Essay On Campaign Finance - 1196 Words

The Necessity of Campaign Finance The right of free speech granted to all citizens in the first amendment, the necessity of funding expensive political campaigns, and the fact that small donations make a candidate responsive to the needs of their constituents, all make any restrictions on campaign financing unneeded and onerous. Congress should strike down any bills attempting to reform this essential part of the U.S. election process. Any further restrictions on donations to political campaigns will prove detrimental to the United States functioning system of elections by limiting individuals’ freedom of speech, making our candidate’s campaigns underfunded and unresponsive to the needs of the American people. Campaign financing is, to†¦show more content†¦However, the most significant part of this decision was the precedent set that day, labeling money as an expression of speech, a right protected by the first amendment in the bill of rights. The issue of campaign financing was argued again more recently in the Supreme Court case, Citizens United v FEC. In this case the Citizens United conservative non-profit argued that an ad for the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 was critical of George Bush and therefore the commercial was a campaigning ad funded by an outside group within sixty days of the general election. Citizens United argued the ad was illegal according to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) passed in 2002 that stated no electioneering committee could fund an ad 60 days before an election. Citizens United believed Fahrenheit 9/11 was critical of Bush’s response to 9/11 and therefore was an ad for the opposing candidate Al Gore. The Supreme Court decided that if a company wants to use their money to campaign, since money is an expression of speech, there cannot be any law limiting when you can express your views politically. The court determined that the portions of FECA and BCRA related to restrictions on cor porate and labor union spending was unconstitutional as it prohibited free speech. Citizens United reaffirmed the president set by Buckley vs. Valeo that money isShow MoreRelatedEssay On Campaign Finance753 Words   |  4 Pages What is the current status of campaign finance reform? Campaign Finance alludes to attempts to control the courses in which political crusades are supported. This incorporates all burning through done to advance or bolster the advancement of applicants, ticket measures, political gatherings and thats only the tip of the iceberg. Directions can be connected to regular people, enterprises, political activity boards of trustees, political gatherings and different associations. They can come asRead MoreEssay on Campaign Finance Issues2167 Words   |  9 Pagesa voice in our own government. Elections are the choice microphones for many citizens. There on Election Day, they have the right of making their voices heard; however, many interest groups and a few individuals seem to have a louder voice due to campaign financing: No U.S. official should be beholden to one or a few groups. And no group or individual should have a greater claim on our elected leaders than any other. That’s the way it should work. But it is growing clear to more and more AmericansRead MoreEssay on Campaign Finance Reform1003 Words   |  5 PagesCampaign Finance Reform The politics is a stage for many different characters of whom each is trying to convince their audience to give them the loudest cheer and the grand applause. Politicians who played the acts will do their best and sometimes will do everything to win the hearts of their audience and that means to win at all cost. Politics involves money for it is the way to make campaign possible that is why there are campaign managers and campaign funds to whoever will run for any officeRead MoreCampaign Finance Reform Essay1544 Words   |  7 PagesCampaign Finance Reform The Democratic and Republican presidential nominees for 1999 raised an astounding 126 million to finance their campaigns in the primaries (Godfrey). The U.S. national political parties raised a record 107.2 million dollars in soft money contributions in 1999 (Campaign Finance Reform). During the 1995-96 elections, public citizens estimated that an astounding 150 million dollars was spent on phony issue ads designed to support or oppose congressional and presidentialRead MoreCampaign Finance Reform Essay782 Words   |  4 PagesCampaign Finance Reform Effective election campaigns have always relied on the candidates’ ability to raise money. Even in the days before television, radio and the internet, it still took money to get the word out to the people in a far-flung land. However, today’s candidates are faced with raising larger and larger amounts of money with each new election that comes along. Individuals are the primary source of campaign funding at the federal level, with political action committees runningRead MoreEssay about Campaign Finance Reform2666 Words   |  11 PagesCampaign finance reform has a broad history in America. In particular, campaign finance has developed extensively in the past forty years, as the courts have attempted to create federal elections that best sustain the ideals of a representative democracy. In the most recent Supreme Court decision concerning campaign finance, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Court essentially decided to treat corporations like individuals by allowing corporations to spend money on federal electionsRead MoreThe Politics of Campaign Finance Essay2530 Words   |  11 Pagestoday that we cannot go a day with out seeing campaign finance in the media, whether or not it is through advertisements for politicians in the media or asked to donate money to help let your favorite candidate win. Because campa ign finance has always been on the back burner of political issues, there has hardly been any change to the large influence money has over the election process and politicians. While money has it’s place in the way campaigns are not it should not be the sole determinant ofRead MoreCampaign Finance Reform Essay3020 Words   |  13 Pagestheir campaign. Contributors range from unions, religious leaders, organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), the National Rifle Association (NRA), and senior citizens groups. When these groups, known as special interest groups, donate to candidate’s campaign, they expect the candidate to respond to their issues. Because special interest groups, as well as private citizens donate more and more money to campaigns, there is some concern that there is a great need for campaign financeRead MoreCampaign Finance Reform Essay454 Words   |  2 PagesCampaign Finance Reform Campaign finance issues are complicated in the United States by the fact that the funding sources of the Republican and Democratic parties differ so sharply. As a result, any reforms intended to affect one kind of funding are likely to adversely and disproportionately affect one of the two parties. Furthermore, while most issues on which elected officials decide concern benefits for constituents. Campaign finance reform involves changing an institution that benefitsRead MoreEssay about Campaign Finance Reform1256 Words   |  6 PagesCampaign Finance Reform With the introduction of â€Å"soft† money in politics, elections no longer go to the best candidate, but simply to the richer one. Soft money is defined as unregulated money that is given to the political parties that ends up being used by candidates in an election. In last year’s elections, the Republican and Democratic parties raised more than one-half of a billion dollars in soft money. Current politicians are pushing the envelope farther than any previous administrations

Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 - 983 Words

Running Head: Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 Michelle C. Nelson Strayer University: Human Resource Management - BUS310002016*201004 Instructor: Carol G. Durst-Wertheim, Ph.D. Abstract The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is an amendment to the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Under the act, an employer cannot lawfully refuse to hire a woman if she is pregnant unless her condition makes it impossible for her to perform the major functions of the position. I think this amendment was a great achievement for all woman trying to show they are equals to men, while still trying to†¦show more content†¦An employee cannot be forced to take pregnancy leave if they are still willing and able to work. An employee must be provided the same level of medical benefits, disability insurance and leave as are offered for other medical conditions or disabilities. A male employee is entitled to health insurance coverage for his wife s pregnancy related conditions if a female employee s husband has comprehensive health insurance coverage. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act does not require preferential treatment for pregnant employees. Rather, it mandates that employers treat pregnant employees the same as non-pregnant employees who are similarly situated with respect to their ability to work. The PDA expands the definition of sex in Title VII as follows: The terms because of sex or on the basis of sex include but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions ; and women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment related purposes, including the receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work. (EEOC) Pregnancy discrimination is still occurring today. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) received 6,196 charges of pregnancy-based discrimination in 2009. This is a significant increaseShow MoreRelatedWomen Of The Civil Rights Act Of 19641481 Words   |  6 PagesRights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.  §Ã‚ § 2000e et seq. (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) This act is very well-known, prohibiting harassment in the workplace and discrimination. A few years later, on October 31, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, into effect. Prohibiting sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. (Occupational Safety Health Guide Series Discrimination LawRead MorePregnancy Discrimination Act Essay1521 Words   |  7 Pagesdifficult for families based on a single income. This economic need along with modern attitudes toward gender equality has resulted in women being represented in the workforce in greater numbers. However, until the 1960’s women faced severe discrimination when trying to enter and maintain a position in the workforce. Often qualified women would be passed over for men with less experience and education. Employers were fearful that women were too emotional and were not equipped to handle theRead MoreEqual Opportunity Laws Title Vii Essay1233 Words   |  5 PagesVII The first aspect of Human Resource that will be addressed is equal opportunity and the laws that go along with it. There were several equal opportunity laws enacted from 1964 to 1991. 2 The first of these was Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act which states that â€Å"an employer cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national original with respect to employment† (Dessler, 2013). 3 Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governmentsRead MoreEqual Employment Opp ortunity and Employee Rights Review Paper1352 Words   |  6 PagesTo prohibit discrimination, the United States has governed laws that protect the citizens from all types of discriminations. This allows organizations to focus on promoting employment based on a person’s abilities. The two laws chosen for review are the Pregnancy Act of 1978 and Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. We will also discuss Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988. Provide a General summary of each Law The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, was an amendmentRead MoreTimeline of Gendered Movements Essay776 Words   |  4 Pages1923. (Skirble, 2010) We now move on to 1963, when Congress passes the Equal Pay Act, promising equitable wages for the same work regardless of sex, race, religion or national origin. (eSorrtment, 2011) Women have fought for many years to be treated and respected as equals to males in the workplace, and this is a huge milestone. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed forbidding discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race in hiring, promoting, and firing. It took some time,Read MorePregnancy Discrimination Essay543 Words   |  3 PagesPregnancy Discrimination There are many issues to consider in pregnancy discrimination. The well-being of the child, the well-being of the mother, employer/employee relations, as well as gender issues. There are however several State and Federal laws that protect people against pregnancy discrimination. Two of the Federal laws are the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act was an amendment to title VIIRead MoreDiscrimination In The Workplace Essay1565 Words   |  7 PagesDiscrimination is a topic that has been around for a very long time. Most people today do not realize how discrimination affects everyone around them and might even happen to them from time to time. â€Å"Discrimination means treating a person unfairly because of who they are or because they possess certain characteristics such as age, gender, race, disability, religion, pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, and marriage and civil partnership† (EOC 2017). There are many typesRead MoreEthical Behavior Can Be Defined As Business Principals Essay1178 Words   |  5 Pagesfalsifying reports, stealing, poor working environments, illegal trading and employee discrimination. With the growing number of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints, this analysis will focus on pregnancy discrimination. In 2007, Peggy Young filed a lawsuit against United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) alleging her unfair treatment due to her pregnancy is in violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act 1978 (PDA), Young states that UPS refusing to accommodate her lifting restrictionsRead MoreDevry University s Strategy And Culture1011 Words   |  5 Pagesand avoid vulnerability to lawsuits. Laws such as but not limited to Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 are all laws that DeVry University both recognizes and complies with during the recruiting, and hiring process. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits age discrimination for those who are over the age of 40. DeVry complies with this law, and neverRead MoreLegal Issues In Reduction Of Workforce Essay1733 Words   |  7 Pagesemployment status. Nora Manson Nora Manson: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was aimed at helping the integration of African Americans into the workforce mainstream. Title VII prohibits discriminatory employment practices based on race or color that involve recruiting, hiring, and promotion of employees (Reed et al, 2005). Manson is the only African American in the group being considered. Therefore, she might have a lawsuit based on the 1964 Act. If she’s fired, she can claim that she was discriminated

Credit Appraisal Process Free Essays

string(56) " and fastest growing financial intermediaries in India\." TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION * Reason for selecting the project * Scheme of the project * Research Methodology * Limitation of the study 2. CREDIT POLICY OF COMMERCIAL BANK * Commercial banks and its objectives * Recent policy developments regarding bank credit * Changing phase of bank credit * Trends of bank credit in India * Procedure for providing bank credit * Credit Appraisal 3. We will write a custom essay sample on Credit Appraisal Process or any similar topic only for you Order Now THE PROFILE OF THE ORGANIZATION OF PNB * Indian banking sector its major challenges * Punjab National Bank at a glance * Mission and Vision * Organizational structure of PNB 4. CREDIT PHILOSOPHY POLICY WITH REGARDS TO PNB Credit philosophy * Credit policy * Introduction to loans * Classification of loans * Building up of a proposal * Requirements as per constitution of borrower * Financial Appraisal 5. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA * Credit Appraisal techniques * Process of credit appraisal for providing cash credit * Appraisal techniques for retail loans 6. CONCLUSION * Conclusion * BIBLIOGRAPHY Introduction The last year financial crises have become the main cause for recession which was started in 2006 from US and was spread across the world. The world economy has been majorly affected from the crisis. The securities in stock exchange have fallen down drastically which has become the root cause of bankruptcy of many financial institutions and individuals. The root cause of the economic and financial crisis is credit default of big companies and individuals which has badly impacted the world economy. So in the present scenario analysing one’s credit worthiness has become very important for any financial institution before providing any form of credit facility so that such situation doesn’t arise in near future again. Analysis of the credit worthiness of the borrowers is known as Credit Appraisal. In order to understand the credit appraisal system followed by the banks this project has been conducted. The project has analysed the credit appraisal procedure with special reference to Punjab National Bank which includes knowing about the different credit facilities provided by the banks to its customers, how a loan proposal is being made, what are the formalities that is to be satisfied and most importantly knowing about the various credit appraisal techniques which are different for each type of credit facility. Before going further it is necessary to understand the need and basic framework of the project. Therefore this chapter provides an introduction to the topic, objective of the project, reasons for selecting the project and the basic structure and framework how the project proceeds. In order to understand the importance of the topic selected an introduction to the overview of the commercial bank , its functions, and present trends and growth in bank credit are required and it is covered in this chapter. Reasons for selecting the project Whenever an individual or a company uses a credit that means they are borrowing money that they promise to repay with in a pre-decided period. In order to assess the repaying capability i. e. to evaluate their credit worthiness banks use various techniques that differ with the different types of credit facilities provided by the bank. In the current scenario where it is seen that big companies and financial institutions have been bankrupted just because of credit default so Credit Appraisal has become an important aspect in the banking sector and is gaining prime importance. It is the incident of credit defaults that has given rise to the financial crisis of 2008-09. But in India the credit default is comparatively less that other countries such as US. One of the reasons leading to this may be good appraisal techniques used by banks and financial institutions in India. Eventually the importance of this project is mainly to understand the credit appraisal techniques used by the banks with special reference to Punjab National Bank. Scheme of the project It covers the objective and structure of the project which is discussed as follows:- Objective of the project The overall objective of this project is to under stand the current credit appraisal system used in banks. The Credit Appraisal system has been analysed as per the different credit facilities provided by the bank. The detailed explanation about the techniques and process has been discussed in detail in the further chapters. Structure or Plan of the project The project first of all makes a study about the commercial banks- its important functions. Then it highlights on the concept of Bank Credit its recent trends. The project then proceeds towards the lending procedure of banks and here it highlights about credit appraisal being the first step in building up of a loan proposal. Then it discusses the bank credit policy with respect to Punjab National bank where the project was undertaken. The project then proceeds with the review of literature i. e. review of some past work regarding credit appraisal by various researchers. The project then moves towards research methodology where it covers the information regarding the type of data collected and the theoretical concepts used in the project are discussed in detail. Then the project proceeds with the next chapter consisting of the analysis part which covers the analysis of various techniques used by the banks for the purpose of credit appraisal. Then the project moves to its next chapter i. e. findings where some results found out are interpreted and then moving on to the last and the final chapter i. e. the suggestions and conclusions where some steps are suggested to be implemented to increase the work efficiency and to reduce to work pressure Commercial banks and its objectives A commercial bank is a type of financial intermediary that provides checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market accounts and that accepts time deposits. Some use the term â€Å"commercial bank† to refer to a bank or a division of a bank primarily dealing with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses. This is what people normally call a â€Å"bank†. The term â€Å"commercial† was used to distinguish it from an investment bank. Commercial banks are the oldest, biggest and fastest growing financial intermediaries in India. You read "Credit Appraisal Process" in category "Essay examples" They are also the most important depositories of public savings and the most important disbursers of finance. Commercial banking in India is a unique banking system, the like of which exists nowhere in the world. The truth of this statement becomes clear as one studies the philosophy and approaches that have contributed to the evolution of banking policy, programmes and operations in India. The banking system in India works under constraints that go with social control and public ownership. The public ownership of banks has been achieved in three stages: 1995, july 1969 and April, 1980. Not only the public sector banks but also the private sector and foreign banks are required to meet the targets in respect of sectoral deployment of credit, regional distribution of branches, and regional credit deposit ratios. The operations of banks have been determined by lead bank scheme, Differential Rate of interest scheme, Credit authorization scheme, inventory norms and lending systems prescribed by the authorities, the formulation of credit plans, and service area approach. Commercial Banks in India have a special role in India. The privileged role of the banks is the result of their unique features. The liabilities of Bank are money and therefore they are important part of the payment mechanism of any country. For a financial system to mobilise and allocate savings of the country successfully and productively and to facilitate day-to-day transactions there must be a class of financial institutions that the public views are as safe and convenient outlets for its savings. The structure and working of the banking system are integral to a country’s financial stability and economic growth. It has been rightly claimed that the diversification and development of Indian Economy are in no small measure due to the active role banks have played financing economic activities of different sectors. Major objectives of commercial banks Bank Credit The borrowing capacity provided to an individual by the banking system, in the form of credit or a loan is known as a bank credit. The total bank credit the individual has is the sum of the borrowing capacity each lender bank provides to the individual. The operating paradigms of the banking industry in general and credit dispensation in particular have gone through a major upheaval. * Lending rates have fallen sharply. * Traditional growth and earning such as corporate credit has been either slow or not profitable as before. Banks moving into retail finance, interest rate on the once attractive retail loans also started coming down. * Credit risks has went up and new types risks are surfaced Types of credit- Bank in India provide mainly short term credit for financing working capital needs although, as will be seen subsequently, their term loans have increased over the years. The various types of advances provide by them are: (a) Term Loans, (b) cash credit, (c) overdrafts, (d) demand Loans , (e) purchase and discounting of commercial bills, and, (f) instalment or hire purchase credit. Volume of Credit- Commercial banks are a major source of finance to industry and commerce. Outstanding bank credit has gone on increasing from Rs 727 crore in 1951 to Rs 19,124 crore in 1978, to Rs 69,713 crore in 1986, Rs 1,01,453 crore in 1989-90 , Rs 2,82,702 crore in 1997 and to Rs 6,09,053 crore in 2002. Banks have introduced many innovative schemes for the disbursement of credit. Among such schemes are village adoption, agriculture development branches and equity fund for small units. Recently, most of the banks have introduced attractive education loan schemes for pursuing studies at home or abroad. They have introduced attractive educational loan schemes for pursuing studies at home or abroad. They have moved in the direction of bridging certain defects or gaps in their policies, such as giving too much credit to large scale industrial units and commerce and giving too little credit to agriculture, small industries and so on. The Public Sector Banks are still the leading lenders  though growth has declined compared to previous quarter. The credit growth rate has dipped sharply in foreign and private banks compared to previous quarter. In all, the credit growth has slipped in this quarter. Credit (YOY Growth)March 28 2008  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   March 27 2009| Public Sector Banks| 22. 5| 20. 4| The rates have gone down compared to previous quarter when it was seen that there was no changes in loan rates in private and foreign banks. But then compared to rate cuts done by RBI, they still nee d to go lower. Table 16: Reduction in Deposit and Lending Rates | (October 2008 – April 2009*)| (Basis points)| Bank Group| Deposit Rates| Lending Rates (BPLR)| Public Sector Banks| 125-250| 125-225| Private Sector Banks| 75-200| 100-125| Five Major Foreign Banks| 100-200| 0-100| | | | BPLR| Oct – 08| Mar – 09| Apr – 09| Change (from Oct to Apr)| Public Sector Banks| 13. 75-14. 75| 11. 50-14. 00| 11. 50-13. 50| 125-225| Private Sector Banks| 13. 75-17. 75| 12. 75-16. 75| 12. 50-16. 75| 100-125| Five Major Foreign Banks  Ã‚  Ã‚  | 14. 25-16. 75| 14. 25-15. 75| 14. 25-15. 75| 0-100| Sector-wise credit points credit has increased to agriculture, industry and real estate whereas has declined to NBFCs and Housing. A bank group wise sectoral allocation is also given which suggests private banks have increases exposure to agriculture and real estate but has declined to industry. Public sector banks have increased allocation to industry and real estate. There is a more detailed analysis in the macroeconomic report  released before the monetary policy. Sector| As on February 15, 2008|   | As on February 27, 2009|   |   | % share| Variations| % share | Variations| | in total| (per cent)| in total| (per cent)| Agriculture| 9. 2| 16. 4| 13| 21. 5| Industry| 45. 2| 25. 9| 52. 5| 25. 8| Real Estate| 3. 1| 26. 7| 8. 5| 61. 4| Housing| 7. 3| 12| 4. 7| 7. 5| NBFCs| 5. 7| 48. 6| 6. 6| 41. 7| Overall Credit| 100| 22| 100| 19. 5| To sum up, the credit conditions seems to have worsened after January 2009. The rates have declined but lending has not really picked up. However, the question still remains – whether credit decline is because banks are not lending (supply) or because  people/corporates are   not borrowing (lack of demand). It is usually seen that all financial variables as lead indicators say if credit growth (along with other fin indicators) is picking, actual growth will also rise. However, it is actually seen the relation is far from clear. In fact, the financial indicators  hardly help predict any change in business cycle. Most rise in good times and fall in bad times. Most financial indicators failed to predict this global financial crisis and kept rising making everyone all the more complacent. Recent policy developments Regarding Bank Credit Bank lending was done for a long time by assessing the working capital needs based on the concept of MPBF (maximum permissible bank finance). This practice has been withdrawn with the effect from April 15th 1997 in the sense that the date, banks have been left free to choose their own method ( from the method such as turnover , cash budget, present MPBF , or any other theory) of assessing working Capital requirement of the borrowers. The cash credit system has been the bane, yet it has exhibited a remarkable strength of survival all these years. In spite of many efforts which were direct in nature, only a slow progress has been made to reduce its importance and increase bill financing. Therefore a concrete and direct policy step was taken on April 21, 1995 which made it mandatory for banks, consortia, syndicates to restrict cash credit components to the prescribed limit , the balance being given in the form of a short term loan, which would be a demand loan for a maximum period of one year, or in case of seasonal industries , for six months. The interest rates on the cash credit and loan components are to be fixed in accordance with the prime lending rates fixed by the banks. This â€Å"loan system† was first made applicable to the borrowers with an MPBF of Rs 20 crore and above; and in their case , the ratio of cash credit (loan) to MPBF was progressively reduced(increased) from 75 (25) per cent in April 1995 , to 60 (40) percent in September 1995, 40 (60) per cent in April 1996 , and 20 (80) percent in April 1997. With the withdrawal of instructions about the MPBF in April 1997 , the prescribed cash credit and loan components came to be related to the working capital limit arrived in banks as per the method of their choice. With effect from September 3, 1997, the RBI has permitted banks to raise their existing exposure limit to a business group from 50% to 60%; the additional 10% limit being exclusively meant for investment in infrastructure projects. The term lending by banks also has subject to the limits fixed by RBI. In 1993, this limit was raised from Rs 10 crore to Rs 50 crore in case of a oan for a single project by a single bank, and from Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore for a single project by all the banks. The latter limit was subsequently raised to Rs 500 crore in the case of general projects and Rs 1000 crore for power projects. From September3, 1997 these caps on term lending by banks were removed subject to their compliance with the prudential exposure norms. The banks can invest in and underwrite shares and debentures of corporate bodies. At present, they can invest five percent of their incremental deposits in equities of companies including other banks. Their investment in shares/ Bonds of DFHI, Securities trading Corporation of India (STCI), all Indian financial institutions and bonds (debentures) and preference shares of the companies are excluded from this ceiling of five per cent with affect from April 1997 . From the same date banks could extend loans within this ceiling to the corporate against shares held by them. They could also offer overdraft facilities to stock brokers registered with help of SEBI against shares and debentures held by them for nine months without change of ownership. CHANGING PHASE OF BANK CREDIT- A study group headed by Shri Prakash Tandon, the then Chairman of Punjab National Bank, was constituted by the RBI in July 1974 with eminent personalities drawn from leading banks, financial institutions and a wide cross-section of the industry with a view to study the entire gamut of Bank’s finance for working capital and suggest ways for optimum utilization of Bank credit. This was the first elaborate attempt by the central bank to organize the Bank credit. Most banks in India even today continue to look at the needs of the corporate in the light of methodology recommended by the Group. The report of this group is widely known as Tandon Committee report. The weaknesses in the Cash Credit system have persisted with the non-implementation of one of the crucial recommendations of the Committee. In the background of credit expansion seen in 1977-79 and its ill effects on the economy, RBI appointed a working group to study and suggest- i) Modifications in the Cash Credit system to make it amenable to better management of funds by the Bankers and ii) Alternate type of credit acilities to ensure better credit discipline and co relation between credit and production. The Group was headed by Sh. K. B. Chore of RBI and was named Chore Committee. Another group headed by Sh. P. R. Nayak (Nayak Committee) was entrusted the job of looking into the difficulties faced by Small Scale Industries due to the sophisticated nature of Tandon ; Chore Committee recommendations. His report is applicable to units with credit requirements of less than Rs. 50 lacs. The recommendations made by Tandon Committee and reinforced by Chore Committee were implemented in all Banks and Bank Credit became much more organized. However, the recommendations were perceived as too strict by the industry and there has been a continuous clamor from the Industry for movement from mandatory control to a voluntary market related restraint. With recent liberalization of economy and reforms in the financial sector, RBI has given the freedom to the Banks to work out their own norms for inventory and the earlier norms are now to be taken as guidelines and not a mandate. In fact, beginning with the slack season credit policy of 1997-98, RBI has also given full freedom to all the Banks to devise their own method of assessing the short term credit requirements of their clients and grant lines of credit accordingly. Most banks, however, continue to be guided by the principles enunciated in Tandon Committee report. Trends of Bank Credit in India The face of Indian banking has changed radically in the last decade. A perusal of the Basic Statistical Returns submitted by banks to the Reserve Bank of India shows that between 1996 and 2005, personal loans have been the fastest growing asset, increasing from 9. per cent of the total bank credit in 1996 to 22. 2 per cent in 2005. Of course, this is partly due to the huge rise in housing loans, which rose from 2. 8 per cent of the bank credit to 11 per cent over the period, but ‘other personal loans’ — comprising loans against fixed deposits, gold loans and unsecured personal loans — a lso rose from 6. 1 per cent to 10. 7 per cent. Other categories whose share increased were loans to professionals and loans to finance companies. In contrast, there has been a sharp decline in the share of lendings to industry. Credit to small scale industries fell from 10. per cent of the total in 1996 to 4. 1 per cent in 2005. Reasons for declining trend of bank credit * A major share of the economic growth has been led by the expansion of the service sector * Capital intensity and investment intensity required for growth in the current economic context may not be as high as it used to be in the past. * In manufacturing sector more efficient utilization of existing capacities contributed to the sectoral growth rather rather than any large addition of fresh capacities. The consequential increase in the demand for credit was also subdued. Greater and cheaper avenues for credit resulted in a bigger share of disintermediation being resorted to by large borrowers. The other trend has b een the substantial drop in the share of rural credit, while the share of metropolitan centres has increased. While bankers say that up gradation of rural centres into semi-urban could be one reason (the share of semi-urban centres has gone up), it is also true that the reforms have been urban-centric and have tended to benefit the metros more. The number of rural bank offices fell from 32,981 in March 1996 to 31,967 by March 2005. The states have been the main beneficiaries of bank credit are the northern region as it has increased its share from 18. 7 per cent of the total credit in 1996 to 22. 2 per cent in 2005. As it was seen that Delhi’s share went up from 9. 5 per cent to 12. 1 per cent over the period. This is not due to food credit, the account of which is maintained in Delhi. Clearly, the national capital has gained a lot from liberalisation. Trends for the year 2008-09 The aggregate deposits of scheduled commercial banks have expanded during 2008-09 at a somewhat slower rate (19. %) than in 2007-08 (22. 4%). Within aggregate deposits demand deposits have shown an absolute fall (-Rs 4,179 crore) in contrast to the sizeable increase (Rs 94,579 crore or by 22%) in 2007-08,. On the other hand, time deposits have shown an accelerated increase of 22. 6% (or Rs 647,806 crore) as against 21. 8% (Rs 512,844 crore) in the previous year. In the investment portfolio of banks, the expansion during 2008- 09 at Rs 194,031crore has been much lower than the expansion of Rs 340,250 crore as increase in net bank credit to government under onetary data for the same period. This has happened because the latter has a sizeable amount of RBI credit to government following the increased open market operations. Finally, there has occurred considerable slowdown in bank credit expansion. Because of relatively higher procurement of foodgrains, food credit has expanded by Rs 1,812 crore during 2008-09 as against an absolute fall of Rs 2,121 crore in 2007-08. Non-food credit growth at Rs 406,287 (17. 5%) has been slower than in the previous year at Rs 432,846 (23. 0%). Procedure for providing Bank Credit- Banks offers different types of credit facilities to the eligible borrowers. For this, there are several procedures, controls and guidelines laid out. Credit Appraisal, Sanctions, Monitoring and Asset Recovery Management comprise the entire gamut of activities in the lending process of a bank which are clearly shown as below: Source- Self constructed From the above chart we can see that Credit Appraisal is the core and the basic function of a bank before providing loan to any person/company, etc. It is the most important aspect of the lending procedure and therefore it is discussed in detail as below. Credit Appraisal Meaning – The process by which a lender appraises the creditworthiness of the prospective borrower is known as Credit Appraisal. This normally involves appraising the borrower’s payment history and establishing the quality and sustainability of his income. The lender satisfies himself of the good intentions of the borrower, usually through an interview. * The credit requirement must be assessed by all Indian Financial Institutions or specialised institution set up for this purpose. Wherever financing of infrastructure project is taken up under a consortium / syndication arrangement – bank’s exposure shall not exceed 25% * Bank may also take up financing infrastructure project independently / exclusively in respect of borrowers /promoters of repute with excellent past record in project implementation. * In such cases due diligence on t he inability of the projects are well defined and assessed. State government guarantee may not be taken as a substitute for satisfactory credit appraisal. The important thing to remember is not to be overwhelmed by marketing or profit centre reasons to book a loan but to take a balanced view when booking a loan, taking into account the risk reward aspects. Generally everyone becomes optimistic during the upswing of the business cycle, but tend to forget to see how the borrower will be during the downturn, which is a short-sighted approach. Furthermore greater emphasis is given on financials, which are usually outdated; this is further exacerbated by the fact that a descriptive approach is usually taken, rather than an analytical approach, to the credit. Thus a forward looking approach should also be adopted, since the loan will be repaid primarily from future cash flows, not historic performance; however both can be used as good repayment indicators. Indian Banking Sector ; Its Major Challenges It is well recognised by the world that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Evidence from across the world suggests that a sound and evolved banking system is required for sustained economic development. The last decade has seen many positive developments in the Indian banking sector. The policy makers, which comprise the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of Finance and related government and financial sector regulatory entities, have made several notable efforts to improve regulation in the sector. The sector now compares favourably with banking sectors in the region on metrics like growth, profitability and non-performing assets (NPAs). A few banks have established an outstanding track record of innovation, growth and value creation. This is reflected in their market valuation. However, improved regulations, innovation, growth and value creation in the sector remain limited to a small part of it. The cost of banking intermediation in India is higher and bank penetration is far lower than in other markets. India’s banking industry must strengthen itself significantly if it has to support the modern and vibrant economy which India aspires to be. While the onus for this change lies mainly with bank managements, an enabling policy and regulatory framework will also be critical to their success. The failure to respond to changing market realities has stunted the development of the financial sector in many developing countries. A weak banking structure has been unable to fuel continued growth, which has harmed the long-term health of their economies. In this â€Å"white paper†, we emphasise the need to act both decisively and quickly to build an enabling, rather than a limiting, banking sector in India. Indian banks have compared favourably on growth, asset quality and profitability with other regional banks over the last few years. The banking index has grown at a compounded annual rate of over 51 per cent since April 2001 as compared to a 27 per cent growth in the market index for the same period. Policy makers have made some notable changes in policy and regulation to help strengthen the sector. These changes include strengthening prudential norms, enhancing the payments system and integrating regulations between commercial and co-operative banks. However, the cost of intermediation remains high and bank penetration is limited to only a few customer segments and geographies. While bank lending has been a significant driver of GDP growth and employment, periodic instances of the â€Å"failure† of some weak banks have often threatened the stability of the system. Structural weaknesses such as a fragmented industry structure, restrictions on capital availability and deployment, lack of institutional support infrastructure, restrictive labour laws, weak corporate governance and ineffective regulations beyond Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), unless addressed, could seriously weaken the health of the sector. Further, the inability of bank managements (with some notable exceptions) to improve capital allocation, increase the productivity of their service platforms and improve the performance ethic in their organisations could seriously affect future performance. India has a better banking system in place Vis a Vis other developing countries, but there are several issues that need to be ironed out. Major challenges of Indian banking sector are mentioned below. Interest rate risk Interest rate risk can be defined as exposure of bank’s net interest income to adverse movements in interest rates. A bank’s balance sheet consists mainly of rupee assets and liabilities. Any movement in domestic interest rate is the main source of interest rate risk. Over the last few years the treasury departments of banks have been responsible for a substantial part f profits made by banks. Between July 1997 and Oct 2003, as interest rates fell, the yield on 10-year government bonds (a barometer for domestic interest rates) fell, from 13 per cent to 4. 9 per cent. With yields falling the banks made huge profits on their bond portfolios. Now as yields go up (with the rise in inflation, bond yields go up and bond prices fall as the debt market starts fa ctoring a possible interest rate hike), the banks will have to set aside funds to mark to market their investment. This will make it difficult to show huge profits from treasury operations. This concern becomes much stronger because a substantial percentage of bank deposits remain invested in government bonds. Banking in the recent years had been reduced to a trading operation in government securities. Recent months have shown a rise in the bond yields has led to the profit from treasury operations falling. The latest quarterly reports of banks clearly show several banks making losses on their treasury operations. If the rise in yields continues the banks might end up posting huge losses on their trading books. Given these facts, banks will have to look at alternative sources of investment. Interest rates and non-performing assets The best indicator of the health of the banking industry in a country is its level of NPAs. Given this fact, Indian banks seem to be better placed than they were in the past. A few banks have even managed to reduce their net NPAs to less than one percent (before the merger of Global Trust Bank into Oriental Bank of Commerce OBC was a zero NPA bank). But as the bond yields start to rise the chances are the net NPAs will also start to go up. This will happen because the banks have been making huge provisions against the money they made on their bond portfolios in a scenario where bond yields were falling. Reduced NPAs generally gives the impression that banks have strengthened their credit appraisal processes over the years. This does not seem to be the case. With increasing bond yields, treasury income will come down and if the banks wish to make large provisions, the money will have to come from their interest income, and this in turn, shall bring down the profitability of banks. Competition in retail banking The entry of new generation private sector banks has changed the entire scenario. Earlier the household savings went into banks and the banks then lent out money to corporate. Now they need to sell banking. The retail segment, which was earlier ignored, is now the most important of the lot, with the banks jumping over one another to give out loans. The consumer has never been so lucky with so many banks offering so many products to choose from. With supply far exceeding demand it has been a race to the bottom, with the banks undercutting one another. A lot of foreign banks have already burnt their fingers in the retail game and have now decided to get out of a few retail segments completely. The nimble footed new generation private sector banks have taken a lead on this front and the public sector banks are trying to play catch up. The PSBs have been losing business to the private sector banks in this segment. PSBs need to figure out the means to generate profitable business from this segment in the days to come. The urge to merge In the recent past there has been a lot of talk about Indian Banks lacking in scale and size. The State Bank of India is the only bank from India to make it to the list of Top 100 banks, globally. Most of the PSBs are either looking to pick up a smaller bank or waiting to be picked up by a larger bank. The central government also seems to be game about the issue and is seen to be encouraging PSBs to merge or acquire other banks. Global evidence seems to suggest that even though there is great enthusiasm when companies merge or get acquired, majority of the mergers/acquisitions do not really work. So in the zeal to merge with or acquire another bank the PSBs should not let their common sense take a back seat. Before a merger is carried out cultural issues should be looked into. A bank based primarily out of North India might want to acquire a bank based primarily out of South India to increase its geographical presence but their cultures might be very different. So the integration process might become very difficult. Technological compatibility is another issue that needs to be looked into in details before any merger or acquisition is carried out. Impact of BASEL-II norms Banking is a commodity business. The margins on the products that banks offer to its customers are extremely thin vis a vis other businesses. As a result, for banks to earn an adequate return of equity and compete for capital along with other industries, they need to be highly leveraged. The primary function of the bank’s capital is to absorb any losses a bank suffers (which can be written off against bank’s capital). Norms set in the Swiss town of Basel determine the ground rules for the way banks around the world account for loans they give out. These rules were formulated by the Bank for International Settlements in 1988. Essentially, these rules tell the banks how much capital the banks should have to cover up for the risk that their loans might go bad. The rules set in 1988 led the banks to differentiate among the customers it lent out money to. Different weightage was given to various forms of assets, with zero percentage weightings being given to cash, deposits with the central bank/govt. etc, and 100 per cent weighting to claims on private sector, fixed assets, real estate etc. The summation of these assets gave us the risk-weighted assets. Against these risk weighted assets the banks had to maintain a (Tier I + Tier II) capital of 9 per cent i. e. every Rs100 of risk assets had to be backed by Rs 9 of Tier I + Tier II capital. To put it simply the banks had to maintain a capital adequacy ratio of 9 percent. The problem with these rules is that they do not distinguish within a category i. e. all lending to private sector is assigned a 100 per cent risk weighting, be it a company with the best credit rating or company which is in the doldrums and has a very low credit rating. This is not an efficient use of capital. The company with the best credit rating is more likely to repay the loan vis a vis the company with a low credit rating. So the bank should be setting aside a far lesser amount of capital against the risk of a company with the best credit rating defaulting vis a vis the company with a low credit rating. With the BASEL-II norms the bank can decide on the amount of capital to set aside depending on the credit rating of the company. Credit risk is not the only type of risk that banks face. These days the operational risks that banks face are huge. The various risks that come under operational risk are competition risk, technology risk, casualty risk, crime risk etc. The original BASEL rules did not take into account the operational risks. As per the BASEL-II norms, banks will have to set aside 15 per cent of net income to protect themselves against operational risks. Over the last few years, the falling interest rates, gave banks very little incentive to lend to projects, as the return did not compensate them for the risk involved. This led to the banks getting into the retail segment big time. It also led to a lot of banks playing it safe and putting in most of the deposits they collected into government bonds. Now with the bond party over and the bond yields starting to go up, the banks will have to concentrate on their core function of lending. The banking sector in India needs to tackle these challenges successfully to keep growing and strengthen the Indian financial system. Furthermore, the interference of the central government with the functioning of PSBs should stop. A fresh autonomy package for public sector banks is in offing. The package seeks to provide a high degree of freedom to PSBs on operational matters. This seems to be the right way to go for PSBs. The growth of the banking sector will be one of the most important inputs that shall go into making sure that India progresses and becomes a global economic super power. Products and Services Corporate banking * Personal banking * Industrial finance * Agriculture finance * Financing of trade * International banking * Home loan * Auto loan * ATM/Debit card * Deposit interest rate * Credit interest rate * Other services: lockers facility, internet banking, EFT ; Clearing services etc Review of Literature Literature review provides available research with respect to the selected topic of the project or the research findings by an author which has been done with respect to the research topic. This chapter provides the overall view of the available literature with respect to the topic of the project. The review of the related research works are described as under:- 1. A research work on the topic â€Å" On the appraisal on consumer credit banking products with the asset quality frame: A multiple criteria application. † done by Panagiotis Xidonas, Alexandros Flamos, Sortirios Koussouris, Dimitrious Askouins ; Ioannis Psarras from National Technical University of Athens in 2007 says that Asset quality refers to the likelihood that the bank’s earning assets will continue to perform and requires both a qualitative and quantitative assessment. Decision problems like the â€Å"internal appraisal of banking products†, are problems with strong multiple-criteria character and it seems that the methodological framework of Multiple Criteria Decision Making could provide a reliable solution. In this paper, the Asset Quality banking indicators are the, so called, â€Å"criteria†, the value of these indicators are the, so called, â€Å"scores† in each criterion and the P. R. O. METH. E. E. [Preference Ranking Organization Method of Enrichment Evaluations, Brans Vincke (1985)] Multiple Criteria method is applied, towards modelling banking products appraisal problems. A Multiple Criteria process, strictly mathematically defined, integrates the behaviour of each indicator-criterion and utilizes each score in order to rank the so called â€Å"alternatives†, i. e. categories of banking products. 2. The research Paper on â€Å"Evaluation of decision support systems for credit management decisions† by S. Kanungo, S. Sharma, P. K. Jain from Department of studies, IIT Delhi have conducted a study to evaluate the efficiency of decision support system (DSS) for credit management. This study formed a larger initiative to access the effectiveness of the I. T based credit management process at SBI. Such a study was necessitated since credit appraisal has become an integral sub-function of the Indian banks in view of growing incidence of non-performing assets. The DSS they have assessed was a credit appraisal system developed by Quuattro pro at SBI. This system helps in analysis of balance sheets, Calculation of financial ratios, cash flow analysis, future projections, sensitivity analysis and risk evaluation as per SBI norms. They have also used a strong Quassi experimental design called Solomon’s four group design for the assessment. In the experiment the managers of SBI who attended the training programme were the subjects the experiment consisted of the measurements that were taken as pre and post tests. An experimental intervention was applied between the pre-tests and the pro-tests. The intervention or stimulus consisted of DSS training and use. There were four groups in the experiment. The stimulus remained constant as the they took care to ensure that the course content as well as the instructors remained the same during the course of the experiment. Two were experimental groups and two were control groups. All four groups underwent training in credit management between the pre and the post tests. Results from research shows that while the DSS is effective, improvement needs to be done in the methodology to assess such improvements. Moreover such assessment frameworks while being adequate from a DSS-centric viewpoint do not respond to the assessment of DSS in an organizational setting . In the concluding section they have discussed how this evaluative framework can be strengthened to initiate an activity that will allow the long term and possibly the only meaningful evaluation framework for such a system. . The research paper on the topic â€Å"Towards an appraisal of the FMHA farm credit program: A case study of the efficiency of borrower by S. Mehdian, Wm. McD. Herr, Phil Eberle, and Richard Grabowski† have studied that the a production frontier methodology is used to measure the overall efficiency of a sample of farmers home administration(FMHA) compared to non participants. T he study did not find evidence that the efficiency FMHA farms improved between a time period Results indicated that overall efficiency of FMHA borrowers is associated with selected financial characteristics of the farms. A review of the literature shows that agricultural finance specialists have not been successful in evaluating whether FMHA pro- grams improve the efficiency and income of probability of success. Liberal loan policies Eligible borrowers. Inadequate evaluation of the FMHA program occurs partly because of because the difficulty of adequately deter-mining the impacts of changes in the econ- borrowers in a more normal period of the loan. This study addressed these difficulties by utilizing a nonparametric production frontier technique to measure overall efficiency and a matched pair statistical procedure to measure how efficiency of farms receiving FMHA credit changed relative to a Non-FMHA farmers. 4. The book named â€Å"Financial Analysis for Bank Lending in Liberalised Economy† by Sampat. P. Singh and Dr. S. Singh have discussed the subject financial analysis for bank lending has assumed considerable importance, particularly since early 1990’s when, like most of the countries, India opted for the policy of liberalisation and globalisation after 1991. The present volume is meant to be a standard reference as well as text book on the varied facets of financial analysis with reference to credit management by Banks and Financial Institutions. The book consists of three parts. Part I discusses the concepts and tools of Financial Analysis; Part II explains various concepts of working capital in its historical context; while Part III demonstrates the application of these tools in the changing context of liberalised economy by focusing on new concepts like ‘Credit Worthiness’, Risk-Analysis, Credit Rating, Products-Differentiation, Pricing-Differentiation, Asset-Liability Management, etc. The book contains- Bank Lending and Industrial Finance in India ,Basic Economics for Bankers and Business Managers ,Introduction to Fundamentals Accounting Principles ,Profit and Loss Account (Operating Statement) ,Analysis of Profit and Loss Account (Operating Statement) ,Structure and Analysis of Balance Sheet ,Ratios as Tools of Financial Statements Analysis ,Accounting Flows : Income, Cash and Funds ,Break-even Analysis and Margin of Safety ,Appraisal of Capital Projects ,New Conceptual Framework for Analysis, Liberalised Era and New Focus of Bank Lending ,Managing Working Capital by Strategic Choice , Financing Working Capital : Conceptual and Historical Exposition,Creditworthiness and Credit Rating : At Centre stage Nucleus of Credit Appraisal , Working Capital Management-I : MPBF System of Appraisal and Bifurcation of Fund-Based Limit in Two Components Working Capital Management-II : Alternative Methods of Appraisal ,Working Capital Management-III : Follow-up and Supervision , Appraisal of a New Project Involving Term Loan , Management of Problem Accounts , Management of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), Rehabilitation of Sick Industrial Units, Working Capital Management : Concepts and Techniques , 1st Committee on Financial Sector Reform and the 2nd Committee on Banking System Reform (Known as Narasimham Committee Report, 1998). 5. The research paper on the topic â€Å"Competitive analysis in banking: Appraisal of the methodologies† by Nicola Cetorelli has discussed about the U. S. banking industry has experienced significant structural changes as the result of an intense process of consolidation. From 1975 to 1997, the number of commercial banks decreased by about 35 percent, from 14,318 to 9,215. Since the early 1980s, there have been an average of more than 400 mergers per year (see Avery et al. , 1997, and Simmons and Stavins, 1998). The relaxation of intrastate branching restrictions, effective to differing degrees in all states by 1992, and the passage in 1994 of the Riegle. Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act, which allows bank holding companies to acquire banks in any state and, since June 1, 1997, to open interstate branches, is certainly accelerating the process of consolidation. These significant changes raise important policy concerns. On the one hand, one could argue that banks are merging to fully exploit potential economies of scale and/or scope. The possible improvements in efficiency may translate into welfare gains for the economy, to the extent that customers pay lower prices for banks. services or are able to obtain higher quality services or services that could not have been offered before. 1 On the other hand, from the point of view of public policy it is equally important to focus on the effect of this restructuring process on the competitive conditions of the banking industry. Do banks gain market power from merging? If so, they will be able to charge higher than competitive prices for their products, thus inflicting welfare costs that could more than offset any presumed benefit associated with mergers. In this article, analysis of competition in the banking industry is done highlighting a very fundamental issue: How market power is measured and how do regulators rely on accurate and effective procedures to evaluate the competitive effects of a merger. Credit Philosophy ; Policy with regards to Punjab National Bank An ideal advance is the one given to a reliable customer for an approval purpose with adequate experience, safe in knowledge that the money will be used to advantage and repayment will be made within a reasonable period from trade receipts or known maturities due on or about given dates. Credit philosophy – â€Å"To achieve credit expansion required for sustaining the profitability of the bank and emphasis on quality assets, profitable relationships and prudent growth. † CREDIT POLICY Bank follows following broad policy imperatives:- Reduction in dependence upon short term corporate loans, especially unsecured exposures. * Aiming to achieve more sanctions at levels closer to the customer. * Changing the mix of the portfolio in favour of better diffused and higher yielding credit. * Building competencies in credit management through training ; promotion of self directed learning. Objectives of credit policy 1. A balanced growth of credit portfolio, which does not compromise safety. 2. Adoption of a forward looking and market responsive approach for moving into profitable new areas on lending which emerge, within the pre determined exposure ceilings. 3. Sound risk management practices to identify measure, monitor and control risks. 4. Maximize interest yields from credit portfolio through a judicious management of varying spreads of loan assets based upon their size, credit rating and tenure. 5. Leverage on strong relationships with existing long-standing clients to source a bulk of new business by addressing their requirements comprehensively. 6. Ensure due compliance of various regulatory norms including CAR, income recognition and asset classification 7. Accomplish balanced development of credit to various sectors and geographical regions. 8. Achieve growth of credit to priority sectors / subsectors and continue to surpass the targets stipulated by reserve bank of India. 9. Using of pricing as a tool of competitive advantage ensuring however that earnings are protected. 10. Develop and maintain enhanced competencies in credit management at all levels through a combination of training initiatives, promotion of self directed learning and dissemination of best practices. Objectives in Credit To maintain healthy balance between- * Credit volumes * Earnings * Asset quality within the framework of regulatory prescriptions, corporate goals and bank’s social responsibilities. Introduction to loans Loans are advances for fixed amounts repayable on demand or in instalment. They are normally made in lump sums and interest is paid on the entire amount. The borrower cannot draw funds beyond the amount sanctioned. A key function of the Bank is deploying funds for income-yielding assets. A major part of Bank’s assets are the loans and advances portfolio and investments in approved securities. Loans ; Advances refer to long-term and short-term credit facilities to various types of borrowers and non-fund facilities like Bank Guarantees, Letters of Credit, Letters of Solvency etc. Bill facilities represent structured commitments which are negotiable claims having a market by way of negotiable instruments. Thus, Banks extend credit facilities by way of fund-based long-term and short-term loans and advances as also by way of non-fund facilities. Loans/Advances Classification of Loans Loans/Advances Pre-shipment Finance Post shipment Finance Letter of Credit Bank Guarantee Term Loan Export Finance Bill Discounting Cash Credit Retail Loan Non-Fund Based Fund Based Fund Based Bank provides credit in various forms. These are broadly classified into two categories- Fund based and Non –Fund Based. Fund based refers to the type of credit where cash is directly involved i. e. where bank provides money to the seeker in anticipation of getting it back. Where as in a Non-fund Based, Bank doesn’t pay cash directly but gives assurance or takes guarantee on behalf of its customer to pay if they fail to do so. In case on Fund Based there are different categories of loans which are discussed as follows I. RETAIL LOANS- Retail banking in India is not a new phenomenon. It has always been prevalent in India in various forms. For the last few years it has become synonymous with mainstream banking for many banks. The typical products offered in the Indian retail banking segment are:- * Housing loans * Consumer loans for purchase of durables * Auto loans * Educational loans * Credit Cost. * Personal loans Retail loan is the practice of loaning money to individuals rather than institutions. Retail lending is done by banks, credit unions, and savings and loan associations. These institutions make loans for automobile purchases, home purchases, medical care, home repair, vacations, and other consumer uses. Retail lending has taken a prominent role in the lending activities of banks, as the availability of credit and the number of products offered for retail lending have grown. The amounts loaned through retail lending are usually smaller than those loaned to businesses. Retail lending may take the form of instalment loans, which must be paid off little by little over the course of years, or non-instalment loans, which are paid off in one lump sum. These loans are marketed under attractive brand names to differentiate the products offered by different banks. As the Report on Trend and Progress of India, 2007-08 has shown that the loan values of these retail lending typically range between Rs. 20, 000 to Rs. 100 lakh. The loans are generally for duration of five to seven years with housing loans granted for a longer duration of 15 years. Credit card is another rapidly growing sub-segment of this product group. In recent past retail lending has turned out to be a key profit driver for banks with retail portfolio. The overall impairment of the retail loan portfolio worked out much less then the Gross NPA ratio for the entire loan portfolio. Within the retail segment, the housing loans had the least gross asset impairment. In fact, retailing make ample business sense in the banking sector. Basic reasons that have contributed to the retail growth in India are- * First, economic prosperity and the consequent increase in purchasing power has given a fillip to a consumer boom. Note that during the 10 years after 1992, India’s economy grew at an average rate of 6. 8 percent and continues to grow at the almost the same rate – not many countries in the world match this performance. * Second, changing consumer demographics indicate vast potential for growth in consumption both qualitatively and quantitatively. India is one of the countries having highest proportion (70%) of the population below 35 years of age (young population). The BRIC report of the Goldman-Sachs, which predicted a bright future for Brazil, Russia, India and China, mentioned Indian demographic advantage as an important positive factor for India. * Third, technological factors played a major role. Convenience banking in the form of debit cards, internet and phone-banking, anywhere and anytime banking has attracted many new customers into the banking field. Technological innovations relating to increasing use of credit / debit cards, ATMs, direct debits and phone banking has contributed to the growth of retail banking in India. * Fourth, the Treasury income of the banks, which had strengthened the bottom lines of banks for the past few years, has been on the decline during the last two years. In such a scenario, retail business provides a good vehicle of profit maximisation. Considering the fact that retail’s share in impaired assets is far lower than the overall bank loans and advances, retail loans have put comparatively less provisioning burden on banks apart from diversifying their income streams. * Fifth, decline in interest rates have also contributed to the growth of retail credit by generating the demand for such credit. According to K V Kamath, the changing demographic profile and a downward trend of the interest rates will propel retail credit in India. â€Å"There is a huge retail credit opportunity that is surfacing. Banks have low penetration in this segment currently. But it is the one area that is providing the momentum in the banking business now,† India has among the lowest penetration of retail loans in Asia. Though the sector has been growing at around 15 per cent, there is still a huge opportunity to tap into. Middle and -high-income homes in India has increased to 2. 57 crore (25. 7 million). Interest rates on retail loans have been dropping rapidly too. For instance residential mortgages slumped by 7 per cent over the last four years. â€Å"The entry of a number of banks in India in the last few years has helped provide increased coverage and a number of new products in the market,† says Kamath. II. WORKING CAPITAL / CASH CREDIT Cash credit is a short-term cash loan to a company. A bank provides this type of funding, but only after the required security is given to secure the loan. Once a security for repayment has been given, the business that receives the loan can continuously draw from the bank up to a certain specified amount. The bank provides certain amount to the company for its day to day working keeping certain margin in hand. III. TERM LOANS A bank loan to a company, with a fixed maturity and often featuring amortization of principal. If this loan is in the form of a line of credit, the funds are drawn down shortly after the agreement is signed. Otherwise, the borrower usually uses the funds from the loan soon after they become available. Bank term loans are very a common kind of lending. Term loans are the basic vanilla commercial loan. They typically carry fixed interest rates, and monthly or quarterly repayment schedules and include a set maturity date. Bankers tend to classify term loans into two categories: * Intermediate-term loans: Usually running less than three years, these loans are generally repaid in monthly instalments (sometimes with balloon payments) from a business’s cash flow. According to the American Bankers Association, repayment is often tied directly to the useful life of the asset being financed. * Long-term loans: These loans are commonly set for more than three years. Most are between three and 10 years, and some run for as long as 20 years. Long-term loans are collateralized by a business’s assets and typically require quarterly or monthly payments derived from profits or cash flow. These loans usually carry wording that limits the amount of additional financial commitments the business may take on including other debts but also dividends or principals’ salaries), and they sometimes require that a certain amount of profit be set-aside to repay the loan. Appropriate For: Established small b usinesses that can leverage sound financial statements and substantial down payments to minimize monthly payments and total loan costs. Repayment is typically linked in some way to the item financed. Term loans require collateral and a relatively rigorous approval process but can help reduce risk by minimizing costs. Before deciding to finance equipment, borrowers should be sure they can they make full use of ownership-related benefits, such as depreciation, and should compare the cost with that leasing. Supply: Abundant but highly differentiated. The degree of financial strength required to receive loan approval can vary tremendously from bank to bank, depending on the level of risk the bank is willing to take on. IV. BILL DISCOUNTING While discounting a bill, the Bank buys the bill (i. e. Bill of Exchange or Promissory Note) before it is due and credits the value of the bill after a discount charge to the customer’s account. The transaction is practically an advance against the security of the bill and the discount represents the interest on the advance from the date of purchase of the bill until it is due for payment. Bills of exchange- A bill of exchange or â€Å"draft† is a written order by the drawer to the drawee to pay money to the payee. A common type of bill of exchange is the cheque (check in American English), defined as a bill of exchange drawn on a banker and payable on demand. Bills of exchange are used primarily in international trade, and are written orders by one person to his bank to pay the bearer a specific sum on a specific date. Prior to the advent of paper currency, bills of exchange were a common means of exchange. They are not used as often today. A bill of exchange is an unconditional order in writing addressed by one person to another, signed by the person giving it, requiring the person to whom it is addressed to pay on demand or at fixed or determinable future time a sum certain in money to order or to bearer. It is essentially an order made by one person to another to pay money to a third person. A bill of exchange requires in its inception three parties–the drawer, the drawee, and the payee. The person who draws the bill is called the drawer. He gives the order to pay money to third party. The party upon whom the bill is drawn id called the drawee. He is the person to whom the bill is addressed and who is ordered to pay. He becomes an acceptor when he indicates his willingness to pay the bill. The party in whose favor the bill is drawn or is payable is called the payee. Promissory Note- A promissory note is a written promise by the maker to pay money to the payee. Bank note is frequently transferred as a promissory note, a promissory note made by a bank and payable to bearer on demand. A maker of a promissory note promises to unconditionally pay the payee (beneficiary) a specific amount on a specified date. A promissory note is an unconditional promise to pay a specific amount to bearer or to the order of a named person, on demand or on a specified date. A negotiable promissory note is unconditional promise in writing made by one person to another, signed by the maker, engaging to pay on demand, or at fixed or determinable future time, sum certain in money to order or to bearer V. EXPORT FINANCE- This type of a credit facility is provided to exporters who export their goods to different places. It is divided into two parts- pre-shipment finance and post-shipment finance. * Pre Shipment Finance is issued by a financial institution when the seller want the payment of the goods before shipment. * Post Shipment Finance is a kind of loan provided by a financial institution to an exporter or seller against a shipment that has already been made. This type of export finance is granted from the date of extending the credit after shipment of the goods to the realization date of the exporter proceeds. Exporters don’t wait for the importer to deposit the funds. Non Fund Based loans generate income for the bank without committing the funds of the bank. Bank generates substantial income under this head. There are two types of credit under this category which are discussed as follows:- I. BANK GUARANTEE- A bank guarantee is a written contract given by a bank on the behalf of a customer. By issuing this guarantee, a bank takes responsi How to cite Credit Appraisal Process, Essay examples

Case Study Flexibility and Work-Life Balance

Question: Case Study: Flexibility and work-life balance.who benefits? Answer: Introduction It would not be wrong to say that individuals nowadays are struggling, and striving to balance out their personal, and professional lives and responsibilities. Long working hours, inconsistent schedules, hectic operations, and global collaboration have all gave birth to more of the increased pressure on an individual (Drago, Wooden, Black, 2009). On the other hand, there also exists a constant pressure on the organizations these days to manufacture, and deliver products, and services of efficient quality, and at competitive prices. So, to meet all these issues sometimes new methods of functioning, and working patterns have to be discovered, and one of these methods can be Flexible working. It benefits almost everyone who works within an organization, be it employers, managers, executives, or employees (Grawitch Barber, 2010). Flexible Work-life Arrangements Flexible working is an opportunity which can benefit each, and everyone working within an organization only when it is adopted properly keeping in mind the needs and demands of the people concerned. It is a phrase which describes the changes in working patterns to be followed to suit and meet the needs and demands of the employers as well as of the employees. Flexible working can be described in many ways (Hayman, 2009). Some of them are as follows: Part-time work- It is a kind of opportunity in which the employees work less than the usual working hours of the business according to the availability of their free time, and it can also be done by working only for fewer days in a week. This pattern of work is most commonly used in hotels, warehouses, bars, restaurants, shops, etc. (Hill, Erickson, Holmes, Ferris, 2010). Flexi-time- Flexi-time is a kind of arrangement in which employee gets to choose the time in which he/she wants to work. This pattern is mostly used in office-based surroundings to assist their staff who works below the managerial level. Annualized hours- In this pattern of work, generally the hours of an employee to work or the shifts of work on a yearly basis gets decided on a contract basis and the employee has to work accordingly to complete the specifically defined period. This is most often followed by manufacturing companies and agriculture-based companies where the work basically depends on the demand of the product (Mitsakis Talampekos, 2014). Staggered hours- Using this scheme, workers are allowed to fix time schedules as when to start and to finish their work which can be slightly different from other employees working there. Job sharing- This includes sharing of a job of one person with that of the other who is working in the same company. Working from home- This arrangement allows the employees to work from their home without being physically present at the work place. With the development in the use of technology and communication techniques such as smartphones, internet facilities, video calling, etc. more and more variations can be done in flexible working area to support and assist the employers and employees both (Peters, den Dulk, van der Lippe, 2009). In old times of business, employers were basically behind the people who acquire the talent, and the capability of understanding and performing the business operations. But as of now the time has changed, employers and the companies are now concentrates more on the flexible arrangements of work, bringing down the work weeks, and annualized hours of working so that the employees feel more comfortable working in that particular organization, and this also helps them in retaining their staff for long (Platman, 2004). This mode of thinking and the pattern leads to unavoidable reduction in the work-force so that it creates an opportunity for the employers to reshape their roles, and responsibilitie s and employees, on the other hand, could also maintain and support their personal and professional lives by working even more flexibly (Richman, Civian, Shannon, Jeffrey Hill, Brennan, 2008). Juliet Bourke is completely in favor of the term Flexible Working but she does not entirely favors the modern concept and thinking of the term and the area where the argument for reshaped flexibility is moving. While flexibility in the work-place could enhance the productivity of the business, and reduces the over cost of the products and services, she is agitated that the exact point of flexibility at the work-place has shifted and moreover, in a negative way. According to her, the meaning of flexibility has lost its previous paradigm, and now it is more of a phenomenon of getting more outputs from a fewer people, and she is worried about the unintended outcomes and effects of this thinking. She presented this thought of her during the inauguration of the website (www.workplaceflexibility.com.au) developed to help organizations in developing and adopting practices of flexible working patterns. She is of the opinion that it can affect the employers in a negative way if the timings of using flexibility are incorrect, and then the impact of it on the business would be not so good (Russell, O'Connell, McGinnity, 2009). Reducing the working hours of one employee when their operations and activ ities are not needed could, in turn, lead to the increased pressure of work on another employee, which is not at all beneficial for the organization in the long run. Hence, flexibility cannot always prove to be a win-win situation for both, i.e., the employers and the employee. It leads to various other factors which are very essential to consider. Although, this could benefit both the parties when it is used and adopted considering the demands of the organizations and business operations and also keeping in mind the various other factors regarding the employees who work within that company (Skinner Pocock, 2011). Sometimes, due to decrease in the demands of the customers, economic, and business activities also decreases. In that phase, people working in an organization can reduce their work hours to improve and balance their personal life and can make use of flexible work arrangements. Until and unless organizational efficiencies are adequately customized at the place and various job roles reshaped following a dismissal program, organizations could harm themselves by seeking to do more work with less number of employees. While it is proven that capable and talented workers are more productive than the workers who work for late shifts, there should be a fine line that differentiates the objectives and burn out for brilliant pe rformers (Wheatley, 2016). Hence, considering the patterns of work nowadays, I can say that yes, the use of flexibility has been shifted from its real paradigm to a limit which is important and inevitable. Various pros and cons are related with it, and appropriate management can lead to the efficient and capable work-force who has a balanced work life. In an organization, there come many situations in which an employee has to work for more than usual hours to complete their tasks or projects and to fulfill their responsibilities (Russell, O'Connell, McGinnity, 2009). There can be times in an organization when the need for a particular employee arises to work for more than the specified hours so that the business could be benefitted. The performance of the employees is a major issue in all companies since years. Many types of researches have been done on both, national and international levels to measure the performance of employees working within a company. In many organizations, the performance of an employee during work consider to be most important while in others the productivity plays the important role. Depending upon the different requirements of businesses, working for long hours can be sub-divided into following categories: Extended working hours during a week- This includes jobs in which employees or workers regularly work more than 60 hours per week. Extended working hours daily- This involves the jobs in which employees regularly reported for more than 12 hours on daily basis. Overtime- The term generally refers to the extra hours of work done by employees than the usually specified time limit. Generally, Working for long hours affects the performance of an employee in a negative way and sometimes, it also leaves a negative impact on their personal lives and relationships which in no way consider being helpful for the person concerned. An organizations overall performance completely depends on the performance of its employees. So, the companies must take care of its employees to be more productive and competitive. There are many pieces of evidences in studies, and reports that working for long hours have a greater complex relationship with hazard, and risk as extra working hours influences some factors which includes job, performance of the employee, employee control, unofficial responsibilities, and societal abnormalities. It has been emphasized by Miller (1978) that earlier, usually work-life of individuals starts at the age of 16 and ends at 70 but now in contemporary days, it starts at 20 and generally ends at 65 because of the stress caused during work the work-life of people is diminishing (Singh, 2013). Working for long hours have a variety of negative impacts on a person which includes sleeplessness, reduced time with family and other social life responsibilities. All these aspects lead to various adverse effects on a persons body, like tiredness, negative attitude, exhaustion, turbulences, and insecurity that ultimately leads to imperfect performance activities. Insignificant performance negatively affects the business and the employer as: The increase in the production cost- Working for longer hours result to increase in the production cost of the products as the company has to pay for the employees extra efforts and time dedicated to work but the level of performance and productivity decreases due to exhaustion and tiredness. Decreased productivity- Researches and various studies suggest that with the increase in the overtime hours, the ratio of productivity decreases. In clerical jobs, the level of performance decreases almost by 25 percent when the employees work for 60 hours or more than that in a week. Low quality of products, and services- Due to a reasonable fall in the productivity level of the company, the goods so produced also loses its quality because of the lack of attention and alertness during work. Unintended faults, and errors- There develop more and more chances of mistakes and errors while working overtime as the output of the worker to work reaches to an extent after which he/she becomes unable to perform appropriately. Reduced attention, and alertness level- After a specified limit, an individual becomes inoperative as the body of a normal person demands rest and sleep and lack of which reduces the alertness level into that person and after which he/she becomes highly inattentive which causes the more chances of errors while their performance (Been, den Dulk, van der Lippe, 2015). Poor health conditions- A research has been conducted by scientists to explore the various health problems related to working overtime. Some of them includes: back injuries and stressed neck nerves, high level of blood pressure especially among executive workers, increase in the mental health related problems, increased consumption of alcohol, and liquor among men, a high number of suicide rates, etc. Increased stress- Due to higher pressure and increased work load, a person faces so much of stress while work which gives birth to unnecessary health-related issues and mental illness which is not at all healthy for a person in the long run. Complete degradation in performance- Considering all the issues mentioned above, it can be determined that excessive working and working for longer hours result in the overall degradation in the performance level of the company which affects the organization in the long run. An article by Marafi H. (2013) emphasizes that the problems faced by employees who are students and work part-time so that they can meet their needs and requirements generally experience a bad work life balance and comparatively major health related issues (Satpathy, Patnaik, Agarwal, 2014). Therefore, if employees tend to be active or involved in work for longer time, this will result in a lot of negative effects on their performance and also on their health and it could also make them feel demotivated to indulge in work if they are not provided with adequate rewards, and incentives in the form of appreciation, and bonus. To reduce their detachment for work in such kinds of unhealthy situations, the employees should be properly appraised and the authority concerned should take an attempt to make the workers understand their roles, and responsibilities and also their importance towards the company. So, for instance, if there is a need for employees to do overtime, they need to be en couraged and motivated well by accommodating their psychological and all other necessities through proper incentives, bonuses, promotions, rewards, extra wages, etc. (Berg, Kossek, Misra, Belman, 2014). This could motivate them to work for the benefits and betterment of the company by feeling it as their responsibility. Therefore, the presentation and performance of the workers and managers are required to be effectively and properly recognized to increase their effectiveness during the longer working hours so that it benefits the organization and the business goals can be achieved. It is very essential to have a feeling of trust between the manager and the employee or workers when flexible work-life is concerned. If the manager does not monitor it properly, it is very much possible that it will create difficulties at the work place (Shagvaliyeva Yazdanifard, 2014). Nowadays, the benefits of work life have shifted from conveyance facilities, significant bonuses, rewards, and other perks to requirements such as fitness centers for employees and services of dry-cleaning, etc. Many organizations could not afford the compensation in terms of the money they were delivering a decade ago. Managing, and retaining the remaining workers after layoffs is important, which can be performed with the use of these benefits along with the different programs such as insurance and retirement plans and schemes (Fullerton, 2008). When the striving economy and finances turn around, the employees who retain will become responsible and available for bringing the goodwill of the companies and its economy back to its original position. Increasing pressure from competitive environment leads to conflict in priorities for workers. It creates a considerable amount of stress for employees who is trying to manage and juggle work and his/her duties with the family responsibilities. Sometimes, financial strains also make the companies cut in policies and cancellations or postponement to previously announced benefits of the schemes and programs which lead to dissatisfaction and resentment among the employees ("Job flexibility and work-life balance pay dividends for Nationwide: High satisfaction rate among employees", 2003). Heightened pressure of work and anxiety about the insecurity of job may lead to major stress, distress, and health related problems. So, for maintaining the enthusiasm among employees, employers should analyze the situation and take appropriate and effective ways such as making them understand that they are working together and will come out of this downturn collectively and that they will be least affected in this situation. The managers or the employers should tell them about the positive impacts of flexible hours of working. They should be shown the importance and should be motivated in a way so that they can cooperate well to overcome the critical situation. During the phase of an economic downturn, proper and adequate allocation and utilization of resources available must be done. Employers or managers must motivate employees to complete the work in given time so that extra time could be used for more works to enhance the productivity and profitability of the company. Prioritization of work is essential during the time of crisis as it is one of those factors which determines that how well and fast the organization will achieve its original benchmark, and in how much time. So, it is the responsibility of the employers to make sure which tasks are important and to make the workers understand the importance of that work and its fulfillment. On the other hand, due to higher work pressure, grievances related with them also increase. So, to counter-balance this situation, an effective and open communication program should also be ensured at all levels to make them feel united and connected (Omar, 2013). It will develop a sense of harmony at the work place, and employees will also try to cooperate with each other to fulfill the companys objectives which in turn will lead to better performance of the employees. During the time of economic crisis, employees should try to be more polite and provide confidence to all the employees so that the maximum output can be achieved and satisfaction among the workers can be ensured. The employer should also need to provide smaller rewards to the employees who are working well which will lead to the enhancement of their confidence and trust towards the organization. Managers should regard and thank their employees for the kind of support they are showing to the company. They should be responsible and impartial and should avoid inequality and biases, if any, in assigning the tasks to the individuals else it will develop a negative feeling in all other workers (PEDERSEN JEPPESEN, 2012). Overall, considering all the points mentioned and taking into practice these methodologies, employers and managers can facilitate the balance in work-life during the time of crisis or economic downturn. Conclusion Nowadays, the criteria and the working patterns of people are changing constantly and rapidly and this requires the use of flexibility in working arrangements to achieve the business objectives and the maximum output for the organization. If there is a balance in work life and all the duties and responsibilities are taken care of, then it will demonstrate a win-win situation from both the ends that is the employer and the employee (Pain, 2014). And in situations like economic downturn, proper utilization of resources should be done in a way that it creates no grievances among the workers, and the objectives of the organization can be achieved in an efficient way. References Been, W., den Dulk, L., van der Lippe, T. (2015). Dutch top managers and work-life arrangements in times of economic crisis.Community, Work Family,19(1), 43-62. Berg, P., Kossek, E., Misra, K., Belman, D. (2014). Work-Life Flexibility Policies: Do Unions Affect Employee Access and Use?. De Cieri, H. Kramar, R. (2003).Human resource management in Australia. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Drago, R., Wooden, M., Black, D. (2009). Who Wants and Gets Flexibility? Changing Work Hours Preferences and Life Events. Hill, E., Erickson, J., Holmes, E., Ferris, M. (2010). Workplace flexibility, work hours, and work-life conflict: Finding an extra day or two. Job flexibility and work-life balance pay dividends for Nationwide: High satisfaction rate among employees. (2003). Mitsakis, F. Talampekos, G. (2014). Work Life Balance (WLB) and Flexibility in Paid Work (FPW) for Generation Y: A Discussion. Omar, M. (2013). Non Standard Work Arrangements and Affective Commitment: The Mediating Role of Work-life Balance. PEDERSEN, V. JEPPESEN, H. (2012). Contagious flexibility? A study on whether schedule flexibility facilitates work-life enrichment. Peters, P., den Dulk, L., van der Lippe, T. (2009). Pitfalls in planning flexibility. (2016).Human Resource Management International Digest,24(1), 7-9. Satpathy, I., Patnaik, B., Agarwal, M. (2014).Work- life balance@working couples - A review of literature.ResearchGate.

Akhenaton Essays

Akhenaton Essays Akhenaton Essay Akhenaton Essay Akhenaton Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) was an eighteenth dynasty pharaoh who is known for his attempt to change Egyptian culture and religion. As the younger son of Amenhotep III, he would have not been pharaoh but when his elder brother (crown prince Thutmose) died he had a claim for the thrown and became the Pharaoh of Egypt. Akhenaton had many wives and fathered many children. His wives (or consorts) include Nefertiti and Kiya; some Egyptologists suggest that (like his father) Akhenaton may have taken some daughters as wives or consorts. Akhenaton’s known children are: Tutankhaten (later known as Tuankhamun and King Tut), Smenkhkare, Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhesenpaaten (later wife of Tuankhamun), Neferneferuaten Tasherit, Neferneferure and Setepenre. Akhenaton’s reign lasted from 1353 BC-1336 BC or 1351 BC–1334 BC (the dates are subject to debate). After 4 years of his reign he built a new capital of Egypt (Amarna) and dedicated the city to the supreme deity Aten. Akhenaton attempted to change the religion in Egypt and attempted to unite all of the traditional gods and goddesses of Egypt into one supreme deity (History records were careful not to mention Aten as a god but compared him to the sun and the stars to make him more important than a normal god. ) Aten was the deity Akhenaton tried to convert everyone to. At the time many nobles changed their names to names related to Aten instead of names based on the traditional Egyptian gods. Akhenaton means: the effective spirit of Aten. His son Tutankhaten’s name means living spirit of Aten. All of Akhenaton’s children’s names have meanings related to the deity Aten with the exception of Smenkhkare who was born before Akhenaton became the Pharaoh of Egypt. Akhenaton began his change of religion gradually he began in year 5 of his reign with disbanding the priesthood of all other gods and took all their income and spent the money to support Aten. Also during year 5 the pharaoh changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaton. During year 9 of his reign he declared Aten the supreme and only deity. Akhenaton not only tried to change the religion of ancient Egypt but also the traditional style of art (which makes people look much better than they really do) to a more realistic style of art one that takes all of the details of the body not just the good ones examples of this are paintings of Nefertiti fat and ugly during childbirth, paintings of his father (Amenhotep III) as obese and paintings of himself with fat legs, a large stomach and tall, thin chin. Many people consider Akhenaton to be the first independent thinker and first scientist. In 1899 English Egyptologist declared â€Å"If this were a new religion, invented to satisfy our modern scientific conceptions, we could not find a flaw in the correctness of this view of the energy of the solar system. How much Akhenaton understood, we cannot say, but he certainly bounded forward in his views and symbolism to a position which we cannot logically improve upon at the present day. Not a rag of superstition or of falsity can be found clinging to this new worship evolved out of the old Aton of Heliopolis, the sole Lord of the universe. † So overall I think that Akhenaton was a radical thinker and very interesting pharaoh.