Federal Bank’s gold loan access facility

Private sector lender Federal Bank has introduced a gold loan access facility for customers through the use of their debit card. The product ‘Easy Gold’ enables customers to withdraw or use loan amount through any ATM or at POS (point of sale) terminals. Level of finance goes up to 75 per cent of the market value of gold with an upper limit of Rs 75 lakh. An interest rate of 14.75 per cent will be charged on the amount utilised or withdrawn by the customer.The loan will be sanctioned for a period of up to 3 years, “The loan, which amounts to...

Read more »

RBI permits investment in Pakistan by India Inc

Reserve Bank permitted Indians to invest in Pakistan, a move which will help enhance bilateral trade and investment.The RBI notification comes on a day when Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna is visiting Pakistan aimed at strengthening bilateral relations."It has now been decided that the overseas direct investment by Indian parties in Pakistan shall henceforth be considered under the approval route," RBI said in a notification.The moves comes days after India allowed investment from Pakistan."Necessary amendments to the Foreign Exchange...

Read more »

Rs 4.51 crore tax evasion by Muthoot Precious Metals

Muthoot Precious Metals Corporation, a sister concern of Kochi-based Muthoot group, has evaded Rs 4.51 crore in central excise duty in manufacturing and selling of branded gold and silver coins during one-year period up to March this year."Muthoot Precious Metals Corporation manufactured branded gold and silver coins through job-worker VNM Jewel Crafts Ltd for their customers and sold through their branches located throughout India during March 1, 2011 to March 16, 2012 without payment of central excise duty violating notification ... and thereby...

Read more »

Festival bonanza: Corporation Bank hopes to disburse Rs 3,000-cr retail loans

With a keen focus on growing the retail loan portfolio, Corporation Bank has launched Grand Festival Bonanza.During the three-month period beginning September 1, the bank offers loans at ‘special rates’ for the retail segment, including housing and vehicle loans.At a press conference organised by the bank here on Friday, S. Pattabiraman, General Manager, said the target is to disburse at least Rs 3,000 crore under the scheme. The bank is in the process of teaming up with select builders and automotive dealers to facilitate this. This will also...

Read more »

SBI group requires Rs 1 lakh cr to meet Basel-III norms

The State Bank of India and its associates and subsidiaries will require around Rs 1 lakh crore of capital over the next five years to meet Basel III norms (in addition to retained earnings).Diwakar Gupta, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of SBI, told Business Line this was based on a 20 per cent growth rate, and a return on equity of between 18 and 20 per cent. He conceded that the estimate could vary since growth rates during the last year as well as current year are lower.The RBI estimates that Indian banks would need about...

Read more »

All isn't lost on eco, upside surprises in offing:Deutsche Bank

A Deutsche Bank report today said that all is not as bad as it is being made out to be about the country and that there can be some positive surprises in the offing, as the economy is still fundamentally strong andpro-growth measures are being rolled out. Noting that the consumer demand is still strong and the country still remains a relatively attractive destination for investors with the rising global turmoil, the report said, "There may be an undue concentration of pessimism, which may be ripe for some upside surprise, as the economy is...

Read more »

HDFC, Kotak Bank in Forbes' Asia Fab 50 list

HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank have pipped their Chinese peers in the Forbes Asia's 'Fab 50' list this year.HDFC Bank, the country's most valued bank with the largest market capitalisation, and Kotak Mahindra Bank are the only two banks from Asia in the list, and among the 11 companies from India in the 2012 edition of Forbes Asia's Fab 50, HDFC Bank said in a statement here.By the end of today's trade, HDFC Bank had a market value of Rs 1,39,246 crore, while Kotak Mahindra Bank which rose 0.7% today had a market capitalisation of Rs 42,827...

Read more »

Federal Bank opens branch in Thiruvananthapuram

Federal Bank has opened its 1011th branch at Poovar in the outskirts of the capital City. The new branch features an on-site ATM and locker facilities, a spokesman for the bank said here.Jameela Prakasam, Member of the Legislative Assembly representing the area, inaugurated the branch.Among those present on the occasion were Anto Marceline, president of Poovar panchayath. Sasidharan C. P., deputy general manager and zonal head of Federal Bank, presided over the function....

Read more »

Corp Bank to add 30 branches in Gujarat

Public sector Corporation Bank plans to increase the number of its branches in Gujarat to 115 this fiscal, from 85 in the previous fiscal year, , a senior official said here on Friday.Of the new 30 branches planned , 15 have already been opened, N. B. Kulasekaran, General Manager, told presspersons.The bank will also increase the number of its ATMs from the existing 82 to 242 .The bank is also expected to disburse Rs 6,000 crore nationwide under the grand festival bonanza scheme for purchase of houses and vehicles by individuals, and loans...

Read more »

NCR Corp to set up 50 ‘talking’ ATMs in passport offices

ATM major NCR Corporation India, which has a 47.5 per cent share in the country’s ATM business, will instal 50 ‘talking’ automated teller machines in various passport offices.The company recently set up India’s first talking ATM in Ahmedabad for the visually challenged as a Union Bank of India (UBI) initiative, Mr Jaivinder Gill, Managing Director, told Business Line. The bank has mandated NCR to set up 100 such “accessible ATMs”. Of these, 50 will be set up at the bank’s branches and the rest at passport offices.From a meagre 35 ATMs in 1991,...

Read more »

RBI wants banks to upgrade credit mgmt system to lower NPAs

There is an urgent need to beef up the credit management systems at banks as the lingering global economic turmoil and domestic growth concerns have increased downside risks to financial stability which is evident from rising bad assets, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor, Anand Sinha warned today.“Deteriorating asset quality of banks can be contained by substantially upgrading their credit management systems,” Sinha said in his address on the concluding day at the three—day Ficci—IBA banking summit here.Though Sinha was quick to add that the domestic...

Read more »

Milestone achievement for State Bank of Travancore, says MD

Hiving off the Office of the General Manager represents a milestone achievement in the growth and reach of State Bank of Travancore (SBT), says P. Nanda Kumaran, Managing Director.He said this while delivering the presidential address at the launch of the Network 1, the decentralised office of the General Manager, based outside of its headquarters here. Coming of age Coming after 67 years of its existence, this represented the coming of age of the bank coinciding as it did with the level of empowerment of the people of its home State.Nanda...

Read more »

Oriental Bank reduces home, vehicle loan interest rates

Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has reduced interest rates on home loans and vehicle loans by 25 basis points and 40 basis points respectively. Hundred basis points is equivalent to 1 percentage point. While home loans will now be available at 10.65 per cent, vehicle loans will be available at 11 per cent.For loyal customers, the existing 0.25 per cent concession will continue as announced earlier. Simply put, for loyal customers, the bank will provide home loans at an interest of 10.40 per cent.For vehicle loans, the interest rate for loyal...

Read more »

RBI cold to mobile wallet

Reserve Bank of India deputy governor H R Khan on Wednesday said mobile telephone operators cannot be permitted to provide a cash-out facility from virtual wallets to customers, as such an activity would amount to ‘bypass banking’. However, they could do so if they acted as a business correspondent (BC) to a bank, he added.Recently, Airtel had launched m-wallet services that enable a customer to make utility payments and transfer money from one user to another. By the norms, mobile transactions are permitted only if attached to a specific use,...

Read more »

ING Vysya's strong performance to continue

The strong performance of Karnataka-based ING Vysya Bank in the first quarter of FY13 is likely to continue through the rest of the fiscal. For its asset quality is good - due to the relatively low exposure to stressed sectors - loan growth is higher than average and CASA ratio and margins are stable.The bank's loan growth, which has been about 3-4 per cent higher than the industry average over the past two years, is expected to continue on similar lines. ING Vysya's exposure to troubled sectors such as state electricity boards (SEBs), infrastructure,...

Read more »

Axis Bank rolls out new home loan scheme with EMI waiver

Private sector lender Axis Bank has launched a new housing loan scheme that will waive off the last 12 equated monthly installments (EMIs) for borrowers who have been diligently repaying their loan.Termed Happy Ending Home Loan, the scheme will offer interest rates applicable under the floating loan option. The EMI waiver will be offered to all home loans that have an initial tenure of at least 20 years and cross their 15th year with the bank.In other words, if you decide to switch your lender or prepay your loan before the completion of this...

Read more »

HDFC Bank launches credit card for teachers

The country’s largest credit card issuer, HDFC Bank, today announced the launch of a credit card for teachers on the occasion of Teacher’s Day.The private sector bank said the card offers features such as multiple reward points, week-end bonanza points, petrol surcharge waiver and 500 teacher’s day special gift reward points that will get credited annually on Teacher's Day.According to a CSFB report, KPMG analysis, with a combined market size of more than 450 million students and a growth rate of 10-15 per cent expected over the next decade,...

Read more »

ICICI Bank to add Facebook as transaction platform

ICICI Bank will soon add another digital platform for dispensing its banking transaction services — Facebook.The country’s largest private sector lender was the first bank in India to use the social media site to provide services such as account enquiry and cheque book request.Now it is preparing to take this initiative one step forward by offering transaction services to its Facebook customers. This is part of its efforts to provide its customers next gen banking solutions in line with its Khayaal Aapka (your care) philosophy.Mukesh...

Read more »

SBI cuts deposit rates by up to 100 bps

State Bank of India has slashed domestic term deposit rates by up to 100 basis points.This is the fifth time in the last six months that the bank has cut deposit rates. The revised rates come into effect from Friday. SBI has, however, left its base rate at 10 per cent. Base rate is the benchmark lending rate below which no bank can lend.Explaining the rationale for the deposit rate cut, SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said “From April 1 till August 31, our deposits have grown by about Rs 78,000 crore while our loans have grown only by about Rs...

Read more »

Axis Bank to expand retail loan share by 25% in 3 yrs

Axis Bank, the country’s third largest private sector lender, plans to take the share of retail credit in its overall loan book from the current 24 per cent to 30 per cent in the next 2-3 years.“On the retail asset side, we have a very strong growth in housing and auto segments. In both these segments, Axis Bank has been growing higher than the national average,” said R K Bammi, executive director (retail banking), Axis Bank.Banks were betting on retail loan segment to drive credit growth following one per cent cut in Statutory Liquidity Ratio...

Read more »

Karnataka Bank tier-II bonds get ‘CARE A’ rating

CARE Ratings (Care Analysis & Research Ltd) has assigned ‘CARE A’ to Karnataka Bank’s lower tier-II bonds.The bank informed the NSE on Tuesday that CARE Ratings has revised the rating from ‘CARE A+’ (single A plus) to ‘CARE A’ (single A) for lower tier-II bonds of the bank for an outstanding amount of Rs 350 crore.Instruments with this rating are considered to have adequate degree of safety regarding timely servicing of debt instruments. Such instruments carry low credit risk, it said.vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in...

Read more »

Dena Bank cuts interest rates on retail loans

Public sector lender Dena Bank has reduced the interest rates on retail loans in the education, car and personal loan segment.The interest rate on education loans has been reduced by 2 per cent to 12 per cent (from 14 per cent), while in the car loan segment, the rates have been cut by 1-1.50 per cent to 11-12 per cent (fixed) from 12.5-13 per cent.The interest on personal and consumer durables loans is reduced to 14 per cent (fixed). The interest on personal loans has been cut by 2 per cent (from 16 per cent), while the rate on consumer durables...

Read more »

SIB’s Anna Nagar branch inaugurated

South Indian Bank’s Anna Nagar branch in Chennai was renovated and inaugurated on September 1.K.S. Munirathnam, Founder Chairman, RMK Group of Institutions, inaugurated the branch, while renowned music composer V. Shareth inaugurated the ATM.The bank has put up an additional vault for safe deposit lockers, as the demand for vaults is high in the area, an SIB release said....

Read more »

Allahabad Bank lowers interest rates on retail loans

Allahabad Bank has lowered interest rates and slashed the processing fee on retail loans as a part of its festival scheme.Under the scheme, the bank would offer up to two per cent discount on interest rate on its housing loans and loans for house furnishing.The bank has also announced up to 25 basis points rebate in interest rate on AllBank Dream Car.According to a press statement, the bank has offered up to 100 per cent rebate in the applicable processing fee on AllBank Commercial Vehicle Finance scheme.It has further announced a rebate of...

Read more »

Indian Bank cuts home, car loan rates by up to 50 bps

State-owned Indian Bank has reduced interest rates on home and car loans by up to 0.5 per cent to increase disbursements in these segments. The Chennai-based bank tweaked interest rates of retail loans soon after Finance Minister P Chidambaram advised banks to keep EMIs at affordable level. “We have recently reduced interest rate on home and vehicle loans with an aim to increase credit disbursement in these segments” Indian Bank Chairman and Managing Director T M Bhasin said here today. In the housing loan segment, rate has been reduced...

Read more »

Government can dilute stake to help PSBs meet Basel-III norms: RBI

Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao suggested that the government should consider bringing its stake down to 51 per cent in the 21 state-run banks to help them meet Basel-III requirements.The government holds more than 60 per cent stake in some public sector banks such as State Bank of India, Central Bank of India, and Indian Bank.“If the Government opts to maintain its shareholding at the current level, the burden of recapitalisation will be of the order of Rs 90,000 crore; on the other hand, if it decides to reduce shareholding in...

Read more »

Karnataka banks register 41% rise in NPAs

The combined non-performing assets of banks in Karnataka have increased 41 per cent to 7.86 lakh accounts.According to State Level Bankers’ Committee-Karnataka data, as on June 2012, there were 7.86 lakh NPA accounts, involving Rs 15,473 crore compared with the same period last year’s 5.54 lakh accounts involving Rs 10,177 crore. Farm sector As for the farm sector NPAs, there were 3.31 lakh accounts, with total exposure of Rs 3,757 crore constituting 6.63 per cent of advances to agriculture. Last year, there were 2.13 accounts, involving...

Read more »

IRDA allows PNB to pick up 30% stake in MetLife India

The PNB-MetLife deal moved a step forward to being operationalised with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority giving its nod for induction of the bank as a shareholder in the private life insurer.This approval, which came at an IRDA board meeting on August 31, will pave the way for PNB to acquire a 30 per cent stake in MetLife India Insurance.IRDA nod for the induction of PNB as a shareholder came a little over a year after the public sector lender had announced plans to pick up 30 per cent stake in MetLife India Insurance for...

Read more »

Union KBC launches Capital Protection Oriented Fund-Series 1

Union KBC Asset Management Company (Union KBC), a subsidiary of Union Bank of India, today launched Capital Protection Oriented Fund - Series 1.The New Fund Offer will remain open till September 17, the Union KBC said in a release issued here."We have equities, an asset class that has historically outperformed debt and cash, and beaten inflation over a medium to long term period, appearing to be relatively attractively priced. However, we also have investors that are nervous to invest because of the recent history of market volatility. This...

Read more »

RBI asks banks to issue cheques with uniform features by September 30

The Reserve Bank today directed all banks to issue cheques with uniform features conforming to Cheque Truncation System (CTS) 2010 standard by end of this month. The homogeneity in security features act as deterrent against frauds, and the fixed field placement specifications facilitate straight-through-processing at drawee banks' end through the use of optical or image character recognition technology, RBI said in a notification. Adherence to CTS-2010 standards has inherent advantages as the security features in cheque forms help the presenting...

Read more »