The state-owned lender, Jammu & Kashmir Bank has achieved the projected business target of Rs one lakh crore and the bank also expressed confidence of meeting its other annual targets as well.

J & K Bank surpassed the targeted Rs one lakh crore business in Platinum Jubilee year amid firm belief to meet easily its other annual targets as well, said bank's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad.

"It is a jubilation moment for all of...

Even if the banks are likely to meet the Reserve Bank of India's credit and deposit growth projections for the financial year 2012-2013, bankers and analysts see muted growth in FY14.

Bankers and Analysts feel that the credit growth will outpace deposit growth.

"Deposit growth is still a concern and is likely to be about two percentage points lower than RBI's estimates," said Mr. Vishal Narnolia, Research Analyst, SMC Global Securities Ltd.

In FY14, looking at the government's...

Mumbai headquartered, Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company has opened offices in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai for its business operations.

The opening of these new offices are an integral part of the company's strategy to mark its presence in major metros and to reach out to commercial and retail audiences in the metro cities, said Liberty Videocon in a press release.

Mr. Roopam Asthana, CEO and Whole Time Director of Liberty Videocon General Insurance said, "These are...

India's second largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank will be charging its customers for its InstaAlert SMS service from April 1. Under InstaAlert SMS service, the bank provides real-time alerts on account activities.

This service allows customers to keep record of various payments and receipts, get reminder for timely payment of utility bills and receive intimations when balance falls below a pre-specified limit, among other account activities.

"Effective April 1, 2013, customers registered for InstaAlerts through ‘SMS' will...

Around 50 entities have begun the process of approaching the Reserve Bank of India to seek clarifications on the norms prescribed for new banking licences.

The clarifications from the entities range from procedural issues like the details to be provided in the licence application forms, issues concerning the exact time period that RBI might take in grant of licences, whether the applicants can be given a provisional licence and then be allowed to meet all the...

Around seventeen public sector banks may take a hit on profitability because of the bulk deposits they hold.

The banks' high cost deposit and certificate of deposits (CDs) have excided the target of 15 per cent of the total deposits set by the Government. The banks have overshot the target, despite of Finance Ministry Directive of September 2012 asking the banks to lower such deposits.

According to data collected by the Finance Ministry for the three quarters...

State Bank of India's subsidiary, State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) has waived off the penalty charges of all fixed deposits which are either opened or renewed on or after April 1.

The waiver would be applicable only if the deposit has remained with the bank for at least seven days and more. Interest would be paid for the period of deposit at the published rate.

State Bank of Hyderabad is also introducing a new term deposit scheme...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified reduction of interest rate by 0.1 per cent each in Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) to be effective from the financial year beginning from April 1, 2013.

The rate of interest on PPF has been reduced from 8.8 per cent to 8.7 per cent with effect from April 1, 2013, the RBI notified.

The rate of interest on 5 year SCSS has been lowered to...

The Reserve Bank of India in order to ensure that members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are not kept out of the circuit of banking services said that banks can now open savings account for the self-help groups even if ‘know your customer' verification is completed only for the office bearers of the SHG.

RBI said in a statement, "In order to address the difficulties faced by SHGs in complying with Know Your Customer (KYC) norms while...

Finance Minister, Mr. P Chidambaram will be inaugurating 300 new branches in Uttar Pradesh in the presence of Chief Minister of UP, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, official sources said.

An official release issued said, "At the meeting with RBI governor D Subbarao on Jan 15, state chief minister Akhilesh Yadav requested him to open 3000 more bank branches keeping in mind the population of the state. Now RBI and state government has fixed the time table to...

Public sector general insurer, United India Insurance Company Ltd will be hiring 445 generalist officers.

According to a notification, any graduate with 60 per cent or post graduate with 55 per cent of marks is eligible to apply for the post.

The mandatory relaxation in minimum educational qualifications and reservations are available to candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories.

Interested candidates for generalist officers can apply online between April 2 and April 18, 2013.

United India insurance has...

Tamil Nadu based lender, Karur Vysya Bank to soon opt for new operation model to win in today's market place.

Mr. K Venkataraman, Chief Executive of Karur Vysya Bank said, "While innovation and technology adoption have helped capture the market initially, continuous improvement in branch operation model would help improve the in-branch experience".

The bank is aiming to focus on improving the in-branch experience this year by changing the layout and sprucing up the interiors wherever it is...

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) notified that the third party motor insurance premium rates will increase by up to 20 per cent from April 1,2013.

The rates were revised by annually adjusting them by a special formula announced last year. The formula takes into accounts, frequency and expenses involved in third party business.

Mr. T S Vijayan, Chairman of IRDA said, "Insurers are advised to be mindful of the concerns expressed by the vehicle-owners about the...

The private sector lender, Yes Bank was signed up as the official partner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the financial services category.

Yes Bank is the latest addition to IPL's partner list. Earlier, Pepsi was signed as the official title sponsor and Vodafone has also renewed its association with the IPL tournament.

Mr. Rana Kapoor, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Yes Bank said, "We are confident that YES Bank's association with IPL for 5...

Borrowers will have to wait a bit longer for relief from elevated interest rates as bankers have ruled out any immediate cut in the lending rate.

Even after the Reserve Bank of India has delivered two successive rate cuts this year, banks have ruled out any immediate rate cut, citing high cost of funds.

"The basic thing that is required - the cost of deposits - is still in the higher side," state-run Union Bank of Indiachairman...

The Finance Ministry of India has reduced its interest rate on PPF (public provident fund) by 0.1 per cent to 8.7 per cent.

The Ministry has also reduced its interest rate on five-year NSC (national savings scheme) to 8.5 per cent from 8.6 per cent and on 10-year NSC to 8.8 per cent from 8.9 per cent.

The Finance Ministry has cut the interest rate on five-year postal recurring deposits to 8.3 per cent but has kept...

The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to keep all the designated tax collecting branches open on March 29, 30, and 31 to facilitate tax collection as March 29 is a holiday on account of Good Friday while March 31st is Sunday.

"We have been requested by the government of India and some state governments to facilitate collection and accounting of all government tax receipts for the current financial year (2012-13) up to March 31,...

The Reserve Bank of India has downplayed the money laundering allegations against top three private sector banks- ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, saying that the country has a "perfect" system to prevent such offences and no such transactions took place in the sting operation.

Last week, top three banks were accused of indulging in money laundering, both within and outside by an online portal Cobrapost claiming that the sting operation conducted by it had revealed...

The Reserve Bank of India has decided to implement the new uniform risk based supervision system in around thirty large banks. The banks are ready to implement it from April 1, which will enable them to assess their risk on a real-time basis.

Indian Banks Association chairman and Punjab National Bank chief, Mr. KR Kamath said, "The risk-based supervision system is likely to be implemented from April 1. The RBI has decided to implement it in 30...

With the financial year-end fast approaching, banks are working overtime in order to meet up with the Reserve Bank of India's projected deposit and credit growth.

In the second-last fortnight of the current financial year that ended on March 8, the year-on-year, deposit growth stood at 13.15%, short of the RBI's projected 15% for the current fiscal. But, credit growth is better standing at 15.4%, but still short of RBI's projected level of 16%.

Banks are raising...