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Peerless
General gets RBI stamp
Kolkata: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted
a registration certificate to Peerless General Finance
& Investment Co Ltd, the country’s largest residuary
non-banking company (RNBC). Peerless thus becomes one
of the few deposit-taking non-banking companies to have
passed the stringent norms set by the RBI way back in
1996 with a 2003 deadline. “We have net-owned funds
(NOF) in excess of Rs 200 crore,” Peerless’
chairman DN Ghosh said on Tuesday at the launch of a new
product. He said Peerless had not only met the RBI’s
NOF target of Rs 25 lakh long ago, but now it has fulfiled
the promises it had made in its 1997 plan.
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LIC
eastern zone tops national charts
Kolkata: Eastern India continues to be a goldmine
for Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), with its zonal office
here topping the national charts in number of policies
sold, sum assured and first premium income (FPI). LIC
zonal manager, east, Mr RK Misra, said his zone accounted
for a total sum assured of Rs 37,247 crore for the year
to March 31, 2003, against Rs 38,667 crore the previous
year. The number of policies sold added up to 62,47,000,
with a record 17,75,000 being sold in March alone.
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LIC
plans lower-rate credit card
Kolkata: LIC is negotiating an interest rate of
12 per cent per annum for a co-branded credit card it
plans to offer to select policy-holders. Currently, LIC
is in talks with credit card associations. Current card
interest rates range from 34 to 44 per cent per annum.
Credit card issuers highlight their “low” rates
of 2.95 per cent, without specifying that these are monthly
figures compounded into annual rates.
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Moody’s
retains negative view of American insurance sector
New Delhi: Eight months after it lowered the outlook
for the US insurance industry from “stable”
to “negative”, Moody’s Investors Service
has maintained the outlook at the same level. It has cited
negative trends such as a weak economy, down equity markets
and significant credit losses in insurers’ fixed
income portfolios. The rating agency said in New York
on Tuesday that the persistence of these negative credit
trends will put increased strain on the industry’s
earnings and capital formation until at least sometime
in 2004.
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ICICI
Lombard to cover medicinal plant cultivation
Hyderabad: In a bid to cover the risks involved
in the booming medicinal plants cultivation, ICICI Lombard
General Insurance Company Ltd (ICICI Lombard) has come
out with a policy offering ‘planting material input
policy’ covering losses due to various natural and
pest attacks. “We find the export potential for the
medicinal plants the world over accordingly we want to
encourage the farmers by offering risk cover,” Kartik
Jain, head, marketing and retail, ICICI Lombard told the
media here on Wednesday. Initially, the company offers
the policy for the farmers cultivating ‘Safed Musli’
(Chlorophytum Biovirilianum), which is a basic ingredient
in preparation of Chyavanprash. Gradually, it proposes
to extend a similar policy to all other medicinal plants
identified by the medicinal plants board, Jain said. Further
to monitor the farming activity, ICICI Lombard has entered
into an alliance with Hyderabad-based Nandan Agro Farms,
which is engaged as consulting agency for the farmers
in medicinal plan cultivation.
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Oriental
Bank credit card this month
Bhubaneswar: The Oriental Bank of Commerce is all
set to enter the market with its credit card this month.
“In the next few weeks, the bank’s credit cards
would be in the market,” executive director VK Chopra
said. Though the date is not yet finalised, it would be
within the next 15 to 20 days, he said. The board of directors
would take a decision on this in its meeting on Monday.
Once the board approves, the card business would be launched
all over the country. The bank has a tie up with Master
Card for the card business.
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Corpn
Bank 2002-03 net rises 35 per cent to Rs 416 crore
Mumbai: Corporation Bank has recorded a growth
of 35 per cent in its net profit at Rs 415.99 crore for
2002-03 as compared to Rs 308.10 crore in the previous
fiscal with a handsome growth in income from treasury
operations and fee-based activities. Total income for
2002-03 grew by 13.20 per cent to Rs 2,634.26 crore (Rs
2,327.63 crore) and total interest income increased by
8.1 per cent to Rs 2,102.52 crore. For the fourth quarter
of 2002-03, the net profit posted a marginal rise at Rs
47.28 crore compared to Rs 45.39 crore in the corresponding
quarter last fiscal. Total income for the quarter rose
to Rs 656.94 crore (Rs 583.45 crore), the bank’s
chairman and managing director K Cherian Varghese, said
on Wednesday. The board has recommended a dividend of
45 per cent as against 40 per cent for the year 2001-02.
The bank will continue its emphasis on low-cost retail
deposits, Varghese said adding that the cost of deposits
of the bank has come down to 6.7 per cent from 7.6 per
cent.
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Co-op
bank victims appeal to AP Governor
Hyderabad: The victims of crisis-ridden co-operative
banks in the State on Wednesday appealed to Surjit Singh
Barnala, the Governor, to see to it that their interests
were protected. C.C. Reddy, the Founder-Trustee of Visu
Trust, met the Governor on behalf of the victims and appraised
him about the situation. Visu Trust is representing the
victims and agreed to bear the expenses to fight a legal
battle.
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IDBI
Bank sees assets on books growing 148 pc
Bangalore: IDBI Bank Ltd plans to grow its retail
assets on books to Rs 4,000 crore in the current fiscal,
up 148.75 per cent from Rs 1,608 crore a year ago, S.
Kumar, Head-Retail Assets, said. The growth is likely
to be powered by new product offerings and tapping of
newer markets in tier-II cities. Majority of the growth
would be triggered through housing advances. Close to
90 per cent of Rs 1,608 crore was through housing finance
and such advances are likely to account for 75 per cent
of the retail assets for the current year, he said. Close
to 32 per cent of the bank's book was accounted for by
retail assets in the last financial year.
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Bank
of India hikes deposit rates
Mumbai: Bank of India has decided to increase the
interest rate on short-term deposits by 50 basis points.
The change in the rates in the maturity buckets of `7-14
days' and `15-45 days' will be effective May 20, a press
release from the bank said. For deposits with maturity
between 7-14 days, the interest rate has been increased
to 4.50 per cent (4 pc) per annum and for deposits with
maturity between 15-45 days, the interest rate has been
upped to 4.75 per cent (4.25 pc).
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ICRA
in talks with Arab cos for services
New Delhi: After assigning its first international
rating along with the Kuwait-based Credit Rating &
Collection Company (CRC), the ICRA on Wednesday said that
it was in talks with other Arab nations for extending
its technical expertise. It is also open to picking up
stakes in rating agencies in those countries that allow
foreign participation. P.K. Choudhury, Managing Director,
told presspersons that the rating agency was in advanced
stage of negotiations with the Sultanate of Oman and was
talking to a couple of other countries as well for offering
advisory and rating services.
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AMP
Sanmar's gambit paying off
Chennai: The Rs 8.5-crore (annualised) premium
that AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Company earned in the year
2002-03 may have fallen short of the company's internal
target (of Rs 15 crore) for the year. But, the performance
conformed to the business plan submitted to the Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), along with
the application for the licence, the company's Vice-Chairman,
Sankara V. Mony, said here on Tuesday. The company sold
over 16,000 policies, covering around 25,000 lives, involving
a total sum assured of Rs 120 crore.
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HDFC
business up 30 per cent in Gulf region
Abu Dhabi: HDFC registered a 30 per cent growth
in business in the UAE and Gulf region in the 2002-2003
fiscal and plans are on to tie up with a service associate
in Abu Dhabi shortly to extend its reach in the emirate.
K. Bharadwaj, Branch Manager of HDFC's Dubai office,said
that lower interest rates and growing confidence in Indian
real estate developers had resulted in increased number
of loan applications and disbursals in the fiscal gone
by.
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IRDA
devises `simple' pension plan
Hyderabad: Aimed at providing a plan with a uniform
technical structure, the Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority (IRDA) has devised what it calls a simple, standard
pension plan for all life insurance companies to offer
to the public, following the recommendations submitted
by the Shinkar Committee. According to IRDA, "The
presence of such a plan in the market would increase the
general awareness of the public towards pension savings
and act as an entry-level product into this vital area
of investment that each Indian investor should be considering
for himself or herself."
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