n The bank has also raised its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR), used to determine floating interest rate loans, to 14.25 per cent from 14 per cent. n Interest rates on fixed deposits with a maturity period of 1-10 years has been fixed at 9.25%. The new deposit rates would be effective from July 11. n Deposits of up to 90 days would fetch an interest rate of 7% from 6.25% now

New Delhi, July 7
State Bank of India, along with two other banks, today raised lending rates by 25 basis points or 0.25 per cent, making home, auto and commercial loans more expensive.

The country’s largest lender, SBI, has increased the deposit rates as well by up to 100 basis points, a decision which would ensure better returns for savers.

Several lenders, including ICICI Bank, Canara bank and Bank of Baroda, have already increased their lending rates by 25 basis points in response to the rate hike by the Reserve Bank last month.

While other banks have only raised the lending rates, SBI is the first bank to announce a hike in both lending and deposit rates.

Besides SBI, the other two banks which have announced increase in lending rates are Punjab & Sind Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank. While PSB and Dhanlaxmi Bank have increase their rates with immediate effect, the new rates of SBI would come into effect from July 11.

SBI has revised the base rate or the minimum lending rate upwards by 25 basis points (bps), or 0.25 per cent, to 9.50 per cent.

The bank has also raised its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR), used to determine floating interest rate loans, to 14.25 per cent from 14 per cent.

The interest rates for fixed deposits with a maturity period of 1-10 years would be 9.25 per cent. Current deposits between 1 year and 554 days earn an interest of 8.25 per cent.

After the increase, the base rate of PSB and Dhanlaxmi Bank now stands at 10.25 per cent While the BPLR of PSB now stands at 14.75 per cent, it is 19.25 per cent for private sector lender Dhanlaxmi bank.

"The hike in our base rate and BLPR reflects tight monetary conditions and is in line with market trends," the bank's Chief Financial Officer Bipin Kabra said.

SBI has also decided to waive the penalty for premature withdrawal of deposits up to 90 days. — PTI

New Delhi, July 7
Private equity firms invested about $2.9 billion across 112 deals during the quarter ended June 2011, which was 15 per cent lower as compared to the previous quarter.

According to a study by Venture Intelligence, the amount invested during the quarter was over 45% more than that during the same period last year (which witnessed $1.9 billion being invested across 70 deals) but 15% lower compared to the immediate previous quarter ($ 3.3 billion across 91 deals).

The largest PE investment during Q2 ’11 was the Rs 2,250 crore (about $500 million) commitment by Apollo Management to various group companies of the Welspun Group. Other top investments reported during the quarter included commitments of about $150 million each for thermal power generation firm Diligent Power (by Warburg Pincus), hotel management and investment firm Samhi Hotels (by GTI Group) and airports operator GMR Airport Holdings (by StanChart PE, Old Lane and JM Financial).

Led by the $45 million investment in online travel services firm Yatra Online, the IT & ITES industry attracted six investments of $20 million or more.

The BFSI industry was led by three preferential allotments by publicly listed firms - $98 million by leasing firm Magma Fincorp, $65 million by Dhanlaxmi Bank and $43.80 million by ING Vysya Bank. Led by the Rs 65 crore ($14.4 million) third round of funding for Janalakshmi Financial Services, the microfinance sector staged a come back of sorts during the period.

Infrastructure-related sectors accounted for 34% of the investments in value terms.

In the Energy industry, apart from Diligent Power, two renewable power producers raised rounds of over $20 million. The manufacturing industry continued to receive active investor interest attracting 11 investments worth about $490 million.

Among consumer spending themes, Devyani International (which runs KFC, Pizza Hut and Costa Coffee chains in various parts of India), Sagar Ratna (Restaurant Chain in North India serving South Indian Cuisine) and Prakash Snacks (a maker of Potato Chips & Namkeens).

PE firms obtained exit routes for their investments in 15 Indian companies during Q2 ’11, including one IPO (that of Sequans Communications).

Reliance Venture exited from France-based 4G chipmaker Sequans Communications via the company's NYSE listing. Among exits via M&A, the acquisition of BPO firm Intelenet for £385 million ($632.5 million) by Serco provided Blackstone its first exit it in India.

New Delhi, July 7
A ministerial panel on mine today unanimously approved the draft Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation (MMDR) Bill, 2011, which provides for 26 per cent profit sharing by coal miners and 100 per cent royalty sharing for others with project-affected people.

"The Bill has been unanimously passed. It will now go to the Cabinet within the next 15 days. We will try to table the Bill in the forthcoming monsoon season of Parliament," Mines Minister Dinsha Patel told reporters emerging from the one-and-a-half-hour long meeting of the Group of Ministers.

He, however, declined to give details of the provisions in the Bill. "Once the proceedings are over, I will give you details," Patel said.

Sources, meanwhile, said the Bill proposes 26 per cent profit sharing by coal companies with the project affected people; while rest of the miners would share 100 per cent royalty.

The total burden on miners by shelling out profit and royalty would be around Rs 11,000 crore, a minister, who attended the meeting, said.

The Group of Ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was constituted to iron out differences among various ministries over 26 per cent profit-sharing formula in the proposed new legislation. The provision created a lot of furore among the industry with major players, including mining body FIMI, opposing it.

Patel has recently written to Mukherjee expressing concerns of the industry and urged him to look into the issue.

"...I feel that we can have an arrangement of industry sharing an amount equal to 26 per cent of royalty paid in previous year" instead of profit sharing formula, Patel had written.

The profit calculation is difficult and accounts can be fudged to hide the actual profit, the letter stated, adding it shall be very difficult to calculate profit in captive mines of big industry where final product is steel etc.

He also proposed retaining the present system of having the Centre's prior approval for grant of mineral concessions by states in case of ten major minerals, including iron ore and bauxite.

The 10-member GoM included Law Minister V Moily, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia etc.

New Delhi, July 7
In a fresh confrontation, the Oil Ministry has blocked Cairn India's plans to begin crude oil production from the Bhagyam oilfield, the second biggest find in the prolific Rajasthan block.

Cairn had plans to put the Bhagyam oilfield into production by October to take total output from the Rajasthan block to 175,000 barrels per day.

Sources privy to the development said the ministry, however, at the June 10 meeting of the panel that oversees operations of the block, stonewalled FY12 production rate etc. — PTI

New Delhi, July 7
Bharti Airtel today said that it would have a new organisation structure for its operations in India and South Asia from August 1.

The step is intended to improve efficiency. Mobile, fixed-line, digital TV and other consumer businesses such as mobile commerce will be part of the business to customer (B2C) unit, while the business to business (B2B) unit will serve companies, it said.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD, said: "Customers are at the core of our business and with this new structure we are proactively creating an integrated customer centric organisation.”

The new structure will have two distinct Customer Business Units (CBU) with clear focus on B2C (Business to Customer) and B2B (Business to Business) segments.

Market operations in India and South Asia will be divided in three regions, each headed by an Operations Director; the North, East and Bangladesh operations will be headed by Ajai Puri.

South and Sri Lanka operations will be headed by Vineet Taneja; and operations in the West will be headed by Raghunath Mandava (along with National Distribution portfolio).

K Srinivas, Ajai Puri, Raghunath Mandava and Vineet Taneja, along with Drew Kelton, will report to Sanjay Kapoor, CEO - India and South Asia. — TNS

New Delhi, July 7
Describing the Supreme Court order in Lafarge uranium mining case as a “landmark” judgment, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today said it would set the stage for further reforms in environmental governance and make it more effective.

He said the apex court had given a “new and enhanced” status to the National Forest Policy prepared under the “personal leadership” of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and promised to implement the direction “in letter and spirit”.

The NFP had been “a guiding principle” for forest administration for over two decades, he said. “The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoE&F) believes this is a landmark judgment which will set the stage for further reforms in environmental governance,” the minister said in a statement here.

He said his ministry had already initiated the process and a draft note on the establishment of an independent National Environment Appraisal and Monitoring Authority had been circulated for inter-ministerial consultations and would be moved for Cabinet approval.

New Delhi, July 7
Driven by a hefty increase in tax refunds which more than doubled in the first quarter of the current fiscal, net direct tax collections dropped by almost 17 per cent during the same period to Rs 57,268 crore.

The net direct direct tax collections stood at Rs 68,675 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Tax refunds recorded a 205.01 per cent increase at Rs 46,868 crore in the April-June quarter of 2011-12 as against Rs 15,366 crore in the year-ago period, pulling down net direct tax collections.

However, gross direct tax collections during the same period (April - June 2011) were up by 23.91 per cent at Rs 1,04,136 crore as against Rs 84,041 crore a year-ago. — PTI

New Delhi, July 7
The Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. has extended the last date date of loan recovery from farmers to to July 15 on directions from the Haryana government. The decision will benefit thousands of farmers in the state.

A spokesman of the Cooperative Bank said that Satpal Sangwan, Minister for Cooperatives, had announced in a meeting of the officers of the Cooperative Bank held recently in Chandigarh that farmers who deposited the premium amount of their loans by July 15 would be given the benefit of concession in rate of interest being extended by the state government.

The spokesman said that 7% interest was charged from farmers . However, the farmers who deposited their loans on time were given a concession of 3 per cent. — TNS

BRIEFLY

Tata Motors to start CV plant operations
New Delhi: Tata Motors today said it will start operations of an assembly plant for commercial vehicles in South Africa soon. "We have set up an assembly plant in South Africa and this is a commercial vehicle plant," said the company. — PTI

L&T Finance Holdings raises Rs 330 cr
New Delhi: Ahead of its initial public offer L&T Finance Holdings today said it has raised Rs 330 crore from the US-based private equity fund Capital International. L&T Finance Holdings, the financial services arm of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, is allotting 6 crore equity shares to the US firm at Rs 55 per piece aggregating to Rs 330 crore. — PTI

Vodafone launches 3G in Himachal
Vodafone Essar today launched its 3G services in Himamchal Pradesh. The company is offering 3G services at the 2G rates to its customers a under an introductory trial scheme till July 31. Customers must SMS TRY 3G to toll free number 111.