Our first paper “Common Property Resources in Rural India: Dependence,
Depletion and Current Status” by Abhilas Kumar Pradhan and Rabinarayan
Patra, is about a very important issue in rural development. It has to do with the way commercialization of agriculture sector is having an impact on the age-old custom of apportioning land and resources for the common interests of all the residents of a village. The village grazing land is a good example. The cattle belonging to the villagers had access to the facility. The community as a whole took care to ensure that the facility was left in a form that was amenable for re-use season after season. The situation has changed now with growing commercialization of land and all other resources. The influential farmers are encroaching these due to the lure of growing marketable crops. This has a deleterious effect on sustainability of the ecosystems. Same is true of some other resources like firewood as a domestic fuel need. This paper is on the changing trends in the management and use of the villages’ Common Property Resources (CPRs) and bears on the importance of sustainability.
The second paper “Disinvestment in India: Policy, Mechanism and Future Roadmap” by Avi Prasad deals with an important aspect of business environment for over a decade in view of the Indian macroeconomic policy. Its importance is borne out by the fact that a ministry has been created to oversee the policies relating to it and their implementation. Disinvestment or divestment as it is also called, may be defined as a strategic retreat by the state from certain sectors of business. It can be from basic producer goods industry like steel, or cement, or it can be from utilities like telecom and power supply. There are a number of policy issues involved in this process. There are also stages in the implementation of such a decision. For one, there may be fierce opposition from certain political parties who might feel this as playing into the hands of monopoly capitalists. Most of the businesses which are suitors to buy the government stake are usually oligopolistic large private corporations or their consortiums. This raises concern about the need to create adequate checks and balances. This important task is accomplished with the setting up of a regulatory authority in the sector. This is a general overview and a number of models are in vogue in different parts of the world.
The third paper “Impact of Global Recession on the Indian Cement Industry (With Special Reference to ACC Limited)” by Sandeep Kumar Rai and Shailesh K Dwivedi, is about the cement business. This is a basic industry as it has tremendous forward linkages in construction and realty sectors. Globalization has had an impact on this sector in terms of demand for commercial and residential complexes.
The last article “Policies of Government for Allocation of Funds to the Industry and Related Activities in Various Economic Plans in India: A Critical Appraisal” by Vikram
K Joshi, is about the budget allocation by the government to different businesses in the past few years. This has relevance for managers from the point of view of openings for new businesses and expansion of old ones. Increasingly, the government is relying on returns on investments as the guide for making these decisions.
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.
