STAR India, a wholly owned subsidiary of STAR Hong Kong, is exploring the possibilities of getting into the print media business in India. Last week, top STAR executives including STAR Hong Kong CEO Paul Aiello, STAR India CEO Uday Shankar and COO Jagdish Kumar were in Bangalore for meetings with possible joint venture partners for the print foray. The company is said to be in talks with Vijay Mallya's UB Group.
This is as definitive as it can get. Dutch global beer major Heineken is understood to have outlined its intent to Vijay Mallya's United Breweries that it does not want to have any conflicting presence in India.
If you are an entrepreneur and apprehensive that the global market meltdown will strain your fund-raising plans, fear not. India-focused private equity and venture capital funds raised $7 billion (Rs 27,958 crore) in 2007, excluding real estate, last year. They had garnered a similar amount in the corresponding previous year, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a venture capital research company.
Banks may have to spend up to Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) in training close to one million employees to comply with the Reserve Bank of India's proposed loan recovery norms. RBI has proposed that banks should tie up with the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF) or organise programmes in their own training colleges to ensure that every agent passes the exam conducted by IIBF during a one-year period. 'Agents' would include agencies as well as bank employees.
Citibank has put on sale yet another residential property on Altamount Road in south Mumbai. Earlier it had sold off prime residential property at Mumbai's National Centre for the Performing Arts for Rs 34 crore. Most of the banks are selling residential properties as they are offering a fixed cash compensation every month to their employees. Bank offices have now shifted to suburbs and employees prefer to live close to workplace. Such sales unlock value and releases capital.
The household sector's savings in physical assets increased by 16.12 per cent to Rs 5,17,837 crore (Rs 5.17 trillion) in 2006-07 compared to Rs 4,45,915 crore (Rs 4.45 trillion) in 2005-06. While savings in financial assets have gone up by 11.20 per cent to Rs 4,67,985 crore in 2006-07 compared with Rs 4,20,841 crore in 2005-06. This data shows that Indian households are increasingly opting for physical assets as instruments of savings rather than relying on financial tools.
International claims of Indian banks have risen by 41.15 per cent to Rs 1,49,167 crore (Rs 1491.67 billion) at the end of June 2007 on account of higher exposure to guarantees, derivatives and credit commitments. Exposure of Indian banks to derivatives rose 79 per cent to Rs 13,999 crore (Rs 139.99 billion) at the end of June 2007, as against Rs 7,818 crore (Rs 78.18 billion) in the corresponding period in June 2006, data released by Reserve Bank of India said.
Meera Sanyal, Country Executive, ABN Amro Bank, revealed the bank's merger plans with Royal Bank of Scotland. Dutch Central Bank has approved of the merger and a country-by-country approval is being sought. As part of the deal, RBS will acquire the banking business in India and Fortis will buy the asset management company. Neither have a presence in India. ABN Amro is negotiating with RBI too on this issue. The bank will continue to operate through 28 branches in 21 cities.
The sub-prime loss-hit Citigroup is on a cost-cutting exercise in its Indian operations. CitiFinancial, its consumer finance unit, which is also reeling under the burden of rising bad loans, is considering closing about 100 of its 450 branches in India.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a restricted banking licence to American Express Bank (Amex) to conduct credit card and travel-related businesses in India.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) denial of permission to Swiss bank UBS to acquire Standard Chartered Asset Management Company has come as a blessing in disguise for Standard Chartered Bank.
Retail investors stand to gain from the booming realty sector, through the Real Estate Investment Trusts.
Foreign banks operating in India want the Reserve Bank of India to prepare a vision document on policy changes they can expect after March 2009.
About 35,000 credit card customers of Citibank received free tickets worth Rs 23 crore (Rs 230 million) in early 2007 under the 'Fly for Sure' promotional campaign undertaken by the bank in 2005. The customers became lucky after the bank was cautioned by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about consequences if customer complaints were not redressed and commitments made under the promotional scheme not honoured, banking sources said.
Kingfisher Airlines, promoted by the UB Group, expects to get into the black in December. According to Ravi Nedungadi, president and CFO, UB Group, the airline has been driving in volumes and efficiencies which is likely to be reflected in the revenues this month.
The UB Group, which is an established leader in the Indian beer and spirits market, is aiming to replicate its success by addressing the wine market with its two companies - United Spirits and United Breweries.
A clutch of global financial institutions led by T Rowe Price, HSBC and an investment arm of the Government of Singapore are the lead investors in the Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue of UB Holdings.
The money mule scam has reached Indian shores. Banks have noticed instances of fraudsters based overseas, posing as global payment companies, luring gullible people into joining them as "money transfer agents" and using their bank accounts to route ill-gotten money.
Global and Indian private equity biggies as well as strategic players are in the race to acquire a minority stake in Excel Soft Technologies, the Mysore headquartered e-learning firm. This six-year-old firm provides a range of customised learner-centric Learning systems, Test & Assessment systems and Desktop tools.
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