The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, December 29, 2005

To take banking to rural areas — RBI asks RRBs to offer credit cards, no frills account
CUSTOMERS in rural and semi-urban areas would soon be able to access banking services such as `no frills' accounts and credit cards. The Reserve Bank of India has asked Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to offer these facilities as a measure aimed at ... More

FOREX

IMD redemption begins from today — Banks get ready with attractive products to woo fresh deposits
THE total outgo from foreign exchange reserves for the redemption of the India Millennium Deposits (IMD) would be $7.079 billion, the Reserve Bank of India said in a release today. So far, the central bank has sold foreign exchange worth $5.107 ... More

IMD redemption will not hit liquidity: Chidambaram
THE Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has said that the redemption of India Millennium Deposits (IMD) by Non-resident Indian depositors from Thursday is unlikely to impact liquidity situation. "We have enough liquidity. So there is no ... More

Rupee strengthens; bond prices rise
MUMBAI: The rupee gained against the greenback on Thursday on the back of dollar inflows. It opened at 45.20/22 and touched an intra-day low of 45.25. It, however, appreciated to close the day at 45.12/14, up from Tuesday's close at ... More

SBI ties up with Western Union
STATE Bank of India has announced a tie-up with Western Union to offer inward remittance facilities. This is part of SBI's strategy to leverage its retail distribution network, said Mr Ashok Kini, Managing Director and Group Executive, ... More

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SBS branches fully networked
STATE Bank of Saurashtra (SBS) has achieved 100 per cent computerisation with the implementation of core-banking solution in all its branches. SBS is also the first public sector bank having all its 424 branches enabled under Real Time Gross ... More

CONSUMER FINANCE

Bajaj Auto tie-up with Union Bank
MUMBAI: Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) on Wednesday announced a strategic national tie-up with Union Bank of India (UBI) to offer loans for its 2-wheeler customers. According to an official statement, the tie-up will enable customers to avail ... More

CREDIT RATING

A1+ rating for SBH deposit
HYDERABAD: State Bank of Hyderabad was assigned `A1+' rating by the rating committee of ICRA for their certificate of deposits programme of Rs 1,500 crore. The rating indicates the highest quality to short-term debt instruments, the ... More

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

BoI launches no-frills account
BANK of India has launched its no-frill basic savings bank account with simplified terms and minimum balance at all branches across the country. Individuals can open the accounts with minimum balance of Rs 50 at rural and semi-urban branches ... More

ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANIES

UTI AMC sponsors' meeting today
UTI Asset Management Company will hold a meeting with its four sponsors - Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of Baroda (BoB) here on Thursday to chart its roadmap for the ... More

INTEREST RATES

PHDCCI for lower spreads on commercial loans
THE PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry has suggested lower spread on the prime lending rate (PLR) charged by commercial banks on loans given to business units. The chamber has sought maximum spread or excess interest over the PLR at one per ... More

CREDIT MARKET

Banks now target SMEs for growing asset portfolio
AS interest rates for corporate credit have touched rock bottom levels and fierce competition has emerged in the home-loan and personal-loan segments, several banks have begun to see small and medium enterprises as the hot destination to build ... More

SHORT TERM INSTRUMENTS

T-bills auction `fully subscribed'
THE auctions of the 91-day and 182-day Treasury Bills were fully subscribed, according to a release from the Reserve Bank of India. The notified amount for both T-bills was Rs 500 crore. For the 91-day T-bills, the RBI received 32 competitive ... More

CREDIT CARDS & DEBIT CARDS

ICICI Bank launches credit card for NRIs
ICICI Bank has launched a credit card, called `Global Indian Credit Card' for NRIs. It is an international credit card denominated in Indian rupees and will cater to NRIs visiting India. It also provides the facility of supplementary cards for ... More

CO-OPERATIVES

AP co-op urban banks for setting up mgmt corpus fund
THE Andhra Pradesh Government should constitute a liquidity management corpus fund with an initial amount of at least Rs 10 crore to help co-operative urban banks meet temporary crisis. The State Government should also enact a separate ... More

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