Thanks to the debt waiver scheme announced in this year's Budget, cooperative banks might take a hit as they are likely to see a rise in non-performing assets (NPAs) from agricultural loans.

Co-op bank NPAs may rise on loan waiver

Business Standard

The banking sector has done well in the quarter ended March 2008 on the back of lower provisioning, modest rise in staff cost and strong net interest margins (NIM) reported by private sector banks.

Banking sector has a good fourth quarter

The Supreme Court on Thursday once again assailed the practice of banks employing musclemen for recovery of loans from the public.

Supreme Court raps banks for forcible recovery

Bank of India posted consolidated net profit of Rs 1,959.8 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 up 76.8 per cent as compared to Rs 1,108 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007.

Bank of India net up 76%

The government bond market, which has been witnessing selling pressure due to the tight liquidity, turned further bearish as the inflation rose to 7.83 per cent, its highest since November 2004.

Tight liquidity, inflation hit govt bond market hard

The rating agency CRISIL has downgraded ICICI Bank&#39;s securitised commercial vehicle loan pool worth over Rs 82 crore due to a drop in collections from repayments.

ICICI Bank`s securitised paper downgraded

Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL) plans to introduce financial products that will provide guarantee for the currency forward contracts and interest rate swap to provide comfort to market on payments.

CCIL to guarantee forward currency, interest contracts

The spot rupee reached a fresh 13-month low of 42.90 against the dollar following heavy purchase of the US currency by oil companies and banks but recovered to close at 42.51 in a volatile trading session.

Rupee at 13-month low against the dollar

&nbsp;Regulator seeks data from eight banks.
&nbsp;The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) scanner on banks with exposures to exotic derivatives has now turned to several high-profile foreign banks.

Foreign banks under RBI scanner over derivatives

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has acquired a 73.21 per cent stake in IL&amp;FS Investsmart, a leading retail brokerage house in India, for a consideration of Rs 1,110 crore ($261 million).

HSBC buys 73% in IL&FS Investmart

A sharp depreciation of the rupee against the dollar may be giving the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government the jitters.

FIIs queue up for stocks as rupee falls

For the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which was on a dollar-buying spree for a long time to contain appreciation of the rupee, this March was different.

RBI sells dollars after 27 months

The board of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, an associate bank of State Bank of India, will meet on May 22 to consider splitting the face value of the bank's shares from Rs 100 to Rs 10 per share.

SBBJ's board to consider stock split

Bangalore-based textile exporter Himmatsingka Siede has disclosed that it sitting on a mark-to-market loss of Rs 175 crore (as on March 10, 2008) on a derivative deal it had signed with HDFC Bank, the company said in a statement to the BSE, putting to rest rumours on its outstanding contract with the bank.

B'lore firm goes to court against HDFC Bank

&nbsp; India has called for greater cooperation between Delhi and Beijing in the financial sector, both through governmental agencies and private institutions and banks.

Bansal calls for financial cooperation

Financial services major Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) today announced four key appointments to boost its India-operations.

Royal Bank of Scotland hires 4 key people

Press Trust of India

India's largest public sector lender State Bank of India has put on hold financing of new tractor and other capital equipment, a move that can have reflection on agriculture sector, a priority area for the government.

SBI puts agri financing on hold

&nbsp;Move may face political reaction, say other banks.
&nbsp;Worried over rising defaults on loans for new tractors and combine harvesters, State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to put a temporary freeze on fresh credit to buy such farm equipment.

SBI puts temporary ban on farm equipment loans

The sharp and somewhat unexpected depreciation in the value of the rupee against the US dollar has led officials of the revenue department in the finance ministry to ask whether the sops given to exporters after the last fiscal&#39;s rise in the value of the rupee need to be rolled back.

Revenue dept bats for export sops rollback

&nbsp;Rise in bad loans compels the country's largest bank to restructure. 
&nbsp;State Bank of India is developing business models to take decisions on deploying funds and assessing the returns (yield) in various business segments, in an attempt to improve the quality of planning and make optimal use of resources.

SBI redevelops business models

A section of the insurance industry is disappointed over the Govardhan Committee&#39;s decision not to allow banks to partner with more than one life insurance company to sell the latter&#39;s products.

Insurers upset over Govardhan panel move on bank tie-up

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