Another bank fraud? Borrowers misuse SBI loan of Rs 32 mn to produce a film

In yet another fraud on a public sector bank, as many as 13 people including a kabaddi player got a loan of Rs 32.9 million for buying top-end cars, but 'misused' the money for producing a Tamil film.
When the fraud came to light, the Madras High Court, on a plea from the State Bank of India (SBI), granted an interim injunction against the movie's release.

The fraud was done with the connivance of an auto loan counsellor who allegedly hacked the bank's computers to facilitate the loan sanction and its disbursement.

Justice C V Karthikeyan passed the interim order on a civil suit of the lender restraining White Screen Productions (WSP) from releasing the movie till March 16, 2018.

PNB scam: Court issues non-bailable warrants against Nirav Modi, Choksi

A special court on Saturday issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against diamond traders Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in the alleged Rs 114 billion Punjab National Bank scam.
The court, set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), issued the NBWs on applications filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), one of the agencies probing the bank fraud cases registered last month.

The ED had earlier issued summonses to Modi and Choksi, both key accused in the scam cases, asking them to appear before the central agency.

However, the two diamond traders, who are said to have left the country before criminal cases were registered, had failed to appear before the ED, promoting the agency to move the PMLA court for issuance of NBWs against them.

On February 27, the ED had moved the court seeking an NBW against Modi.

Note ban impact: Banking correspondents feel the heat of banks cutting cost

About two years ago, when Amita Ghosh was still in a full-time clerical job with a private sector firm on the outskirts of Kolkata, many of her acquaintances had already seen a brisk rise in income as banking correspondents (BCs) in a short span of time. Their income suddenly rose three-fold, from an average of Rs 5,000 to around Rs 15,000 per month.
In August 2014, when the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched, close to 100,000 banking correspondents were roped in, for banks scrambled to meet targets set by the government. Most of them being either higher secondary or secondary school pass-outs, otherwise engaged in low-earning or informal sector jobs. Not only the BCs were entitled to fixed income of Rs 5,000 per month, but also commission payable on transactions, and new account-opening meant a good variable component. Allured by the offer of a better earning, Saha quit her job, which paid her around Rs 4,000 per month, to be a BC. For close to two years Saha’s average monthly income rose to Rs 13,000 per month, peaking around the time of demonetisation, when she earned about Rs 18,000 per month.
Cut to January 2018, Saha’s income has plummeted to Rs 6,000-6,500 per month as BCs bear the brunt of cost-cutting measures of public sector banks. Notably, few months back, when the government proposed the possibility of reduction of perks for regular employees of public sector banks, a strong opposition by bank employees ensured that such a measure was never implemented.
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