Central cooperative banks (CCBs) should strive to have at least 70 per cent of their loan portfolio for agriculture, a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel has said.

RBI panel to co-op banks: Give 70% loan to agriculture

Business Standard

Indian companies raised about $1.15 billion from foreign markets in December, lower than the $1.35 billion raised in the previous month, RBI data showed today. The amount was raised through external commercial borrowing (ECB) and foreign currency convertible bond (FCCB) by 50 companies. Of the total, $825.26 million was raised through automatic route, while $321.01 million was raised via approval route.

India Inc raised $1.15 bn from foreign markets in Dec

Global fund managers are bullish on domestic equities, with 75 per cent of them holding an &lsquo;overweight&rsquo; view in the first quarter, an HSBC survey said.

HSBC: Global fund managers 'overweight' on equities

SKS Microfinance Limited reported a net profit of Rs 1.2 crore in the quarter ended December 2012, reversing the trend of seven consecutive quarters of losses. The company incurred a loss of Rs 428 crore in the corresponding quarter previous year.

SKS back in the black

A majority of clients surveyed by Royal Bank of Scotland said they expected the Reserve Bank of India to cut key policy rates by 25 basis points to 7.75 per cent in the monetary policy review on January 29. But, on the cash reserve ratio front, they don&rsquo;t expect any cut but expect one of 25-50 basis points in the remaining part of 2013.

Poll: 25-bp cut in repo, CRR unchanged

Andhra Bank reported a decline of 15.2 per cent in net profit to Rs 257 crore for the quarter ended December 2012, as compared with Rs 303 crore in the corresponding quarter the earlier year.

Andhra Bank net down 15%

Total income in the October-December period grew to Rs 2,357 crore, up 8.4 per cent from last year.

Marginal 2% rise in Vijaya Bank's profit

Medical services were affected as over 4,000 resident doctors in medical colleges across Maharashtra abstained from work on Thursday to demand a raise and better working conditions.

Resident doctors seek better pay, strike work

The final guidelines for new banking licences could take a while, contrary to expectations that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would announce those by month-end. Banking aspirants have been keenly awaiting the norms since the draft guidelines were issued about a year and a half back.

Wait for banking licence norms set to get longer

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to reward the government next week for its efforts to reform the economy and bring its finances under control by announcing its first cut in interest rates in nine months.

RBI likely to cut rates in next policy

The reduction in interest rates by banks in home loans has finally helped them garner a higher month-on-month growth this festive season.

Festive season brings cheer for banks in retail credit

Indian Ratings has said a clear role for the National Housing Bank in monitoring and ensuring repayments to investors of covered bonds will help mortgage financiers, including the housing finance companies, to quickly issue these instruments in India.

'NHB must facilitate issue of covered bonds'

Fraud cases

Investment bankers in India are staring at the possibility of taking home low to zero year-end bonuses this Christmas, as banks cut jobs and reduce costs due to a slowdown in the investment banking and fund raising transactions this year.

No jingle bells for India's investment bankers this year

India Ratings has said a clear role for the National Housing Bank (NHB) in monitoring and ensuring repayments to investors of covered bonds would help mortgage financiers, including housing finance companies, to quickly issue these instruments in India.

NHB's intermediation to help issue covered bonds

After nearly two years, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) &ndash; the largest insurer in the country &ndash; will launch a unit-linked insurance plan (Ulip). The intention is to take advantage of the bullishness in the stock market.

LIC to launch Ulip after almost two-years

The rupee dropped by 21 paise to trade at 54.47 against the dollar today on fresh demand for the US currency from banks and exporters.

Rupee drops 21 paise at 54.47/dollar

Press Trust of India

Indian banks may struggle to meet their priority sector lending targets this financial year despite improvement in farm credit disbursements, feel analysts.

Banks may struggle to meet priority sector lending targets

Snapping its three-session gaining string, the rupee on Monday lost a massive 51 paise to end at 54.77 against the dollar due to fresh heavy demand for the American currency from importers and some banks amid weak local equities. The rupee turned negative after weakness in equities in late morning deals and declined further to a low of 54.79 before concluding at 54.77, a fall of 51 paise, or 0.94 per cent.

Rupee down 51 paise on dollar demand

As growth continues to falter, Indian corporates are increasingly going for the second round of loan restructuring as the first one didn&rsquo;t help much.

Quality of new debt recast proposals deteriorating, says report

The file-and-use mandate for 18 product categories identified by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) would take a longer time to be implemented, than expected. The regulator will set up four committees to look into the product categories, and insurers expect it to take another year to be passed.

Standard product rules may go into cold storage

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