SBI to launch four SME processing units

State Bank of India, Bengal Circle, plans to set up four small and medium enterprises (SME) processing units across the State in the next six months. The circle currently has one SME processing unit in Kolkata. These processing units would help in speedy disbursals of SME loans and would aid in building up the bank's SME loan book in the region, Mr Sureinder Kumar, Chief General Manager, SBI Bengal Circle, said. “SBI Bengal Circle's exposure to SME loans has been increasing over the last two years. The total outstanding currently stands at about...

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Exim Bank plans $500m MSME fund

Export-Import Bank of India is planning to set up a $500-million fund to assist export-oriented micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) with long-term foreign currency loans. The development financial institution (DFI) will put together the corpus of the ‘Technology & Innovation Enhancement and Infrastructure Development' Fund on its own and lend to MSMEs over the next five years. Exim Bank will work in collaboration with other commercial banks/ financial institutions to reach out to a large number of MSMEs to build capacities in the area...

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ICICI Bank logs 25% rise in consolidated net

ICICI Bank has reported a 25 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 7,643 crore in FY12, against Rs 6,093 crore in FY11. The consolidated net profit, among others, includes financial performance of subsidiaries such as ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, ICICI Bank UK, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, ICICI Home Finance, and ICICI Securities Limited. Ms Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank, said some of the subsidiaries, such as ICICI Bank UK and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, have declared maiden dividends. In FY12, the bank received...

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Axis Bank to divest 25% stake in AMC to Schroder; reports 25% jump in Q4 net

Axis Bank will induct Schroder Singapore Holdings Pvt Ltd as a 25 per cent shareholder in its wholly-owned subsidiary Axis Asset Management Company Ltd. The Bank's board approved a proposal to this effect on Friday. The induction of Schroder Singapore Holdings Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Schroder Plc, is subject to regulatory approvals. Axis AMC had average assets under management of Rs 8,800 crore in the January-March 2012 period. Axis Bank has reported a 25 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 1,277 crore in the January-March 2012...

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LIC to sell stakes in good time

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the largest institutional investor in the country, is not in a hurry to bring down its holdings in unlisted companies to align with the 10 per cent equity exposure cap mandated by the insurance regulator. According to highly placed sources in LIC, the insurance behemoth has already made its stance clear with the government and the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (Irda), citing the practical hindrances involved. The largest life insurer in the country has also requested the regulator...

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S&P cuts rating outlook of SBI, ICICI, HDFC Bank

India's top 10 banks, including the SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank suffered a collateral damage following the Standard and Poor's lowering the country's sovereign rating outlook. The global agency downgraded the rating outlook of these banks, stating the move reflects "the outlook on the sovereign credit rating on India". While it is only the outlook which has been lowered at the moment, the S&P warned that the banks' ratings can also be revised downward if similar steps are taken for sovereign rating. Other lenders included in the latest rating...

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Muthoot Finance eyeing 15-25% growth this fiscal

Muthoot Finance, which grew over 100 per cent two years ago, looks at a slower growth this fiscal. “This year is one of consolidation, both for growth of assets under management and branch expansion,” Mr George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director, Muthoot Finance, told Business Line. The NBFC is looking at 15-25 per cent growth in 2012-13. In 2010-11, its AUM grew over 100 per cent to Rs 15,000 crore, while in 2011-12 it grew about 50 per cent to Rs 24,000 crore. “The lesser growth is also due to our base growing over the years,” he said. The...

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PSU banks invite bids for ATM units

Public sector banks have called for bids to install 5,259 cash dispensers (ATM) in Bihar and Jharkhand by March 31, 2014. This is 30 per cent more than the estimated 4,039 ATMs announced in the first week of March. And if the 50 per cent additional requirement is factored in, the final ATM units figure would be 7,889. Going by the original estimate, this is 95 per cent higher. Though Bank of Baroda has called for the bids on an outsourced basis, it had made it clear that the requirement is for all PSU and co-operative banks. The main banks in the...

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Federal Bank cuts base rate by 20 bps

Kerala-based Federal Bank today cut its base rate or the minimum lending rate by 0.20 per cent to 10.45 per cent following last week’s RBI reduction in the key policy rate. The bank action will be applicable from May 2, it said in a statement. The Reserve Bank had surprised all by slashing the repo rate at which it lends to the banks by 0.50 per cent to 8 per cent at its annual monetary policy announcement on April 17. Reacting to the move, all the bankers had said this will lead to lower rates but some opined that the deposit rates will go down...

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Punjab & Sind Bank to hire 1,700 officers, clerks

Punjab and Sind Bank has notified the recruitment of 900 probationary officers and 800 clerks. Candidates, who had taken the common written examination for probationary officers and clerical cadre vacancies conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection in 2011 and obtained a valid score card, are eligible to apply. Clerical recruitment is earmarked for single window operators ‘A’ category of posts. Online registration for applying commenced on April 24 and will continue up to May 5, the bank said in a notification....

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LIC Housing Fin net drops 19% as interest cost soars

LIC Housing Finance has reported a 19 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 254 crore in the January-March 2012 period against Rs 315 crore in the corresponding year-ago period. In the full year ending March 31, 2012, the housing finance company reported a 6 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 914 crore (Rs 974 crore in FY11). The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 3.60 per equity share of Rs 2 each subject to approval at the forthcoming annual general meeting. In the reporting quarter, the profit was impacted mainly due to a 44 per cent jump in...

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YES Bank Q4 profit jumps 34% on strong net interest income

YES Bank reported a 34 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 272 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2012, against Rs 203 crore in the corresponding year-ago period. A robust 43 per cent growth in non-interest income at Rs 266 crore (Rs 187 crore in Q4 FY11) coupled with a 29 per cent increase in net interest income (NII) at Rs 448 crore (Rs 348.5 crore) boosted the bank's profit. Net profit for the year ended March 31, 2012, also rose by 34 per cent to Rs 977 crore (Rs 727 crore). Net interest income grew 30 per cent at to Rs 1,616 crore...

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Allahabad Bank to open four branches overseas

Allahabad bank has approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for opening four overseas branches. At present, the bank has one overseas branch and representative office. Mr J. P. Dua, Chairman and Managing Director, Allahabad Bank, said: “We have approached the regulator for opening overseas branch each in Dhakha, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong. With this Hong Kong will have two branches.” The bank has a representative office in China. The bank is celebrating 148 years of its existence. The oldest joint stock bank of the country aims to maintain...

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Union Bank cuts base rate by 15 bps

Union Bank of India has reduced its base rate by 15 basis points from 10.65 per cent to 10.5 per cent, according to a release filed with the Bombay Stock Exchange. The revised rate is effective May 1, 2012, the release said. With this reduction, the base rate has been effectively brought down by 25 bps in two stages: 10 bps from December 26, 2011 and 15 bps from May 1, 2012. Deposit ratesThe bank has also realigned deposit rates across maturities. While in the longer end, the deposit rates have been brought down by 25 to 45 bps; at the shorter...

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Interest income boosts ING Vysya Bank net 39.5% in Q4

Higher net interest income boosted ING Vysya Bank's net profit by 39.5 per cent to Rs 127.4 crore during the fourth quarter of the last fiscal (2011-12). The net interest income grew 19 per cent while operating profit rose 54 per cent during the quarter. “It's an all-round performance, and our core income has grown in line with the balance-sheet. We could hold our cost growth well, which is the primary driver of improvement in profitability,” said Mr Jayant Mehrotra, Chief Financial Officer, ING Vysya Bank. The bank made higher provisioning this...

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SBI rate cut may trigger war in car loan segment

The country's largest bank, State Bank of India, has slashed auto loan rates and deposit rates while many others including Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda and Deutsche Bank have cut their benchmark base rates. SBI has reduced its auto loan rate by 75 basis points to 11.25%. The move will force other big lenders in the auto finance business like HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank to cut rates. SBI's rate cut will enable borrowers save Rs 40 on every lakh. The equated monthly instalment on a Rs 1 lakh seven-year loan has come down from Rs 1,765...

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Allahabad Bank, Uco, UBI cut lending rates

Three Kolkata-based lenders have reduced their respective base rates following a government order after Reserve Bank of India lowered its short term policy rate by 50 basis points. Allahabad Bank and Uco Bank has announced to cut the base rate by 25 basis to 10.50% while United Bank of India has lowered it by 15 bps to 10.45%. Base rate is the minimum lending rate for banks and one percentage point is equal to 100 bps. The new rates for Allahabad and Uco Bank will come into effect from May 1 while UBI's new rates becomes effective from Monday. Uco...

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HDFC Bank, Wells Fargo tie up for fund transfer facility

HDFC Bank has entered into a tie-up with Wells Fargo to enable US-based NRIs to remit funds online or through phone to their beneficiaries in India. To avail of the remittance facility, all that a US-based customer needs to do is conduct his first transaction at a Wells Fargo branch. Subsequent transactions can be conducted through Wells Fargo.com, or via Wells Fargo Phone Bank. Funds are sent to HDFC Bank quickly for credit. “Our Web-based service reach will allow people to send money back home safely and quickly,” Mr Harish Engineer, Executive...

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SBI to hire 2,500 officers soon

State Bank of India will recruit about 2,500 probationary officers soon. "The total recruitment for this year could be around 12,000 officers and clerks including a couple of thousand or a little higher number of officers,’’ Mr A. Krishna Kumar, Managing Director, SBI, told. Last month, State Bank of India had notified recruitment of 8,500 clerks and 1,000 stenographers. State Bank of India plans to add 1,000 branches in the current financial year to take the total number of branches to 15,000 by March 2013. The bank would need staff to man these...

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Sebi mulls safeguards against 'flash crash' menace

Market regulator Sebi is looking to strengthen the risk management framework of Indian stock market to ring-fence it against a 'flash crash' like scenario -- where value of a stock or index get severely beaten within seconds due to a punching error or even a manipulative trade. The Indian markets have witnessed at least three cases in the past few days when the value of a stock or index plunged sharply within a few seconds. Although top officials at Sebi and stock exchanges are not willing to call them 'flash crash' cases, as a recovery was quite...

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RBI's big rate cut won't spur housing market

Prospective home buyers in India are unlikely to even blink, let alone give a thought, to hinging their purchase decision on the 50 basis points (bps) rate cut announced by the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday. The cut translates to a 3.2% decrease in a homebuyer's equated monthly installment (EMI), which isn't motivation enough to turn people from squirrels to squanderers. Besides, the rate easing comes after a 375 bps increase between March, 2010 and October, 2011. If that kind of a rise did not deter those who wanted to build their own nests...

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