RBI may have to buy dollar to keep rupee on leash

Just a few months ago, the Reserve Bank of India had to sell record amounts of dollars to prevent the collapse of the rupee as global investors fled the market because of a deteriorating economy and talk of the US Federal Reserve scaling back its stimulus programme, among other reasons.But the central bank may soon start having to buy the US currency to prevent the rupee from strengthening to a point where it starts hurting the economy. It may also buy from currently copious inflows to create a foreign exchange reserve buffer that would be...

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ICICI launches portable POS; patrons at hotels to benefit

In order to do away with inconvenience around entering secret PIN number for card transactions in hotels, a point-of-sale operator backed by the country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank today said it has launched a portable machine.ICICI Merchant Services, an alliance between ICICI Bank and electronic commerce and payment services company First Data, plans to replace 25,000 machines located in the hospitality sector enterprises with the portable hand-held machines, it said in a statement.It can be noted that starting December 1 last...

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All-woman bank plans to open 55 more branches next fiscal

Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), the first all-woman bank and a new entrant in the sector, has embarked on a mission to open 55 additional branches pan-India by the next financial year, a senior official said."We are going to touch a mark of 25 branches by end of this financial year, while for the ensuing FY, the target is to have 55 additional branches in the two-tier and unbanked cities," BMB's Chairperson and Managing Director Usha Ananthasubramanian told reporters here.She was here to inaugurate the 14th branch of the bank. Prime Minister Manmohan...

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Muthoot Fincorp to offer gold loans at lower rate to women

Gold lender Muthoot Fincorp said it will be offering a two percentage point discount to women borrowers for loans under Rs 50,000 for a limited period in view of International Women’s Day.Women will be able to borrow at 12 per cent for loans up to a tenor of 1 year under Rs 50,000, it said in a statement.A company spokesperson added that it otherwise charges a rate of 14 per cent for loans under Rs 50,000, which can go up to 22 per cent for loans above Rs 3 lakh.The current scheme is available only till March 15 across the company’s 3,829 branches,...

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