SBI launches ‘Project Tatkal’

The country’s largest lender State Bank of India today launched an initiative to provide doorstep services and expedite home loan application process.The initiative known as ‘Project Tatkal’ will help get the loan within 10 days after receipt of application form and relevant supporting documents, the bank said in a release.“It will bring down the average time taken for delivery of home loan to within 10 days from the date of receipt of completed home loan application form and relevant supporting documents from the customer,” the release...

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DBS India posts Rs. 275 cr loss; awaits subsidiary licence

Singapore-based foreign lender DBS Bank posted a net loss of Rs. 275 crore in FY15 in its Indian business due to high provisioning towards bad loans to clean up of balance sheets. Last year, it made a net profit of Rs. 2 crore.DBS India is also awaiting RBI’s approval to get licence to open wholly-owned subsidiary in India. At present, the Singapore-based lender operates under the branch-based model. “Over the next couple of months, we will get more clarity (on RBI approval),” said Surojit Shome, CEO, DBS India.Shome, who joined the bank in...

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HDFC Bank unveils banking application for Apple Watch

HDFC Bank, the country’s second largest private sector bank, unveiled its banking application for Apple Watch that allows its customers to view their account summaries, block cards and recharge their mobile phones and DTH connections.The Apple Watch app will work when paired via Bluetooth with its mobile application on iPhone 5 and above versions. HDFC Bank said that it is developing a wearables application for the Android operating system by this year.Customers will be allowed about 10 kinds of transactions including account information...

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Govt working on package for PSU banks saddled with bad loans: Sinha

The Finance Ministry is working on a comprehensive package to help state-run banks, which are saddled with huge bad loans, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said on Wednesday.Rising bad loans at Indian banks over the past three years amid an economic slowdown has prevented banks from lending more, despite three interest rate cuts by the central bank this year totalling three-quarters of a percentage point.This has affected the Government's plan to spur a revival in credit to key sectors such as infrastructure.“We are working and trying...

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Kotak Mahindra Bank cuts base rate by 10 bps to 9.75%

Following most big banks, private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank reduced its base rate by 10 basis points (bps) to 9.75% p.a from 9.85% earlier.The revised rate will be effective from July 2, 2015.Base rate is the minimum lending rate below which banks do not lend to borrowers. One basis point is 0.01 percentage point.“All categories of loans (other than the exceptions permitted by RBI) will be priced with reference to the revised Base Rate,” the bank said in a statement.Following the RBI cut in June, most banks including State Bank...

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Mobile banking: SBI eyeing top spot in value terms

In the ongoing competition to retain existing customers as well as attract new ones with digital banking services, the country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, hopes to pip HDFC Bank to become the largest mobile banking player in value terms. At present, even as SBI has the highest volume of transactions on the mobile banking platform, in value terms, SBI remains at the third position but aims to reach the top.“This will happen before the end of this year. What has happened is that our corporate internet banking was not available on mobile....

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Court approves IDFC, IDFC Bank demerger

IDFC has informed the stock exchange that the Madras High Court has approved the Scheme of Arrangement (demerger) between IDFC and IDFC Bank.Earlier, the RBI had given its clearance to the scheme of arrangement proposed by the company.IDFC was one of the two applicants (the other being Bandhan Financial Services Pvt Ltd) that received in-principle approval last year to establish banks.The board of directors of IDFC, on October 30, 2014, gave its approval to demerge its financing undertaking into its wholly-owned subsidiary IDFC Bank (transferee...

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SBI partners with MakeMyTrip for travel biz

In its series of digital initiatives and tie-ups, State Bank of India, country’s largest bank, partnered with online travel company MakeMyTrip.com to capitalise on the business opportunities of the booming e-commerce and m-commerce ecosystem.The alliance includes partnership with personal banking unit for consumer facing propositions – including EMIs on purchase of holidays & international travel, customized travel products like Forex cards and travel products that inspire SBI customers to travel.It also includes partnership with SME &...

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Citibank lowers base rate by 15 basis points to 9.35%

After domestic banks, foreign lender Citibank reduced its base rate by 15 basis points to 9.35% with effect from 1 July, the bank said.One basis point is 0.01 percentage point.The cut was driven by falling interest rates reflected in lower deposit costs, the bank statement said.Citibank is the first large foreign bank to announce a base rate cut after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced its key policy rate or the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.25% on June 2.Following the RBI cut, domestic banks including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank,...

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Lakshmi Vilas Bank cuts base rate to 10.95%

Following all major banks, old private sector lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank reduced its base rate by 15 basis points (bps) to 10.95% p.a. from the earlier rate of 11.10% p.a.The revised rates will be effective from July, 01, 2015.“This move comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut the key policy rate or the repo rate by 25 basis points earlier this month. Base rate is the benchmark rate to which all lending rates are linked. The said reduction is applicable to the existing as well as future loans,” the Bank said in a statement.Rakesh Sharma,...

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ING Vysya, Kotak Bank merger to be completed in 6-9 months

The integration of ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank will be completed in the next six to nine months, according to Sumit Bali, Senior Executive Vice-President, Kotak Mahindra Bank.He was speaking to newspersons at a press conference to announce the launch of a special debit card with the theme of Amish's latest book Scion of Ikshavaku here on Tuesday.Following acquisition by Kotak Mahindra Bank, ING Vysya Bank got merged with the former from April 1, 2015."The first quarter results of FY 2016 will have the numbers for the combined entity,''...

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Axis Bank to launch differential interest rate on FDs

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank, becomes the first private bank to launch differential interest rate on fixed deposits, to give customers a higher rate of return on their fixed deposit investment as compared to regular fixed deposit rates.“The scheme ‘Fixed Deposit Plus’ is targeted at both Retail customers (Domestic & NRI) and corporate customers who seek safe avenues to invest surplus money at higher rates. The customers need to invest a minimum amount of Rs. 15 lakh at a single instance to enjoy a 10 bps higher rate...

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