ICICI cuts lending rates
Mumbai: ICICI has reduced its long-term prime lending rate by one percentage point to 12.5 per cent in the wake of the government’s decision to reduce the interest rates of savings schemes like the public provident fund and post-office based schemes. ICICI is also lowering its medium and short-term prime lending rates by 0.5 percentage points each from 13 per cent. These rate reductions make long-term loans the cheapest, and better options than foreign exchange loans.

ICICI said in a statement that it is reducing the rates with effect from 18 January. The long-term prime lending rate applies to all loans above three years’maturity, while the medium-term prime lending rate applies to loans between one and three years, and short-term prime lending rates apply to variable maturity loans where the interest rate is reset annually.
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HDFC reduces loan rates for NRIs
Mumbai: The Housing Development Finance Corporation has slashed the rates of housing loans to non-resident Indians by one percentage point.  The housing finance company will, however, review the rates of its domestic loans only after ascertaining whether it will be able to reduce the cost of funds on deposits, which in turn depends on the long-term deposit rates of banks. The interest on a five-year loan for NRIs will be slashed from 13 per cent to 12 per cent and for loans up to seven years will be brought down to 13 per cent from 14 per cent. Rates on loans such as home improvement loans and land loans have been reduced to 12 per cent.
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RBI takes a lenient view on NBFCs
Calcutta: The Reserve Bank of India is learnt to have taken a lenient view of non-banking finance companies whose net owned fund levels are below the stipulated Rs 25 lakh level. The central bank will not take immediate action like deregistration of such defaulting companies, but they will be asked to cease their non-banking finance activities and bring the net-owned funds to the desired levels within a time specified by the RBI. The RBI has taken this decision as net owned funds fluctuate considerably and any derecognition will further dampen the companies’ activities.
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SBI defers shifting forex department
Mumbai: The State Bank of India is deferring its proposal to shift the entire foreign exchange operations of the bank to Mumbai. Instead, its forex departments will continue to be located in Mumbai and Calcutta. The bank had earlier decided to bring the department to Mumbai and integrate it with its treasury here on the basis of advice from McKinsey & Co. The proposal had met with opposition from the staff.
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New pension scheme mooted
New Delhi: The Dave Committee set up to suggest measures to improve the pensions plan has mooted a parallel pension scheme for the unorganised sector, creation of an autonomous regulatory authority to oversee the functioning of the pension system, and replacement of the public provident fund with a new scheme. The committee had submitted its report to prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee recently.

Disclosing some of the recommendations, minister of state for social justice and empowerment Maneka Gandhi said the committee has also recommended several measures to improve the universal acceptability of pension schemes in India. The scheme suggests entrusting the task of managing the funds currently managed by the PF trustees to six professional fund managers under the purview of an Indian Pensions Authority to be set up as the apex authority.
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IT advisory panel set up
New Delhi: The government has set up an 11-member committee to advise it on information technology-related subjects such as e-governance, e-commerce and digital learning. The committee will be headed by information technology minister Pramod Mahajan and will comprise P.V. Jayakrishnan, secretary in IT ministry, N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies, Azim Premji, chairman of the Wipro group, Subhash Chandra, chairman of Zee Telefilms, F.C. Kohli of Tata Consultancy Services, Ramalinga Raju, chairman of the Satyam group, Rajendra Pawar, vice-chairman of NIIT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, managing director of BPL Telecom, V. Raju, director, IIT, Delhi, Dewang Mehta, president of Nasscom, and Satish Kaura, managing director of the Samtel group.
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New telegraph act coming
New Delhi: The Indian Telegraph Act, now 112 years old, is to be replaced with a new act called the Indian Telecom Act 2000. A draft of the proposed act has been prepared by a sub-group headed by Fali Nariman, constitutional law expert. The draft will be placed before the main group on convergence of technologies headed by finance minister Yashwant Sinha.

The main changes in the proposed act will be amendment of the section that grants the government exclusive rights in operating telecom services in the country. The phase "exclusive privilege" will be removed and the government will only be given the power to issue licences. It will also become mandatory for all operators to provide interconnectivity.
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Japanese retail firm into online banking
Tokyo: Ito Yokado Company, a leading retail company in Japan, is in talks with Japanese banks for a collaborative venture to network banking functions and retailing activities. The supermarkets and convenience stores of the group comprise Japan’s biggest and most profitable retailing network. The group has applied to the government for a banking licence.
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