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State
Bank completes networking 1,600 ATMs
Kolkata: The country’s biggest public sector
commercial bank, State Bank of India (SBI), on Tuesday
announced that it has completed its project of networking
1,600 automated teller machines (ATM) as well as its seven
associate banks. SBI’s seven associate banks are
State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore, State
Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur,
State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Indore and State Bank
of Saurashtra. The new facility has become perative from
June 1, 2003, an SBI spokesman said. “The facility
will bring in added convenience to the customers of the
entire State Bank Group as they can transact at any ATM
of the SBI and its associate banks,” he said. He
said that the SBI ATM network now covers over 460 cities
across India and SBI has further plans to offer higher
value addition to the ATM-cum-Debit Card, such as payment
of utility bills through ATMs and filling up of mobile
prepaid cards through ATMs. SBI also intends to add another
200 ATMs by March 31, 2004, taking the total number of
ATMs to 3,600. “This is a part of the technology
mission of the bank encompassing core banking and multi-delivery
customer channels,” he said.
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HC
stays DRT order attaching Maharashtra govt assets, A/cs
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday heaved
a sigh of relief after the Bombay High Court stayed, till
June 13, an order passed by the Debt Recovery Tribunal
(DRT) attaching immovable properties of the state government
and its two accounts maintained by the Reserve Bank of
India and State Bank of India to recover Rs 91 crore dues
from six spinning mills in the cooperative sector. Hearing
a writ plea by the state government, Chief Justice CK
Thakker and Justice Vijaya Tahilramani, in an ad-interim
ruling, had stayed the order and posted the matter for
substantive arguments on that day. Advocate General Goolam
Vahanvati contended that the money lying with the RBI
belonged to the Consolidated Fund and hence could not
be attached. The closing balance, as on May 28, of Rs
124.88 crore in the account no 6102002003 with RBI has
been frozen/blocked. He argued that no money out of the
consolidated fund be appropriated except in accordance
with law and in the manner provided in Constitution, which
provides that the legislative assembly of the state can
pass money bills. He submitted that the DRT does not empower
attachment of public monies and funds, that too the consolidated
fund of the state government in custody of the RBI and
SBI. Further DRT could have directed the concerned officials
to prohibit any withdrawals and report any deposits made.
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DRT
recoveries rise by 51 pc
New Delhi: Recoveries made through Debt Recovery
Tribunals (DRTs) touched Rs 3,252 crore during the year
2002-03 as against a level of Rs 2,153 crore during the
previous year. For the first time, the number of cases
disposed of exceeded the number of fresh cases registered,
an official release said hereon Tuesday. At a meeting
held to review the performance of DRTs, the minister of
state for finance (banking & insurance), Anandrao
V. Adsul, advised the banks and financial institutions
not to seek adjournments unless there are compelling circumstances
to do so.
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Birla
Sun Life eyes 165 per cent growth in first premium income
in ’03-04
Kolkata: Birla Sun Life Insurance Co Ltd hopes
to achieve 165 per cent growth in its first premium income
during the fiscal 2003-04. Birla Sun chief financial officer
Peter Akers said: “We have recorded a first premium
income figure of Rs 170 crore in last fiscal and hope
to increase it to Rs 450 crore this fiscal. Birla Sun
Life is a joint venture between Aditya Birla Group and
Sun Life Financial. Birla Sun had sold 75,000 policies
in the last fiscal, Akers said, adding: “We hope
to increase it to 1,80,000 in the current year.”
Total sum assured had stood at Rs 6,018 crore last fiscal.
“We will substantially increase it by the end of
this fiscal,” he said. He added: “Currently
we have a Rs 200 crore capital and we may go in for further
capital infusion as and when the need arises.” Last
year Birla Sun was able to elevate its rank to the number
two position amongst private life insurers following its
emphasis on unit linked life insurance plans, he added.
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RBI
to internally adopt new repo a/c norms
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will internally
follow the new repo accounting norms when such transactions
are done on the negotiated dealing system (NDS). It is
already in the process of moving towards the new accounting
format. “It is just a technological issue. Once repos
transactions become NDS-enabled, the RBI will also follow
the repos accounting norms to maintain uniformity,”
a source close to the development said. The RBI will hold
a workshop on June 21 with market participants to address
the initial problems on adhering to the new norms. It
had recently issued the standardised accounting norms
for repos transactions to create uniformity in market
practices. As of now, these norms apply only for repos
between market players; and are not applicable to the
repos under RBI’s liquidity adjustment facility (LAF).
At present, only the RBI regulated entities follow the
new repos guidelines. Mutual funds (MFs), major counterparts
in the repos market and essentially lenders in the market,
do not follow the guidelines. Some quarters feel that
MFs should also follow the same norms as differences in
accounting practices between them and other RBI-regulated
players do not hamper such transactions. Sources in state-run
banks pointed out that “when counter-parties (read
MFs) are not executing the new norms, we cannot follow
these too because there will be problems in documentation.”
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