Singapore bank to pick up stake in UTI Bank
Mumbai: The Development Bank of Singapore is about to pick up some 20 per cent of the equity of the private sector UTI Bank. Senior officials of the Singapore bank were in India for talks in this regard recently. The Unit Trust of India is understood to be planning to dilute its stake in UTI Bank, and therefore does not want to fresh equity to be issued to a new partner. UTI holds 61 per cent of the total equity in the bank now.
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IDBI for stakes in companies
Mumbai: The Industrial Development Bank of India has decided in principle to offer advances between 10 per cent and 25 per cent to infrastructure projects as equity. The bank is modelling its plan on the lines of similar initiatives by the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the Industrial Bank of Japan, which pick up equity  in companies to compensate for the risk of investing in doubtful markets. IDBI will divest the stakes thus picked up once the projects become operational.

The bank has also announced that it has sold shares it owned in Aftek Infosys for Rs 43 crore. The divestment has been made in favour of the promoters of the company. The shares were sold at a price of Rs 477.75 per share. IDBI owned 17.5 per cent  in the equity of the company.
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HDFC Bank pact with Bennett, Coleman
Mumbai: HDFC Bank, which has acquired Times Bank recently, has also reached an informal agreement with Bennett, Coleman & Co, the original promoters of Times Bank, to ensure that it will have the first right of refusal if and when the Times promoters decide to sell their seven per cent stake in the merged bank. The bank does not want this share to land in the secondary market, Aditya Puri, managing director of HDFC Bank, said.

HDFC Bank’s other major shareholders are Indocean Chase Capital, which owns 15 per cent, and Housing Development Finance Corporation, which owns 20 per cent.
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Panel moots CAR for coop banks
Mumbai: A Reserve Bank of India committee on urban cooperative banks has recommended that scheduled urban cooperative banks should achieve a capital adequacy ratio of 8 per cent by March 2001. The committee’s report said it is in favour of urban cooperative banks being brought under the purview of capital to risk assets ratio norm in a phased manner.

The committee was headed by K. Madhav Rao, former chief secretary of the Andhra Pradesh government. It has recommended that non-scheduled urban cooperative banks should reach a six per cent capital to risk assets ratio by 31 March 2001, seven per cent in the following year, and nine per cent by 31 March 2003.

The RBI has identified 293 urban cooperative banks as weak. Of these, 112 do not comply with the minimum capital norm of Rs 1 lakh. The committee has also suggested merger of sick banks with healthy ones and creation of a rehabilitation fund by the RBI or the government.
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Corporation Bank for non-life insurance first
New Delhi: Corporation Bank is planning a foray into the non-life insurance business first, which will be followed by an entry into the life insurance business. The bank will have a joint venture with a foreign partner for this propose.

The bank's chairman and managing director R.S. Hugar said the bank has shortlisted four multinational insurance companies, and one of them will be selected for the joint venture.
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S&P improves Bank of Baroda ratings
Mumbai: Standard & Poor’s has revised its rating outlook for Bank of Baroda from negative to stable. The rating reflects that the bank is now comfortably placed in its rating category. The BB long-term and B short-term foreign currency counterparty credit ratings of the bank too have been affirmed by the international rating agency.
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Oil royalty rate hike planned
New Delhi: The petroleum ministry will increase the ad hoc royalty rate on crude by 30 per cent. The rate will go up to Rs 750 per tonne against the current rate of Rs 578. Oil companies like the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India will be affected by the rate hike, but it will be beneficial to oil-producing states like Gujarat, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Arunachal Pradesh, which have been demanding an increase after the substantial rise in crude oil prices globally.
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FDI norms for uplink being reviewed
New Delhi: The information and broadcasting ministry is going to take up a review of the foreign direct investment norms for unlinking and setting up earth stations. It will also consider whether non-resident Indians can hold equity of more than 20 per cent, the present cap.

The review will clear the present confusion over the definition of foreign equity and whether NRI investments in equity should be treated as foreign equity. The ministry has sought a clarification in this regard from the finance ministry.
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Panel to study labour-trade link
Seattle: The World Trade Organisation has set up a new working group to go into the issue of linkage between labour standards and trade. The group will discuss proposals for creating either a labour standards working group or a body operated jointly by a number of international organisations to look at these issues. This will be the sixth working group set up by the ministerial meet.

The announcement evoked strong reactions from the Indian delegation as well as from other developed countries. Discussions were continuing among the participating countries. India has made it clear that the working group suggestion is not acceptable to it.

The WTO members also reached a basic agreement to deal with anti-dumping regulations and made progress on the agricultural issue that brought the European Union in direct conflict with the 18-member Cairns group of countries backed by the US.

Meanwhile, India has assured China that it will sign an agreement to facilitate Beijing’s entry into the WTO. The US and China had signed a bilateral agreement after five yeas of protracted trade negotiations to pave way for Beijing’s entry into the WTO. China is lobbying with other WTO members for similar support.
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