Attractive interest rates offered to NRIs along with high rupee against dollar spurred the NRI deposits in the second quarter of 2014-15. The NRI deposits increased by Rs 12,187 crore during July – September 2014. According to the State Level Bankers’ Committee report for second quarter of FY15, NRI deposits in Gujarat stood at Rs 59,612 crore – forming 13.08 per cent of the total deposits in as of September 2014 against Rs 47,445 crore (10.86 per cent) as of June 2014. “The positive sentiments have converted into physical money leading to high deposits. NRIs are depositing money at the time when rupee is at high which when comes down will result in more dollars for them,” said Aspy Bharucha, analyst. 

Due to slowdown in real estate and higher interest rates, demand for home loans saw a drop of 15.2 per cent in second quarter in 2014-15 compared to same period in 2013-14 as less people applied for home loans. Home loans worth Rs 1997.28 crore were granted to 18,907 beneficiaries during July-September 2014 under Direct Housing Finance compared to disbursement of Rs 2125.04 crore of loan to 22,299 beneficiaries in the same period in 2013-14. 

The request for education loans dropped by more than 50 per cent in second quarter of 2014-15 compared to same period in last year. Banks have disbursed education loans to 3,620 students to the tune of Rs 75.87 crore during July- September 2014 compared to Rs 137.64 crore disbursed to 7,336 beneficiaries in same period in 2013-14.

Though Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee did not attend a rally organised by her party in Kolkata on Monday, her nephew and party MLA Abhishek Banerjee compared her to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that West Bengal has got an austere chief minister as opposed to an “NRI (Non-Resident Indian) PM”.

“The PM has become an NRI PM. He has become the foreign minister. He drives in a fancy car. Mamata Banerjee has been working hard. She wears chappals and a cheap saree,” Banerjee said, a day after BJP president Amit Shah held a rally in Kolkata and dared the West Bengal chief minister to stop the BJP in her state.

On Mamata’s absence at the rally on Monday, her nephew Banerjee said, “You don’t need to get a royal Bengal tiger to fight a mouse.” Before the rally, he said his aunt does not want to counter Shah personally since she thinks “he is not of her stature”.

Launching a scathing attack on Trinamool Congress over a host of issues including Burdwan blast and Saradha scam, Shah had on Sunday said the countdown for the departure of the Mamata Banerjee government had begun. He also accused Mamata of “shielding the Saradha scamsters and harbouring terrorists”.

At the Monday rally, Trinamool leader and state minister Subrata Mukherjee rubbished Shah’s allegations. “I have not seen Gandhi. I have seen Mamata Banerjee. She pays for her tea and rides her own car,” he said. “Amit Shah said didi 33 times. If he had said Jai Shri Ram as many times, he would’ve met Ram,” Mukherjee said.

The Trinamool Congress refused to attach much importance to Shah’s rally and described it as a grand flop show with poor attendance. “Such a meeting is organised by our block presidents,” TMC Secretary-General Partha Chatterjee said. The party also alleged that the BJP was using the CBI and the NIA in the Saradha chit fund scam for political purposes.