Aviva to infuse another Rs 45 cr in insurance JV
New Delhi: Dabur Group and UK-based CGU will infuse an additional Rs 45 crore to hike their capital base to Rs 200 crore in its life insurance joint venture by January, 2004. “We will have to certainly bring in additional capital of about Rs 45 crore, probably by January, because of increased business,” Aviva CEO Stuart Purdy said. With this, the total paid-up capital would stand at Rs 200 crore, including the Rs 45 crore capital brought in 2002-03. The 60:40 joint venture, which is the youngest entrant in India after opening up of the sector, started with an initial capital of Rs 110 crore.
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BoB net up 41 per cent to Rs 773 cr in ’02-03
Mumbai: Bank of Baroda (BoB) has reported a 41.55 per cent rise in its net profit for the fiscal 2002-03 at Rs 772.78 crore as compared to Rs 545.93 crore in the preceding fiscal. Operating profit grew by 31.11 per cent at Rs 1716.63 crore (Rs 1,309.26 crore). The board, which approved the results on Tuesday, has recommended a 60 per cent dividend, including 20 per cent interim dividend for the fiscal 2002-03. Earning per share rose to Rs 26.11 for the last fiscal compared to Rs 18.44 in the preceding one. Return on net-worth has gone up to 18.73 per cent (15.36 per cent). For the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2003, BoB’s net profit was at 198.36 crore, reflecting a 85.82 crore rise from Rs 106.75 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal. Operating profit for the period was at Rs 419.68 crore (Rs 373.96 crore), reflecting a growth of 12.23 per cent.
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BOB to set up 100 per cent arm in Tanzania
New Delhi: Bank of Baroda (BoB) will soon set up a subsidiary in Tanzania as part of efforts to globalise its presence and was set to operationalise the Overseas Banking Unit (OBU) in Mumbai within two months. “We will soon start a subsidiary in Tanzania,” BoB chief PS Shenoy said, adding it would be a 100 per cent entity. This comes at a time when India has embarked on ‘Focus Africa’ programme in a bid to achieve an ambitious one per cent share in the global export. BoB had opened its first OBU at Mombasa in Kenya in 1953 and at present it has 61 branches (including subsidiaries and joint ventures) in 16 countries.
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Non-life insurers allowed to offer first loss cover
Hyderabad: Following the recommendations of the Tariff Advisory Committee (TAC), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has decided to permit non-life insurance companies to introduce first loss cover, particularly in the householders' policies. Several general insurance companies had earlier requested the insurance regulator to allow them to introduce first loss cover in the householders' policies. According to the insurance regulator, householders' package policies issued on first loss basis should include at least combination of one or more of 10 sections mentioned by the regulator, besides fire insurance of building and contents. The insurers were also permitted to add other sections before filing the product with the authority.
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SQC close to deals with banks
Thiruvanathapuram: The Bangalore-based Software Quality Centre (SQC), transition partner with the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University and lead assessor against CMM and CMMI models, is extending the information systems (IS) security and controls practice to banks and other institutions in India. "We are intent on replicating our success with major clients such as FleetBoston, Fidelity and University of Massachusetts in the US and Citibank-UAE in India. We are rejuvenating the practice here what with the public sector banks making it mandatory that their information systems be subjected to proper audit",r Krishnan Puthucode, director and chief executive officer, SQC, a certified information systems auditor himself,said here.
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LIC Housing Fin raises $50 m
Mumbai: LIC Housing Finance Ltd has raised external commercial borrowings of $50 million or about Rs 234.5 crore for disbursement of housing loans at 69 basis points above London Inter Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR). LIBOR for six months was at 1.21 per cent on Tuesday.The housing finance company plans to raise another Rs 2,000-2,500 crore in this financial year for increased business requirements, said a press release from LIC Housing Finance.
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Banks shed some coyness
Chennai: It may still be a bit premature to say that banks have started baring all, but they are certainly revealing more than before.
Banks are required by statute and guidelines from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), issued at periodical intervals, to provide information on a variety of operational matters in their balance sheets and annual reports. Over the past couple of years, some new information has been disclosed every year. For instance, during the last two years, banks have been disclosing the maturity pattern of their assets and liabilities; this year, there are some more items.
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Punjab & Sind offers FC a/c for residents
New Delhi: Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB) has announced the introduction of Resident Foreign Currency (Domestic) Account for resident individuals. In a release issued here on Tuesday, the bank said the account could be opened in four designated currencies - US dollar, Pound, Euro and Yen. Withdrawal from the account is permissible in Indian rupees also and that separate account for each currency has to be opened. Cheque facility is also available in the said account.
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NOBO turns heat on BoR CMD
Jaipur: In a new twist to the share deal issue involving Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) chairman PK Tayal, the National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO) has alleged that the bank CEO and managing director KM Bhattacharya, had illegally procured Rs 9 crore shares for Rs 1.2 crore for the promoters after his takeover. NOBO has demanded the sacking of Bhattacharya and said that after he joined BoR in 2000, he had ordered issue of shares against non-tradeable warrants issued by BoR earlier. Subsequently the issue was not fully subscribed and hence some warrant holders applied for additional shares.
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State Bank targets CV f inance
Kolkata: After the successful completion of a joint initiative with Maruti Udyog Ltd in providing passenger car finance at affordable rates, the country’s biggest public sector commercial bank, State Bank of India (SBI), is looking for fresh tie-ups with leading commercial vehicle (CV) manufacturers. A highly-placed SBI official said that while the joint initiative with Maruti was aimed at the middle class, similar ones with CV manufacturers would target new entrants in the transport industry as individuals. “For the purpose of entering into CV financing, SBI is open to the idea of entering into joint initiatives with more than one CV manufacturer. One joint initiative might be for light commercial vehicles and the other for heavy commercial vehicles,” he pointed out.
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