Credit Creation by Commercial Banks

Credit creation is the most significant  function  of the  commercial banks.  Commercial banks accept deposits and lend loans and advances. In this process they create two types of deposits, namely primary deposits and derivative or active deposits. The former refers to the cash deposited by a customer in a bank or deposit a cheque with the bank for collection. The banker merely accepts cash am converts it into a deposit. Hence, this is merely a passive role performed by the banks. These primary deposits do not add to the money stock in the economy. From their experience and observation the banks know that not all the customers will withdraw their deposits on any single day. Hence, after providing for some reserve to meet the cash requirement of the depositors, the banks lend the balance to the borrow. The amount of reserve to be maintained by the banks is Cash Reserve Continue reading

Calculation of Exchange Rates for Forward Contracts

When computing exchange rates for merchant transactions, the cover or the base rate at which the cover transaction can be undertaken in the Forex market is first computed, thereafter the profit margin as allowed by the Foreign Exchange Dealer’s Association of India (FEDAI) is taken and the rate rounded off as per FEDAI Rule. In case of forward contracts, the procedure is similar except that while computing the base rate, the forward margin has to be appropriately taken. The forward margin is the extent to which the forward rate for a currency differs from its spot rate against a second currency. The forward margin when it tends to make a currency cheaper is called a ‘Discount’ while if it makes it costlier it is called a ‘Premium.’ Obviously if one currency is getting cheaper in the forward against another, the second should be getting costlier against the first. Thus while Continue reading

Wage Payment Systems

The system of wage payment is the method adopted by organizations  to remunerate workers. It is the way of giving financial compensation to the workers for the time and effort invested by them in converting materials into finished products. It indicates the basis of making payment to the workers, which may be either on time basis or output basis. The selection of the system depends on the type and nature of the concern and its products. The different methods of wage payments are as follows : 1. Time Wage System   Time wage system  is the oldest method of wage payment. The “Time” is made a basis for determining wages of a person. The wages are paid according to the time spent by workers irrespective of his out put of work done. The wage rates are fixed for an hour, a day, a week or a month. The time spent Continue reading

What is Stress?

Stress is a biological term which refers to the consequences of the failure of a human or animal body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats to the organism, whether actual or imagined. It includes a state of alarm and adrenaline production, short-term resistance as a coping mechanism, and exhaustion. It refers to the inability of a human or animal body to respond. Common stress symptoms include irritability, muscular tension, inability to concentrate and a variety of physical reactions, such as headaches and accelerated heart rate. The term “stress” was first used by the endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1930s to identify physiological responses in laboratory animals. He later broadened and popularized the concept to include the perceptions and responses of humans trying to adapt to the challenges of everyday life. In Selye’s terminology, “stress” refers to the reaction of the organism, and “stressor” to the perceived threat. Stress Continue reading

Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) – Definition and Formula

A substitute and concurrent theory to the Capital Asset Pricing Model  (CAPM)  is one that incorporates multiple factors in explaining the movement of asset prices. The arbitrage pricing model (APT) on the other hand approaches pricing from a different aspect.    It is rarely successful to analyze portfolio risks by assessing the weighted sum of its components.   Equity portfolios are far more diverse and enormously large for separate component assessment, and the correlation existing between the elements would make a calculation as such untrue.   Rather, the portfolio’s risk should be viewed as a single product’s innate risk.   The APT represents portfolio risk by a factor model that is linear, where returns are a sum of risk factor returns.   Factors may range from macroeconomic to fundamental market indices weighted by sensitivities to changes in each factor.   These sensitivities are called factor-specific beta coefficients or more commonly, Continue reading

Effectuation – New Paradigm of Entrepreneurship

The business world is permeated through and through this kind of rationality, based on what we see is happening today in the world, what are the trends? what will be the consequences? are forecasted the solutions in a business environment. However, according to Saras Sarasvathy, it is not how entrepreneurs think. The thought process is not “causal” but “effectual”. When a project is approached, the entrepreneur has three means skills: his own innate abilities, skills acquired through education and personal contacts. The entrepreneur is guided by a simple maxim: “To what extent can we control the future, we do not need to predict it.” Here lies all the difference. According to Sarasvathy, the successful entrepreneur does not try to predict what will be the most profitable markets, very opposite idea to Henry Mintzberg. In 1997 Saras Sarasvathy, professor of business and ethics at the University of Virginia but then a Continue reading