chosen service at greatest efficiency, speed and at very affordable cost to the consumers. this has stumbled the growth of banks today and has every potential to lead to de - growth and ultimately the decimation of banks in future. 23. as we know, unconventional policies are rampant in the world. first it was low interest ; then it was near zero or zero interest. people thought that zero is the lower bound and one cannot breach it. now the lower bound has been breached and negative interest has come on the scene. jurisdiction after jurisdiction is ushering in negative interest rate regime. is there any lower bound for negative interest? can banks survive if this trend persists? 24. another set of questions are about the justification for banks to exist. why the society should accord the privilege of banking to banks i. e. why should there be a licensing for undertaking banking activity? let us recall that the west no longer officially designate anybody as a bank ; they have only a depository institution or a credit institution. our fslrc recommended indian financial code also reflects similar thinking. the other day, shri mohandas pai asked me, given the way the non - banks do banking, what is the justification for the banks to impose a cost in the form of the net interest margin of 3 % on the society. in what way rendering banking services under one umbrella is relevant any longer? 25. yet another challenge for the banks ’ existence is the reaction by the society to the financial crisis – the consumer distrust in banks. remember the movement against wall street? the dodd - frank act? the liikanen and vickers reports? the ring fencing of wholesale and retail banking? faced with the challenge of dramatically decreased consumer trust in the post - crisis