1. Exporters reeling under the dollar slide could be in line for a slew of reliefs in the Foreign Trade Policy coming up next month.The steps being contemplated by the Commerce Ministry range from possible reimbursement of, or rebate on, some of the taxes incurred on export production; to zero duty EPCG (export promotion capital goods) scheme in place of the five per cent concessional duty, possibly for the first time. These and a dozen other sops are being considered to mitigate exporters’ losses due to the rupee’s 11 per cent appreciation against the dollar, according to a note circulated by the Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, at a meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Exporters’ Organisation.
2. Punjab National Bank has commenced cheque truncation system (CTS) in the National Capital Region (New Delhi). The system has gone live in 10 branches of PNB in New Delhi.The Reserve Bank of India had initiated steps for implementation of cheque truncation system in NCR, New Delhi. Ten banks including PNB had joined the project. By March 2008, CTS is likely to be made live in all the branches of PNB in NCR (New Delhi) area, a release issued by the bank said. Under the CTS, image/s of the instrument and the corresponding data contained in MICR line will be captured and used for settlement amongst banks and payment of cheques. Inter-city collection/clearance of cheques is also expected to be brought under CTS, which will enable reduce collection time significantly.
3. The growth in non-food bank credit has shown a slowdown in the recent past, illustrating RBI’s concern that banks have not expanded credit despite comfortable liquidity conditions. The outstanding amount of non-food credit as on January 25, 2008 was at Rs 21,42,494 crore, an increase of Rs 37,259 crore against Rs 21,05,235 crore as on January 4, while the growth was higher at Rs 53,050 crore during the December-January period, according to the weekly figures released by RBI. The amount outstanding as on December 7, 2007 was Rs 20,52,191 crore.
4. Bank unions have objected to the formation of the proposed National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) without taking into account the assurances given in Parliament by the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram. Responding to the public notice relating to the formation of NPCI, where names of nine individuals have been mentioned as applicants, the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has now conveyed to the Government that mere mention of individual names as applicants for setting up the corporation gives a very “misleading picture” about the ownership of the proposed corporation.
5. The Rs 16,700-crore rights issue of State Bank of India is likely to open on February 18. Official sources said that the country’s largest commercial bank would go ahead with the rights issue as planned, despite the recent turbulence in the capital markets.SBI is offering one share of Rs 10 each for every five held at a price of Rs 1,590 per share. The Government, which currently holds 59.73 per cent stake in SBI, plans to issue bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore to the bank towards its share in the rights issue.The rights issue is likely to be open for a month for subscription.Indications are that the Government would subscribe to the rights offering on the last date of the issue.
6. The South Indian Bank has opened its regional office in Kolkata. The regional office was opened by Dr G.D. Gautama, Principal Secretary to the Government of West Bengal. With this, the number of regional offices of the bank will go up to 13, a press release issued here said. Dr V.A. Joseph, Chairman and CEO of SIB, who presided over the function, said the Kolkata region of the bank is expected to be the gateway to the North Eastern States. The bank has already opened one branch at Guwahati in Assam and has plans to open more branches in the North-Eastern region.
7. Bank of India has said its board has approved a proposal to raise about Rs 1,360 crore through an issue of 3.78 crore equity shares. In a notice to the BSE today, the bank said it will issue the shares at a price of Rs 360 per share of face value of Rs 10, issued at a premium of Rs 350 per equity share, aggregating to Rs 1,359.81 crore. SBI Capital Markets Ltd, A.K. Capital Services Ltd, Edelweiss Capital Ltd, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Pvt Ltd, JM Financi al Consultants Pvt Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd and Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors Pvt Ltd were the book running lead managers to the issue.
8. Syndicate Bank has decided to raise its additional capital through the qualified institutional placement route instead of the follow-on public offer programme planned early this year. Syndicate Bank’s move followed the Government’s recent liberalisation permitting public sector undertakings/enterprises to raise capital through placement with placements of equity with qualified institutional buyers (QIB).
9. State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has received approval from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates to open a representative office in Dubai.
10. Till the end of January ICICI Lombard has done about Rs 1,100 crore. It hopes to finish with Rs 1,700 crore for this year and have a target of Rs 2,500 crore for the next fiscal. It has done about Rs 440 crore in private cars, about Rs 440 crore in commercial vehicles and about Rs 100 crore in two wheelers.
