BoI CMD plans rate cuts across the board
Mumbai: Bank of India's new chairman-cum-managing director, M Venugopalan, is planning to cut lending rates across the board. The bank has already cut its rates for retail products such as home and personal loans and will cut its prime lending rate (PLR) for corporate loans as well. Venugopalan said: "We have already cut rates for retail loans. The asset liability committee (Alco) of the bank will soon decide on a cut in our PLR."

At present, Bank of India's PLR is pegged at 11.5 per cent which is relatively high compared with other big public banks. State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have lower PLR than BoI. Venugopalan, the first Bank of India CMD to rise from the ranks, has chalked out a four-pronged growth strategy: building a technology platform, pushing retail loans, targeting small and medium sector for asset growth and over-all paring of lending rates.
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RBI plans direct membership for primary dealers in RTGS
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering a proposal to allow direct membership for primary dealers (PDs) in the yet-to-be introduced real time gross settlement (RTGS) plan. At a meeting with PDs yesterday, a proposal to include PDs as RTGS members with limited access was considered. This essentially means PDs can access RTGS for their own transactions and not for customer transactions, said market sources.

Earlier, the RBI had worked out a two-tier system for RTGS—direct membership and indirect membership. While banks are included as direct members with accessibility to the RTGS both for their own transactions as well as for deals handled on behalf of their customers, primary dealers were proposed to be clubbed with other participants as indirect members. But PDs requested the RBI to reconsider the move stating that over
30-40 per cent of the transactions get settled through them and hence barring them from direct membership will affect their transaction cost.
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SBI starts online ticketing
Bangalore: The State Bank of India yesterday announced the launch of e-RAIL, its online reservation system, which allows its internet banking customers to make online booking of railway tickets. The bank has tied up with the India Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) to provide the service. SBI's internet banking customers will now be able to book tickets through the IRCTC site and pay for the tickets fy direct debit to their accounts on www.onlinesbi.com.

SBI chairman A K Purwa said the bank would not hold roadshows in the US for its renewed Resurgent India Bonds scheme, which being offered from next month. "There will be no roadshows in the US for the time being as we have some issues to be sorted out with the US government. But NRI investors in the US will be eligible to either renew the existing bonds or go for the new bonds being offered at the prevailing interest rates."
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ICICI Bank acquires 12.65% HFCL equity
Mumbai: ICICI Bank, the second largest commercial bank has acquired 3.6 crore shares aggregating 12.65 per cent of Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) due to a default in loan payment by the latter. The acquisition by the bank is done on par. The date of acquisition of shares is 27 August 2003.

HFCL chairman Mahendra Nahata reportedly said that it is not a default from his side, but an act of restructuring the loan. "This is a misrepresentation and we will be talking to ICICI Bank about this," he added. The original loan of HFCL from ICICI Bank is to the extent of Rs 200 crore, he pointed out. The mode of acquisition of HFCL equity by ICICI Bank is through loan conversion (the loan agreement stipulated condition for conversion into equity shares on default in payment), ICICI Bank informed the National Stock Exchange here on Tuesday.
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BoB, BoI explore JV possibilities in Latin America
Mumbai: Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Bank of India (BoI) are exploring possibilities to set up joint ventures in Latin American countries. The plan includes setting up offices in Argentina and Brazil. Besides, both the banks are also planning to set up offices in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies. BoB is also examining the feasibility of expansion of its US operations to Texas and California. BoB, which has 38 overseas branches, is in the process of opening offices in Malaysia. The bank, however, is yet to get the final nod from the Reserve Bank of India for its Malaysian venture.

BoB management shared its future plans on Tuesday with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, which is on a two-day visit in Mumbai to ascertain the working of public sector banks. It could also be noted that BoB had recently got approvals from RBI for opening a fully-owned arm in Tanzania and a representative office in China. The bank is currently in talks with regulatory authorities in the respective countries for the final approval.
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