23 february 2002

indusind bank to challenge drt ruling on shcil
kolkata: indusind bank plans to challenge the order of the debt recovery tribunal which vacated an interim order attaching properties of stock holding corporation of india ltd (shcil).

the bank will appeal to the appellate authority of the tribunal challenging the recent order of the kolkata bench. the order, while vacating its previous interim order, said the merits of the case did not warrant the protection it had sought through attachment as the assets and properties of shcil appear to be sound and satisfactory

corpn bank to sell lic mutual products
mumbai: corporation bank has tied up with lic mutual fund to market the fund's products through its branches.

the arrangement will initially cover four open-ended schemes - licmf bond fund, licmf g-sec fund, dhanaraksha-89 and licmf children's fund.

licmf has a corpus of rs 2,400 crore and manages eight close-ended and eight open-ended schemes. it had mobilised around rs 4,000 crore as on 31 january 2002

uti bank to make allotment to aig
new delhi: the uti bank is set to make a preferential allotment of fully convertible debentures, not exceeding rs 50 crore to the infrastructure fund of aig as part of the move to cut the stake of its promoter, uti to 40 per cent in the bank.

in september last year, two funds owned by cdc capital partners bought a 26 per cent stake for a consideration of rs 156 crore. the preferential allotment was made at rs 34 per share, resulting in a dilution of the uti's holding to 44.88 per cent.

with the proposal to issue convertible debentures to aig, uti bank will now be well in line to comply with the rbi directive to limit the holding of the promoter group in a bank to 40 per cent.

japan bank okays rs 2,040-cr loan
new delhi: japan bank for international cooperation has sanctioned a rs 2,040-crore loan to india for financing the mrts project in delhi and ntpc's simhadri thermal power station in andhra pradesh.

out of the total loan, 27,473 million yen would be for funding the mass rapid transport system project (iii) being constructed by delhi metro rail corporation ltd (dmrcl), an official statement from jbic said. the remaining 28,659 million yen will be for financing the simhadri thermal power station project (iii) of ntpc.

the loans carrying an interest rate of 1.8 per cent would have a repayment period of 30 years and a grace period of 10 years.

rbi relaxes exposure limit for all core projects
mumbai: the reserve bank of india (rbi) has allowed banks and financial institutions to exceed the cap of 50 per cent group exposure by 10 percentage points for all infrastructure projects.

in the income tax act, 1961, infrastructure includes power, roads, highways, bridges, ports, airports, rail system, water supply, irrigation, sanitation and sewerage system, telecommunication, housing and industrial parks.

the rbi has also relaxed the guarantee norms for the infrastructure projects. banks with funded exposure of at least 5 per cent of the total project cost can now issue any amount of guarantees in favour of other lending institutions.

rbi to decide on bank rate after budget
new delhi: reserve bank will take a view on further revising interest rate only after presentation of the union budget on 28 february.

last year, rbi had slashed rates a day before the budget presentation and then again in march first week following a reduction in small savings rates by the government.

the bank rate, the rate at which banks obtain refinance from the cenral bank, was further slashed by 0.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent in busy season credit policy in october. cash reserve ratio (crr) was also cut by two per cent to 5.5 per cent.

kameswara rao made ed, idbi
mumbai: the board of directors of industrial development bank of india (idbi) has elevated k. kameswara rao, chief general manager, to the position of executive director.

rao is currently in charge of economic research, budget and planning at the development financial institution. he has now been designated economic advisor of idbi. his new portfolio would be allocated next week

hdfc bank to open office in dubai
dubai: hdfc bank will open a representative office in dubai shortly.

the office will canvass corresponding banking business and market nri business products in the uae.

hdfc has a customer base of 5,500 people in the gulf who have taken housing loans totalling rs 400 crore since 1996.

bank credit up by rs 1,265 cr
mumbai: bank credit has increased by rs 1,265 crore to touch rs 5,70,090 crore for the fortnight ended 8 february 2002, according to the reserve bank of india.

this is inclusive of food credit, which increased by rs 301 crore to touch rs 54,981 crore and non-food credit which rose to rs 5,15,109 crore for the same period.

total accomodation provided by scheduled commercial banks to the commercial sector in the form of bank credit and investments in shares, debentures , bonds and commercial paper has gone up by rs 46,938 crore to rs 5,95,238 crore for the fortnight ended 8 february 2002.

kapur to head western union in india
bangalore: western union financial services has appointed anil kapur as director-general, india.

indian community is one of the largest markets for western union globally. in the last six years, the company had made substantial progress in the country with prestigious partners.

western union is in the process of expanding its network and services by opening more offices across the country. it is also considering the introduction of other value-added services, including domestic transfer services.

22 february 2002

ifci sells dfhi, stci stakes to idbi
new delhi: ifci has sold its 3.01 per cent share in securities trading corporation of india and another 2.75 per cent stake in discount & finance house of india to idbi for a rs 33.27 crore.

the delhi-based financial institution sold its holding in dfhi and stci through a negotiated deal with idbi.

ifci sold 15.05 lakh shares of stci with a face value of rs 100 per share at rs 135 a share, collecting rs 20.32 crore.

the fi also sold 5.51 lakh equity shares of dfhi having a face value of rs 100 at a hefty rs 235 a share, mopping up rs 12.95 crore.

ing vysya life plans forays into pension sector
chennai: ing vysya life insurance is planning to enter the pension sector besides coming out with an attractive whole life insurance product, reward, this year.

the company, which at present had an initial capital of rs 110 crore and an authorised capital of rs 200 crore, is planning to pump in another rs 90 crore this year into the business.

the company, which at present had its presence in mumbai, bangalore, delhi and chennai, is expected to have its operations in at least 20 cities by the end of 2002

citi bank, abn evince interest in bop
new delhi: bank of punjab is in talks with some foreign banks and a couple of foreign institutional investors for sale of equity stake in the bank.

citibank along with abn amro are amongst the few banks that are looking at the portfolio of the bank of punjab.

21 february 2002

hdfc standard life launches personal pension plan
mumbai: hdfc standard life insurance company ltd has launched its personal pension plan designed to offer customers financial security after retirement.

under this plan, a customer can choose to pay a single or regular premium during the savings period and on retirement the policyholder becomes entitled to the sum assured plus the attaching bonus.

only a part of this entitlement can be taken in cash, subject to prevailing regulations, while the rest can be converted to an annuity, which would provide pension to the policy holder for his/her lifetime.

the insurance company is also looking at introducing group pension products later in the year.

20 february 2002

sbi lowers rates on personal loans
mumbai: state bank of india has slashed interest on personal loans by 150 basis points at 14.5 per cent per annum from 16 per cent.

sbi has also reduced the interest rates on car and two wheelers loans by one per cent at 13 per cent while it has done away with processing fee in case of the former. the rate cut on personal finance products was with effect from this month.

loans against mortgage of property can now be availed at 14 per cent per annum, cut by two per cent. rate for loans against rbi relief bonds and shares & bonds have also been reduced to 12 per cent and 14.5 per cent respectively from 15 per cent.

senior citizens have been offered a hefty cut of 225 basis points for loans to pensioners at 14 per cent per annum (16.25 per cent earlier).

demand loans sanctioned against the security of national savings certificates and kisan vikas patras would now be cheaper by three per cent at 12 per cent. loans against indira vikas patra would now cost 13 per cent interest, which was cut by 200 basis points.

the bank said interest rates on loans against security of surrender value of lic policy have been reduced to 13 per cent from 15 per cent while loans against life insurance policies of sbi life, its own subsidiary, would cost 12.5 per cent.

interest on loans against security of gold ornaments have been cut by 100 basis points at 14 per cent, sbi added.

19 february 2002

rbi warns against bharti shares purchase
mumbai: the reserve bank of india has directed the fiis, non resident indians and persons of indian origin against the purchase of bharti tele-ventures shares without its prior approval.

no further purchases of btl shares should be made on behalf of fiis, nris or pios under the portfolio investment scheme without obtaining prior clearance from the apex bank, rbi said in a release.

the net purchases of bharti in secondary markets have reached the limit of 47 per cent of its paid up equity capital, rbi added. bharti on monday listed itself at the bombay stock exchange with an opening price of rs 50 per share.

18 february 2002

rbi finds huge diversion of bank funds
new delhi: the reserve bank has detected diversion of funds by over 1,000 companies in the last 10 years mostly from banks like oriental bank of commerce, canara bank, andhra bank, indian bank, sbi and its associates.

obc topped the list with 125 companies diverting its loans to other than working capital needs, followed by canara bank and andhra bank (69 each), indian bank (63), sbi (41) and its subsidiaries (96).

psu banks in total accounted for over 70 per cent of the cases where there was fund diversion by corporates.

the incidence of fund diversion was also high in case of some of the private banks like tamil nadu mercantile bank (70), nedungadi bank (29), development credit bank (28), south indian bank (26), icici bank, bank of rajasthan and lord krishna bank (20 each). private banks accounted for about 25 per cent of the cases of fund diversion.

rbi also detected over 75 such irregularities with foreign banks mostly in case of standard chartered grindlays bank, citibank, hsbc and bank of tokyo and mitsubishi.

media lab seeks world bank funding
new delhi: media lab asia, a network of labs modelled on mit media lab to develop technology for the masses, is in talks with the world bank and the asian development bank for rs 5,000 crore grants, to invest in rural infrastructure and services over a period of 10 years.

mla, which has been registered as a non-profit organisation with seed funding of rs 65 crore by the government of india, is also in talks with leading foundations like ford and rockfeller to finance its research projects.

over 200 researchers are expected to work on projects like low-cost computing devices, health and rural communications technologies.

mla has already tied up with iit kanpur and chennai for setting up labs. its ongoing talks with iit mumbai and delhi for the same are expected to be finalised soon.

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