Page 24 - Banking Sector

EOW arrests son of absconding businessman in New India Coop Bank fraud case

The Mumbai police's economic offences wing (EOW) has arrested the son of a businessman wanted in connection with the embezzlement of Rs 122 crore at the New India Cooperative Bank, an official said on Friday. The EOW on Thursday arrested Manohar Arunachalam (33), the son of absconding accused Unnathan Arunachalam, the official said. This is the fourth arrest in connection with the case, he said. The EOW had earlier arrested three persons, including the bank's ex-general manager, Hitesh Mehta, and real estate developer, Dharmesh Paun. The official said Manohar allegedly helped his father, Unnathan Arunachalam alias Arun Bhai, to flee, and a probe has revealed that he was with his father when the latter absconded. He will be produced in a court later in the day, the official said. EOW officials have been searching for Unnathan Arunachalam for the last several days, and a lookout circular has been issued against him According to the EOW, the bank's ex-general manager, Hitesh Mehta,

Physical banking will get slower in terms of share, says Uday Kotak

Speaking at the Business Standard's annual conclave BS Manthan, Uday Kotak, founder and director of Kotak Mahindra Bank said politics is emerging as a highly disruptive force, reshaping global finance

New India Coop Bank had capacity for Rs 10 cr, book showed Rs 122 cr: EOW

New India Cooperative Bank's Prabhadevi branch in Mumbai had a capacity to keep Rs 10 crore at a time, but the cash in hand book showed there was Rs 122.028 crore in the safe on the day of RBI inspection, police officials said on Tuesday, citing probe into a fraud case. Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is probing a Rs 122-crore embezzlement at New India Cooperative Bank and has arrested three persons, including two former top executives of the lender, so far. The RBI inspection team visited the corporate office branch of the bank at Prabhadevi on February 11, where they found Rs 122 crore cash was missing from the safe, an official said. The balance sheet at the corporate office branch was showing Rs 133.41 crore at the bank's safe at Prabhadevi and Goregaon branches, and Rs 122.028 was the figure on the balance sheet of Prabhadevi branch on that day, he said. During the probe, the EOW found the capacity of the safe at the corporate office to store cash was only Rs 10 .

FinMin defers performance review meeting with heads of PSU banks to Mar 5

The finance ministry has deferred performance review meeting with heads of public sector banks (PSBs) by a day to March 5. The meeting, to be chaired by Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, would review financial performance and progress of financial inclusion schemes, among others, sources said. Earlier, Department of Financial Services had fixed March 4 for the meeting. This is going to be the first meeting after presentation of Union Budget 2025-26 in Parliament. The 12 PSBs have posted highest-ever net profit of Rs 1.29 lakh crore in the April-December period of the current fiscal year, marking an annual increase of 31.3 per cent. The performance of PSBs has shown significant improvement on key financial parameters, like record net profit growth, improved asset quality, and build-up of adequate capital buffers, during the period under review. Further, improved asset quality is also visible from significantly low net NPA ratio at 0.59 per cent (aggregate net NPA outstandin

Microfinance loan book shrinks 3.5% to Rs 3.85 trillion in Dec quarter

Share of overdue loans shoots to 6.4%

IndusInd Bank gets GST demand notice of Rs 21.62 crore for short payment

IndusInd Bank on Tuesday said tax authorities have slapped a demand notice of about Rs 21.62 crore for alleged short payment of GST. The bank has received a communication/demand order on Tuesday from Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, Ahmedabad, Gujarat for various GST issues, IndusInd Bank said in a regulatory filing. The financial impact of the demand is to the extent of Rs 21.62 crore including penalty, it said. The bank will explore filing of appeal against the order, it said.

Cracks in co-ops? Irregularities persist in UCBs despite RBI interventions

RBI's initiatives to promote sound governance practices in UCBs include introducing a four-tiered regulatory framework, direct engagement with directors on UCB boards

Create an ecosystem for banks to offer equity support to startups: CS Setty

SBI Chairman C S Setty on Tuesday pitched for creating an "ecosystem" where banks can offer "equity support" to startups in the country. He said the government is also looking at a guarantee scheme where support for loans up to Rs 100 crore will be provided to the startups. "We need to work out an ecosystem where the equity support from the banking system is also available to the startups," Setty said, speaking at the annual NTLF event organized by tech industry lobby grouping Nasscom here. Banks are not allowed to offer equity support to startups at present, and can only offer debt support. Setty said the country's largest lender has been active on the debt support front when it comes to startups, pointing out that it lends directly to such enterprises or through dedicated funds. It also has seven dedicated branches across the country which offer dedicated banking support and loans to the start-up ecosystem, which is the third largest globally. Setty said the fledgling fintechs

IndusInd Bank cuts fixed deposit rates, offers 8.25% for senior citizens

Maximum interest rate of 7.75% for general and 8.25% for senior citizens applicable to tenures ranging from one year five months to just under one year six months

Govt seeks advisers for minority stake sales in state-run banks, firms

The federal finance ministry is looking dilute minority shareholdings in Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, and Punjab and Sind Bank

Banks continue to rely on certificates of deposits amid liquidity woes

Outstanding amount on CDs hits all-time high of Rs 5.19 trillion as of fortnight ending February 7

RBI must infuse Rs 1 trillion by March to ease bank liquidity gap: Analysts

Since mid-January, the Reserve Bank of India has infused funds to counter a sharp decline in liquidity caused by its aggressive intervention in the foreign exchange market, among other factors

Green loan expansion can boost loan portfolios of Indian banks: IIM study

The IIM Lucknow study seeks to address this gap by designing a framework to identify non-carbon-intensive sectors and assess their impact on loan portfolio quality

Govt should bear higher premium for increased deposit insurance: AIRBEA

Currently, with coverage being for Rs 5 lakh, 97.8 per cent of the total number of deposit amounts are fully protected. However, in terms of value only 43.1 per cent of the deposits are insured

HSBC India's profit before tax rises 11.27% to $1.68 billion in 2024

HSBC India ranks just behind the UK and Hong Kong in terms of profit, as mainland China and Canada saw elevated profits due to one-time gains and profits from associates

Entire claims settled by deposit insurer was for co-op banks in FY24

Over 90% of the insured are co-op banks

Co-operative banks are well regulated now: DEA Secretary Ajay Seth

"Co-operative banks in the country are generally quite robust, and the RBI takes regulatory action whenever issues arise."

New India Cooperative Bank's GM held for 'misappropriation' of Rs 122 crore

The Mumbai police on Saturday arrested Hitesh Mehta, General Manager and Head of Accounts of the New India Cooperative Bank, for allegedly misappropriating Rs 122 crore from the bank, officials said. Mehta was placed under arrest by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police after being questioned for more than three hours, an official said. He was called to record his statement before the probe agency at its south Mumbai office in connection with the case registered against him and others, he said. Mehta will be produced before a local court on Sunday, the police official added. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday superseded the cooperative bank's board for a year and appointed an administrator to manage its affairs. A day prior to that, it imposed several restrictions on the lender, including on withdrawal of funds by depositors, citing supervisory concerns emanating from the recent material developments in the bank, and to protect the interest of its depositors.

Rs 30 crore assets restituted to SBI in Telangana loan 'fraud' case: ED

The Enforcement Directorate Saturday said it has restituted assets worth more than Rs 30 crore to a bank as part of a money laundering investigation against a Telangana-based refinery company accused of committing a loan fraud of about Rs 190 crore. The case pertains to the company named Sheetal Refineries Limited and some other linked entities. "Directorate of Enforcement, Hyderabad zonal office has successfully accomplished the process of restitution of properties worth Rs 30.71 crore to the State Bank of India in connection with a money laundering case against Sheetal Refineries Limited (SRL) and others," the ED said in a statement. The company availed credit facilities from a consortium of banks, including SBI and Punjab National Bank, which later turned into non-performing asset (NPA), it said. The firm availed 21 "fraudulent" Letters of Credit from these banks, based on fake and forged invoices, without any actual supply of material or legitimate business transactions, it ...

SBI sees sector's personal loan woes easing on tighter credit rules

Private banks and non-bank lenders have grown their personal loan books aggressively but reported an increase in bad loans in the six months through December