Pnb

Difficult to cut interest rates soon: Banks

Mumbai/ New Delhi: Big banks say it will be difficult for them to pass on the benefit to customers even though the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut repo rate by 25 basis points on Friday even though the cash reserve ratio was left untouched. The banks say RBI's move is not enough to cut interest rates for customers.

The State Bank of India (SBI) said there is not much scope for rate cuts while ICICI Bank added that a cut in lending rates will mainly depend on cost of funds. Similar sentiments were echoed by Axis Bank and Punjab National Bank (PNB) with both refusing to take a call on cutting interest rates any time soon.

"Until cost of borrowings comes down, transmission will be difficult," said Axis Bank even as PNB said that it is "too early to say worst is behind us".

The cut in repo rate by 0.25 per cent on Friday is the third time since January and it now stands at 7.25 per cent, lowest since May 2011. The CRR remains at four per cent. The RBI also pegged India's economic growth for the 2013-14 fiscal at 5.7 per cent. ...more    

Sharapova aiming for rare double at Key Biscayne

Only two players in WTA history have won back-to-back Indian Wells and Key Biscayne titles: Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996, and Kim Clijsters in 2005. ...  

No formal communication from banks yet: Kingfisher

With banks planning to monetise Kingfisher Airlines' securities to recover a debt of about Rs 7,000 crore, the grounded carrier today said it was continuing discussions with its lenders and had not received any formal communication from them on the matter. "We have received no formal communication from the banks till date. We are in continuing discussions with them on ways to bring down their exposure, inter alia, from the...  

PNB net profit down 11.6 pc to Rs 1,065.58 cr in Q2

New Delhi: Sharp rise in non-performing assets (NPAs) pulled down the net profit of Punjab National Bank by 11.6 per cent to Rs 1,065.58 crore in the second quarter ending September 30. The country's second largest public sector bank had posted a net profit of 1,205.03 crore in the year-ago period. On a sequential basis as well, the bank's net profit in the July-September period was lower than Rs 1,245.67...  

PNB lowers home, car loans interest rates

New Delhi: State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Monday slashed interest rates on home loan and car loans by up to 0.5 per cent. In the housing loan segment, rate has been reduced by 0.25 per cent while interest rate on car loans has been slashed by 0.5 per cent effective from Monday. The decision to lower rate comes within days of Finance Minister P Chidambaram asking PSU banks to...  

Fitch revises Indian FIs' rating to negative

New York: Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on the 'BBB-' Long-Term (LT) Foreign Currency (FC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of India-based financial institutions to Negative from Stable, while affirming the rating. These include six government banks (including an international banking subsidiary of a government bank), two private banks, two wholly owned government institutions and one infrastructure finance company. A list of affected entities is as follows:- State Bank of...  

Major fire in PNB at New Delhi's Parliament Street

New Delhi: A major fire broke out in a building housing Punjab National Bank in New Delhi's Parliament Street on Wednesday. Although many people were trapped inside the building but fire officials managed to rescue all, and there were no casualties. Twenty-five fire tenders were rushed to the spot and fire was brought under within an hour. The six-storey building is in the heart of Delhi and in the vicinity...  

Govt to infuse Rs 18,000 cr in 12 PSU banks

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...  

Banks examining options for AI's debt recast

Mumbai: Bankers on Thursday explored various options including conversion of the Rs 18,000 crore loans to SLR as part of the debt restructuring of the ailing Air India carrier and may finalise the bailout package next week. "We are looking at various instruments like SLR, long-term bonds and non-convertible debentures among others as part of the debt recast plan of Air India," Oriental Bank of Commerce Executive Director SC Sinha...  

SBI contemplating further cut in lending rates: Bhatt

SBI earlier reduced the benchmark PLR by 75 basis points to 12.25 per cent. ...  

Banks may reduce both lending, deposit interest rates

Cut in CRR and fall in inflation has renewed expectations of interest rate cut by banks. ...  

FM indicates rate cut to give consumers a breather

London: Embattled Australian captain Ricky Ponting could bid adieu to international cricket after his team's World Cup campaign, a media report here has claimed. According to the Daily Mail, Ponting plans to retire from international cricket at the end of Australia's World Cup campaign and wants to end his career captaining an English county. Sportsmail has learnt that the Australia captain, aiming to lead his side to a fourth World...  

PNB follows suit, hikes lending rates

Most private banks including ICICI and HDFC have already announced higher lending rates. PNB will hike PLR by 25-50 basis points. ...  

PNB’s rate hike won’t impact home-loans

The latest PLR hike would not have any implications on home loan interest rates as these are not linked to the benchmark PLR. ...