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Jalan asks bank economists to acquire field experience

Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan on Monday called upon the economists working in banks to come out of their narrow specialisations and be ready to acquire field experience in areas such as credit appraisal, asset recovery, debt restructuring and market and consumer behaviour.

This is essential in the changing environment where banks need to provide greater opportunities for economists to work in operational areas requiring economic skills, Jalan observed while delivering his speech at the Bank Economists' Conference in Kolkata on Monday.

Many of our banks have trained economists working with them but they are generally confined to non-operational tasks and this needs to be changed, he said.

Expressing concern over the significant downtrend in industrial sector of the economy, the Governor said, this puts pressure not only on their financial outlook but also on the performances of their creditors such as banks and financial institutions.

The current slowdown has provided new challenges for the banking system, he said.

Highlighting various measures taken by the RBI to strengthen the financial system in India, Jalan said, it has perhaps done the maximum amount of technical work with the help of non-official experts for developing internal systems for risk management and adhering to adequate internal exposure limits in particular sectors and groups of inter-connected borrowing entities.

In this context, he asked the banks and FIs to develop their own corporate strategy and plan, depending on their size, by setting up a specialised task force within the bank.

The task force for each bank could separately prepare a paper on the corporate strategy for its own bank and put in place for operational purpose by the middle of next year.

The action plan should identify gaps in Information Technology applications, internal control systems, operational procedures, human resource development and prepare the bank to comply with the new standards, Jalan said.

Priority must be given to the need for computerisation in banks for credit approval, better customer service, fund management and inter-bank transactions.

UNI

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