SBI Q3 sees credit increase of 27 per cent in December
Mumbai: The State Bank of India (SBI) is estimated to have witnessed a huge increase in its lending portfolio to 27 per cent in December 2006 from 21.18 per cent at the end of September 2006.

Analysts said SBI's loans portfolio increased by nearly Rs27,000 crore in the three months ended December 31, 2006 when the bank was lending aggressively offering a 50 basis points discount on all retail loans as a festival season offer.

The bank's advances had grown by 21.18 per cent year on year to Rs2,88,840 crore at the end of September 2006. SBI will announce its third quarter results on January 23.

SBI's total loans outstanding at the end of March 2006 stood at Rs2,61,642 crore, up by Rs59,268 crore a year ago. The estimated increase in the third quarter will take the bank's loans portfolio to almost Rs3,15,000 crore.

However, deposits continued to grow at a sluggish pace of around 12 per cent at the end of December leading the bank offer 8.25 per cent interest on all deposits of one year and above.
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ICICI Q3 net up 42 pc
Mumbai: ICICI Bank, the country's second-largest bank, has reported a more than expected 42 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit in the third quarter-ended December 31, 2006, due to a sharp rise in fee income and robust expansion in net interest income with loans growing at 41 per cent.

The bank's net profit increased to Rs910 crore in September-December 2006 from Rs640 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago, with net interest income rising by 32 per cent to Rs1,709 crore from Rs1,296 crore a year earlier and fee income increasing by 53 per cent to Rs1,345 crore.

The net profit growth beat expectations despite a higher provisioning for retail loans and for potential losses from frauds in agricultural credit.

The bank's total provisioning was up 125.51 per cent to Rs890.95 crore in the quarter ended December 2006 from Rs395.07 year earlier.

The bank's net NPAs rose marginally to 1 per cent as on December 31, 2006.

As a result of higher provisioning, the contribution of consumer and commercial banking to ICICI Bank's profit before tax dropped nearly 9 per cent to Rs713.13 crore in the third quarter of 2006-07 from Rs784.35 crore in the same quarter last year.
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PNB hikes fixed deposit rates by 0.25 pc
New Delhi: PSU bank Punjab National Bank said it will raise interest rates on fixed large deposits by 0.25 per cent to 8.25 per cent from January 22.

The bank will hike rates on deposits of Rs15 lakh to less than Rs5 crore, which have maturities of 2-10 years, it said in a release.

The interest rate on fixed deposits was last increased with effect from December 26, 2006, it added.

Banks are under pressure to meet liquidity requirement particularly after the Reserve Bank raised CRR by 0.50 per cent, which sucked out Rs13,500 crore from the system.
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Credit Suisse to launch $1bn realty fund
New Delhi: Credit Suisse, headquartered in Zurich, is planning to introduce a dedicated $1-billion fund for investing in the booming real estate sector in India. The India fund is expected to be announced early in the next fiscal.

According to sources, Credit Suisse's $1-billion investment in real estate will be brought in a phased manner by 2010 and will focus on commercial space. The financial giant plans to build a real estate portfolio with an asset value of around $1 billion over the next 3-5 years.

Sources said the fund will pick up equity in ongoing big projects or those looking for second round of funding to complete their partially operational projects.

The fund is also keen on acquiring management stake in some projects post completion. Typically, after the financing of the project, financiers exit the project by selling the entire stake.
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