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Y V Reddy takes charge as new RBI governor
Mumbai: Dr Y V Reddy has taken charge as the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday. Calling on Dr Reddy in office were State Bank of India chairman A K Purwar and Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman G N Bajpai.

Reddy also had a luncheon meeting with his A-team — deputy governors Rakesh Mohan, Vepa Kamesam and K J Udeshi along with the executive directors (EDs). Later in the day, Reddy also met up with office-bearers of the RBI officers' association and employees' unions.
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Trickle-down effect for bank credit
Mumbai: Banks, which so far had confined their lending to the top tier companies, finally being forced to lend to companies that are not the top-rated ones. As a result, credit is at last beginning to become available to companies down the line, reports say.

Faced with three problems (surplus liquidity, a decline in credit offtake, and lack of lucrative investment avenues) banks are now being forced to offer loans at below prime lending rates (7-8 per cent) to even companies that have ratings a notch or two lower (AA and A).
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SBI plan to tap RIB outflows
Mumbai: The State Bank of India (SBI) is reportedly coming out with two products to tap redemption proceeds of Resurgent India Bonds (RIBs), which mature from 1 October. Market sources were quoted as saying that while one product is meant for deposits received in India, the other is for deposits received at overseas centres.

Both the products mature in a year. The Indian rupee deposit comes with an in-built hedge for exchange rate risk. Under the scheme, dollar deposits will be converted into rupees and a exchange rate risk provided for the entire period. The depositor will get rupee interest rates, as applicable on NRE deposits, with the entire exchange rate risk covered by the bank, on maturity.
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Home financeraises $20 million
Mumbai: IDBI Homefinance has raised $20 million via external commercial borrowings to diversify its portfolio even as IDBI today formally took over Tata Home Finance Ltd (THFL), a subsidiary of Tata Finance (TFL). THFL will now be renamed IDBI Homefinance. "The company has a bank borrowing of Rs 400 crore. In order to diversify the portfolio we will avail of refinance from National Housing Bank (NHB) of around Rs 75-100 crore. We will also go in for an ECB of $20 million. We will also look at accessing the primary debt market," said Melwyn Rego, managing director & CEO of IDBI Homefinance.

The IDBI-THFL deal was initiated on May 30 with the signing of a share purchase agreement with TFL. ICRA Advisory Services conducted the due diligence on behalf of IDBI. TFL had a 63 per cent in the company, while the UK-based Abbey National held the balance stake. TFL took over Abey' stake in the company. The sale, also marks Abbey's exit from India. IDBI Home Finance will also look at opening satellite offices. "The first priority will be to set up offices in places where IDBI has its own offices," Rego added. IDBI has 38 branches across the country. THFL has 16 branches in 12 cities and its home loan portfolio is around Rs 450 crore.
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domain-B : Indian business : News Review : 09 September 2003 : banking and finance