Banking News 18.02.2015

Jaitley to meet bank chiefs :

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet chief executives of public sector banks (PSBs) here on March 5 for a quarterly review. Besides customer issues such as credit offtake, the meeting is expected to look into achievements under priority sector lending and the progress made under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The periodic review meeting will also focus on taking forward the intention of the Department of Financial Services to improve the performance of PSBs. 

Rajan and govt officials discuss new CPI series :

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan called officials of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation ( MoSPI) over the way the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) is compiled. The CPI is the primary inflation index that RBI uses to decide on its monetary policy. 

PSBs Likely to Get Rs.18,000 cr Next Fiscal :

The Centre may look to infuse about Rs.18,000 crore into public sector banks next fiscal, more than doubling the allocation from the current fiscal. Since the beginning of this financial year, the government has provided an assistance of Rs.6,990 crore to nine of the 26 state-run banks. It had budgeted Rs.11,200 crore for capital infusion this fiscal. 

ICICI Bank to Oppose DC's Share Issue to Srei Infra :

ICICI Bank plans to oppose Deccan Chronicle Holdings' recent decision to issue shares to Srei Infrastructure Finance, making the financier the largest shareholder in the media company. Srei got 6.60 crore shares from Deccan after it opted for conversion of debt into equity. ICICI, one of the lenders to Deccan, is contesting this move based on an earlier court order.

Centre to set up Nabard subsidiary for easy loans :

The Centre plans to set up a subsidiary of the central agricultural bank Nabard to facilitate easy loans for skilled rural people either for educational pursuits or entrepreneurship. "There is a problem of getting loans from public banks and the process of loan disbursement should be simplified," Union Minister for Rural Development, Drinking Water, Sanitation and Panchayat, Chaudhary Birender Singh said here at a CII event on Tuesday. (Page-06/BL (Trichy) - 18.02.2015)

Complaint against HSBC Geneva :

The income-tax (I-T) department is expected to file a complaint against HSBC Bank, Geneva, for allegedly “abetting” tax evasion in India by way of unauthorisedly operating accounts of its citizens in its foreign branch. Sources said the complaint against the global banking giant is expected to be filed under Section 278 of the I-T Act (abetment of false return) before March 31 as these accounts pertain to 2006-07 and would get “time-barred” after that date. 

Interest rate cycle key to non-callable deposits gathering pace :

The soon-to-be-announced non-callable deposits, or deposits which can be withdrawn only on maturity, may see a pick up only when the deposit rate cycle moves upwards. Some bankers have expressed their willingness to pay higher interest rates on such deposits as there is more certainty of the deposits staying with them. However, customers may wait till deposit rates rise, bankers said.