RBI boost not enough for growth: SBI

Long term growth of economy requires more than what RBI unveiled,says Pratip Choudhary.

Not enthused by RBI steps unveiled yesterday to attract capital flows,SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri has said the central bank measures were short-term in nature while the country required equity and foreign investment for long-term growth.

Sharing India Inc’s views,SBI chief said,”There is a need for more equity investment in the country and enhancing capabilities for raising exports as at present we import more and export less.”

“These are short-term measures while the country needs steps for long-term growth,” Chaudhuri told reporters here last evening while commenting on the measures taken by the Reserve Bank to arrest the slide of the rupee.

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India Inc has termed steps taken by RBI as “minimal” since the industry was hoping for “strong actions” at this time.

Rupee has declined by about 25 per cent in the last 12 months.

The government and the RBI yesterday announced the much- hyped measures to boost foreign inflows,including raising FII limit in sovereign bonds and liberalising overseas borrowing norms for exporters.

Foreign institutional investors’ (FIIs) ceiling on investment in government securities (G-Sec) has been raised to USD 20 billion from USD 15 billion.

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Moreover,the lock-in period for FII investment up to USD 10 billion into G-Secs has been reduced to three years from five years.

On the Indian economy,Chaudhuri said that only government could comment about it,but emphasised upon the need for raising foreign investments.

The bank also said it will recruit about 10,500 employees during the current financial year to manage the growing business of the bank.

“This year,the bank would make 9,500 clerical level appointments and nearly 1,000 probationary officers to be inducted,” Chaudhuri said here.

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According to the annual report of SBI,the overall staff strength declined by 7,452 employees during the last fiscal.

As on March 31,2012,the bank had a total permanent staff strength of 2,15,481 — which included 80,404 officers,95,715 clerical staff and the remaining 39,362 were sub-staff.

In 2011-12,SBI’s net profit rose by about 42 per cent to Rs 11,707 crore — one of highest net profits earned by a corporate in the country.