21 Sep 2002
Rural bank staff oppose amendment to RRB Act
Hyderabad: The employees of Grameena banks in Andhra Pradesh have taken up a State-wide campaign since September 1 against the "pernicious recommendations' of the Chalapathi Rao Committee on RRB Act amendments.
More players qualified to offer pension products
Kolkata: The regulatory authorities had already placed their views on ways to push ahead with the reforms and a broad roadmap would now have to be developed.
`Surplus' in banks even after VRS SBI may come out with exit option
Coimbatore: Syndicate Bank is said to have come to a conclusion that with the implementation of the Centralised Banking Solution, there are surplus hands.
Om Kotak in talks for marketing
Mumbai: OM Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Ltd is in talks with banks, both nationalised and private sector, non-banking financial companies and entrepreneurs with huge databases for an alternative channel for marketing its products.
Govt contests S&P line - `Downgrade poses no problem'
New Delhi: The Government has written to the credit rating agency, Standard and Poor's on Friday contesting the assumptions made by it for downgrading India's local currency debt to `junk' status.
Markets shrug off downgrade
Mumbai: Perhaps, the rating agency Standard and Poor's chose the wrong day to downgrade India. On a day when Mumbai, the country's financial capital, was paying obeisance to the elephant-headed Ganesha - the God who removes all obstacles - marketmen would certainly not consider the downgrade as an obstacle to be taken seriously.
NHAI to cut interest rates on bonds
New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India is to cut the interest rate on its bonds issued under Section 54 EC of the Income-Tax Act by 50 basis points, the NHAI Chairman, Deepak Dasgupta, has said.
Will RBI's rescue strategy work?
Mumbai: The RBI seems to have made up its mind on a rescue strategy for the stuttering cluster of old and new private sector banks. In five years time, the old private sector banks such as Lord Krishna, Nedungadi, South Indian, Catholic Syrian and the rest may have little operational space in the financial system.
ICD defaults put financiers on the edge
Mumbai: The private finance markets in Mumbai and Ahmedabad are jittery with financiers frantically recalling funds loaned to corporates, either through inter-corporate deposits or discounted bills route.
Asset size of foreign banks up 11.5% by end-March 02
Mumbai: The capital adequacy ratio of Siam Commercial Bank turned negative while Bank of Nova Scotia, Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank had negative liquidity gaps in 1-14 days time band in excess of the prescribed limit for the year ended March 2002.
NHAI may cut interest rates on tax-free bonds
New Delhi: Having raised over Rs 2,000 crore from market borrowings this fiscal, National Highway Authority Of India is mulling cutting interest rate on its tax-free bonds issue by 50 basis points.
RoNW of 43 NBFCs rises to 16% in 2001-2002
The return on net worth of 43 Non Banking Finance Companies increased during 2001-02 over the previous year, indicating an increase in the efficiency of generating higher shareholder value.
Bankers, forex markets discount major impact
Mumbai: S&P decision on Thursday to downgrade Indias long-term rupee debt rating to BB+ from BBB-, and the short-term rating to B from A3 will not impact economic growth with hardly any affect on the foreign direct investment either seems to be the overwhelming view.
20 Sep 2002
HDFC tops in car fin satisfaction
New Delhi: There is good news for car financiers. Four out of every five new vehicle buyers in India opt for some kind of financing, says JP Power Asia Pacifics 2002 India Consumer Satisfaction study.
IBA initiative for mechanism to settle inter-bank disputes
Mumbai: The Indian Banks Association has formed a sub-group under its banking operation committee, to devise an arbitration mechanism to settle disputes between member banks and all India financial institutions.
StanChart eyes S-E Asian securitisation market
Mumbai: Standard Chartered Bank is planning to securitise assets in areas of auto, housing and credit card loans, to raise cheaper funds in India, but said it would be cautious in dealing with non-performing assets.
ADB revises economic outlook for Asia
New Delhi: Developing economies in Asia demonstrated gradual strengthening in the first six months of the year which may lead to better-than-expected results for the rest of 2002, the Asian Development Bank said.
RBI approves proposal to merge Vasant Sahakari Bank
Mumbai: RBI and the Registrar of Co-operative Societies of Maharashtra have approved the amalgamation of city-based Vasant Sahakari Bank Ltd with Sangli-based Vasantdada Shetkari Sahakari Bank Ltd.
Re edges down; gilts flat
Mumbai: The rupee closed a tad weaker at 48.4125/42 on Thursday as compared to 48.4050 on Wednesday in the forex market. Supplies and demand of the dollar were seen to be moderate and said to be matching in the market.
Govt norms for promotion of DOs opposed
New Delhi: Officers associations of the public sector general insurance companies have opposed the move of the Government to promote only those Development Officers (DO) who procure business of Rs 1.5 crore and above.
Private banks can have 49 pc FDI + 49 pc FII
New Delhi: For once it appears that the Reserve Bank of India has slipped heavily, and that too in its own banking backyard. Or so the Government thinks. The Ministry of Finance feels that the RBI Governor, Dr Bimal Jalan, had erred in stating recently had erred in stating recently that the Government needs to clarify its position on the limits on foreign institutional investor (FII) investments in the banking sector, since the policy parameters on the issue have already been clearly enunciated.
ICICI Bank opens call centre at Hitec City
Mumbai: The facility is claimed to the largest in the Indian banking sector till date with a capacity of 1,100-seats. The bank plans to double the capacity of the call centre in the next one to one-and-a-half years.
Bank of Tokyo staff told not to disturb functioning
Kolkata: Justice P.K. Samanta of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the police to see that order of injunction passed by the trial court in the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi case is carried out.
Rough road ahead for STRIPS
Mumbai: Dealers feel insurance companies also stand to gain with an easier task of asset liability management. The stripped coupons will suit varying maturities in tune with their needs.
`Off-balance sheet dealings are not fraudulent acts'
New Delhi: Off-balance sheet asset-backed securitisation transactions are not ``fraudulent acts' despite the growing concerns over any transaction that is ``off-balance sheet' in a post-Enron and WorldCom world, according to Noel C. Edison, Managing Asset Securitisation, Standard Chartered Bank.
Professionals in co-op banks mooted
Visakhapatnam: Engaging the services of professionals in the co-operative banking sector in the State for its proper management is one of the recommendations of the four-member expert committee, constituted by the Andhra Pradesh Government to go into the functioning of the cooperative banks.
