ATM delivers fake Rs 1,000 note

IAF personnel Corporal Prakash G had operated a bank ATM at least a thousand times and each time felt great about the modernised banking services offered by banks these days. But on Friday, his belief in the ATMs vanished forever.

In an incident that could send shock waves among bank ATM operators , a fake currency note of Rs 1,000 denomination emerged out of a private bank's automated teller machine at Sector 19D here when Prakash operated it to withdraw money. Prakash, posted at Air Force station here, told TOI that the fake note emerged from a ICICI Bank ATM when he withdrew Rs 9,000 cash. Prakash wanted to send the money to his family back in his hometown Kollam in Kerala.

'' When I operated the ATM, a total of eight Rs-1 ,000 denomination notes and another 10 Rs-100 denomination notes emerged from the machine . At first, I did not suspect the fake note. But it did surprise me that one was badly soiled and the rest were crisp and new,'' said Prakash, showing the fake note.

When the IAF personnel went to Sector 34 ICICI bank branch, the manager there told Prakash it was a fake and that no replacement could be provided unless confirmed through investigation that the note indeed emerged from their ATM. '' This claim shook me, after all Rs 1,000 is a huge sum for a salaried person like me,'' said Prakash. Now, the Sector 34 bank manager directed him to visit the Sector 9 branch.

There, Prakash lodged a written complaint and provided a photocopy of the counterfeit note to a woman official. Prakash was sent away with the promise that the bank would investigate the matter and get back to him. A manager at the Sector 9 branch confirmed to TOI that they had indeed got such a complaint and the said note was found to be counterfeit . But he said the bank had outsourced the job of stacking up ATMs with notes to another agency.

ICICI bank's corporate communications head from Mumbai, Charudatta Deshpande, told TOI over phone that the bank provided the currency for ATMs after completely recording serial numbers of the notes. '' So, it is easy to find out whether the note emerged from our machine,'' he said. But Prakash could not wait for a couple of days. So he sent home Rs 1,000 less than what he had intended to.

How to identify a counterfeit note?

SECURITY THREAD:
The Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have windowed security thread with colour shift from green to blue.

WATER MARK:
Mahatma Gandhi's portrait, multi-directional lines and an electrotype mark.

World Cup googly plays havoc with Sony's plans

Sony's telecast of the cricket World Cup ended this weekend with a whimper. India's loss at the World Cup is a massive loss for Sony as well, which may force Sony to delay its IPO plans, reports CNBC-TV18.

 

The World Cup may be over but official broadcaster, SET India's cup of woes may not be over just yet. Nearly Rs 400 crore worth of revenue was netted by Sony in this World Cup but India's early exit put a dampener on its revenue targets for the entire year.

 

Nearly Rs 200 crore is riding on the rest of the year's TV properties for Sony. Coming up next month is the third season of Indian Idol 3. With all six sponsors for the show finalised, Sony is eager to move on from the World Cup.

 

Rohit Gupta, EVP-Sales, SET India, said, "We have not renegoatiated with any sponsors - we have lost a lot on this World Cup too; we are in no position to offer anything to any sponsor and going forward - it is tough to say what the impact will be."

 

Sony Chairman Howard String who was in India two weeks back has extended CEO Kunal Dasgupta's contract for the next three years despite the World Cup disappointment but Sony's revenue targets for the year are under scrutiny and its IPO plans have been postponed indefinitely. But media planners say, all it would take, is two hit shows for Sony to bounce back.

 

Shashi Sinha, CEO, Lodestar Universal, said, "We are all paying the price - because of the under delivery this World Cup."

 

Sponsors like Airtel, P&G, Loreal have signed on for the next season of Indian Idol reportedly at a discount to the last season's sponsorship rates.

Name game: UTI Bank turns Axis on royalty demand

UTI Bank has decided to stop piggybacking on the UTI brandname and has decided to carve a new identity for itself by rebranding itself as "Axis Bank". The rebranding follows a demand of royalty payment from UTI AMC over the brand use. The bank board which met on Monday also approved the appointment of PJ Nayak as the whole-time chairman of the bank with executive powers. Till now he was the chairman and managing director of the private sector bank.

While several private and public sector banks have gone in for a brand overhaul, this is the first time that a bank has dropped an established brand for an unknown name. According to UTI Bank ED Ashok Kumar: "

The bank had the right to use the brand name till January 31, 2008. Post that, we would have to pay royalty. However there was nothing firm on how much royalty had to be paid. We may have had to pay a high royalty. In order to end the uncertainty we decided to rebrand the bank." After the collapse of the erstwhile UTI, the investment in subsidiaries by the failed mutual fund was transferred to SUUTI — an arm of the government. A new entity UTI AMC inherited the brandname and most of the schemes. However, UTI AMC does not hold any significant shares in UTI Bank.

The bank has been a professionally-run organisation with Mr Nayak as CMD. For now, Mr Nayak, will continue to remain in the bank as its executive chairman. Although Mr Nayak had refused to accept a truncated chairman's or CEO post as advised by RBI the banks board has decided to retain him as chairman and keep the MD post vacant for now. According to Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India's chairman SB Mathur, the board had considered a separate MD and will look for one as the bank grows. Mr Nayak could be among the only executive chairman in the private sector bank industry.

The UTI brand name can be used by entities promoted by the erstwhile UTI only until January 2008, with the licensing right vested with the asset management company. This is as per an agreement worked out by the government in 2005, when it transferred control of the AMC to four promoters — SBI, LIC, BoB and PNB. In order to use the brand name post 2008, the bank would have to pay royalty to the AMC.

On rebranding, the bank will spend Rs 20 crore on change of signages alone. It is also likely to spend around Rs 30 crore for the rebranding and marketing exercise. Last year the bank had spent around Rs 15 crore in marketing. A team of bank officials along with advertising agency O&M worked on the new brand. The brief was to create a new brand that is simple and signifies stability. Also with the bank starting off on its international foray, the name should have worldwide appeal and was modern and also simple. The bank scrip moved up by 2.7% in the BSE to close at Rs 467.85.

The bank will also rebrand its two subsidiaries UBL Asset Management the AMC vehicle which was launched by the bank and UBL Sales — a marketing subsidiary which was established for marketing and retail services. These subsidiaries would now be rebranded as ABL Asset Management and ABL Sales.

The bank will soon finalise a new logo based on the new name. Incidentally, with the new rebranding when banks are arranged in alphabetical order Axis Bank would be among the top few banks against UTI Bank where it was among the last three.

In recent years, banks have used different models to position their image. Yes Bank which was launched in August 2004 had a muted but an effective brand campaign. In fact the bank is said to have spend only a couple of crores. ICICI Bank had used Amitabh Bachchan as its brand ambassador when it wanted to make an impact in the retail space.

The bank had approximately spend Rs 10 crore only on Mr Bachchan. A host of other foreign banks like Deutsche Bank and Barclays have also been major spenders in recent times as they went retail. UTI Bank which has 561 branches in 342 cities and towns may also have to go in for a massive ad campaign