SIDBI to launch Rs 300 cr VC fund for social ventures

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) plans to set up a venture capital fund with an initial corpus of Rs 300 crore dedicated for social ventures in the near future, a top bank official said today. "We are in the process of raising Rs 300 crore for funding social ventures through this fund," SIDBI Venture Capital CEO Ananta P Sarma said on the sidelines a seminar here. He said that fund raising was under process and was expected to be closed in next six months. This will be third fund by the venture capital firm focusing on micro...

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Banks, NBFCs allowed to sponsor infra debt funds

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFC) to sponsor infrastructure debt funds (IDF), which can be set up as mutual funds and NBFCs. The move follows Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s announcement in the 2011-12 budget of setting up of IDFs in order to accelerate and enhance the flow of long-term debt in infrastructure projects. Infrastructure debt funds which can be set up as NBFCs should have a minimum net-owned fund of Rs 300 crore and a capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent, the RBI said...

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Sebi notifies new takeover norms

Mumbai: Sebi today notified new takeover rule under which an entity buying 25 per cent stake in a listed firm will have to mandatorily make an open offer to buy an additional 26 per cent shares from public. The new norms mark an increase in the open offer size for public shareholders from 20 per cent currently. Also the trigger for making such an offer has been raised from 15 per cent under the existing regulations. "No acquirer shall acquire shares in a target company which taken together with shares or voting rights held by him... entitle them...

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SBI signs up as Experian Credit Bureau member

MUMBAI: The domestic arm of the Irish credit information service provider Experian on Friday said the State Bank of India has signed up as its member. Almost all the leading banks including SBI and financial institutions already subscribe to the credit data from other credit bureau called Cibil ( Credit Information Bureau of India), the first such organisation in the country. "The State Bank is the largest lender and the addition of its credit data will further increase the Experian's data coverage and enhance the effectiveness of our range of...

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Dena Bank launches 25-bps discount on home, auto loans till December 31

MUMBAI: On the heels of industry leaders launching special/discounted loans to tap festival sales, the mid-size state-run lender Dena Bank on Friday launched a loan mela of its own under which it offers a 25 basis points discount on new home and auto loans, besides halving the processing fee. The benefit under festival offer will be effective from October 1 to December 31, 2011, the bank said in a release. "Dena Bank has reduced the interest rates on new housing loans and car loans by 25 basis points on the card rate. To give further benefit...

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Financial transactions using debit cards overtook those using credit cards for the first time

NEW DELHI: Financial transactions using debit cards overtook those using credit cards for the first time in July this year, data released by the Reserve Bank of India has shown, signalling a crucial inflection point in the plastic money business. The month of July saw the volumes of debit card transactions not just exceed those using credit cards, but achieve a gap of a more than a million. In value terms, however, credit card transactions remain comfortably higher than those using debit cards, largely because credit cards are used for more high...

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Implement safety measures for card usage: RBI to banks

In order to minimise fraud cases and ensure security of transactions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today asked banks to implement various safety measures related to credit card and debit card usage over a period of next two years. The central bank directed banks to strengthen the existing payment infrastructure and future proofing system along with adoption of fraud risk management practices within a period of next 12-24 months, the RBI said in a notification. "The increased usage of credit/debit cards at various delivery channels also witnessed...

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Moody's cuts BofA and Citigroup ratings

New York: Three of the top US banks are likely to start paying more to borrow money. Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday lowered its debt ratings for Bank of America (BofA), Wells Fargo and also Indian expatriate Vikram Pandit-led Citigroup. The ratings agency said it has become less likely that the U.S. government would step in and prevent the three lenders from failing in a crisis. "The probability of government support for the banks is less now than during the financial crisis,'' said David Fanger, senior vice president at Moody's. The...

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State Bank of India doubles MTN programme size to $10 billion

MUMBAI: State Bank of India on Thursday said it has doubled its Medium Term Note (MTN) programme to USD 10 billion to fund overseas business. The (MTN) programme has been upsized from USD 5 billion to USD 10 billion, SBI informed the BSE. The offering circular (OC) under the said MTN Programme has been updated on September 19, 2011, with the audited financial data of the Bank as on March 31, 2011, and filed with the Singapore Exchange, it said. Meanwhile, SBI extended 25 basis point concessional home loan scheme till December. Under the scheme,...

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SBI offers discount of 25 bps on home loans

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, on Wednesday said it would offer a discount of 25 basis points (bps) to prospective floating home loan customers during the festive season. The move follows leading home loan players like ICICI Bank and HDFC launching fixed-cum-floating home loans to attract customers during the festive season. The 25-bps discount on home loan card rates is applicable to all amounts and is valid till December 31, according to the bank’s website. With this concession, the rate of interest on home loans up...

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Festive season sees loans grow faster than deposits

Loans grew faster than deposits during the fortnight ended September 9, indicating an increase in credit demand during the festive season. The growth in loans has been slow so far this financial year, owing to steep rate rises by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to recent data released by RBI, credit growth during the period was Rs 29,433.37 crore, a growth of 0.7 per cent over the previous fortnight. On a year-on-year basis, loans grew 20.4 per cent till September 9. On the other hand, deposits saw a growth of only Rs 12,935 crore,...

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26 co-operative banks go belly up in 2010-11

New Delhi: As many as 26 co-operative banks failed in 2010-11 which resulted in credit insurance companies paying over Rs 268 crore to depositors. 26 co-operative banks, which include 10 from Maharashtra, six from Gujarat and five from Karnataka, have failed to repay deposits to customers during the last fiscal. In 2009-10, 29 cooperative banks across the country had closed operations. Under the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), insurance norms, a maximum...

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DMICDC to be 'deemed company'; IL&FS,IDFC to exit

NEW DELHI: IL&FS and IDFC will completely exit from the DMIC Development Corporation, transferring their combined 51 per cent stake in favour of the government-owned financial firms, according to Industry Ministry sources. The DMICDC will now be treated as a 'deemed company' as the majority shareholding would now be with the government and state-owned financial and infrastructure institutions. Such companies are subject to audit by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). DMIC Development Corporation (DMICDC) is a special purpose vehicle for...

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ICICI Securities ties up with Oppenheimer to hawk domestic products in US

MUMBAI: ICICI Securities or I-Sec, the brokerage and investment arm of the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank, today sweded up an alliance with the US-based Oppenheimer's Asian arm to offer institutional broking and investment services. The alliance between the two companies would include a wide range of equity trading as well as debt instruments, corporate investment advisory, private equity transactions and wealth management, the company said here. Announcing the deal, I-Sec Managing Director and Chief Executive Anup Bagchi said, "this...

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BoI seeks Rs 4,000 cr from Centre

Bank of India (BoI) has sought capital infusion of Rs 4,000 crore from the government to fund its growth for the next two-three years. The government holds 65 per cent stake in Bank of India. “We need Rs 4,000 crore over the next two-three years. Thus, we have requested the government for funds, so that the capital adequacy ratio remains above nine per cent,” said a senior Bank of India official. As on June 30, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio was 11.6 per cent, with Tier -I capital at 8.02 per cent. The government had said it wanted to ensure...

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Vijaya Bank sheds Rs 2,000 cr of bulk deposit in Apr-Aug period

New Delhi: Bangalore-based public sector lender Vijaya Bank said it has retired around Rs 2,000 crore of bulk deposits in the first five months of the current fiscal to protect its net interest margin. "We have shed around Rs 2,000 crore of bulk deposits in the first five months to protect our margin. This is part of our conscious effort to see that cost is contained," Vijaya Bank Executive Director Subhalakshmi Panse said. We expect our net interest margin to be above 3 per cent during this fiscal, she added. Banks are increasingly facing cost...

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BoM may get Rs 800 cr capital infusion this fiscal

Pune-based public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra is hopeful of receiving Rs 800 crore from the government as part of the capital infusion plan in the current fiscal. "We have approached the government for additional capital infusion of Rs 800 crore. This is under process and we expect to get it before March, 2012," Bank of Maharashtra CMD AS Bhattacharya told PTI here. Post-capital infusion, the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the bank is likely to go up to 14% from the present level of 13.35%, he added. The Reserve Bank of India prescribes...

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Dhanlaxmi Bank raises base rate, BPLR

Private lender Dhanlaxmi Bank today hiked base rate, or the minimum lending rate, by 25 basis points to 11%, while loans under the older benchmark prime lending rate will be dearer by 50 bps at 20.75%. The south India-based bank is the first lender to make the move after RBI raised the key lending rate last week to tame inflation. "The hike in our base rate and BPLR follows the recent interest rate hike by RBI and reflects the tight monetary conditions," Dhanlaxmi Bank's chief financial officer Bipin Kalra said in a statement. The country's largest...

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BoM may raise base rate by 25 bps from Oct 1

Pune-based public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) is likely to hike its base rate by 25 basis points (bps) from October 1, following the latest policy rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week. "We will take a decision on September 25 in our asset-liability committee meeting and it's likely that the base rate will be increased by 25 basis points from October 1," Bank of Maharashtra Chairman and Managing Director AS Bhattacharya said on the sidelines of the bank's Foundation Day celebrations here. He said the bank had not increased...

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RBI Governor DS Subbarao has earned more critics than admirers for his bold decisions

MUMBAI: When career bureaucrat Duvvuri Subbarao took the wheel at Mint Street in September 2008 at a time the financial world was crumbling, the popular belief was New Delhi would get a firm handle on monetary policy. The Lehman Brothers collapse and the 'synchronised' handling of the crisis between the government and central bank strengthened the belief. Three years later and the next crisis possibly round the corner, the story is different. Subbarao has earned more critics in recent months for supposedly killing growth, but a few admirers too...

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Inflation effect: Equal number of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 currency notes to be printed for the first time

NEW DELHI: Rising prices are eating away the value of money, literally. The government is phasing out or printing fewer low-denomination currency notes, and printing more notes of higher denomination such as the 1,000 note. For the first time, India will print as many new Rs 1,000 denominated notes as Rs 500 ones in 2011-12. In value terms, this will be the first time Rs 1,000 notes will account for more money printed than Rs 500 notes, which were the mainstay of high-value cash transactions for some time. Thanks to inflation, the Rs 500 note...

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