The two-day general strike by 11 trade unions which began on February 20th affected banking services and transport across the country.

Some of the states such as Kerala, Bihar and Tripura were completely shut, whereas there was a mixed response in other states.

Banking services were severely affected as around 10 lakh bank employees and officers not reporting at branches and administrative offices, operations in public sector banks, regional rural banks and co-operative banks were affected. Many bank...

Banking services, especially in the public sector banks are likely to be affected across the country as trade unions in the banking sector will be joining central trade unions in thetwo-day strike on February 20th and 21st.

The strike has been called off by 11 central trade unions including the Indian National Trade Union Congress, All India Trade Union Congress, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Centre of Indian Trade Unions to protest against price rise, corruption, lack...

Country's financial sector is set to get new chiefs in almost a dozen financial institutions and three of the four regulatory bodies.

The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman, Mr. J Hari Narayan is to retire thus kicking off the process of change of entities. Mr. T S Vijayan is expected to take up the position of IRDA Chairman. Mr. Vijayan was the Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation.

Next February, the post of SEBI chairman is...

The private sector lender, Yes Bank has picked up Microsoft SharePoint 2010 to automate around 150 processes thereby reducing the turnaround time for customers.

Yes Bank will automate processes that were previously either manual or semi-automated to cut the turnaround time of customers by 40 per cent; it will improve efficiency and business intelligence for its available employees.

The automation step will speed the decision making process by 70 per cent. Yes Bank has evaluated multiple platforms with...

The Reserve Bank of India is likely to come out with the final guidelines for new banking license before the end of the fourth quarter i.e. March-end.

Mr. Anand Sinha, Deputy Governor on the sidelines of an event said, "We are in the process of issuing the license guidelines. We should issue them soon. The consultation process with the finance ministry is over; everything is settled now, and we will be issuing the guidelines. (It will be)...

Mobile banking will be the leading trend in the emerging banking landscape. Justice M N Venkatachaliah, former Chief Justice of India, expressed this view while delivering lecture during the Karnataka Bank Founders' Day celebration.

Mr. Venkatachaliah stated that the country has around 675 million active mobile connections and emerging technologies; mobile banking will witness explosive growth in the banking scenario.

Emergence of tech-savvy users of financial services would put mobile banking on the forefront. The workforce will also...

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and All India Nabard Employees' Association (AINBEA) will join the two-day strike called by the central trade unions on February 20 and 21.

Joining on Nabard staff was decided at its ninth annual conference held in Hyderabad.

The All India State Bank Officers' Federation and the All India State Bank of India Staff Federation, being a part of UFBU, will also participate in the strike, State Bank of India said in a...

According to banking experts, bulk deposit rates may not touch last fiscal's level despite of the recent rise in tight liquidity condition seen in the banking sector.

Following a directive from the Finance Ministry, public sector banks will have to bring down their bulk deposits to 15 per cent of the total deposits. Experts also say that the bulk deposit rates may match the card rates (rates at which banks lend to retail depositors from April.

"Bulk...

Public sector general insurer, United India Insurance to focus more on retail segment along with emphasis on underwriting losses will drive the growth of the company, a top company official said.

"Our focus is on retail segment to drive growth in the future. As part of the strategy, we have opened 410 micro offices in rural areas. We are increasing our agent strength and tying up with self-help groups to reach out to more people," said Mr....

There will be no banking transactions on February 20th and 21st as public sector bank staffs have decided to join the two day strike called off by central trade unions to press for wage hike in the backdrop of rising inflation.

The nation-wide strike has been carried out by United Forum of Banks Unions (UFBU), which consists of nine national level unions including AIBOC, AIBEA, BEFI, INBEF, NCBE and NOBW.

Apprehending the disruption in the normal banking...

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) is proposing to make a two fold hike in the rates from April 1 due to rising inflation and the history of claim settlement, motor insurance premiums is likely to be more expensive.

As per the IRDA draft, charges for the third party insurance cover will increase for two-wheelers, passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

For passenger cars with engine capacity of less than 1000 cc, the revised third party...

India's largest lender, State Bank of India (Kolkata circle) opened five e-corners in various parts of the city on 14th February.

The newly opened e-corners will have various facilities like ATM; cash deposit machines, self service kiosk for passbook printing, fund transfer, NEFT, account statement, cheque book request, bill payments etc. There will also be coin vending machines available at various e-corners, said bank in a statement.

The e-corners would help banks to cater to day-to-day need s...

The public sector lender, Syndicate Bank is targeting at Rs 3, 50,000 crore business by the end of Jan-March quarter of the current financial year. The bank also aims to take the number of branches to 3000, said Mr. M Anjaneya Prasad, Executive Director of Syndicate Bank.

Mr. Prasad announced this while inaugurating the ninth branch in Akkayyapalem branch, Vizag. It is the 411th branch in Andhra Pradesh.

Executive Director, Mr. Prasad said the bank has 2,777 branches,...

Private sector General Insurer, L&T Insurance soon plans to introduce 10 new products in the small and medium enterprises (SME) and home insurance space.

"We have got regulatory approval for SME and home products," said Mr. Joy deep Roy, L&T Insurance Chief Executive Officer.

L&T Insurance proposes to launch 6 home insurance products and 4 in the space of SME, Mr. Roy said, adding that they will be shortly rolled out.

The company has tied up with FINISH...

Bharti AXA General Insurance is eyeing at 60 per cent revenue growth in Kerala this financial year. The company has already collected a premium of Rs 12.56 crore in 2012 by selling around 22.048 policies.

Presently, most of the business in Kerala comes from Motor Insurance. However, the company has started offering business package policies targeting small and medium enterprises and individuals, said Mr. Amarnath Ananthnarayanan, Managing Director and CEO of Bharti AXA.

"Kerala has a huge...

The public sector lender, Allahabad bank has cut its base rate and the Benchmark prime lending rate by 30 basis points which will be effective from February 18th, 2013.

After the reduction, the base rate would stand at 10.20 per cent from 10.50 per cent, while BPLR will be 14.45 per cent from 14.75 per cent, said in a press release by Allahabad Bank.

The bank has decided to offload non-performing assets (NPAs) worth Rs 540 crore....

The Tamil Nadu based lender, Karur Vysya Bank had cut its base rate by 25 basis points and increased the one to two year term deposit by 50 basis points with effect from February 3rd, 2013.

After the reduction, the base rate now stands at 10.75 per cent and the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) at 15.75 per cent.

The rate offered on its domestic and NRE term deposits has been hiked by 50 basis points to 9.5...

Despite of inflation fell a notch down from peak levels, 7 per cent plus inflation is still above comfort level, said Mr. D Subbarao, Governor of Reserve Bank of India while addressing the convocation at Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) which is set up by RBI.

Mr. Subbarao said that the inflation level is high due to rising income levels in the rural areas, global oil prices, high fiscal deficit and demand pressures.

India was...

According to Mr. G Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director of New India Assurance, customers do not buy a comprehensive policy especially when they have old vehicle. Most of them only buy third party cover once the loan of the vehicle is paid. The premiums on third party cover are merely 10 per cent of the comprehensive policy. The customers are mandated to buy an insurance policy for their vehicle.

When an insurer sells a comprehensive motor...

State Bank of India's subsidiary, SBI General Insurance has provided personal accident to around 7 million State Bank of India account holders across India, said the company on press release.

The personal accident insurance will provide cover of Rs 4 lakh in an unfortunate loss of life due to an accident. The personal accident insurance is only available for State Bank of India's saving account holders against a payment of Rs 100. The account holder...