1. The Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB), the largest regional rural bank (RRB) in the country sponsored by SBI , has posted Rs 15.49-crs net profit in 2006-07, the first year of operation after its formation.
2. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has launched a specialised course in management and insurance - Post Graduate Programme in Management and Insurance. This is a first of its kind programme in India that offers intensive training in these fields.
3. Allahabad Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 125.74 crs in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006-07 as against Rs 150.5 crs in Q4 of the previous year. The bank's total business has crossed the Rs 1-lakh-crore-mark during the financial year ended March 31, 2007.Income from non-fund/non-interest business increased to Rs 132.56 crs during the quarter compared with Rs 89.62 crs during the corresponding quarter last year.
4. The rupee has been witnessing significant appreciation against the US dollar. How should the corporates react to the accentuated currency movements? "Importers are better advised to wait for any hedging strategy since they may actually end up getting a better exchange rate in the spot market with an appreciating rupee," says Mr Ravi Trivedy, ED, Business Advisory, KPMG Advisory Services. His counsel to exporters is to book a forward cover and benefit from exchange rate and interest rate differentials between the rupee and the US dollar.
5. RBI has asked urban co-operative banks not to deal with 918 non-banking companies in Bihar, which are listed as "defaulted companies". The directive follows an order issued by the Patna High Court.
6. City Union Bank plans to raise capital through the issue of up to 68 lakh equity shares on preferential basis (in exchange for cash), according to a Bombay Stock Exchange announcement.
7. Mumbai's famed dabbawallas will now offer financial services with hot and fresh meals. Corporation Bank has tied up with Mumbai's dabbawallas to source clients for offering banking services. The dabbawallas will act as business facilitators for distributing mailers and will also collect the filled-up application forms for opening new deposit accounts. There are around 5,000 dabbawallas in Mumbai feeding a client base of around 1.25 lakh office goers and 50,000 students every day. These dabbawallas will now not only deliver food, but also essential banking services. We plan to tap their huge client base. The remuneration to the dabbawallas will be based on a flat-fee structure. They will get Rs 2 per form for distribution and Rs 5 per form for collection of the completed application forms. There will be designated dabbawalla officials who will attest the feedback reports before passing them on to the marketing team of the bank.
8. RBI has decided not to accept its own study group's recommendation to charge paper-based transactions. An Internal Study Group on Migration from Paper Based Funds Movement to Electronic Funds Transfer had recommended a charge on paper-based transactions to be borne by the bank customers in a bid to shift to electronic funds transfer.
9. Forex reserves have gone up $254 mn to $204.135 bn for the week-ended April 27 on FII inflows and strengthening of the non-dollar currencies against the greenback.
10. Pushed to searching for new business segments, Indian information technology companies such as Infosys, i-flex, and Infrasoft are working on core banking solutions for Islamic banking. The companies will have to invest $7 billion in software writing and technology by 2008. Infosys Technologies is developing an Islamic Banking solution supporting Shariah compliant products and services. Infrasoft Technologies has 35-40 experts working on Shariah projects, while i-flex solutions has created, `Flexcube for Islamic banking'.
11. PNB has increased interest rates on home loans above Rs 20 lakh by 100 bps. The total home loan portfolio of the bank was about Rs 7,000 crs as on March 31.
12. RBI and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have reached an understanding on granting permission for opening two branches of banks from India and Pakistan in each other's country on a reciprocal basis.
13. American Express Bank has targeted Bangalore for growing its premium credit card business. It has estimated that the Karnataka had about 44,000 affluent individuals, those with liquid assets in excess of $1,00,000.
14. City Union Bank has entered into an `e-remittance' service agreement with Qatar-headquartered Doha Bank QSC. The agreement envisages electronic remittance of funds by NRI clients of CUB (in West Asian countries) to designated centres in India.
15. Bank of Baroda, which is to host the bankers' conference, Bancon 2007, plans to make it a value-added event for bankers. The Indian Banks' Association and BoB sources are working on this mega event, slated to take place at Mumbai.
