Tides of 2.01.2007

Mottos for Success-268
“All of our dreams can come true—if we have the courage to pursue them.”
1. After the recent hike in cash reserve ratio, ICICI Bank is the first to kick off a hike in lending rates by almost 50 bps. The benchmark advance rate has been revised to 13.75% pa against the present rate of 13.25%, effective Dec18. The bank has also increased interest rates on deposits of value less than Rs 1 cr by 25 bps-75 bps across various tenors.
2. SunTechnics, a leading system integrator for renewable energies and the flagship company of the Conergy Group, has tied up with Cauvery Kalpatharu Grameena Bank, for retail funding of environmental friendly energy solutions. CKGB has over 200 branches spread across the six districts of Mysore, Chamarajnagar, Hassan, Tumkur, Bangalore urban and Bangalore rural.
3.Management Guru, Mr M. B. Athreya, has formed a panel for Custommerce, a forum dedicated to customer centricity. Derived from a combination of the words `customer' and `commerce', Custommerce is conceived and incubated by Servion Global Solutions, a specialist in the Customer Interaction Management space. Custommerce was formed with an objective to enhance the face of customer service in India. The objective of conducting Custommerce is to highlight the benefits organisations can gain by improving and enhancing customer response, a statement issued by the forum said. The forum attempts to identify challenges faced in customer interaction and provides possible strategies to achieve a customer-driven economy.
4. YES Bank has introduced a special high interest fixed deposit scheme for senior citizens. With effect from December 14, interest rates on deposits with maturity period of six months and one year will earn 8.5% and that of one year and one day to two years is at 8.75%. Rates on deposits for two years and one day to five years is at 8.5%
5. Finance minister P Chidambaram is considering a proposal to allow a deduction on investments up to Rs 1 lakh in bank deposits with a tenure of three years. Besides, he is also likely to raise the ceiling for tax deduction at source on interest income from fixed deposits in state-owned banks to Rs 10,000. At present, individuals who invest in fixed deposits with a tenure of five years and more can claim tax deduction under 80C of the Income-Tax Act. The move to reduce the tenure to three years would prompt retail investors to opt for bank deposits.
6. Citibank has unveiled its marquee, offering in the small businesses and professional space, Citibusiness Power Access, to leverage their collective strengths. The bank, whose small business loans comprise 35-40% of its total retail lending, expected the new offering to accelerate growth further.
7. RBI has stipulated that the exposure (both lending and investment, including off-balance sheet exposures) of a bank to a single NBFC and NBFC-Asset Financing Companies (AFCs) should not exceed 10%and 15% respectively of the bank's capital funds as per its last audited balance sheet. Banks may, however, assume exposures on a single NBFC or NBFC-AFC upto 15% and 20% respectively of their capital funds provided the exposure in excess of 10% and 15% respectively is on account of funds on-lent by the NBFC or NBFC-AFC to infrastructure sectors. Infusion of capital funds after the published balance sheet date may also be taken into account for the purpose of reckoning capital funds. Banks should also obtain an external auditors certificate on completion of augmentation of capital and submit the same to RBI before reckoning the additions to capital funds.