Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Pranab to meet bank chiefs

Source :The Hindu :Aug 11,2010

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet public sector bank chiefs on August 14 and is likely to discuss the impact of the hike in lending rates for existing borrowers by banks following the Reserve Bank of India's monetary tightening steps.

Sources said the meeting would discuss the impact of a number of banks raising their benchmark prime lending rates (BPLRs), which would affect auto, home and education loan costs for existing borrowers.


Lenders like Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Corporation Bank and IDBI hiked BPLRs following the RBI move to raise key short-term borrowing and lending rate by 50 and 25 basis points, respectively, to control double-digit inflation.


Since July, the system of BPLRs has been replaced by a base rate, which is a floor for lending rates. However, existing customers are linked to BPLR unless they decide to switch over to the base rate system.

Sources said the Finance Minister will also take stock of the financial performance of the banks and their projections for the current year.


He will also dwell upon credit flow to productive sectors, sources said.


The agenda of the meeting also includes a review of credit growth, including to the agriculture and infrastructure sectors, and banks' networks in unbanked blocks, sources said.

Central Bank's steps to reduce NPAs

Source: The Hindu,Aug11,2010:Corporate Reporter


CHENNAI: In an effort to reduce NPA (non-performing assets) accounts, Central Bank of India which is entering shortly its centenary year, has been taking various steps by resorting to out of court settlements.


Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, S. Kannan, General Manager, Chennai Zone, said the bank had organised Lok Adalat, exclusively for DRT (Debt Recovery Tribunal) cases on August 6 under the auspices of Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority. Mutual negotiation was undertaken with various litigants from different DRTs functioning in Tamil Nadu and the bank had settled 24 cases involving an amount of Rs. 12.35 crore, Mr. Kannan said.

Early in January an adalat was conducted for DRT and non-DRT cases and 225 cases were settled for Rs. 13.50 crore. I

It was proposed to conduct another adalat next month exclusively for pre-litigation cases pertaining to Chennai city, Mr. Kannan said.


On the performance of Chennai Zone, Mr. Kannan said the zone comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry achieved a business of Rs. 16,300 crore with Tamil Nadu alone contributing Rs. 12,462 crore.
The credit deposit ratio of the bank in Tamil Nadu was 158 per cent with deposits of Rs. 4,869 crore and advances of Rs. 7,593 crore.


For the current financial year, the plan was to increase the business of this zone to Rs. 20,000 crore.

HM prepares for BIFR ‘intimation'

Source: The Hindu: Aug 11,2010:Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: Even as it readied itself for an intimation to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on erosion of over half of its net-worth, India's oldest car manufacturer, the C. K. Birla-controlled Hindustan Motors, is looking at launching a restyled version of its iconic car, the Ambassador.


The company's Managing Director Manoj Jha said here at a pressmeet that the new cars would include a ‘definite upgrade' and would be ready within a year. He hinted that overseas companies were engaged in the technical parts and a holistic change would be effected. “We are not looking at the volume-market but rather the niche-segment — for people who love the retro look.”


Expressing confidence that around 12,000 units of the new-look Ambassador could be sold in a full year (as an entry-level sedan), he said that the company had changed its approach to aggressive marketing and product-development and proposed to appoint 50 new dealers. “We are also taking the initiative to ensure that the cars are available on-demand, for which we are implementing a build-to-stock strategy with dealers being given targets,” he said.

Earlier Chairman C. K. Birla told the shareholders that the company made a Rs. 51.10-crore loss in 2009-10. The main reasons were the adverse movement in foreign exchange rates and the higher proportion of Ambassador for the taxi-segment which had low-margins.


Cost reduction initiatives and profit from sale of land at the mother plant at Uttarpara here could only partly absorb the impact.

Sales of Mitsubishi range of products from the Chennai car-plant dropped, mainly due to adverse movement in forex rates forcing the company to increase prices. The Lancer and the Cedia are facing stiff competition and volumes have declined in the wake of global economic slowdown, despite introduction of new models.

Mr. Birla said that although a desired ramp-up of the component business could not take place, this segment would grow to be a major contributor to the company's future profitability.

The company has completed the transfer of 314 acres at Uttarpara on which an integrated township and an auto ancillary park will come up.


The company has shown an improvement in the first quarter bottom line this fiscal and hoped to turnaround by this fiscal. Accumulated losses stood at Rs. 132.30 crore.