SBBJ to split stock, float public issue
Coimbatore: The State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) is planning a stock split and floating a public issue very soon. However, the bank would have to wait for the necessary legislation to be passed in Parliament before taking a decision at the board level, bank sources said.

The bank's share with a face value of Rs100 is quoting at over Rs4,200.

"We plan to go to the public because we need a bigger base to conform to the Basel II norms. The board will take a call on these issues," said M. Ramaswamy, the chief general manager of the bank.
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SBI Life posts Rs 2.02-cr net
Mumbai: SBI Life Insurance has registered a net profit of Rs2.02 crore for fiscal 2005-06, and is the first private life insurer to break even since the sector was opened up to privatisation in 2001.

Set up in March 2001, SBI Life, a joint venture between SBI and France-based, Cardif SA, has been riding on the bancassurance model to rake in premium. In FY05-06, bancassurance contributed to 43 per cent of the total premium at Rs470 crore.

Seventy per cent of SBI Life's premium from bancassurance comes through the sale of individual and group policies at State Bank of India's 6500 branches. In the recently concluded fiscal, SBI Life generated new business premium of Rs828 crore, a growth of 72 per cent from Rs483 crore in the previous year.
The company has set a target of new business premium of Rs2,000 crore in the current fiscal.

At present, the company ranks fourth among private insurers and has a market share of 2.3 per cent. The company's fund performance was buoyed by its `Horizon equity fund', which has been showing a return of 136 per cent since its inception in April'05.

In terms of new products, SBI Life will launch the pension version of its existing ULIPs and also introduce unit-linked superannuation and gratuity schemes to expand its group corporate business.
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State Bank of Hyderabad net up 70 pc
Hyderabad: The State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) has registered a growth of 24.34 per cent in total business, 21.71 per cent in operating profit and 70.2 per cent in net profit for the fiscal ended March 2006.

The bank posted a total business of Rs56,738 crore, an operating profit of Rs868.09 crore and a net profit of Rs427.04 crore for the fiscal under review, which were approved by the SBH board on Tuesday. This has yielded an EPS of Rs2,476 per share of Rs100 each, while the book value per share improved to Rs12,255 (Rs10,236).

According to Amitabha Guha, SBH managing director, the bank recorded a growth of 19.73 per cent in deposits at Rs35,474 crore (Rs29,627 crore), while the advances improved by 32.88 percent at Rs21,264 crore (Rs16,002 crore). The credit deposit ratio improved to 61.83 per cent (55.53 per cent). The bank has proposed a dividend of 400 per cent for the year under review.

The bank also increased its share in total business to 1.56 per cent during the year against 1.53 per cent in the previous fiscal; share in deposits were at 1.65 per cent (1.62 per cent), while market share in advances improved to 1.42 per cent (1.39 per cent).
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Central Bank may get nod from center for IPO
Mumbai: Central Bank of India hopes to get government approval for its proposed initial public offer (IPO) soon. Ms Daruwalla, managing director of the bank said, "We hope to come out with the IPO in the current fiscal." The IPO size and other details will be decided after the government approval, she said.
The bank reported a lower profit of Rs257.42 crore for the year ended March 31, 2006 as against Rs357.41 crore in the previous year. This was mainly because of the Rs688 crore hit the bank took on account of its investments in government securities.

She said the bank's overall performance has been good with business exceeding Rs1,05,678 crore. The gross NPA has come down to 6.85 per cent from 9.01 per cent and net NPA to 2.59 per cent from 2.98 per cent.

Advances increased by 34.76 per cent to Rs39,195 crore from Rs29,085 crore. Total deposit increased by 9.43 per cent to Rs66,483 crore from Rs60,752 crore.
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HSBC has more than 3000 accounts in SME sector
Mumbai: HSBC expects its lending to the SME sector to grow by 30 per cent in the current year in India. The bank, which started offering specially designed products to Indian SME customers last year, has over 3,000 accounts in this segment, Subir Mehra, head - commercial banking, HSBC India, said, "Considering India has over 12 million registered SSI units, the bank's share in this segment is currently negligible, but we expect a growth of 30 per cent," he said.

He said Indian SMEs are the most optimistic about the economic outlook, among their peers the world over, he quoted a survey conducted by HSBC among 4,000 businesses in 18 countries in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US. He added that the survey also showed that SME business in the Asia-Pacific region has high level of international business.

In India, 88 per cent of SMEs (with an annual turnover of below Rs50 crore) and 98 per cent of MMEs (middle-market enterprises with a turnover of between Rs50 crore and Rs300 crore) surveyed, said the economic situation is currently "very good" and they think the outlook for the next 12 months is "better."
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