Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has hiked its stake in the country&rsquo;s largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, to 9.38 per cent after purchasing shares worth Rs 145.62 crore through open market transaction.

LIC ups stake in ICICI Bank, GAIL

Press Trust of India

On the backdrop of current economic meltdown, public sector lender, Dena Bank has shelved its plan of entering into general insurance business.

Dena Bank shelves general insurance foray plan

Business Standard

With many large banks in the United States and the United Kingdom facing trouble, it is probably a bad time to be providing outsourcing and consulting services to the financial services industry. Management consultant and transaction-services-provider Accenture, which reported a 6 per cent rise in net revenues to $6 billion in the first quarter of FY09, acknowledges that the environment is tough and clients have become more demanding. Pierre Nanterme, group chief executive of Accenture&rsquo;s Financial Services operating group spoke to Sudeep Jain and Sidhartha about the challenges and the outlook.

'Coming up with ideas is not enough'

As the financial woes mount in the world&rsquo;s largest economy, the number of failed American banks are climbing, with eight entities going belly up in February alone.

Eight American banks collapse in February

Government bond yields touched a two-month high as the Centre borrowed more and Standard &amp; Poor&rsquo;s revised India&rsquo;s sovereign rating outlook from stable to negative.

Gilt yields at 2-month high

Forced to auction off dozens of units to repay part of $150 bn govt bailout.

AIG gets $11.2 billion bid from MetLife for life unit

We remain quite concerned about the deteriorating fiscal position of the government and the weakening of an institutionalised commitment to fiscal reforms. These trends will worsen the government&rsquo;s debt trajectory and could impair private investment prospects and ultimately damage India&rsquo;s long-term growth potential.

&#39;Not everything the govt has done is well-thought out&#39;

We have had a negative view since last July. The fiscal outlook is getting worse and our recent report reiterated our views and worries about fiscal sustainability.

&#39;We are not looking at further change in outlook or rating&#39;

With the West Bengal government now looking at putting the issue of conversion of two-stroke autorickshaws plying on the city streets to cleaner fuels on fast gear, the public sector banks led by United Bank of India(UBI) have already sanctioned loans to 200 vechicle owners of the 830 applications received so far.

Banks step up loans to autorickshaw owners for CNG conversion

After remaining weak for two straight sessions, the Indian rupee appreciated by 14 paise against the US currency in early trade today on expectations of firm opening of the domestic bourses on the back of recovery in the Asian equities, raising hopes of fresh capital inflows by foreign funds.

Re up 14 paise vs $ in early trades

The rupee continued its downward journey for the third straight session and ended lower by another seven paise to 49.94/95 against the greenback, due to month-end demand for&nbsp;the US currency amid a firm dollar overseas.

Rupee falls 3rd straight session vs $, down 7 paise

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) today said it has re-appointed Deepak S Parekh as the managing director of the company with effect from March this year.

HDFC re-appoints Deepak Parekh as managing director

A day after announcing Rs 30,000 crore tax relief, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said he has advised the RBI and banks to take risks and be courageous to further bring down interest rates to stimulate the economy reeling under the global meltdown.

Pranab advises banks to cut interest rates further

Likely to take over as its non-executive chairman.

Parekh may give up HDFC executive role

The Reserve Bank of India has objected to the new foreign investment guidelines for the calculating indirect foreign holding in Indian companies, which are non-transparent and will make monitoring of sectoral caps difficult.

RBI questions transparency of new foreign investment norms

Public-sector lender Uco Bank may face pressure on its fourth-quarter profits on account of possible provisions of Rs 97.42 crore for an exposure to credit-linked notes (CLN).

CLN exposure may cost Uco Rs 97 crore

Straddled with oil bonds worth over Rs 56,000 crore, the cash-crunched public oil marketing companies (OMCs) have made a request to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to resume special market operations (SMOs) for oil bonds.

Oil firms request RBI to resume buying of oil bonds

Sensing slowdown in the economies in middle-east region, Bank of Baroda (BoB) has reworked its business strategy in United Arab Emirates (UAE) to focus on trade and short term finance and ensure asset quality.

BoB reworks strategy for UAE

Vijaya Bank expects the rise in government bond yields to hit its treasury income in the March quarter, Chairman and Managing Director Albert Tauro said On Wednesday.

Vijaya Bank's Q4 treasury gains seen hit

Fresh loan disbursals by banks to oil companies resulted in credit flow rising by Rs 10,031 crore during the fortnight-ended February 13. The growth came after two fortnights of decline when overall credit flow fell by around Rs 22,709 crore.

Bank credit up after a month

American International Group Inc lost 85 per cent of market value since Chief Executive Officer Edward Liddy said five months ago &ldquo;the mess we&rsquo;re in is solvable.

AIG scales back plan to sell assets as markets drop

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