SBI chief not in awe of RBI measures

Not enthused by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) steps unveiled yesterday to attract capital flows, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri has said the central bank measures were short-term in nature, while the country required equity and foreign investment for long-term growth.

Sharing India Inc’s views, the SBI chief said, “There is a need for more equity investment in the country and enhancing capabilities for raising exports, as at present we import more and export less.”

“These are short-term measures, while the country needs steps for long-term growth,” Chaudhuri told reporters here last evening, while commenting on the measures taken by RBI to arrest the slide of the rupee.

India Inc has termed the steps taken by RBI as “minimal”, since the industry was hoping for “strong actions” at this time. Rupee has declined 25 per cent in the past 12 months. The government and RBI yesterday announced the much-hyped measures to boost foreign inflows, including raising foreign institutional investors (FII) limit in sovereign bonds and liberalising foreign borrowing norms for exporters. FIIs’ ceiling on investment in government securities (G-sec) has been raised to $20 billion from $15 billion. Moreover, the lock-in period for FII investment up to $10 billion into G-secs has been reduced to three years from five years.

The bank also said it will recruit about 10,500 employees during the current financial year to manage the growing business of the bank.

“This year, the bank would make 9,500 clerical level appointments and nearly 1,000 probationary officers are to be inducted,” Chaudhuri said.

According to the annual report of SBI, the overall staff strength declined by 7,452 employees during the last financial year. As on March 31, 2012, the bank had a total permanent staff strength of 2,15,481, including 80,404 officers, 95,715 clerical staff and 39,362 sub-staff. In 2011-12, SBI’s net profit rose 42 per cent to Rs 11,707 crore, one of highest net profits earned by a company in the country.