g padmanabhan : payment system issues and challenges speech by mr g padmanabhan, executive director of the reserve bank of india, at the foundation day – catholic syrian bank, thrissur, 26 november 2011. * * * assistance rendered by s / shri g srinivas, k sivaraman and saswat mahapatra gratefully acknowledged. mr v. p. iswardas, managing director & ceo, catholic syrian bank ( csb ), mr nandakumar, president, thrissur management association, mr anantharaman and mr bobby jose, board members present here, other office bearers of the thrissur management association, ladies and gentlemen. i deem it a privilege to be invited to speak on this important day in the bank ’ s history. it is a matter of pride to each one of you that the bank which had a modest beginning in november, 1920, is completing commendable 91 years of service and achievement. i have very fond memories of csb, as this was the one of the private banks which had a presence in thiruvananthapuram, which is my home town, as i was growing up. i must say the bank has grown from strength to strength, imbibing the enterprising spirit inherited from its founding fathers, adapting admirably to the far - reaching social, political and economic changes that have been happening around us. today it has a client base of more than 15 lakh customers. it established its first contact point with rbi in the year 1969, when it got the status of a scheduled bank, under the rbi act. in 1972 it came out of its traditional bastion and opened its first branch in chembur, mumbai. the bank entered the field of international banking in 1975. currently, i am told the bank has 364 branches spread across 16 states. of the 364 branches 242 are in kerala and of this nearly 80 % are in rural and semi urban areas. i am also informed that with the intention of making the right proposition to the right customer at the right time, tailor made banking products have been designed to cater to the specific banking needs of various sections of the society like students, women, senior citizens, farmers etc. a bank which has customer focus, has to continuously endeavour to retain customer confidence in its capabilities and deliveries. when i was extended the invitation, i was told that it is customary for the speaker to talk about any financial sector

k c chakrabarty : contemporary issues in banking – reflections on viewpoints of a bank economist remarks by dr k c chakrabarty, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at a book release function organised by the indian overseas bank, chennai, 30 december 2012. * * * dr. m. narendra, chairman and managing director, indian overseas bank ( iob ) ; shri a. k. bansal and shri a. d. m. chavali, executive directors of iob ; shri n. viswanathan, regional director, rbi ; smt. indira padmini and other general managers of iob ; shri m. ramaswamy, retired secretary of auroville ; shri s. muthiah, historian ; shri m. ct. p. chidambaram, grandson of the founder of indian overseas bank ; shri b. j. krishnan, environmentalist ; shri bhakther solomon, chief executive officer of development promotion group ; shri dharmalingam venugopal, who is the reason for our assembling here today ; serving and retired members of the banking fraternity, other invited dignitaries whom i have not specifically named ; ladies and gentlemen. it is a matter of great pleasure for me to be present here today on the occasion of release of shri d. venugopal ’ s book “ indian banking reforms and after : a bank economist ’ s take ”. based on my interaction with shri venugopal and reading of his articles, my assessment of him is of an individual with an incisive mind and an ability to dispassionately analyse diverse subjects of concern to the economy. the book being released today is an anthology of articles written by him in various national and financial dailies over a period of time. it deals with an impressive array of subjects and provides a bank economist ’ s perspective on various issues, which certainly makes an interesting reading. i congratulate shri venugopal for the book, of which i had the privilege of writing the foreword, and hope the book gets all the success and accolades that it, so richly, deserves. the first thing that strikes about the collection of articles featured in the book is the wide time horizon over which the articles were penned. the book succeeds in providing a panoramic view of issues that have confronted the economy over the last two decades, a period that has been exciting for the indian economy with the country moving from the th