Business
FM asks banks to ensure staff speak local language – The Times of India
MUMBAI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged banks to ensure that customers are able to get their work done in branches speaking in the local language. She also called upon banks to tweak HR policies to give weightage to local language proficiency during appraisals. She asked banks to restore the human connect in customer service, insisting that technology must complement—not replace—personal interaction.Language friction between PSU bank staff has come to the fore, particularly in Maharashtra and southern India, especially Karnataka. There was recent outrage after a public sector bank manager in Bengaluru refused to speak Kannada with a customer. The incident prompted condemnation from the chief minister, a transfer of the official, and an apology from the bank. Similar cases have exposed ongoing tensions as staff from other states struggle with local languages, causing communication gaps and customer resentment.In a Q&A session with SBI chairman CS Setty at the bank’s 12th Banking and Economic Conclave, she said the sector must rethink its approach to customer engagement, especially at the branch level. “You cannot say you will do everything digitally and reach customers only online. Person-to-person contact was the strength of Indian banks, even before technology, and it helped you make big strides.” A key part of this human touch, she stressed, is language.Calling it “basic etiquette,” Sitharaman said banks must ensure customers can converse in their own tongue at branches. “Language is an important way to communicate with your customers. Even if they know Hindi or English, it gives a nice touch when you speak their language,” she said. “We Indians go abroad and say a few words in French or Spanish to please people—but in our own country, because of HR policies, staff are posted without knowing the local language. That human touch gets lost.”The finance minister linked customer service to HR policy, asking banks to incentivise linguistic and cultural familiarity. “HR policies must ensure that every staff member posted at a branch understands the customer and speaks the local language. Performance appraisal should also factor in proficiency in the local language,” she said.While acknowledging the gains of digitisation, she cautioned banks against becoming impersonal. “Technology can bring advantages, efficiency, productivity, and profit—but that human touch is what many earlier private banks had before they were nationalised. You don’t have to struggle like the old bankers who travelled to villages, but you still need that connection. Please don’t be carried away only by technology.”Sitharaman also called for restoring accountability in credit assessment, especially for small businesses. “Credit rating of a customer—particularly MSMEs—has to be your own. You should not outsource it,” she said. “Earlier, you knew your customers because the staff posted there understood who was reliable and who was not. That has gone, and it needs to be restored.” She urged banks to simplify paperwork and reduce the burden on borrowers. “Paperwork has to be simple. You cannot keep putting the onus on the borrower to keep proving and providing documents endlessly. If you simplify processes, you will be among the most appreciated institutions.”Bankers said that the language issue largely arose because the response to recruitment drives was not uniform across states. While in some states like Gujarat, young candidates were more inclined towards business, youngsters in Karnataka got more opportunities in private IT sector and preferred these jobs which were non-transferrable. In some northern states however the priority was for government jobs leading to differences in language skills.
Business
Logistics IPO: Yatayat Corporation files Sebi papers to raise funds; growth surge puts road freight firm in focus – The Times of India
Logistics and transportation services provider Yatayat Corporation India Ltd has filed draft papers with markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through an initial public offering, as the road freight segment continues to see strong demand, PTI reported.According to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), the proposed IPO will comprise a fresh issue of up to 77 lakh equity shares along with an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 56 lakh equity shares by a promoter, taking the total offer size to as many as 1.33 crore shares.The company said proceeds from the fresh issue will be used primarily to meet working capital requirements and for general corporate purposes.Yatayat Corporation operates in the road logistics space, with a focus on Full Truck Load (FTL) transportation, offering point-to-point freight movement across major logistics corridors in the country. Its operations are supported by a network of 34 branches and one warehouse spread across 12 states.The company services a diversified client base spanning agriculture and agri-inputs, building materials and construction, chemicals and allied industries, energy and power, engineering and industrial manufacturing, IT and technology solutions, metals and mining, textiles and apparel, as well as other industrial and consumer segments.On the financial front, Yatayat Corporation reported revenue from operations of Rs 448.13 crore in FY25, up from Rs 348.34 crore in FY24. Profit after tax rose to Rs 30 crore in FY25, compared with Rs 15 crore in the previous financial year.Unistone Capital has been appointed as the sole book-running lead manager to the issue, the draft papers showed.
WH Smith is to claw back around £1.5 million in overpaid bonuses from former bosses following an accounting blunder at the retail firm’s US arm.
The travel retail specialist confirmed last week it is being investigated by the UK’s financial watchdog after it overstated profits for its North American business by as much as £50 million due to issues with its audit process.
Carl Cowling resigned as WH Smith’s chief executive last month after a report by Deloitte confirmed the accounting problems.
The company said on Wednesday in its annual report that annual bonus payments for Mr Cowling and former finance chief Robert Moorhead have been recalculated for 2023 and 2024.
It has also recalculated the payment of long-term share bonuses from a 2021 scheme for executives.
WH Smith said it overpaid Mr Cowling £516,000 in cash and 60,182 deferred shares worth £374,933 based on the latest closing price for the firm.
It overpaid Mr Moorhead by £372,000 in cash and £272,493 worth of shares.
It said it would now seek to “claw back” both of these payments from the former bosses.
WH Smith also confirmed that it did not pay annual or long-term bonuses to Mr Cowling for the past financial year.
As a result, his total pay deal tumbled to £724,000 for the year to August 2025, from £2.71 million for the same period a year earlier.
The retailer told investors last week that it had kickstarted a remediation plan, which aims to strengthen its governance and controls, ensure processes are aligned across the group, and enact cultural change involving training and monitoring.
Its board is currently searching for a permanent group chief executive.
WH Smith is now focused solely on its 1,300 shops in global travel locations, including at airports and train stations, after selling its high street chain of about 480 shops to Hobbycraft owner Modella Capital in June.
As part of the deal, the WH Smith name is disappearing from British high streets and being replaced by brand TGJones.
The slimmed-down business reported a pre-tax profit of £108 million for the year to the end of August, excluding what it deems one-off costs.
RBI Guidelines For Cheque Clearing Time: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Wednesday that it has delayed the rollout of Phase 2 of the faster cheque clearance system by banks. The new phase was earlier set to begin on January 3, 2026. The RBI also announced changes to cheque processing timings. Cheques can now be presented between 9 am and 3 pm, while banks will have time from 9 am to 7 pm to confirm or reject them.
“Implementation of phase 2 is being postponed until further notice, to allow more time to banks to streamline their processes,” according to the RBI statement. Phase 1 of the system, which was implemented earlier this year, will continue to operate as usual.
RBI Phase 2 Guidelines
Under the proposed Phase 2 guidelines, banks are required to clear or reject any cheque deposited over the counter within just three hours. This is expected to be a major relief for customers, making payments faster and more efficient once the process starts.
RBI Rolls Out Cheque Truncation System
The RBI introduced continuous clearance under the Cheque Truncation System (CTS) to speed up and simplify cheque clearing. Instead of the old batch system, cheques are now processed using digital images and electronic data. This means banks no longer need to physically transfer cheques, making the process faster and more efficient.
RBI Phase 1 Single Presentation Window
From October 4, 2025, Phase 1 brought in a single, continuous cheque presentation window during the day. Instead of waiting for fixed clearing batches, banks now scan cheques as they receive them and send the cheque images along with MICR data to the clearing house.
Once the drawee bank gets the cheque image, it checks the details and sends an approval or rejection electronically. If the bank does not respond by the end of the confirmation window, the cheque is automatically treated as approved and settled.
RBI Phase 2 Plan For Cheque Clearance
Phase 2, which was planned to start from January 3, 2026, was meant to further expedite the clearance of cheques to ensure greater convenience for bank customers. Banks would get just three hours to approve or reject a cheque after receiving its image.
If a bank failed to respond within this time, the cheque would be automatically approved and settled. This would have pushed banks to process cheques more quickly and helped customers get their money sooner. However, since phase 2 has been deferred, cheque clearing will continue under the present Phase 1 system, which does not have to follow the three-hour deadline. (With IANS Inputs)
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