1. Micro-credit of up to Rs 50,000 has been included in the priority sector for the first time. It is provision of credit and other financial services to the poor in rural, semi-urban and urban areas. RBI has also proposed redefinition of exposure to small scale industries, which will qualify for priority sector lending.
2. Catholic Syrian Bank is in talks with Mauritius-based investors for privately placing a 15% stake in the bank to raise about Rs 35 crs.
3. ICICI Bank MD & CEO K V Kamath has said that there is need for level playing field for banks to compete with other institutions, such as mutual funds and insurance companies, for mobilising more deposits. A level playing field will enable banks to have their rightful share of deposits. And for this, a facilitating environment is needed.
4. Postmen will now also sell bank loans. This will soon begin on a pilot basis through post offices in Maharastra and Goa, amid concerns of RBI that the use of intermediaries, such as post offices and others, raises the issue of agent-related risks. The post offices in the two states will provide banks intermediary services, such as preliminary processing of loan application by way of identification of customer, verification of address, assessing creditworthiness and credit-recovery mechanism. The proposal to launch a pilot scheme for the general purpose consumption credit to the farming community utilising network of post offices in the Maharashtra Circle has been cleared under the aegis of the the IBA.
5. Commercial banks, co-operatives and RRBs have up to October 31 this year claimed Rs 874 crs from the RBI and Nabard for providing 2% interest relief to farmers for Kharif and Rabi 2005-06. About Rs 1,700 crs had been placed at the disposal of RBI and Nabard for the 2% interest subvention announced by the Government. The commercial banks have so far claimed Rs 375 crs, co-operatives Rs 365 crs and RRBs Rs 134 crs.
6. Forex reserves increased by $24 mn to touch $167.116 bn for the week ended November 3. This is the third week in a row that the country's forex reserves saw accretions. In the earlier week, forex reserves were at $ 166.482 bn. According to figures from the SEBI, the week under review also saw good FII inflows into the domestic equity market at $450.2 mn. Foreign currency assets increased by $155 mn to touch $160.391 bn.
7. Detariffication in the insurance industry would expand the scope of distribution as pressures on margins demand cost-effective and innovative methods to sell the products to supplement the traditional modes of distribution. Not just telemarketing other but other modes of distribution as well, channels such as bancassurance, SMS, telephones, Internet and worksite marketing would emerge.
8. HDFC Ltd is organising a four-day property show beginning Nov. 11 at Swabhumi, Kolkota, which will showcase "dream homes" by prominent property developers such as Shapoorji Pallonji and Unitech. The event is being organised to "provide a platform where customers can meet about 25 developers showcasing more than 37 projects and choose a home for themselves". More than 8,000 apartments with one-to-three bedrooms, "mass housing" and villas will be on display.
