United Bank of India opens 50 branches in Assam

United Bank of India has recently inaugurated 50 branches in Assam. The branches were inaugurated by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.UBI was also looking to add six more branches in the region to take its branch tally there to 250, Archana Bhargava, the Bank’s Chairperson and Managing Director, was quoted as saying in a press release. Its current branch strength in Assam stands at 244.According to her, the bank would open one more regional office at Tezpur in addition to the five existing ones at Guwahati, Nagaon, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh and Cachar.abhishek.l@thehindu.co.in...

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ICICI bank cuts home loan rates to 10.25%

ICICI Bank, India’s largest private lender reduced interest on home loans by 15 basis points at 10.25 per cent.The bank has introduced a 'special scheme' that will offer home loans up to Rs 75 lakh at 10.25 per cent rate. The rates for home loans above Rs 75 lakh will be at 10.50 per cent, an ICICI official said confirming the news.For existing ICICI bank customers, interest rates remain at 10.40 per cent for upto Rs 75 lakh and 10.65 per cent for loan above Rs 75 lakh.The offer will be available till January 31, 2014 with immediate effect.The...

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Govt ups stake in Corporation Bank

The Central Government has increased its stake in Corporation Bank to 63.33 per cent.The bank informed BSE on Friday that the Securities Allotment Committee of the board of the bank at its meeting on December 20 has allotted 1,46,27,486 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 297.64 a share to Government of India on a preferential basis.With this, the bank’s issued and subscribed capital has expanded to 16,75,41,877 equity shares, and Government’s holding in the lender moved up from 59.82 per cent to 63.33 per cent.The allotment was...

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Vijaya Bank bonds fully subscribed

Public sector lender Vijaya Bank’s Tier-II bond issue has been fully subscribed.The bank raised Rs 250 crore through private placement of bonds.The issue opened on December 17 and closed on December 20.Brickwork Rating had assigned a stable outlook (AA+) for the bank’s bond issue. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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E-lounge at Canara Bank

The first Canara Bank Pune Circle’s e-lounge was recently inaugurated by V.S. Krishna Kumar, Executive Director of the Bank, at Deccan Gymkhana. This is among 50 e-lounges across India, and many more will be opened shortly, he said.Observing that the Bank provides advanced technological facilities for its clientele, Krishna Kumar requested the customers to make best use of the technology products including online opening of SB accounts.The security guarded e-lounge is provided with Cash Deposit machine, Cash withdrawal machine, Cheque deposit...

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NHB tax-free bonds issue to open on Dec 30

National Housing Bank’s tax free bonds issue will open on December 30, R.V. Verma, Chairman & Managing Director, has said.The issue size including greenshoe option will be Rs 2,100 crore, Verma told Business Line adding that the formal prospectus is likely to be filed with SEBI on Monday.The coupon rates that will be offered for these tax-free bonds will be decided soon, Verma added.NHB has already mobilised Rs 900 crore through private placement of tax free bonds this fiscal.The proposed issue will be the first public issue of tax-free...

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Canara Bank to open New York branch

Canara Bank has received licence to open a branch in New York. According to R. K. Dubey, Chairman and Managing Director, Canara Bank, the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve has approved the proposal of the bank to open a branch. The bank, he said, could get the approval of US regulators in a record 20 months from date of filing the application. The bank is taking steps to hasten the process of opening the branch in New York and commence operations, he added. Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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Bank strike hits financial transactions in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh

Financial transactions came to a halt in banks in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh as employees of public sector banks went on a day-long strike to press for various demands including wage revision.Much to the inconvenience of harried customers, protesting bank employees under the banner of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) even locked some branches from outside here in UT Chandigarh and Punjab not to allow any banking transaction to take place.Due to strike, cheques worth several crore of rupees remained uncleared while transactions like cash...

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HDFC Bank seeks change in criteria for giving ranks in Punjab

Expressing displeasure over not being in Punjab government's top 10 banks list, private lender HDFC Bank sought tweaking in criteria for giving ranks to banks for alloting government business."The state (Punjab) government should bring competition among banks (for ranking purpose) which will help the state... we want those parameters which should encourage banks to focus on the state," HDFC Bank Branch Banking Head (North) Govind Pandey told reporters here.HDFC Bank, which has 400 branches in Punjab, will seek from state government consideraion...

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One-day strike criples banking operation

Banking operation was crippled on Wednesday as bank employees observed a one-day strike demanding early wage settlement and opposing banking sector reforms.The impact of the strike was more prominent in the eastern and southern sectors. ATMs remained closed in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.The bank unions called the strike after rejecting Indian Banks' Association's offer of a 5% salary hike and they would chalk out future plans on December 23 in Hyderabad to intensify pressure on the managements' body. The wage revision for government...

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Oriental Bank welcomes policy announcement

Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has hailed the RBI’s mid-quarter policy announcement on Wednesday, stating that keeping the policy rates unchanged was a “positive surprise’’.This public sector lender has no immediate plan to revise both the lending and deposit rates, S.L. Bansal, Chairman & Managing Director, OBC, told Business Line.“Our rates will be stable for sometime.’’Bansal pointed out that food and vegetable prices had nothing to do with monetary policy and it was from the perspective of core inflation (which is about 7 per cent)...

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RBI for removal of restrictions on gold import

Advocating removal of restriction on gold import as it encourages smuggling, Reserve Bank today said efforts should be made to maintain the present level of Current Account Deficit (CAD) without any significant curbs on inward shipments."I would be much happier if we had the kind of CAD we have without significant curbs on anything, including gold. We should aim to have a CAD without any distortions, removing the incentives for smuggling, that is what we will be working for,” he told a press conference here.CAD, which is the difference between...

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Kotak Bank rolls out financial inclusion plan for Amul workers

Mumbai-headquartered Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd on Tuesday rolled out a financial inclusion programme for 75 milk co-operatives of Amul in the Burdwan and Hooghly districts of West Bengal. The programme called ‘Kotak Samriddhi’, will help ensure farmers getting paid for their daily produce through direct transfer of money on the same day. At present, it takes three days for farmers to get paid for their produce.Amul is a brand owned by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.“Approximately, 8,000 farmers supplying milk to Amul through...

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PSU banks themselves responsible for NPAs, not government: FM P Chidambaram

Blaming "tardy" state-run banks for high level of non-performing assets, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said banks' boards and not the government should be held responsible for the situation."If the bank boards cannot perform their duty, blame should stop with the bank boards and not with the government," he said at a panel discussion at an event to commemorate NSE's 20th anniversary here.He acknowledged that the government has a nominee director in every public sector bank, but pointed out the roles of the independent directors, full-time...

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LIC Housing Finance will meet bank licence norms: Sunita Sharma, MD & CEO

LIC Housing Finance's first woman MD & CEO, Sunita Sharma, is confident of the company meeting all of Reserve Bank of India's criteria for a bank licence. According to Sharma, the company is prepared to transfer various businesses under a holding company as required by RBI.If successful in its bid, LICHF will convert into a bank and come under a holding company which will also own LICHFL Care Homes and LIC Financial Services — a distribution company. Both of these are at present subsidiaries of LICHF."LICHF is a separate private company...

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IOB to open 400 more branches this fiscal

Indian Overseas Bank is opening branches in Bangkok and Dubai. The bank Chairman and Managing Director M. Narendra told reporters here on Friday that the bank was in an expansion mode and had set itself the target of opening 400 more branches during the current financial year. At present, the bank has 3,059 branches. Financial inclusion “Our focus is on opening more rural branches and taking banking to villages. We have covered 3,000 villages under the financial inclusion scheme. There is a lot to be done on that count. Till now all the banks...

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RBI on course to issue new bank licences, says Rajan

The Reserve Bank of India will start issuing new banking licences from early next year.RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said the apex bank is ‘primarily on course’ to hand over the licences. “We are largely in line with our target date, may be a few weeks this way or that way. We hope to start handing out the licences by early next year,” Rajan told reporters here.He, however, did not peg on the number of licences that would be handed out. The decision to issue licences would be taken by a committee. “That will be based on what the committee recommends...

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RBI offers borrowing under MSF on Saturday

In anticipation of liquidity tightening due to outflows on account of advance tax, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to extend borrowing facility under the MSF window on Saturday.“As the liquidity conditions are expected to tighten on account of advance tax payments commencing from mid-December 2013, Reserve Bank has decided to offer funds to the Banks for two days through Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) on Saturday,” RBI said in a statement.The MSF window will remain open between 5.00 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. and the due date of repayment will...

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C.V.R. Rajendran appointed CMD of Andhra Bank

After being headless for more than three months, Andhra Bank has a new Chairman and Managing Director in C.V.R. Rajendran.Prior to this elevation, Rajendran was executive director at Bank of Maharashtra.Rajendran will be Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank for a period of five years or until superannuation, whichever is earlier. He is due to superannuate in April 2015.srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in Source: thehindubusinesslin...

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DHFL Vysya Housing eyes 30% growth in disbursements

DHFL Vysya Housing Finance Ltd (DVHF) is confident of achieving at least a 30 per cent increase in home loan disbursements this fiscal, its Managing Director R. Nambirajan has said.The company is targeting a disbursement level of about Rs 400 crore in the current fiscal, he told Business Line.Last year, the housing finance company, which is part owned by Dewan Housing Finance, had disbursed Rs 272 crore, recording a near 35 per cent jump on a year-on-year basis.Strong demandNambirajan said that there was strong demand for housing loans among...

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Banks may soon begin charging customers for ATM usage

Free withdrawals at ATMs may soon become a thing of the past. To make good the expenses incurred on beefing up security, banks are considering levying a charge on all ATM transactions, be it a cash withdrawal or a balance enquiry.With the police in various States insisting that ATM kiosks have security guards 24x7, CCTV cameras inside and outside the kiosks, and video footage to be preserved for at least six months, bankers say the costs will more than double.The security concerns have been triggered by the recent lethal attack on a woman customer...

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IRDA: HIV/AIDS patients to pay higher insurance premium

Persons suffering from HIV/AIDS or other pre-existing illness will have to pay higher premium for life insurance, regulator IRDA said.Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman T. S. Vijayan said insurance companies will provide life cover to persons with pre-existing illness, but the pricing will be based on commercial considerations.“The whole idea is the person may be having a disease, once the policy has started even if the person is having disease, he is not excluded. Obvious thing is pricing has to be different. That...

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