style="color: #333399">Top Stories 

RBI cuts CRR by 25 bps

On the basis of an assessment of the current macroeconomic situation, the RBI has decided to: Reduce the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks by 25 basis points from 4.75% to 4.50% of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) effective the fortnight beginning September 22, 2012… Read more

FM approves Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme

The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram approved a new tax saving scheme called Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme (RGESS), exclusively for the first time retail investors in securities market. This Scheme would give tax benefits to new investors who invest up to Rs. 50,000 and whose annual income is below Rs. 10 lakh.

The Scheme not only encourages the flow of savings and improves the depth of domestic capital markets, but also aims to promote an ‘equity culture’ in India. This is also expected to widen the retail investor base in the Indian securities markets… Read more

Q2 advance tax mop-up by top 100 firms up 10% YoY

It is that time of the quarter when corporates and individuals alike pay their first installment of advance tax to the Government for FY13. Typically, the 15th day of the last month of a quarter is the last date to pay advance tax… Read more

India’s CPI back above 10% in August

Provisional annual inflation rate based on all-India general CPI (combined) for August 2012 on point-to-point basis stood at 10.03%. The corresponding provisional inflation rates for Rural and Urban areas were 9.90% and 10.19%, respectively… Read more

ICC comments on RBI's mid-quarter monetary policy

The Reserve Bank of India has reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks by 25 basis points from 4.75% to 4.50% of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) effective the fortnight beginning September 22, 2012. Consequently, around Rs. 170 billion of primary liquidity will be injected into the banking system… Read more

Finance Ministry starts to prepare Budget for FY12-13

The Ministry of Finance has started the process to prepare budget for the next financial year by issuing guidelines to all central government ministries and departments. The Department of Economic Affairs has also issued guidelines for framing the revised budget estimates for 2012-13… Read more

Leader Speak

J&K Bank targets credit growth of 25%

Speaking exclusively to Hemant P. Maradia of IIFL, Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad says, “The Bank targets a credit growth of over 25% and deposit growth of over 17-18% for FY13.”… Read more

Special Stories

Don’t respond to mails asking for Internet Banking A/c Details: RBI

It has come to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that a fraudulent email has been sent and signed in its name as `Reserve Bank of India'… Read more

New Delhi Consumer Forum penalizes HSBC Bank

The New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) to pay Rs. 20,000 as compensation to its credit card holder (Rakesh Gupta) for adding his name in CIBIL’s defaulters list though he had paid all his dues… Read more

Time for RBI to take bold steps: ASSOCHAM 

It is time the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) got rid of its obsession with the inflation numbers while completely ignoring grave situation thrown in by constantly decelerating industrial growth, ASSOCHAM President Rajkumar Dhoot said on the eve of the central bank reviewing its credit policy… Read more

Comments on RBI policy

RBI’s action function of evolving inflation-growth dynamics: ING Vysya Bank

RBI’s action is expected to remain a function of evolving inflation-growth dynamics in the next few months. Even if inflation figures were to remain sticky around 7.5%, recent bold reforms announced by the Government could create some monetary space for easing in the October meeting… Read more

Federal Bank comments on RBI mid-quarter policy 

These moves will improve the confidence of investors. Holding Repo rates constant suggest that RBI is yet vary of high inflation, which may peak before it starts trending down… Read more

Ramprastha Group comments on RBI policy

The measure will improve supply of loans but not the cost of loans. A little action on the rate side would have been even more encouraging for the productive industries and would have lifted corporate and household sentiments in the sagging economy… Read more

Alpari Comments on RBI Policy

The RBI CRR cut by 25 bps is a welcome move by RBI focusing on growth. The markets seem to have already discounted the RBI's move as they remain unchanged after the cut… Read more

New Launches

Ace Commodity Exchange launches futures trading in Cotton

Ace Derivatives and Commodity Exchange Limited (Ace), a Kotak Mahindra Group anchored commodity exchange in India, announced that it will commence futures trading in Cotton (Bales) from September 24, 2012… Read more

State Bank of Patiala inks strategic alliance with NCML

State Bank of Patiala, one of India’s leading associate bank of State Bank of India, entered into a strategic partnership with National Collateral Management Services Limited (NCML), a major agri-infrastructure player, for collateral management and warehousing services… Read more

Karnataka Bank signs strategic pact with NCML

Karnataka Bank, one of India’s leading banks entered into a strategic partnership with National Collateral Management Services Limited (NCML), a major agri-infrastructure player, for collateral management and warehousing services… Read more

IDBI Bank launches $500 mn 5.5 year Reg S Bond issue

IDBI Bank launched a US$ 500 million 5.5 year Reg S Bond issue on September 17, 2012. The transaction received an overwhelming response and the issue was oversubscribed by 9 times. The issue was made under the USD 1.5 billion MTN Programme listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange… Read more

StanChart Bank launches service branch at Udaipur

Standard Chartered Bank, India's largest and best foreign bank* is deepening its presence in Rajasthan by launching a full-service branch in Udaipur.  A wide-ranging product suite of the bank will be available for customers at Udaipur… Read more  

Domestic News

AMCs tie up with banks to sell MF schemes

With the capital market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) regulations stressing on rural penetration, asset management companies (AMCs) are further tying up with banks to sell their mutual fund schemes. In the last two months, AMCs have been signing up agreements with banks to expand their rural distribution network… Read more

SBI to decide on lending rates: Reports

State Bank of India has reportedly said that it will decide on reducing lending rates in a day or two for the benefits of borrowers… Read more

SBI tops ATM expansion in non-metro cities
Unlike other banks, the State Bank of India (SBI) is expanding its ATM network in non-metro and semi-urban centers, faster than expansion in the metros, an ASSOCHAM analysis of the banking data showed… Read more

Moody's assigns Baa3 to IDBI Bank's senior unsecured bond issue

Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Baa3 rating to IDBI Bank Limited (IDBI Bank)'s proposed issuance of long-term senior unsecured notes under its US$ 1.5 billion Medium Term Note (GMTN) program. The long-term notes will be denominated in USD and issued by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Branch, Dubai of IDBI Bank… Read more

ICICI Bank plans to raise Rs. 500mn through Yuan bond

ICICI Bank Ltd is planning to raise Rs. 500 mn through a Yuan bond, according to reports. Reports stated that bond is open for subscription and bank has set a final guidance for its three year bond at 4.9%, which is being managed by Standard Chartered Bank. Banks can also raise funds without compressing the size of the issue and paying a liquidity premium, report says.

Citibank redefines retail banking experience in India

Citibank India announced the opening of its first Smart Banking branch in India. Situated in Noida, Som Datt Towers, Sector-18, the branch was inaugurated by Anand Selvakesari, Country Business Manager, Global Consumer Group, Citi India, in the presence of clients and other Citi employees… Read more

Reliance Capital ties up with IOB

Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM), part of Reliance Capital Ltd, forms a distribution tie-up with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB. This was announced by Sundeep Sikka, CEO, RCAM and M Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Overseas Bank.

According to the agreement, Indian Overseas Bank will be selling Reliance Mutual Fund schemes through its 2,689 branches spread across the country… Read more

SBI Mutual Fund ties up with Ratnakar Bank 

SBI Mutual Fund and Ratnakar Bank have entered into an alliance to offer SBI Mutual Fund's schemes through the 114 plus branches of Ratnakar Bank spread across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi NCR, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa… Read more

HDFC MF ties up with Syndicate Bank 

HDFC Mutual Fund and Syndicate Bank have entered into an alliance to offer the entire bouquet of HDFC Mutual Fund's schemes through the bank's 2700 plus branches across the country… Read more

Peerless MF joins hands with United Bank 

Peerless Funds Management Company Ltd (PFMCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kolkata-based The Peerless General Finance & Investment Company, entered into a strategic tie-up with United Bank of India (UBI), where the latter will distribute mutual fund products of PFMCL through its select branches. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) took place in Kolkata… Read more

RBI responds cautiously to UPA’s reforms: CRISIL

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its monetary policy review on September 17th, reduced the Cash Reserve Ratio by 25 basis points to 4.5 per cent while keeping the repo rate unchanged at 8 per cent… Read more

RBI again disappoints India Inc: ASSOCHAM

The Reserve Bank of India has once again deeply disappointed the industry which was expecting it to worry about a sharp deceleration in growth and go in for a substantial cut in the interest rates… Read more

Corporate governance in Asia is getting better: CLSA

CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets (CLSA), Asia’s independent brokerage & investment group, has released its Corporate Governance (CG) Watch 2012, the ninth survey of corporate governance across Asia since 2000… Read more

Quote, unquote

“FDI in retail and insurance is not the big-bang reform. They (politicians) should address the fiscal deficit problem, resolve the coal issue, introduce transparent and clear policies on land acquisition, mining rights and other environmental issues, and bring in accountability of the government and public sector” 

Aditya Puri, CEO, HDFC Bank, in The Economic Times

“If you tell me one Walmart coming into India will solve your agriculture problems and issues about cold chain, production, irrigation and distribution, then you must be living in a cuckoo land… The whole world has problems they don't know how to fix. By God’s grace, we know how to fix the problem, we’re just not doing it”

Aditya Puri, CEO, HDFC Bank, in The Economic Times

“How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts?”

Robert G Allen, Canadian-American business man

Global News

BofA to cut 16,000 jobs

Bank of America Corp is speeding up planned job cuts as revenue continues to decline amid new regulations and a moderate economy, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Bank of America Corp intends to slash 16,000 jobs by year-end, putting it a year ahead of a plan to eliminate 30,000 under a cost-cutting program called Project New BAC, the newspaper said, citing a document given to top management. The bank began cutting jobs last fall and had been expected to complete the task by the end of 2013.

Bank of America has lagged rivals in recovering from the financial crisis, largely due to mortgage-related losses. Total revenue has declined for four straight quarters, raising investor concerns about how it will boost earnings.

Cyber threat level for the financial sector
The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) has warned US banks, brokerages and insurers to be on heightened alert for cyber attacks after Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase experienced unexplained outages on their public websites.

According to FS-ISAC, several US banks were under assault by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) campaign. Denial-of-service attacks seek to disrupt websites and other computer systems at the targeted organization by overwhelming their networks with computer traffic… Read more

Australia’s banks passes IMF stress test
Australia's banks received full marks in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) stress test considering the possibility of a severe recession hitting the country, according to media reports. Under the stress test, the IMF assumed a 5% contraction in gross domestic product and 35% drop in house prices—circumstances similar to the correction the UK underwent shortly after the outbreak of the global financial crisis. Since the 2008 crisis, the IMF has stepped up surveillance of the global banking system and plans to assess the world's top-25 banking industries every five years, including in Australia, Brazil and Japan… Read more

Spain could announce fresh bailout next week: Reports

The European Union authorities are reportedly working with the Spanish government on a new bailout plan for the debt-laden eurozone nation. Spain could announce the new rescue plan next week, a UK-based financial newspaper has reported.
Talks between Spain and the EU officials are underway on conditions demanded by international lenders as part of the new rescue plan… Read more

John Byrne to present at NeMa Asia Conference

John Byrne, the founder and CEO of Information Mosaic, the global leader in advanced post-trade automation solutions, will be presenting at the NeMa Asia Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on September 25 and 26… Read more

Russia's Central Bank sold a 7.6% stake in Sberbank

Russia’s central bank is planning to sell 7.6% of OAO Sberbank, as the government seeks to reduce its role in the economy, according to reports. Bank Rossii is offering the equivalent of 1.71 billion shares in ordinary and global depositary stock at a range of 91 rubles to the market price at the time the order book closes.

China’s 'flash' manufacturing PMI improves slightly

China’s manufacturing output may have improved slightly in September but it is still likely to show contraction for an 11th successive month, a private survey showed on Thursday, fueling concern about the state of the world's second-largest economy… Read more
 
Deutsche Bank to sell BHF to Kleinwort Benson
Deutsche Bank AG DB has reached an agreement to sell its private banking unit BHF Bank to RHJ International International SA's RHJI.BT unit Kleinwort Benson Group, according to media reports… Read more

Harvey Schwartz to become CFO by January 2013
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. announced that Harvey M. Schwartz, the global co-head of the Securities Division, will become Chief Financial Officer at the end of January 2013.  After a distinguished 32 year career at the firm, including 12 years as the Chief Financial Officer, David Viniar has decided to retire and will join the Board of Directors as a non-independent director at that time.  The firm expects to appoint additional independent directors to its board in the near term… Read more