Pension funds to be managed by PSUs only
New Delhi: The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has said that only public sector companies can be pension fund managers under the new pension system (NPS).

PFRDA has clearly laid out that no foreign or private firm would be eligible to apply.

The last date for submission of EOI for pension fund managers from eligible entities is May 25. The primary memorandum for appointment of pension fund managers was issued by the PFRDA on May 11.

To be eligible, the sponsors must have at least five years experience of fund management and the average assets under management should be more than Rs10,000 crores during March 2007.
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RBI widens priority sector lending scope
Mumbai: the Reserve Bank has included minority communities under the ambit of weaker sections to whom domestic commercial banks are mandated to lend 10 pc of their total loans sanctioned.

Weaker sections, which come under priority sector for lending purposes, hitherto included scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, small and marginal farmers, artisans and distressed urban poor indebted to non-institutional lenders.

Domestic commercial banks have to lend 40 pc of net loans to priority sectors, while foreign banks have to provide 32 pc to these sectors.

Within priority sectors, domestic commercial banks have to provide 10 pc of their net lending to weaker sections, but there is no such specific target for foreign banks.

These states/union territories are Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Sikkim, Mizoram, Nagaland and Lakshadweep, the guidelines added.
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Govt tightens rules for overseas borrowing for firms
New Delhi: The Government has made it harder for the less creditworthy and smaller local companies to raise funds abroad. The finance ministry on Friday said that the ceiling has been lowered to 150 basis points over six-month Libor from the earlier 200 basis points for overseas borrowings by Indian companies for maturities between three and five years. For maturities over five years the ceiling has been reduced to 250 basis points over six-month Libor from 350 basis points. The ceilings had been revised in view of the upgrading of the country's sovereign credit ratings.

The finance ministry said the use of overseas borrowings for development of integrated townships would also be stopped.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had been trying to cool the real estate sector in its battle against rising inflation and has asked banks to reduce their exposure to the sector.
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SBI targets one lakh unbanked villages
Bhubaneswar: The State Bank of India (SBI) plans to provide banking services to about 100,000 unbanked villages across the country according to O P Bhatt, chairman of the SBI, at the annual general body meeting of the SBI officers' association of the Orissa circle on Saturday.
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