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.
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.
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.
Leading vendors of the Tata Motors' Nano project intend to set the ball rolling to return their land in the ancillary park area at Singur and said they aim to begin talks with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation on the issue immediately.
Singur farmers did not want the Tatas to leave as they were upset only with the government package, and today the same farmers were not in the mood for any agitation, Anuradha Talwar, the president of Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samiti, said in Kolkata on Monday.
The company is also mulling to enter the currency futures space through the exchange. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India had issued guidelines for SME exchange, and had set a minimum net worth criteria of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) for entity willing to start it.
In spite of some initial hiccups due to problems in land acquisition, the real estate projects by Unitech in West Bengal were now on track. After facing delays due to problems in land acquisition, work at the proposed logistics hub on Kona Expressway had started.
The small loan size, strict vigil of bankers and the already high interest rates paid by the borrowers to moneylenders make the scheme attractive for banks. Banks are also devising new models for recovering such loans, mostly by deploying agents or vendors on a daily or weekly basis in rural areas.
Buyers prefer to wait on expectation of better bargains.
The market has seen 30 per cent fall in demand in the last two months. In tandem, property prices, especially the residential ones, have fallen by 15-20 per cent across the board in the last two months. Rentals for offices too have fallen, with companies averse to shift to new offices in a bid to check costs. In case of retail malls, ector experts said, all leasing activity had come to a standstill, with no retailer willing to open a shop.
Banks are busy advertising attractive deposit rates that are on offer, lining up roadshows and door-to-door campaigns. Some of them are even offering incentives to their employees to woo depositors. As a result, they expect to mop up more than 20 per cent of what they usually do during November. Banks have also stepped up the deposit-mobilisation drive because they will be reducing interest rates from December.
This is a relatively sharp decline compared to the northern and southern markets in the country where prices have fallen by only Rs 2 - Rs 4 a bag. Kolkata-based dealers said that retail prices are now hovering around Rs 240 a bag due to a 10-15 per cent dip in demand.
Rising interest rates and anticipated launch of the Tata Nano has impacted the sales of entry level cars like the Maruti 800, and anlaysts expected the entry level market dynamics to change further post the Nano launch expected in the last quarter of the fiscal.
In spite of the government's efforts to help cooperative banks post the farm loan relief scheme, through the liquidity support fund, the banks are facing huge cash deficits.
The company had started test runs for engines at its Pune facility in September after it work was stopped indefinitely at its Singur plant from August 29, leading to the abandoning of the Singur project site on October 3.
The company will look for other lines of business for Balmer Lawrie UK, a fully-owned subsidiary of BLC. "Retaining the subsidiary would help in our overseas operations. We would focus on speciality containers here in India through our logistics subsidiary Transafe Services Limited," said V Narayan Sharma, director, BLC. Sharma also said the company was open to overseas acquisitions to add a new line of business.
The West Bengal government's new compensation package for 'unwilling' farmers in Singur, 40km from Kolkata, might have been praised by Tata Motors, but those involved in land transactions in the area find the offer inadequate.
Spiralling prices of foodgrains and edible oil and low jute prices in the last couple of months have prompted a large number of jute farmers to shift to paddy and oilseed cultivation in the eastern part of the country. With jute farmers anticipating lower prices for their produce, many of them have opted for paddy and oilseeds in the next cropping season
LIC will kickstart its credit card business in September 2008.
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