17 August 2002
Icra reaffirms LAAA rating to IDFCs Rs 1,000-crore bonds
Mumbai: Credit rating agency Icra on Friday reaffirmed highest safety LAAA rating to the Rs 1,000 crore bond issue of Infrastructure Development Finance Company.
Govt to discuss debt-swap of state loans with RBI by Sept
New Delhi: The government will take up with the Reserve Bank of India the issue of retiring high-cost debt of states in exchange for low-cost debt papers as part of efforts to reduce their debt burden which has mounted to 23.93 per cent of GDP.
RBI reviews credit issues with banks
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India on Friday met with the chief executives of commercial banks to review progress pertaining to credit deployment, particularly to the priority sector.
Sportspersons may be allowed to have EEFC a/c
Mumbai: Eminent sportspersons may soon be included in the list of professionals who can keep their forex earnings in bank accounts overseas like other professionals. Currently, sportspersons do not come under the RBI's existing definition of of professionals who have now been allowed to retain 100 per cent of their earnings in Exchange Earners Foreign Currency Accounts (EEFC).
GIC, insurance Bills get President's okay
New Delhi: The President has given his assent to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2002, the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2002, and the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Validation of Electricity Tax) Act and Other Laws (Repeal) ..
Norms for banks funding PSU bidders eased
New Delhi: Bank financing for PSU disinvestment will now be outside the five per cent ceiling on capital market exposure. The, relaxation will, however, be subject to RBI clearance on a case-by-case basis.
Bank-guaranteed FI loans to attract 20% risk weight
Mumbai: The RBI has clarified that the loan extended by a financial institution (FI) against the guarantee of a bank would attract a risk weight of 20 per cent in computation of CRAR (Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio) of the lending FI.
RBI okays stripping of securities redeemable up to 20 years
Mumbai: The RBI Working Group on Securities Trading for Registered Interest and Principal of Securities (Strips) has said the eligible securities for stripping may be restricted to those whose redemption dates fall between zero and 20 years, with a with a majority of them falling within the 12-15 years range.
ICICI Bank opens extension counter in Mysore
Bangalore: ICICI Bank on Friday opened an extension counter and ATM in Mysore and its first branch and ATM at Dharwad. Cricketer Javagal Srinath opened the Mysore counter, a bank release said.
PSU banks tapping staff for business
New Delhi: Turn your employees into your customers before your competitors do so. That is the tenet that some bankers seem to be working on as they are fast cashing in on the idea of extending `clean overdraft facility to staff members'.
Eight PSBs seek nod to raise Rs 1,410 crore via pvt placements
New Delhi: Public sector banks are coming out with a slew of bond issues to shore up their tier II capital. As many as eight banks have sought clearance to raise an aggregate Rs 1,410 crore worth of funds via the private placement route over the next few months.
FIs, banks to exchange data on loan defaulters
New Delhi: Financial institutions and banks have initiated moves to exchange data on loan delinquency with a view to tightening due diligence procedures. Banking sources said that currently such data was treated as confidential.
Union Bank files suits against 30 defaulters
Mumbai: Union Bank of India has initiated legal proceedings against 30 of its clients, taking advantage of the recent ordinance promulgated by the Government that enables banks and financial institutions to seize assets against bad loans.
Ordinance to be repromulgated
New Delhi: The Cabinet on Friday approved the repromulgation of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Ordinance, 2002.
ING stake hike in Vysya Bank okayed
Hyderabad: Banque Brussels Lambert's (BBL) proposal to hike its holding in Vysya Bank from 30 per cent to 49 per cent for a consideration of Rs 225 crore has been cleared by the Government.
RBI cracks down on terror funds
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has finally come out with the 'know your customer' guidelines to check money laundering and funding of terrorist organisations.
New Bima Nivesh may be snuffed out by LIC
Mumbai: Yet another Life Insurance Corporations (LIC) popular products, `New Bima Nivesh has been put on the hit list. Few months ago, it was `Jeevan Shree, and now LIC is likely to withdraw New Bima Nivesh too, one of the most popular single premium product. Single premium policies fetched almost 40 % of premium income for LIC until recently.
RBI eases norms for PSU sell-off financing
Mumbai: In a major move for funding public sector unit divestment by scheduled commercial banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said it will consider on a case-by-case basis relaxing the ceiling of 5 per cent on banks exposure to the capital market to enable them to finance the programme.
The relaxation will be made so as to keep the exposure of banks to the capital market in all forms, net of its advances for financing of acquisition of PSE shares within the regulatory ceiling of 5 per cent, the RBI said in a circular to all scheduled commercial banks.
S B Mathur takes over as chairman of LIC
Mumbai: Sunil Behari Mathur has taken over as the chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
Mathur is a qualified chartered accountant. He joined LIC in May 1967 as a direct recruit officer. Prior to his taking charge as the chairman, Mathur was the executive director in charge of marketing and international operations.
He had earlier held various prestigious positions in LIC from senior divisional manager, in charge of the Gwalior division, to chief of corporate planning at the central office, general manager of LIC International EC, Bahrain, zonal manager in-charge of the western zone, before taking charge as executive director.
