23 october 2003

bob allots rs 3,000 crore for infrastructure projects
kolkata: bank of baroda has allotted around rs 3,000 crore for investment in infrastructure projects. the bank sees more such allotments for infrastructure in future, said p.s. shenoy, cmd, while addressing members of merchants chamber of commerce on wednesday. the bank chief also sees the presence of many positive "macro factors" - the government's focus on infrastructure development, large foreign exchange reserves and expectations of gdp growth. "there is substantial liquidity in the system at this juncture and there is pressure on interest rates to move southwards," shenoy said. he, however, observed that credit offtake was still quite slow.

the banking system was warming up to the realisation that there may be a convergence of rates prevalent in domestic and international markets. bank of baroda was also rolling out a major overseas expansion, mr shenoy said, referring to its plans for countries such as china, new zealand and singapore, where representative offices would be set up. further, there will be a new subsidiary in tanzania, which will strengthen the bank's presence in african nations.

ing vysya to foray into pension market
visakhapatnam: ing vysya life insurance wants to enter and develop the pension market in the country on a substantial scale, once the regulations are finalised. a separate company may also be floated, if necessary, according to yvo metzelaar, managing director and ceo. speaking to newspersons on wednesday, he said that the pension market was in a very nascent stage in india, but in 27 countries across the world the ing group was a major player in the pension segment.

the company had so far covered 60,000 lives and earned premium income of rs 43 crore. "we are concentrating on providing quality service with a range of eight products and several add-on services. we will attempt to tap the rural markets in coastal andhra pradesh,'' he said. india has succeeded in opening up the insurance sector without too many hassles and the insurance regulatory authority was functioning well on the whole."however, the distribution channels have to be streamlined and there are too many restrictive clauses on commissions for comfort,'' he said. lic would continue to be the dominant player in the market, but ing vysya would strive to capture at least 15 per cent of the total market held by private life insurers, he added.

idbi bank q2 net up 125%
chennai: idbi bank reported a 125-per cent growth in net profit at rs 36.19 crore for the quarter ended september 30, 2003. the profits were driven by a 20-per cent growth in interest income at rs 174.66 crore and a 109-per cent growth in other income at rs 65.5 crore for this quarter. the growth in profits came despite a jump in loan loss provisions of rs 20 crore in this quarter compared to rs 5 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. the bank maintained its net interest margin at 3.1 per cent. retail loans, mainly housing, proved to be the main driver for asset growth. the housing loan portfolio of the bank grew by nearly rs 450 crore in this quarter to touch a level of rs 2,143 crore. the bank's deposits grew by rs 421 crore during the quarter to rs 6,657 crore as at the end of september 2003. the bank's capital adequacy ratio at 8.22 per cent continued to be below the regulatory minimum of 9 per cent. idbi bank has a rights issue that is on currently to raise rs 154 crore to address the issue.

south indian bank lifeline for patients
coimbatore: south indian bank has launched a financial assistance programme for medical treatment - sib lifeline. the scheme covers all major ailments and surgical corrections, v.a. paul, regional head, said,the bank had signed an mou with the management of certain hospitalsthis would not prevent the patient from availing themselves of loan from the bank if they chose some other hospital. "in the unfortunate event of the patient dying within seven days of the surgery, the loan amount disbursed in such cases would be re-imbursed to the bank by united india, as per the special arrangement concluded by the bank for this scheme,." he said.

bank of rajasthan q2 profit rises 125%
mumbai: with a jump in other income, private sector and lower cost of funds, bank of rajasthan has posted a 125 per cent growth in its net profit for the second quarter ended september 30, 2003 at rs 34.91 crore, up from rs 15.53 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year.

other income went up 63 per cent to rs 57.07 crore (rs 34.88 crore). total income increased to rs 177.38 crore (rs 149.31 crore) and total expenditure increased to rs 123.13 crore (rs 108.83 crore). said the bank's chairman, p.k. tayal, at a press conference here, "the bank has seen growth in all areas and we have been able to reduce our cost of deposits to 5.72 per cent from 6.83 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.''the bank, which has adopted the 90-day norm in provisioning but not in npa recognition, has seen its net npas decrease a tad to 8 per cent which works out to rs 158 crore. gross npas increased to 14 per cent and works out to rs 301 crore. as on june 2003, the net npas were rs 165 crore while gross npas was lower at rs 293 crore.

federal bank opens branch in thiruvananthapuram
thiruvananthapuram: federal bank will open 23 more branches across the country during this financial year, which will help it achieve the goal of becoming a fully computerised and networked banking behemoth with 450 branches. this was stated here by k.p. padmakumar, chairman, while delivering the presidential address at the inaugural ceremony of the 427th branch at cotton hill here. according to him, federal bank has already implemented world-class banking services such as anywhere banking and internet banking. it has also distinguished itself by being able to open the maximum number of rural atms centres in the state. it has always strove to reach the benefits of technology to the rural masses. the fully computerised branch at cotton hill was inaugurated by k.p. hormese tharakan, director-general of police, kerala.

centurion signs agreement with navy
new delhi: centurion bank ltd has tied up with the india navy to disburse salary on behalf of the naval staff across the country. in addition, centurion would also offer several value-added services in toto to the naval staff as part of the understanding.

kotak group not to seek strategic investor now
mumbai: kotak mahindra bank has registered a 67 per cent growth in net profit for the second quarter ended september 30, 2003 at rs 19.84 crore, up from rs 11.88 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. these figures are not strictly comparable since the nbfc was converted into a bank in march 2003. the new bank will focus on lending as the thrust area and foresees 40 per cent growth in disbursements by the year-end. the net profit of the kotak group - kotak mahindra capital co, kotak securities, kotak mahindra primus, kotak mahindra amc & trustee, om kotak mahindra - for the second quarter is at rs 38.94 crore (rs 21.77 crore). the bank has collected fresh deposits of rs 650 crore in the first half year, 90 per cent of which are term deposits.