CRR hike won’t impact interest rates, industry: Finance Secretary

Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla on Friday said, the RBI’s review policy has taken a balanced view of the current situation and the CRR hike would not have any affect either on interest rates or the industrial recovery.

“In our assessment, the Reserve Bank has taken a very balanced view of the situation,” Chawla told reporters after the RBI raised Cash Reserve Ratio by (CRR) 75 basis points.

The central bank hiked the CRR, the money banks need to park with the RBI, to 5.75 per cent from 5 per cent today in view of the rising prices.

“The CRR hike of 75 basis points is, in our view, appropriate and adequate because it would only impact the excess liquidity which is in the system,” he said.

The RBI’s not taking any other step on the policy rates at this stage clearly indicates that it intends to proceed in a calibrated manner in handling the recovery, he said.

The RBI has retained repo (short-term lending) and reverse repo (short-term borrowing) rates, which have a direct bearing on interest rates, at 4.75 and 3.25 per cent respectively.

“The bankers have been saying that they don’t see the possibility of any rate hike at this stage,” Chawla replied to a query on whether banks are likely to raise lending rates.

He said RBI has rightly acknowledged that managing the recovery is as important as managing the crisis was, and that the apex bank’s action would not impact industrial recovery.

“RBI has used only the CRR. They haven’t used any other instruments of monetary policy. So, I don’t think there is any need to over react to that,” he said on industrial recovery.

Investments in Texas repo homes to provide best returns

Are you looking for some best options for investing your hard earned money? Are you interested in knowing about the option that can offer you best returns and that too in no time? If the answer of both of the questions is yes, then Texas repo homes is the option that you must opt for.

The repo homes also known by the name of Real Estate Owned (REO) or foreclosures are a part of real estate business that has been apprehended by the lender on the default of the homeowner to return the loan that he/she has mortgaged. Thus with the option of repo homes the homes that have very high value are sold at the prices that are beyond imagination of the person.

For investing in the Texas repo homes, it is very important to first look for various factors. Such factors include competence, knowledge of the business, choice of proper realtor, arrangement of finance in advance etc.

Investment in repo homes are going to provide desired results if the person is competent enough and has full knowledge about the business. In addition it is also important that the person should choose the appropriate realtor in order to get more advantages. An appropriate realtor can help you a lot in increasing the profits that you can get from the property. In addition arrangement of finance in advance can help you to increase your purchasing power as well. So benefit from this option now!

How to track your expenses using a Visa credit card

It is truly mind-boggling how people managed to keep a track of their expenses a decade ago. You would either wait for your statement each month or, if you were in a hurry, queue up in a branch for an hour or two. Of course, you could always phone your bank but that often took almost as long. There was a time when telephone banking was the bee's knees and considered an innovative and speedy way to bank. Nowadays you have a much easier way to keep track of your finances and that is through good old-fashioned online banking.

Online banking is an amazing tool that puts people in control of monitoring their money like never before. For some it is hard to imagine life without online banking. Simply enter your user name and password and you can view your accounts, change your PIN numbers, order new cheque books, and even request new cards themselves. There are so many things that can be done online that the full scope of online banking is often overlooked.

Most major financial service providers, including those that provide Visa credit cards, offer online banking. Online banking has an even greater value for credit card users as it enables you to make payments onto your card whenever you want. This means that there is no longer any reason why you should miss a repayment and be charged. You can make payments onto your credit card via a bank account or through another card - the choice is yours. The only thing to be wary about is that the payment onto your card can take a number of days to clear - sometimes 5 to 10 days. However this is quicker than the alternative, which is to jump into a car and drive to your branch, join the queue and so on.

You can also view your statements online so that you can keep track of exactly what money is leaving your account and what repayments you have made. On top of this you can also print out the statement should you need to; you can even print off past statement as and when you want. With credit cards transactions are largely made in real-time; this means that all of your transactions should appear on your statement instantaneously and consequently you should never be caught out by stray payments hanging around in cyberspace.

Visa credit card online banking also provides a number of other useful features that can help you manage your credit card. You can often request a new PIN number online and it will be sent through the post. If you need to withdraw some money at a cash machine, have forgotten your PIN, or suspect that someone may have got hold of it this can be extremely useful. You can also order new cheque books should you run out and even order a new card if you need to. Often there is also the facility to report your card lost or stolen but it may be better to phone in such an instance.

Online banking is of great value for both everyday banking and for credit cards. It is safe and easy to use and you can sign up in a matter of seconds. The easiest way to apply is to visit your credit card provider's website and register your details. You do not have to download any software onto your computer and the service is completely secure. Also, unlike many things in life, it is free.

More Money & Less Stress?

At 2pm last Wednesday, I got a call from one of my clients. Before I could barely utter my "hello," she launched headlong into her story - "I am so frustrated! I have this client who has been dragging her feet at every stage of our project. I'm working on a branding campaign for her company and expected to be finished nine months ago, but every time we get to a stage in the project where the ball is in her court, I have to follow-up umpteen times and push and prod just to get her to move forward. In almost every case, it takes her about two months to do something that could have been done in a week. Then, two months later when she's finally finished with her part, she cheerily announces that she's ready for me to start the next phase and wonders how quickly I can do it. Every time this happens I have to completely reacquaint myself with her project. All in all, I've spent almost twice as many hours as I budgeted. How can I get her to wrap up this project so I can move on?,” she finished.

> I cannot think of one service business owner that hasn't faced this issue at one time or another. We all started our businesses concerned about providing great customer service and a quality service delivered on time. We thought that was the key to having happy clients. But, at some point, we find out that great customer service means that we're not allowing one client's delays to impact another client's project, the profitability of our business, or our own personal satisfaction. This is when we have to recognize that we are responsible for this situation. If you've allowed a client to run amuck dragging a project on forever, changing project parameters numerous times, delaying payment of the final bill, why shouldn't they continue to behave this way? It's up to you to put into place policies and procedures that communicate this to your clients and prospects from the very beginning. One format I've seen used very effectively is a one-pager called "How We Work Together." It's a very basic document that outlines the responsibilities of both you and the client. It makes clear who is responsible for what and when so there are no questions later. It also outlines the consequences if either of you misses the target. Not only does this put the client on the straight-and-narrow, it shows them that you are willing to be held to high standards as well. By using the How We Work Together document, you can begin setting the stage for productive client relationships from your very first contact with a new prospect. During your first meeting, give them a copy of the document and go through it with them. When I ran my web development company, mine included a rough timeline for each stage of the project and described how the responsibility shifted from me to them and back again throughout the process. It also included a description of consequences should particular stages of the project go beyond the timeline by a specified amount of time. This applied to me as well as them. People like to know what to expect. It left them feeling that I had a system I followed and could be relied upon to do what I was proposing to do. I feel confident that this is one of the reasons I got 90% of the projects I pitched. I used the How We Work Together document again once I had received the signed contract and deposit payment. At that point, I would consult my project calendar and assign specific dates to each stage of the project included on the document and mail it out to the client. They had already seen the document once, so it wasn't new to them. Now, they just reviewed the dates and used it as a follow-up tool. If you are currently in a similar situation, handle it as best you can in order to preserve the client relationship and introduce the How We Work Together document at the beginning of the next project with this client. To begin to set boundaries with all of your clients and prospects, create your own How We Work Together document and utilize it in every new project for new and existing clients.

New Breed of Information Officers to Provide Competitive Advantage in the Age of Sarbanes-Oxley

Executive search firms are now being asked to recruit a new breed of information officers to assist corporations address Sarbanes-Oxley compliance requirements and to compete more effectively overall in the age of Sarbanes-Oxley. Passed in response to major corporate scandals, The Sarbanes-Oxley act also known as Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 has redefined the role of the company CIO. Many of the most progressive corporations have successfully embraced the evolution of the Chief Information Officer function from being narrowly focused on the day-to-day maintenance and support of a company's information systems organization to a much broader leadership and management role on the company's senior management team.

Executive search firm Venerable Partners says that these forward thinking corporations have empowered their CIOs to become vital business partners in designing and executing the business strategy for their respective organizations. Chief Executives who have supported this evolution have undoubtedly experienced greater operational efficiencies, improved resource utilization, and better returns on their technology investments.

According to Donald Law, Managing Director of Chicago based executive search firm Venerable Partners , 'as a byproduct of this evolution, Chief Information Officers have now become intimately involved in all of the critical business processes that drive their companies. From supply chain management to production systems, from customer fulfillment to billing systems, from human resource management systems to compliance tracking, a corporation's information systems organization has become inextricably linked to all significant business processes within their company.'

It is critical for Chief Executives to appreciate the significance of this linkage between an entity's information systems organization and the critical business processes and safeguards required for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. According to executive search firm Venerable Partners, 'because it is not practical for Chief Executives to understand the granular technical details of the technology solutions that support an organization's business processes, the relationship between the CEO and his/her CIO has to be stronger than ever. As an executive search firm who partners with senior management, we have seen that CEOs are now coming to expect that their CIOs become the guarantors of the business processes implemented within their organizations.' However, in order to allow one's CIO to become the guarantor of one's organizational business processes, CEOs must recognize that they must now provide for a level of transparency that their CIOs may not have been privileged to in the past. Such open communication is

critical to an organization's ability to consistently satisfy the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and mitigate unforeseen exposure to essential business processes.

As Chief Executives go about assessing the leadership strengths of their information officers and go about identifying senior information systems executives who present the capacities to truly become the guarantors of one's business processes, executive search firm Venerable Partners recommends that CEOs (and their respective selection committees) work to identify information systems executives who present the following essential qualifications:

1. Exceptionally strong general business acumen along with an astute level of understanding of all critical business functions and their underlying processes.

2. Business process management skills, including an understanding of best practice process documentation procedures.

3. Demonstrated success serving as a key business partner across all major functional disciplines in delivering a comprehensive suite of information technology solutions designed to advance the needs of the business.

4. Prior exposure to Sarbanes-Oxley reporting and compliance requirements.

5. The interpersonal and leadership skills required to establish a trusted advisor relationship with the CEO.

6. Demonstrated experience as a senior leader of an information systems organization, including a thorough understanding of the enabling infrastructure, operations and applications solutions that underlie a world-class information systems organization.

7. Familiarity with the emerging information technologies that are impacting one's particular industrial sector and driving the major architectural, econometric and customer-focused solutions.

Executive search firm Venerable Partners states that these are only general guidelines intended to provide a basis from which to begin an assessment of one's leadership strengths within the office of the information officer. A company's specific business challenges and external market forces will also dictate the ideal profile best suited to address an organization's specific needs.

Donald Law of executive search firm Venerable Partners comments that 'each client situation is unique' and that corporations should first engage one of the leading executive search firms to provide a comprehensive assessment of the leadership strengths and weakness within the office of the information officer prior to making any decisions regarding one's personnel. By partnering with an executive search firm like Venerable Partners to provide this type of assessment, Law maintains that corporations will better mitigate compliance related risks and also help ensure that adequate succession planning initiatives are also in place within a corporation's IT organization.

Donald Law of Venerable Partners maintains that executive search firms can provide a truly objective assessment and provide valuable recommendations.