Foreigners can hedge currency exposure in rupee: RBI

Mumbai: In a move that will facilitate greater trade transactions in the rupee, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed non-resident importers and exporters to hedge their currency exposure in the rupee through forward foreign exchange contracts. With exports and imports invoiced in rupees, non-resident importers and exporters can now hedge their currency risk with banks in India through their bankers having rupee vostro accounts in India, the RBI said in a statement. The contracts would be on a deliverable basis, the central bank said. Firms with...

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IDFC Private Equity invests Rs 150 crore in GVR Infra Projects

BANGALORE: IDFC Private Equity , one of India's largest risk capital investors has put in Rs 150 crore to acquire a minority equity stake in Chennai based GVR Infra Projects Limited. GVR will use the funding for its projects in engineering and contracting space that includes the roads sector. "We believe that the potential for growth in infrastructure is immense with lot more still to be achieved, " said GVR managing director K Ganga Prasad. Public infrastructure outlays will double over the next five years, to $1 trillion, with the private sector...

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Union Bank Q1 net down 23% to Rs 464 cr

Union Bank of India’s net profit fell 22.8 per cent for the first quarter ended June to Rs 464 crore, from Rs 501 crore in the year-ago period. Higher provisions for non-performing loans and restructured assets led to a lower net profit. Sensing a fall in the demand for credit from corporates due to the uncertain economic climate, the bank has scaled down its credit growth target to 19 per cent from the earlier estimate of 22 per cent for FY12. It has also reduced its deposit growth estimate to 17 per cent from 19 per cent for the current financial...

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Coming soon, new 50 paise, Rs 10 coins

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank on Friday said it will soon put into circulation new coins in five denominations, ranging from fifty paise to Rs 10. “The RBI will shortly put in circulation coins of the fifty paise, one rupee, two rupees, five rupees and ten rupees denominations,” the apex bank said in a statement. The fifty paise, Re 1 and Rs 2 coins would be of ferritic stainless steel containing iron and chromium, while the Rs 5 coins would be made of nickel brass with a varying composition of copper, zinc and nickel. The Rs 10 coins would be made...

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Axis Bank Q1 net up 27%

Axis Bank on Friday said its net profit for the quarter ended June 30 rose 27 per cent to Rs 942.3 crore from Rs 741.9 crore a year earlier. Higher fee income and lower provisions, owing to improving asset quality, aided the bank's earnings during the quarter. Net interest income, or the difference between interest income and interest expenditure, rose to Rs 1,724 crore—a 14 per cent rise compared to the net interest income in the year-ago period. The net interest margin declined by 43 basis points from a year earlier and 16 basis points sequentially...

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Allahabad Bank profit up 20%

Public sector lender, Allahabad Bank, on Friday reported a 20.45 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 418.13 crore in the first quarter of the present financial year, against Rs 347 .14 crore in the same period last year. Backed by higher yield on advances, the bank reported a net interest margin of 3.40 per cent in the last quarter, against 3.10 per cent in the same period last year. Source: Business Stand...

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Cabinet clears merger of SBICI and SBI

New Delhi: The government approved merger of State Bank of India Commercial and International Bank Ltd (SBICI) with its parent bank SBI. SBICI, with two branches, is a wholly owned subsidiary of State Bank of India (SBI) and functions as a private sector bank offering an array of financial products and services. "It's performance over the period of its existence has not been consistent. It has not paid any dividend since its inception...In the overall analysis, continuation of SBICI in its present form would not create a substantial organisation...

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YES Bank net profit up 38% at Rs 216 cr

YES Bank on Thursday said its net profit for the quarter ended June 30 rose 38 per cent to Rs 216.1 crore from Rs 156.4 crore a year ago. Higher interest income and lower provisions contributed to the bank’s earnings. The private sector bank, however, shrunk its balance sheet by 3.5 per cent sequentially because of a reduction in advances and deposits. Advances declined 3.7 per cent sequentially for the first time in 10 quarters. Deposits fell 5.1 per cent from a quarter ago. The size of the balance sheet, however, expanded 39 per cent from a year...

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Kotak Mahindra profit rises 27%

Backed by robust growth in net interest income, Kotak Mahindra Bank posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 416 crore for the quarter ended June, a rise of 27 per cent over the net profit of Rs 328 crore in the year-ago period. The bank's total consolidated income rose 16.3 per cent to Rs 2,709.6 crore from Rs 2,328.7 in the corresponding period of the previous financial year, while net interest income rose 22.2 per cent to Rs 920 crore. The good growth in net interest contributed to the bank's profit, said Executive Director Dipak Gupta. However,...

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Banks to increase share of education loans

MUMBAI: At a time when rising defaults from education loans is haunting Indian state-run lenders, the government has asked banks to increase share of such loans in total credit portfolio. Under pressure from the government, banks - that had turned reluctant to fund more students - have decided to revamp their education loan schemes by increasing the credit tenure and funding more than one person per family for loans up to 4 lakh. "The revised scheme is forwarded to the government. It will be more customer-friendly and cover large number of applicants,"...

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LIC Housing net in june quarter up 21%

With an improved yield on loans, LIC Housing Finance on Wednesday posted a 21 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 256 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, as against Rs 212 crore a year before. Total income for the reporting quarter ended June rose 40 per cent to Rs 1,418 crore, as against Rs 1,015 crore in April-June 2010, said chief executive officer V K Sharma. However, its margins were under pressure. The Net Interest Margins (NIM) for Q1 dipped to 2.78 per cent from 3.01 per cent a year before. With improvement in the availability of...

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HSBC cuts link to expat's tax-evading net

Boston: Under the scrutiny of the US authorities for its tax-evading clients, financial services giant HSBC has said it will severe ties with hundreds of its wealthy American clients, including those of Indian-origin,who have accounts in offshore locations. In a letter sent earlier this month to US customers who have accounts with HSBC India, the bank said it is terminating "private banking services to US persons and certain trusts and non-operating companies connected to US persons," the Wall Street Journal reported. Customers have about a month...

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7% account holders in India use net banking: study

As many as 7% of account holders in the country are using the Internet for banking transactions, while branch banking has fallen by a full 15 percentage points, according to a report by global management consultancy McKinsey & Company. "Use of the Internet for banking has seen a massive rise in the 2010-11 survey, taking the overall number of bank consumers who use the Net to close 7% of the total bank account holders -- a seven-fold jump since 2007 -- even as for the first time in the past 13 years, branch banking has come down by a full 15...

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Kerala to crackdown on microfinance inst

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government plans a crackdown on private microfinance institutions in the state in view of complaints that some of them are exploiting the public by charging high rates of interest, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here today. A total of 43 cases had been registered against such institutions in different parts of the state, Chandy said in reply to a submission on the subject by V S Sunilkumar (CPI) in the assembly. Strict legal action would be taken against institutions and individuals who exploit the people and also...

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HDFC Bank Q1 net up 33.7 per cent

Mumbai: India's second largest private lender HDFC Bank today posted a 33.7 increase in net profit for the quarter ended June 30 to Rs 1,085 crore. The Mumbai-headquartered bank's net profit for the corresponding April-June period last year was Rs 811.71 crore. The bank's net interest income grew 18.6 per cent to Rs 2,848 crore while income from fees and commissions was up 15.9 per cent at 922.7 crore. It earned Rs 230 crore in foreign exchange revenues and weak bond markets saw the bank taking a Rs 41 crore hit on sale of investments. Executive...

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Stan Chart PE buys RJ Corp arm stake

New Delhi: Standard Chartered Private Equity on Tuesday said it has invested $56 million (about Rs 250 crore) in Ravi Jaipuria-promoted Varun Beverages International (VBIL), acquiring a “significant minority” stake in the bottling firm. “VBIL has concluded a $56 million private equity financing with Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE). The funds would be used to accelerate VBIL's growth in its beverages business in India and overseas,” a joint statement by both the firms said. VBIL, a part of RJ Corp, is the bottling and distribution partner...

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SC gives SKS Microfinance 2 wks to amend affidavit against AP Act

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today directed SKS Microfinance, which has challenged the special act passed by the Andhra Pradesh government to regulate micro-finance institutions in the state, to amend its affidavit. A bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice C K Prasad asked the SKS Microfinance to amend its affidavit within two weeks and the Andhra Pradesh government to file its reply. "SKS Microfinance is granted permission to amend affidavit within two weeks from today. Four weeks' time, thereafter, is allowed to file reply to the additional...

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HSBC, Barclays on a cost-cutting spree

Mumbai: In a departure from roaring growth and profit numbers posted last year, two leading British lenders in the country, HSBC and Barclays, are on a cost-cutting spree, involving some retrenchments as they realign their operations. While HSBC, which had recorded its best ever profit from its India operations last year, denied reports in a section of the media that it has asked as many as 150 people to pack up, Barclays India admitted that it has asked a few people to leave the organisation as part of its operational recast. When contacted a...

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IDBI to float infra debt fund

Public sector lender IDBI Bank will float an infrastructure debt fund (IDF) to accelerate the flow of long-term resources for projects in sectors such as power, ports and roads. It may use the mutual fund route to start it. R M Malla, chairman and managing director, said the bank had a definite interest in floating such a fund and the details were being worked on. He did not elaborate on size or details. Being an erstwhile development finance institution, IDBI Bank has expertise in project appraisal and monitoring of large projects. This helps...

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Arcil under stress from large lenders like SBI, ICICI Bank, PNB and IDBI Bank, says Reserve Bank of India

MUMBAI: Large Indian lenders SBI, ICICI Bank, PNB and IDBI Bank are acting as a 'pressure group' to influence the functioning of the country's largest stressed assets firm, Arcil, according to the Reserve Bank of India . The regulator's remark in the inspection report of Arcil puts a question mark on deals that banks cut with the asset reconstruction company to palm off their bad loans. The report has also pointed out a string of accounting and transaction irregularities in Arcil, whose main shareholders include SBI, ICICI Bank, PNB and IDBI Bank....

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