Articles by T K Velayudham

Some Issues T K Velayudham V Sankaranarayanan Regional rural banks (RRBs), an innovative feature of Indian banking, have in the last few years been at the centre of controversy. The issues involved in the controversy include the non-viability of the RRBs and the question of parity of their staffs' pay scales and service conditions with those of commercial banks. One influential view that emerged advocated merger of the RRBs with their sponsor banks. However many other important issues involved have been, by and large, glossed over. This paper takes stock of the role and problems of these banks in perspective and draws inferences to aid policy formulation.

Banking and Economic Development T K Velayudham Banking and Economic Development published by the Indian Institute of Bankers, Bombay, 1989; pp 160 + vii, price not mentioned.

blems and Prospects of Regional Rural Banks (8 papers) and (d) Changing Structure of Money and Capital Markets in India (7 papers). Each of these subject groups is accompanied by observations of special invitee and of the chairman of the session. At the end of the volume (under valedictory section) the rapporteurs' reports are presented. The BTC report contains five parts and of these parts 11 and IV are relevant for our purpose, as these contain, respectively, subject papers, summary of recommendations. The subject papers contained in Part II are accompanied by group reports and gist of discussions on the subject.

Monsoons and the Economy T K Velayudham Reserve Bank of India, Annual Report, 1986-87, September 1987, pp 105, unpriced. REPORTING in 1925; the Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture described the Indian economy as a gamble on the monsoon. Adapting this description to a more specific problem, a finance member of the Viceroy's Council of pre-independence days (perhaps, Sir Jeremy Raisman) observed that the Indian budget was a gamble on the monsoon. Though much time has elapsed since then, the present situation in the country suggests that the gamble on the monsoon persists regardless of whether it is the economy or the budget. No doubt, as a result of planned development, improved irrigation facilities and improved agricultural production techniques, vulnerability of agriculture to the caprices of the monsoon is somewhat reduced. But the five-year cycle of the monsoon seems to be deteriorating

MONEY MARKET Missing the Wood for the Trees T K Velayudham ONE of the few fall-outs from the Sukhamoy Chakravarty committee report on the working of the monetary system, is the report of the working group on the money market, which has now come to be known as the Vaghul committee report. In pursuance of the Chakravarty committee's recommendations relating to the development of the money market, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed on September 5, 1986, a working group to examine the possibilities of enlarging the scope of the noney market and to recommend specific measures for evolving money market instruments. The specific terms of reference of the working group were: (i) to examine money market instruments and recommend specific measures for their development; (ii) to recommend the pattern of money market interest rates and to indicate whether these should be administered or determined by the market; (iii) to study the feasibility of increasing the participants in the money market; (iv) to assess the impact of changes in the cash credit system on the money market and to examine the need for developing specialised institutions such as discount houses, and in this context to examine the interaction between the inter-corporate market and the expanded money market; and (v) to consider any other issue having a bearing on the development of the money market.