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...

The aim of financial inclusion so far has been to reach out to unbanked rural areas of the country and offer banking facilities there. But financial inclusion also has huge scope in the urban segment too, informed a report by McKinsey & Company.

The study says that by the year 2015, there will be around 45 million urban families having annual income less than Rs 2 lakh thereby making financial inclusion a vital necessity then.

Majority of...

Public sector lenders are going to be in a rush for recruitment for the next 4-5 years to come. The rising need for recruitment has been triggered by the corresponding rise in superannuation figures coupled by increased expansion plans of banks.

The PSBs aim to recruit as many as 7 lakh clerks and officers in this period of time.

According to CMD of public sector lender, Allahabad Bank, Mr J P Dua, the rate of retirements as...

Private sector lender Dhanlaxmi Bank is aiming to introduce fresh capital into its structure in a period of 2-3 months from now.

According to CEO and MD of the bank, Mr Amitabh Chaturvedi, the entire recapitalization process should get completed by March 2012. However, he did not mention the amount of capital that would be pumped into the bank.

The bank is also doing well in its gold loan business. Initially the bank had introduced gold...

The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India expects funds to be pumped into it by the government by March 2012. The bank said that it has been assured by the Finance Ministry of adequate capital being pumped in though the path for infusion is yet to be decided.

Chairman of the bank, Mr Pratip Chaudhuri quoted, "Whether it would be a rights issue, preferential or QIP route... It is still not decided."

"But...

Private sector lender Karur Vysya Bank has announced a 10.44% rise in net profits for the second quarter of this fiscal which ended in September 2011.

The bottom line of the bank stood at Rs 113.31 crore as against Rs 102.60 crore booked for the same period in the fiscal prior to this.

There has been a 8.7% rise in terms of operating profit amounting to Rs 157.67 crore as against Rs 145.07 crore earlier.

On a...

South based lender City Union Bank has taken to increasing its branch count in this fiscal. The bank recently set up its 280th branch in Madurai in an occasion to mark its 108th Foundation Day celebrations held on October 31.

On the same day, three other branches were opened by the bank, two of them being in Chennai and the other in Neyveli.

According to Dr N. Kamakodi, CEO and MD of the bank, it had...

Public sector lender Indian Overseas Bank is looking forward to receiving capital infusion from the government by coming February. The infusion is expected to be worth upto Rs 1400 crore, said CMD of the bank, Mr M Narendra.

"We have made a request to the Government for capital infusion of up to Rs 1,400 crore," said Mr Narendra.

In the last fiscal, capital infusion worth Rs 1053 crore had been pumped into the bank by the...

In order to bring about better recovery mechanism regarding non performong assets (NPAs) and thereby reduce it, south based lender, Karnataka Vikas Grameena (KVG) Bank has set up special recovery counselling centers across its regional offices.

According to CMD of the bank, Mr Sambasiva Reddy, "The move is likely to benefit the bank in general and the defaulters in particular, for they will be given education on importance of maintaining good record in all their banking...

Public sector lender Dena Bank has announced the appointment of Ms Nupur Mitra as the new Chairman and Managing Director of the bank.

Upon holding her new position, Ms Mitra said that her prime focus in the job itinerary would be on SME financing.

She said that the SME segment stands at a layer above the ‘bottom of the pyramid' and exposure in this segment can be considered as a 'safe bet'.

She added that since the...

Banking and monetary regulator Reserve Bank of India has urged all non banking finance companies (NBFCs) to gradually bring a stop to usage of cheques in banking transactions.

The idea behind this step is to reduce the usage of paper transaction modes and thus aid in ecology conservation.

As a part of the green initiatives of the government, many financial institutions have been suggested to make better and effective utilisation of resources.

"NBFCs are therefore, requested to take...

Public sector lender State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur has set up online facility for providing car loans to customers at ease.

The facility named 'Instant Online Car Loan Service' was inaugurated on October 12, 2011.

The facility will allow easier and faster loan approval process for customers at a time frame of only 10 minutes.

The customer wanting a car loan now has to just visit the bank's website, www.sbbjbank.com. On applying for instant online...

The state of Andhra Pradesh has aimed to bring as many as 6000 villages under the business correspondent (BC) umbrella by the end of this year.

The villages identified for the same comply to the criteria set in the financial inclusion model as having population of 2000 and above.

The target has so far been achieved in 60% of the total target villages.

Public sector lender IDBI Bank has set up an ambitious plan to open nearly 250 branches all over the country in the next year to come.

Also the lender aims to set up a branch in Singapore.

CMD of the bank, Mr R M Malla said, "We will be opening 200-250 branches across various states in next 12 months."

The lender has already sought approval from Singapore authorities for setting up a branch there and aims to...

Regulator Reserve Bank of India is not very much in favor of allowing India Post to set up ATMs in the country. The postal department is in talks with the central bank in this regard.

The main reason behind the apex bank not approving the request is the fact that currently only banks in India are permitted to set up ATMs.

However, it has not announced any formal declaration to the department of post.

India post has been...

Foreign lender Standard Chartered Bank has announced the appointment of Rajeev Chalisgaonkar as head of its SME banking operations in India and South Asia.

Mr Rajeev joins StanChart after leaving another foreign lender, Barclays.

"Rajeev has a proven track record in setting up and growing the SME business across geographies critical for us from a growth stand point which will be an added advantage," Standard Chartered Bank Regional Head-South Asia and Group Chief Marketing Officer...

Public sector lender Indian Overseas Bank has laid up plans to come up with yet another branch in Bangkok, Thailand. The idea was shared by chairman and managing director of the bank, Mr M Narendra.

With the new branch coming up, the bank would have two branches in Bangkok.

"We have applied to the RBI for one more branch in Bangkok. They (Thailand authorities) have agreed to it. This will be the second branch for IOB...