6 July 2002

SBI Ahmedabad division posts Rs 267-crore net profit
Ahmedabad: State Bank of India's Ahmedabad circle, consisting of Gujarat and three Union Territories (Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli), has posted a net profit of Rs 267 crore during the year ended 31 March 2002, an increase of 63 per cent compared to Rs 164 crore in the last year.

StanChart to lure more consumers in China
Mumbai: Standard Chartered Bank said on Friday it hoped to use its profitable corporate banking business as a springboard to target more consumers in China, a massive market slowly opening to foreign banks.

PNB revises FCNR rates
Mumbai: Punjab National Bank has revised interest rates on its foreign currency non-resident scheme with effect from 8 July 2002.

Two Manipal group firms suspend transactions
Mangalore: Two months after the Ramesh Pai group decided to 'restructure' its non-banking finance business, two other units of the Manipal group have suspended their transactions, according to an official statement.

APSFC scouts for cheaper funds to slash lending rates
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh State Financial Corporation is looking for cheaper sources of funds so that it could slash its lending rates. The corporation is exploring the possibility of getting access to the foreign as well as the domestic money markets.

SBI slashes housing loan rates
Mumbai: Housing loans have just got a little cheaper. State Bank of India has cut its rates by around 50 basis points to 10 per cent on its floating rate loans. This cut by SBI comes after recent rate cuts by HDFC and LIC Housing Finance.

Tube Investments infuses another Rs 76 cr in insurance arm
Mumbai: Tube Investments of India Ltd has additionally invested Rs 76.30 crore in Cholamandalam General Insurance Co Ltd, a company promoted by it. With this investment, Tube Investments' holding in Cholamandalam General Insurance aggregates Rs 78.75.

Huge reserves vital for curbing volatility: Jalan
Mumbai: RBI governor Dr Bimal Jalan has advocated building of safety walls by countries (by creating higher reserves) to check volatility in capital flows and external markets. "Let each country take measures to build its own safety walls," he said.

New Bill to be tougher on dishonour of cheques
New Delhi: Soon, a dishonoured cheque could land the issuer of the instrument in prison for a period of two years. And the processes of law would move overtime to ensure that the guilty is placed behind bars at the earliest.

Crisil assigns AA- for IPCL's NCD issue
Mumbai: Credit rating Information Services of India Ltd (Crisil) has assigned AA- and P1+ ratings to the Rs 1,200-crore non-convertible debenture issue and Rs 900-crore commercial paper programme respectively of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd.

IDBI Bank plans branches in Mysore, Belgaum
Mumbai: IDBI Bank has a current business portfolio of Rs 200 crore (deposit and advances) in Karnataka and hopes to increase the turnover through the new products. The bank is also planning to open branches in Mysore and Belgaum.

PSB lending to public sector companies up 36%
Mumbai: Public sector banks lent more money to those from their own ilk in 2001-02. Advances of 23 public sector banks to public sector companies rose by 36 per cent in the last fiscal. This was when the overall credit growth was up only 19 per cent.

BNP Paribas to wield axe
Mumbai: The French Bank BNP Paribas will retrench the remaining 60 employees in its Indian retail business by yearend. The bank had retrenched 80 in February following the decision to wind up its retail business.

Rally in mid-cap brings smile to US-64
Mumbai: India's single largest mutual fund scheme Unit Scheme 1964 (US-64) is beginning to realise value from its dud stocks thanks to the current bull run in old economy mid-cap counters.

5 July 2002

Amex out of red, posts net profit of Rs 10 crore
New York: American Express Bank is out of the red. The bank has posted a net profit of Rs 9.5 crore for the year ended 31 March 2002, against a net loss of Rs 22.5 crore in the previous year.

ECB leaves rates unchanged
Berlin: The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday as a stronger euro and doubts over the pace of the global economic recovery persuaded policymakers to stay put despite their inflation concerns.

Local private banking market set to consolidate: PwC
Mumbai: PricewaterhouseCoopers, in its first private banking management survey carried out in India, has recommended that players in this industry have to know their clients better.

G-sec trades cautious on OMO hopes
Mumbai: Despite ample liquidity in the banking system, trades in government securities have been in a cautious mode in anticipation of open market operation sales.

NOBW demands 25% hike in special pay
New Delhi: The National Organisation of Bank Workers has demanded a 25-per cent hike in special pay for the clerical staff and 30 per cent for the sub-staff, apart from a 100-per cent neutralisation and merger of DA in the basic pay.

Cooperative Bank wins performance award
Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank has been selected for the Best Performance Award for 2000-01 instituted by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

ICICI Bank's Home Utsav in Chennai
Mumbai: ICICI Home Finance Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the ICICI Bank, will organise Home Utsav in Chennai, where home loans will be spot sanctioned at a slightly lower rate. Over 100 builders with more than 300 different housing projects will participate in it.

HDFC Standard begins Kochi operations
Mumbai: HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company on Thursday launched its operations in Kerala at Kochi by offering a variety of products to suit the diverse requirements of its customers. The products offered by the company included endowment assurance.

Insurance JV: Chubb to pay HDFC Rs 47-cr premium for 26% holding
Mumbai: The US-based insurance major, Chubb Corporation, which is entering the Indian insurance sector by setting up a joint venture with domestic housing finance major, Housing Development Finance Corporation, will pay a 180-per cent premium.

Andhra Bank opens more ATMs
Hyderabad: Andhra Bank, the Hyderabad-based premier public sector bank, opened eight off-site and 16 onsite ATMs in Hyderabad and Secunderabad here on Thursday. These ATMs with interconnectivity would provide the customers anywhere and anytime banking.

Ministry seeks help on IFCI's PF default issue
New Delhi: The ministry of labour has sought the ministry of finance's intervention in sorting out IFCI Ltd's recent defaults in the repayments of the interest and principal on investments made by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation.

Bankers not inspired by securitisation ordinance
Mumbai: The ordinance, which was expected to help banks in recovery and reduction of their bad debts, may fall short just where it was required, bankers said.

Lord Krishna, Western Union join hands
Mumbai: Western Union Financial Services Inc (www.westernunion.com), one of the worlds leading money transfer companies, has signed an agreement with Lord Krishna Bank to provide inward money transfer services in 51 locations of Lord Krishna Bank.

This alliance will significantly expand Western Unions network in Kerala. Lord Krishna Bank has strong a presence in Kerala with over 80 per cent of its branches located throughout the southern state of India.

Western Union is aggressively in the process of enhancing their network across India. In the last six months alone, it has witnessed nearly 100-per cent growth in their locations. Currently, Western Union has over 6,000 locations across 600 towns and cities in the country.

"Western Union caters to more than 5 million non-resident Indians in the Gulf region, most of them belong to Kerala. Hence, it is extremely important that we serve our customers in Kerala to the best of our abilities. We will now have more than 520 locations in Kerala, so that customers can receive money sent by their family quickly, safely and reliably. We are also in talks with other banks and financial institutions to provide safe, secure and reliable money transfer services," says Western Union director-general (India) Anil Kapur.