HDFC Bank, NIC join hands
Mumbai: HDFC Bank in association with the National Insurance Company (NIC) and MasterCard International on Wednesday launched an innovative co-branded international credit card — Health Plus Card-aimed at distributing third-party health and life insurance products. The credit card, priced at Rs 950 per annum and to be rolled out in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai in the first phase, would include free and cashless mediclaim of Rs 50,000 plus a critical illness cover of Rs 1.50 lakh, bank managing director Aditya Puri told said.

The mediclaim offer is also available to add-on cardholders and customers have the option to purchase additional mediclaim covers at discount upto 50 per cent. “With healthcare posing huge concerns with respect to quality and cost, the latest offering from HDFC Bank should go a long way in reducing customer anxiety,” Puri said. “We plan to sell 15,000-20,000 mediclaim policies in the first year of the alliance with HDFC Bank,” said NIC general manager S Majumder.
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PNB to to acquire 30% In IDBI Principal JV
New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB) will be paying Rs 42 crore to buy out 30 per cent stake in the erstwhile IDBI Principal asset management joint venture. It expects about 3.5 per cent premium on the capital it will bring to the joint venture. For the present, it will transfer assets of nearly Rs 126 crore of PNB Mutual Fund to supplement the Rs 1,800-crore assets at present under management of the Principal AMC. PNB holding will stand at 30 per cent in the AMC, with Vijaya Bank taking up 5 per cent and Principal the rest, a memorandum for which will be signed this month.

Principal had recently bought out IDBI stake from the 50:50 AMC. PNB chairman SS Kohli told newspersons here on Wednesday that its insurance joint venture with Vijaya Bank, the Principal Group and Berger Paints would also be ready by October. He also disclosed that the annual general meeting held earlier this week had approved a proposal to return equity worth Rs 132 crore to the government as per the existing policy in the matter. In case of any change in government policy, the issue would be reviewed, he adedd. The move was aimed at considerably enhancing its share value.
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Crisil says paper firms' ratings will remain stable
Mumbai: The Credit Rating and Information Services of India (Crisil) says the credit quality of domestic paper companies is likely to remain stable over the short- to medium-term, barring any sizeable merger or acquisition activity. This is attributable to improved price outlook for most product categories, steady demand of around 5-6 per cent per annum, limited capacity addition and modest capital spending on account of environmental projects.

In Crisil’s view, these factors would support a gradual improvement in the financial profile of companies, going forward. Limited capacity additions in recent years coupled with stable demand-growth of around 5-6 per cent per annum has steadily lowered the demand-supply mismatch in the domestic paper industry. This, Crisil said, has contributed to the firm trend in prices of writing and printing paper (creamwove and maplitho varieties) and industrial paper (duplex board and kraft) since April 2002.
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ABN Amro launches online funds transfer
Mumbai: ABN Amro Bank’s Netbanking users can now make a funds transfer request online, to any account in another bank. In this facility, funds are transferred to the credit account with the other participating bank using the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) EFT (electronic funds transfer) service without any charge. The RBI will act as the service provider and credit to the other bank’s account is effected within 24 hours.

Debit from a customer’s account is made online. However, credit to the other bank’s account will be effected the next day only. If the request is submitted before 12 noon IST, the payment will be effected by the next working day. Transactions made post 12 noon will be sent to RBI the next day, and hence, the credit will be effected the day after. The bank has certain limits on the funds that can be transferred. The amount depends upon the customer’s relationship with the bank. At present, it is Rs 50,000 for general customers, Rs one lakh for value plus customers and Rs two lakh for relationship customers. The per-transaction limit is Rs 50,000 for all. EFT payments can also be scheduled for a future date. A customer will even be able to create a frequency of such payments like -- one-time, weekly, monthly, annually, etc.
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