In a bid to increase the inflow of remittances into the country, the government has urged banks to bring down remittance charges.

"Banks have also been advised to review their existing scale of charges, both at the foreign and domestic end to minimise the current cost of remittances," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said.

Meena added that banks should also consider into making improvements in terms of infrastructure and technology. Electronic payment facility should...

Puducherry has bagged the prima place in terms of being the first union territory to have achieved complete financial inclusion.

On the 22nd of November, 2011, an official declaration of the same would be made by Chief Minister of Puducherry, Mr N. Rangaswamy.

Public sector lender, Indian Bank which has been the lead bank for carrying out financial inclusion services in the region has said that as many as 25 villages having population of 2000 and...

Gold loan business seems to be garnering huge opportunities to financial service providers. While companies like Muthoot finance and Manappuram finance have already marked themselves as established players in the gold loan segment, non banking finance company, FedBank Financial Services has also made an entry into the domain via its product called 'Fast gold loan'.

The company has marked itself as being one of the fastest growing company in the gold loan business through its branch...

The largest bank of South Korea, KB Kookmin has laid eyes on the Indian banking industry to make an entry.

The lender has already filed an application with Indian banking regulator, Reserve Bank of India in order to set up a representative office here.

"We had applied to the RBI in March. The regulator has sent the document to the finance ministry. In a few months time, we should get the final approval. Our representative office will...

Private sector lender Federal Bank has joined hands with Tata Motors whereby the bank would be offering finance to al Tata Motors' commercial vehicles.

"We see vast opportunities in servicing our SME customers through this relationship," said Mr P.C. John, Executive Director, Federal Bank.

The bank said that it is more of a strategic alliance between two major entities. While the bank holds a branch count of 823, the vehicle provider holds 60% market share in...

Banking and monetary regulator Reserve Bank of India is soon going to introduce currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 10 denominations bearing the new rupee symbol.

The new rupee symbol came into practice last year.

According to a statement by the apex bank, the Rs 1000 notes will be of the Mahatma Gandhi-2005 Series and will have the signature of Mr D Subbarao, governor of RBI.

Other than the new symbol, all characteristics of the note...

Non banking finance company (NBFC), Magma Fincorp has set up new branch in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

The company is increasingly growing its presence in the state. Lending has been to the extent of Rs 656 crore by Magma in Andhra Pradesh last fiscal.

"We currently have over 24,000 customers in Andhra Pradesh and the base is growing fast,'' Mr Dhrubashish Bhattacharya, Vice-President, Magma Fincorp Ltd. said.

"We plan to increase our business by 50...

Housing finance major, HDFC has superceded the largest lender of the country, State Bank of India to become the largest lender in terms of market capitalization.

The company's market cap stands at Rs 1.1 lakh crore which is ahead of SBI's by more than Rs 500 crore.

SBI thus now stands second in the race followed by private sector lender ICICI Bank with a market cap of Rs 91,132 crore.

HDFC Bank stands ninth in the...

Depreciating value of the Indian rupee is leading to flooding of funds from non resident Indians to banks here.

On a year on year basis, private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank has seen a 40-50% rise in remittances level.

Remittance process to India has increased since the time the financial crisis has again set roots in Europe.

South bound lenders which have a major business in the remittance field have seen a notable surge in flow of...

Foreign lender Standard Chartered Bank has inclined towards using social media tools like facebook and twitter to reach out to customer grievances and feedback at a faster and effective pace.

With increasing usage of these websites by customers for a major part of the day, the bank has targetted that they will be an apt medium to bring improvement in customer service.

Saying that the need to know the customers' thought process regarding the bank, Ms...

The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India as well as the largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank have also accredited to themselves the rank of carrying the largest global networks out of all other public as well as private sector peers.

The result is based on a 'Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2010-11'.

It says that SBI presently has the highest number of foreign offices amounting to 64. Next...

Private sector lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank has announced a 18.03% rise in its net profits for the second quarter of this fiscal.

The net profits of the bank for the June-September quarter stand at Rs 29.12 crore.

There has been a rise in total incoem of the bank to Rs 411.49 crore as against Rs 295.95 crore for the same period in the fiscal prior to this.

There has been a dip in the gross NPA level...

The South Canara District Central Cooperative Bank (SCDCCB) will be launching a new loan scheme enabling customers to buy gold. The loan scheme is to come into effect from tomorrow, November 15, 2011.

According to President of the bank, Mr M N Rajendra Kumar, the scheme is being introduced so as to enmark the celebration of 58th cooperative week in Karnataka.

He said that the bank would be offering 80% of the total loan amount and 20%...

The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India has laid plans of increasing its branch network in Bangladesh, informed an official of the bank.

The bank has revealed that it aims to set up two new branches in Bangladesh by the end of the upcoming year.

The lender's expansion plans do not stand still even after credit rating agency Moody's downgraded its rating some time back.

"We have recently got two licences and have opened...

Caixa Bank, a Spanish lender has opened up its representative office in India. This step marks the strengthening of trade relations between the two nations.

"Trade between India and Spain is growing by 15% annually and we plan to help our clients from back home acquire projects here, mainly in the energy and infrastructure sector and industrial equipment," said Ignacia Alvarez Rendueles, Head of Caixa Bank.

Talking about the revenue model of the bank, he said, "As...

Public sector lender Indian Bank has launched a new zonal office in Hubli, Karnataka. This office would target mainly towards the customer segment based in northern and coastal regions of Karnataka.

Presently the bank already has one zonal office in the state and 33 branches across 19 districts of Hubli zone.

Speaking in this regard, CMD of the bank, Mr T M Bhasin said, "The formation of Hubli Zone will enable Indian Bank to increase...

The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India has announced a 12% rise in net profits for the second quarter of this fiscal. The net profits of the bank for the stand at Rs 2810 crore for Q2 as compared to Rs 2501 crore for the same period last fiscal.

The lender had experienced a huge dip in net profits for the first quarter of this fiscal by as much as 46% to...

Private sector lender Federal Bank has said its growth will not be impeded by new licenses being given out to new entrants in the banking segment.

"It may be three years away from when new bank licences get operationalised and build up some scale, but we are not just going to stay quiet and watch," quoted Mr Shyam Srinivasan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank.

"By that time, our young team would be...

Private sector lender Axis Bank has decided to continue rendering focus on lending to the small and medium scale enterprise (SME) segment. The bank aims to achieve around 25% growth in its loan book in the coming two years tenor.

Mr Rajendra D. Adsul, President, SME banking for the bank said that Axis Bank's present market share for SME segment stands at 5%.

Although rising interest rates are putting a crunch on the corporate as well...

Banks are earnestly taking forward their aims of financial inclusion but while keeping their cost of operations in mind. This is why lenders are constantly looking out for low cost modes of carrying out financial inclusion.

The business correspondent (BC) model is not considered the most viable mode in terms of economic factors, and thus alternatives are being sought by banks.

According to Mr K R Kamath, Chairman and Executive Director of Punjab National Bank, banks should...