A list of things you should watch out for in your credit card document
With the demand for credit expected to shoot up, private banks are bolstering core capital. Seven of them are in the process of raising a cumulative Rs 10,500 crore in equity to fund expansion, which, in some cases like Axis Bank's, includes entry into mutual fund, private equity and wealth management businesses.
Wachovia's global operations were taken over by Wells Fargo last year and the two banks are in the process of integrating their operations.
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.
The only thing that's clear is the October 15 deadline for the end of free third-party ATM use.
To implement the cap, banks will need to make various technological changes in the machines and that will take quite some time.
Having cleaned up their credit card portfolios and sensing a change in the economic environment, issuers such as SBI Cards, Standard Chartered and HSBC are seeing an increase in their credit card base at a marginal pace.
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.
The free run at automated teller machines might end soon, with banks petitioning the Reserve Bank of India to put curbs on cash withdrawals at third-party ATMs. Representatives from the Indian Banks Association, who met central bank officials late last month to make a case, said RBI had accepted most of their suggestions and these are likely to come into effect soon.
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.
According to the Reserve bank of India data, year-on-year growth for credit card outstandings, or the total balance due to issuers on credit card spends by customers, has plummeted to 1.4 per cent as on May 22, 2009.
The additional step is the result of a Reserve Bank of India's guideline issued this February that mandates additional authentications/verifications based on information about the card-holder that is not contained on the card. This measure is expected to contain online card fraud.
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.
CitiFinancial, Citibank India's non-banking finance arm, has reduced its asset book by one-third and its branch network by a quarter of the year-ago level as part of a restructuring exercise, Citi CEO for South Asia Mark T Robinson told Business Standard.
Sources close to the development said the finance ministry was yet to receive a formal proposal to this effect from the bank, though SBI chairman OP Bhatt had recently said the lender had sought government permission to raise Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 bn).
OECD has identified at least four tax jurisdictions -- Jamaica, Qatar, Botswana and Ghana - whose tax information system would be studied to find out if they are emerging as the new tax havens following the crackdown on the existing ones. A unique tax identification number would be akin to a global permanent account number for Indian taxpayers which could remain the same across jurisdictions.
As part of wage settlement, new recruits will be asked to shift to the New Pension Scheme.
Though the overall environment seems to be improving, Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh tells Business Standard that the company is opting to be cautious.
The government has reopened the case for convergence between the capital market and commodity futures regulator, a move that has attracted opposition from the Forward Markets Commission, which regulates the commodities futures business.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances