Home loan rates to remain stable for now
New Delhi: Public sector banks, which collectively command a huge share of the home loan market, are not planning to hike home loan rates, despite HDFC, the leader in housing loan market, stating that it might raise its lending rates.

Punjab National Bank says it is currently concentrating on reducing its cost of funds and increasing efficiency in credit delivery, instead of increasing lending rates.

Union Bank of India officials said the bank was unlikely to revise home loan rates in the near future. The bank is focusing on the deposit side to contain the cost of funds. It is shifting focus from looking for bulk deposits to getting the more sustainable retail deposits. The bank officials said it would also be partly be guided by what its competitor is doing in the home loan segment.

Officials of Syndicate Bank also said there was no proposal for any immediate hike in interest rates on housing loans. However, he said that given the present market situation there might be pressure on banks to take a re-look at their lending rate structure.
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Andhra Bank price band at Rs.82-90
Hyderabad: Andhra Bank's follow-on public issue of equity shares of Rs10 each for cash has been priced in the Rs82 to Rs90 band. The minimum bid size for the issue is 75 shares, the bank stated in a press release.

The issue comprising the sale of 85 million new shares will open on January 16 and close on January 20, 2006. Book running lead managers to the issue are SBI Capital Markets, Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt Ltd, DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd, ENAM Financial Consultants Pvt Ltd, and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd.

The share of Andhra Bank on Friday closed at Rs98.60 against Thursday's closing of Rs101.35 on NSE. The government's stake in the bank after the issue will drop to 51.55 per cent from the current 62.5 per cent.
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Birla Sun Life introduces `Simple Life'
New Delhi: Birla Sun Life Insurance has launched an equity-linked insurance scheme `Simple Life.' The product is designed for the mass market and aims to simplify procedures. The minimum annual payment towards premium is Rs10,000 and the maximum is Rs1 lakh. The age for entering the scheme varies from 30 days to 50 years.
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PSU insurers pay out Rs.614-cr for Mumbai flood claims
New Delhi: The four public sector general insurance companies have paid out Rs614.17 crore in settlement of claims filed for the damage to properties, including motor vehicles, caused by the rains that lashed Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra in July 2005.

Of the Rs614 crore disbursed, about Rs39 crore was cleared for motor vehicles and about Rs575 crore were given out for non-motor claims.

An official release said that the settlement of claims made towards insured properties had been expeditious if one went by the report of the four public sector general insurance companies.
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IRDA cuts entry fee for surveyors
Hyderabad: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has decided to reduce the entry fee and annual subscription amounts.

Earlier, the IRDA and the Indian Institute of Insurance Surveyors and Loss Assessors had stipulated an entry fee of Rs10,000 for the surveyors enrolled before the cut-off date - November 20, 2000, and Rs5,000 for surveyors enrolled after the cut-off date, with an annual subscription of Rs3,500 for Fellow and Rs2,500 for Associate.

As per the new structure, one-time entry fee would be Rs5,000 (uniform for all members) and the annual fee would be Rs2,000 for Fellow and Rs1,500 for Associate.

The due date for submission of applications has also been extended up to February 28.
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Life insurance grows 46 per cent in April-Nov.
New Delhi: Overall life insurance policies grew by 46 per cent in April-November 2005 on the back of 36 per cent increase in business by the country's largest insurer LIC and strong performance by most of the private players.

With competition intensifying, the 14 life-insurers collected Rs16,604 crore in new premium in the first eight months of 2005-06 compared to Rs11,337 crore in the year ago period, according to data compiled by regulator IRDA.

Life Insurance Corporation gave a tough fight to private players, who were fast increasing their market share, to collect Rs12,271 crore in new premium by selling over 1.3 crore policies.

LIC also improved its market share to 73.91 per cent from 73.82 per cent a month ago as two private players - Birla Sunlife and SBI Life - continue to see fall in business.
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AAI to offer bonds
New Delhi: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) plans to come out with a bond issue to finance the development of 35 non-metro airports for Rs5,000 crore.

A global technical advisor (GTA) and a financial consultant (IFC) have considered a plethora of options including public-private partnership for development of the initially selected 10 non-metro airports.

Under phase-I, 10 non-metro airports have been identified for development keeping in view the potential for traffic, tourism and business. The GTA/IFC has submitted Techno-Economic Feasibility Reports for phase-I for 10 non-metro airports.

These airports to be upgraded include are Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Guwahati, Jaipur, Udaipur, Trivandrum, Lucknow, Goa, Madurai and Mangalore. The estimated cost of development of these 10 airports is Rs1874 crore.
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RBI readies plans to widen rural bank network
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India's task force set up for the revival of rural co-operative credit institutions has recommended outsourcing the process to cater to underserviced areas and the rural poor.

The task force has also suggested lowering the FDI threshold for NBFCs and micro-finance institutions from US$500,000 to US$100,000.

The task force has admitted to gaps in the availability of such services in the rural areas as co-operative banks cover only 18.4 per cent of the rural population via savings/deposit accounts and just 17.2 per cent of rural households by way of loan accounts. This is despite commendable network expansion.

The task force has recommended linkages between banks and external entities. The first model suggests that banks should use an array of civil service societies, NGOs to support them by undertaking non-financial services. The second involves institutional agents and other external entities to support banks in extending services.
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