HDFC to raise Rs. 2,000 cr on pvt placement basis via bonds

Mortgage lender HDFC will raise Rs. 2,000 crore by issuing debt securities on private placement basis.The ‘7.55 per cent HDFC, 20 February 2019’ secured redeemable non-convertible debentures will be issued on a private placement basis, HDFC said in a regulatory filing.“The object of the issue is to augment the long-term resources of the Corporation. The proceeds of the present issue would be utilised for financing/refinancing the housing finance business requirements of the Corporation,” it said.The issue will open on December 20 and closes...

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AIBEA opposes CII's proposal on stake dilution in PSU banks

The All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) has opposed the recommendation of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to the Government to reduce its stake in public sector banks to 33 per cent over the next two-three years.CH Venkatachalam, AIBEA General Secretary, who was in Mangaluru on Monday, told BusinessLine that that some of the members of CII and other industry bodies are responsible for the bad loans in the banking sector.Terming this recommendation as preposterous, he said: “They (private corporates) take loan. They don’t...

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South Indian Bank rides the blockchain wave to complete overseas transactions

South Indian Bank has successfully executed overseas transactions using blockchain technology in partnership with a leading currency exchange house in West Asia.With this, SIB joins a niche group of banks in the global market to exchange and authenticate remittance transaction messages electronically on blockchain in real time. The pilot transaction was successfully executed by Forex transaction from UAE to India.The implementation of the blockchain technology in transaction platforms conforms to the bank’s strategy to embrace emerging and...

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Vijaya Bank to raise Rs.1,300 cr via bonds in FY18

Public sector lender Vijaya Bank said on Sunday that its board has approved raising Rs.1,300 crore via bonds in the current fiscal under the Basel III global capital adequacy norms.”...the board has accorded its approval for raising Rs.1,300 crore by way of additional tier 1 bonds under Basel III for the financial year 2017-18 (revised additional capital requirements amounting to Rs.1,000 crore in addition to Rs.300 crore already approved by the board),” the bank said in a BSE filing. Source : Economic Time...

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South Indian Bank raises Rs.490 cr via private placement

South Indian Bank has announced the successful fund raising of Rs.490 crore by way of private placement of Basel-III compliant Tier-2 bonds.Besides augmenting Tier-2 capital, this exercise would further strengthen the capital adequacy ratio or the capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) position of the bank to support the targeted business growth.The capital position of SIB as on September 30 was 11.74 per cent, which is well above the minimum required level of 10.25 per cent.VG Mathew, MD and CEO of South Indian Bank, said: “The infusion...

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Corp Bank launches RuPay credit cards

Corporation Bank has launched its RuPay Select and RuPay Platinum credit cards.A press release said here that Corporation Bank’s RuPay credit cards are accepted at all RuPay-enabled 1.5 million plus PoS terminals and 80,000 plus e-commerce merchants in India and all ICS Partner acceptance points (POS, e-commerce merchants) globally.Jai Kumar Garg, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Corporation Bank, unveiled the cards in Mangaluru on Saturday. Gopal Murli Bhagat, Executive Director of the bank, was present during the launch.Quoting...

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Double digit loan growth possible next year, says HDFC Bank

The banking sector has the potential to touch double-digit loan growth next year as there are signs of corporate demand picking up and other credit avenues stabilising, a top official of HDFC Bank has said.After clocking just under 10 per cent growth for almost a year, credit expansion fell to under 5 per cent starting November 2016. Since then it has been struggling to cross the double digit mark on sustained basis due to the impact of demonetisation and the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST)."The demand so far has been essentially...

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No easy capital for PSBs, stick to reforms: Banking secy

Exhorting state-owned lenders to go in for reforms, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar today said the banks are not going to get easy money as part of the Rs. 2.11-lakh crore recapitalisation plan of the government.Speaking to the media after the first ‘PSB Manthan’ here, he said the Rs. 1.35-lakh crore recapitalisation bonds will be front-loaded and the contours of the bonds are being decided at the level of the finance minister.The banks will also be getting nearly Rs. 18,000 crore under the Indradhanush plan.“Everything is linked to...

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Debit, credit cards, ATMs will be redundant in 4 years: Niti CEO

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant today said debit and credit cards as well as ATMs will be redundant in next three-four years and people will use their mobile phones for financial transactions.He further said that with India being a country where 72 per cent population is below 32 years of age, it will have an advantage over other regions like the US and Europe in terms of demographic dividend. “India will make credit cards, debit cards and ATMs technologically redundant in next 3-4 years and we all will be using mobiles for doing many transactions,”...

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Govt will pump more capital into public sector banks: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday that the government has decided to inject more capital into state-owned banks to strengthen the banking system and spur economic growth.Last month, the government had unveiled a Rs.2.11 lakh crore two-year roadmap to bolster public sector banks hit by non-performing assets (NPAs), which includes recapitalisation bonds, budgetary support and equity dilution.Addressing heads of state-owned banks at the ‘PSB Manthan’ here, Jaitley said the government has decided to put in more capital from the Budget,...

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RBI seeks fresh applications for CFO post

The Reserve Bank has sought fresh applications from eligible candidates for the post of Chief Financial Officer (CFO).This is the second time that the central bank has modified the original appointment notice issued in May this year.“In view of modifications in eligibility criteria for the above-mentioned post, it has now been decided to accept fresh applications from applicants who had applied earlier in response to our advertisement No 6 & 6A/2016-17 dated May 15, 2017 for the said post (CFO),” according to the latest public notice by...

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Not to pursue Islamic banking: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India has decided not to pursue a proposal for introduction of Islamic banking in the country. Replying to an RTI query, the central bank said the decision was taken after considering “the wider and equal opportunities” available to all citizens to access banking and financial services.Islamic or Sharia banking is a finance system based on the principles of not charging interest, which is prohibited under Islam. The issue of introduction of Islamic banking in India was examined by the RBI and the government of India, it...

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Mumbai to host Asian Bankers Association summit

For the first time, the nation’s financial capital will host the 34th annual conference of the Asian Bankers Association (ABA) this week.The two-day conference will be held in the megapolis from November 16 and will be hosted by State Bank, with the theme of ‘Asia’s turn to transform’, SBI said.The event is expected to see the presence of over 160 domestic as well as international bankers and Reserve Bank deputy governor Viral V Acharya will deliver the special opening address on the second day, a SBI spokesperson told PTI.Founded in 1981,...

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Yes Bank savings account interest rates cut; turns 5th lender to do so

Mid-sized private lender Yes Bank on Wednesday became the fifth bank to reduce interest rates on savings accounts. With effect from September 1, savings accounts with balances under Rs 1 lakh at the bank will now earn 5%, against 6% so far. Accounts with balances of Rs 1 crore and above will earn 6.25%, compared with 6.5% earlier. In the last two weeks, State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Axis Bank have all reduced interest rates on savings accounts by 50 basis points (bps) to 3.5%. While the cut at SBI applies to accounts with...

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Bank unions firm on strike as talks with IBA fail

Talks between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the unions held in Mumbai on Wednesday, to avert a nationwide strike on August 22, have failed.DT Franco of the All-India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) and CH Venkatachalam of the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said the IBA insisted that it was for the government to make a decision on most of the unions’ demands.But they were appreciative of the fact that, for the first time, the IBA took the initiative to call the unions for talks. The unions will now meet with the...

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Jan Dhan accounts may be losing their momentum

Jan Dhan is probably the most aggressive scheme undertaken by any government for financial inclusion. Between December 2014 and December 2016, the number of accounts increased from 104 million to 262 million and further to 288 million by May 2017. However, the challenge is to get people to use these accounts and get into the banking habit, so that they could move up the ladder and use a credit facility or remittance or third-party product offered by banks. How successful has this scheme been?The thrust was on numbers to begin with and, hence,...

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Strike call: IBA invites bank unions for discussions post-noon

The Indian Banks' Association (IBA), which represents the management of banks, has said the all-India strike call given by the unions on August 22 is "totally unwarranted".S.K. Kakkar, Senior Advisor, Human Resources and Industrial Relations, IBA, made this observation in a communication to Sanjeev K Bandlish, convenor of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).'BEYOND IBA BRIEF'Kakkar acknowledged receipt of UFBU's letter to the Chairman, IBA, informing him of the decision of member unions - AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE,AIBOA, BEFI, INBEF, INBOC, NOBW...

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Muthoot Finance Q1 net up 30%

Muthoot Finance posted a 30 per cent increase in net profit at Rs.351 crore in the first quarter of FY18 against Rs.270 crore in the previous year.The company’s loan assets rose Rs.574 crore during the quarter. Its loan assets stood at Rs.27,852 crore as at end-June.The board has decided to acquire the remaining 11.73 per cent in Muthoot Homefin (India), which is held by other shareholders, at an aggregate price of Rs.38.72 crore. With this acquisition, MHIL will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Muthoot Finance.Further, the board has decided...

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HDFC Bank increasing its term financing exposure riding on demand

HDFC Bank, India’s most valuable private sector bank, is slowly increasing its term financing exposure riding on demand for financing from the road and power transmission sector as it seeks to diversify its balance sheet.Though working capital loans still dominate the bank’s corporate balance sheet, it is increasing looking at term loans especially refinancing opportunities, executive director Kaizad Bharucha said.“Though 80% to 85% of our loans were working capital loans, it was not as if we were averse to term financing. But as our balance...

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Axis Bank cuts interest rate on savings bank account

Private sector lender Axis Bank reduced interest rate on savings bank accounts by 50 basis points to 3.5 per cent for deposits up to Rs 50 lakh.However, the bank will continue to pay 4 per cent interest on deposits of above Rs 50 lakh.Axis Bank is the fourth lender to reduce the interest rate after market leader State Bank of India (SBI) begun the process of reducing interest rate on savings bank account."... the bank has revised the interest rate downward on Savings Account balance by 50 bps to 3.50 per cent per annum on balance of up to Rs...

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Punjab National Bank’s exposure to Videocon, Aban Offshore slips in June quarter

Punjab National Bank (PNB)’s exposure to Videocon Industries and Aban Offshore slipped in the June quarter, the country’s second-largest state-owned lender has told analysts and investors. According to two people aware of the development, PNB said in an analyst conference call that its Rs 770-crore exposure to Videocon and Rs 307-crore exposure to Aban have turned bad. On Wednesday, PNB reported a 12% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in its net profit to Rs 343 crore for the quarter ended June. Its gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio rose 113 basis...

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SBI plans to raise Rs 2,000 cr via Basel-III bonds

State Bank of India plans to raise Rs 2,000 crore by allotting Basel-III compliant bonds to various investors.“The committee of directors for capital raising accorded its approval today to allot 20,000 AT1 Basel-III compliant non-convertible, perpetual, subordinated bonds in the nature of debentures... aggregating Rs 2,000 crore to various investors,” SBI said in a regulatory filing on thursday.The country's largest lender said the bonds will carry a coupon rate of 8.15 per cent per annum with a call option after 5 years or the anniversary...

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Kotak Mahindra Bank retains SB a/c rates at 5-6%

“Borrowers matter, so do savers,” tweeted Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank, on Thursday even as his bank decided to keep its savings bank rate steady at 5-6 per cent.This decision comes despite the RBI paring the repo rate (the interest rate at which banks borrow funds from the central bank to overcome short-term liquidity mismatches) from 6.25 per cent to 6 per cent and State Bank of India reducing its savings bank (SB) rate to 3.50 per cent from 4 per cent on deposits up to Rs.1 crore.Kotak Mahindra...

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Cost of credit, NPA positioning restricting banks to cut MCLR: SBI

The SBI on Thursday said that though the Marginal Cost of Funds-based Lending Rate (MCLR) is expected to be in tandem with the policy rates, banks are hesitant to reduce it due to cost of credit and deposits and NPAs positioning.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday cut the key lending rates by 25 basis points (bps)."As far as the MCLR is concerned, it is a function of multiple components. It is intended that the MCLR is in tandem with policy rates," State Bank of India (SBI) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Dinesh Khara...

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'SIP' peaks on Google search, attracts investors from small cities

As stocks scale new highs and return from bank deposits dip, even regions that are not typically known as investor hubs are becoming more and more curious about 'Systematic Investment Plan' or SIP.The search for the keyword, 'Systematic Investment Plan' (SIP), using the Google search engine has peaked. Contrary to general perception, an overwhelming number of people in states like Jharkhand, Sikkim, and Haryana - where Assets Under Management (AUM) as a percentage of respective state domestic products (SDP) is low - are trying to find out more...

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A look at how laggards like Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Federal Bank and DCB Bank are scripting a turnaround

From the debris of the Indian banking industry, a small segment of lenders – the old private sector banks – is rising like phoenix with a promise of being profitable, but on a scale that they could afford.Correction of past mistakes, availability of technology off the shelf, entry of professional managers from large banks, and availability of capital for those with a promise are all helping many laggards of the past turn around.The transformation in some of these banks is not going unnoticed at the market place with investors cherry picking...

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Vijaya Bank MD gets Skoch award

Kishore Sansi, Managing Director and CEO of Vijaya Bank, has been conferred the ‘Personality of the Year’ award by Skoch Consultancy Services. The award is part of the ‘Skoch Banking and Financial Leadership’ series. Past recipients of the award include C Rangarajan, Dilip Parekh and Nandan Nilekani. Source : Thehindubusinesslin...

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Fee on IMPS transactions under Rs 1000 removed by SBI

State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday waived charges on all money transfers of less than Rs 1,000 made through the Immediate Payment System (IMPS) channel, in a bid “to promote small ticket size transactions”. Earlier, any IMPS transfer of up to Rs 1 lakh out of an SBI bank account would attract a charge of Rs 5, in addition to service tax. Those remitting amounts between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1 lakh will continue to shell out the charge of Rs 5. The charge on transactions of over Rs 1 lakh and less than Rs 2 lakh will also remain unchanged at Rs...

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Gross NPA divergence at Rs 6,816 crore by Mar 2016: IDBI Bank

Public lender IDBI Bank’s gross NPAs by the end of March 2016 were lower than the Reserve Bank’s estimate, with a divergence of Rs 6,816.60 crore, its annual report shows. As of March 31, 2016, the bank had reported gross non- performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans to the tune of Rs 24,875.07 crore, according to the bank’s annual report for 2016-17. The Reserve Bank (RBI) had put gross bad loans on the bank’s balancesheet at Rs 31,691.67 crore by 2016 March-end, which works out to a difference of Rs 6,816.60 crore.In case of net NPAs by this...

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Initiative for merger should come from banks: Former RBI Governor C Rangarajan

Former RBI Governor C Rangarajan today said bank merger should be need-based and the initiative should come from the lenders themselves."Initiative for merger should come from banks themselves and there must be felt a need for it. Therefore, the world over, the larger banks are coming into cooperation," he said.Recently, the State Bank Of India merged five associates with itself and the government is looking to consolidate few more with the objective of creating five global-sized lenders.Five associates and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank became...

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SBI launches INTOUCH, digital village initiatives in Nepal

The State Bank of India (SBI) has launched its flagship service INTOUCH in Nepal, an official spokesperson said here on Saturday. The sbiINTOUCH, inaugurated by SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, will offer customers products like Savings Bank, Saral Bachat Account and Combo Savings Account and the branch will have facilities like kiosks for account opening, debit card printing, and ATM. Bhattacharya, along with its subsidiary, Nepal State Bank Ltd (NSBL) also inaugurated the NSBL Digital Village, Jaharsing Pauwa, which would be the first...

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UCO Bank officers to strike work on July 15

The All India UCO Bank Officers’ Federation has called for a one-day all-India strike on July 15 to express its resentment on the unrest prevailing in the bank.Voicing his resentment to the unilateral and arbitrary actions resorted to by the UCO Bank management, the general secretary of the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) D Thomas Franco urged the management of the bank to intervene and resolve the issue.The arbitrary action of the management is causing large-scale discrimination against majority of the officers. The confederation...

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Axis Bank emerges the frontrunner to acquire FreeCharge

Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector lender, has emerged the frontrunner to acquire FreeCharge, the digital payments platform owned by troubled ecommerce marketplace Snapdeal, according to three people aware of the development.The payments unit has been seeking a buyer for several months now, even as its parent negotiates the terms for its own sale.Mumbai-headquartered Axis Bank is currently conducting due diligence on FreeCharge, according to the three sources cited above, who estimate that a potential deal could deliver a payout...

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IDFC-Shriram Group agree to finalise merger in 90 days

IDFC and the Shriram Group have agreed to finalise a merger of their financial services business in an attempt to create a financial supermarket with offerings from motorcycle credit to lending for multibillion-dollar power projects.IDFC Bank CEO Rajiv Lall called the proposed merger a "marriage made in heaven" while founder chairman Deepak Parekh said that IDFC gets "readymade branches" and "hope the marriage happens" and the deal goes through amid likely regulatory obstacles. The two have agreed to hold exclusive talks and finalise the merger...

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