Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Bank of Baroda chief M D Mallya is BS Banker of the Year



Mangalore Devdas Mallya






















Source :BS Reporter / New Delhi 

Mangalore Devdas Mallya, the chairman & managing director of Bank of Baroda, is the Business Standard Banker of the Year for 2010. Mallya was chosen by a five-member jury headed by Securities & Exchange Board of India’s former chairman, M Damodaran, for BoB’s sterling performance over the last couple of years.


 The jury had shortlisted three bankers from 30 on performance parameters ranging from growth in deposits, advances, assets and bad debt to return on assets and business per employee.


Mallya took charge of BoB in 2008 at a time when global turbulence in the financial sector had threatened to shake India’s banking foundation. Mallya’s mandate was to take BoB to a new level and attract the young. Not only did the person with an “ice temperament” — as colleagues describe him — steer the bank out of the storm, he brought about good growth numbers and a better-than-counterparts showing. BoB’s profits grew 55 per cent in 2008-09 and 37 per cent in 2009-10. Return on assets improved to 1.21 per cent this financial year from 1.1 per cent last year, while return on equity increased to 22.19 per cent from 19.48 per cent.



At the peak of the crisis, the bank contained its incremental delinquency ratio at 1.13 per cent (for 2009-10), with a provision coverage ratio of 74.9 per cent as on March 31, 2010. Investors took note and the stock price outperformed the sector, fetching a return of over 172 per cent.




For Mallya, “cautious aggression” and “stable growth with quality” were key words that helped him steer a steady course through the mayhem. In an interview with Business Standard — the details of which are published in the Banking Annual distributed with today’s edition — when Mallya was asked if BoB’s risk appetite was less than its strength, the CMD said: “…look at our growth of 28 per cent (credit). Where is the conservative approach in that? We are aggressive, but cautious.” So, Mallya played with a straight bat, unlike those playing to the gallery with flamboyance, and it paid off.
The Banking Annual also deals with two key areas in the sector. Both are as pertinent to the reader as the country’s economic pace to the global financial health. One is about Reserve Bank of India’s dilemma in allowing industry to open banks, which is the cover story; and second on how clean the books of banks are.


But what was a nightmare for bankers is history now. Days of cautious hope are back. The managing director & chief executive of India’s largest private sector bank ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar, in an interview to Business Standard’s Banking Annual, said: “Sustainable, profitable growth is back.”


When the global economy is bouncing back and India, in particular, is outpacing the globe in growth, the benefits of the phenomenon must percolate down to consumers. Therefore, financial inclusion -- banking the unbanked -- and improving servicing of customers top the agenda. The Banking Annual finds benefits for the aam admi in both.

Banks raise Rs 2,980 cr via certificates of deposits





Source : BS :Reuters / Mumbai March 21, 2011, 20:22 IST

Banks raised Rs 2,980 crore via certificates of deposits (CDs) on Monday, compared with Rs 1,895 crore on Friday.

Yield on the three-month Reuters CD benchmark was at 9.95%, higher than 9.85% at its previous close, and the one-year Reuters CD fixing was at 10.05%, higher than 10% on Friday.



"Liquidity crunch in the banking system is keeping the short end rates higher. Being year end mutual funds are active buyers while banks are rolling over CDs keeping the demand firm," a senior dealer with a state-run bank said.




"The view that there may be another rate hike ahead because of the stubborn inflation is pushing up the short end rates higher," a dealer with a foreign bank said.


Last week, the Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates for the eighth time since last March, in line with expectations, and warned both of inflationary pressures and emerging risks to growth.
Liquidity situation, which is still strained in the banking system post the advance tax outflows, is expected to ease next week once the government ploughs it back to the system.


Banks borrowed a total of Rs 78,890 crore from the central bank's twin repo auctions, lower than Rs 1,40,000 crore on Friday.


According to Thomson Reuters data, volumes in the secondary market were at Rs 445 crore, lower than Rs 450 crore on Friday.

Buffett looking at investing in India, large countries


Source :zeenews:Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 11:27


Bangalore: Billionaire Warren Buffett on Tuesday said he is looking to invest in large countries like India, China and Brazil, but added that restrictions on foreign ownership in India's insurance industry could act as a deterrent in the sector.

Speaking to reporters on his maiden visit to India, Buffett also said the US economy was improving and that the devastating earthquake in Japan would not hurt global growth.

"India is a very logical place to look so I hope I spend some money here," Buffett told reporters in Bangalore, adorned in a flower garland and a red "teeka" -- a dash of vermillion placed on foreheads as a symbol of good wishes.

Buffett also said the US economy was improving. "The American economy is getting better month by month," he said. "The more India prospers or China prospers, the more the United States is going to prosper over the long term," he added.

He also said the earthquake in Japan - which has left at least 21,000 people dead or missing and has triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century -- would not hurt global growth.

"In terms of its effect on the world economy over any period of time, it's not going to be that important," he said. "It's going to be important for Japan, obviously, but it will not stop the growth of the world economy," he added, a day after he said the crisis created a "buying opportunity."

Buffett, nicknamed the Oracle of Omaha, a reference to his prodigious skill in picking out great investments that are followed closely by investors, and his Omaha, Nebraska origins, said he was looking at industries with modest rates of change.

The 80-year-old investor who is yet to name a successor to take over his USD 200-billion empire, skirted questions on the succession plan but praised Berkshire veteran Ajit Jain for smoothly running much of the company's insurance business.

"He loves what he does, he's not looking to take my job. If he was, the board of directors would probably put him in there in a minute," he said.

Four names top the list of potential candidates to succeed Warren Buffett as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, including that of India-born Ajit Jain.

Industries of interest

When asked if he would invest in India's USD 60 billion information technology industry or in the semiconductor business, Buffett said he preferred sectors he had expertise in.

"I think about the soft drink industry or the chewing gum industry, some thing that's much easier for me to understand," he said.

Berkshire owns a stake in Wrigley since 2008, when it poured USD 6.5 billion into Mars Inc's USD 23 billion acquisition of the chewing gum maker. And Coca-Cola is one of Berkshire's biggest investments.

Buffett said he liked large countries like India, China, Brazil, United Kingdom and Germany. "We need to invest billions of dollars and that's very tough in emerging markets," he said.

"I don't consider India as an emerging market, I consider India as a very big market. We continue to look at large countries like India."

Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway agreed to become a corporate agent for India's Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, marking its entry in to the insurance sector in Asia's third-largest economy.

Indian rules do not allow foreign firms to own more than 26 percent of an insurance company - a move that is seen by many overseas firms as restrictive.

The insurance portal, owned entirely by Berkshire, will sell motor insurance policies for Bajaj Allianz, avoiding the foreign ownership restrictions.

"It would be more attractive to us if we could buy more than 26 percent," Buffett said. "I would say that for the time being, and perhaps for some time, our activities in insurance here will be at the agency level rather than at the underwriting level," he said.

Buffett was in Bangalore to visit the local arm of TaeguTec, a unit of Israeli metal-cutting tool maker ISCAR Metalworking, in which Berkshire has a majority stake. He is also expected to meet policymakers and company executives.

Ranked the world's third-richest man by Forbes magazine, Buffett is also using his visit to India to encourage philanthropy.

Visiting South Korea on Monday, Buffett said Berkshire, which had USD 38 billion of cash equivalents at the end of 2010, was looking for more large-scale acquisitions anywhere in the world. 

Buffett looking at investing in India, large countries


Source :zeenews:Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 11:27


Bangalore: Billionaire Warren Buffett on Tuesday said he is looking to invest in large countries like India, China and Brazil, but added that restrictions on foreign ownership in India's insurance industry could act as a deterrent in the sector.

Speaking to reporters on his maiden visit to India, Buffett also said the US economy was improving and that the devastating earthquake in Japan would not hurt global growth.

"India is a very logical place to look so I hope I spend some money here," Buffett told reporters in Bangalore, adorned in a flower garland and a red "teeka" -- a dash of vermillion placed on foreheads as a symbol of good wishes.

Buffett also said the US economy was improving. "The American economy is getting better month by month," he said. "The more India prospers or China prospers, the more the United States is going to prosper over the long term," he added.

He also said the earthquake in Japan - which has left at least 21,000 people dead or missing and has triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century -- would not hurt global growth.

"In terms of its effect on the world economy over any period of time, it's not going to be that important," he said. "It's going to be important for Japan, obviously, but it will not stop the growth of the world economy," he added, a day after he said the crisis created a "buying opportunity."

Buffett, nicknamed the Oracle of Omaha, a reference to his prodigious skill in picking out great investments that are followed closely by investors, and his Omaha, Nebraska origins, said he was looking at industries with modest rates of change.

The 80-year-old investor who is yet to name a successor to take over his USD 200-billion empire, skirted questions on the succession plan but praised Berkshire veteran Ajit Jain for smoothly running much of the company's insurance business.

"He loves what he does, he's not looking to take my job. If he was, the board of directors would probably put him in there in a minute," he said.

Four names top the list of potential candidates to succeed Warren Buffett as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, including that of India-born Ajit Jain.

Industries of interest

When asked if he would invest in India's USD 60 billion information technology industry or in the semiconductor business, Buffett said he preferred sectors he had expertise in.

"I think about the soft drink industry or the chewing gum industry, some thing that's much easier for me to understand," he said.

Berkshire owns a stake in Wrigley since 2008, when it poured USD 6.5 billion into Mars Inc's USD 23 billion acquisition of the chewing gum maker. And Coca-Cola is one of Berkshire's biggest investments.

Buffett said he liked large countries like India, China, Brazil, United Kingdom and Germany. "We need to invest billions of dollars and that's very tough in emerging markets," he said.

"I don't consider India as an emerging market, I consider India as a very big market. We continue to look at large countries like India."

Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway agreed to become a corporate agent for India's Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, marking its entry in to the insurance sector in Asia's third-largest economy.

Indian rules do not allow foreign firms to own more than 26 percent of an insurance company - a move that is seen by many overseas firms as restrictive.

The insurance portal, owned entirely by Berkshire, will sell motor insurance policies for Bajaj Allianz, avoiding the foreign ownership restrictions.

"It would be more attractive to us if we could buy more than 26 percent," Buffett said. "I would say that for the time being, and perhaps for some time, our activities in insurance here will be at the agency level rather than at the underwriting level," he said.

Buffett was in Bangalore to visit the local arm of TaeguTec, a unit of Israeli metal-cutting tool maker ISCAR Metalworking, in which Berkshire has a majority stake. He is also expected to meet policymakers and company executives.

Ranked the world's third-richest man by Forbes magazine, Buffett is also using his visit to India to encourage philanthropy.

Visiting South Korea on Monday, Buffett said Berkshire, which had USD 38 billion of cash equivalents at the end of 2010, was looking for more large-scale acquisitions anywhere in the world. 

Dawood planning to attack CBI headquarters over 2G probe?





Source :Zeenews Bureau:23rd March 2011:12:27


New Delhi: The 2G scam continues to get murkier by the day. Few days after former telecom minister A Raja’s close aide Sadhick Batcha committed “suicide” at his residence in Chennai, it has come to light that security has been tightened at the headquarters of the CBI, which is probing the 2G scam, fearing an attack by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company.

Reports said on Wednesday that the CBI received information a few days back that the D-Company might target its headquarters in New Delhi to destroy the documents that relate to the irregularities in allocation of 2G spectrum.


A leading daily today quoted a top senior CBI official as saying on condition of anonymity, “A source in Mumbai passed on information to our officials a few days ago that D-Company is planning to target the CBI headquarters with the intention to destroy the 2G probe papers. We have taken all the required precautions. An alert has been sounded out at all the agency offices. The investigation team has been asked to be careful.”

It has been reported that intelligence agencies are looking into alleged underworld connection of Swan Telecom (which is now known as Etisalat DB) promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, who is under arrest and judicial custody for his role in the 2G scam. 



The newspaper reported that the intelligence agencies were so far able to link D-Company with the 2G scam only through Balwa.

The CBI is set to file its first chargesheet in the 2G scam by the end of this month, and will name Raja, his former personal secretary RK Chandolia, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura and two telecom companies as accused. 

Air tickets above Rs 1 lakh now under I-T scanner


 



Source :Chinmayi Shalya, TNN | Mar 23, 2011, 04.42am IST

Mumbai: A special court on Monday convicted a former I-T commissioner and his wife for amassing assets disproportionate to their known source of income.


Finding Vishwanath Shrivastava guilty of the charges against him, special judge N P Dhote sentenced him to three years' rigourous imprisonment and fined him Rs 5 lakh. His wife, Nisha, was sentenced for one year and fined Rs 50,000. They were on bail since 2001.


The CBI had registered a case against Shrivastava a, an IRS officer from the 1964 batch, alleging that while working as an income tax commissioner at Allahabad and Mumbai from 1986 to 2001, he had accepted illegal gratification from private parties and accumulated assets worth Rs 12.57 lakh.