If you have decided to move into the real estate industry it is important to understand the correct marketing strategies to stay and be successful in business. You must set practical goals and your goals need to be long term and short term. Just deciding on the goals is not sufficient. You must make strategies to actually realize your goals.
Though it is a reality that real estate business is lucrative to many, it still needs a lot of hard work and marketing skills to survive in this competitive industry. Like in any other industry, the method to a successful real estate business is in adopting right marketing skills and setting sensible targets. People who are involved in real estates business should focus more on the market, ensure good rapport with the client, and also offer prompt customer service. These factors will make their business profitable
For one to succeed, people involved in real estate business must acquire the characteristics of an ideal real estate agent. He or she should be an expert in finding the best seller, find the value of properties, and know how to negotiate with clients. To climb the ladder  in real estate business is to know the existing laws of the state. If a real estate businessman is not aware of the laws, he or she may end up losing a lot of  money and important clientele.
Because expert real estate agents have adopted certain marketing methods, it does not necessarily mean that you should too follow the exact plans.  Marketing strategies have to vary from individual to individual based on one’s style of functioning. There is a big difference between creating your own idea and imitating other people’s actions.It would always be considered your own marketing efforts if you are successful in working things on your own. There will always be new things to learn as you pursue your own marketing strategies in real estate, but learning from others mistakes is a good method.
Some of the genuine marketing plans you can try in prospecting clients are more based on the positive side of one’s  personality. Learn to enjoy the daily prospecting of clients. Apart from devoting the major portion of your time for prospecting for new clients, you should also ensure that you establish a good rapport with your existing customers. Make every single of your prospect and customer to feel that they are important to you and every aspect of your business.
Emphasize more to  address all you prospects and existing customers by their names because it will make them feel extremely happy that you have taken pains to remember them. This will also make them realize that you are not after them just to make money but their friendship means the world to you. If you are aiming to succeed in real estate industry, buy  a planner and become self-organized. If you do not evenly distribute your time between looking for property and prospecting for new clients, you well remain clueless in this business.

Sarah Jose
http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/the-strategies-of-real-estate-success-marketing-731711.html

Would you think marketing home based travel business is hard? It is not hard if your aims and objectives for your business are clear and precise.

Many people own businesses but success in business comes with ‘systematic strategic planning’. Unfortunately, many people in business fail to be organized and hence, miss out on a lot in their business.

The info here is to help direct you in marketing strategies for home based travel business and how you can make a success of these marketing strategies.

First, in marketing your business, know your current rating in the market. Get feedback from customers as this well help you to know where you are. It will then be easy to start planning accordingly. If your current rating in the market is not too good, there is no need to be discouraged. Set the required goal for your business and be optimistic on your marketing strategies.

If you are right on the track with the rating for your business, then keep going ahead and exploring more on new ideas and planning to get to the point you want to achieve.

The marketing business is also about hitting the targeted audience. Keep a clear definition of your niche audiences. If you’re targeted audience is businesses then have a full description of their location, industry, revenue, level and other characteristics that are important.

If the targeted audiences are consumers, you need to have full descriptions of their information such as sex, age, income level and other relevant attributes.

• If you have a professionally developed website, use the website address on your company letterhead, business cards and email signatures. This is one of the best ways to market your home based travel business.

• If your company has promotional items, like key chains, T-shirts, coffee mugs and so on, then the best thing to do is to have your web address printed on them.

• Make sure to mention your web address in press releases and anything related to media.

• Yellow pages are one of the other ways to reach your maximum target audiences. Do not forget to insert your web address in the yellow pages. There is a good chance to promote growth to your business this way.

• Create attractive ads for your business that will target the required audience. Ads are very helpful and they work in most cases. These ads can be put on the websites where there is high traffic, for example, Craigslist’s back pages and many other websites.

In conclusion, marketing comes with implementing your strategies into action and achieving success. It is not difficult but it needs all the determination and confidence that you have.

Dawn Orbeck
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/how-to-market-your-homebased-travel-business-126783.html

Travel marketing is part of strategic business consulting. The travel business today faces a lot of challenges. It is, at the same time, highly lucrative too. In order to come out successful in travel business, you need careful planning of infrastructure and other resources. A proper strategic consulting can help you save significant amount of money and resources and speed up your business processes in a highly secured and professional manner. Travel-consulting firms offer expert advice on matters related to various aspects of travel industry. They provide an end-to-end solution to all problems haunting an organization, especially startups.

Travel Team Consulting is one of the well-known strategic business consulting firms in the U.S., providing services world-wide. Having a team of industry experts to lead the team, the organization offers varied services including: segmentation and modeling analysis, repositioning strategies, brand identity, product development, 360-degree brand audits, consumer insight and advertising tracking studies, and loyalty marketing programs. By utilizing the branding and strategic marketing process, TTC identifies the specific areas of your business that requires more planning. After identifying the area, TTC prepares an analysis and planning to assist with the development and assessment of the process.

Another important part of travel marketing is the repositioning strategies. TTC, with its expertise in brand promotion consultancy services, offers hard-hitting advertising and promotion strategies to travel businesses. TTC also helps businesses improve the process by offering a number of business process outsourcing (BPO) services in many areas such as executive recruiting, IT offshoring, tracking, among others. It can help your business identify the best branding strategy that makes your organization superior to others. Also offered are product development services by which TTC reviews your products and advise you on product improvement. The strategic business consulting is incomplete without a brand audit. TTC conducts a brand evaluation of the changes to verify if any further modifications fit the process and goals.

Travel marketing is an ongoing process. Unless you keep an eye on the movement of your business as well as others, you cannot compete in the industry. Consumers today are not ready to compromise quality. Customer reviews help organizations to understand the pitfalls involved in their products and services. TTC understands the importance of pursuing the reviews from customers. TTC offers the service for startups as well as established businesses. Their strategies suit organizations of all types. To know more about the services offered at TTC, please visit their web site at http://www.travelteamconsulting.com.

Mike Putman
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/strategic-business-consulting-680264.html

Immobility halts business productivity.  Networked business phone systems that converge voice and data and take advantage of today’s integrated communication systems will usurp immobility and capture profitability.

Business phone systems that are networked to converge voice and data across an enterprise are instrumental to an enterprise’s success.  Mobile business phone systems create intraoffice and interoffice opportunities for productivity that would be non-existent in a business environment of immobility.  Centralized and decentralized management systems profit from improved information exchanges, increased flexibility, company awareness, higher customer/client satisfaction, improved crisis management and increased sales opportunities.

Business mobility is creating a new generation of business models.  Business structures, organizational behavior, and system integrations must now adapt to mobile-commerce as they have to e-commerce.  Mobile communication and the Internet have created a chemistry that simultaneously increases business potential and decreases business costs.  Businesses must upgrade their business phone systems for the new generation of mobility or their profits will be stifled with the immobility of their business operations.

B2B and B2C businesses will not gain recognition or acceptance unless they operate in the environment that their market has dictated.  Today’s global, local, business and consumer markets are mobile.  Wide area networks and local area networks are creating wireless businesses and cities.  Nations connect wirelessly and communicate instantly.  Telecommunication technology is on a steady road to improvement, and telecom strategies and engineering will be undergoing dramatic changes to meet society’s demand for instant communication and mobility.  Business phone systems networked for mobility are prepared to do business in this era of mobile communications.

When networked with Internet and VoIP technology on a wireless network, business telephone systems are also prepared to save costs on system improvements that religiously resurface with the availability of new applications and new technology.  Company-wide and employee-specific changes to application availability can be made without undergoing the high-cost of equipment and wiring changes.  Programming rather than expensive hardware changes easily upgrades wirelessly networked business phone systems.  VoIP reduces operational costs by reducing business telephone expenses.  Increased access to information, employees, suppliers and clients/customers increases the speed of productivity and the promise of profits.  Mobility saves money and makes money.

Enterprises that have developed and perfected their e-commerce strategies are preparing their mobile-commerce strategies.  Business phone systems that are networked for mobility, Internet and VoIP can develop applications that enable a business to increase their market and sales strategies to include mobile sales opportunities.  Voice, text and multimedia can be presented over networked business phone systems.  Interviews and meetings can take place remotely with voice and video applications.  Customers and clients can be reached at a time, in a place, and in the format preferable to them.  Value-added services can be added with the aid of mobile business phone system integration.  Knowledge management systems can provide retrieval services over a variety of platforms.  Business operations can extend world-wide.

Business phone systems of today’s generation conquer the immobility that the generations of the past had been relegated to.  The enterprises of today must upgrade their business phone systems for mobility.  Wireless access, VoIP, Internet applications, and of course cellular technology must be converged with traditional desktop phone systems to provide the multitude of platforms, applications, mobility and opportunities that the market demands.  A business that wants to continually reach for success must continually operate in the environment of their market.  The market is mobile.  Enterprise-wide mobility will bring profitable success.

David Nalin

Building a home business can be costly, especially when it comes to online advertising. Frustration easily sets in when you feel like you’re not getting ahead and you don’t have the funds to generate leads.

However, the truth is that it doesn’t always take money to make money. Just because you have a shoestring budget doesn’t mean you’re at a disadvantage. Even if you’re on a limited budget, it’s still possible to generate traffic and leads. You just have to learn alternative marketing strategies that are low cost or even free. This requires you to develop new skills.

The best skills and strategies are the ones that will leverage your time and efforts over and over again for a long period of time. You want to avoid strategies that are inefficient (like cold calling, sending post cards, and buying leads) because they can only be used once and the return on investment is very minimal.

Mike Dillard, of Magnetic Sponsoring fame, has developed the ultimate business building guide for bootstrap budgets, called “Building on a Budget.”

“Building on a Budget” is a low cost, step-by-step guide for generating dozens of online leads for little to zero cost. The guide describes 5 simple, online, low cost or no cost strategies for driving traffic and leads to your website. The strategies are easy to follow and simple to learn, and are designed for network marketers on a tight budget.

The strategies are based on these 3 basic online truths:

1. There are millions of people searching the Internet looking for ways to make money.

2.  You can gain the attention of these potential leads by properly positioning yourself.

3. The best way to get the attention of these potential leads is through the 5 methods Mike explains in his guide.

Additionally, the leads you generate using these methods are high quality leads and, these methods will work today, tomorrow, next year, the year after, and into the future.

“Building on a Budget” delivers a solution and a system anyone can use to build their business, whether they’re a beginner or veteran internet marketer. You can get massive results and actually build your business, putting you one step closer to financial freedom.

To get a taste of what “Building on a Budget” provides, Mike is offering a free video series, where he shows you how to build any home business for $500 or less.

I have watched these videos and purchased his book. I’ve been applying the techniques he teaches and I’m now generating leads using these little to no cost methods. 

If you’re serious about online marketing using inexpensive means for driving exclusive traffic to your website, check out Mike’s videos at http://budurl.com/BudgetBuilding and seriously consider getting the best guide for “Building on a Budget.”

Happy Business Building,

Yoli

 

Yolanda Allen is a home based business expert specializing in a financial services and education product and marketing system, where you learn to be a master marketer. Learn how Yolanda’s business partner made over $140K in one month using this system. Yolanda’s on her way and now you can be too. http://YBAMarketing.com/?t=abbb.

Yolanda
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/bootstrap-budget-how-to-build-your-business-online-with-little-cost-945966.html

Each year, a large number of business owners rely on Internet marketing to get their new business up and running or to keep their existing business going strong. Are you interested in becoming one of those business owners? If so, congratulations; it is difficult and sometimes even impossible to run a successful business without marketing for the help www.podcasting-made-easy.com. That is why it is important that you give your business all of the marketing attention that it needs and deserves.

When it comes to Internet marketing, you will find that any marketing is better than no marketing at all. Despite this, you may want to focus most of your time on innovative Internet marketing ideas. Innovative Internet marketing ideas are ideas that are fairly new. One of the few downsides to using innovative Internet marketing ideas is that since most have yet to be proven, because they are relatively new, you may not know if they are really worth or your time or your money. That is why there are a number of important factors that you should take into consideration, especially if you are planning on marketing your business while on a budget.

If you are interested in marketing your business, but while on a budget, you can still do so. The only difference is that you will have a little bit more research to do than most others, namely business owners who have an unlimited marketing or advertising budget. As previously mentioned, innovative Internet marketing ideas are ideas that are relatively new. That means that they have likely not been proved effective yet. Despite wanting to wait until they are effective, you shouldn’t. The good thing about using innovative Internet marketing strategies is that because they are new, the chances of your competition using those same strategies are slim. In a way, using innovative Internet marketing strategies gives you an edge over your competition.

Although you can get the upper hand, by using innovate Internet marketing ideas, you may find that not all ideas turned out the way that you wanted them to. That is why you are advised to be cautious when looking to implement new, innovative internet marketing ideas, especially if those ideas are costly. As previously mentioned, you are advised to give new Internet marketing ideas a try, even if they have yet to be proven. Before implementing those ideas, it may be a good idea to examine the costs associated with doing so. Although business is all about taking risks, you may not want to take a risk that you cannot afford to take for the help www.squeeze-page-profits.com. There are a number of different, affordable, Internet marketing strategies that you can use, that are guaranteed to produce the results that you are looking for.

If you would still like to have your business benefit from innovative Internet marketing ideas, but you are unsure what to do, you may want to think about hiring the services of a professional. In most cases, you will find that these professionals are referred to as Internet marketing specialists. An Internet marketing specialist is an individual who can brainstorm marketing ideas and execute them, without you having to do any of the work. What is nice about most Internet marketing specialists is that they tend to charge a flat-rate fee for their services. This means that you can get a whole Internet marketing package, which includes new and old ideas, for a reasonable fee. In addition to the fees being reasonable, you may find that the results are even better; that is because professional Internet marketing specialists are good at what they do.

Whether you choose to develop and implement your own innovative Internet marketing strategies or you rely on a professional to do it for you, your business should be able to get the marketing that it needs and deserves to have. What is nice is that you can also do it while on a budget; which is a great way to make sure that your business is a profitable one.

Sandeep Duggal
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/choose-to-develop-and-implement-your-own-innovative-internet-marketing-strategies-737815.html

By George Ludwig

If you’ve spent the last couple of months wringing your hands, wondering how you and your sales team are going to survive the recession, it’s time to man up. Here are some strategies for helping your team hit your revenue goals even in the worst of times. 
 

It’s a tough time to be a sales manager. And if that’s not the understatement of the year, it’s got to be the runner-up. With consumers and businesses alike clutching their wallets in a death-grip, persuading them to trade their dollars for your goods and services seems near impossible. You probably feel like you and your team have been treading water for months, trying not to drown in the anxiety that comes with trying to meet revenue goals when customers are slashing expenses. It’s almost enough to make you concede the fight, don the paper hat, and practice asking, “Do you want fries with that?”

Don’t cry “uncle” yet. You can be successful in a tough economic climate. You simply have to reevaluate your sales strategies.

If you and your sales team are struggling in this economy, giving up isn’t the answer; changing your course of action is. Managers must adapt to the current economic downturn and find sales strategies that work in the here and now rather than trying to rely on the same strategies that were working when things were going well.

There are three fundamental strategies for reaching sales success in today’s down economy. One, make sure your sales team has a positive psychological mindset. Two, laser focus how and where your team will spend their scarcest resource: time. And finally, coach your team to skillfully execute the critical sales “best practices” necessary to reach success and your revenue goals.

A bad economy is not a sufficient excuse for not making sales. A good sales manager will quell the attitude within his team and himself that it’s okay to come in under revenue goals in a slow economy. It’s not okay! With the right strategies, you can be successful, but first you have to have the right attitude. Once you’ve gotten that in order, you’ll be on the right path.

Here are a few strategies for finding sales success in a down economy: 

Strategy #1: Make Believers Out of Them

• Give salespeople your best “I have a dream” speech. Pull everyone together (in person is best, but use the phone if necessary) and talk from the heart about your belief that sales success is possible. This is where you must convince people that you can lead them to victory. Your speech must highlight all the specific company and marketplace beliefs that are necessary for success. This speech doesn’t need to be more than ten minutes long, but it must speak to the emotions and values of the team in a way that fosters commitment.

• Reinforce the message with some one-on-one coaching. Sales managers must encourage individual salespeople to kick some serious booty and take no prisoners in their pursuit of business. Look for the good in your salespeople, catch and reward them doing things right, and help people feel absolutely superb about themselves.

• Fire them up—but don’t fire them. If you have a salesperson (or people) whose performance is dismal, don’t get rid of him or her (or them) just yet.  Plan to take the issue up in the first quarter of 2009 and don’t discuss it at all right now. You must keep the positive energy at a peak level and have your salespeople as emotionally committed as possible in order to stack the deck in your favor so the company can sell, sell, sell during the down economy.

Strategy #2: Be a Time Management Master

• Sort out their selling funnels and create a short list. The sales management team, with the involvement of their salespeople, must evaluate each individual’s sales funnel to determine which opportunities he or she should pursue. Come up with a short list by looking at factors like: 

1.      What’s the size or profitability of the sale?

2.      What’s a realistic evaluation of where the potential sale is in the sales process and the probability of closing it by year-end?

3.      What resources and actions are necessary to close the sale by year-end?

4.      Are there any specific adverse customer behaviors as a result of economic conditions that may preclude them from being a hot-targeted prospect?

5.      Are there any previous buying patterns the target has demonstrated as it relates to price, value, and purchasing urgency that might affect the opportunity?                                                                                                                                      

Once the short list of opportunities for every seller has been developed, have your salespeople prepare a brief strategy position (an assessment of where you are in the process) for each of the opportunities included on their short list of targets.

• Aim for the fruit closest to the ground. Consider a selling promotion targeted toward your current customers. In hard economic times, customers want to make safe choices with their limited funds, so they look to companies and products they know and trust. This is a good time for the sales department and marketing to team up and offer one or more specific price promotions targeted to hit the sweet spot of your current customers who are in the best position to purchase right now. It also costs less and is considerably faster to sell to existing customers than it is to acquire new ones.

• Grease the skids with quick communiqués. Now is the time to make quick wins. You can save precious time reaching out to your customer and prospect database, especially your identified targets, by using a variety of time-saving communication tactics. Email, snail mail, faxes, and telephone will all complement your direct sales efforts and keep you top of mind, which is extremely helpful when trying to close business as quickly as possible.

Strategy #3: Coach ’Em Relentlessly

• Stick to your salespeople like glue. Now is not the time to let salespeople fly free. Instead, the entire sales management team (C-Level, too) should be co-traveling and coaching salespeople as much as possible. They should be there not only to encourage salespeople, but also to make sure that the company’s specific sales “best practices” are being executed with the customer at every interaction. Coach and teach salespeople to improve key skill sets and you’ll help make sure every sales call ends with as positive an outcome as possible. Sometimes this involves a diplomatic intervention to help advance a sale that would otherwise be stalled or stopped.

• Help them cut reluctant prospects loose. If you think a salesperson is courting someone who probably isn’t going to sign on the dotted line during a weakened economy, it’s up to you to help him or her disqualify the target. Salespeople are by nature optimistic, and so it often takes a gentle, caring sales coach to nudge them to move on to another target with a greater probability of closing.

• Keep the “best practices” checklist in front of your salespeople. The “best practices” sales managers should focus on when they co-travel and coach salespeople vary from one company to the next. Still, the following list outlines the most common “best practices” necessary for accelerating an individual sales opportunity as rapidly as possible toward closure:

1.      Is this really an ideal target for quick closure?

2.      Has the salesperson done the “due diligence” to be prepared for advancing this target to closure?

3.      Has the salesperson identified all key buying influences?

4.      In complex selling environments, has the salesperson cultivated a customer “coach” or “champion”?

5.      Has the salesperson identified the pain or desire for gain the target is experiencing to a degree that closure can be facilitated within 90 days?

6.      Is the salesperson prepared to open every sales call in a customized manner for each target that will generate curiosity and create a desire by the target to want to advance the sales process toward closure?

7.      Does the salesperson have a list of well thought out questions designed to expand the relationship, establish credibility, diagnose the pain, and advance the sales process leading toward a quick closure?

8.      Does the salesperson present and prescribe the product or service benefits in a way that leads to mental and emotional buy-in by the target?

9.      Does the salesperson present and prescribe the product or service in a way that creates a sense of urgency by the target to proceed?

10.   Does the salesperson repel and overcome objections in a way that doesn’t delay the sales process?

11.  Does the salesperson always seek commitment and closure to advance the sale to the next logical step?

12.  Did the salesperson get the purchase order, sale, contract, etc.?

            With a few quick wins with current customers and some great new leads, you and your sales team can be successful in this recessionary economy. In fact, I’ve found that having such an uphill battle can be a factor that energizes people and helps them focus. Good salespeople love a challenge. Harness their competitive spirit and channel it in the right way and you’ll be amazed by what your team can accomplish even in the worst of times.

# # #

About the Author:

George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he is currently the president and CEO of GLU Consulting. He helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance.

Though it’s George’s strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it’s his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson.

His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more.

George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. He’s also a columnist and frequent contributor to Entrepreneur magazine, Investor’s Business Daily, Selling Power, and numerous business radio programs. Having gained a reputation as a thought leader in his industry, he is frequently interviewed for trade publications and newspapers.

About the Book:

Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code (Kaplan Publishing, ISBN: 0-7931-8571-8, $19.95) is available at bookstores nationwide and from all major online booksellers.

Kaplan Publishing, a Kaplan Professional Company, is the nation’s premier trainer and information provider for business and financial leaders committed to profiting from breakthrough ideas. Kaplan Professional provides licensing and continuing education training, certification, professional development courses, and compliance tracking for financial services, legal, IT, and real estate professionals and corporations.  Kaplan Professional is a unit of Kaplan, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).     

For more information, please visit www.georgeludwig.com.

C. Hand
http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/sales-survivor-three-strategies-to-help-you-meet-revenue-goals-even-in-the-recession-669300.html

1.0 INDIAN BANKING SYSTEM

A banking company in India has been defined in the banking companiesact,1949.as one “which transacts the business of banking which means the accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment of deposits of money from the public, repayable on demand or otherwise and withdraw able by cheque, draft, order or otherwise.” Most of the activities a Bank performs are derived from the above definition. In addition, Banks are allowed to perform certain activities which are ancillary to this business of accepting deposits and lending. A bank’s relationship with the public, therefore, revolves around accepting deposits and lending money. Another activity which is assuming increasing importance is transfer of money – both domestic and foreign – from one place to another. This activity is generally known as “remittance business” in banking parlance. The so called forex (foreign exchange) business is largely a part of remittance albeit it involves buying and selling of foreign currencies.

Functioning of a Bank is among the more complicated of corporate operations. Since Banking involves dealing directly with money, governments in most countries regulate this sector rather stringently. In India, the regulation traditionally has been very strict and in the opinion of certain quarters, responsible for the present condition of banks, where NPAs are of a very high order. The process of financial reforms, which started in 1991, has cleared the cobwebs somewhat but a lot remains to be done. The multiplicity of policy and regulations that a Bank has to work with makes its operations even more complicated, sometimes bordering on illogical. This section, which is also intended for banking professional, attempts to give an overview of the functions in as simple manner as possible. Banking Regulation Act of India, 1949 defines Banking as “accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment of deposits of money from the public, repayable on demand or otherwise and withdraw able by cheques, draft, and order or otherwise.”

KINDS OF BANKS

Financial requirements in a modern economy are of a diverse nature, distinctive variety and large magnitude. Hence, different types of banks have been instituted to cater to the varying needs of the community.  Banks in the organized sector can be classified in to the following

1.      COMMERCIAL BANKS:-

Commercial banks are joint stock companies dealing in money and credit. In India, however there is a mixed banking system, prior to July 1969, all the commercial   banks-73 scheduled and 26 non-scheduled banks, except the state bank of India and its subsidiaries-were under the control of private sector. On July 19, 1969, however, 14mejor commercial banks with deposits of over 50 Corers were nationalized. In April 1980, another six commercial banks of high standing were taken over by the government.

2.      CO-OPERATIVE BANKS:-

Co-operative banks are a group of financial institutions organized under the provisions of the Co-operative societies Act of the states. The main objective of co-operative banks is to provide cheap credits to their members. They are based on the principle of self-reliance and mutual co-operation. Co-operative banking system in India has the shape of a pyramid a three tier structure, constituted by:

                                                                                            

3.      SPECIALIZED BANKS:-

There are specialized forms of banks catering to some special needs with this unique nature of activities. Foreign exchange banks, Industrial banks, Development banks, Land development banks, Exim bank     are important.

4. CENTRAL BANK:-

A central bank is the apex financial institution in the banking and financial system

of a country. It is regarded as the highest monetary authority in the country. It acts as the leader of the money market. It supervises, control and regulates the activities of the commercial banks. It is a service oriented financial institution.  India’s central bank is the reserve bank of India established in 1935.and it was nationalized in 1949.It is free from parliamentary control.

ROLE OF BANKS IN A DEVELOPING ECONOMY

Banks play a very important and dynamic role in the economic life of every modern state. A study of the economic history of western country shows that without the evolution of commercial banks in the 18th and 19th centuries, the industrial revolution would not have taken place in Europe. The economic importance of commercial banks to the developing countries may be viewed thus:

1.     PROMOTING CAPITAL FORMATION:-

A developing economy needs a high rate of capital formation to accelerate the tempo of economic development, but the rate of capital formation depends upon the rate of saving. Unfortunately, in underdeveloped countries, saving is very low. Banks afford facilities for saving and, thus encourage the habits of thrift and industry in the community. They mobilize the ideal and dormant capital of the country and make it available for productive purposes.

2.     ENCOURAGING INNOVATION:-

Innovation is another factor responsible for economic development. The entrepreneur in innovation is largely dependent on the manner in which bank credit is allocated and utilized in the process of economic growth. Bank credit enables entrepreneurs to innovate and invest, and thus uplift economic activity and progress.

3.     MONETSATION:-

Banks are the manufactures of money and they allow many to play its role freely in the economy. Banks monetize debts and also assist the backward subsistence sector of the rural economy by extending their branches in to the rural areas. They must be replaced by the modern commercial bank’s branches.

4.     INFLUENCE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Banks are in a position to influence economic activity in a country by their influence on the rate interest. They can influence the rate of interest in the money market through its supply of funds. Banks may follow a cheap money policy with low interest rates which will tend to stimulate economic activity.

5.      FACILITATOR OF MONETARY POLICY

Thus monetary policy of a country should be conductive to economic development. But a well-developed banking system is on essential pre-condition to the effective implementation of monetary policy. Under-developed countries cannot afford to ignore this fact.

 PRINCIPLES OF BANK LENDING POLICIES

The main business of banking company is to grant loans and advances to traders

as well as commercial and industrial institutes. The most important use of banks money is lending. Yet, there are risks in lending. So the banks follow certain principles to minimize the risk:

1.      SAFETY

Normally the banker uses the money of depositors in granting loans and advances. So first of all initially the banker while granting loans should think first of the safety of depositor’s money. The purpose behind the safety is to see the financial position of the borrower whether he can pay the debt as well as interest easily.

2.      LIQUIDITY

It is a legal duty of a banker to pay on demand the total deposited money to the depositor. So the banker has to keep certain percent cash of the total deposits on hand. Moreover the bank grants loan. It is also for the addition of short term or productive capital. Such type of lending is recovered on demand.

3.     PROFITABILITY

Commercial banking is profit earning institutes. Nationalized banks are also not an exception. They should have planning of deposits in a profitability way pay more interest to the depositors and more salary to the employees. Moreover the banker can also incur business cost and can give more benefits to customer.

4.      PURPOSE OF LOAN

Banks never lend or advance for any type of purpose. The banks grant loans and advances for the safety of its wealth, and certainty of recovery of loan and the bank lends only for productive purposes. For example, the bank gives such loan for the requirement for unproductive purposes.

5.     PRINCIPLE OF DIVERSIFICATION OF RISKS

While lending loans or advances the banks normally keep such securities and assets as a supports so that lending may be safe and secured. Suppose, any particular state is hit by disasters but the bank shall get benefits from the lending to another states units. Thus, he effect on the entire business of banking is reduced.

 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the main objective of the studies.

1. To study the problem in financial crisis and money related query.

2. To evaluate banking is one of the most regulated businesses in the India.

3. To Analysis the role developing economy for the nation.

4. To study dynamic role in delivery and purchase of consumer durables.

 Scope of the Study

All persons need money for personal and commercial purposes. Banks are the oldest lending institutions in Indian scenario. They are providing all facilities to all citizens for their own purposes by their terms. To survive in this modern market every bank implements so many new innovative ideas, strategies, and advanced technologies. For that they give each and every minute detail about their institution and projects to Public. They are providing ample facilities to satisfy their customers i.e. Net Banking, Mobile Banking, Door to Door facility, Instant facility, Investment facility, Demat facility, Credit Card facility, Loans and Advances, Account facility etc. And such banks get success to create their own image in public and corporate world. These banks always accept innovative notions in Indian banking scenario like Credit Cards, ATM machines, Risk Management etc. So, as a student business economics I take keen interest in Indian economy and for that banks are the main source of development.

So this must be the first choice for me to select this topic. At this stage every person must know about new innovation, technology of procedure new schemes and new ventures.

 METHODOLGY

Theoretical study conducted on the basis of secondary data, collected from books, journal and annual reports.

2. BANK PROFILE:

Indian Bank

Name of the Branch               : Karaikal. [0090]

Date of Opening                     : 1971

District/Port Open                : Karaikal/Port Town.

Category/Size                         : Large.

Population                              : Urban.

Computerisation          : CBS.

Name of the Branch Head      : R.Muralitharan,(Senior Branch                                                                                 

                                                                            Manager)

Staff Strength                         Officers                : 06

                                                Award Staff : 06

                                                Sub Staff               : 03

Productivity                           : Rs. 281.39 Lacs.

Branch Classification            : Profit Centre.

Location of the Branch      : No. 96-98 Bharathiyar Road,

                                                  Karaikal-609607

Competition in the area        : Almost All Banks are functioning.

Potential Available                : Situated in a Commercial Area with a number of shops around Scope for trade finance. Branch has to tap more trade finance.

Computerised                         : ATM/CBS.

Commercial Activity             : Being a union territory, large commercial Industrial activities are on.

TARGETS vis-à-vis ACHIEVEMENTS

Rupees in Lacs

Particulars

31-03-2007

31-03-2008

30-06-2008

targets

target

actual

target

actual

target

actual

30-09-08

31-03-09

S.B

2900

2914

3343

2778

3400

3062

3557

4200

C.D

1610

1621

1814

924

2365

1700

1915

2200

T.D

4800

5281

5654

5890

6064

6099

5841

6400

TOTAL

9310

9816

10811

9592

11329

10361

11329

12900

ADVANCES

4389

3674

3883

3733

5487

5768

5487

6430

PROFIT

474

520

175

120

156

147

289

411

NPA LEVEL

320

368

379

601

457

604

478

581

SLIPPAGE

118

251

234

268

276

337

CASH REC.

40

62

38.33

13.01

40

18.98

121

200

UPGRADE

20

60

13.33

3.5O

16.65

5.52

26

47

IOB JEEVAN

224

432

385

543

600

HEALTH+

47

80

110

136

200**

** Number of Accounts.                                                * Cumulative Figures.

Source: Computed Balance sheet of Indian Bank

Inspection Report Rating:

Inspection Report dated

Business Growth

Profitability

Credit Mgt.

NPA Mgt.

House keeping

Branch Image

Overall Rating

25.08.2003

B

B

C

C

B

B

B

12.02.2005

A

A

C

B

B

B

B

29.08.2006

B

A

B

A

B

A

A

Source: computed balance sheet.

STRATEGIC ISSUES IN BANKING SERVICES

Strategic Planning is the process of analyzing the organizational external and internal environments; developing the appropriate mission, vision, and overall goals; identifying the general strategies to be pursued; and allocated resources.

• Mission is an organization’s current purpose or reason for existing.

• Vision is an organization’s fundamental aspirations and purpose that usually appeals to its member’s hearts and minds.

• Goals are what an organization is committed to achieving.

• Strategies are the major courses of action that an organization takes to achieves goals.

• Resource Allocation is the earmarking of money, through budgets, for various purposes.

• Downsizing Strategy signals an organization’s intent to rely on fewer resources primarily human-to accomplish its goals.

Tactical Planning is the process of making detailed decisions about what to do, which will do it, and how to do it-with a normal time and horizon of one year or less. The process generally includes:

• Choosing specific goals and the means of implementing the organization’s strategic plan,

• Deciding on courses of action for improving current operations, and

• Developing budgets for each department, division and project.

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

While Total Quality Management has proven to be an effective process for improving organizational functioning, its value can only be assured through a comprehensive and well thought out implementation process. TQM is, in fact, a large scale systems change, and guiding principles and considerations regarding this scale of change will be presented. Without attention to contextual factors, well intended changes may not be adequately designed. As another aspect of context, the expectations and perceptions of employees will be assessed, so that the implementation plan can address them. Specifically, sources of resistance to change and ways of dealing with them will be discussed. This is important to allow a change agent to anticipate resistances and design for them, so that the process does not bog down or stall. Next, a model of implementation will be presented, including a discussion of key principles. Visionary leadership will be offered as an overriding perspective for someone instituting TQM. In recent years the literature on change management and leadership has grown steadily, and applications based on research findings will be more likely to succeed. Use of tested principles will also enable the change agent to avoid reinventing the proverbial wheel. Implementation principles will be followed by a review of steps in managing the transition to the new system and ways of helping institutionalize the process as part of the organization’s culture. Finally, some miscellaneous do’s and don’ts will be offered.

Planned change processes often work, if conceptualized and implemented properly; but, unfortunately, every organization is different, and the processes are often adopted “off the shelf” “the ‘appliance model of organizational change’: buy a complete program, like a ‘quality circle package,’ from a dealer, plug it in, and hope that it runs by itself” (Kanter, 1983, 249). Alternatively, especially in the underfunded public and not for profit sectors, partial applications are tried, and in spite of management and employee commitment do not bear fruit. This chapter will focus on ways of preventing some of these disappointments. In summary, the purpose here is to review principles of effective planned change implementation and suggest specific TQM applications. Several assumptions are proposed:

1. TQM is a viable and effective planned change method, when properly installed

2. Not all organizations are appropriate or ready for TQM

3. Preconditions (appropriateness, readiness) for successful TQM can sometimes be created

4. Leadership commitment to a large scale, long term, and cultural change is necessary.

While problems in adapting TQM in government and social service organizations have been identified, TQM can be useful in such organizations if properly modified.

For survival, banks have to make efforts to improve their quality and competitiveness by planning and taking innovative in fall areas:

·     Increase emphasis on customer focused activities

·     Intro a “total quality” program

·     Developing differential value added services

·     Educating employees through involvement programs

·     Increase quality through management and system

·     Increase effectiveness of product development

·     Developing product with lower uses costs

TQM principles

·     Customer satisfaction

·     Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle

·     Management by ‘fact’ – 5Ws (what, why, who, when, and where) + 1H(how) approach

·     Respect for people

TQM elements

·   Total employee involvement (TEI)

·   Total waste elimination (TWE)

·   Total quality control (TQC)

TQM focus areas

·   Customer satisfaction

·   Product quality

·   Plant reliability

·   Waste elimination

Benefits achieved through TQM

·     Increased focus on the customer

·     Mindset of ‘continuous improvement’

·     Better product quality

·     Better systems and procedures

·     Better cross-functional teamwork

·     Increased plant reliability

·     Waste elimination in offices and factories.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

                According to Peter Drucker and Daniel Bell, the management Gurus knowledge is the only meaningful economic resource. Knowledge management can be defined as a systematic and integrative process of coordinating organization-wide activities of acquiring, creating, storing, sharing, diffusing, developing and deploying knowledge by individual and groups in the pursuit of major organizational goals. It also involves the creation of an interacting learning environment where organization members transfer and share what they know; and apply knowledge to solve problems, innovate and create new knowledge.

                Knowledge management is as much about people and culture as it is about technology. Knowledge management thrives only when the human communication network operates freely across the shortest path between the knowledge providers and knowledge seekers. There must be a culture that promotes and rewards the pooling together of knowledge resources. Thus organizations must build a culture that motivates people to create, share and use knowledge.

                After the preoccupation with system and procedures to collect data ad translate it into information, its time for firms to focus on the next plane- knowledge. Knowledge management is not a buzzword. Every knowledge management solution, if currently implemented, has definite measurable business benefits.

          Future business success increasingly depends on the retention and the creative use of the knowledge ideas and experiences of an organization and its employees. And in knowledge economy corporations need for workers will be more than the workers need for employer.

INNOVATION IN BANK

          Innovation drives organizations to grow, prosper and transform in sync with the changes in the environment, both internal and external. Banking is no exception to this. In fact, this sector has witnessed radical transformation of late, based on many innovations in products, processes, services, systems, business models, technology, governance and regulation. A liberalized and globalize financial infrastructure has provided an additional impetus to this gigantic effort.

           The pervasive influence of information technology has revolutionaries banking. Transaction costs have crumbled and handling of astronomical number of transactions in no time has become a reality. Internationally, the number brick and mortar structure has been rapidly yielding ground to click and order electronic banking with a plethora of new products. Banking has become boundary less and virtual with a 24 * 7 model. Banks who strongly rely on the merits of relationship banking’ as a time tested way of targeting and serving clients, have readily embraced Customer Relationship Management (CRM), with sharp focus on customer centricity, facilitated by the availability of superior technology. CRM has, therefore, become the new mantra in customer service management, which is both relationship based and information intensive.

          Risk management is no longer a mere regulatory issue.basel-2 has accorded a primacy of place to this fascinating exercise by repositioning it as the core of banking. We now see the evolution of many novel deferral products like credit derivatives, especially the Credit Risk Transfer (CRT) mechanism, as a consequence. CRT, characterized by significant product innovation, is a very useful credit risk management tool that enhances liquidity and market efficiency. Securitization is yet another example in this regard, whose strategic use has been rapidly rising globally. So is outsourcing.

TECHNOLOGY IN BANKING

          Nobel Laureate Robert Solow had once remarked that computers are seen everywhere excepting in productivity statistics. More recent developments have shown how far this state of affairs has changed. Innovation in technology and worldwide revolution in information and communication technology (ICT) have emerged as dynamic sources of productivity growth. The relationship between IT and banking is fundamentally symbiotic. In the banking sector, IT can reduce costs, increase volumes, and facilitate customized products; similarly, IT requires banking and financial services

to facilitate its growth. As far as the banking system is concerned, the payment system is perhaps the most important mechanism through which such interactive dynamics gets manifested. Recognizing the importance of payments and settlement systems in the economy, we have embarked on technology based solutions for the improvement of the payment and settlement system infrastructure, coupled with the introduction of new payment products such as the computerized settlement of clearing transactions, use of Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) technology for cheque clearing which currently accounts for 65 per cent of the value of cheques processed in the country, the computerization of Government Accounts and Currency Chest transactions, operationalisation of Delivery versus Payment (DvP) for Government securities transactions. Two-way inter-city cheque collection and imaging have been operationalised at the four metros. The coverage of Electronic Clearing Service (Debit and Credit) has been significantly expanded to encourage non-paper based funds movement and develop the provision of a centralized facility for effecting payments. The scheme for Electronic Funds Transfer operated by the Reserve Bank has been significantly augmented and is now available across thirteen major cities. The scheme, which was originally intended for small value transactions, is processing high value (upto Rs.2 crore) from October 1, 2001. The Centralized Funds Management System (CFMS), which would enable banks to obtain consolidated account-wise and centre-wise positions of their balances with all 17 offices of the Deposits Accounts Departments of the Reserve Bank, has begun to be implemented in a phased manner from November 2001.

          A holistic approach has been adopted towards designing and development of a modern, robust, efficient, secure and integrated payment and settlement system taking into account certain aspects relating to potential risks, legal framework and the impact on the operational framework of monetary policy. The approach to the modernization of the

payment and settlement system in India has been three-pronged:                  (a) consolidation, (b) development, and (c) integration. The consolidation of the existing payment systems revolves around strengthening Computerized Cheque clearing, expanding the reach of Electronic Clearing Services and Electronic Funds Transfer by providing for systems with the latest levels of technology. The critical elements in the developmental strategy are the opening of new clearing houses, interconnection of clearing houses through the INFINET; optimizing the deployment of resources by banks through Real Time Gross Settlement System, Centralized Funds Management System (CFMS); Negotiated Dealing System (NDS) and the Structured Financial Messaging Solution (SFMS). While integration of the various payment products with the systems of individual banks is the thrust area, it requires a high degree of standardization within a bank and seamless interfaces across banks.

          The setting up of the apex-level National Payments Council in May 1999 and the operationalisation of the INFINET by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), Hyderabad have been some important developments in the direction of providing a communication network for the exclusive use of banks and financial institutions. Membership in the INFINET has been opened up to all banks in addition to those in the public sector. At the base of all inter-bank message transfers using the INFINET is the Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS). It would serve as a secure communication carrier with templates for intra- and inter-bank messages in fixed message formats that will facilitate ‘straight through processing’. All inter-bank transactions would be stored and switched at the central hub at Hyderabad while intra bank messages will be switched and stored by the bank gateway. Security features of the SFMS would match international standards.

          In order to maximize the benefits of such efforts, banks have to take pro-active measures to:

·     further strengthen their infrastructure in respect of standardization, high levels

·     of security and communication and networking;

·     achieve inter-branch connectivity early;

·     popularize the usage of the scheme of electronic funds transfer (EFT); and

·     Institute arrangements for an RTGS environment online with a view to integrating into a secure and consolidated payment system.

Information technology has immense untapped potential in banking. Strengthening of information technology in banks could improve the effectiveness of asset-liability management in banks. Building up of a related data-base on a real time basis would enhance the forecasting of liquidity greatly even at the branch level. This could contribute to enhancing the risk management capabilities of banks.

REGULATIONS AND COMPLIANCE

          Progressive strengthening, deepening and refinement of the regulatory and supervisory system for the financial sector have been important elements of financial sector reforms. In the long run, it is the supervision and regulation function that is critical in safeguarding financial stability. There is also some evidence that proactive and effective supervision contributes to the efficiency of financial intermediation.  Financial sector supervision is expected to become increasingly risk-based and concerned with validating systems rather than setting them. This will entail procedures for sound internal evaluation of risk for banks. As mentioned earlier, bank managements will have to develop internal capital assessment processes in accordance with their risk profile and control environment. These internal processes would then be subjected to review and supervisory intervention if necessary. The emphasis will be on evaluating the quality of risk management and the adequacy of risk containment. In such an environment, credibility assigned by markets to risk disclosures will hold only if they are validated by supervisors. Thus effective and appropriate supervision is critical for the effectiveness of capital requirements and market discipline.

          In certain areas, as for instance, in the urban cooperative banking segment, the regulatory requirements leave considerable scope for regulatory arbitrage and even circumvention. The problem is rendered more complex by the existence of regulatory overlap between the Central Government, the State Governments and the Reserve Bank. Regulatory overlap has impeded the speed of regulatory response to emerging problems. The need for removing multiple regulatory jurisdictions over the cooperative banking sector has been reiterated on several occasions. In this regard, the Reserve Bank has proposed the setting up of an apex supervisory body for urban cooperative banks under the control of a high-level supervisory board consisting of representatives of the Central governments, the State governments, the Reserve Bank and experts. The apex body is expected to ensure compliance with prudential requirements and also supervise on-site inspections and off-site surveillance.

          Recent developments in certain segments of the financial sector have also brought to the fore issues relating to corporate governance in banks. As part of on-going reforms, boards have been given greater autonomy to prescribe internal control guidelines, risk management and procedures for market discipline and accountability. It is extremely important that greater vigilance over adherence to these norms goes hand-in-hand with greater autonomy. Recent evidence of transgression of prudential guidelines by a few banks has raised the issue of the audit and supervisory functions of boards. As we move towards a more deregulated financial regime, these functions have to be transferred from either the Government or the Reserve Bank to bank boards. This imposes a greater responsibility and accountability on the bank management. It is in this context that a consultative group of directors of select banks and other experts has been set up to recommend measures to strengthen the internal supervisory role of boards. The objective is to obtain a feedback on how boards function vis-à-vis compliance with prudential norms, transparency and disclosure, functioning of the audit committee, etc., and to devise effective mechanisms for ensuring management discipline.

          Several other initiatives in improving the supervisory function have been undertaken, including a prudential supervisory reporting system for financial institutions, improvements in procedures for financial inspection, sensitizing the general public for better regulation of the activities of NBFCs and enactment of appropriate legislation to protect depositor interests in some States. Major legal reforms have been initiated in areas

such as security laws, the Negotiable Instruments Act, bank frauds and the regulatory framework of banking. The Reserve Bank has also accepted the principle of transfer of ownership to the Government in respect of some financial institutions in view of the conflict of interest that may arise in the conduct of its supervisory function. It is expected that these initiatives will pave the way for an efficient, and risk-based supervisory environment in India.

          The largest set of consolidated regulations that mandate integrity of data in India are the IT Act and SEBI’s clause 49 for listed companies. These regulations do not currently enforce the kind of security standards that are common in Europe and the US. In a global economy, however, no company is an island and India Inc is adopting US and European compliance procedures and certifications such as Sarbanes Oxley, Safe Harbour, BS, and ISO.

          Compliance, regulatory or otherwise, does not directly concern the IT department. In manufacturing for instance, compliance controls don’t really involve system security, and a large part of the quality control required by authorities cannot be imposed or enforced using IT. Companies that deal with sensitive information, financial services and BPOs, banks, MNC subsidiaries or those with plans to expand beyond Indian shores are all affected. These will continue to make strides towards compliance. For the mediumscale segment (Rs 100-300 crore turnover), security and audits are not a priority. This segment is comfortable with public mail servers, and exchanging information over not very secure connections.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE – CODE OF CONDUCT

1. Need and objective of the Code

          Clause 49 of the Listing agreement entered into with the Stock Exchanges, requires, as part of Corporate Governance the listed entities to lay down a Code of Conduct for Directors on the Board of an entity and its Senior Management. The term “Senior Management” shall mean personnel of the company who are members of its core management team excluding the Board of Directors. This would also include all members of management, one level below the Executive Directors including all functional heads.

2. Bank’s Belief System

          This Code of Conduct attempts to set forth the guiding principles on which the Bank shall operate and conduct its daily business with its multitudinous stakeholders, government and regulatory agencies, media and anyone else with whom it is connected. It recognizes that the Bank is a trustee and custodian of public money and in order to fulfill fiduciary obligations and responsibilities, it has to maintain and continue to enjoy the trust and confidence of public at large.

          The Bank acknowledges the need to uphold the integrity of every transaction it enters into and believes that honesty and integrity in its internal conduct would be judged by its external behavior. The bank shall be committed in all its actions to the interest of the countries in which it operates. The Bank is conscious of the reputation it carries amongst its customers and public at large and shall endeavor to do all it can to sustain and improve upon the same in its discharge of obligations. The Bank shall continue to initiate policies, which are customer centric and which promote financial prudence.

A. General Standards of conduct

          The Bank expects all Directors and members of the Core Management to exercise good judgment, to ensure the interests, safety and welfare of customers, employees and other stakeholders and to maintain a cooperative, efficient, positive, harmonious and productive work environment and business organization. The Directors and members of the Core Management while discharging duties of their office must act honestly and with due diligence. They are expected to act with that amount of utmost care and prudence, which an ordinary person is expected to take in his/ her own business. These standards need to be applied while working in the premises of the Bank, at offsite locations where business is being conducted whether in India or abroad, at Bank-sponsored business and social events, or at any other place where they act as representatives of the Bank.

B. Conflict of Interest

          A “conflict of interest” occurs when personal interest of any member of the Board of Directors and of the Core management interferes or appears to interfere in any way with the interests of the Bank. Every member of the Board of Directors and Core Management has a responsibility to the Bank, its stakeholders and to each other. Although this duty does not prevent them from engaging in personal transactions and investments, it does demand that they avoid situations where a conflict of interest might occur or appear to occur. They are expected to perform their duties in a way that they do not conflict with the Bank’s interest such as :

· Employment /Outside Employment – The members of the Core Management are expected to devote their total attention to the business interests of the Bank. They are prohibited from engaging in any activity that interferes with their performance or responsibilities to the Bank or otherwise is in conflict with or prejudicial to the Bank.

· Business Interests – If any member of the Board of Directors and Core Management considers investment in securities issued by the Bank’s customer, supplier or competitor, they should ensure that these investments do not compromise their responsibilities to the Bank. Many factors including the size and nature of the investment; their ability to influence the Bank’s decisions, their access to confidential information of the Bank, or of the other entity, and the nature of the relationship between the Bank and the customer, supplier or competitor should be considered in determining whether a conflict exists. Additionally, they should disclose to the Bank any interest that they have which may conflict with the business of the Bank.

C. Applicable Laws

      The Directors of the Bank and Core Management must comply with applicable laws,regulations, rules and regulatory orders. They should report any inadvertent non -compliance, if detected subsequently, to the concerned authorities.

D. Disclosure Standards

      The Bank shall make full, fair, accurate, timely and meaningful disclosures in the periodic reports required to be filed with Government and Regulatory agencies. The members of Core Management of the bank shall initiate all actions deemed necessary for proper dissemination of relevant information to the Board of Directors, Auditors and other Statutory Agencies, as may be required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.

E. Use of Bank’s Assets and Resources

      Each member of the Board of Directors and the Core Management has a duty to the Bank to advance its legitimate interests while dealing with the Bank’s assets and resources. Members of the Board of Directors and Core Management are prohibited from:

·   Using Corporate property, information or position for personal gain,

·   Soliciting, demanding, accepting or agreeing to accept anything of value from any person while dealing with the Bank’s assets and resources,

·  Acting on behalf of the Bank in any transaction in which they or any of their relative(s) have a significant direct or indirect interest.

F. Confidentiality and Fair Dealings

(i) Bank’s confidential Information

·   The Bank’s confidential information is a valuable asset. It includes all

trade related information, trade secrets, confidential and privileged information, customer information, employee related information, strategies, administration, research in connection with the Bank and commercial, legal, scientific, technical data that are either provided to or made available each member of the Board of Directors and the core Management by the Bank either in paper form or electronic media to facilitate their work or that they are able to know or obtain access by virtue of their position with the Bank. All confidential information must be used for Bank’s business purposes only.

·    This information includes the safeguarding, securing and proper disposal of confidential information in accordance with the Bank’s policy on maintaining and managing records. The obligation extends to confidential of third parties, which the Bank has rightfully received under non-disclosure agreements.

·   To further the Bank’s business, confidential information may have to be disclosed to potential business partners. Such disclosures should be made after considering its potential benefits and risks. Care should be taken to divulge the most sensitive information, only after the said potential business partner has signed a confidentiality agreement with the Bank.

·     Any publication or publicly made statement that might be perceived or construed as attributable to the Bank, made outside the scope of any appropriate authority in the Bank, should include a disclaimer that the publication or statement represents the views of the specific author and not the Bank.

(ii) Other Confidential Information

      The bank has many kinds of business relationships with many companies and individuals. Sometimes, they will volunteer confidential information about their products or business plans to induce the Bank to enter into a business relationship. At other times, the Bank may request that a third party provide confidential information to permit the Bank to evaluate a potential business relationship with the party. Therefore, special care must be taken by the Board of Directors and members of the Core Management to handle the confidential information of others responsibly. Such confidential information should be handled in accordance with the agreements with such third parties.

·   The Bank requires that every Director and the member of Core Management, General Managers should be fully compliant with the laws, statutes, rules and regulations that have the objective of preventing unlawful gains of any nature whatsoever.

·   Directors and members of Core Management shall not accept any offer, payment, promise to pay or authorization to pay any money, gift or anything of value from customers, suppliers, shareholders/ stakeholders etc that is perceived as intended, directly or indirectly, to influence any business decision, any act or failure to act, any commission of fraud or opportunity for the commission of any fraud.

4. Good Corporate Governance Practices

      Each member of the Board of Directors and Core Management of the Bank should adhere to the following so as to ensure compliance with good Corporate Governance practices.

(a) Dos

§ Attend Board meetings regularly and participate in the deliberations and discussions effectively.

§  Study the Board papers thoroughly and enquire about follow-up reports on definite time schedule.

§ Involve actively in the matter of formulation of general policies.

·     Be familiar with the broad objectives of the Bank and policies laid down by the Government and the various laws and legislations.

·     Ensure confidentiality of the Bank’s agenda papers, notes and minutes.

(b) Don’ts

·     Do not interfere in the day to day functioning of the Bank.

·     Do not reveal any information relating to any constituent of the Bank to anyone.

·     Do not display the logo / distinctive design of the Bank on their personal visiting cards / letter heads.

·     Do not sponsor any proposal relating to loans, investments, buildings or sites for Bank’s premises, enlistment or empanelment of contractors, architects, auditors, doctors, lawyers and other professionals etc.

·     Do not do anything, which will interfere with and/ or be subversive of maintenance of discipline, good conduct and integrity of the staff.

5. Waivers

·  Any waiver of any provision of this Code of Conduct for a

member of the Bank’s Board of Directors or a member of the Core Management must be approved in writing by the Board of Directors of the Bank.

The matters covered in this Code of Conduct are of the utmost importance to the bank, its stakeholders and its business partners, and are essential to the Bank’s ability to conduct its business in accordance with its value system.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

      Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified opportunities. Entrepreneurship is often a difficult undertaking, as a majority of new businesses fail. Entrepreneurial activities are substantially different depending on the type of organization that is being started. Entrepreneurship may involve creating many job opportunities.

      Many “high-profile” entrepreneurial ventures seek venture capital or angel funding in order to raise capital to build the business. Many kinds of organizations now exist to support would-be entrepreneurs, including specialized government agencies, business incubators, science parks, and some NGOs. Schumpeter (1950), an entrepreneur is a person who is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a successful innovation. Entrepreneurship forces “creative destruction” across markets and industries, simultaneously creating new products and business models and eliminating others. In this way, creative destruction is largely responsible for the dynamism of industries and long-run economic growth. Despite Schumpeter’s early 20th-century contributions, the traditional microeconomic theory of economics has had little room for entrepreneurs in their theories.

Characteristics of entrepreneurship:-

§   The entrepreneur, who has a vision and the enthusiasm for this vision, is the driving force of an entrepreneurship

§   The vision is usually supported by a set of ideas that have not been aware by the majority of the market/industry

§   The overall blueprint to realize the vision is clear, however details may be incomplete, flexible, and evolving

§    The entrepreneur promotes the vision with an influential passion

§   With a persistent and deterministic mindset, the entrepreneur devises a set of entrepreneurial strategies to thrive for the vision

PERFORMANCE AND BENCHMARKING

• PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT:-

      Performance management is a systematic approach to improving worker productivity through a year-round, ongoing process of communicating and managing performance expectations. With Performance-based Management, performance improvement becomes the joint responsibility of employees and their managers. Generally there are two things which determine how successful a performance appraisal system is in place in an organization.

      1) The contents/design of the performance appraisal form and

      2) The manner in which Performance Appraisal is conducted.

      While organizations lay great emphasis on the contents/design part, spending much of time, money and energy on designing most suitable, objective, comprehensive formats, it serves no purpose if the appraising process is not conducted properly.

      Performance-based Management measures, evaluates and improves performance on the job. You can expect employee productivity to increase because performance assessments and performance feedback will always be job-related, even if the duties of a particular job expand or change. Furthermore, because this type of performance management focuses on productivity and not personality and since it involves ongoing, open, two-way communication between manager and employee, it greatly reduces many of the stereotypes, problems and anxieties associated with traditional labor-intensive

      A benchmark is a point of reference for a measurement. The term presumably originates from the practice of making dimensional height measurements of an object on a workbench using a graduated scale or similar tool, and using the surface of the workbench as the origin for the measurements.

      Benchmarks are designed to mimic a particular type of workload on a component or system. “Synthetic” benchmarks do this by specially-created programs that impose the workload on the component. “Application” benchmarks, instead, run actual real-world programs on the system. Whilst application benchmarks usually give a much better measure of real-world performance on a given system, synthetic benchmarks still have their use for testing out individual components, like a hard disk or networking device. Computer manufacturers have a long history of trying to set up their systems to give unrealistically high performance on benchmark tests that is not replicated in real usage. For instance, during the 1980s some compilers could detect a specific mathematical operation used in a well-known floating-point benchmark and replace the operation with a mathematically-equivalent operation that was much faster. However, such a transformation was rarely useful outside the benchmark. Manufacturers commonly report only those benchmarks (or aspects of benchmarks) that show their products in the best light. They also have been known to mis-represent the significance of benchmarks, again to show their products in the best possible light. Taken together, these practices are called bench-marketing.

       Users are recommended to take benchmarks, particularly those provided by manufacturers themselves, with ample quantities of salt. If performance is really critical, the only benchmark that matters is the actual workload that the system is to be used for. If that is not possible, benchmarks that resemble real workloads as closely as possible should be used, and even then used with skepticism. It is quite possible for system A to outperform system B when running program “furble” on workload X (the workload in the benchmark), and the order to be reversed with the same program on your own workload.

• BENCHMARKING:-

        Benchmarking (Comparing) is a selective method of finding out how and why some companies can perform tasks much better than other companies. There can be as much as a tenfold difference in the quality, speed and cost-performance of an average company versus a world-class company.

It involves the following seven steps

1) Determine functions to benchmark.

2) Identify the key performance variables to measure.

3) Identify the best-in-class companies.

4) Measure performance of best-in-class companies

5) Measures the company’s performance.

6) Specify programs and actions to close the gap

7) Implement and monitor results

      A company can identify “best practices” companies by asking employees, customers, suppliers and distributors what they rate as doing the best. Major Consulting Firms can also be contacted for this purpose. To keep costs under control, a company should focus primarily on benchmarking those critical tasks that deeply affect customer satisfaction and Cost Management and where substantially better performance is known to exist.

      Benchmarking is a process used in management and particularly strategic management, in which businesses use industry leaders as a model in developing their business practices. This involves determining where you need to improve, finding an organization that is exceptional in this area, then studying the company and applying it’s best practices in your firm. Benchmarking systematically studies the absolute best firms, then uses their best practices as

Nidheesh K B
http://www.articlesbase.com/banking-articles/a-study-the-strategies-issue-in-indian-banking-sector-674126.html