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IndusInd
bank net up 41 per cent
Kolkata: The IndusInd Bank posted a net profit
of Rs 71.35 crore during the fiscal ended March 31, 2003,
a 41 per cent growth over the previous fiscal’s figure
of Rs 50.75 crore. It has also selected Credit Rating
Information Services of India Ltd (Crisil) for implementing
credit risk assessment models. Crisil will be implementing
five of its risk assessment models for different borrower
types namely large corporate, small & medium enterprises,
non-banking finance companies, traders and brokers, a
press release issued by IndusInd Bank here on Wednesday
stated. During the fiscal 2002-03, the bank posted an
operating profit of Rs 308.51 crore, a 22.19 per cent
growth over the previous fiscal’s figure of Rs 252.48
crore. During the fiscal under review, it was also able
to bring down its net non-performing assets as a percentage
of net advances to 4.52 per cent from 6.59 per cent. Its
profit per employee as of the fiscal under review stands
at Rs 7.58 lakh as against the industry average of Rs
3.74 lakh, the press release stated, adding “The
bank’s business per employee for the fiscal to March
31, 2003 stands at Rs 13.03 crore as against the industry
average of Rs 4.67 crore.” The bank’s capital
adequacy ratio of 2002-03 stands at 12.0 per cent.
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LIC
plans to meet solvency margin needs by March next
New Delhi: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has
prepared a roadmap to meet its solvency margin requirements
by March 31, 2004.
Speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of a FICCI seminar
on `Natural disasters - Fiscal and financial risk management',
C.S. Rao, chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority (IRDA), said, "LIC has given us a plan
to meet solvency margins by March 2004. We are satisfied
with it." He however, did not give details on how
the insurer plans to meet solvency regulations.
LIC's requirement to meet the solvency margin stands at
Rs 10,000 crore, of which it has already met Rs 3,500
crore last year. The insurance company requires about
Rs 6,500 crore more to meet regulatory requirements to
stay in business, Rao also added that the government would
have to amend the LIC Act in order to increase its equity
capital from the present Rs 5 crore to the prescribed
Rs 100 crore.
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DFC
chief for more thrust to city governance
Mumbai: Housing finance has established itself
as a healthy industry, but issues such as city governance
and services relating to the supply side of the housing
market are yet to be addressed, according to HDFC chairman,
Deepak Parekh. "While India has taken great strides
in a number of areas in recent years the one area that
still suffers from unchanged practices over decades resulting
in ever deteriorating services is that of urban development,''
Parekh said in his statement to HDFC shareholders' in
the company's annual report of 2002/2003. According to
him, city governance — the issue of how cities are
financed and managed — has not been addressed adequately.
"Unless there is true leadership that cares to make
those changes our cities and their citizens are condemned
to suffer appalling standards of management and waste
in the delivery of even the most basic of services such
as water and water disposal,'' he said.
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Pvt
banks eye building tools for deploying flush funds
Mumbai: After commercial vehicle finance, private
sector banks are venturing into finance for construction
equipment, to deploy their excess funds. HDFC Bank and
UTI Bank, the latest entrants in this market are capitalising
on the infrastructure development in the country, especially
through the construction of the golden quadrilateral and
the proposed river linkage project. The annual sales of
construction equipment in the country is estimated to
be Rs 4,500 crore, most of which is financed by non-banking
finance companies and banks. Loans in this sector are
typically term loans with tenors ranging between 3-5 years
and the deal size vary from as little as Rs 7 lakh to
Rs 2 crore. These loans are used to purchase equipment
such as dumpers, excavators, motor graders, compactors,
pavers, cranes, dozers and several more depending on the
requirements of the project.
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Bankers
discuss ways to boost credit flow
Hyderabad: Andhra Bank, the Convenor of the State
Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) of Andhra Pradesh, has
held the lead district managers conference here on Wednesday
at its headquarters to evolve strategies to increase the
bank credit flow.
In a press release here, the bank said the lead district
managers of 23 districts and officials of the controlling
offices of the lead banks and the officials of the State
Government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Bank
for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and insurance
have attended the day-long meet. According to the SLBC
Convener and the Andhra Bank general manager, A.L. Nageswara
Rao, the meet discussed strategies for the implementation
of the Annual Action Plan for 2003-04, drought relief
measures, kharif crop loans, implementation of the government-sponsored
schemes and strategies to increase the bank credit flow.
Rao informed the gathering that the SLBC was taking all
the required measures to effectively implement the Annual
Action Plan for 2003-04 with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore.
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StanChart
plans private equity deals in healthcare
Bangalore: Standard Chartered Bank plans to pick
up equity in healthcare institutions and is conducting
due diligence on two such enterprises. The bank had three
proposals for private equity deals in the healthcare segment
and planned to lend the same to business process outsourcing
firms, the regional head for corporate, institutional
and wholesale banking, Ashok Sud, said. The bank plans
to cap its equity exposures in the healthcare segment
to 20-25 per cent in each enterprise. Moreover, it plans
to lend as much as Rs 50-75 crore to new or existing business
process outsourcing operators. "The health sector
has healthy growth", Sud said. "We would be
interested in medical colleges also for debt exposure...
perhaps to fund for expansion or funding new equipments",
he added. "We are looking at financing healthcare,
infrastructure, IT and ITES projects", the CEO-India
region, Christopher Low, said. "The exposure could
be in forms of both debt and equity", Low added.
The bank had earlier arranged for a $100-million preferential
private equity deal for Idea Cellular and retained "significant
amount of shares", Low said.
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PSB
investments in gilts up 22 pc
Chennai: Public sector banks' investment in securities,
mostly in Government securities, has risen by about 22
per cent during 2002-03, compared to 2001-02. The rise
in the outlay on investments is despite strong growth
in advances of about 14.5 per cent and is mainly due to
a robust growth in deposits of about 12 per cent. Investments
in securities have risen by nearly Rs 53,150 crore for
a set of 17 public sector banks, which exclude State Bank
of India. For some banks such as Corporation Bank and
Bank of Baroda, which reported single digit growth in
advances, the outlay on investments have risen by more
than 30 per cent. Banks such as Punjab National Bank and
Canara Bank, on the other hand, have managed large growth
of about between 15 and 20 per cent in both advances and
investments in securities. Incidentally, apart from the
higher growth in deposits, the reduction in the size of
the call money market has also had an effect on growth
in investments in securities. Though a one-to-one correlation
cannot be drawn, moneys' previously invested in the call
money market are now being partly invested in government
securities and `repos'. According to K.V. Hegde, general
manager, treasury, Canara Bank: "the size of the
call money market has declined because there is no demand
for funds. The yields on call money investments have also
declined sharply and the RBI has also imposed limits on
the participation of each bank in the call money market."
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UTI
Bank plans Rs 100-cr bonds
Mumbai: The board of directors of UTI Bank Ltd
has decided to issue non-convertible unsecured redeemable
debentures up to Rs 100 crore in one or more tranches
as Tier-II capital. It also added that the bank's members
had approved the payment of 22 per cent dividend at its
annual general meeting. UTI Bank also announced that A.T.
Pannir Selvam and Jayanth Varma were appointed additional
directors with immediate effect. Selvam will be the nominee
director of the administrator of the specified undertaking
of the UTI and Varma will be an independent director.
Also, the bank today allotted 95,005 equity shares of
Rs 10 each under ESOP to its employees. The paid-up share
capital of UTI Bank will accordingly increase to 23,02,93,894
equity shares from 23,01,98,890 previously.
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Film
industry yet to warm up to insurance
Mumbai: Big gains for an insurer, but miniscule
given the film industry's size. United India Insurance
Co Ltd nearly doubled the size of its film insurance portfolio
over the last one year, to 43 films. The Indian film industry
churns out more than 1,000 films annually. Reported in
April 2002, the insurer's portfolio was 22 films-strong
since starting the business in 1998 with Taal. "Compared
to last year, premia collection has grown by 50 per cent,"
Ajit G. Gupta, development officer overseeing the business,
said. On the average straddling 1-1.5 per cent of a film's
budget, premia collection's overall growth rate trails
the increase in number of insured films because of the
variation in budget sizes. Additions to United India's
kitty include titles such as Saathiya, Joggers Park, Asambhav,
Ek Aur Ek Gyaarah, Chalte Chalte, Main Hoon Na, Taj Mahal,
Khel, Ganga Jal, Kal Ho Na Ho, Lakshya and Deewar. Claims
continue to be few and resolve at the insurer is to stay
on in the business provided profitability is maintained.
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Aviva
launches `LifeShield'
Hyderabad: Aviva Life Insurance, the joint venture between
Dabur and Aviva Plc, launched its pure term insurance
policy - LifeShield - here on Wednesday. The company said
LifeShield guaranteed a lumpsum amount in the unfortunate
event of the death of the life insured during the term
of the policy. However, according to the company, a key
feature of the policy is the offering of preferred rates
to Aviva's PensionPlus policyholders. While PensionPlus
provides financial security to the policyholder post-retirement,
LifeShield offers financial security to the family members
in the event of the death of the individual during his
working life. "Hence, a combination of LifeShield
and PensionPlus is an ideal investment combining savings
post-retirement and protection in the eventuality of death,"
the company said.
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