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Tuesday,
July 22, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Tata Engg
net shoots up 257 pc
IDBI Bank,
Union Bank profits spurt
UTI,
IFCI may exit LIC Finance TRAI
paper ‘favours’ basic operators |
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PTDC
properties to be disinvested by December
PNB cuts
home loan rates to 7.75 pc
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IDBI Bank, Union Bank profits spurt
Mumbai, July 21 The total income in the period under review increased by 43.7 per cent at Rs 109.4 crore as against Rs 76.1 crore in the quarter of last year, an IDBI Bank release said here today. The net interest income in the Q1 grew by 49 per cent at Rs 66.6 crore (Rs 44.7 crore in Q1 of FY-03), it said. The bank board has approved a proposal to raise an additional capital of about Rs 155 crore by way of rights issue to existing shareholders in ratio of 1:2 (one equity share for every two held). IDBI Bank is in the process of filing the offer document with SEBI and expects to launch the issue before September 30, 2003. The net non-performing assets of the bank have reduced from 1.8 per cent to 0.36 per cent. In the Q1 of the current fiscal, the customer assets increased by about Rs 900 crore to Rs 5,931 crore. The retail assets business crossed the Rs 2,000-crore mark with about 85 per cent comprising home loans. The total deposits of the bank rose by 13.1 per cent at Rs 6,236 crore while the total customer base stood at 8.4 lakh (6.34 lakh). Union Bank
The Union Bank of India has posted a net profit of Rs 155.89 crore during the first quarter ended on June 30, 2003, registering a growth of 36.84 per cent over Rs 113.91 crore net profit earned during the corresponding period last year. The operating profit of the bank has reached Rs 289.96 crore for the first quarter this year as compared to Rs 220.24 crore as of June 2002 registering a growth of 31.65 per cent. The addition to the capital through IPO last year has enabled the bank to meet the increasing need of capital adequacy ratio (CAR) to meet the growth in risk weighted assets. As against a CAR of 11.08 per cent as of June 2002, the current CAR has reached 12.96 per cent by the end of June 2003. As per the working results of the bank, the total deposits stood at Rs 44,759 crore as on June 30, 2003. The priority sector lending growth during the first quarter was 32.94 per cent higher than the growth in the corresponding period last year. The ratio of the net non-performing assets to the net advances has also improved from 5.92 per cent to 4.97 per cent during the same period.
— PTI, TNS
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Banks recover only 440 cr Chandigarh, July 21 For bad loans would be taken out of the balance sheets and purchased by the ARC at a discounted price. Mr N.K. Gaur, General Secretary, Punjab Bank Employees Federation (PBEF), said today that the banks had failed to recover their outstanding amount despite floating of one-time settlement schemes according to the instructions of the government and efforts to take over the properties of the defaulters during the past six months. Referring to the RBI statistics, he claimed that the banks had recovered just Rs 440 crore between January 21 and March 31, 2003, after the implementation of the Securitisation Act. The banks had issued 28,886 notices to the defaulters involving an amount of Rs 10,171 crore. In fact the defaulters had already started ignoring these notices considering the fact that neither the government nor the banks were serious to recover the amount. The AIBEA claimed that the major banks which had recovered that amount included the Union Bank of India ( Rs 117.51 crore), Punjab National Bank ( Rs 31.61 crore ), the Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 30.83 crore), the State Bank of India (Rs 25 crore), the Bank of India (Rs 24 crore) and Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 23.74 crore). It has lamented that despite being empowered to take over the assets of defaulters under the Act, the banks were shying away from taking over the assets. Most of the banks had found, said Mr Gaur, that the defaulters had already removed, sold or transferred the assets from the factory premises and there was nothing left for the banks except "scrap" machinery and disputed land. He said the one- time settlement scheme (OTS) had sent wrong signal to the defaulters. For instance, he said the OTS floated for defaulting amount up to Rs 10 crore that was closed on March 31, 2003, only Rs 168 crore was recovered from 31,000 accounts. There were though 40.70 lakh eligible persons with defaulting amount of over Rs 22,355 crore. Under the scheme, the banks received 53,000 applications involving Rs 519 crore. He said by March 31, 2003, the banks had approved 34,000 applications involving an amount of Rs 335 crore. The scheme for the defaulters with an amount up to Rs 10 crore had been again extended up to December 31, 2003, and the date of receipt of applications have been extended to September 30. The unions have urged the government to amend the Securitisation Act so that banks could auction all properties, not just securities, of the defaulters to recover their dues.
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UTI, IFCI may exit LIC Finance
New Delhi, July 21 The LIC holds a 38.5 per cent stake in the housing finance arm, while the UTI and the IFCI have 11.49 per cent and 11.45 per cent stake and public and others hold 38.56 per cent stake. LICHFL officials said they had not yet been approached by either the UTI or the Industrial Finance Corporation of India. “If they (UTI and IFCI) want to exit, they can do so as it is their prerogative being the shareholders,” they told PTI. This move comes with bifurcation of the UTI after being hit by financial scams, and the IFCI, with its mounting non-performing assets (NPAs), going ahead with financial restructuring to which public sector banks and financial institutions as well as the Employees Provident Fund Organisation have agreed to. Asked whether they foresee a public offer, LICHFL sources did not rule out such a possibility. The company had a comfortable capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of over 17 per cent as compared to the National Housing Bank’s norms of 12 per cent. “We have comfortable CAR and debt-equity ratio which put us in advantageous position in case we go for a public offer,” they said. The proposed move for public offer comes in the backdrop of LICFHL planning to mop up around Rs 2,500 crore this year from both domestic and overseas markets, which might raise the debt-equity ratio and considering that the external commercial borrowings
(ECBs) were not attractive as it used to be. — PTI
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TRAI paper ‘favours’ basic operators New Delhi, July 21 “The narrow scope of this unified licence, i.e. unifying the fixed licences and cellular licences leads to speculation and concerns that this move is intended to favour fixed and their disputed WLL licences”, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a letter to TRAI. The COAI, however, refuted reports that the association was going to “sue” the regulator on the consultation paper on the unified license regime. The association, however, said the industry had no intention of suing the authority on the consultation paper. “However, it is clear that the industry and its various stakeholders, both Indian and foreign, have a number of concerns and questions relating to the release of the consultation paper”, the COAI said in its letter. It said the industry and its stakeholders are deeply concerned at the “abrupt release” of the consultation paper and its timing. “The authority is well aware of the imminent decision of the TDSAT which is undertaking a de novo review ordered by the Supreme Court. There is a great risk of the timing of this consultation paper being seen as attempting to make this review ordered by the Supreme Court infructuous”, it said.
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PTDC properties to be disinvested by December
Chandigarh, July 21 The 29 complexes, including at the international border with Pakistan at Wagah (Amritsar) and at Madhopur and Shambu, with state’s borders with Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana would be disinvested individually, PTDC Managing Director Jagjit Puri said here today. He said 17 expression of interest had been received for three tourist complexes and the Holiday Home Club.
— PTI
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PNB cuts home loan rates to 7.75 pc
New Delhi, July 21 Under the fixed option, the rate of interest will continue to be 9.25 per cent on loans repayable up to five years, 10.25 per cent for five-10 years, 10.5 per cent for 10-20 years and 11 per cent for 20-25 years.
— UNI S’pore Airlines lays off staff SINGAPORE:
Singapore Airlines (SIA) said it was laying off 26 pilots and 156 cabin crew in an effort to cut costs as it was struggling to recover from the heavy damage caused to the business by SARS. The laid-off pilots, representing 1.5 per cent of its air crew strength, comprises 21 captains and five first officers. Six of the captains are based overseas, SIA said in a statement. This 156 stewards and stewardesses are of various ranks and represent 2.4 per cent of the cabin crew strength. The airline has about 1,800 pilots and 6,600 cabin crew.
— AFP Govt to retain
veto in HPCL NEW DELHI: Government will hold veto power on all crucial decisions in the privatised HPCL through ‘Golden Share’ clause in the share-holders agreement. According to the draft shareholders agreement circulated among the half a dozen suitors for government’s 34.01 per cent stake in HPCL, the state would have two directors on the oil refiners’ 12-member board, whose consent would be needed even for decisions like declaration of dividend. Special clauses have been inserted in the shareholders agreement to prevent the strategic investor from altering the company’s memorandum of association, changing its share capital, winding up the company, disposing of existing assets and pursuing a new line of business.
— PTI Oil prices cross $ 32 a barrel SINGAPORE:
US oil prices pushed above $32 a barrel on Monday for the first time in five weeks as concerns mounted over disruptions to fuel supplies in the USA. US light crude climbed 14 cents to $32.10 a barrel, the highest level since June 12, when it struck $32.27. Analysts said hiccups at US refineries, lack of Iraqi crude exports and rumblings of political unrest in number five oil exporter Venezuela were keeping prices on the boil.
— Reuters Novartis net inches up ZURICH:
First-half net profit at Novartis AG edged up 1 per cent to $2.38 billion, close to analysts’ forecasts, Europe’s third-biggest drugmaker said today, reiterating its forecast of record earnings in 2003. Flagship drug sales at the Swiss healthcare group rose an underlying 10 per cent, and 18 per cent when expressed in weak dollars, to $7.60 billion, it said. It expected 2003 sales for both the group and the drugs division to rise at a percentage rate in the high single digits or low double digits excluding exchange rate swings.
— Reuters New Mercedes Benz launched LUDHIANA: DaimlerChrysler India has launched the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class Kompressor here. It was launched on Saturday by Mr Hans Michael Hubor, Managing Director and CEO, DaimlerChrysler India, at the Tai Pan Traders, authorised distributors of DaimlerChrysler India in Punjab. Mr Manjit Singh Balla, Managing Director, Tai Pan Traders, was also present. Mr Hubor said the new four-cylinder petrol engine in the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class Kompressor offered maximum power output increased from 124 HP to 158 HP as compared to the outgoing C-180. He said the super charged engine emitted an exhaust note that clearly signalled the C-200 Kompressor’s sporty
intent. — TNS |
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The All-India Bank Employees' Union (AIBEA) has claimed that the constitution of the Assets Reconstruction Companies (ARC) under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act- 2002 was an attempt to cover up the losses in the balance sheets of the banks.