IndusInd gold trading from July
Mumbai: In an attempt to generate another form of non-interest income, IndusInd Bank plans to venture into bullion trading starting July 1, across nine centres in the country. "We aim to capture 15-20 per cent of the Rs 25,000-crore gold import market within the first year of operations. We should thereby generate about Rs 6-7 crore as commission through this business,'' said a senior official in the bank. Having received the Reserve Bank of India permission for bullion trading in November 2002, the bank is to start trading in the yellow metal in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Coimbatore by July.
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Canara Bank plans 3 more branches in Chennai
Chennai: Canara Bank will shortly open three more branches here — at Santhome, Tiruvallur and one `all women branch'. The location of the `mahila' branch is yet to be decided. "We have the licence for opening a branch anywhere in Chennai. We have called for bids for premises," the bank officials told presspersons here on Tuesday. Further, the bank proposed to open around 10 extension counters in the city. Also under plan, was a `depository participant' operation from the Habibullah road branch, they said.
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HSBC to open global software centre in Pune
Pune: Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (HSBC) is all set to inaugurate its global software development centre in the city towards the end of this month. The bank's chief information officer, Ashok Bhatia, said here that the new centre, set up at a cost of Rs 100 crore, would develop software for the group's global operations. In addition, he said, the facility had provision to expand to keep pace with future requirements
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Bank of Rajasthan submits case details to RBI
Mumbai: Bank of Rajasthan on Tuesday submitted to the Reserve Bank of India details of the case that led to the arrest of its Chairman, Praveen Kumar Tayal, in Jaipur on Saturday. Dr K.M. Bhattacharya, Managing Director of the bank, said the RBI had asked for details of the case, though the case was unrelated to the activities of the bank. He said, "Since there is no conviction, Tayal's chairmanship has not been questioned." "The RBI has offered full support in case there is any untoward rush for cash.''
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OM Kotak launches new insurance plan
Bangalore: Om Kotak Mahindra Life has launched an investment-cum-protection plan - the Kotak Safe Investment Plan -- that offers safety of capital while permitting the policyholder to benefit from investment opportunities in the equity, debt and money markets.

According to Ashutosh Bishnoi, Vice-President, Marketing, the unit-linked insurance plan is unique in that the various funds give the policyholder access to growth markets while the plan guarantees the sum assured - on maturity or death — regardless of the performance of the funds. "This thirteenth product from the life insurer offers complete flexibility in choosing the various funds in different proportions, in switching between funds, surrendering policy (after a minimum of three years) or obtain loans,'' Bishnoi said.
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Andhra Bank unveils slew of tech services
Hyderabad: Andhra Bank has unveiled four technology-driven services - Visa Electronic Card (an ATM-cum-debit card), e-Seva services through ATM network for the citizens to pay their utility bills, e-hundi services enabling devotees to make monetary offerings to Lord Balaji at Tirupati, and Cashtrack, a premium cash management service for corporate customers. Announcing the launch of these new services, the Andhra Bank Chairman and Managing Director, Dr B. Vasanthan, said that the Andhra Bank Visa Electronic Debit Card would be accepted at around 50,000 merchant outlets in the country and millions worldwide. It carries lost card insurance to the tune of Rs 10 lakh and accident insurance coverage of Rs 1 lakh.
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Brokers to meet IRDA chief to discuss notification
New Delhi: Insurance brokers will be meeting the IRDA Chairman, N. Rangachary, in Delhi later this week, to discuss contentious issues on brokerages and business, thrown up in the notification issued by the regulator in March this year. Brokers are peeved that as per the new guidelines, not only is their brokerage substantially reduced, but they have also been banned from all Government and public sector business. In fact, some are understood to be weighing their options about staying in the business, and a few are also contemplating surrendering their licenses, an insurance broker said.
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South Indian Bank to launch global debit card soon
Bangalore: The private sector South Indian Bank Ltd (SIBL) proposes to launch its global debit card shortly once it signs the Memorandum of Understanding with the service providers. A. Sethumadhavan, chairman of the bank, addressing a press conference here, said that the negotiations were in advanced status. He, however, declined to reveal the name of the service provider. The bank also simultaneously planned to complete setting up 100 automatic teller machines before the end of the current year. By this month-end alone, the bank proposed to set up 50 ATMs, he said. The bank, he said has already invested Rs 40 crore for technology upgradation.
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RBI shortlists 8 banks for RBS
Mumbai: A clutch of eight banks are on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) radar for the first round of risk-based supervision (RBS). “The idea seems to be to start with these select players to get a first hand undestanding of their internal risk systems. These could then even be implemented by others who are yet to have such internal systems,” a source said. Among the names of banks doing the rounds are IDBI Bank, Bank of America and Punjab National Bank. Sources indicate that the profile of the eight banks or so on the list runs along these lines — two state-run, two foreign, one new generation and an old private bank, and another two banks. The RBI in its monetary and credit policy for 2003-2004 has already said that it proposes to implment RBS of a few select banks on a pilot-basis during April-June 2003.
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Pricing of IDBI Bank rights issue expected to be low
Mumbai: The board of IDBI Bank will meet on May 19 to consider a rights issue of its equity shares. The main points to be discussed during the meeting would include the pricing of the rights issue and the people who are willing to subscribe to it.
However, the pricing of the rights issue is definitely poised to be very low, market sources said. The logic for this is simple. If IDBI does not sign an agreement to the effect that it will not plan to merge itself with IDBI Bank, investors (foreign and local) will keep away from investing in the bank. IDBI Bank, which is a very healthy bank inspite of the reins that IDBI has on it, has a long list of investors interested in acquiring a part of its equity. But options are limited for these investors, as great uncertainity looms over IDBI’s decision to go for the reverse merger.
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Canara Bank to cut PLR by 25 bps
Mumbai: Canara Bank has decided to cut its prime lending rate (PLR) by 25 basis points (bps) to 11 per cent from June 1, 2003. Currently the rate is at 11.25 per cent. The bank has also decided to cut it’s prime term lending rate (PTLR) by 25 bps to 11.5 per cent from 11.75 per cent. At a press conference, Canara Bank general manager (Mumbai- city circle) VS Reddy said that along with the State Bank of India, Canara Bank would also very soon enter into a joint venture to open up a branch in Russia. “We had been offered an opportunity to take over a bank in Russia around seven years back, but due to the unfavourable conditions nvolved in acquiring it, wie decided against it,” he said.
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Pandyan Grama Bank net profit up 16 per cent to Rs 13.75 crore
Chennai: Pandyan Grama Bank, one of the regional rural banks in the country, has posted a 69 per cent growth in its net profit during the year ended March 2003. Net profit of the bank stood at Rs 13.75 crore as against Rs 8.16 crore in the previous year. Total business of the bank has reached Rs 1,002 crore registering a growth of about 20 per cent. Deposits have gone up by 15 per cent to Rs 568 crore, and advances have increased to Rs 434 crore (Rs 340 crore). Priority sector advances account for nearly 69 per cent of the bank's total advances. Non-performing assets have been brought down to 4.06 per cent from 4.49 per cent.
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