SBI offers special account for women in rural areas
Mumbai: State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a special account — SBI Tiny — for women living in rural areas on the occasion of International Women's Day.

Through this, women in villages can open an account through facilitators trusted and recognised by them. The account will provide financial assistance to them for setting up small ventures.
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IndusInd Bank partners with Sharekhan
Mumbai: IndusInd Bank is partnering with Sharekhan to offer on-line transfer of funds facility for investors. Apart from providing facilities for swift movement of funds, the partnership is also aimed at offering investors a platform for on-line trading in shares not only in Tier-I cities but also in other towns as well, IndusInd bank said in a release here.
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IDFC to raise $200 million via ECBs
New Delhi: Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) will raise about $200 million through external commercial borrowings from two multilateral agencies IFC and ADB to step up lending to mega projects.

The financial institution has received the RBI's permission to raise about $150 million from World Bank's private lending arm International Finance Corporation. The ECBs are part of IDFC's strategy to raise cheaper funds for financing.
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Punjab & Sind Bank to implement CBS
Ludhiana: Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) is planning to introduce core banking solutions (CBS) in its 250 branches in the next fiscal. The computerisation programme will be launched in phases, said G S Matta, general manager, PSB.

Two hundred and fifty branches will be brought under CBS network in the first phase. The bank will use outsourcing to launch the system and has already received applications from four vendors, with only one of them being entitled to outsource t he service.

Four companies namely Satyam, TCS, Wipro and HP have expressed keenness in introducing CBS for the bank. The vendor for the purpose will be selected by March end.

The bank, which expects to garner a total business of Rs25,000 crore by the end of this fiscal, will review its interest rates in April in the wake of tight liquidity position in the market.

The bank, with a total of 891 branches in the country, plans to upgrade its 100 extension counters into full-fledged branches in the coming fiscal. It would also reduce its net non-performing assets (NPA) to 3 per cent by the end of this fiscal.
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HDFC Bank offers 4 per cent rebate on gold to women
Mumbai: HDFC Bank has announced a 4 per cent discount on purchase of gold bars through a gold credit card. The offer is targeted at women.

This implies that all women card holders purchasing gold bars from the bank outlets will receive a discount of 4 per cent on the daily gold price quoted by the bank. The bank is also exploring the option of offering sale of silver coins too, subject to regulatory approval.

The bank today launched the women's advantage debit and international gold Visa credit cards.

While the debit cardholders need to pay an annual fee of Rs150, the bank would charge its new credit cardholders a one-time fee of Rs2,000. For its existing customers applying for these cards, the one-time fee would be Rs1,500.

Currently, the total card-base of HDFC Bank stands at 2 million, of which the gold card segment comprises 30-35 per cent. The bank expects at least 50 per cent of the incremental growth in gold credit cards to come from the women customers.
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Bajaj Allianz targets 3-fold rise in premium income
Kolkata: Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company is targeting a 3-fold rise in premium income to Rs3,000 crore for the current financial year. Out of this Rs2,500 crore would be from first premiums and Rs500 crore from renewals.

The company earned a premium income of Rs1,000 crore in the previous fiscal, said Sam Ghosh, chief executive officer, Bajaj Allianz Life, said here.

The company will infuse an additional capital of Rs100 crore by this fiscal end to provide more comfort, he said. Its current capital is Rs368 crore.
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Shriram Transport to merge with Shriram Overseas Finance
Mumbai: Shriram Transport Finance Company said it will merge Shriram Overseas Finance Ltd with itself at a share swap ratio of 3:5.

The appointed date has been fixed as April 01, 2005.

The board has approved the share exchange ratio of three shares of Rs10 each fully paid up of the company for five equity shares of Rs10 each fully paid up of Shriram Overseas, based on the valuation report of Ernst and Young.
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