Electronic Payments Can Curb Black Money

The group president for Visa, one of the world's largest payment companies, has said that governments can curb black money by partnering commercial institutions to promoter electronic payments. Electronic payments includes the gamut of channels through the banking channels which includes, credit cards, internet and mobile payments.

In an interview with TOI, Elizabeth Buse, group president, Visa, responsible for Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa said that bringing transactions out of cash into electronic forms will allow governments to have better tax compliance and greater monitoring of fraudulent transaction and money laundering.

"In markets like Mexico we have seen government subsidize terminalization to bring more transactions out of the black economy. Without government participation it is challenging for commercial enterprises to come and promote electronic payments. The government has to be a partner," she said. Besides reducing black money, electronic payments also promote growth, Buse said. She pointed to a Moody's finding that between 2004 and 2009 electronic payments have added 50 basis points to global GDP, adding $1.1 trillion to global wealth.

According to Buse, there are a number of impediments for electronic transactions, but top of the list is acceptance. "In India only 3% of consumer spending transactions are through electronic payments. So you have 97% of this big fast growing economy as an opportunity," she said. Buse, who is considered as one of the 25 most powerful women in finance by US Banker, is in the process of tying up with State Bank of India to install credit card swipe machines in at least five lakh merchant establishments - a target set by SBI.

"To solve the merchant acceptance problem we knew that it will require a different structure than what we have today. We really wanted to increase the rate and breadth of consumer acceptance because 80% of the consumers do not live in the big cities where you have the POS terminals."

Buse said the new acceptance machines will be different kind of terminal which would perhaps use mobile network. "You may think of a hotel as a traditional form of merchant establishment that accepts cards but we have to reach small merchants in small towns and that will require different services and a different economic model."

She feels that debit cards will drive payments in India. India has 22.8 crore debit cards, and debit card transactions grew 39% last year. "We see much of the cash transaction going to debit and SBI has the largest debit card portfolio. So we are partnering SBI on the customer side as well as the merchant side."

The other big bet is on mobile payments. According to Buse, in mobile payments where standards are still evolving, the most prevalent model will be one open to maximum number of participants and which runs on most of the mobile handsets.

On Thursday, Visa announced that it is acquiring South Africa based Fundamo, a leading platform provider of mobile financial services for mobile network operators and financial institutions in developing economies. It also announced a new, long-term commercial agreement with Monitise PLC, a leading provider of mobile money solutions for financial institutions in more developed geographies.

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Eligibility Criteria For Home Loans

Most people are obsessed with an idea of purchasing a home of their own. People, who are financially sound, manage to purchase their dream homes easily. But, there are also those who don’t have sufficient amount of money to purchase a dream home. Ostensibly, these people quest certain source to get financial assistance to purchase a home of their own without any hassle.

Home loan is the best source of arranging finance when it comes to purchasing a home. Fortunately, with presence of so many banks and financial institutes in the market today, people have good option to avail home loans to buy a dream home.

Home loan is one of the most important sources of managing your financial deficiency during the time of purchasing a home. People who need immediate financial assistance to ease out hassle involved in purchasing a home can fend off such problems by applying home loan at a bank or other financial institute that provide home loan services. However, availability of home loans is subject to fulfillment of certain eligibility criteria from the home loan applicants.

Banks have their respective eligibility criteria for home loan applicants. You are supposed to fulfill your eligibility criteria, failure to which may cause rejection of your application regarding home loans. The article is mentioning some eligibility criteria for home loans that will guide you how to avail home loans for your need.

The applicant should minimum be of 21 years old. The maximum age limits varies according to the applicant. The salaried person should be of 58 years old and age of 60 years is determined for government employees. Those who are self-employed must be 65 years age old.

As per the academic qualification, the applicant should be a graduate from any stream but s/he should be graduated from a recognized institute. If you have completed your master degree, that will be an added advantage to fulfill the eligibility criteria for home loans.

More so, there should be stability in source of income from the applicants. You should also state your current income, annual income and spouse’s income (if existed) and details of previous loans (if you’ve applied). You will be asked to submit a report of bank statements and details of taxes you are paying to the government.

You will be asked about the stability of your current work profiles, with information about whether or not you will stay connected with the job for almost 15 years.

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Getting Family Floater Health Insurance Policy

Health insurance policy is one of the most indispensable things that any individual should purchase to ensure that any unforeseen circumstances regarding medical issues can well be fended off prematurely. Among various health policies available for individual’s health safety, family floater health insurance policy is one of them that ensure unusual health safety and benefits to you and your family members.

One of the remarkable features of floater health insurance plan is that it provides the health coverage under same plan for a single premium to all of your family members. The sum assured is available in case any eventuality experienced by your family member during the term of family floater health insurance plan.

There is no dearth of insurance companies providing family floater health insurance policy. However, the terms and conditions associated with plan, and the sort of coverage benefits you will avail during the plan existed may vary according to the insurance company that you have chosen.

This is the reason why individuals, seeking health insurance policy in this regard should carefully read through the policy plans of the company before purchasing the plan. This is one of the best ways to avoid any unpleasant outcomes at the end or maturity of the health insurance plan that you have purchased.

Some companies under their family floater health insurance schemes give you the medical benefits, such as it covers medical expenses like room charge, cost of medications and doctor’s fees during your hospitalization terms for more than 24 hours. More so, the plan also benefits you by covering your day care medical expenses incurred on technical surgeries and other medical procedures consuming not more than 24 hours during your hospitalization term.
The aforementioned benefits under family floater health insurance policy are subject to variations depending upon the kind of insurance company you are choosing. That means to say, not all the insurance companies can give you the identical and same medical coverage benefits as others and variations are inevitable in their service.

Therefore, you are requested to search extensively from Google search engine about insurance companies providing health insurance plans including family floater health insurance policy.
Adding further, some insurance companies have also their respective eligibility criteria for availing family floater health insurance plan. As an applicant, you are supposed to read these eligibility criteria carefully to avoid any confusion in future.

More so, you can also consult the concerned representative of the insurance company regarding any issue and suggestions that seem plausible and worth-consulting for you.

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Ambani’s Reliance Industries Buys Out Bharti in Insurance Venture With Axa

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), India’s biggest company by market value, will acquire Bharti Enterprises Ltd.’s stake in its general and life insurance joint ventures with Axa SA (CS), Europe’s second-largest insurer. The transaction amount wasn’t disclosed.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance is seeking to expand in the financial services business as demand increases in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy. In March, Reliance announced an agreement with D.E. Shaw & Co., the $20 billion hedge fund founded by David Shaw. The two plan to start stock- brokerage and private-equity businesses in India.

Reliance is looking to diversify its business as earnings growth from its core oil and gas business slows. The company missed analysts’ expectations in the quarter ended March 31 with a 14 percent increase in net income, the least in six quarters.

“The revenues from the oil and gas business will not increase substantially and so the company needs to look for new streams of business,” said Kishor Ostwal, managing director of CNI Research (India) Ltd., a publicly traded equities-research provider in Mumbai. “They have announced that they want to enter the financial business arena and this is a progression in that direction.”

Reliance Industries fell 1 percent to 944.5 rupees at the 3:30 p.m. close in Mumbai yesterday. Reliance Industrial Infrastructure shares gained 2.7 percent, the most in more than two months, to 569.45 rupees. The announcement was made after the close of markets.

Ownership Limit

Reliance will hold 57 percent and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd. (RIIL) 17 percent in the life and general insurance companies. Paris-based Axa will continue to hold 26 percent in the ventures, the maximum allowed by Indian laws. It will have the option to acquire an additional 24 percent in the businesses, if and when local regulations allow greater foreign ownership in insurance, a statement from Reliance said.

Bharti, the holding company for India’s biggest mobile- phone operator, Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BHARTI), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s partner in the country, entered the insurance business in 2006.

“The decision is in line with Bharti’s strategy of focusing its energies and financial resources in businesses where it is making a deeper impact,” Bharti said in an e-mailed statement announcing the sale yesterday. “Currently, the financial services ventures do not fit into Bharti’s long-term growth plans.”

Bharti, controlled by billionaire Sunil Mittal, will use the proceeds from the sale for other group businesses, the statement said, without providing more information.

Insurance Premiums

In the year ended March 2011, Bharti AXA Life collected premiums of 7.9 billion rupees ($177 million) and Bharti AXA General Insurance 5.5 billion rupees, the statement from Reliance said.

D.E. Shaw will join with Reliance to offer investment banking, derivatives trading and alternate-asset management next year, Louis Salkind, managing director at D.E. Shaw, said in an interview in Mumbai on May 26.

D.E. Shaw India Financial Services Pvt., the venture with Reliance, will hire 100 people in the next 12 months to 18 months, and raise funds locally by the fourth quarter to invest in private companies, Salkind said. The company will build a platform for trading stocks and derivatives this year for large investors.


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Anna Denied Permission For Fast At Jantar Mantar

Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare has been denied the permission for a one-day fast, sources have told CNN-IBN. Hazare had applied for permission to hold a fast on June 8 but sources say that the Government is in no mood to relent.

They point out that as Section 144 (unlawful assembly) of the Criminal Procedure Code is in force in New Delhi so the permission will not be granted.

Sources say that the Government is also unlikely to start any negotiations with Hazare or Baba Ramdev. Sources add that the Government is of the view that governance has a procedure and law making is its prerogative.

Shanti Bhushan on Tuesday morning had sent a notice to the Delhi police on behalf of Anna Hazare saying that they had given a call to the public for a day long fast at Jantar Mantar on June 8.

Social activists Aanna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal met on Tuesday to discuss the future course of action in regard to the proposed June 8 protest fast and the Lokpal bill.

Arvind Kejriwal said that protest called for by Hazare would be held even if it meant courting arrest.

"We will go ahead with our plan to protest at Jantar Mantar tomorrow. Section 144 seems to be arbitrary, if there is a real law and order problem, then let the government tell us. We are also not irresponsible. The government seems to believe that it has a right to be corrupt and who ever raises their voice against corruption, they impose section 144. If the police stops us, we will court arrest," said Kejriwal.

Rajya Sabha Member BK Hari Prasad condemned Anna Hazare's reaction to the midnight crackdown at the Ramlila Maidan on Saturday saying that there was nothing wrong wih it.

"There was nothing wrong in the midnight action taken by the police at the Ramlila Maidan. It seems as if there was a conspiracy to create a Godhra like situation in the Capital."

Prasad also said that Hazare was the face of the RSS saying that, "Anna Hazare is a 'Mukhauta' for the Sangh Parivar."

He also took a stand against the BJP's 24-hour Satyagraha held at Rajghat.

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Bad Reactions To Drugs Have Reached Epidemic Levels

According to a group of doctors and scientists.

Around one in 15 hospital admissions each year, more than a million patients, is due to adverse drug reactions, says the Safer Medicines Trust, based on official figures.

They say the current system is failing and animal testing of drugs is exposing patients to ‘dangerous’ treatments.

Measured dosage: Britons swallow millions of tablets on doctor's advice

The trust, which campaigns for alternative ways of testing the safety of medicines, said the drug industry is over-dependent on animal testing.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister and Health Secretary, published in The Lancet, it said animal testing has failed to protect patients.

Six young men were left in intensive care by a trial drug in 2006 which was ‘demonstrably safe in monkeys at doses nearly 500 times higher than those that nearly proved fatal to the volunteers’, the trust said.

It wants new technologies based on human biology to be used instead, after an official assessment of their fitness for purpose.

A spokesman for the Medicines and Healthcare Product Regulatory Agency said: ‘It is very important to recognise that at present there are no laboratory methods available to totally replace animal testing of medicines.’

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Ramdev Begins Indefinite Fast Against Corruption

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev launched his indefinite fast against corruption and black money in New Delhi this morning after the government failed to persuade him to call off his protest.

The yoga guru began the protest along with thousands of his followers at the Ramlila Maidan here as he was joined by Swami Sadhvi Ritambara and other religious leaders from the Sikh, Jain and Muslim communities.

Before launching the fast, Baba Ramdev held a yoga and ’bhajan’ session during which he told the gathering that the protest was intended to save the country from corruption and ensure that the poor get a good life.

“Nothing is impossible, everything is possible and we are not going to be defeated,” the saffron-clad Baba seated on an elevated platform, told the gathering, referring to bringing back of black money stashed in tax havens abroad.

Baba Ramdev arrived at the stage at around 0450 hrs today to a huge round of applause from his followers.

Union ministers Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay had held a marathon meeting yesterday with Baba Ramdev to persuade him to not go ahead with his indefinite fast. However, the talks failed to reach any breakthrough with the yoga guru insisting that all his demands be met with completely.

Alleges conspiracy against him

Baba Ramdev alleged there was a conspiracy against him to ensure that he does not go ahead with his protest fast but asserted that it had “failed”.

“I will certainly not talk about all issues today, there was a conspiracy but it has failed. What was the conspiracy, I will not say today. When the right time comes, I will say,” he said.

“What will India get from this protest? India will be saved now... People will get an opportunity for the first time that in all government professional colleges one can carry on the studies in his mother tongue,” he said.

Sadhvi Ritambara, who also addressed the gathering, lavished praises on him saying “if there were more Vallabhai Patels, then there was no need for a sanyasi to sit on satyagraha.”

Baba Ramdev was at his humorous best while addressing his followers. When a follower gave him a Rs 11-lakh cheque, the Baba joked, “Take the photos, this is not black money.”

A large number of security personnel, including women from Rapid Action Force, were deployed at the protest site to ensure no untoward incident takes place. A manual frisking is also being carried out at the entrance.

The crowd cheered Baba Ramdev whenever he spoke about bringing back black money, declaring it as a national asset and other issues of corruption. A number of RSS pracharaks in their uniforms were also seen at the site, keenly listening to the discourse.

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