09 Nov 2002

UTI to retain corporates, institutions in US-64
Mumbai: The Unit Trust of India has rejected the Tarapore Committee recommendation to bar institutional investors, including banks and corporates, from investing in the US-64 scheme.

Canara Bank IPO for Rs 385 crore opens on November 18
Mumbai: The Bangalore-based Canara Bank is set to hit the market with an initial public offering of Rs 385 crore, consisting of 11 crore shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 25 each.

Bengal Co-op plays bank, manager absconds with farmers' money
Kolkata: The police in West Bengal's Bankura district have been accused of sitting on investigations against the manager of a farmers' co-operative society who ran an unauthorised banking business at the cost of landless farmers.

Bank Of Baroda north zone clocks Rs 90-crore gross profit
Mumbai: Bank of Baroda's northern zone has clocked a gross profit of Rs 90 crore in the first half of the current fiscal.

Madras HC upholds Special Judge verdict in Sancheti case
Chennai: The Madras High Court has upheld the orders against Sancheti & Co passed by the Court of the Special Judge and rejected the petition filed by the company seeking to set aside the orders.

LIC keen to trim policy lapses
Coimbatore: IN a bid to curb policy lapses, the southern region of the State-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is now aiming to push policies of higher denomination and stress on yearly mode of payment.

ICRA reaffirms A1 rating to MTR Foods CP
New Delhi: ICRA has reaffirmed the A1 rating, indicating highest safety in the short-term, to the enhanced Commercial Paper programme of Rs 10 crore of MTR Foods Ltd (MTR).

HMT bonds placed on rating watch
New Delhi: Rating agency ICRA has placed the MAAA (S) rating assigned to the Rs 40.43 crore medium-term bond programme of HMT Ltd under `Rating watch with negative implications'.

SBI local head offices to get more powers
Mumbai: State Bank of India proposes to grant additional powers to its 14 local head offices across the country in order to expedite the decision making process on sanctioning loans.

IFCI asked to rework $100-m debt with lenders
New Delhi: The Government has told the IFCI to try and re-negotiate with its lenders and investors the repayment of one of its foreign currency borrowings aggregating $100 million, due this month.

Nabard slashes interest rates
Mumbai: Following the bank rate cut, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has decided to cut interest rates on small loans up to Rs 25,000 by 75 basis points to 6.75 per cent from 7.50 per cent.

Corporation Bank cuts deposit rates
Mangalore: Corporation Bank has decided to reduce its interest rates on deposits with effect from November 11. For the maturity band between 15 and 29 days, the interest rate has been brought down from 5 per cent to 4.50 per cent while in the 46 days to 90 days category, the rate has been reduced from 5.50 per cent to 5.25 per cent.

SBI Caps begins due diligence on DFHI
Mumbai: SBI Capital Markets has begun a due diligence on Discount and Finance House of India (DFHI), on behalf of State Bank of India, which plans to raise its stake in DFHI. As per the plan, after SBI and its associates hike their stakes to 51 per cent from the current

IIB appointed certifying agency
New Delhi: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has designated the Indian Institute of Bankers (IIB) as the testing and certifying agency for banassurance.

08 Nov 2002

Clearing Corpn forex operations from today
Mumbai: Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL) is to start forex clearing operations from today. The service will provide a multilateral netting system for inter-bank spot and forward dollar-rupee transactions.

Sun Micro, Infosys unveil banking solution
Bangalore: Sun Microsystems Inc and Infosys Technologies Ltd have unveiled a web-based retail banking reference architecture which enables banks to reduce operational costs and enhance efficiencies and retain business agility.

Birla Sun Life to focus on retail, private clients
Mumbai: Birla Sun Life Distribution Company Ltd (BSDL), the distributor of financial products, plans to focus on two customer segments namely retail and private clients group this year, according to the company's CEO Sanjiv Roy.

South Indian Bank ties up with Qatar company
Kochi: The Thrissur-based South Indian Bank has entered into a new rupee draft drawing agreement with Union Exchange Co of Doha, Qatar. As per this agreement, NRIs in Qatar can make remittances to any of the 100 designated branches of South Indian Bank.

Bond prices rally
Mumbai: Bond prices were seen rallying by 30-50 paise across the board on Thursday in the government securities market. The steep' 50-basis points Fed rate cut was the driving factor for the bullish sentiment in the markets.

NHB cuts coupon rate on capital gains bonds
Mumbai: Consequent to the recent reduction in the bank rate and cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of India, the National Housing Bank (NHB) has also reviewed the coupon rate on its capital gains bonds.

SIDBI cuts rate on capital gains bonds
Mumbai: The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has reduced the rate of interest on its capital gains bonds by 50 basis points effective from 8 November 2002 to 6.5 per cent, from the present rate of 7 per cent.

Govt may put SBI on block after RBI exit, fear staff
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India's decision to offload its entire stake in the State Bank of India could put the country's largest public sector commercial bank in the privatisation market.

SBI cuts home loan rates by 25 bps
Mumbai: Kicking off a new round of rate cuts in the housing finance segment, the country's largest bank, the State Bank of India, has reduced its fixed rate home loan interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) across all maturities.

IRDA tells general insurers to refund excess OD premium
New Delhi: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has told chief executives of all general insurance companies to refund excess premium charged on own-damage motor insurance, apart from any amount in excess of 100-per cent loading in the case of third-party covers.

Birla Sun Life arm braces for a slew of MFs
Mumbai: The entry of a clutch of banks, including HSBC, Citi, Deutsche and ABN Amro into the asset management business, is fast reorienting the distribution opportunities of financial products for the investor in a declining interest rate scenario, said Birla Sun Life Distribution Company CEO Sanjiv Roy.

IIB named sole authority for testing bank staff for insurance
New Delhi: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has designated the Indian Institue of Bankers as the exclusive authority for conducting the certification examination in bancassurance.

07 Nov 2002