Interesting Trends in ATM Withdrawals

Interesting Trends in ATM Withdrawals in India.

The Document can be accessed at
http://www.npci.org.in/documents/Publications.pdf

The Highlights are:
01) The average Withdrawal size in NPCI managed ATM's is growing.
         In November 2009, it was Rs2,766/- whereas in May 10 it increased to Rs2,982/-

02) 37% of the withdrawals are below Rs.1000/-, though this share is coming down slowly.
         This 37% of the transactions can be shifted to the POS route, as already announced by Reserve Bank of India.         
                My earlier post on this is @
http://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com/2009/08/cash-withdrawal-from-pos-terminals.html


One recent trend which I have come across, is bank customers are not eager to withdraw small amounts through ATM's, especially in the Rs2,000/- to Rs4,000/- range. This is because the ATM's dispense a majority of Rs.500/- notes, whereas folks prefer Rs100/- notes.
This is pushing back the such customers from ATM's to Bank counters!!

Tit Bits - NEFT/RTGS Heavy Volumes expected on 03rd April 2010

Hi there,

NEFT/RTGS Heavy Volumes are expected on 03rd April 2010.


1st April and 2nd April 2010 were  NEFT/RTGS holidays and folks must have already executed the NEFT transactions through their Net Banking Module. All this transactions will be in the pipe-line and will hit the beneficiary bank in the first settlement of 9.00am or maximum by the 3rd settlement, i.e 11.am batch.


Apart from the transactions executed on the Net Banking, there will be a rush of regular transactions.
This will keep all the concerned personnel in the respective Banks, a bit busy.

Tit-Bit - Wipro Finds $4 Million Fraud by Employee-The spill over effect

Wipro Finds $4 Million Fraud by Employee-The spill over effect.

It is common knowledge by now that a $4 Million Fraud has been discovered by Wipro in their books.

Right now, there is very little public information about the modus-operandi or the number of employees involved or the time period.

Of course, it is understandable that Wipro would not like to disclose more about this incident. Otherwise, this might encourage a similar type of incidents in other Organisations too.

Like it or not, today’s world is driven by computers, with the LOGIN ID and PASSWORDS being omnipresent.

Hence, in any Organization, it is important that adequate care be taken with LOGIN ID and PASSWORDS.

It is important to note that the fraud was committed in a IT Organization and not a Financial Institution.

I am not going into the

01) The modus operandi of this incident.

02) What Wipro need have done, to prevent such an incident?

There are far more competent people than me, to address the above issues.

What I am interested is what can be done to prevent such incidents in any Organization, be it IT, Finance, Oil, etc.

There are a large number of companies in this world, whose Balance Sheet is equal/more than Wipro’s.

This means such incidents can occur in any Organization, as long as the crooks find easy money.

What is NOT the Solution:-

01) Educating employees that sharing of Login Id’s and Passwords is wrong.

Let us accept the fact that in today’s environment, sharing of Login ID’s and Passwords is the rule, rather than the exception.

Than what is the Solution:-

In my view, the following measures will reduce the number of fraudulent incidents.

Critics might say that lots of money is involved in the measures, but than if the Money spent is less than the potential loss, it is better to spend the money.

01) Have a minimum number of Applications/Software Programs, which have access to the Organization’s monies.

I know an institution, in which the users for their routine operation had to remember 17 Login Id’s and the corresponding passwords!!

So you cannot blame the users for having a single login id and password for all the 17 Applications/Software Programs.

02)         All the routine Applications/Software Programs are linked to the HR Applications/Software Program.

The process flow could be as follows:

a)     Employee logs into the HR Application.

b)    On sign in HR Application,(attendance register) the access to all other Applications should be activated.

c)     In case of meetings or other work during the office timings, if the employee has to be away from his desk, he will log into the HR Application, and tick the Out of Desk option.  This should block access to all the other Applications, till the employee, unticks the Out of Desk option in the HR Application.

d)     When an employee is on leave, the same should be updated in the HR Application, and during the leave period, access to all other Applications is to be blocked.

This means HR Application will be the all-pervading Application in the Organization.

In fact this can be new business opportunity for IT Companies.

Tit-Bits - Booked Railways Tickets at IRCTC Site-Get a confirmation SMS.

  

Booked Railways Tickets at IRCTC Site-Get a confirmation SMS.

In this era of Online Travel Booking, a wonderful site is the Indian Railways Online booking site i.e IRCTC.

Many of the Rail Travelers are familiar with this user friendly Site.

The Personal Data in the Individual IRCTC Accounts is of utmost importance, and the users need to be aware of any unauthorized transactions in this account.

Surprised? Than read on:-

01)                      In case of any accident, the Booked Ticket History and the Address mentioned in the Account are of immense use, to authenticate the family members.

02)                     The Booked ticket history provides an insight to the Traveling plan, which can be misused by fraudulent persons.

To avoid misuse of the Individual IRCTC accounts, IRCTC has tied up with Spice Digital, to shoot a SMS once a ticket is booked in the Users Account.

This SMS will consist of the booking details, such as the PNR (Passenger Name Record) number, the date of journey, class of travel, and originating & destination stations.

More details on this new launch by IRCTC and Spice Digital can be viewed @

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/11/25/stories/2009112550440500.htm

Highlights in Brief:

01)                      An SMS can contain a maximum of 160 characters. 80 characters will be used for the ticket information and another 80 characters will carry an advertisement.

02)                     The advertisement revenue will be shared between SPICE and IRCTC.

03)                     Spice has set up an SMS gateway server at its own cost at IRCTC’s physical site.

04)                     IRCTC insisted on this to reduce the chances of data theft.

05)                     SMS Alerts will be received only when the mobile phone number is registered at the IRCTC Site.

This is a win-win situation for the Indian Railways, Spice and Rail Travelers.

I am sure Indian Railways/IRCTC has taken an undertaking from Spice Digital

01) Not to misuse the Rail Travelers Phone Numbers for any other purpose, than sending SMS for IRCTC Transactions.

02) Not to access the telephone numbers for any marketing purpose.

Where is the relation to ePayments in this whole new service? Simple, once folks are sure of the safety of information on IRCTC, more and more folks will book tickets via IRCTC. This will surely increase the numbers of ePayment Fans.

RTGS System - Government Receipts-Customer Mode or InterBank Mode?

RTGS System - Government Receipts-Customer Mode or InterBank Mode?

  

Well the spurt in RTGS Transactions seems to be creating problems for Government Receipts.

As per the present Government Rules, any Credit to a Government Account (maintained in Banks) should be accompanied with a specified Challan, for reconcialtion of the Government Accounts by Government Officers.

However, it seems the Government Accounts are receiving credits through RTGS. Obviously, the present RTGS System does not support the Challan format. Hence, the receiving bank is forced to RETURN BACK the funds, leading to all round dissatisfaction.

Please visit RBI-FAQ section, for more details on Credits to Government Accounts @

http://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=61

As a interim measure, Reserve Bank of India vide Lr.No.RBI/2009-10/226
DPSS (CO) RTGS No.991/04.04.002/2009 – 2010 dt.November 17, 2009, addressed to Chairman and Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of all banks participating in RTGS, after consultations with major RTGS Participating Banks has : -

01)                      Advised Sending Banks to remit funds to Government Accounts only when there is a bi-lateral agreement with the Receiving Bank.

02)                     The RTGS messages should invariably be sent in Inter-Bank Mode i.e. R42, and not Customer mode i.e R41.

03)                     The RTGS Inter-Bank Message should be in conformity with the Wire Transfer Guidelines i.e http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=3415&Mode=0

                It should be noted in the above Notification, for InterBank Funds transfer i.e. where both the Beneficiary and Receiver are Banks, the wire transfer guidelines are exempted.

However, in the present notification, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, has advised Banks to follow Wire Transfer Guidelines, in cases of R42-Inter Bank RTGS Messages, where the ultimate beneficiary is a Government Account.

The impact of today’s (i.e. 17^th November 2009) notification will be

01)                      Streamlining of credits to Government Accounts.

02)                     Reducing dis-satisfaction at Sender/Government Level.

It is to be noted that Reserve Bank of India, is clear that this is only a temporary arrangement, till the RTGS system is readied for credits to Government Accounts. And knowing Reserve Bank of India, RTGS will be ready very soon, for credits to Government Accounts.

Reserve Bank of India’s Notification dt.17/11/2009 (17^th November, 2009) can be accessed @ http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=5374&Mode=0

Tit-Bits— Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India – Absorbing information about the potential of ePayments in India.

Tit-Bits— Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India – Absorbing information about the potential of ePayments in India.

Q: What is the size of ePayments network in India.

Ans:  As per the Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2008-09, released by Reserve Bank of India on 22^nd 2009, the number of Scheduled Commercial Bank Branches in India as on 31/03/2009, is 64,608/-.  Out of this 60,000+ are on RTGS/NEFT Network i.e a staggering 93%.

This means with a single click, funds can be transferred to 60,000 Branch Account Holders!!

Indeed, our ePayments Network must be the largest  in the world.

Of course, if the bank branch is on CBS, the funds will move at a faster pace.

All the private sector banks are already on CBS.

The New private sector banks, commenced operations with CBS only, as they did not have the leagacy of old data, systems,  etc.

The Older Private sector banks, could migrate to CBS, chiefly due to less number of branches as compared with the Public Sector Banks(PSBs). Of course, these banks had their share of teething problems.

The Foreign sector private banks, too were on CBS on Day 1.

Out of the 27 PSB’s, apart from the State Bank of India Group, Andhra Bank(1425 brs), Corporation Bank(1035 brs), Indian Bank(1612 brs), Oriental Bank of Commerce(1422 brs), Punjab National Bank(4327 brs), Syndicate Bank(2246 brs), Union Bank of India(2570 brs), Vijaya Bank(1101 brs), have put their branches on the CBS. 

Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, United Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra, Dena Bank, UCO Bank, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank are yet to bring all their branches under CBS, as on 31/03/2009.

Out of the above, Bank of Baroda, has currently brought all its branches under CBS.

Some of the PSB’s are opening new branches with CBS from Day 1. This results in making available all the technology driven products to the new Branch customers from Day 1. Hence, the branch can build up a health CASA from day 1.

The below table, reflects the computerization levels in Public Sector Banks as on March 31, 2009. 

Appendix Table IV.35: Computerisation in Public Sector Banks (As on March 31, 2009)
(As on March 31, 2009)
(Per cent)
Sr.	Name of the Bank	Branches Under	Branches	Fully	Branches
No.		Core Banking	Already Fully	Computerised	Partially
		Solution	Computerised#	Branches (3+4)	Computerised
1	2	3	4	5	6
	Public Sector Banks	79.4	15.6	95.0	5.0
	Nationalised Bank	70.6	22.3	92.9	7.1
1	Andhra Bank	100.0	–	100.0	–
2	Corporation Bank	100.0	–	100.0	0.1
3	Indian Bank	100.0	–	100.0	–
4	Oriental Bank of Commerce	100.0	–	100.0	–
5	Punjab National Bank	100.0	–	100.0	–
6	Syndicate Bank	100.0	–	100.0	–
7	Union Bank of India	100.0	–	100.0	–
8	Vijaya Bank	100.0	–	100.0	–
9	State Bank Group	100.0	–	100.0	–
10	State Bank of India	100.0	–	100.0	–
11	State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur	100.0	–	100.0	–
12	State Bank of Hyderabad	100.0	–	100.0	–
13	State Bank of Indore	100.0	–	100.0	–
14	State Bank of Mysore	100.0	–	100.0	–
15	State Bank of Patiala	100.0	–	100.0	–
16	State Bank of Saurashtra	100.0	–	100.0	–
17	State Bank of Travancore	100.0	–	100.0	–
18	Bank of India	85.8	14.2	100.0	–
19	Indian Overseas Bank	72.4	8.5	80.9	19.1
	United Bank of India	69.3	22.2	91.5	8.5
20	Bank of Baroda	65.8	34.2	100.0	–
21	Bank of Maharashtra	54.4	45.6	100.0	–
22	Dena Bank	51.2	48.6	99.8	–
23	UCO Bank	49.8	1.5	51.3	48.7
24	Canara Bank	38.6	61.4	100.0	–
25	Central Bank of India	30.8	55.7	86.5	13.5
26	Allahabad Bank	9.7	87.7	97.4	2.6
27	Punjab and Sind Bank	1.1	11.8	12.9	87.1
– : Nil/Negligible.
#: Other than branches under Core Banking Solution.

Source: http://rbi.org.in/scripts/AnnualPublications.aspx?head=Trend%20and%20Progress%20of%20Banking%20in%20India