1. Corporation Bank will be opening 100 new branches in the calendar year 2008 with focus on western and northern regions of the country.
2. In a bid to stimulate credit offtake in the peak seasons, banks are preparing to offer discounts to their respective benchmark prime lending rates (BPLR).Currently, only highly rated corporates are raising bank funds at discounts to the BPLR, that currently ranges 12.75 per cent to 13.5 per cent. The discounts, even for these corporates, are barely about 100 basis points. Yet despite the discounts, the average cost of borrowings was close to 11 per cent.
3. State Bank of India has entered into an alliance with India Post in Kerala for making available some of its services to the public in financial inclusion.
4. Weekends are the time to relax for most officials. But not for a couple of officials in Bank of Maharashtra and for farmers in Amaravati and Yavatmal districts. It is the time for them to discuss issues related to better agriculture practices where experts provide technical inputs on various aspects. In its endeavour to provide counselling to the farmers in Vidharbha region (which grabbed headlines for farmers’ suicides), Bank of Maharashtra thought of going beyond extending financial assistance to them, and it came out with an idea of providing technical inputs to farmers in the drought-affected Vidharbha region. The bank initiated the process of organising counselling programmes for farmers in Amaravati district of Maharashtra in May 2007.
