Amid fear of an economic slowdown, ICICI Lombard, the largest private sector general insurer in the country, collected premiums worth about Rs 3,000 crore in the first seven months of the current financial year. Managing Director and chief executive Bhargav Dasgupta tells Niladri Bhattacharya though the industry would record 20-25 per cent growth in 2011-12, third-party motor pool losses would hit profitability.

Q&A: Bhargav Dasgupta, ICICI Lombard GIC

Business Standard

After six and a half years at the helm of Standard Chartered India and South Asia, Neeraj Swaroop is set to take charge as chief executive, South-East Asia. During his stint, India became one of the top two or three contributors to Stanchart&rsquo;s global numbers.

Q&A: Neeraj Swaroop, Standard Chartered

Having decided to raise Rs 200 crore through tier II bonds, Kolkata-based United Bank of India, recently submitted to the Union government a roadmap for capital requirement of over the next five years. Bhaskar Sen, chairman and managing director, UBI, in an interview with Namrata Acharya, explains how changes in the macro economic situation will impact the banking industry.

Q&A: Bhaskar Sen, United Bank of India

Union Bank of India is the first bank to cut its base rate in two years. Chairman and managing director M V Nair, in an interview with Manojit Saha, talks about the reasons.

Q&A: M V Nair, Union Bank of India

Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer, ICICI Bank, in a post-earnings conference, said the bank aimed to maintain its margin at 2.6 per cent.

Q&A: Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank

Canada-based Sun Life Financial Inc&rsquo;s first stint in India was from 1891 till the life insurance industry was nationalised in 1956. The company again started operations in 2000, when the industry was opened up. Dean A Connor, president, Sun Life, in his first interview in India, tells Niladri Bhattacharya &amp; N Sundaresha Subramanian the regulator should ensure a level playing field in the annuity business.

Q&A: Dean A Connor, President, Sun Life Financial Inc

Alok Misra, chairman and managing director of Bank of India, spells out his strategy for credit expansion, improving asset quality and recovery for the second half of the financial year, in conversation with Parnika Sokhi and Abhijit Lele.

Q&A: Alok Misra, MD & Chairman, Bank of India

At a time when the asset quality of public sector banks is under stress due to an uncertain economic environment and rising interest rates, Indian Bank appears confident of keeping a lid on fresh slippages. In an interview with T E Narasimhan and Somasroy Chakraborty, chairman and managing director T M Bhasin says the lender will focus on loan recoveries in the coming quarters.

Q&A: T M Bhasin, CMD, Indian Bank

Rising borrowing costs, strained cash flow and delays in execution of projects have prompted many Indian companies to restructure their existing debts with banks. Punjab National Bank (PNB), the country&rsquo;s second-largest lender, has restructured nearly Rs 20,000 crore of loans in the last three and a half years. In an interview with Somasroy Chakraborty and T E Narasimhan, Chairman and Managing Director, K R Kamath, says a debt recast is needed to aid borrowers in servicing their loans.

Q&A: K R Kamath, CMD, PNB

Sanjeeb Chaudhur, Standard Chartered&rsquo;s consumer banking business regional head for South Asia and global head of marketing, plans to introduce new products and services for the bank&rsquo;s retail clients in India. In an interview with Somasroy Chakraborty, he outlines his plan.

Q&A: Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, Standard Chartered

SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri tells Abhijeet Lele while the downgrade per se will not hurt the bank so much, going ahead, there are concerns on mid-sized corporate loans and the agriculture portfolio.

Q&A: Pratip Chaudhuri, Chairman, SBI

Y H Malegam, chairman of the Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s panel on the licensing of new banks in the urban co-operative sector, in conversation with Abhijit Lele, gives his assessment of changes in the sector.

Q&A: Y H Malegam, Chairman, RBI panel

Asset-liability mismatch is inherent in the banking business. All banks run on certain mismatch of funds. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) places certain restrictions on individual buckets and mandates not to have mismatches beyond a certain limit. All our mismatches are within the prescribed limits.

Q&A: Bipin Kabra, Dhanlaxmi Bank

Reliance Industries&rsquo; acquisition of Bharti&rsquo;s stake in insurance ventures marks the entry of India's most valued company into the sector. Sandeep Ghosh, chief executive of Bharti AXA Life Insurance, tells Dipta Joshi even though Reliance is expected to be involved in strategic decisions, the operating control would remain with AXA.

Q&A: Sandeep Ghosh, CEO, Bharti AXA Life Insurance 

In an email response, Life Healthcare Managing Director Michael Flemming tells Joe C Mathew on what the deal means to his company.

Q&A: Michael Flemming, MD, Life Healthcare

In an email interview, Max India Limited managing director Rahul Khosla, who is co-chairman of the operational task force of Max Healthcare, tells Joe C Mathew about the significance of Max-Life Healthcare deal.

Q&A: Rahul Khosla, Max Healthcare

Conventional products, which provide a regular flow of premium, is the lifeline for any insurer, says D K Mehrotra, acting chairman of the country's largest life insurer, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. In an interview with Niladri Bhattacharya, he says allowing banks to sell multiple insurers' products would not prompt banks to act like brokers.

Q&A: D K Mehrotra, Acting chairman, LIC

HDFC vice-chairman and chief executive officer Keki Mistry discusses second-quarter earnings with Manojit Saha and says the Reserve Bank of India may increase interest rates for the last time before it takes a pause.

Q&A: Keki Mistry, HDFC

L&amp;T group&rsquo;s Mr Finance on life beyond work and his banking game plan.

Lunch with BS: Y M Deosthalee

The European Union Summit on Sunday would try to work out a plan to solve the region's debt crisis. Warren Hogan, chief economist and head (global markets research), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group tells Parnika Sokhi this would have an impact on India.

Q&A: Warren Hogan, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

In an interview with Manojit Saha, RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao says he gave a long-term guidance on policy rates, so that investors can take informed decisions.

Q&A: Duvvuri Subbarao, RBI governor

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