The process has been suspended for the time being as Agriculture, Food & Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Pawar, a political heavyweight, is opposed to any intrusion into his turf.
The buoyant foreign capital flows in debt instruments since the beginning of 2010 could weigh on the Reserve Bank of India's decision on whether to raise policy rates.
The high level coordination committee on financial markets, which consists of financial sector regulators, is likely to opt for a phased reduction in the commission paid to insurance agents.
With the Reserve Bank of India allowing retired teachers, kirana shop owners and public call office (PCO) operators to be hired as business correspondents, banks are set to hire over 200,000 people over the next few years to push financial inclusion initiatives.
The country's largest lender will set up wind power projects in Maharashtra (9 Mw), Tamil Nadu (5 Mw) and Gujarat (1.5 Mw) - with a combined capacity of 15.5 Mw - for its captive consumption at various SBI offices and branches in these three states.
Vedika Bhandarkar, managing director & head of investment banking, recounts how even in a supposedly bad year, the bank raised about Rs 1,00,000 crore (Rs 1,000 billion).
The intensification of global financial crisis in the second half of 2008 had forced Indian companies to put on hold their global plans. When going was good till early 2008, Indian banks -- both public and private sector -- played their part, albeit as junior partners to large international banks, in funding deals.
Power seems to have become the new dotcom," a market observer said, referring to the surge in the number of companies of all shapes and sizes wanting to get into the power business.
The premium that borrowers would have to pay over the London Inter Bank Offered Rate (Libor) have not, however, shot up the way they did a year ago when spreads had jumped 750 basis points for some Indian companies in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
RBI Governor D Subbarao explains the rationale for the moves announced in the second quarter review of the monetary policy in an interview with Sidhartha. Excerpts:
According to sources close to the development, finance secretary Ashok Chawla, who is driving the process, is working on a concept note to provide the framework for consolidation.
The move is aimed at improving margins.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is now planning to enable investors to buy and sell mutual fund units through stock exchanges. Fund houses will also be allowed to sell new fund offers (NFOs) through exchanges, helping them to save on distribution costs.
This is in addition to the $3 billion (around Rs 15,000 crore) infrastructure fund being set up in association with the Macquarie group and International Finance Corporation. Though SBI would be a late entrant to the private equity space, Bhatt was confident that it would not be a deterrent.
One indication of this was the fact that many large bond buyers stayed away from the Rs 12,000 crore auction conducted on August 7.
Income from distribution of third-party products such as insurance policies and mutual fund schemes is already under pressure because of the unfavourable economic climate.
Banks' net interest margins under pressure due to moderate income from advances.
Banks have come to realise that recession or no recession, education loans are a low-risk business.
Balachandran M, Director of the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, has little time to catch his breath. He and his team have been supervising recruitment of nearly 100 public sector bank employees every day.
The Mahindra Holidays initial public offer --the third public float in the current year and the single largest issue over the last 12 months--was subscribed 11 times and four companies raised an estimated Rs 4,000 crore yesterday through QIPs. This came after realtor Unitech's announcement on Friday that it has raised over Rs 2,700 crore via a QIP at Rs 81 a share.
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