1. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, the frontrunner among the private insurance companies in the country, has performed exceedingly well during the initial three quarters of the current financial year, issuing over 1.1 million policies and could garner Rs 2,722 crs in new premium. Further, 300 more branches had been added during the period, taking the total to 470. It has been a landmark year for the company. We have 9% of the overall life insurance market, with LIC being the dominant player. But in private insurance segment it has 29%.
2. The country's forex kitty rose by $5.031 bn in the week ended Feb 9, to touch $185.078 bn on strong FII inflows into the domestic equity and debt markets.The forex reserves have risen for the fifth consecutive week. This is the highest accretion to the forex kitty in a single week in the recent past.
3. The decision of the RBI to give `SLR status' to recapitalisation bonds given by Govt. to various banks, will help Indian Bank immensely, because the bank sits on a huge pile of such bonds, worth about Rs 3,800 crs.
4. PNB has launched a new scheme under the name of `PNB Sampurn Rin Yojana' to supplement farmers' incomes. Under the scheme, farmers are provided with credit for meeting expenditure on growing crops, rearing animals and for purchase of farm assets like tractors, pump sets and farm equipment. Besides, loans are also provided for non-farm sector activities like processing, storage, post-harvest technology.
5. The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) was inaugurated at Madurai, following the establishment of a Bench of the Madras High Court a few years ago. It is the fourth in the State and 33rd at the All-India level.
6. CBI is introducing a deposit scheme - Cent Super - from Feb and will remain open till March 31. The deposit will be accepted for a fixed period of 555 days, with the minimum amount being Rs 25,000. The rate of interest will be 9.25%, with an additional half a per cent to the senior citizens. For premature withdrawals, the interest payable will be one per cent less than the rate applicable for the period the deposit has remained with the bank.
7. The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) launched a pilot project on trade finance using the structured financial messaging system (SFMS). This system is presently confined to payment and settlement systems applications such as real time gross settlement (RTGS), national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) etc. It will enable domestic banks do away with paper-based handling of letters of credit while negotiating bills and cut costs. The SFMS messaging format will be put on the INFINET network connectivity set up by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) of the RBI. It is quite similar to SWIFT in terms of messaging format and protocols with the only difference being additional security measures like `checker and maker'.Close to 10 branches each of ten banks such as ICICI Bank, SBI, UBI and Central Bank of India have joined the soft launch of the project.
2. The country's forex kitty rose by $5.031 bn in the week ended Feb 9, to touch $185.078 bn on strong FII inflows into the domestic equity and debt markets.The forex reserves have risen for the fifth consecutive week. This is the highest accretion to the forex kitty in a single week in the recent past.
3. The decision of the RBI to give `SLR status' to recapitalisation bonds given by Govt. to various banks, will help Indian Bank immensely, because the bank sits on a huge pile of such bonds, worth about Rs 3,800 crs.
4. PNB has launched a new scheme under the name of `PNB Sampurn Rin Yojana' to supplement farmers' incomes. Under the scheme, farmers are provided with credit for meeting expenditure on growing crops, rearing animals and for purchase of farm assets like tractors, pump sets and farm equipment. Besides, loans are also provided for non-farm sector activities like processing, storage, post-harvest technology.
5. The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) was inaugurated at Madurai, following the establishment of a Bench of the Madras High Court a few years ago. It is the fourth in the State and 33rd at the All-India level.
6. CBI is introducing a deposit scheme - Cent Super - from Feb and will remain open till March 31. The deposit will be accepted for a fixed period of 555 days, with the minimum amount being Rs 25,000. The rate of interest will be 9.25%, with an additional half a per cent to the senior citizens. For premature withdrawals, the interest payable will be one per cent less than the rate applicable for the period the deposit has remained with the bank.
7. The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) launched a pilot project on trade finance using the structured financial messaging system (SFMS). This system is presently confined to payment and settlement systems applications such as real time gross settlement (RTGS), national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) etc. It will enable domestic banks do away with paper-based handling of letters of credit while negotiating bills and cut costs. The SFMS messaging format will be put on the INFINET network connectivity set up by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) of the RBI. It is quite similar to SWIFT in terms of messaging format and protocols with the only difference being additional security measures like `checker and maker'.Close to 10 branches each of ten banks such as ICICI Bank, SBI, UBI and Central Bank of India have joined the soft launch of the project.
