1 november 2003

bank net up 40 per cent
mumbai: an increase in net interest income has helped icici bank post a 40.6 per cent rise in net profit at rs 401.40 crore for the second quarter ended september 30,2003, as compared with rs 285.30 crore in the year-ago period. the net interest income increased 47 per cent to rs 402 crore (rs 307 crore).

bank of baroda q2 net profit up 89 per cent
mumbai: bank of baroda has recorded a 89.16 per cent jump in its net profit for the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal at rs 259.56 crore as compared to rs 137.22 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal. total income grew during the period to rs 2,049.31 crore (rs 1,907.97 crore).

corpn bank h1 net up 25.1 per cent
new delhi: corporation bank today announced a 25.1 per cent jump in net profit to rs 271.36 crore for the half-year ended september 30, compared to the previous year's corresponding figure of rs 216.91 crore. gross profit went up 18.9 per cent from rs 412.68 crore to rs 490.69 crore.

sundaram finance q2 net rises
chennai: sundaram finance has reported a net profit of rs 14.18 crore for the second quarter of the current year, compared to rs 13.51 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.

pfc nets rs 1,174-cr profit
new delhi: power finance corporation has recorded a net profit of rs 1,174 crore for the first six months of current fiscal, a massive 127 per cent rise over the corresponding period last year.

indusind q2 net zooms 200 per cent
mumbai: indusind bank has posted a 200 per cent jump in net profit for the second quarter ended september 30,2003, at rs 76.23 crore, against rs 25.38 crore in the corresponding period, the previous year.

travelex to open forex outlets in key cities
mumbai: travelex, the world's largest retail foreign exchange business entity, is all set to open forex outlets in eight major indian cities, which include the four metros.

31 october 2003

syndicate bank to introduce centralised banking facility
mangalore: the chairman and managing director of syndicate bank, mr michael bastian, has said that centralised banking solutions would be introduced in 180 branches of the bank by march next.

kvb net jumps 82 per cent in q2
coimbatore: karur vysya bank's net profit has jumped by 82 per cent to rs 45.36 crore for the quarter ended september 2003 as against rs 24.90 crore registered during the corresponding quarter of the earlier fiscal.

ing vysya life launches special services for nris
kochi: ing vysya life has chalked out special services by setting up guidelines for them to buy life insurance plans from the company, mr yvo metzelaar, managing director and ceo, said.

royal sundaram nets rs 5 crore
chennai: royal sundaram alliance insurance company has made a net profit of rs 5 crore so far this year. the company has earned premium income of about rs 150 crore and expects to close the year with a premium income of rs 300 crore, the company's managing director, mr micky brigg said here on thursday.

federal bank ties up with ecgc for insurance
kochi: the aluva-based federal bank has tied up with ecgc in a corporate agency arrangement to sell insurance cover through the bank's branches. the mou was signed between mr k.p. padmakumar, chairman of the bank and mr s. prabhakaran, executive director of ecgc in kochi in kochi.

moody's upgrades union bank rating
mumbai: the international credit rating agency, moody's investors service, has upgraded the financial strength rating of union bank of india to `d-' from `e+'.

30 october 2003

corpn bank, hmt pact
mangalore: corporation bank on wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (mou) with hmt ltd to collaborate with it for financing tractors to farmers. a. mohan rao, general manager of the bank, and s.k. welling, executive director of hmt ltd, signed the agreement at the bank's corporate office in mangalore. according to a press release here, the corp kisan farm mechanisation scheme under which tractors would be financed covers the entire range of farm machinery used by farmers. apart from the low interest rates, the bank has relaxed margin and security norms to facilitate easy and affordable credit to farmers, the release added.

corpn bank signs mou with hero cycles
new delhi: corporation bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with hero cycles ltd to finance cycles. apart from low interest rates, the bank has also relaxed the margin and security norms to facilitate easy and affordable credit. for women beneficiaries, the bank would offer special concessional rate of interest.

prudential coop. depositors' plea
hyderabad: the depositors' association of the crisis-ridden prudential co-operative bank have demanded the payment of due interest on fixed deposits, operation of savings bank and current accounts to instil confidence among account holders and the general public. in a memorandum to the chairman of the bank, the association also wanted the process of recovery of outstanding loan amounts from the big borrowers to be speeded up and the rbi should pay interest on the funds of the co-operative bank lying in deposit with them during the period of non-functioning of the bank with a view to reducing the cost burden of the management expenses of the bank. if demands are not met by november 30, the association said it would resort to agitational programme.

29 october 2003

chola investment q2 net rises 30 pc
mumbai: the chennai-based non-banking finance company cholamandalam investment and finance company ltd (cifc) on tuesday said its profit after tax for the second quarter grew 30 per cent, mainly on account of a higher asset base, saving in interest expenditure and lower depreciation.

the profit after tax for the quarter ended september 30, 2003, was rs 8.35 crore over the second quarter of the previous year when it was rs 6.39 crore. cifc, part of the rs 4,500-crore murugappa group, saw its asset base expanding by 18 per cent to rs 1,633 crore during the quarter. m. anandan, managing director of cifc, told newspersons here that now 50 per cent of the company's business came from the north and west regions of the country.

cifc operated from 160 offices, 125 of which are franchisees located mainly in `b' and `c' centres across the country, anandan said. m.a. alagappan, chairman of the nbfc and vice-chairman of the murugappa group, said financial services was a core part of the group's growth plans. during the second quarter, chola's income was rs 56.92 crore ( rs 56.29 crore). anandan said that the company's annualised cost of funds currently stood at about 7.5 per cent. its incremental cost of funds, however, was lower at about 6 per cent. cifc's non-performing assets were 1.08 per cent.

karnataka bank q2 net up at rs 69 cr
mangalore: the net profit of karnataka bank ltd increased by 30 per cent in the second quarter compared with the corresponding quarter in the previous year. the bank registered a net profit of rs 69.17 crore (rs 52.97 crore). the gross income increased from rs 492 crore to rs 595 crore for the same period. operating profit rose from rs 109 crore to rs 190 crore registering a growth of 75 per cent. total business of the bank has crossed rs 12,700 crore.

a press release said here on tuesday that the bank is aiming at a total business turnover of rs 15,000 crore by the end of current fiscal. it stated that the bank has launched credit products such as "kbl insta cash" and "kbl vahana mithra" to cater to the needs of various segments. recently the bank tied up with bharat overseas bank, sangli bank, and ratnakar bank to provide inbound international money transfer services through their branches across the country. it has entered into an agreement with metlife india insurance company private ltd (metlife india) for distributing their products.

the release said that the bank's pact with bsnl would facilitate payment of telephone bills by bsnl subscribers at its branches in bangalore

uco bank in talks with rabo bank - h1 net up 80% at rs 292 cr
kolkata: uco bank has started a dialogue with rabo bank for financing contract farming programmes as part of its plan to explore new business opportunities. it hopes to sanction more agricultural credit through what may eventually be a formal tie-up with rabo bank. v.p. shetty, cmd, said a clearer picture was likely to emerge within a couple of months. negotiations with rabo are among the kolkata-based bank's recent initiatives.

some of the others are expansion of its capital market-related operations (through depository services) and introduction of tractor-financing through partnerships with tractor manufacturers. the bank, in fact, has signed mous with manufacturers like hmt, escorts and l&tthe bank has posted a net profit of rs 292 crore for the half year ended september 30, 2003, more than 80 per cent higher than the net profit of rs 159 crore posted during the corresponding half-year in the past fiscal. the net profit for 2002-03 was rs 207 crore.

the bank, according to the cmd, made a higher provision of rs 198 crore during the half year, which is around 77 per cent higher than it did during the corresponding half of the previous year. the rise in profit was due to "improvement in several areas of performance", shetty said, adding that uco recorded a 36 per cent increase in net interest income. gross npa, incidentally, declined from 9.66 per cent in september 2002 to 7.54 per cent in september this year. "the improved profit performance has pushed up our capital adequacy ratio to 11.36 per cent from 9.64 per cent a year ago", he told newspersons on tuesday.

andhra bank h1 net rises to rs 256 crore
chennai: andhra bank has reported a net profit of rs 255.66 crore for the half-year ended september, against rs 149.73 crore in the same period last year - a growth of 70.75 per cent.

the bank's gross profit increased to rs 524.01 crore, compared to rs 322 crore in the first half of last year. the bank's `net interest margin' had improved to 3.88 per cent during the half-year, compared to 3.58 per cent a year ago. total business of the bank increased to rs 32,741 crore - rs 21,179 crore of deposits and rs 11,562 crore of advances. on september 30, 2002, the bank's total business had stood at rs 30,480 crore.

sbm net jumps to rs 45 crore in q2
bangalore: state bank of mysore recorded a net profit of rs 44.98 crore during the quarter ended september 30, up from rs 8.1 crore in the previous year period on a rise in total income to rs 338.86 crore (rs 315.89 crore). for the half-year ended september 30, net profit rose 186 per cent to rs 90.29 crore, while operating profit rose 57.22 per cent to rs 192.81 crore during the same period.

announcing this, sitarama murty, managing director, said the focus on increased earnings and on reducing the cost of deposits had enabled the bank to achieve the results. "this growth is after making provisions for vrs expenses of rs 14.93 crore, being amortised over five years and rs 1.14 crore for leave encashments - the latter not having been provided for last year. operating profit stood at rs 99.06 crore (rs 70.91 crore), while other income was rs 84.99 crore (rs 54.26 crore). during the half year, operating income rose by 29.54 per cent to touch rs 364.81 crore

28 october 2003

hdfc bank, rim join hands for mobile banking
mumbai: hdfc bank and reliance indiamobile have joined hands to launch an interactive mobile banking service in india. according to an hdfc bank press release, all bank customers who are also reliance indiamobile subscribers can now view their bank account balance, get mini-statements, fixed deposit details and make request for cheque book and account statements, apart from making bill payment by direct debit to the account from their mobile handsets. after registering with hdfc bank for the mobile banking service, a reliance indiamobile subscriber can access the facility directly from r world on the handset.

the customer will be presented with a detailed menu of about ten banking activities that can be done through the mobile phone. neeraj swaroop, country head (marketing and retail lending) of hdfc bank, says that "with this alliance, we offer our customers the most comprehensive and advanced mobile banking service. we offer our customers unrestricted access to the bank in india and from across the world". the reliance india mobile service is at present commercially available in over 470 cities and will soon be available in 693 towns and cities across india.

birla global board approves sale
mumbai: the board of directors of birla global finance ltd on monday approved the sale of 51 per cent of its holding in birla sun life securities to j.v. gokal securities pvt ltd. according to a bse notification, the sale of 30,60,000 equity shares of birla sun life securities, a subsidiary of birla global finance will be for a total consideration of rs 4.85 crore, subject to all approvals.

malaprabha bank net profit rises
mangalore: the dharwad-based malaprabha grameena bank has announced 76 per cent increase in the net profit during the first half of the current fiscal ended september 2003. a bank release here on monday said that it recorded a net profit of rs 16.12 crore during the first half of the current fiscal. it said that the bank has the plan of reaching a total business of rs 1,802 crore by the end of this financial year.

the total business of the bank during the first half of the current fiscal stood at rs 1,433 crore. the deposits of the bank stood at rs 782 crore, and advances at rs. 651 crore. the release claimed that the bank has disbursed rs 147 crore during the first half of the current fiscal under its various schemes.

27 october 2003

kerala devices special scheme for co-op loans
thiruvananthapuram: kerala minister for cooperation and ports m v raghavan has said that the state government will formulate a special scheme offering concession on interest payable on loans advanced from year 1997 onwards by the co-operative banks in the state. "the district-level cooperative banks will be entrusted with the task of formulating the scheme." the scheme will be applicable in those cases where the loan has been defaulted even while the tenor has not been breached.

the one-time settlement scheme has helped prune down of the non-performing assets in the cooperative sector. it is upon the presidents and other officials of the cooperative banks to popularise the benefits of the scheme further among the people. the district-level banks should convene meetings of the primary cooperative societies towards this end. action will be taken against those societies who have failed to implement the one-time settlement scheme.

public issue gives impetus to vijaya bank
mangalore: vijaya bank general manager surendra m bhandary has said that over-subscription of the public issue of the bank has given a great impetus for reaching higher goals. he was speaking at the 72nd founder's day celebration of the bank at the mangalore regional office recently.

terming over-subscription of the public issue of the bank an indicator of its performance, former chairman of the bank b b shetty suggested that the bank accord priority to agricultural activities on the lines of retail lending activities.

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