1. Bank officials should be sensitised about the guidelines and instructions that have been issued for determining who the eligible farmers are for the debt waiver scheme, the Finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, told the three Kolkata- based public sector banks in a videoconference on Wednesday.Mr Chidambaram listed a few actions points for compliance while directing the three banks – United Bank of India, UCO Bank and Allahabad Bank, to implement the agricultural debt waiver and debt relief scheme by June 30.
2. Syndicate Bank has taken up the implementation of the debt waiver scheme on a war footing.
At the special State Level Bankers Committee meeting here , Syndicate Bank's Executive Director, Mr George Joseph, called on all the member banks in Karnataka to finalise the scheme before the end of the month. He said that the impact of the debt waiver scheme on Syndicate Bank was estimated at Rs 1,000 crore.
At the special State Level Bankers Committee meeting here , Syndicate Bank's Executive Director, Mr George Joseph, called on all the member banks in Karnataka to finalise the scheme before the end of the month. He said that the impact of the debt waiver scheme on Syndicate Bank was estimated at Rs 1,000 crore.
3. Kotak Mahindra Bank will open 76 new branches in 2008-09,taking the total number of branches to 250. Of the existing 184 branches, 33 are in Gujarat where the number would go up to 45 branches across 22 districts and 34 locations by end of this fiscal, Mr K.V.S. Manian, Group Head, Retail Liabilities and Branch Banking, told reporters here, after inaugurating the bank’s first full-fledged branch in Gandhinagar.
4.If you hold ICICI Bank’s credit card and prefer to make the monthly payment in cash, just hold on. The bank has imposed a fee of Rs 100 for credit cards payments made in cash with effect from June 1. ICICI Bank has about 9 million cards in the market and commands a 33% market share in the card industry.As everybody may not be willing to pay in cheques, the new rule is boundto cause lot of inconvenience for card holders, say some customers.
5. Sahara India Financial Corporation (SIFCL), the largest deposit-taking non-banking finance company in the country, has been barred by the Reserve Bank of India from accepting public deposits with immediate effect.The company has also been told to repay the existing deposits as and when they mature.
6. Around Rs 2,000 crore of high cost deposits with Vijaya Bank, carrying an average interest rate of 9.6 per cent, are maturing this month and the bank is going to say ‘no’ to any renewal requests.“We will not renew any of those deposits at a rate more than 8.5 per cent,” the bank’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Prakash P. Mallya, told Business Line.Around a fourth of the bank’s Rs 48,000-crore deposits are ‘high-cost’. This would come down to 18 per cent by March 2009, he said. High cost deposits were raised in the last few years so as to be armed with adequate resources to seize lending opportunities.
7. Union Bank of India has commenced farm loan waiver programme on a war-footing which is set to be completed by June-end in the country, Mr M.V. Nair, Chairman and Managing Director, said here on Monday. The bank is covering 5.50 lakh farmers to implement the measures announced by the Centre during this fiscal year’s Union Budget.
8. HSBC India has reported a 41 per cent increase in net profit in 2007-08 at Rs 1,192 crore, against Rs 846 crore in the previous year.“The rise in net profit has been driven by robust growth in all our businesses. In particular, our SME as well as large corporate businesses have begun to deliver,” said Ms Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Country Head, HSBC India.The bank’s total income rose 50 per cent to Rs 7,096 crore, from Rs 4,720 crore in the year ago period. Total expenditure jumped 52 per cent to Rs 5903 crore, against Rs 3,875 crore. Provisions and contingencies increased to Rs 1,742 crore, from Rs 1,077 crore.
9. State Bank of Hyderabad has launched agricultural relief scheme as part of the agricultural loan waiver announced in the Union Budget. As part of the launch, Mr P.K. Panda, Chief General Manager, SBH, interacted with the farmers at Cheeryal branch, Ranga Reddy district on Tuesday and explained them about the waiver scheme. The small and marginal farmers who had availed themselves of agricultural loans prior to March 31, 2007 which were over due as on December 31, 07 and still outstanding as on February 29, 2008 were eligible for waiver under the scheme, he said. In case of other farmers, 25% of the over due loan amount or Rs 20,000 whichever is higher is eligible for relief provided the borrower repays the 75 %.of the outstanding loan.
10. Corporation Bank is planning to set up business verticals such as corporate credit, retail and SME, which will help to focus better on growth, the Chairman and Managing Director, Mr B. Sambamurthy, has said.Speaking at an analyst meet here on Tuesday, he said the SME vertical will be based in Pune and the corporate credit vertical will be based in Mumbai, for closer interaction with customers.
