15 feb 2003

total investment of scbs rises to rs 5,68,346 crore
mumbai: the total investments of scheduled commercial banks increased to rs 5,68,346 crore as on march 31, 2002, compared to rs 4,80,488 crore in previous fiscal, according to the latest rbi bulletin.

rbi lifts ceiling on eefc funds for trade-related loans
mumbai: exporters now can grant trade related loans/ advances without any limit from their exchange earners' foreign currency accounts to their overseas importer customers.

idbi merger with idbi bank closer to reality
mumbai: the issue of idbi possible merger with its banking arm has taken a full circle. after rejecting the merger proposal for over a year, the fi is set to go in for merger with its banking subsidiary, idbi bank, as part of its conversion into a corporate bank, as it would take shape after transformation.

sbi sets rs 500 crore for it
mumbai: state bank of india has earmarked rs 500 crore on information technology for the fiscal 2003-04, chairman ak purwar said, after inaugurating the 'single window system' at its gateway of india branch in mumbai.

general insurance cos to face shortage of devt officers soon
new delhi: the house marketing force of the general insurance companies in india is heading for an acute shortage of development officers with "development officers amended service scheme 2002" coming into effect soon.

taib bank offering for nris
mumbai: bahrain-based foreign institutional investor taib bank yesterday launched its portfolio management service (pms) in india aimed at domestic and non-resident indians.

iib tie-ups for training
kolkata: the indian institute of bankers (iib), which is into its platinum jubilee year, has tied up with a couple of international institutions to ramp up its training programmes.

exim bank extends $5-m line of credit to lanka bank
new delhi: export-immport bank of india (exim bank) and hatton national bank (hnb) ltd of sri lanka have signed an agreement for a line of credit of $5 million from exim bank to hnb, to support india's exports to sri lanka.

corpn bank cuts fcnr (b) rates
mangalore: corporation bank has revised its interest rates on fcnr (b) deposits with effect from february 14. this downward revision of interest rates will be applicable to fcnr (b) pound deposits.

escorts debt issues marked down
mumbai: crisil has downgraded escorts ltd's rs 150-crore non-convertible debenture issue to bbb from a-. the rs 20.46-crore non-convertible debenture issue has also been marked down to bbb from a-.

14 feb 2003

vbc fin plans insurance foray
vizag: the board of directors of vbc finance & leasing ltd, part of the visakhapatnam-based vbc group, has decided to discontinue the existing business of finance and leasing.

syndicate bank slashes home loan rates
hyderabad: syndicate bank has announced a slash in interest rates ranging from 25 basis points to 100 basis points under various tenures

corporate debt revamp poses problems for insurance cos
bangalore: the corporate debt restructuring (cdr) initiated by the financial institutions (fis) has created new problems for the general insurance companies, especially those in the public sector. sources here said that the cdr provisions relating to reduction in interest rates would impact all their income flows from investments.

ubi to issue bonds to raise rs 400 crore
mumbai: union bank of india (ubi), which whittled down the government's stake to 61 per cent through an initial public offering last year, is planning to issue bonds worth rs 400 crore to beef up its tier-ii capital.

ifc keen to invest more in core sector projects
new delhi: the international finance corporation (ifc) has highlighted its persistent focus on india and said that it seeks to venture into new sectors of the economy to strengthen the competitive quotient of the domestic industry.

hudco bonds get triple a rating
new delhi: housing and urban development corporation ltd (hudco) has been accorded a triple a (so) rating by fitch india, for its tax-free and taxable bonds issue which signifies highest safety with regard to timely timely payment of principal and interest.

13 feb 2003

sbi, maruti ink car finance pact
new delhi: the country’s largest bank, state bank of india, and the largest car maker, maruti udyog ltd on wednesday signed a tie-up for car finance to make it available to customers, especially in the semi-urban and rural market.

hsbc to offer cheapest home loans at 8.99 per cent
mumbai: the hongkong and shanghai banking corporation ltd on wednesday announced a slash in its home loans. the bank will offer floating rate home-loans at 8.25 per cent for four to five year periods and fixed-rate loans at 8.99 per cent for eight to 20-year periods.

kbjnl to retire rs 405-crore debt
bangalore: the karnataka-government promoted krishna bhagya jala nigam limited has embarked upon a plan to retire the high-cost debt of rs 405 crore raised at 15.75 per cent in 1998.

sbi to cut home loan rates further
mumbai: the state bank of india is examining the issue of reducing interest rates on housing loans for its existing customers, under both the fixed and flexible interest rates.

bank of bahrain into retail business
hyderabad: bank of bahrain & kuwait has announced that it has entered into retail banking operations in india aimed at expanding its business operations.

further delay in daewoo assets bidding process
new delhi: the bidding process in the ongoing auction of daewoo motor india ltd's (dmil) assets, met with further delay on wednesday, as the debt recovery tribunal (drt)-appointed receiver rejected bids for the company's current assets.

12 feb 2003

aviva plans to set up call centre, processing facility
mumbai: global insurer aviva plc has decided to establish a call centre and claims processing facility in india to service its uk-based general insurance business.

interest spread of 36 banks up 16.92 per cent in q3
mumbai: interest spreads of 36 banks increased by 16.92 per cent to rs 8,463 crore during october-december 2002 from the level of rs 7,238 crore during october-december 2001.

phdcci seeks tax sops for fresh investments
new delhi: a delegation of phd chamber of commerce and industry, led by its president pk jain, met union minister for commerce and industry arun jaitley to urge upon the need for providing favourable tax treatment for fresh investments in the industry.

icici may revise rates if war breaks out
mumbai: the country’s second largest bank, icici bank, has hinted at a revision of its interest rates in the event of a war between the us and iraq. however, icici bank ceo, kv kamath said the bank would maintain its stable to downward bias for interest rates in case things are normal.

irda for more freedom to intermediaries
new delhi: insurance agents would be permitted to sell multi-insurers’ products in the future. insurance regulatory and development authority is currently examining such a plan and this will be in place in two years time.

rbi to subscribe to another rs 100-cr equity in nhb
mumbai: the reserve bank of india has decided to subscribe to an additional rs 100 crore in equity in the national housing bank. with the government since issuing a notification to give effect to this decision, the authorised capital of nhb will stand increased to rs 450 crore from rs 350 crore, according to a rbi news release issued on tuesday.

fitch affirms foreign currency ratings at `bb'
new delhi: international rating agency `fitch' has affirmed india's long-term foreign currency and local currency ratings at `bb' and `bb'+ respectively. the short-term foreign currency rating is `b'.

icici bank cuts interest rates on feb bonds
mumbai: in keeping with the lower interest rate regime, icici bank has cut the rates on the second tranche of its unsecured redeemable bonds worth rs 400 crore, which is open for subscription from february 14.

11 feb 2003

ifc to invest $100-m a year in east asia’s core sectors
new delhi: the international finance corp, the world bank’s investment arm, said on monday it would invest around $100-$150 million a year over the next three years on power and infrastructure in east asia to meet surging demand.

icici bank keen to buy other banks’ retail business, eyes 30 per cent market share
mumbai: icici bank is eyeing acquisitions of retail business of other banks and is likely to outsmart all banks in this segment by posting over 100 per cent growth at rs 18,000 crore and raising its market share to 30 per cent by this fiscal, official sources said.

ifci searches partners for malvika steel
new delhi: unwilling to write off the rs 3,000 crore malvika steel in jagdeeshpur, uttar pradesh, the term-lending institution industrial finance corporation of india has approached steel giants like tisco and sail for management takeover and revival of it.

ubi to offer utility payment services
mumbai: in an effort to enhance income from fee-based services, union bank of india plans to offer soon to its customers the ‘utility payment services’ in addition to the existing service like marketing insurance products, mutual funds, demat services etc.

rbi reiterates stance on npa regularisation
mumbai: the reserve bank of india on monday reiterated that the banks should strictly adhere to its instructions on reclassification of npas if arrears of interest and principal are paid by the borrowers in case of loan accounts.

nhb reduces interest rate by 2 per cent for hfcs, scbs
mumbai: national housing bank on monday cut its interest rate to scheduled commercial banks and housing finance companies by two per cent across the board under its new liberalised refinance scheme.

karnataka bank review meet
mangalore: karnataka bank conducted a `review conference' at its head office here on monday. the conference was attended by the bank's `regional heads' apart from other officials and executives.

global trust bank plans more atms in coimbatore
coimbatore: to reach out to its customers in the residential pockets, global trust bank is contemplating to activate four more atms in coimbatore by june 2003. at present the bank has 8 atms here, the last of which was inaugurated last week.

drt chennai helps recover rs 4.54 crore
chennai: a lok adalat meeting held here by the debt recovery tribunal-i, chennai, resulted in a spot recovery of rs 4.54 crore and a "promise of rs 15 lakh more within a specified period". the meeting, held on february 1, took up 37 cases involving rs 23.16 crore, drt-i officials said.

10 feb 2003

vistafin software for idbi bank
kolkata: idbi bank has announced the deployment of vistafin, an enterprise-wide relationship management platform developed by geoscope information systems (india).vistafin provides a single-point interface for capturing sales, purchase, redemption information for all investment services managed by the bank as well as fee income tracking/reconciliation facilities.

new india offers mediclaim package for andhra bank cardholders
hyderabad: new india assurance company ltd has offered a tailor-made mediclaim policy to credit cardholders of andhra bank along with the third party administrators (tpas), offering cashless facility for medical emergencies.

icao mulls war-risk insurance scheme
new delhi: a new war-risk insurance scheme being considered by the international civil aviation organisation (icao), which seeks to provide adequate insurance coverage in the short and medium term under favourable conditions, while allowing private insurance markets to come back gradually into the market, could soon become a reality.

bob to raise rs 600 crore through bonds
mumbai: bank of baroda has received the government approval to raise rs 600 crore through issuance of bonds to augment its capital adequacy ratio. the finance ministry has permitted the bank to raise the rs 300 crore with a green-shoe option of rs 300

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