Global Trust Bank and UTI Bank merge to form largest private bank
Mumbai: Global Trust Bank and UTI Bank have decided to merge themselves into the largest private bank in the country. The new merged entity -UTI Global Bank will have largest of asset, deposit and profit in the private banking sector.

The merger will take effect through a stock swap deal, under which shareholders of both GTB and UTI Bank will be offered shares of the proposed UTI Global Bank, based on the swap ratio, that will be arrived after considering the financials of both the banks.
The new bank will be based in Hyderabad, currently the head office of GTB. UTI Global Bank will have a network of 157 branches and 321 automated teller machines. The combined net worth will stand at Rs 921 crore. Deposits of the new entity will stand at Rs 16,665 crore, while advances will work out to Rs 7,904 crore. The combined net profit going by the last year's balance sheet works out to Rs 921 core.

The two bank boards are meeting separately on January 27, 2000, to consider the merger proposal. . The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its approval for the merger.
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Chinese dry cell batteries face anti-dumping duty
New Delhi: The commerce ministry has recommended imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty on import of dry cell batteries originating from China. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties is also expected to announce anti-dumping duties on import of sports shoes from China later this week. The suo moto investigation into dumping of dry batteries coming from China has revealed that "dry cell batteries of Chinese origin have been exported to India below their normal value." The Directorate's report has added that Indian industry, "has suffered material injury and is being threatened with further injury which has been caused by dumped imports from China."

The authority has recommended that the anti-dumping duty should be the difference between $75.25 per 1,000 pieces of dry batteries and landed price of import per 1,000 pieces for all exporters/manufacturers from China. The report pointed out that substantial and steady increase in import of batteries from China at abysmally low value, which was not sufficient even to recover the cost of raw material of the domestic industry, has resulted in severe price undercutting.
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Bank of Punjab & Nova Scotia Bank in alliance
Mumbai: The Chandigarh-based Bank of Punjab (BoP) has announced an alliance with Bank of Nova Scotia, one of Canada's leading banks, to facilitate quick remittance from Canada for non-resident Indians (NRIs). Under the arrangement Bank of Nova Scotia, would by telegraphic Canadian dollar transfer, guarantees payment in rupees within 24-48 hours of receipt through by any BoP's branch in India.

To add to the convenience of the person transferring funds, he would have to only mention just the telephone number of the beneficiary along with other details and the rest is taken care of by the bank. Moreover, the bank's customers can use the bank's online internet banking facility to view all credits on remittances sent to their account.

BoP a new generation private sector bank has a network of 58 branches and 23 e-bank centers across the country. Currently, the aggregate business of the bank is over Rs 3,900 crore - with deposits of Rs 2,600 crore and advances of Rs 1,300 crore. It has a customer base of over 4,00,000. BoP has plans to add about 15 branches to its present network and to enlarge its ATM network this year from the existing 60 across the country.

BoP has also recently signed a MoU with Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil to install e-bank centers in the form of ATMs and allied services facilities at selected retail outlets. The bank has already launched Internet banking, `eAlert' services, mobile banking, any-where banking, tele- and fax banking.
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