IndusInd to launch debit cum credit card
Bangalore: IndusInd Bank is merging the debit and the credit cards under the newly announced, "International Mahila Card."

The International Mahila (women's) Card launched under the Visa franchise allows for the use of the card both as a debit and credit card, with each card carrying a credit limit of Rs25,000 with an interest of 14 per cent on a reducing basis which is far less than the 30 per cent interest charged by most banks and even the lower 20 per cent rate charged by Standard Chartered's Manhattan Card.

The bank is looking at issuing one lakh cards over the next one year.

IndusInd Bank is aggressively moving ahead into retail banking and currently accounts for 30 per cent of its business and is expected to touch 50 per cent over the next few years.

IndusInd is the second largest player in the vehicle finance business. Its area of focus includes financing construction equipment, truck and two-wheeler financing.
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BNP Paribas to launch NBFC soon
BNP Paribas plans to launch a non-banking finance company (NBFC) in the second quarter of 2005 for providing discretionary portfolio management services to its high networth individual (HNI) clients.

BNP is taking the NBFC route because banks are not allowed to provide discretionary portfolio management services.

The French bank has about Rs4,500 crore of assets of HNI customers under its advisory management, but is unable to meet customer demand for active management of portfolios.

The bank has appointed a consultant for getting all the necessary regulatory clearances for setting up the NBFC expected to be up and functional in the second quarter of 2005.

BNP Paribas in India entertains individuals with $1 million of investible assets for offering its private banking services. As at end-2003, India had 62,000 people with investible assets of $1 million and more.
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BoR looks to offload equity
Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) is looking for buyers to pick up 5 per cent equity stake at Rs85 to Rs 90 per share.

Recently, BOR had made a presentation to SocGen, which had shown interest in picking up a stake in the bank. However, till now BOR has not received any word from SocGen.

The bank now says it will wait to hear from SocGen till March 31 and if it doesn't respond, then it will approach some other bank.

It is said that SocGen wants a controlling stake in the bank though RBI guidelines do not permit a foreign bank to take over a domestic player.
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