The system is adaptable to core banking solution. Union Bank of India, according to Srivastava, has already integrated it with its CBS. Kalia says: "T

How is storage of data done and how is its integrity ensured throughout the loan lifecycle?
Srivastava says the system has strong access controls. Data inputting is based on maker/checker concept while documents are stored in PDF format. "Access control ensures that the integrity of data is maintained all throughout the loan life cycle," he adds.
Arivazhagan too says in the HDFC system there is a very tight hierarchy-based access controls. The system is also protected through the usual firewalls and anti-virus systems. The customers are given user IDs and passwords to access the system.
"The data is basically in PDF files. However, I must say that compared to banks or mutual funds, our transactions are not huge. It could be just IS transactions at the maximum per account. Hence storage is not a major issue for us," he says.
Kalia says the system the bank has opted for uses SQL data base and security features of SQL database are used to ensure data integrity.
Union Bank of India is using a scoring system based on credit scores evolved by credit information agencies. "We also give
~>----­LOS offers interface with USDA system
Associated Software Consultants (ASC) PowerLender loan origination software (LOS) has been updated to offer lenders the ability to upload loan files to the US department of agriculture's (USDA) Guaranteed Underwriting System (GUS). PowerLender successfully completed a series of compatibility tests for submitting files to the USDA's GUS using both the MISMO AUS 2.3.1 .xml format, as well as the Fannie Mae DU/ DU3.2 format. The USDA Rural Development Program, which offers loans that do not require a down payment or private mortgage insurance, traditionally offered loans for low- and very-low-income homeowners.
inputs to these agencies as well as the RBI as per mandatory requirements. The reports are generated by the system and there is no manual intervention at any point of time. As I told you earlier, we subscribe to Crisil's rating services and the rating of a customer is carried out in the system using the Crisil figures."
Arivazhagan goes a step further and says HDFC's system has a provision to predict possible payment defaults by borrowers. "We generate reports to credit information agencies based on the behavior of the customers."
CHALLENGES IN MIGRATION
What have been the challenges for these institutions in migrating from a legacy system to the new system?
Arivazhagan avers that HDFC, even when it came to be established, had been a forward-looking organization. "There had been fairly large scale automation in the organization - like in accounts. As such, automation of the loan system was not a major challenge. Even employees were pretty ready and they undertook the migration in an effortless manner. We had made provisions for continuous training for them at various levels. At no point of time, we had any parallel system running. Again the roll over was done in phases, location by location and this also helped in creating an awareness and in training the staff appropriately."
In the case of Union Bank of India, while data capturing in the manual system has been a difficult proposition, the bank had CBS in place and there had been no major legacy issues. "The database was available centrally," says Srivastava, "and so it was a question of implementing the system and training the people to make use of it. We had a team of 113 people and we implemented the system in a phased manner with meticulous planning. We adopted 'training the trainer' method and this proved to be beneficial. In a matter of eight to nine months, we could train some 3,700 people across all our branches before the system was rolled out in December 2008. This has been a sort of record."
Says Saraswati Shankar: "I do not foresee any major challenges in migrating to this system as the bank is very tech savvy and there is a CBS in place. Even training the people is not going to be any major challenge. LAPS will only strengthen our operations and business. All our branches will be covered by the system once implemented."
For Vijaya Bank, though the existing loan processing mechanism is predominantly manual, Kalia expects the migration to be a smooth affair. The bank will undertake to give adequate hands-on training to the field functionaries.
Shamugam says even when haVing a manual system, Mahindra Finance had operated on a centralized model - data available centrally. "This proved to be beneficial for us when we shifted from a legacy system to a robust ERP system. This has enabled us from 2000 till today to have a full fledged system to seamlessly capture data from various locations in a centralized server and to make the data and information available at various required levels. This actually helped us to automate our loan system in a smoother and effortless manner."

Bnking Frontiers organized a roundtable at Hotel Le Meridien in Bangalore on 22 May 2009 on the topic 'Collaborative Customer Engagement' with IBM as

Manoj: A customer could check out his bank's website and see if they have a tie up with the car vendor and could possible register for a test drive there. This could be the beginning of a collaboration for the bank and the car vendor. What would be your take on providing such a one stop solution?
Asha: While we yet have to look into the possibility of offering a test drive, but it is possible. People can register through the website or the call centre. The requests are routed through the retail asset hub of Bangalore city. Since we have a tie up with the dealers, I can forward your mail to him and he will then attend to the needful. The customer also has a choice of filling in his location details, so that the nearest dealer can approach the prospective customer. Since there are different dealers for different brands, so depending upon the customers requirements, we will put him in touch with the concerned dealer. In all this, it is important that the customer is serious.
Venkatramaiah: In the car segment, even dealers are approaching the branches with
leads. There are cases where at the branch level they have brought the cars and we have given the sanction letters. After the casual inquiry at the call centre, by the time it translates into business, the entire process could take about 2-3 months, Even if about 10% of the leads translate into business, it is a good track.
PK Nair: Most often when a customer calls for a test drive, the bank or the agency is focussed on providing that service that the customer has called for. Using that interaction, how many times does the bank try to understand the customer's detailed profile? What we see is a point-in-time interaction, but we fail to capture information that can help the customer become our life-long customer. Some new generation banks treat the internet as an SBU. Actually, what customers are doing is visiting various sites and checking up reviews written by customers. Rajesh: I have seen one branch where they displayed a notice board, exclusively for customers. The board allows customers to

Bank of Baroda has a significant presence in Rajasthan, faciltiating better banking for the people of the state. Mehul Dani provides an overview of th

ank of Baroda has enjoyed a premier position in the state of Rajasthan and has a major role to play in its development. Bank of Baroda has presence in all 33 districts of the state through a vast network of 348 branches.
B.B. Garg, zonal manager, Bank of Baroda, Rajasthan, says: "BoB started its operations in the state in August 1958. Since then, it has been expanding through out the state by setting up its branches in urban, semi urban and rural area. Administrative control of the branches is ensured through 4 regional offices located atjaipur (105 branches), Ajmer (85 branches), jodhpur(62 branches) and Udaipur (96 branches). Out of 348 branches, 80% branches are located in rural and semi urban areas catering to the credit needs of farmers, artisans, small borrowers and MSEs. The bank has 71 metro/urban branches located in major cities contributing to development of industries particularly under MSME sector. The bank has 12 forex branches which cater to the need of exporters and importers. The bank has 2 Retail Loan Factories - at jaipur and jodhpur. There are 3 SME Loan Factories - at jaipur, jodhpur and Bhilwara.
BOB AS SLBC CONVENOR
Garg says: "BoB is entrusted with lead bank responsibility in 12 out of 33 districts of the state by the RBI. Besides, the bank is also assigned the responsibility of SLBC convenor. Recently the 101st SLBC meeting has been convened by the bank on 29th June 2009 to review the performance of the banking sector in Rajasthan under Annual Credit Plan and progress under various government sponsored schemes like SGSY, SjSRY and PMEGP. Based upon the Potential Linked Credit Plans as prepared by ABARD and District Credit Plans approved in the District Level Consultative Committees, annual credit plan for 2009-10 for aggregate amount of Rs 23,982 cr has been approved by the SLBC."
BUSINESS AND SOCIAL INITIATIVES
BoB has recently launched a 3 year long Total Integrated Rural Development Project called 'Project Dungarpur' with a total financial outlay of Rs 54 crores to be expended over 3 years. The project incorporates a wide range of activities ranging from financial inclusion, integrated rural development through agriculture, allied activities and promoting rural/cottage industries in the district. It aims at developing human resources through training to unskilled/semi-skilled personals.
Apart from this, the bank also thrives for its social responsibility and is running 7 R-SETls functioning as 'Baroda Swarojgar Vikas Sansthan' at jaipur, Ajmer, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Karauli and Churu. Out of these, the R-SETI at Ajmer is exclusively imparting training to women entrepreneurs and has residential facilities with lodging and boarding arrangement at the institution itself. The bank has planned to establish 6 more R-SETls during current financial year in the districts of Tonk, Sawai Madhopur, Bundi, jhunjhunu, Bhilwara and Pratapgarh. Help desks for MSME entrepreneurs are set up and functioning at all the four regional offices.
TARGETS AND EXPANSION PLANS
According to Garg, BoB has fixed an ambitious target of business development in Rajasthan during the year 2009-10 of Rs 12,250 crore of deposits and Rs 9,000 crore of advances, charting a growth rate of 27% and 22% respectively. The bank has planned to register a growth rate of 24% in agriculture, 20% in industries, 38% in SME, and 28% in total business. The bank has planned to open 16 new branches in the state. Recently, the bank has focused to strengthen and streamlined its marketing force by taking out all back office work from branches. A specific outfit - Regional Back Office - has been set up with a state-of­the-art technology at Vidyadharnager in jaipur.

SSI MF deploys speech recognition system
561 Funds Management has deployed a new IVR solution based on Nuance Recognizer to deliver speech-based self­service interactions for its customers. The IVR will enable its customers to use their voice, instead of traditional touch­tone environment, for interactions with the IVR for self­service. The IVR speech recognition solution will use Nuance Recognizer to provide information to customers on latest Net Asset Values of MF schemes, and at a later date, more features will be added. The next generation IVR will be able to prOVide all the services that are currently being done by agents manually. The customers need not have to wait for the agents to be available and the process is now automated.

As banks become more tech savvy, they are increasingly looking at loan automation technology. To find out the benefits and the challenges, executive e

anks and lending institutions need to be competitive in today's lending environment in order to be in business.
While they may endeavor to stay ahead with niche products, sustained marketing, effective customer care and efficient collection system, they can no longer depend on manual processes in their lending business. Geographical reach and brand loyalty can to some extent help them, but these are no longer the determining factors. It calls for efficiency in taking decisions, in servicing, in monitoring and in collecting.
Borrowers have the ability to borrow from their choicest sources and whenever they want. The institutions are realizing that the customers demand convenience apart from acceptable levels of interest. If a manager is not capable of processing a loan application within the least possible time, the customer has the choice to look toward others who can very well do so.
So, Indian banks and financial institutions are today following the footsteps of their global counterparts in automating their lending processes often using fully integrated solutions that cover the entire Joan life cycle - from loan origination through loan application process, risk assessment, decision-making, monitoring and management control of approved loans. And what's more, there are packages available in the markets which are customizable, scalable and implementable with the least interference to the existing automated environment.
Predominantly, these packages have: (i) risk management tools that help underwriters to automatically evaluate loan packages and give alerts on doubtful applications and evaluate the applicants in terms of liqUidity, collateral and credit history; (ii) document scanning facility that enables digital storage and transmission of documents and that ensures integrity of the document throughout the loan life cycle; (iii) communication facility for managers processing the loan applications by exchange of notes through the system and even through dedicated email systems; (iv) workflow automation which facilitates flow of loan applications through various stages seamlessly and within timeframes; (v) monitoring system that takes care of repayment schedules and managing PAs; and (vi) EMI reminders and default notices that are generated to customers from the system without the managers haVing to
IN-HOUSE DEVELOPMENT
Housing Development and

Finance Corporation (HDFC), the prime lender in the country to home seekers, has a loan automation system in place and all the lending activities of the company
are carried out through this system. "Our loan automation system is
an end-to-end solution, starting

with lead management to lead maturation, underwriting, disbursement, loan servicing

and closure of the loan. It covers

the entire loan life cycle - an

average loan life of 10 years to
a maximum of 30 years," says R. Arivazhagan, senior general manager, Information Technology, at HDFC.

"It is a fully integrated system, and what is significant is that it is

a home grown system and not a package we bought from vendors. We began work on it in 1990s as we found the need to automate loan processing in order to keep pace with the other automation processes that were happening

in the organization. We consciously opted out of going
for a package as such packages
would require extensive customization in order to meet
local requirements - basically legal.

We worked on a next generation system and it evolved over a period of time as we went on adding modules and functionalities as we grew. For example, in older days, there used to
be just one type of loans, that is, fixed rate loan. ow we have several, like variable rates, flexible rates, monthly rests, quarterly rests, etc. Similarly, earlier, there was no provision

for generating credit reports to credit information agencies. These agencies have started functioning we need to offer reports

The solution had been customized over a period time with the required controls evolved and put in place to support the internal users to get accurate

about the creditworthiness of our customers and the system was modified to generate such reports. It is also enabled to have images."
The system is configured to work both as a centralized system as well as a decentralized system. This is mainly because some of the company's processings are carried out at branch levels. The system works on Oracle database which is run on an IBM AIX machine. The front-end of course uses Windows but developed using Oracle forms technology. NetApp is used as storage technology.
Union Bank of India is perhaps the only public sector bank to have fully implemented a loan automation system. The system takes care of, in the true sense of the term, the entire process of loans to customers - loan origination, processing, risk analysis, appraisal, servicing and post disbursal control. It enables personal and commercial lending. The bank's officers function in a truly automated environment. The system is fully integrated with the core banking system and covers the entire loan life cycle.
LAPS
Says T.K. Srivastava, DGM - IT, of the bank: "We bought LAPS (Lending Automation Processing System) from a firm in Chennai, SysArc Infomatix. We then carried out the required customization. In addition, we have also subscribed to Crisil's rating service in order for us to be able to evaluate the corporate customers. Wipro had been the system integrator. As far as I know, Union Bank of India is the only public sector bank in the country to have an end-to-end loan automation system. Every perceivable type of loan that is sanctioned by the bank is through the system now. We began work on automating the loan system sometime in 2007 and by 2008 December, we were online. Today, the entire process of loans - documentation to execution to monitoring to NPA management - is done through the system and all types of loans - corporate, SME, retail, personal, vehicle, agricultural, etc - are processed and serviced through the system. The system also helps in the recovery proceedings and generates EMI alerts, default notices and even legal notices. What is more, it has facility to have a list of approved lawyers and the bank branches have to mandatorily send the legal notices to defaulters through these approved lawyers. The system is available at all our braches and some 5,000 users can log on to it at any given point of time."
Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, a non-banking finance company with a focus on the rural and semi-urban sector and which finances utility vehicles, tractors and cars, is using loan automation system in order to serve its predominantly rural clientele in a more efficient manner. "The system enables us to have swifter deployment of the existing business and new business," says Suresh Shanmugam, national head - Business Information Technology Solutions of the company. "It also helps us to collect customer information in the rural areas and make it available across the enterprise so that we can be competent, we can extend our relationships with the rural customers and
serve them more effectively and almost in real time," he adds.
It is a centralized system, says Shamugam. The information is captured through a distributed network of branches. There is a defined workflow which facilitates easier and quicker decision making. The solution had been customized over a period time with the required controls evolved and put in place to support the internal users to get accurate information.
The company opted for an off-the-shelf system but made extensive customization. It is an end-to-end system and is capable of proViding MIS to top management on NPAs, liqUidity, etc. It is also capable of monitoring the repayment schedule through web-based intranet and internet solutions.
REPORTS GENERATION
Bank of India is now in the process of automating its loan system.
The bank too has just acquired LAPS from SysArc Infomatix and is about to commission it. When fully implemented, it will be an end-to-end and totally integrated system for loan management in the bank, says Saraswati Shankar, DGM - IT, of the bank. "We will also implement a rating system alongside," she adds.
One of the significant advantages, according to Saraswati Shankar, is the facility in the system to proVide reports of various nature to the Reserve Bank of India. "In the existing dispensation, we need to prepare these reports manually, which is a cumbersome process involving manpower and time. When the system goes online, the reports will be generated from the system, which can also be seamlessly transferred to the RBI without any manual intervention. In addition, we will be providing data on individual loans to agencies like CIBIL and we in turn, will be using the credit information proVided by these agenCies."
She said the bank will be basically using the system for loan application processing, sanctioning, disbursement and monitoring.
Similarly, Vijaya Bank too has procured an automated system and is in the process of implementing it. The bank is customizing the package to suit its needs, both in the spheres of corporate and retail loan processing areas.
"The system is designed to capture details required for processing the loan proposal and it does support the tasks till sanction," says Subhash Chander Kalia, executive director of the bank. "Once the loan is sanctioned, it has built in interface to create customer 10, open the loan account in the CBS system."
Kalia explains that the bank offers loans for various purposes ­agriculture, SME, exports, retail, housingetc - with variations built in as per the purpose and nature ofloans applied for. "Applications in the system are designed to capture comprehensive details of the customer based on which a master is created. Ground rules are built into the system for online support at the appraisal stage and the system then gives triggers as to the eligibility of the customer. It has got high efficiency, largely due to its single point processing capabilities. However, delinquency is not captured in the system as it is basically for processing and sanctioning

of loans. The application does not cater to the full life cycle of the loan as it takes care of origination, fulfillment and opening of loan accounts,

Thrissur, Kerala-based
private bank the South Indian Bank has recently completed a 'Credit Automation Project', which the bank feels will improve its efficiency in credit processing and sanctioning of corporate loans. The bank claims that this is a 'paperless flow' of the loan sanctioning and is a unique process. Managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, V.A. Joseph said at the launch of the project that the bank will be able to expedite scrutiny of the loan application, appraisal and assessment of the limits with the help of 'Loanflo', the corporate loan solution software offered by LaserSoft Infosystems. "This will change the way the bank as a lender has been doing business," he said, adding it will allow automation of the entire loan processing, sanctioning and tracking system for corporate loans.
The system of HDFC has a very efficient CRM functionality.
Says Arivazhagan: "Our customers can log on to the system and trace the status of their loans. The system also generates year-end reports, certificates and statements of loans, which are mailed or couriered to the customers without their asking for it, to facilitate their tax planning."
Arivazhagan says the system is basically a decision-aiding system rather than a decision making system. The data in the system helps a staff member in taking a decision. However, it is capable of assuming a decision-making system as well.
"In a business like ours, the most important aspect is to keep information in the desired structured format and make it available to the users in the right way at the right time. Automation is very relevant for such a requirement," he adds, Srivastava of Union Bank of India says being a centralized, web­based system, it has helped the bank to make loan processing, sanctioning and monitoring fully system driven. Says he: "Each and every loan application will now have to go through the system irrespective of the nature of the loan. And across the bank, the terms and conditions are uniform, the rates of interest are uniform, the sanctioning modalities are uniform, securities sought are the same. It is totally transparent. Secondly, policy enforcement is very effective. Besides, the bank can revise policies and incorporate these into the system, which will then become effective across the bank. Thirdly, it has given a lot of confidence to the branch managers because it is ensured that the loan is sanctioned after fully meeting all the required formalities and fully following the set rules and regulations. Fourthly, the entire monitoring and recovery process is made very easy and efficient with the alerts given by the system for EMI payments, for defaults, etc. Even the managers are spared of the efforts of drafting letters to customers about EMI payments, about defaults, etc, and of sending legal notices as these letters and notices are generated by the system at the appropriate
time. This drastically reduces the turnaround time. Fifthly, we can add any new products at any point of time and in pretty quick time and make it available across the bank. Finally, since the database is centralized, updating is done in real time."
Srivastava says the system is capable of countering delinquency in an effective manner because of the automated monitoring that is possible.
Arivazhagan too contends that the system is capable of proViding analysis of customer performance and feedback. This can help the credit department in assessing fresh applications from existing customers, who will ensure that they do not default. It is just not possible to have these analyses in a physical mode.
WORKFLOW
Any typical loan processing involves decisions at different levels. How is information managed in such a situation?
Srivastava says it is a workflow-based system. A loan proposal based on parameters set in the system can be decided by a branch manager, or it can if necessary go to a regional office or to the central office or to the board of directors. The concerned panel of bank officers can rate the application and record their views in the form of minutes and sign the minutes. This document is scanned and uploaded in the system. The application can be accepted and the loan sanctioned, or it can be rejected. The whole process is facilitated through a mailbox system.
"In case a particular loan is sanctioned in exceptional circumstances - we call it a case of deviation - there are provisions in the system to record the deviations to the parameters and have it approved by the concerned authorities," he adds.
Kalia of Vijaya Bank says information flow is automated in the loan automation system, through workflow mechanisms. "Automation does help in expeditious decision making as physical movement of papers is curtailed to a large extent."
Does an automated system bring in efficiency through centralization and speed to the lending process?
Arivazhagan cites the instance of HDFC: "Over the years, we have recorded an annual growth of 25% to 30%, while the growth in our manpower has been insignificant. Secondly, our assets to expenses ratio is one of the lowest in the world, that is 0.4%. This is proven efficiency and this has been possible through automation."
"A loan automation system is ideally an end-to-end integrated system, starting with lead management. In our case, even documentation is stimulated by the system, starting with collection and verification of documents, their safekeeping and their return to the customers upon completion of the loan tenure. The system generates MIS reports as well as compliance and regulatory reports for the regualtor, in our case, the National Housing Board."
Shanmugam of Mahindra Finance says surely the model

Lakshmi Vilas Bank launches M-Power Banki'Maximization of Profit Through Rural Empowerment and Technology Upgradation' is the motto of Baroda Rajasng

aroda Rajasthan Gramin Bank (BRGB) was established on 3 February 2006 by amalgamation of 5 erstwhile RRBs viz, larudhar Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Aravali Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Bundi Chittorgarh Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Bhilwara Ajmer Kshetriya Gramin Bank and Dungarpur Banswara Kshetriya Gramin Bank, all sponsored by Bank of Baroda. This RRB is catering to the financial needs of the rural masses through a network of 274 branches in 13 districts.
Mukesh Garg, Chairman, BRGB, said that the objectives of the amalgamation were to take advantage of economies of scale, improve operational viability by reducing transaction cost and sustain competition with big players in the market, besides evolving brand image. Amalgamation has provided the bank an opportunity to extend its area of operation to a large extent with accessibility to increased number of clientele with wide range of products in the form of 11 deposit schemes and 26 loan schemes to cater to the different needs of the people.
On the issue of volume of business and profits, Garg said that after the amalgamation, the level of BRGB's business has increased from Rs 1605.57 cr in March 2006 to Rs 3089.55 cr in March 2009, thereby registering an average growth of 24%. Besides the clientele base which was 1,008,532 as on March 2006 has increased to 1,812,003 as on March 2009 with a growth of 80% in 3 years is reflective of best ever customer service rendered. The bank has registered consistent profit of Rs 0.48 cr, Rs 6.17 cr, Rs 16.26 cr and Rs 30.25 cr in 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively which is reflective of sound affairs of business.
Stating the measures to spread awareness, Garg said that the bank has launched its bilingual website on 23 June 2008 which provides up to date information about various deposit and loan schemes, new initiatives taken by the bank, etc, on continuous basis.
CHANGING PATTERNS
Highlighting the major changes observed in pattern of savings, fixed deposits, and loans, Garg said that the deposit growth of 21.30%,22.17% and 29.18% in 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively reflects the increasing saving habits of the people. During last two years growth in fixed deposits has been 30.22% and 26.21 %. However the thrust for mobilizing low cost deposits has also yielded good results with savings deposits growth of 29.65%, 18.01% and 34.16% in 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008­09 respectively. The pattern of loan taking shows an increasing trend in past 3 years with loan disbursement of Rs 533 cr, Rs 657 cr and Rs 734 cr during 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively. The reason for increased loan taking during 2008-09, despite the low credit demand due to worldwide recession, is that the rural credit demand has not been affected by the economic recession and 75% of the bank's branches are working in rural area.
CURRENT PROJECTS
Outlining the current project and strategies of business growth and plans for year 2009-2010, Garg said that various initiatives have been taken after the amalgamation towards development and strengthening the bank, but still lot more has to be done for further expansion and the current projects being/to be implemented during current fiscal in consonance with the business policy guidelines of the bank for 2009-10 are as follows: (i) total

Lakshmi Vilas Bank launches M-Power Banking
The Lakshmi Vilas Bank tied up with the mobile commerce company PayMate to offer mobile payment facility for the bank's customers. The facility will enable customers to make utility bill payment from their mobile phones. The customers can also use the facility to book flight tickets, railway tickets, movie tickets, restaurant bills, mobile recharge, online purchases and retail shopping over at 13,000 merchant outlets. The service is being offered to the customer free of charge.

A quick glance through the figures regarding the financial position of the RSCB from 1953-54 to 2002-03 indicates some interesting developments. The s

new schemes viz, water harvesting structure, organic farming, agri-clinic / agri-business centers, aromatic and medicinal plantation, onion storage structure, horticulture, SHGs, house building, swarojgar credit card, etc, for which DCCBs can avail refinance from NABARD and can further diversify their farm and non-farm investment portfolio. Apex Bank, on its part has been pursuing DCCBs to finance innovative activities to diversify the loan portfolio of these banks and to facilitate economic development through creation of assets in the rural areas of the state."

Ever reducing margin on agricultural lending have made diversification need of the time. Consequent to this concept, several loan schemes were launched from time to time keeping in view the requirement of general public of the state. Most of the schemes have been adopted by DCCBs, including personal loans, vehicle loans, working capital finance to the existing and new industrial units, cash credit limits, Krishak Mitra Yojana, Aawas and Vyavasayik Parisar loan scheme, Swarojgar Credit Card scheme, Gyan Sagar (education) loan scheme, financing against NSCs and securities, Avika Sahkari Credit Card scheme for sheep rearing, Vishwas Yojna for handicapped persons and loan against property.

COMPUTERIZATION

Ranvah added: "The ongoing computerization project of is taken up under 3 phases. Phase 1 includes data centre creation at RSCB HO, computerization of 13 branches of RSCB along with data center creation at 5 regional offices, accounts and finance department of RSCB, computerization of 1 branch each of following DCCBs along with data centre creation at DCCB Head Office: Ajmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota, Bikaner, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Jhalawar, Tonk and Sawai Madhopur.

Phase 2 pertains to computerization of 1 branch each of follOWing DCCBs along with data centre creation at DCCB HO:
Alwar,]hunjhunu, Sikar, Dausa, Barmer,]aisalmer,]alore, Sirohi, Pali, Bundi, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Banswara, Churu, Nagaur, Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Baran. Phase 3 involves computerization of RSCB's HO, RO and DCCB's HO.

13 branches of RSCB and one branch each of eight DCCBs are working in TBA mode. RSCB data center work is complete and integration of data center with the branches computerized in TBA mode is in process. Master data creation and site preparation in one branch each of the remaining DCCBs is in advance stage of progress.

Ranvah added: "In 2007-08, RSCB registered an annual growth of 12.11% in own fund, 9.88% in loan outstanding and 23.43% in average working fund. The level of recovery against demand stood at 96.12%. Per employee productivity was to the tune of Rs 13.63 crores and per branch business was Rs 267.36 crores."

RSCB has established India's first currency chest in the cooperative sector in its Nehru Bazar branch in ]aipur. RSCB is paying dividend regularly to its shareholders and maximum dividend permissible as per Cooperative Societies Act, ie, 10% was paid for the years 2000-2001 to 2002-2003, 8.35% and 8.85% for the years 2003-2004 to 2005-2006 and 8.37% and 6.07% for the years 2006-2007 and 2007-08 respectively."

GROWTH

A quick glance through the figures regarding the financial position of the RSCB from 1953-54 to 2002-03 indicates some interesting developments. The share capital has gone up by 700 times. The reserves have gone up by about 19,000 times. The growth of deposit has also been equally phenomenal from a small Rs 36,000 to Rs 992 crores. Similarly, outstanding loans have gone up from mere Rs 25,000 to Rs 1,111 cr. The working capital, which was less than Rs 6 lacs, has also gone up to over Rs 1,970 cr. The profit from Rs ] ,000 has gone up to over Rs 15 cr. The financial picture also reflects some specific years, which constitute turning points. For instance, the loans outstanding in 1968-69 were almost double what they were during the previous year. In 1974-75, there was a two­fold growth compared to 1972-73. During 1980-81, the loans outstanding crossed Rs 100 cr.

To bring about greater banking professionalism, an officer from RBI was taken on deputation as managing director. Open market recruitment for different levels was made for infusing new blood into the bank, at the same time, insulating it from being treated as an extension of the cooperative department.

About the same time, reorganization of the PACS was undertaken under the aegis of the cooperative department. The doors of membership of PACS were thrown open to all those eligible. RSCB also began to make term landings other than short term. Cooperative housing activities also received due encouragement. All these were expected to create avenues for the RSCB to develop its banking activities horizontally also.

The results were reflected in a ground swell of enthusiasm paving the way for future business expansion and diversification of loan portfolio, pioneering schemes for small-scale / cottage sectors, warehousing, etc, as also in social banking and making foray into hitherto unexplored areas like consorti um - financing.

NPA MANAGEMENT

According to RBI data, NPAs of StCBs varied widely across the states at end-March 2007. In Rajasthan, PAs were less than 3%. At the all India level, the recoveries made by StCBs as a proportion of demand declined marginally to 86% in 2006­07 from 87% in 2005-06. Among the various states and union territories, the recovery performance improved in 12 states and two UTs. For StCB in Rajasthan the recovery performance remained similar to what it was previous year. StCBs in nine states including Rajasthan achieved more than 90% recovery during 2006-07
The NPA ratio in respect of DCCBs varied significantly across the states from 4.8% to 76.4% at end-March 2007. The NPA ratio was less than 10% in only four states - Rajasthan Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. The NPA ratio increased in Rajasthan and Rajasthan achieved more than 80% recovery rate during 2006-07.

Rajastan State Cooperative Bank Ltd is the apex bank guiding the growth of cooperative movement in the state. Mehul Dani reports on the various progra

s many as 29 DCCBs cover 33 districts of Rajasthan state with 400 branches. At the grass-root level, 5255 PACS cover 100% of the geographical area of the state, ie, 42955 villages.
With a view to cater to the seasonal financial requirement for agriculture and other allied activities at the level, The Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank Ltd (RSCB) was established on 14 October 1953. It is an apex institution of the DCCBs functioning in the state.
The state has 39 urban cooperative banks, 90% of which are in Grade I and II category. The Rajasthan Urban Cooperative Banks Federation has organized various training programs and workshops. It was able to persuade the government to conduct elections in urban cooperative banks in the state on time, this year. There are administrators in 3 UCBs namely Kota UCB, Rajasthan UCB and Savai Madhopur UCB, while the rest of the banks have an elected managing body. There are 6 women UCBs and 3 railway cooperative banks in the state. There are more than 340,000 plus members shared among the member UCBs, led by Madhav agrik Sahkari Bank with over 46,000 members.
The federation facilitated the tie-up arrangement of urban cooperative banks with IFFCO TOKIO Insurance Company for insurance business. It also played an important role in putting in place arrangements for sale of stamps by urban cooperative banks in the state.
PACS
PACS are the backbone of short-term cooperative credit structure. Out of 5255 PACS in the state, 5197 PACS advanced loan to their members during 2006-07 and 4971 PACS had outstanding loans exceeding Rs 10 lacs as on 31 March 2008. The working capital of PACS as on 31 March 2008 stood at Rs 4181.33 crores and 1985 PACS working as mini banks were collecting deposits from their members. Total deposits of these mini banks stood at Rs 308.20 crores as on 31 March 2008 which rose to Rs 505.35 crores in 12 months. In 2009, it is expected that more than 4150 PACS would have booked profit.
Avinas;\ Ranvah, MD, RSCB, said: "Our corporate mission is to become a strong and competitive cooperative banking
network which offers innovative financial products along with varied range of services to serve rural masses with rejuvenated short term cooperative credit structure to serve the people of Rajasthan. Under the micro-credit system, the DCCBs/PACS have been playing the role of facilitators to organize SHGs of homogeneous class. So far, approximately 48,200 SHGs have been linked with DCCBs/PACS and an amount of Rs 143.29 cr has been advanced to SHGs upto 31 March 2009."
PERSONAL ACCIDENTAL INSURANCE SCHEME
Personal Accidental Insurance Scheme has been introduced in the state through DCCBs with an objective to provide financial security to its customers and staff members at a nominal premium against accidental losses. During the period October 2006 to September 2007,9.47 lac KCC holders and staff members were insured and an amount of Rs 71.87 lacs was remitted to the insurance company and during the same period next year, the number insured declined 3.91 lacs and an amount of Rs 28.03 lacs was remitted to the insurance company.
CROP INSURANCE SCHEME
The state government has launched crop insurance scheme from kharif crop, 2003 under which prescribed crops in the notified area are being insured. An insurance premium of Rs 27.02 crore for kharif crop, 2006 and Rs 23.59 crore for rabi crop during the year 2007-2008 has been remitted to the insurance company. Due to failure of crop, claims of Rs 53.29 crore for the kharif, 2007 crop and Rs 64.89 crore for the rabi, 2007 -08 crop were paid to the affected farmers.
KISAN CREDIT CARD
In Rajasthan, crop loans were disbursed in the cash credit form based on 'Sri Ganganagar or Punjab Pattern' even prior to the introduction of KCC scheme. However, with the introduction of KCC scheme, loan disbursement procedure has been renamed accordingly. At present all crop loans are being disbursed under KCC. The state government has also taken keen interest to see that more and more KCC are issued to the eligible farmers of the state. Short term cooperative credit structure of the state has issued 28.27 lacs KCCs upto 31st March, 2008.
DIVERSIFICATION OF LOAN PORTFOLIO
Ranvah says: "In last few years, concerted efforts have been made to diversify loan portfolio so as to provide an opportunity to DCCBs to cross subsidize their losses in traditional crop loan business. In this endeavor, NABARD has introduced lots of

Since the rural BPO will mainly cater to the incremental business from the urban areas, it may not have much of an impact on the continuing sustainabi

dashboard that monitors and congratulates better performers and motivates the slower ones," he says.
As much as 46% of the employees hold BA degrees, 35% BCom, 15% BSc and ]% each MA, MCom, MSc and MBA. "However, since most of them belong to the lowest strata of society, they had very harrowing experiences in taking up education and even in living a normal life. They had no background of English and would never have got jobs elsewhere," adds Durga Prasad.
WHY TIRUPATI?
Why was Tirupati chosen as a location? Explains Rajan: "The concept of a rural BPO necessarily requires the location to be a small town with close proximity to the rural areas. The town should be small enough to attract the rural youth, but have sufficient infrastructure to provide broadband connectivity and continuous power supply. One of the main reasons for locating it at Tirupati was the excellent support that we received from EGMM in identifying and preparing educated unemployed rural youths for our selection process. They also verify the background and integrity of the candidates which accelerates our recruitment process."
Rajan is very happy to replicate this model in any other states in India. "However, dedicated support from the concerned state governments and an assurance of steady flow of processing business is critical for the viability of such ventures," he adds.
Rajan is also very emphatic when he says that migrating work from urban BPOs to rural sites is not an issue since there are enough alternative employment opportunities for the trained BPO staffer in urban areas, which is demonstrated in the high staff turnover levels in such BPOs. Since the rural BPO will mainly cater to the incremental business from the urban areas, it may not have much of an impact on the continuing sustainability of the Metro based BPOs.
CHALLENGES IN SETTING UP A RURAL BPO
ADFC faced several chaJlenges in locating the BPO in a
remote town like Tirupati and making it functional. First of aJl, it was difficult to persuade software vendors and service staff to provide ongOing support in remote locations. Transportation and instaJiation of the hardware was also a tedious exercise. Secondly, connectivity was a major issue. While BSNL connectivity was readily available, it was important to have a second service proVider for business continuity. Lastly, it was essential that a steady and continuous supply of electric power was available to ensure that the work in the BPO is not interrupted by unscheduled power cuts.
To mitigate the above constraints, the bank's IT team
persuaded its
software and
hardware vendors
to go to Tirupati to set up the required infrastructure for the BPO. They also persuaded Bharati Airtel to start offering its services to help the BPO build its redundancy. While power supply had
been erratic, the BPO managed with gensets, though it is more expensive.
Explaining how sustainable and economically viable this business model has been, Rajan says the work that is getting migrated to the rural areas wiJl be delivered at a cheaper cost over a period of time. Besides, the quality of work will be at least equal to, if not better than the output from urban areas. Besides, the reduced attrition level is a major attraction to shift BPOs to semi urban towns.
Rajan feels that the rural BPO model is simple enough for other banks to set up similar ventures in rural and semi urban towns. "This is an idea which I wiJl be happy to share with others who have a similar vision."
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBLITY
He says a rural BPO is not only a sustainable business model, but it is one of the best alternatives to develop the rural economy. "It proVides steady alternative income growth for the rural population, which is otherwise largely dependent on the vagaries of nature."
He is very optimistic that this initiative, to a great extent, could trigger a revolution to restrict the migration of rural people into urban areas and pre-empt a demographic disaster. Besides proViding jobs to the educated unemployed in the rural areas, such ventures can also prevent large scale migration of rural populace to the urban areas. [n addition, this will facilitate setting up of infrastructure in rural and semi-urban areas like roads, power supply, broadband connectivity, etc.
"I am happy to share with you that I have enquiries from at least two state governments on starting similar projects and ready to replicate this venture. The very fact that this initiative has stimulated similar thought process in high places itself is a very rewarding feeling."

The candidates are generally those who have completed theirgraduation but not been able to land a job due to their inability to compete with their cit

percentage of women."
It is now more than six months since the BPO has started functioning in full steam and it has around 650 employees working in two shifts handling tasks like data capturing, retail loan processing, credit card application processing, etc. The current BPO strength is fUlly engaged in meeting the needs of HDFC Bank but Rajan is confident the operations can be easily scaled up to meet requirements if needed. "We can easily scale up the operations to accommodate more than 1,800 people over three shifts if there are assured business flows," says Rajan, adding "Mutual funds, i nsu rance com pan ies, telecom and other service providers have identical activities, which can be easily migrated to this BPO."
Rajan spearheaded the initiative after a chance encounter with a small BPO at Puttaparthi in rural Andhra Pradesh, run by a band of dedicated entrepreneurs employing a few rural youths from nearby villages. However, he found that this experimental venture was languishing for want of adequate business flows and he arranged to divert some of the processes from the bank to the BPO. "The dedication and commitment of these rural youths inspired a thought in me as to how some of the routine processes of the bank in the metro cities can be diverted to support rural employment in a much larger scale, says Rajan. "It was further strengthened when I met with a dynamic lady called Meera Shenoy at Hyderabad who was working with a team of dedicated Gas in the interiors of Andhra Pradesh with an identical vision. She heads the Employment Generation and Marketing Mission (EGMM) at the department of rural development of the Andhra Pradesh government, mainly identifying and training deserving poor youth from rural areas to take up appropriate employment. We decided to set up the rural BPO at Tirupati where daughters and sons of farmers, laborers, carpenters, weavers, etc, from nearby Villages could be employed. The candidates are generally those who have completed their graduation but
not been able to land a job due to their inability to compete with their city brethren who get better exposures."
Rajan says
convincing and
getting the approval of the bank's CEO and the members of the board on
experimenting with this initiative was not at all difficult, since they immediately appreciated the tremendous value addition that this initiative can have in uplifting rural economy.
The nature of the work of the employees of the BPO largely involves ca ptu ri ng customer data from scanned images of application forms and sending the data back to the central servers in Mumbai. "Since scanned images could be sent over broadband lines and brought back to the central server
as encrypted data files, we could mange the entire activity without any time loss of turnaround time for the customers and without compromising data security," adds Rajan.
INITIAL EXPERIENCES
Durga Prasad, a senior banker, who heads the operations of the BPO at Tirupati, adds: "The boys and girls who joined this BPO are seeing an office environment for the first time in their life. In fact, during the initial days, I was puzzled to see many of them wearing warm woolen clothes despite the humid weather at Tirupati, before I realized that most of them were not accustomed to spending eight hours in an air-conditioned enclosure!" He adds the BPO job has brought in dignity and respect for them and many of them have been able to get rid of their family debts, start educating their siblings and prOVide an enhanced lifestyle to their families. The status of being a BPO employee has also helped some of the girls to get married into respectable families.
As much as 54% of the staff employed in the rural BPO is girls.
Many of them are destitutes, orphans and widows and the BPO has given them an impetus to lead a life of dignity. They work in two shifts, but Durga Prasad manages the shift allocations in such a way that the girls are able to leave office before dusk.
Meera Shenoy, who heads EGMM, says the organization was associated with HDFC Bank even before setting up the BPO and the experience was such that it had no hesitation whatsoever to the idea of a rural BPO. "We readily undertook the initial training aspects, tailormaking it to the needs of the BPO," she adds.
She says three factors influenced her thinking while being associated with HDFC Bank: (i) the impeccable credentials of the bank, (ii) the project is to help rural youth and (iii) it creates job opportunities in the local area instead of the youths having to migrate to cities.
Shenoy says: "This is one of the best examples of public­private partnership and it is a worthwhile model since it aims to create job opportunities for the rural and tribal youths in their area of residence. We have received enquiries from other state governments on this pattern."
She adds: "On our part, we have been trying to impart tailormade training to the youths, as per the requirement of the employers. As an organization EGMM is one of the largest job creators for rural youth globally, having secured jobs to as many as 225,000 youths so far."
TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
Besides the initial grooming support from EGMM, the BPO gives extensive training to the youngsters in handling computers, using software applications and in understanding basic banking products before they are put on the actual job. Durga Prasad says it takes about six months for them to become reasonably skilled and productive. "Each of the employee works with realistic targets in terms of productivity and quality of output. There is a

Mascot of a Generation from the lowest rungs of the economic strata. These youngsters (many of them walking down or cycling to the office covering any

Dhanamma is an amazing example of women getting empowered. She has been a girl with fierce determination and will power to make it big. In spite of stiff resistance from her mother, this second daughter of a shepherd father and farm laborer mother from one of the villages bordering Tirupati managed to graduate. Dhanamma is now an agent at the rural BPO.

When two management students from Vignana ]yothi Institute of Management, Hyderabad, Aparna Krishnan and Sirisha, met her as part of a case study on the rural BPO project, Dhanamma recollected her days when she walked miles together to graze goats, helpless at not being able to go to college. Her mother thought it was worthless attending college instead of helping her with her field work and household chores. She went to college to only write her examinations. She took a BA in political science and when she listened to a presentation by EGMM at a meeting of a SHG, she was convinced that her dreams can be fulfilled by taking up the training at EGMM. She persuaded her father and joined the 45--day training. She was later absorbed by ADFC at the BPO.

"The 45 days at EGMM changed me completely from a shepherdess to a woman ready to be employed in a swank, air conditioned corporate office," she tells the management students proudly displaying her ID card. She feels that the training has been the best part of her life as she has acqUired English speaking skills and can manage the work like any other urban girl.

Dhanamma stays in a hostel at Tirupati as her home is in Patagunta, which is 40 kms away from Tirupati. She sends Rs 2,700 every month to her parents. She complains that many people in her village waste their time doing nothing productive and getting into bad habits like gambling.

Aparna and Sirisha write in their case study: "Dhanamma is a mascot of whole generation of women fighting their way to getting educated and going beyond their borders. She is the first girl to get graduated from her village and the first girl to go out of her village to earn a living. This determination is now spreading in the whole village. On her way to her home lots of kids come up to her to greet her. She says that all of them wish to work like her in the City."
recruited from villages around the temple town, from the lowest rungs of the economic strata. These youngsters (many of them walking down or cycling to the office covering anywhere between 5 and 15 kms daily), are quite a contrast to the motor cycle riding call center executives of the cities.
"We started the Rural BPO more as a corporate social responsibility with the intention of proViding employment opportunities to the rural youth rather than as
a cost-cutting initiative," says A. Rajan, group head - Operations of HDFC Bank and a director on the board of ADFC. "The cost aspect was considered to the extent that the bank should not be spending more than what it was incurring for similar activities in the metros. This is important, since it is pointless to start an initiative unless it is economically viable and self-sustaining in the long run. Since the BPO is intended to proVide job opportunities closer to the rural employees' residences, the bank had to necessarily locate it in a remote town away from the metros, thus incurring a higher cost on leasing appropriate bandwidth. However, this cost is expected to be offset by the fact that infrastructure costs like rentals and wage bills are lower at remote towns, compared with those in a metro," he adds.
There is also another significant advantage.
In rural areas, there is very little attrition as the youngsters, while working in the BPO, can continue to support their family business as well. So, there is a double benefit for them and they are less likely be tempted by the better salary prospects in the metros.
Rajan agrees: "There is negligible attrition.
This saves the BPO significant re-training expenses, which is otherwise incurred by the metro based BPOs facing a sizeable turnover. The few resignations that were seen in the Tirupati BPO were due to the fact that some of the female staff who got married had to re-locate. There were also a few cases where the ladies had to resign for compelling family responsibilities. This was anticipated since the BPO predominantly employs a larger

MARATHON FUTUREX ..

The biggest challenge in Mumbai, the country's financial capital today is the availability of well-defined and well maintained and safe business parks. Construction of state-of-the-art secure structures, built with keeping in mind the seamless functioning of the financial institutions are a must for Mumbai to continue its status as the financial hub of the nation. With growing number of Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) companies in the country's financial capital, the need for buildings with modern infrastructure, catering specifically to these sectors is a must.
The Marathon Group, through its upcoming project Marathon Futurex at Lower Parel, the emerging financial hub ofMumbai, has made an endeavor to fulfill requirements of several such BFSI aspirants to set up their new office in Mumbai.
It was the Marathon Group, which with its several unique commercial and residential projects like Marathon NextGen Innova, Marathon Omega, Marathon NextGen Era etc have already converted Lower Parel from decaying chawls and dead mills to the one of the financial hub of the country's financial
capital with its prestigious projects,
catering to the need of this growing city.
Addressing the need for spacious business parks with a positive ambience, Marathon Futurex, at Lower Parel is one such project in the area being developed by the Marathon Group as one of the most favored tomorrow's busi ness destination for the BFSI companies.
Marathon Futurex is "A" class IT Park overlooking Arabian sea and Mahalaxmi racecourse and offers floor plates from 30,000 sq. ft. to 70,000 sq. ft. and is designed to accommodate more than 900 cars. Impressive and grand centrally air conditioned entrance lobby, lush green sky gardens, advanced building management system, Electric sub-station, DG back up for common areas, broadband connectivity, advanced security with CCTV make this future Green building an ideal business destination.
Centrally located at the junction of Lower Parel and Curry road, Marathon Futurex is easily accessible by all modes of transport­connected to major bus routes, flyovers and Bandra-Worli sea link. Futu rex is the only business destination at a one minute walking distance from Lower Parel and Currey Road railway stations. Proposed skywalk between these two railway station will further ease the connectivity. Air-conditioned monorail services between Jacob circle in South Bombay and Chemburon harbour line will also add up to the reach as the proposed on-route sration is close ro the site along N .M.Joshi Marg. Junction free VT-Sion expressway will facilitate the faster connectivity between central and harbour suburbs
with the central business destination. Upcoming Mumbai Trans Harbour sea linkwill not only bring New Mumbai and adjoinlTlg suburbs closer to Lower Parel but also connect Pune. Concentration of high gear service sector organizations like Peninsula Corpora < Park, Phoenix Mills, Kamala Mills, five star hotels like ITC ar J Fo \' Season's and entertainment outlets at High Street Phoenix In th vicinity itself had become the location advantage ot thL M r rho Futurex. Upcoming hi-end Shangri-La hotel at Phocn ix will FL , , hospitality to new level.
Another reason for Lowet Parel being the preferred destinauor s by the business leaders as compared to the upmarket Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) is, that the latter lacks social infrastructure and ItS neither close to Bandra nor to Kurla railway stations.
The project, being developed in the Mafatlal Mill land compound will host more than 15 landscaped gardens by international architect from Singapore and will feature Drop offlevel adorned with water feature signage, water bodies, water spout sculpture, timber deck,
fountain feature, bamboo garden, garden plaza, cascad ing garden ete.
Marathon is the only developer offering this kind of project in the middle of the Lower Parel business district, offering commercial space through leave and license and outright sales to the customers, that too as per their requirements.
As the demand for commercial space is growing in Mumbai, the commercial capital of the country has seen growing in all the directions. In the current scenarIO, centrally located places such as Lower Parel turned out an extended central business district.
Group's one such landmark project called NextGen lnnova offering independent business spaces starting from 2000 sq. ft. with scalability option upto one lac sq. ft. is located opposite Peninsula Corporate Park in Lower Parel Destination for brands like Anchor,
Sundaram BNP Paribas, HDFC, Dawnay Day AV, STCl Securities, Evergreen Logistics, Armstrong WI! Pvt. Ltd. to name a few, NextGen I nnova is dotted with most conducive features like grand entrance lobby, capsule elevators, hi-tech security, tree lined walkways, independent car park building for more than 500 cars, tennis court and modern clubhouse comprising of gymnasium, swimming pool, squash court, aerobic studio etc on 5" level. This project was awarded as the "Best Commercial Project of the Year" -2006 by Accommodation Times.
The Group is actively involved in High-rise residences, Corporate & IT parks, Retail, Townships and SEZs.

Economic Wisdom Simplified Lonavla Sahakari Bank Ltd

standing, who had practised his vocation effortlessly
for decades as a functionary of the country's central bank. Besides being a central banker and having the responsibility in framing the economic and fiscal policies of the country, he has also been an academic, having lectured in universities and academic institutions and
published several papers on varied
topics on economics. Most notably, he is an author - a novelist - capable of touching the emotional strings of one's mind with his vivid narratives of human passion.
Economics, many say, is a subject considered to be quite dry, dull and uninteresting. But, not his latest creation, 'Economic
Wisdom for Babies'!
Wijewardena makes a
sincere attempt to simplify
and make it easier to comprehend and assimilate. It is basically a compilation of the essays that he had written for his weekly columns in the Sunday Times and the Financial Times, which were avidly wrapped up by the readers. Their encouraging feedback motivated him to bring out these essays in the book form. Included in the compilation are 38 write-ups, each an economic concept elucidated in a story format, situationalizing and fictionalizing it. The language he has used is simple and straightforward and sans the usual jargon that goes with academics.
In a world where there is scarcity and limited availability of resources, as compared to the insatiable wants of human beings, economic literacy must be a priority. The word 'Babies' is intentional and almost a motif denoting the lack of understanding among the people of the basics of economics. Wijewardena has also covered topics like inflation and growth, brain drain and brain gain, high interest income gains, etc. It is indeed his capability to use language to weave a scenario out of an academic topic that makes the book stand out. Take for example this narrative: "We make decisions and come to conclusions looking at only what is within our eye sight. We lose the big picture and so the wide range of repercussions that would follow our actions."

An effective DR plan covers hardware and software critical for the business to restart operations after an eventuality. It should also include plans f

B
anks and financial service institutions are prone to business interruptions anywhere, anytime. It can be the result of natural occurrences, human interventions, environmental mishaps, technical faults of absence of expected services. In the 24x7x365 environment that these institutions tend to operate today, it has become mandatory for them to be prepared for any disaster scenarios. And since these institutions increasingly depend on electronic and real time modes in offering their services, it is necessary that they have a solid, tested and successful business continuity plan in place. These institutions also make use of highly complex technology and business models that are capable of delivering products that are world class and services that transcend international boundaries. Their customers today rely heavily on channels like ATMs, internet and phone banking and services like RTGS, which all work on high-end technology. And then there is the ubiquitous branches that are present all over the place, which are in turn connected to central servers facilitating real time transactions anywhere anytime. In such a scenario, any disaster can render the bank or the financial institution Virtually inoperative for hours or days, which impact their customers, which in turn affect it credibility and image. Besides, the very business of the institutions suffers resulting in losses of severe magnitude.
Anticipating disasters and preparing for them are part of the operations as does regular testing of IT services and back-ups. A well-structured and coherent disaster recovery plan will enable institutions to recover quickly and effectively from unforeseen disasters or emergencies, thus avoiding significant business
interruption and loss.
The RBI has recently mentioned that for all the banks it would be mandatory to deal in the electronic data / money transfers either through RTGS or other gateways. This is highlighting the need for the disaster recovery and business continuity.
There are several important aspects in implementing an effective disaster recovery plan: (i) Devising a plan - Specify what is relevant and important to the institution for it to be operational and how much time it would take for it to recover from a disaster and become operational. (ii) Monitoring the implementation of the plan - It is important to monitor the plan to ensure that implementation is done perfectly. Proactive monitoring and remedial measures like proper back-up and replication of data, preferably offsite, and similar measures have to be taken up which can result in lesser downtime in case of a disaster. (iii) Testing the disaster recovery plan - Rigorous testing of the plan has to be carried out periodically, which only will ensure that in the event of a disaster the recovery happens and happens in no time. (iv) Testing data restoration processes - With imprQved storage systems now available like disk-to-disk transfer of data, the backup software and hardware are of high relevance. These needs to be checked frequently so that there are no losses of any backed up data. (v) Redundancy - Having redundant servers for all critical data and proViding an alternative way to access that data are essential factors in an effective disaster recovery
plan. (vi) Tools to prevent data theft or data destruction - Insiders can be instrumental in causing disasters. The machines in the organization need to be made resistant to such threats. (vii) Engage experts to manage DR process - The whole exercise can be considered to be outsourced to experts - managed service providers as it will be better managed by them than an inside team.
What distinguishes a DR plan from Business Continuity Plan (BCP)? The Business Continuity Institute of the UK has described business continuity management as a holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organization and provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities. BCP is not merely making arrangements for recovery of IT infrastructure, but a comprehensive plan that includes people, processes and non-IT infrastructure.
An effective DR plan covers hardware and software critical for the business to restart operations after an eventuality. It should also include plans for coping with the unexpected or sudden loss of key personnel. On the other hand, BCP has a business focus, not merely IT, and includes disaster recovery plan and IT. It is again enterprise wide, responsibility of the top management and can be outsourced. It should cover critical functions / processes, include business impact analysis, risk assessment, risk management and risk monitoring.
Initially, the concept of captive DR centers was prevailing, but now the shift is happening towards outsourcing the DR centers.
The key challenges that BFSI institutions today face are: (i) cost in managing compleXity; (ii) regulatory compliance; (iii) corporate performance; (iv) top line growth; (v) customer care; (vi) operational efficiency; (vii) governance; (viii) globalization; and (ix) building vs. outsourcing.
The growing demand for disaster recovery and business continuity solutions and services has given rise to several specialists. Among the leaders is Omnitech InfoSolutions. It is the first one in India to have managed its own disaster recovery centers. It already has two as of now - one being in Navi Mumbai and the second in Hyderabad. Both these centers meet the highest international standards. The company has planned to have a total of 8 DR centers across India, including the two mentioned above.
The company's DRP services encompasses professional services in the areas of workplace recovery, data vaulting, remote backup, DR servers/ storage and network equipment hosting, auditing - DR drills and so on. The company has a string of strategic alliances with global leaders like HP, IBM, DELL, and Symantec, which helps it to have inherent strengths like technical expertise, innovation and services.
The company is planning to offer solutions on four layers - workplace, equipment, data and people. The company intends to cover the entire country from eight strategic locations and every city will have near and intra city DR site. These will be developed in satellite townships around the hubs. Each DR site will double up as a far or intercity DR site.

Prepaid Technology from FIS

R
ecently, in the UK, two prepaid cards were launched - one, 'Cash Manager' for adults looking to budget in times of tightened spending, and the other, 'Load & Go', aimed at teens looking for a safer alternative to cash and who want to shop online but may do so only by borrowing their parents' cards.
Imagine a card for teenagers, age 13 and up.
With this card, parents can teach children to manage money. Children may only purchase goods that are 'allowed' e.g., the card can be programmed to bar a purchase at an adult internet site or at a liquor store. Plus, the card can be given to children who study and live far away where spending cannot be watched. The company that launched them, 02, is UK's leading mobile company.
A TELCO LAUNCHING PREPAID CARDS?
Analysts feel that a teko can bring a fresh approach to financial services. The card is in a way a step toward integrating the wallet and the mobile phone. Also, majority of prepaid programs have been developed by building a customer base. This telco comes with millions of existing customers with which it communicates regularly. Marketing the program to these customers will not be as costly as reaching out to new customers. While different business models may drive a tel co to launch Prepaid, reduction of customer churn also makes a reason for entering this business.
IN A RECESSIONARY GLOBAL MARKET?
u.s. data shows that spending on credit and debit cards have decreased in the last quarter of 2008. While the total appears to be up on a yearly basis, statistics point toward reduced spending in many countries in 2009. Thus, budget-consciousness and use of cash to control expenditures will reflect in consumer behavior, implying, increased preference in the usage of ATM and prepaid cards over credit cards.
PREPAID OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA
The Indian psyche is well versed with concepts like small­value, pre-loaded and prepaid. Majority of Indian mobiles are on prepaid plans and small packets of Lays or sachets of L'Oreal are a rage in India. Though on a higher value note, the prepaid travel card has caught the Indian consumers' fancy and a growing number of Indians opt for a one-time or reloadable card instead of forex or TCs. Considering the huge increase in outbound travel (business and leisure), this is an area of growth. However, scope still remains for understanding the complete prepaid proposition. Education by technology providers to banks and end-users is the way forward. Technologically, India
is ready to accept many - if not all - of the following: in Consumer - Gift Card, Merchant Gift Card, Teen/Student Card, Personal Reloadable Card, Travel Cards, Money Transfer Cards; in Commercial - Payroll Card, Incentive Card, Corporate Gift Card, Promotion Card, Catastrophe Card, Insurance ClaimCard, Employee Benefits, Employee Reimbursement; and in Government - Court Ordered Payments, Benefit Disbursements, Unemployment Payetc.
As critical as the decision to go prepaid, is the bank's technology partner. An ideal provider should have a CV that reads:
a) Industry expert with a background in banking and financial services
b) Core Competency & depth of experience - a pioneer, present & committed to India; IT is never reinvented!
c) Size-big processor, large R&D spend, world-wide operations for bandwidth, reach and efficiency
d) Customer Support - local, global, telephone and internet
One company that fits the above description is Fidelity National Information Services or FIS. This USD 5.14 billion company invested U5$30 Million in its prepaid technology in 2008. A pioneer and leader, FlS was world's first prepaid-only processor, in business for more than 10 years. As world's largest, PIS is a full service provider with a multitude of offerings. Its total cards on file today are 192 million with a value load of 11 billion USD, equal to 25 percent market share globally. With over 40 years in banking technology, FIS has been global #1 in banking in the FinTech 100 rankings for four consecutive years and 95% of FIS revenues are derived from services to the BFSI segment.
Present since 1998, FIS has 4000+ employees in seven centers in India, serving the banking and financial services industry. Of that, 250+ constitute its Prepaid Team with expertise in implementation, operations, technology and live support to consumers. Shrihari Bhat, Country Manager, FIS India, says, "Prepaid is poised for tremendous growth and acceptance in India and banks and NBFCs must cash in on this opportunity."
Looking back, in recessionary year, a teko launches prepaid cards in the UK; in India, banks brace up for prepaid products; leading technology providers offer their knowhow in the market and the writing on the wall favours prepaid over credit cards. To conclude, if you are a product manager or marketer, you may want to finalize your own prepaid product and launch it soon. Raksha Bandhan has heralded onset of the festival season. Gifts, bonuses, incentive payouts, weddings, holidays etc., are all waiting for you to capitalize on. Prepaid may not just be a trend. It could actually help you max your 2009 performance targets!

lOB seeks to secure its internet gatewaSyndicate Bank to implement card management solution y UCO Bank to implement CBS in sponsored RRBs

ndian Overseas Bank is planing to secure ih internet gateway and has sought bids for supply of security systems including firewall, intrusion detection and prevention, content filtering, gateway antivirus and URL filter of CYBEROAM brand and SSL VI' appliance. The systems are to be installed at the bank's DR site in Hyderabad. The bank intends to have a solution that can support administration via secured communication over HTITS, SSH and from Console, capable of export and import of configuration backup including user objects, support Route (Layer 3)/transparent mode (Layer 2) and is capable of integration with Windows NTLM, Active Directory, LDAP, Radius or Local Database for user authentication. The proposed solution should also support
Dynamic DNSconfiguration, provie utilization graph on daily, weekly, yearly for total or individuallSP linl real time data transfer/bandwidtl done by individual user/ip/applic as the anti-virus solution sough intends to have an integrated soh has webcoast checkmark certi antivirus/anti spyware, work as , and support scanning for SMTP, FTp, HTTP, FTP over HTTP protoCi content filtering solution is expected to be webcoas certified and should be capable of integrating with Ie instead of queryin

ca Bank has invited bids from prospective vendors to implent c'Jre banking solution in the five regional rural banks sponsored hy it on an ASP model. The five sponsored RRBs are Jaipur Thar Gramin Bank, Kalinga Gramya Bank, Bihar Kshetriya Gramin Bank, l'aschim Banga Gramin Bank and Mahakausal Kshetriya Gramin Bank, which together had around 800 branches in Rajasthan, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. The bank wants the proposed CBS to be deployed on an ASP model and it would award a total contract for the entire services, to be executed on a turnkey basis. The bank has also laid a schedule for implementation
- minimum 25% of each RRB to be covered by CBS t 2009, the next 500,1) branches to be covered by Septeml 100% of the branches to be covered by September 2 view to ensure uniformity in the technology platform business processes at all the five different RRBs, bE proofing against any regulatory consolidation requirem the immediate, the bank has preferred Finacle solutio Technologies. Besides, the bank itself is using Finac feels, would facilitate experience based technical, mal t

yndicate Bank is planning to implement prepaid card management solution on an ASP model for cards issued by the bank in affiliation with VISA/MasterCard and for use at VISA/ MasterCard enabled ATMs and POS terminals and other shared networks of the bank. The bank would prefer a solution provider, which would have its own switch and application host in place for authorization, authentication and settlement with secure web access to the bank's card center at Bangalore, hank branches all over India and customers / pre-paid cardholders JCfOSS the world. The various cards issued by the bank include branded gift card, payroll card, prepaid purchasing card, travel card, campus card, virtual prepaid cards and lenslon cards. The bank will implement the project on a revenue haring model under which the net revenue generated from he busi!less shall be shared between the bank and the selected
vendor on a determined ratio, while the VISA/MasterC and other third party certification charges would be b, bank. It will be the sole responsibility of the selectee provide pre-paid card management and also offer services in pre-paid card solution including back-el of switch maintenance / authorization, network ill,
authorization, MIS,
services and dispute Besides, the vendor Sf hosted services with infrastructure for aut
authentication and
of transactions. The should include fun like, interchange accou necessary reporting tools management / risk management tools / Fraud Manag Anti Money Laundering (AML) Tools with web enabl Branches / Card Centre of the Bank.
raining support to the RRBs from the sponsor bank.
g to database hosted somewhere on and be a standalone HTrp proxy.

New Frontiers at Banking Frontiers

Having covered the banking sector in this magazine for over 7 years, and having organized seminars, conferences and roundtables for 5 years, time was ripe for us to start some new activity. And that new activity is research surveys. From time to time, we will come to you with a set of questions and based on your responses, will present you the analysis.
On an experimental note, we started off on a mini survey on corporate banking, with only 7 respondents. The full analysis of the survey will be presented later, but here I will share with you some interesting responses from the participants. On the training front, it emerges that it is not product knowledge, nor technology knowhow, but simply soft skills that is the most critical training need for front office staff. On the back office side, it was a combination of core banking knowhow and credit appraisal skills that demanded maximum training. As regards internal database, the customer database turns outto be the most important database. For external source of information, the most critical are varied including websites of RBI, NABARD, Ministry of Finance, etc.
In terms of outsourcing various activities, the key drivers are cost reduction, improved productivity and volume variation.
Common drivers cited by corporate bankers for growing
the volume of business include improved processes,
improved technology and more business intelligence.
Common drivers for improving profits was primarily better products. For both volume and profit growth, adding more people was seen as the least appropriate solution.
All in all, the survey shows that corporate
banking continues to be a complex business where change comes in slowly. Seems that process, products and technology are the areas where maximum changes are in the pipeline.
We will share with you a proper analysis once we have inputs from a larger number of participants in this survey. Do let us know what survey topic are of interest to you.
CORRIGENDUM
There was a typographic error in the news on page 45 in the July issue. The name of ED of Syndicate Bank, R Ramachandran was mentioned as R Ramanathan. The error is regretted.

Next example: suppose a customer comes to your website requesting dollars or pesos or some foreign currency, will it make sense to tell him about trav

£mancial organisations are concerned that might work. I find that when I am dealing with something like subscriptions then they have their own norms. There are organisations that will accept a letter from a bank or the address on the statement as a standard address proof, but many people will not. I would say the second part is a little more difficult.
Manoj: Any other opinions on how an address change can be done?
Dr Ravish: In many branches, we have up to three generations managing accounts at out bank. So address change becomes a herculean task. So on an experimental basis, in select branches, we have begun a process. We have printed a small chit asking for the name, telephone number and latest address and we are requesting the customers to hand over the chit to the customer desk at their nearest branch. So whenever the customer visits the branch or we call him, we can automatically take it as a KYC.
Asha: Giving a letter as a change of address is not enough. It also requires a documentary proof of address. So the bank itself is not the referral point of that proof. We also depend on another proof to update the address. The KYC norms of RBI states that there are documents that need to be asked for when updating address change. If it a borrower, then we will have his residence proof vetted with a personal visit. This does not exist when it's a liability product.
Manoj: South Indian Bank is planning to go in for business intelligence system for marketing activities. How do you see your KYC data get up-to-date?
Kannan: For address change, the prerequisite is the correct address maintenance. I think today the information is either incomplete or incorrect. The core banking solution are more related to transactions. Even though any core banking would like to capture the address line, the street name and all related information, the operator may put a dot and move on to other fields. So address details are either incomplete or inaccurate. Once the address is noted into the system, then only can we think of how we handle this address change. So when it comes to the address change in the system there are certain mechanisms like sending a bill to the customer or sending a statement requesting to inform the bank about any address change in future, etc. It becomes the responsibility of the customer to inform the bank about any change in address. So when we receive the address change it ca be put into the system - only thing is that in core banking not much importance is given to this. That's when we resort to CRM with customer intelligent solution where all this data will be transferred to the datawarehousing solution which we are thinking of in South Indian Bank. The data will be transferred there and then comes the process of de-duplication where the same customer may have accounts in multiple branches. So we need to consolidate that statement. Once the data is in place then all your cross-selling, upselling, budgets and financials, customer and risk intelligence, all that will naturally fall into place. So/ I think the biggest challenge when you go in for datawarehousing is to keep all the data accurate, and maintain the data.
Poojari: We use more emails nowadays than addresses, particularly for NRls. It is cost-effective also. The address that you are recording is losing importance for marketing purpose.

Manoj: Next example: suppose a customer comes to your website requesting dollars or pesos or some foreign currency, will it make sense to tell him about travel arrangements, offer advice on weather and health. Should banks be trying to collaborate with other organizations or other websites that offer up-to-date information on such matters? What do you think about banks being proactive rather than just offering the forex and closing the deal?
John: Our site is updated daily. As for NRls, they contact us through email.Ourinternationalbankingdepartment, ie, a cell exclusively for RIs, and we advice them and help them out. Suppose they want to invest in foreign currency, so that kind of advice is given by the NRI cell.
Taneja: Forex inquiry from a customer is an invitation to engage. The customer is telling you that he wants a transaction where the bank can play direct as well as indirect roles. You can ask him his travel plans, the reason for the travel, travel and health insurance, etc. You can have a tie-up with a travel services portal and then offer the customer a discount if he uses that. You can make him an attractive offer by suggesting that he use the card and avail of some discounts during his stay abroad. For banks like us, this is an exceptional transaction, which a small percentage of your customers will do. It clearly tells you that the customer has the potential to grow the relationship far beyond what you have now.
PK Nair: Why can't we use remittance services to offer advisory services as to where customers can invest their money? One of the banks is slowly starting to look at the internet as a channel to offer advisory services. Federal Bank has a tie up with Geojit. They use each other's services. They are cross-selling and upselling. This is creating an integrated chain.
Manoj: What about Bank of Baroda? You have the largest number of overseas branches among Indian banks?
Poojari: As far as circulation of information is concerned, we have a system of collecting all the data, particularly the email addresses, create a group and periodically send whatever development is taking place in the bank, especially information that is not related to the bank, such as remission of stamp duty on purchase of land. Although the bank is not concerned with this, we percolate this down to the NRls. Even NRls are well informed now. They know where to invest. It's only because of recession that they are parking their funds temporarily in some account and always looking for some avenue of investment. For that investment, we have separate divisions which help them,

PNB to buy POS terminals SBI to acquire HP server systems forOBC plans to expand VSAT connectivity CMP center

S
ta te Bank of India is looking for high­end HP server systems, components and operating software for its Cash Management Product center to be part of the setup at the DRP site. The servers include HP RISC server with Ultrium Tape (LT03) drive and Xeon server and operating software and other system software. The HP Rx 6600 server will have specs including processor 1 Cores 4 x Itanium Du
with 18 MB L3 cache. The HP tape drive (LT03) will have HP storage-works UItrium-920 400/800 GB tape drive and HP OS HP Ux lli V3.0 Base operating system with compatibility with Oracle 109 DB. The bank will also acquire an HP DL - 580 G5 XEON QC server with processor 1 cores 2 x Xeon Quad Core processors scalable up to 4 sockets and expandability up to 4 processors and HP Data Protector.
P

unjab National Bank will be implementing an end­to-end solution for its merchant acquiring business which will comprise installation and maintenance and management of electronic data capture machines

(POS terminals) at various merchant establishments and providing payment gateway solution for facilitating payments over internet for e­commerce transactions. The bank is also looking for a system that is capable of handling other channels like lVR, 16 MB and minimum 4 lines display. It would be PSTN, USB, CDMA enabled and would adhere to PCl-PED norms. Besides, it will also be Acquirer Device Verification Tool and Terminal Integration process certified, magnetiC stripe and smartcard reader integrated
and dynamic currency conve
O

riental Bank of Commerce is proposing to set up VSAT based connectivity for offsite/onsite ATM locations and select branches across the country. This, the bank expects, will supplement its robust, state-of­the-art WAN connecting its branches and offices with its data center and DR site located at Mumbai and Delhi. The Bank has 3-tier network where the access points are connected to aggregating points, that is, regional offices which are linked to the data center and the DR site. In order to achieve a target of zero data loss, the bank has setup a Near Line Site (NLS) in the same premise where data center is located. The network connectivity available at access locations
are leased line (64 Kbps capacity) as primary link and ISDN dial up as secondary link. Aggregation points are connected to the data center and DR site through two numbers of 2 Mbps capaCity links. The networking setup includes routers and switches of Cisco make. At present locations where both links were technically not feasible from telecommunications service proViders are connected through VSAT, which are approXimately 150 access locations spread across the country. In addition, there are some 175 offsite ATM locations, which are connected through VSAT based connectivity. The VSAT network is mix of Ext-C & KU Band technology.rsion compliant. Besides, the terminals would also be EMV compliant, PIN enabled and capable for acceptance of all types of cards, including chip based smart cards issued in association with VISA and MasterCard.
mobile, etc. The POS terminals will

have processors with 32 bit or more, memory with 4-8 MB and expandable The bank will be acquiring the systems through a reverse auction event on the internet.
al core EPIC processors - 8 cores with expandability up to eight cores, frequency 1.6 Ghz or higher

. Recall, normally, lung fields are dry primarily because of low (about 9 mm Hg) capillary BP in the pulmonary circulation. But in mitral stenosis thi

the finer vessels become thickened due to the resultant anoxia and pulmonary hypertension develops →this leads to right venlricular hypertrophy and finally failure. As a resulf of pulmonary congestion, pulmonary capillary BP rises → pulmonary edema develops. Recall, normally, lung fields are dry primarily because of low (about 9 mm Hg) capillary BP in the pulmonary circulation. But in mitral stenosis this may become something like 20 or 25 mm Hg. Characteristic clinical finding of mitral sfenosis is mid diastolic murmur and where the heart is beating regularly with a sinus rhythm ( = pace maker remains the SAN), there is usually a presystolic accentuation. Atrial fibrillation often develops in cases of mitral stenosis and with the onset of atrial fibrillation, the presystolic accentuation disappears. Explanation of the murmur. Recall, in most situations, normally, flow of the blood is streamllie Streamline flows are silent but turbulent flows are noisy. Streamline flows can become turbulent (and, therefore, noisy), under some circumstances, like when the Reynold's number exceed 1000 (chap 7 sec V). For example, when the velocity of blood rises or the lumen of the vascular tube is very wide, the stream line flow becomes turbulent (and noisy) because it exceeds the critical Reynold's number of 1000. " British physiologist and clinician (a renowned cardiologist), Lewis made lasting contributions in many fields, like ECG, pain producing substance- substance P histamine, circus movement and was also guru of Pickering (the great exponent of hypertension). Sir Thomas worked mostly in the pre 2nd world war time. However, if the flowing blood meets an obstacle, the flowing blood rebounds the particles of blood collide with one another turbulence is produced. This type of turbulence will be produced, even when the Reynold's number is much below 1000. In mitral stenosis, there is narrowing of the mitral opening (from a normal value of 4 to 6 sq cm, the orifice may become now well below 2 sq. cm). This produces an obstruction to the flow murmur develops with a Reynold's number value well below 1000. Nevertheless, if the velocity be increased (eg. by exercising the patient) the murmur becomes louder. The presystolic accentuation is due to the last rapid filling phase which in turn is due to atrial contraction, causing increase in the velocity. In atrial fibrillation, where there is no atrial contraction, there is, therefore, no presystolic accentuation. II. Mitral incompetence Vast majority of mitral incompetence cases are chronic cases and most ol them are of rheumatic fever origin. Mitral valve prolapse, however, is another important cause, particularly in the west In mitral incompetence, the mitral valves cannot close completely during ventricular systole as a result, some blood from the left ventricle regurgitates into the left atrium during ventricular systole (mitral regurgitation) a the regurgitated blood may also enter the pulmonary veins. Characteristic finding in mitral incompetence is a systolic murmur (= murmur during ventricular systole). Recall, part of the 1st heart sound is due to turbulence created by rebounce of blood from the undersurface of the mitral valve during ventricular contraction. To this, another kind of turbulence is created due to leakage of blood into the atrium. Left atrium contains extra blood due to regurgitation. This extra blood can produce 3rd heart sound (protodiastohc gallop ) during 1st rapid filling phase. III. Aortic incompetence (regurgitation) Great majorities of aortic incompetence cases are chronic. Rheumatic fever is a very important cause, syphilis is another. Rheumatic fever can cause scarring of the aortic valve a condition is created when these valves cannot close properly therefore, blood from the aorta regurgitates into the left ventricle during ventricular diastole ventricle receives extra blood in its diastohc period (volume overload or preload, see chap 2 sec V) operation of Frank Starling's law rise in stroke volume sharp rise in systolic BP (SBP). Further, regurgitation causes too quick and too extensive draining of blood from the aorta reduction of diastohc BP (DBP), further, duration of diastole is also short. Major findings of aortic incompetence, are therefore, (i) a water hammer pulse, (ii) high SBP but low DBP (eg. 160/ 30 mm Hg) both the features are due to reasons stated above (see also 'water hammer pulse' in 'pulse' chap 9 sec V); and (mi) a diastohc murmur (which is due to turbulence of blood in the ascending arota and left ventricular cavity) heard in the clinical aortic area. As coronary arteries are filled mostly in the diastole, and as the DBP is very low in such cases, in aortic incompetence cases, coronary supply is often geopardised. HEART FAILURE Heart failure may be viewed as a condition, where there is insufficient contractility (inotropic state) of the heart which results in such a reduction of cardiac output despite adequate venous filling that it leads to insufficient perfusion of the tissues. In the beginning, there operate the compensatory mechanisms and in well compensated cases ('mild heart failure') patient may remain reasonably symptom free at rest. In advanced or severe heart failure, despite the operation of compensatory mechanisms, the patient worsens. [This definition of heart failure covers only the 'classical or systolic heart failure'. Other types, however, have been ignored to keep the discussion simple. ] The signs and symptoms of heart failure are to a large extent, due to the compensatory mechanisms. In dealing with the heart failure, traditionally, two terms are used : (1) Forward failure (introduced

Any secondary spot in the chromatogram obtained with solution (1) is not more intense than the spot in the chromatogram obtained with solution (2) and

lemperature and spray with dilute polassium indobismuthate solution. Any secondary spot in the chromatogram obtained with solution (1) is not more intense than the spot in the chromatogram obtained with solution (2) and not more than one such spot is more intense than the spot in the chromatogram obtained with solution (3). Sulphated ash: Not more than 0.2% Appendix 3.22: Water: Not more lhan 4,0% w/w, determined on 0.5 g, Appendix 3.24. Assay: Weigh accurately about 0.5 g, dissolve m 30 ml of anhydrous glacial acetic acid and carry out Method A for non-aqueous titration, Appendix 3.45, determining the end-point potenti ometrically.. Perform a blank determination and make any necessary correction: Each mlof 0.1M perchloric acid is equivalent to 0.06768 g of (C17H23NO3)2,H2S04,ATROPINE SULPHATE EYE OINTMENTAtropme Eye OintmentAtropine Sulphate Eye Ointment is a sterile preparation of Atropine Sulphate in an eye ointment base. Usual strength: 1.0% w/w. STANDARDSAtropine Sulphate Eye Ointment contains not less than 92.5 per cent and not more than 107.5 per cent of the stated amount of atropine sulphate, (C17H23N03)2,H204,H20. Identification: Carry out the method for thin-layer chromatography, Appendix 4.6, using silica gel G as the coating substance and a mixture of 50 volumes of chloroform, 40 volumes of acetone and 10 volumes of diethylamine as the mobile phase. Apply separately to the plale 5 µl of each of the following solutions. For solution. (1) dissolve a quantity of the ointment equivalent to 10 mg of Atropine Sulphate as completely as possible in 10 ml of light petroleum (boiling range 40° to 60°) and extract with two quantities, each of 10 ml, of 0.05M sulphuric acid, washing each acid solution with the same 5 ml of light petroleum (boiling range 40° to 60°) Mix Ihe acid solutions, make alkaline with dilute ammonia solution, and extract with two quantities, each of 15 ml, of chloroform. Remove the chloroform and dissolve the residue in 2 ml of ethanol (95%). Solution (2) contains 0.5% w/v of atropine sulphate RS in ethanol (95%). After removal of the plate, dry it at 105° for 20 minutes, allow it to cool lo room temperature and spray with polassium iodobismuthate solution. The principal spot in the chromatogram obtained with solution (1) corresponds to that in the chromalogram obtained with solution (2). Other requirements: Complies with the requirements of tests stated under Eye Ointments. Assay: Carry out Ihe method for gas chromatography, Appendix 4.2, using the following solutions. For solution (1) dissolve a quantity of Ihe eye ointment equivalent to 10 mg of Atropine Sulphate in 15 ml of chloroform, add 2 ml of a 0.5% w/v solution of homatropine hydrobromide RS (internal standard) in methanol (solulion A) and extract with two quantities, each of 10 ml, of 0.1M hydrochloric acid. Wash the combined exlracts with 10 ml of chloroform, add 2 ml of 5M ammonia. Extract with Iwo quantities, each of 10 ml, of chloroform, shake the combined extracts with 2 g of anhydrous sodium sulphate, filter and evaporate Ihe filtrate to dryness. Dissolve the residue m 5 ml of dichloromethane. To 1 ml of this solulion add 0.2 ml of a mixture of 4 volumes of N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acetamide and 1 volume of trimelhylchlorosilane, mix and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Prepare solution (2) in the same manner as solution (1) but omittmg the addition of solution A. For solution (3) add 2 ml of solulion A and 2 ml of 5M ammonia to 20 ml of a 0.05% w/v solution of atropine sulphate RS and complete the procedure described under solution (1) beginning at the words "Extract with two quantities, each of 10 ml, of chloroform......, ".The chromatographic procedure may be carried out using a glass column (1.5 m x 4 mm) packed with acid washed, silanised dialomaceous support (80 to 100 mesh) coated with 3% w/w of phenyl methyl silicone fluid (50% phenyl) (OV-17 is suitable) and maintained at 220° Calculate the content of (C17H23NO3)2,H2S04,H20 from Ihe declared content of (C17H23NO3)2,H2S04,H20 in atropine sulphate RS.ATROPINE SULPHATE INJECTION Atropine InieclionAtropine Sulphate Iniection is a slerile solution of Atropine Sulphate in Water for Iniection. Usual strenqths: