Pranab Mukherjee has projected government borrowings of Rs 4.51 lakh crore for the current fiscal.
The long wait for realisation makes lenders averse to security receipt transactions. Instead, they have been insisting more on cash, even though valuations of bad assets are generally lower in case of cash deals than those involving SRs. While in deals involving SRs stressed assets are valued at 30 per cent on an average, in cash deals they are valued at 20 per cent, depending on the quality of the assets.
The clauses on corporate debt restructuring (CDR) are being reworked in view of the huge foreign exchange exposure of several companies, which have already opted for restructuring debt or are on their way to seeking approval for one.
Canara Bank has put on hold its plan to sell non-performing assets with realisation value of around Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) after lukewarm response from asset reconstruction companies (ARCs).
As part of wage settlement, new recruits will be asked to shift to the New Pension Scheme.
ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector bank, has scaled down its overseas operations, especially in the United States and Sri Lanka. It has also recalled some employees from its international offices now that the businesses of fund-raising and merger and acquisitions have shrunk.
"We are now looking at a new fund under the gold category, which will enable small investors to subscribe to the units from the offices of UTI, without even having a demat account," said sources at UTI Mutual Fund. "With the equity markets rising by almost 30 per cent between mid-March and April, investors are no longer interested in gold ETFs. Also most Indians prefer holding physical gold, rather than gold ETFs," said a broker.
Failed attempt to acquire stake in Kolhapur-based bank seen as trigger.
While the level of non-performing assets for banks is on the rise, despite the Reserve Bank of India's push for debt restructuring, cases referred to the corporate debt restructuring cell increased to 34 at the end of March 2009, as against 10 at the end of 2007-08. CDR, which was set up in 2002-03, is a mechanism for faster disposal of restructuring cases involving multiple lenders, though foreign banks are yet to join the platform.
Within 15 days of opening the registration process for Nano, its Rs 1 lakh car, Tata Motors has sold nearly 5,00,000 application forms, raking in Rs 15 crore (at Rs 300 each). Distributors associated with the Nano bookings said most of the forms were likely to translate into bookings.
Loans at a discount to the benchmark prime lending rates of banks are back with a majority of the fresh loans being disbursed at sub-PLR rates.
State Bank of India, India's largest lender, may cut interest rates in the new financial year on the back of a lower-than-expected credit growth.
The share of government banks in auto finance has increased significantly in the last few months. In some cases, it has nearly doubled. The reason: these banks are offering cheaper loans than their private sector counterparts.
With interest rates softening, banks are slowly re-pricing the cost of short-term credit extended to the corporate sector.
"This is for the first time that a manufacturer will charge for an application form. However, it will be refunded if an application is rejected," said a senior bank executive. Bookings are expected to start by the last week of March. The forms will be collected through various channels. "All the forms and the collected money will be transferred to SBI, where they will be processed, and loans will be given through various banks within 90 days," said a source.
In spite of ample liquidity, banks are treading cautiously as far as lending to the real estate sector is concerned, and are seeking collateral as high as 150 per cent of the loan amount as security deposit from them.
To take up debt restructuring of cash-strapped retailer.
Public sector banks could see higher pressure on their net interest margins in the coming months as they have mopped up large amounts of deposits at higher rates and have also effected steep cuts in lending rates between November 2008 and January 2009.
Public sector banks are increasingly looking at promoter funding as a business opportunity when others are shying away from it.
The fresh allegations of carrying out retail trade have come from the Forward Bloc, a constituent of the Left Front government in Bengal, which had been opposing the entry of Metro on this ground. Forward Bloc-controlled APMC in the state has submitted a report stating the instances of violations of the terms of the Regulated Market Committee licence, said sources.