Cabinet clears revised Banking Bill

The Cabinet has cleared revised Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2011 with higher voting rights for banks. The Cabinet has approved the increased voting right limit in private sector banks from current 10 per cent to 26 per cent.

P. Rudran is new ARCIL chief

Mr. P. Rudran has been appointed as the Managing Director and CEO of Asset Reconstruction Company of India Ltd (ARCIL).
Arcil is the first Asset Reconstruction Company in the country to commence business of resolution of non-performing financial assets (NPAs) upon acquisition from Indian banks and financial institutions. It commenced business immediately after enactment of the Securitisation Act, 2002. As the premier ARC, Arcil has been playing the pioneering role in setting standards for the industry in India. Arcil has recently launched a retail NPAs resolution initiative through Arcil-Arms (a division of Arcil).

PSU Banks invite bids for ATM units

Public sector banks have called for bids to install 5,259 ATMs in Bihar and Jharkhand by March 31, 2014. The main banks in the consortium are Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank, SBI and Allahabad Bank.

S&P cuts rating outlook of top banks

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has revised its outlook on long term counterparty credit ratings on 11 financial institutions to negative from stable. The 11 institutions are: Axis Bank, Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank, Infrastructure Development Finance Company, State Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, and Union Bank of India.

S&P cuts India’s outlook to negative

Global rating major Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has revised the outlook on India’s long term credit rating to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’. S&P cited slow fiscal progress and deteriorating economic indicators as the reason. India’s credit rating on its long term rupee debt has been kept unchanged at BBB-. This is the lowest investment grade rating issued by S&P.

Unsolicited sovereign credit ratings on India:

Long-term  BBB-

Short-term  A-3

Transfer and convertibility  BBB+

Bank’s earnings to come under pressure due to Basel-III norms: Mr Anand Sinha

Earnings of banks are likely to come under pressure due to the higher capital requirements for the implementation of global risk mechanism, Basel III norms, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Mr Anand Sinha said. He also said the banks would have to increase productivity in order to protect their RoE (Return on Equity).

Basel-III norms, proposed to be implemented from the beginning of 2013 till 2017, require the equity capital of a bank to be not less than 5.5 per cent of risk-weighted loans, as per the draft guidelines issued by the RBI. 

HDFC Bank, Wells Fargo tie up for fund transfer facility

HDFC Bank has entered in to a tie-up with Wells Fargo to enable US based NRIs to remit funds online or through phone to their beneficiaries in India. The San Francisco based financial services giant Well Fargo had entered into a partnership for remittance with ICICI Bank in 2005.

India ranked among the worst in global entrepreneurial performance

India comes in at 73^rd out of 78 nations ranked in the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index, GEDI, published by Imperial College Business School, George Mason University and the University of Pecs. Toping the list of the most entrepreneurial is the US followed by Australia.

Finance Minister’s US visit

The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee was Washington D.C to attend the spring meeting of the Fund Bank. At the meeting the member countries pledged to increase the resources of the International Monetary Fund by over $430 billion to help protect the world economy against deepening Eurozone debt crisis.

Foodgrain output to touch record high of 252.56 mt

Foodgrain production for 2011-12 will touch an all-time high of 252.56 million tonnes. The 3 per cent rise in output over previous year’s 244.78 mt was aided by higher wheat and rice output. Releasing the advance corp estimates, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar said production of rice and wheat for 2011-12 will touch a record high of 103.41 mt and 90.23 mt respectively.