ICICI cuts home loan interest rate
Mumbai: ICICI has taken the lead in reducing the interest rates of five-year home loans to 12 per cent. The lead player in the segment, HDFC, has so far reduced interest rates of loans availed of by non-resident Indians with tenors of up to five years. Its interest rate for five-year loans taken by Indian residents continues to be 13.5 per cent. ICICI in a press statement said all loans having a five-year maturity, irrespective of whether or not a customer is a resident or non-resident Indian, will be offered at 12 per cent. ICICI has also waived the two per cent pre-payment charges on home-finance loans to customers who part-pay or fully repay their loans before maturity.
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RBI’s auction oversubscribed
Mumbai: The Rs 3,000-crore auction of eight-year paper by the Reserve Bank of India has been over-subscribed by 202 per cent. The central bank received 367 bids for Rs 9,082 crore. The cut-off price in the auction of the 12-per cent 2008 security was fixed at Rs 106.83. This will mean a yield of 10.7276 per cent. RBI later accepted 56 bids for the notified amount at a weighed average price of Rs 106.87.
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Dena Bank to launch net banking
Mumbai: Public sector Dena Bank is launching its Internet banking services and plans to enter the e-commerce sector. The bank will first introduce a net-based bill payment facility for large service organisations. It will extend the net banking facility to all-India organisations for salary and other payments.
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Insurance companies oppose revised tariff
Calcutta: General Insurance Corporation and its four subsidiaries are opposed to the new tariff structure for fire insurance recommended by the Tariff Advisory Committee, which sets the prices for non-life insurance products. The insurance companies are particularly peeved at the absence of the risk management concept in the revised tariff. The absence of this concept can have an impact on the premia income. Fire insurance contributes to 25 per cent of the industry’s income.
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IDBI Bank plans factoring service
Mumbai: IDBI Bank is entering factoring services for companies. IDBI Bank’s managing director Deepak Mukherjee says the bank is ready to enter the business and is examining certain legal aspects now.
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Citibank has two web-based products
Mumbai: Citibank has introduced two Internet-enabled banking solutions in India called SpeedCollect 2000 and CitiCommerce. While SpeedCollect is an extension of the bank’s cash management product, which can now be accessed through an Internet browser, CitiCommerce is an e-commerce solution for managing dealership networks by large companies.

SpeedCollect 2000 allows Citibank customers to view and download account statements and cash management reports from the bank’s central operations centre in Mumbai. CitiCommerce provides customers with a single window interface with their entire distribution network.
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