ICICI Bank moves HC on BPCL petition against Nocil dues
Mumbai: ICICI Bank, the lead lender to National Organic Chemical Industries Ltd (Nocil), has filed an Intervenor’s Application seeking the High Court’s permission to allow them to intervene and to hear them during the hearing of the winding up petition filed by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) against Nocil. BPCL had filed the winding petition against Nocil for non-payment of dues of Rs 110 crore against the supply of naphtha. The application filed by ICICI Bank, on behalf of all lenders, is yet to be allowed by the High Court. Lenders, who had already cleared Nocil’s restructuring proposal, feel that the restructuring should be implemented at the earliest, and that winding up of the company was not the answer.
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Andhra Bank net profit up 84 per cent
Hyderabad: Andhra Bank Ltd has reported 83.76 per cent growth in its net profit for the financial year ended March 31, 2003. It has posted a net profit of Rs 382.70 crore for the fiscal 2003 as against Rs 208.25 crore in the previous year. During the year under review the bank has merged its subsidiary AB Housing Finance Ltd, resulting in the overall profit for the bank. Without consolidating the subsidiary results the bank has reported a net profit of Rs 402.99 crore. The subsidiary has Rs 16 crore NPAs.
The bank’s board, which has met here on Thursday to take on record the audited financial results for the year 2002-03, has declared a dividend of 24 per cent for the year ended March 2003 as against 14 per cent declared in the previous year. The share transfer books will be closed from May 27 to June 5 to determine the shareholders for payment of dividend.
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HDFC Standard Life records Rs 132 crore premium income
Mumbai: HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd has recorded a growth of 260 per cent in its premium income from new business at Rs 132 crore in ’02-03 as compared to Rs 36 crore last year. The sum assured for the policy holders crossed the Rs 5,000 crore mark and the company extended life insurance coverage to over 1,50,000 lives. Business growth had been driven by rising consumer expectations to which the company responded by introducing new insurance solutions, establishing an increased presence across locations, increasing its sales force of trained financial consultants and adding corporate agents to its distribution mix, company CMD Deepak Satwalekar said. The board has declared third bonus for participating policyholders.
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LKB net up 17 per cent in ’02-03
Kochi: Lord Krishna Bank (LKB) has posted a net profit of Rs 23.05 crore during the fiscal ended 2002-03 registering an increase of 16.95 per cent compared to Rs 19.71 crore earned during the previous fiscal. Deposits increased from Rs 1,502 crore to Rs 1,663 crore while net advances increased from Rs 826 crore to Rs 915 crore, according to bank managing director RM Nayak.
The bank earned a gross profit of Rs 52 crore compared to last year’s Rs 50.17. The net NPA level came down to 6.33 per cent from 9.85 per cent. After the securitisation Act, the bank had succeeded in making cash recoveries of Rs 38 crore and would raise it to Rs 47 crore this year. It had targeted bringing down its NPA level to two per cent during the current fiscal, Nayak said.
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Uco Bank sets Rs 1,00,000 crore business target by 2006-07
Kolkata: Public sector Uco Bank on Thursday announced that the management has set a target of Rs 1,00,000 crore business in the next four years i.e. by financial year 2006-07. A Uco Bank spokesman said that business has crossed the Rs 48,000 crore mark in the financial year ending March 2003. “The bank is aiming towards reaching a total business of Rs 59,000 crore by the end of the financial year 2003-04 indicating a business growth of about 22 per cent,” he said. The target of Rs 1,00,000 crore has been set following the successful completion of the bank’s strategic revival plan and the medium term restructuring plan when it added Rs 22,000 crore of new business, the spokesman said.
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Western Union plans expansion
New Delhi: Western Union and India Post on Wednesday celebrated completion of two years of successful association. In the last two years, post offices offering Western Union services have grown to 4,200 locations. Rameshari Handa, Deputy Director-General (Financial Services) of India Post, said, "our association with the company is also contributing to our revenues. During the past two years around $50 million has come in through Western Union and delivered by India Post."
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Maruti Finance sees Rs 3,000-cr biz
Ahmedabad: Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) Managing Director, Jagdish Khattar, said his company's vehicle finance arm, Maruti Finance, was set to do business to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore in the current fiscal. Mr Khattar, who was here to launch Maruti Finance in Gujarat, also said the company had no plans whatsoever to slash the price of Alto by Rs 50,000 as reported in a section of the press on Thursday. "We will do Rs 3,000 crore in the vehicle finance business this year from Maruti customers alone. Considering that the total financing of Maruti cars today stands at Rs 6,500 crore to Rs 7,000 crore per annum, we plan to have an all-India network in place quite soon by bringing the remaining few states under the Maruti Finance umbrella. The company is looking at bringing at least 50 per cent of Maruti customers under the finance net in the first full year of operations," he said.
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ICICI Lombard bags power plant account
Hyderabad: ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd has announced that it has bagged the account of Lanco Kondapalli Power Pvt Ltd. In a release, the insurance company said that Lanco Kondapalli was the biggest combined cycle power plant in the South and was also the largest single premium player in Andhra Pradesh. This is also one of the biggest accounts where professional services of insurance brokers are utilised by a client to procure the best cover at a minimum costs.
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CanFin plans MBS for Rs 100 cr
Bangalore: CanFin Homes Ltd (CFHL), the subsidiary of the public sector Canara Bank proposes to come with its third round of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) for Rs 100 crore. A Canfin release said that this was being made in view of the phenomenal success of the earlier two issues. Canfin Homes has posted an all time high net profit of Rs 21.58 crore for the financial year 2002-03, a 9 per cent increase over the previous year. Operating profit of CFHL for the year was Rs 27.46 crore against Rs 25.17 crore in 2001-02. The increase in profitability was despite the reduction in the interest rates on home loans.
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HSBC, BillJunction pact for online payments
Mumbai: Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd has tied up with BillJunction Payments Ltd to offer its customers an online utility bill payment facility as part of its net-banking initiatives. The bank's customers can now avail of this service to pay their utility bills such as telephone, electricity, mobile phone bills as well as insurance premium payments by logging on to online@hsbc, said Vivek Kudva, Country Head -- Personal Financial Services, addressing a press conference here on Thursday.
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KPFC to raise Rs 300 cr thru bonds issue
Thiruvanathapuram: The State-owned Kerala Power Finance Corporation Ltd (KPFC) has finalised plans to raise Rs 300 crore through issue of non-SLR bonds backed by Government guarantee. KPFC had earlier issued bonds worth Rs 200 crore with a tenure of seven years. The issue was over-subscribed ahead of schedule. The Reserve Bank has upgraded the company to `A' category after assessing various factors such as performance of the company and quality of management, according to M.P. Aiyappan, Managing Director.
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SBH cuts PLR, deposit rates
Hyderabad: State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) has cut the interest rates on its domestic term deposits, ranging from 25 basis points to 50 basis points for various tenures. In a press release here, the bank said the new rates would come into effect from May 12.
According to the bank, it would maintain the interest rates on domestic deposits with tenure of 15 days and up to 45 days at 4.5 per cent, for tenure of 46 days and up to 90 days and also for 91 days and up to 179 days at 5.25 per cent.
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