Letters to the editor

In the context of Basel III norms to be made operational soon, public sector banks (PSB) should be laying increased focus on augmenting the capital base. It is estimated that PSBs will need about Rs 1.5 lakh crore of additional capital in the next six years, or in other words close to Rs 25,000 crore annually. But if the past experience in terms of government’s budgetary capital infusion is anything to be believed, the government perhaps is nowhere near this figure and the fiscal situation either has not improved much, over period (“PSBs must augment capital to survive Basel III tough norms”, FE, November 11). Credit growth is vital for banks to maintain a healthy credit deposit ratio and other financial parameters too, including profit for sustenance. That, in turn, will help the economy pose a decent growth rate. The government, as the largest stakeholder in the PSBs, has a greater role to play to ensure sufficient capitalisation of PSBs, both to comply with the regulatory provisions and expand their balance sheet size.

Srinivasan Umashankar

Nagpur

Expectations from Obama

This refers to the column “How green coloured the US elections” (FE, November 24) by Frank-Jurgen Richter. Barack Obama is on the hottest seat in the world again. Obama is a very good speaker. His Cairo speech to the Muslim world was historic and path-breaking. The speech was a laudable attempt at creating reconciliation between the Muslim world and the West. But deeds are louder than words. So, in his second term, we

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