Banking and Finance
Banking issues
As soon as the Bank of Madura (BoM) merged with ICICI Bank (ICICI) on March 10, the latter assured the BoM customers that all rules, procedures and terms of BoM would be followed by the ICICI. Suddenly, the minimum monthly balance of Rs 1,000 required of savings bank account-holders has been raised to a quarterly average balance of Rs 5,000, and the customers who cannot afford to meet such a steep rise have to pay a penalty of Rs 100 per quarter.

Banking corporation
This refers to the news report `Call for nationwide strike on July 4' (Business Line, June 6). The strike announced by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) demanding the immediate payment of wage arrears due to the employees and officers of the weak ba nks is unfortunate. Some way should be found to pay the arrears.

Taxation
Customs duty
There is no denying that one of the best ways to encourage investments in a country is to improve the existing duty structure. Offensive and restrictive duty codes lead to a cost disadvantage for domestic manufacturers. The attitude of the Government in this regard has been pretty laid back and this has resulted in avoidable losses to manufacturers, particularly those who have to import raw material.

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