State Bank of India would announce its much-awaited base rate on Tuesday, Chairman OP Bhatt said on Monday. On how much will the rate be, Bhatt said, "Not more than 8 per cent. . . 8 per cent or less."
SBI announced a 0.40 per cent cut in lending rate to 9.30 per cent, which is the most competitive in the market at present.
I kept insisting that Rs 100 notes were in short supply and there was an urgent need to augment the supply of 100 rupee notes while also rapidly bringing into circulation the proposed new Rs 500 notes. But this was easier said than done because all the note printing machines of the RBI were programmed for printing Rs 2,000 notes and required at least three weeks before the machines could print the new Rs 500 currency notes. The availability of currency paper posed another major bottleneck, and it had to be imported. It was decided to immediately start printing the Rs 500 notes. It was only when the supply of the new Rs 500 notes started improving and the process of change of cassettes at the ATMs gathered momentum that the situation began limping back to normal. A fascinating excerpt from former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar's The Custodian of Trust: A Banker's Memoir, five years after demonetisation, November 8.
The government is set to increase its stake in Bank of Baroda (BoB), Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and Dena Bank.
Banks are also weighing the option of hiring experts for help in specialised areas.
The Reserve Bank on Friday upped the cash reserve ratio from 5 per cent to 5.75 per cent, a move expected to flush-out Rs 36,000-crore (Rs 360-billion) from the system.
The subsidiary will become operational by the end of the second quarter and cater to Indian corporates and expatriates in Malaysia. In the joint venture, BOB will hold 40 per cent stake, IOB 35 per cent, while Andhra Bank will hold the rest 25 per cent. Initial investment is pegged at Rs 405 crore (Rs 4.5 billion).
Rating agency Moody's has placed 13 Indian banks, including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Punjab National Bank, on watch for possible downgrade under a global review of systemic support available for the banking sector.
Embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who lost his UK high court appeal against an extradition order to India, has said that he is "disappointed" with the ruling but will continue to seek legal remedies as advised by his legal team. The 64-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss reiterated that he has repeatedly offered to pay the Indian banks the loan amount owed by his now-defunct airline, an offer which the banks have rejected.
Mallya's comments came a day after country's largest lender, State Bank's Chairman O P Bhatt said that rising levels of stressed assets may push up defaults in the domestic banking system and banks need to enhance their risk management mechanisms to tackle the issue. However, BoB has a comfortable liquidity position and has its NPA levels under control, Mallya said, adding, "the bank has adequate headroom to raise capital but did not have any immediate plans to do so."
The probe into selections for banks such as Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank followed the arrest of Syndicate Bank CMD S K Jain for alleged graft.
For the first time, PSU banks will have a non-executive chairman, giving operational responsibility to managing director and chief executive officer.
As many as 20 public sector banks, including big ones like Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank, have failed to achieve the annual farm sector lending target till November, 2009.
India should opt for full convertibility of the Rupee, Lord Meghnad Desai, Member of the House of Lords said.
The government-appointed Satyam board had recently said that it secured Rs 600-crore (Rs 6-billion) bank loans, which would help it fulfil its immediate fund requirements. The lender's board, which met on January 23 to take a call on the IHFL sale, had deferred the decision, citing the need for more information about prospective buyers.
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.
Membership to help domestic banks access developed markets.
Indian banks have started experiencing the ripples of the US subprime crisis. While ICICI Bank is provisioning an additional $70 million (around Rs 280 crore) to cover its losses on exposure to credit derivatives, Bank of Baroda on Wednesday said it will provision an additional $2.50 million (around Rs 10 crore) for its investments in Credit Linked Notes.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
The government will soon finalise a reshuffle of top management teams in the country's leading 11 public sector banks (PSBs), 10 of which are listed on the stock exchanges. They include the country's third largest bank, Canara Bank, and fifth largest bank, Bank of Baroda.
Foreign currency non-resident bank FCNR (B) deposits in dollar, having maturity of one year to less than two years, would now attract an interest rate of 2.41 per cent as compared to 2.33 per cent earlier. Rate of interest for deposits with 2-3 years maturity has been revised to 2.71 per cent from 2.43 per cent earlier. For deposits having a maturity of five years, the rate has been revised to 3.47 per cent, against 3.11 per cent earlier, the banks said.
The amount is almost double the Rs 220 crore (Rs 2.2 billion) that a consortium of Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank earned for its life insurance tie-up with the UK-based wealth and investment company, Legal & General Group (see table). The entry premium is a result of regulations that require foreign insurers to tie up with Indian partners. SBI will hold 74 per cent in the non-life insurance company and IAG the remaining 26 per cent.
Leading Indian public sector banks State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Syndicate Bank are close to committing a part of the $3 billion bridge loan that Tata Motors has to raise to finance the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
An Indian national has been killed in a protest demonstration in Uganda prompting New Delhi to take up the matter with Kampala.
They need to have 15 years of mainstream banking experience
Bank of India, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank are among the lenders that received capital infusion from the government.
Many from this small lender have made it to other bank boards over the past 5 years
10 analysts estimated RIL's consolidated net profit at Rs 11,256 crore and nine analysts estimated revenue at Rs 1.5 trillion.
As per the mega consolidation plan, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India will merge into Punjab National Bank (PNB); Syndicate Bank into Canara Bank; Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India; and Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank. Following this merger, PNB will become second largest after the SBI, Canara Bank fourth, Union Bank of India fifth and Indian Bank seventh biggest public sector lender.
The board of state-run Bank of Baroda has approved a proposal to return Rs 91.9 crore (Rs 919 million) of capital against recapitalisation bonds to the government, the National Stock Exchange said on Tuesday.\n\n\n\n
Mundra fills the vacancy created by the retirement of KC Chakrabarty in April, two months before his five-year tenure was come to an end.
Global rating agency Fitch has upgraded its support ratings for several Indian banks, including ICICI Bank, HDFC, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India and IDBI among others.
At a hearing before Master David Cook at the Queen's Bench Division of the court, Mallya's legal team sought a dismissal of the interim order.
The boards of three PSU banks - Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Andhra Bank met in deference to the Finance Ministry's insistence, but quite unexpectedly they did not roll back the rate hikes announced last week.
Public sector lender Bank of Baroda on Thursday said it was targeting to increase business by almost 50 per cent to Rs 300,000 crore (Rs 3000 billion) by 2010, while also expanding international operations and acquiring banks overseas.
According to sources close to the developments, major PSU banks -- State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, and Union Bank of India -- were likely to review the deposit rates for a possible upward move.
UTI Asset Management Company will float an initial public offer by March-end 2008 to help its sponsors State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda -- offload up to 50 per cent stake.
While the RBI is reportedly thinking of capping loans to real estate, many believe any such move is a bad idea.
In India, it is not easy to fight it out with the large banks which are nimble-footed and technology-savvy and are continuously innovating on the retail turf with newer products for customer acquisition.