Public sector lender Punjab National Bank has initiated host of CSR activities in Ernakulam district.

The bank has distributed medicines amongst cancer patients in Ernakulam General Hospital, Palliative Care Unit.

It has also adopted the Chennam-Pallipuram village in Alappuzha district. The bank is thus personally looking towards ways to uplift the living conditions of people in the village in aid with the village panchayat.

Also, contributions are being made towards helping old people, orphanages etc in different...

Lending majors State Bank of India as well as ICICI Bank have announced having raised their lending rates finally.

SBI has announced a 50 bps rise in its base rate as well as benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR). The base rate of the bank stands at 10% while BPLR stands at 14.75%.

The revised rates have come into effect from August 13, 2011.

"We have been very sluggish in raising our lending rates. However, now we...

Shriram Housing Finance Ltd is soon going to enter into the housing finance business. The company has got license from National Housing Bank (NHB) in this regard.

It is a fully owned subsidiary of Shriram City Union Finance.

"We have just received approval from the National Housing Bank and we will shortly begin our housing finance operations," the Shriram Housing Managing Director and CEO, Mr Sujan Sinha said.

The NBFC is presently into lending to the...

Public sector lender Union Bank of India has announced the promotion of seven of its deputy general managers (DGMs) to the post of general managers (GMs).

In the recent times, a large number of superannuations occuring in the position of GMs had left a void in this level. This void has now been filled by this set of promotions.

The DGMs promoted include Mr H. K. Behera, Mr A. K.T hakur, Mr R. S. Pandey, Mr...

Royal Bank of Scotland has rated Indian banks as 'neutral' as against the earlier rating of being 'overweight'. The rating has been given keeping in view the upcoming pressure that the banks are likely to face seeing the dipping trend in net interest margins (NIMs), slow rate of growth and increasing costs.

"We think the slowdown of GDP growth and high interest rates will start taking a toll on Indian banks' earnings in FY3/12, which will...

Public sector lender State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ) has introduced its online business center in Jaipur. It is the first of its kind launched by the bank.

The center will act as a customer care desk for customers all over the country. It will cater to all enquiries as well as banking necessities of the customer.

"It will provide one stop banking solution for products ranging from opening saving bank accounts to corporate loan...

Edelweiss Housing Finance Ltd (EHFL) is planning to take its loan book to Rs 1000 crore in this fiscal.

EHFL happens to be the housing finance wing of Edelweiss Group.

The company currently has presence in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. It aims to spread out to Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat by the end of March 2012. It plans to open 19 branches in these cities.

"Our goal is to achieve a target of Rs 1,000...

Housing finance provider LIC Housing Finance (LICHF) has raised its lending rates by as much as 50 bps.

Following the revision in rates, the interest rate for loans upto Rs 30 lakh would now be 10.65%.

Loans above Rs 30 lakh but upto Rs 75 lakh would bear interest of 11% and those above Rs 75 lakh would bear interest of 11.50%.

Another housing finance major HDFC has also recently revised its lending rates.

Lending rate hike...

Old and new home loan borrowers, if have similar risk profiles, then they should be treated by banks equally. This is a recommendation which has been given by the special committee set up by Reserve Bank of India to look into customer care service of banks.

Parity amongst old and new customers based on interest rate offers should not be there, suggested the Damodaran committee.

The report by the committee recommends banks to allow switching...

The state government of Bihar along with public sector lender Central Bank of India has introduced a new home loan scheme for state government employees. The two entities have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard.

The scheme was launched by Chief Minister of state, Mr Nitish Kumar. He said that the scheme held out by Central Bank would benefit employees to build their homes.

He clarified that this loan scheme would run...

The largest lender of the country State Bank of India has hinted towards a 25-50 bps rise in its lending rates in this week, said its Chairman, Mr Pratip Chaudhuri.

"Our asset liability committee will meet next week. So you can expect some transmission (monetary) next week or week after... perhaps 25-50 basis points," said Mr Chaudhuri.

Since the time RBI raised policy rates by another 50 bps, majority of lenders have moved towards increasing their...

Public sector lender State Bank of Travancore has raised its lending rates by as much as 50 bps.

Both base rate as well as benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) have been raised by the same amount.

The base rate of the bank now stands at 10.25% while BPLR has been fixed at 15%.

The revised rates would come to effect from today, August 08, 2011.

Foreign lender Standard Chartered Bank's Indian operations had once been the highest contributor to its overall profits. However, this time there has been a 39% dip in operating profit of the bank's Indian operations in the first half of this fiscal.

India now stands third in terms of contribution to profits for Standard Chartered Bank.

"Tough macro-economic environment, slippages of deals, higher provisions, increased competition and regulatory changes on the saving bank rate and derivatives have...

Private sector lender Karnataka Bank has announced a rise in its lending rates by upto 50 bps.

The revised rates have come into effect from yesterday, August 03, 2011.

The base rate of the bank has been raised by 50 bps taking it to 11% while the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) has seen a 25 bps to 15.75 bps.

Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) has announced a rise in its lending rates.

The retail prime lending rate on home loans has been given a 50 bps lift

The revised rates have come to effect from August 01, 2011.

"This is in line with interest rates in the economy, which have hardened due to increase in policy rates by 75 bps since June 2011," the company said.

Public sector lender United Bank of India has announced a hike by 35 bps in its lending rates. The revised rates are to come to effect from August 03, 2011.

Following the revision, the base rate of the bank would stand at 10.60% while the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) would be 14.85%.

The hike in lending rates is an indicative that all retail loans would get dearer by atleast 35 bps now.

Following Reserve Bank of...

In the rising regime of interest rates following the recent policy rate hike by Reserve Bank of India, five more banks have announced a rise in lending rates.

Public sector lenders Andhra Bank, Indian Bank and private sector peer Dhanlaxmi Bank have announced a 50 bps rise in lending rates.

Bank of Maharashtra has raised lending rates by 25 bps along with another private peer Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Base rate as well as BPLR...

Small Industries Development Bank of India is planning to expand its refinance window seeing the increasing demand for the same from the banking industry.

According to a top official of the financial institution, it is expected to increase refinance to about Rs 30,000 crore in this fiscal as compared to Rs 22,000 crore in the fiscal prior to that.

Hike in deposit by as much as 250 bps in the past one year's time, it seems...

The recent policy rate hike by regulator Reserve Bank of India will lead to surge in loan rates by various lenders.

Major lenders like Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda (BOB), IDBI Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) have already raised their base rate to 10.75%.

Rise in base rate as well as BPLR is an indicative that retail loans like car loans, home loans, personal loans etc are set to get dearer.

Increase...

Public sector lender Corporation Bank has raised base rate by 40 bps. Also the lender has raised its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 50 bps.

The revised rates are to come to effect from today, August 01, 2011.

The base rate of the bank would thus stand at 10.65% while the BPLR would be set at 15%.