New Delhi: The government on Friday said it will provide capital support of Rs 15,888 crore to public sector banks and financial institutions during the next fiscal to strengthen their capital base. "The government is committed to protect the financial health of Public Sector Banks (PSB) and financial institutions," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in the Lok Sabha on Friday while presenting Budget 2012-13. "For the year 2012-13, I propose...
05:54 PM, Mar 16, 2012
Unlike any other earlier budgets, the banking sector this time around is very keenly watching the finance minister for his announcements. The sector has been hit by under capitalisation, non-performing assets from various government and private sector lending like power, infrastructure, agriculture, among others. Lower credit growth due to slowing economy has added to the woes of the banking sector. Top on the list will be capital infusion in public...
06:47 PM, Mar 13, 2012
Gurgaon: State-owned banks should pay more attention to skill-development and improving customer interface to stay relevant in a hugely competitive sector, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday. "Good customer service is the heart of banking service delivery. Banking is predominantly a customer oriented business and good customer service is the key to banks' growth and stability," Mukherjee said at the golden jubilee celebrations of State Bank of India Staff...
01:58 AM, Mar 12, 2012
New Delhi: Concerned over large complaints against private sector and foreign banks, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday asked them to focus on improving customer service. "It is heartening to know that as per the latest annual report of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, the total number of customer complaints received by the Ombudsman in 2010-11 are 11 per cent less than the previous year," Mukherjee said. "However, private sector and...
06:13 PM, Mar 10, 2012
All nationalised banks are shut, with employees hoisting banners at their offices. Bus services, however, is reported normal. ...
10:16 AM, Feb 28, 2012
New Delhi: There's more trouble for Kingfisher Airlines. After SBI sources came on record that they are not ready to lend anymore money to the airline company, more banks are coming out from the consortium of lenders to kingfisher. UCO bank chairman came on record and said 'no money for Kingfisher'. Bank of India has also said that it will not give any money to Kingfisher till the consortium of...
11:14 PM, Feb 23, 2012
New Delhi: Seven employees' unions of PSU banks have given a call for strike on February 28, demanding stringent measures to recover bad loans and opposing outsourcing of non-core activities to private sector. "Seven bank unions have given strike call for stringent and effective measures to recover bad loans of banks and unilateral imposition of Khandelwal committee recommendations," All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary CH Venkatachalam said. Besides,...
12:13 AM, Feb 23, 2012
New Delhi: Government may grant the Income Tax department powers to re-open tax returns of beyond six years in specific cases of black money where "foreign assets" are involved. The I-T department needs these powers to pursue the ongoing cases where funds were found to be stashed abroad and these came to light after India received a classified list of bank account holders which include those in HSBC bank Geneva...
07:47 PM, Feb 20, 2012
Mumbai: In order to prop up the sagging home loan market, state-run lenders Central Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) have announced slashing of interest rates by up to 0.25 per cent, and also decided to waive the processing fees. Pune-headquartered BoM has decided to give housing loans under Rs 25 lakh for a five-year tenor at the reduced base rate (below which it cannot lend) of 10.60...
08:14 PM, Feb 19, 2012
New Delhi: Days after CBI Chief's statement that Indians are the largest depositors in Swiss banks, Switzerland on Thursday said such estimates and statistics lack evidence and are uncorroborated. In an unusual step, the Embassy of Switzerland here issued a press release saying, "it wishes to make a clarification in view of unsubstantiated media reports that have been recently published about Switzerland and Swiss Banks." But, the release, which did...
06:07 PM, Feb 16, 2012
Washington: The United States is pressuring the European Union and a global electronic banking system to expel Iranian banks from a network used to transfer money, another step in Western efforts to deprive Tehran of funds needed to develop nuclear weapons. Kicking Iranian banks out of the Belgium-based SWIFT, or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, would cut off one of the only remaining avenues for Iran to transact business...
07:19 AM, Feb 16, 2012
Speaking on the issue, CBI Director AP Singh said the largest depositors in Swiss Banks were reported to be Indians. ...
05:44 PM, Feb 13, 2012
New Delhi: Indians are the largest depositors in banks abroad with an estimated $ 500 billion (nearly Rs 24.5 lakh crore) of illegal money stashed by them in tax havens, the CBI Director said on Monday. India, in particular, has suffered from the flow of illegal funds to tax havens such as Mauritius, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, British Virgin Islands etc. "It is estimated that around 500 billion dollars of illegal money...
03:19 PM, Feb 13, 2012
Vadodara: A section of bank employees has decided to observe one-day nationwide strike on February 28 in support of their various demands. All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), which claims five lakh membership, has given the strike call. "We are opposed to the implementation of Khandelwal Committee recommendations and other reform measures like outsourcing of regular bank jobs. We are also demanding stringent measures to recover bad loans in banks," CH...
09:43 PM, Feb 07, 2012
Washington: US-Iran ties hit a new low on Monday as the Obama administration ordered blocking of Iranian government properties and financial institutions in America. Obama said that additional sanctions are needed due to the "deceptive practices" by Iran's banks including the Central Bank to conceal transactions. The US has accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons programme against stiff world opposition. Meanwhile, US banks have been given new powers to...
07:06 AM, Feb 07, 2012
New Delhi: Public sector banks have an exposure of about Rs 10,000 crore in the telecom companies whose licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court in connection with 2G spectrum allocation scam. "The public sector banks have an outstanding loan of Rs 10,000 crore, of which Rs 7,500 crore is secured (against assets)," a senior Finance Ministry official said on Friday. The Ministry, the official said, was seeking information about...
04:18 PM, Feb 03, 2012
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry will be infusing Rs 18,000 crore in the current fiscal in 12 banks, including SBI, and will be seeking supplementary grants from Parliament in the Budget session. "There are 12 banks in which we will infuse money in 2011-12. The amount will be Rs 18,000 crore. This includes Rs 7,900 crore for State Bank of India (SBI)," sources said. Besides SBI, other lenders that would...
04:58 AM, Feb 03, 2012
New Delhi: Shot in New York City, 'Man on a Ledge' stars Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris in the lead roles. The film features an ex-cop turned con who threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel rooftop. The nearest New York Police officer immediately responds to a screaming woman and calls dispatch. More Officers arrive with SWAT and tactical command along with fire-fighters....
07:52 PM, Feb 02, 2012
Mumbai: With liquidity deficit being way above its comfort level, the Reserve Bank on Friday announced that it would reintroduce a second LAF repo to inject additional cash into the system. The RBI which operates liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) to help banks manage their liquidity position said it would have a second LAF repo every Friday between 1630 and 1700 hours. At present, the apex bank operates the repo (injection)...
09:48 PM, Jan 27, 2012
