Srei gets RBI nod for 9,000 white label ATMs

Infrastructure financing company, Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd today said the Reserve Bank has given it approval for setting up 9,000 white-label ATMs in the next three years in the rural India.

"Srei has been permitted to set up 9,000 WLAs in the next three years in rural India," the company said in a statement.

Initially, a pilot roll out of 200 WLAs in Tier 3, Tier 4 and Tier 5 towns would be done in the next six to eight months before it was scaled up, it said.

Srei said it would leverage its over 27,000 IT-enabled Common Service Centres (CSCs) which were already in operation by village level entrepreneurs (VLEs) through Sahaj e-Village Limited.

These 27,000 CSCs in the six states of Assam, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal covered an approximate population of 280 million.

"This initiative provides scope to expand Srei's presence in the financial services sector across semi-urban and rural India in Tier 3 to Tier 6 locations as add-on to its current initiatives through Sahaj's foot-print under the GOI sponsored Common Service Centres," company's Group CEO, Liability and Treasury Management, J Moses Harding said in the statement.

Srei would be able to take financial products and services of the sponsor bank to the door step of the rural population.

These services will include cash deposit, financing, remittances and investment products, in addition to handling cash dispensation.

Srei's businesses include infrastructure project finance, advisory and development, infrastructure equipment finance, alternative investment funds, capital market and insurance broking.

"This initiative provides scope to expand Srei's presence in the financial services sector across semi-urban and rural India in Tier 3 to Tier 6 locations as add-on to its current initiatives through Sahaj's foot-print under the GOI sponsored Common Service Centres," company's Group CEO, Liability and Treasury Management, J Moses Harding said in the statement.

Srei would be able to take financial products and services of the sponsor bank to the door step of the rural population.

These services will include cash deposit, financing, remittances and investment products, in addition to handling cash dispensation.

Srei's businesses include infrastructure project finance, advisory and development, infrastructure equipment finance, alternative investment funds, capital market and insurance broking.



Source: Economic Times

Read more »

Axis bank launches 'Kisan Card'

Over a decade after the state-run banks launched Kisan Credit Cards, private sector lender Axis Bank introduced its own card which is aimed at helping farmers access liquidity round-the-clock.

The bank, the third largest from the private sector space in the country, launched the "Kisan Card" through which a farmer can withdraw up to Rs 1 lakh per day from automated teller machines ( ATMs), it said in a statement.

The card will be offered to agrarian customers on their cash credit crop loan accounts and will also help them reduce the interest burden as the interest payments start after drawal of the money, it said.

The bank's executive director and head of retail banking, R K Bammi, said at present 90-95 per cent of such customers come to the bank branch for transactions and the bank expects 30-40 per cent farmers to migrate to this alternate channel.


It can be noted that the Kisan Credit Cards scheme was introduced in August 1998 and since then, a host of banks, a majority of them in the state-run space, have launched such cards.

In the statement, Axis Bank claimed it is "first new generation private sector bank to launch an electronic Kisan Card on the RuPay platform."


Source: Economic Times

Read more »

SBI to conduct forensic audit on Dunar Foods

State Bank of India (SBI) has ordered a forensic audit of one of its borrowers which reportedly has a .`360-crore liability towards the bank and also happens to be a defaulter on the crisis-hit NSEL. One of the important terms of reference (ToR) of the audit is to examine whether funds borrowed from the bank were diverted and if so to establish the money trail.

The bank has appointed CA firm Chokshi & Chokshi, which earlier did a forensic audit of e-series bullion contracts on NSEL, to run a forensic audit of Dunar Foods, two persons aware of the development told ET. The terms of reference are to find out whether funds borrowed from SBI were transferred to related entities or elsewhere. A forensic audit is an examination of an entity's financial information for use as evidence in court.

For instance, Dunar Foods, known for its Dunar basmati brand of rice, raised some .`50 crore by way of trades on NSEL through PD Agroprocessors, the third-biggest defaulter on the spot bourse with a liability of around Rs640 crore. PD Agro traded on NSEL on behalf of Dunar Foods, Dulisons Foods and Dulisons Cereals. "The attempt is to ascertain whether funds worth Rs360 crore borrowed from SBI were diverted to related parties — like from Dunar Foods to Dulisons Foods or to invest in real estat ..

The forensic audit will involve examining the books of Dunar, its income tax records, signature testing of the top management, etc," said one of the persons cited earlier on anonimity


Source: Economic Times

Read more »