Consultancy

Providing consultancy support to Banks and Financial Institutions has all along been one of the key strengths of the Institute. Needless to point out that the focus of Indian banking system kept on changing over the years so did the focus of our consultancy activities. For example, during the 70s and 80s, the said focus was more towards providing support in organizational design and development, design and implementation of MIS, strategies for improving profitability of commercial banks, manpower planning, etc. Towards the end of 80s and the 90s we have been focusing more on design and development of computerized management information systems, systems analysis and development, merchant banking and financial services, training strategies, etc. With the introduction of financial sector reform initiative of the Reserve Bank of India and the Government of India in the early 90s there were increasing demand from commercial banks to assist them in their business re-positioning, organizational re-design, human resource development, profitability and productivity strategies, etc. Towards the end of 90s, NIBM took the lead in assisting the Banks and Financial Institutions in setting up their risk management system which include asset liability management system, managing market risk, credit risk management system design, etc. NIBM also took a significant initiative in assisting the banks to overcome the Y2K challenges. It appears that in the present decade of the new century, NIBM will be increasingly involved in design and implementation of integrated risk management systems in Banks and Financial Institutions. This will also have to address all the functional and operations dimensions of banking. The new needs of the environment will require each bank to become highly competitive in all spheres of its activities. In view of the congealed expertise of about 32 years of association with banks and financial institutions, it is quite likely that the Institute will broaden its horizon and will try to meet the consulting requirements of the developing economies in the arena of banking and finance. The Institute has already been registered with Asian Development Bank and World Bank in their DACON (Data on Consulting Firms). The Institute intends to play a more facilitating role in designing the financial structure and systems in war-torn nations. The competency of NIBM in various areas are indicated below:     Finance Integrated Risk Management Systems Design, Asset Liability Management System, Credit Risk Management System, Managing Market Risk with special reference to Managing Investment Portfolio in Banks and Financial Institutions, Risk Based Audit and Inspection, Design and Development of Lending Strategies systems and process of Commercial Banks, Managing Non Performing Advances Portfolio, etc.     Human Resource Management Design and Development of Human Resource Management System, Succession Planning, Career Path Planning, Formulation of Recruitment, Training and Promotion Policy, Climate Survey, Climate Survey, Application of HR Tools and & Techniques in Management, Human Resource Management Information System, etc.     Information Technology Design of MIS for Banks, Design of Data Warehousing, Data Mining and Customer Relationship Management, IT Audit, Design and Development of Security related issues in Computerized Environment at various levels of the Organizational Hierarchy, Internet and Web Based Banking, Application of AI Techniques in Banking and Finance, etc. NIBM has also designed in-house Decision Support Systems (DSSs) for Asset Liability Management and Investment Portfolio Management in Oracle and Visual Basics platforms.     Marketing Management Assessment of Savings and Deposits Trends and Patterns, Design and Formulation of Marketing Strategies, Customer Satisfaction Survey, Implementation of Citizen’s Charter, New Product Development, Market Segmentation Strategy, etc. Money, International Banking and Finance: Assisting Central banks in the formulation of Monetary Policy, Strategies for Financing Exports, etc.     Rural Finance and Development Micro Finance Targeting Rural Poor, Formation and Nurturing of Self-Help Groups, Participatory Rural Credit Planning, Estimating Growth and Development Oriented Credit Potential in Rural Areas, Development Strategies for Women and Children in Rural Areas, Evaluation Study of Developmental Projects, Restructuring of Rural Lending Systems, etc. Strategic Planning, management and Control: Preparation of Strategic Plan, Re-organization of Banks, Designing of Internal Control Systems, Manpower Planning, Performance Management Systems in Commercial Banks, Profitability and Productivity Issues, Capital Planning, Management Audit, Risk Based Supervision, Corporate Governance, etc. Most of the consultancy supports were provided to Indian commercial banks. The Institute also has provided consultancy supports to other State Governments, national and state level government development corporations, all-India financial institutions (Life Insurance Corporation, Indian Bank’s Association) and urban cooperative banks. In addition, it has also provided consulting support to the international organizations more towards institution building. For example, The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) sponsored Development of Women and children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) was implemented as an action project in Pune district of Maharashtra State, India, jointly by the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) and Bank of Maharashtra (BOM). For sustaining the initiative that had emerged out of DWCRA project, NIBM and BOM constituted an NGO called Gramin Mahila va Balak Vikas Mandal (GMBVM), which today has about 2000 SHGs in four districts. GMBVM is engaged in forming and nurturing SHGs under Swarnajayanti Grameen Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). The Service Area Approach (SAA) of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is based on NIBM’s experiment, which espoused village-wise planning in order to relate rural branch plans with local environment. The NIBM further advocated participatory village credit planning under Planning for Development of Villages with the People (PDV). The PDV attained the status of a National Experiment under the auspices of RBI, involving all the Public Sector Banks (PSBs). The PDV model was adopted by International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD) for its people’s outreach programme under Maharashtra Rural Credit Project (MRCP). IFAD sponsored MRCP was launched in 1994 in four districts: Pune, Nanded, Yavatmal and Chandrapur. After the Mid-Term Review in 1997, the project was extended to eight more districts viz. Amravati, Bhandara, Bhid, Dhulia, Gadchiroli, Jalgaon, Nandurbar and Thane. The main objective of MRCP was to improve the financial services of commercial banks to the rural poor. We have been involved in various development and development management activities through effective intervention of Banks in developing economies like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal,Tanzania, etc. Institution building is one of our key focuses in these assignments. We also have the capability in preparing the blue print of the design of financial system in various institutions constituting the system including organizational structure, delegation of powers, formation of responsibility and accountability framework. We can also assist in the broad design of the social infrastructure, development administration infrastructure, etc. With SIDBI Foundation for Micro Credit (SFMC), NIBM is associated in an action project involving selected PSBs, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Urban Banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), which would endeavour to testify Micro-finance as realistic business and not a philanthropy. For National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC), NIBM has scheduled to undertake an evaluation of its present schemes, based on which and in dialogue with NBCFDC, it would evolve a corporate vision and draw a perspective plan.