The
issue consists of three articles. Guntram B Wolf in the
paper "Fiscal Crises in the US Cities: Structural and
Non-structural Causes" investigates the determinants
of fiscal distress in 900 US cities in the mid-1980s, early
1990s and late 1990s. Since no systematic data-set on the
occurrence of fiscal crises in US cities exists, the study
identifies cities in fiscal crises with a cluster analysis.
This paper contributes to the literature by presenting a
coherent theoretical framework for the determinants of public
spending and debt in cities and testing it with a recent,
large data set of US cities.The cluster of cities with a
high debt-per-capita level is in a state of distress, while
low debt-per-capita levels are a sign of fiscal health,
and structural factors predicted by the model explain most
of the variation of spending and debt levels. The study
shows the excessively high debt burdens as indicators of
potential crisis, and high spending levels as outliers which
are not explained by structural factors.
Muzafar
Shah Habibullah and AM Daying Affizzah in the paper, "The
Tax-spend debate: Time Series Evidence from Sarawak Municipals,
1975-2003", examined the issue of the intertemporal
relationship between revenues and expenditures and the way
in which a state government deals with the management of
their public deficits. The annual data on revenues and expenditures
for 22 municipalities in Sarawak for the period 1975-2003
was used. In this study, different hypothesis can be considered
to examine such a problem. The so-called tax-spend hypothesis,
postulates that government raises tax revenues ahead of
engaging in new expenditures. Cointegration and vector error
correction model for are used for analysis. The study implies
that the independent determination of revenue and spending
suggests the absence of coordination between expenditure
and revenue decisions in the respective municipalities.
S Ramesh Kumar and V Alagappan in the paper "Foreign
Direct Investment in India during the Post-Liberalization
Period", examined the trends and the patterns in the
FDI inflows into India during the post-liberalization period.
The study shows that the actual flows of the FDI into the
Indian economy had maintained a fluctuating and unsteady
trend during the study period. It is found that the approvals
had been slow in materializing themselves into actual inflows.
Of the total amounts of the FDI flows into India through
the different approval routes during the period under study,
the Secretariat for Industrial Approvals (SIA) or the foreign
investment promotion Board (FIPB) route had topped the list
followed by the acquisition of shares route, the RBI automatic
route and the NRI route. It might be of interest to note
that more than 50% of the total FDI inflows into India during
the period from 1991-2004 had come only from Mauritius and
the USA. Among the different sectors, the electrical equipments
had received the larger proportion of the FDI inflows followed
by the transportation industry, the telecommunications,
the fuels and the services' sector.
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India
Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario
If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.
Indian Scenario
The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.
