HDFC Standard crosses Rs 5,000 cr in cumulative insurance coverage
Coimbatore: HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company has crossed Rs 5,000 crore in cumulative insurance coverage during 2002-03. The premium income from new business has more than trebled during last fiscal compared with the previous year. The company declared the third successive bonus to the participating policyholders. But its chairman, Deepak Parekh, has cautioned that the continuous fall in long-term interest rates may lead to a fall on the quantum of reversionary bonuses that may be declared in the future.
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Canara Bank net rises 38 per cent to Rs 1,019 crore in 2002-03
Bangalore: Canara Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 1,019 crore for the fiscal ending 2003, registering a growth of 37.52 per cent compared to Rs 741 crore in FY 2002. The bank has also announced a maiden dividend of 35 per cent after the bank got listed its initial public offering. It has registered an operating profit of 20.6 per cent growth to reach Rs 1997 crore (Rs 1665 crore). The total business of the bank stood at Rs 112,567 crore (Rs 97,157 crore), registering a year-on-year growth of 15.86 per cent.

Addressing a press conference on the performance of the bank, Canara Bank chairman RV Shastri said in the current fiscal the bank’s growth will be driven by core banking activities and fee-based projects such as insurance, credit cards and forex business. The bank is targeting a total business of Rs 1,31,000 crore comprising Rs 82,000 crore and Rs 49,000 crore advances representing a 15 per cent growth.
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Sale of 21 state development loans closed
Mumbai: The sale of ‘on tap’ 6.40 per cent State Loans, 2013 have been closed in respect of 21 states on Monday, the first day of the auctions, on receipt of the respective target amounts and excess subscriptions of up to 30 per cent of their target amounts have been retained. The loans of state governments which have been closed on Monday were Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal and West Bengal, RBI said in a release.
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Canara Bank to deploy 3,000 staff for marketing
Bangalore: Canara Bank plans to deploy 3,000 of its personnel on a massive marketing effort this fiscal, according to R V Shastri, the bank’s CMD. “Of the 3,000 persons, 1,000 would be assigned to recoveries,” he added. For the current fiscal, Canara Bank has projected cash recoveries to the tune of Rs 650 crore to Rs 700 crore. In FY03, this was Rs 563 crore. Shastri, while discounting the possibility of a second round of VRS, said a decision on return on capital would be taken possibly in the second half of the current fiscal. “We had returned capital ahead of the IPO and have a lock-in of one year,” he added. The bank’s current paid-up capital stands at Rs 410 crore.
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More post offices get global money transfer facility
Coimbatore: The Department of Posts has extended the International Money Transfer Service (IMTS), which facilitates instantaneous transfer of funds from abroad to India, to seven more sub-post offices in the Coimbatore Postal Division. The facility, first introduced in the State in May 2001, is currently available in the Coimbatore Head Post Office and R.S. Puram HPO in the city.

It is being extended to the post offices at Coimbatore Central, Karunyanagar, Peelamedu, Podanur, Kuniamuthur, Madukkarai and Ondipudur with effect from May 14.
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IFCI finalises big NPA recovery proposal
New Delhi: One of the largest single-lender clean-up operations in the financial sector is to commence soon with IFCI Ltd having finalised plans for a twin-track assault on its non-performing assets (NPAs) through its own asset reconstruction company (ARC) - Asset Care Enterprise Ltd (ACE). According to the plan, part of the NPAs would be transferred through ACE to a special purpose vehicle (SPV) at fair market value after locating investors for the assets. These assets would subsequently be jointly resolved either by IFCI or ACE along with the joint venture partners
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GSFC delays interest payment on SLR bonds
Mumbai: The Gujarat State Finance Corporation (GSFC) has delayed interest payments on its SLR bonds to banks. GSFC has confirmed that it could not make the payments due to a liquidity crunch. According to an official with a leading public sector bank, GSFC's half-yearly coupon payments, falling due on April 1, have not yet been received.
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Andhra Bank allots Rs 69 crore for IT
Mumbai: Andhra Bank is venturing on a major IT initiative with plans to get all its 1,100 branches online and networked by December. "An allocation of Rs 69 crore has been made for the year 2003-04 towards the computerisation project. In 2001-03, the bank had spent Rs 100 crore towards the same. At present all our branches are fully computerised but on a stand-alone basis,'' said Dr Vasanthan. The next step of networking of branches will start through a cluster approach, first among the 100-odd branches in Hyderabad in July to be later replicated in other parts of the country.
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IDBI Bank to go for rights issue
Mumbai: IDBI Bank proposes to go in for a rights issue, shelving, at least for the time being, all other plans to raise capital. The bank's board is meeting on May 19 to consider an issue of shares to existing shareholders, the bank informed stock exchanges on Monday. The size of the issue and the price at which the shares will be offered is to be finalised at the meeting. An IDBI Bank official, said, "This is our present plan to raise capital. To what extent the capital requirement of the bank will be met by the rights issue will depend on the size of the issue.''
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