India to seek aid from World Bank, ADB to rebuild Uttarakhand

Government will seek financial aid from multilateral bodies like World Bank and Asian Development Bank for reconstruction and rehabilitation in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, finance minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.

He said funds will not be a constraint for rebuilding the mountainous state which had witnessed the worst ever floods last month that killed several hundreds and destroyed properties worth crores.

"We are trying to develop a (financial) package for rehabilitation and reconstruction for which we will go to multilateral bodies, like we did in Tsunami case," Chidambaram told .

"Prime Minister has already announced Rs 1,000 crore. Different ministries are using their own funds. Tourism has announced Rs 100 crore. Funds will not be a constraint. I have said it on the first day," the minister said

Besides seeking aid from these multilateral agencies, the government will soon sent a joint team of finance ministry and home ministry to discuss with Uttarakhand state officials the redevelopment plan for the calamity-hit state.

"What I have approved is that a team from the finance ministry and home ministry will go to Uttarakhand to sit (and discuss) with Uttarakhand government officers," Chidambaram said.

In view of the gravity of the situation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had last month announced financial support of Rs 1,000 crore to Uttarakhand for disaster relief, of which Rs 145 crore was released immediately.

Singh had also announced ex-gratia assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to families of those who had lost their lives and Rs 50,000 each to the injured, from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

The government had also decided to provide from the PMNRF, an ex-gratia assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to those whose houses have been completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 each to those whose houses have been damaged.

Source: Timesofindia

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Syndicate Bank’s 3000th branch

Syndicate Bank opened its 3000th branch at Dodda Kammanahalli, Bangalore, recently.

M.G. Sanghvi, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, inaugurated the branch.

He said the bank opened it 3001st branch at Imphal, Manipur, and with this, the bank has presence in all the States of India.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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Vijaya Bank all-woman branch

Karnataka Minister for Women & Child Development Umashree inaugurated Vijaya Bank’s all-woman branch at Ramamurthy Nagar, Bangalore. It is the bank’s second all-woman branch and first in Bangalore.

Basavaraj Byrathy, Member of the Legislative Assembly and K.R Shenoy, the Bank’s Executive Director were present on the occasion.

As a responsive corporate social citizen, the Bank extended several Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives at Ramamurthy Nagar.

The Bank adopted a girl child to support her education till her graduation.

Source: thehindubusinessline

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4 bank insurance staff held for swindling Rs. 1.6 cr.

In a classic case of fence eating the crop, four employees of ICICI Bank’s insurance wing Lombard in charge of scrutinising medical insurance claims allegedly embezzled Rs. 1.6 crore by presenting fake hospital bills. Malla Reddy, Srinivas Reddy, Prabhakar and Raghu were arrested by the Raidurg police on Monday. Among the beneficiaries of the illegal and false claims were 34 employees of the Lombard and 20 outsiders, Raidurg Inspector A. Balakoti said. “Since their job was to process the applications of medical insurance, the accused were familiar as to what documents and bills should be submitted,” the Inspector. They make generated fake bills, medical test and treatment reports in the name of reputed hospital and submitted the same in the bank.

As the accused were in-charge of scrutinising the forms, they readily cleared the claims presented on behalf of 34 colleagues and 20 others. With each accused candidate claimed an average sum of Rs. 3 lakh, more than Rs. 1.6 crore was fraudulently pocketed by them.

On learning about the fraud during an internal audit, the bank manager approached the police who registered a criminal case. and caught four of the employees. The remaining employees of the bank and 20 others are still at large.

Source: thehindu

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Muthoot Finance files application for banking licence

Gold loan company Muthoot Finance Ltd filed an application with the Reserve Bank of India for a banking licence.

Confirming that the non-banking finance company has filed its application, K.P.Padmakumar, Executive Director, said that Muthoot Finance would set up a non-operative financial holding company to conform to the RBI guidelines.

While MFL would hold 90 per cent stake in the holding company, the balance 10 per cent will be held by the promoters.

Padmakumar said that Muthoot Finance knew the "rural heartland " very well and that most of its 4400 branches were located in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

"Our application should be eminently considerable given our existing focus on rural india", Padmakumar said.

He also said that Muthoot Finance had an 18-month period to change its legal structure in line with the RBI requirements, if an in-inprinciple approval is granted by the central bank for the banking foray.

srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline

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