SBI organizes 2nd ‘Banking & Economics Conclave’ 2015

Mumbai, India, Aug 20: State Bank of India (SBI) today successfully concluded the 2nd SBI Banking & Economics Conclave 2015. This Conclave was organized with an intention to stimulate debate and critical thinking on various topic related to banking industry in India. The Conclave was inaugurated by Hon. Minister of Finance Shri Arun Jaitley and Minister of State, Finance Mr Jayant Sinha. The Conclave was graced by dignitaries from a wide spectrum of business activity like banking, financial institutions, corporate, law and Government. The high and mighty of Indian corporate - Mr. Baba Kalyani, Ms Kiran M Shaw, Ms Chanda Kochhar; Justice (Retd.) A K Ganguly from judiciary, Mr. Amitabh Kant, Secretary, DIPP and others graced the occasion on Second day.

Chairman SBI in her opening  session with RBI Governor, Dr Raghuram Rajan discussed various issues like payment banks, state of the economy, etc. The Governor in turn emphasized on project evaluation and structuring by banks, issues of HR in banking such as providing higher compensation to top management and its impact on costing. Can ESOPs help retain talent in public sector banks was also discussed.

There were four panel discussions during the day. The first panel discussed the topic: Agenda to rev up growth. According to this panel, to rev up growth there is a need to take measures on ease of doing business. Infrastructure spending is imperative to India’s growth. Nurturing critical talent, scaling up innovation and use of digital technology will drive growth in sectors, in particular, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing.

The second panel discussion was: Judiciary and Banking-The Missing Link. The panel discussion concluded that there is an urgent need to bring the forefront, judicial reform discussion in much greater way than earlier. Adjournments, transparency, accountability and use of IT solutions are some of the key areas where judicial infrastructure needs immediate attention. Banks must ensure that their legal contracts keep abreast with judicial pronouncements.

The third panel discussion was on capital raising for banks in the context of BASEL III norms. The panel was of the view that India needs to tap all sources of capital, be it foreign or domestic. However, some panelists were of the view that BASEL III norms may depress the Return on Equity going forward, which may in turn constrain the future capital raising exercise. Some panelists also felt that profit alone is the starting point for PSBs and profitability and efficiency will require a fine balancing act in future.

The fourth panel of economists discussed the current macroeconomic challenges beyond CPI and Repo Rate. This panel discussed a numbers of issues such as labor productivity, capital intensity of Indian economy, health sector reforms, exchange rates and exports growth. In particular, the panel noted that demographic dividends should be properly used to augment our growth potential.

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SBI Launched State Bank ‘Buddy’ – A Mobile Wallet

Hon’ble Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, today launched the e-wallet of State Bank of India, branded as “State Bank Buddy” in the presence of Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State (Finance), and Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Secretary Department of Financial Services, and, Smt. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman of State Bank of India.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Jaitley said that the SBI’s size of operation, geographical reach and reach among different segments of India could fascinate anyone. He said that in spite of the constraints faced by public sector over private sector banks, SBI remains the market leader in the social and economic programmes of the state. He cited the examples of Jan Dhan Yojna and Social Security Insurance schemes, wherein SBI performed the commendable job and led others way ahead.

Mr Jaitley further added SBI has always been instrumental in CSR activities. He especially appreciated SBI for throwing its weight behind the small men and said, “it is the marginal men who make the impact”. He commended the efforts of SBI in the digitizing India and visualized the situation where very soon the brick and mortar branches, cheque-books, passbook printing etc will become redundant. This would make transactions cashless, make expenditure and accounting of money easier, thus bringing more and more money in the official net. He said that State Bank Buddy was not specific only for the tech-savvy people, but being in 13 different languages, it would cater to all kinds of users. He further said that with State Bank Buddy, the face of consumer spending in India is going to change.

The Minister of State (Finance), Shri Jayant Sinha while addressing the audience added that SBI is at the centre of the entire financial system, being a banker to every Indian. He further commended SBI for adopting the best practices of CSR activities by setting a separate channel through SBI Foundation.

Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman of State Bank of India, in her address said, “This is one more step in our ambition of becoming the provider-of-choice for customers’ everyday needs: Financial and Non-Financial. Mobile is going to be at the centre of this transformation and State Bank Buddy will help us strengthen our proposition through this medium”. Echoing the Chairman’s thoughts, Mr. B. Sriram, MD; GE, National Banking Group said that “State Bank Buddy will help consumers in secure and convenient digital payments. We are highly excited about our latest digital offering and will continue adding more features and support for more Mobile Platforms including Feature Phones”.

The State Bank Buddy, the mobile wallet application of State Bank Group has been launched in collaboration with Accenture and MasterCard.

The Wallet which has been launched in English, Hindi and 11 other languages has several features like Send money to registered and new users, Ask money and Send reminders to settle dues, transfer additional cash into an account of your choice free of cost, Recharge and Pay Utility Bills instantly, Book for movie tickets, flights and hotel and shop for merchandise.

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SBI hikes Int Rate on FDs

Business News: The State Bank of India (SBI) has hiked the interest rate on the short term fixed deposits up to 1 per cent. Now the deposits of seven to 90 days will attract interest of 10 per cent, and similarly the deposits for a the period 91-197 will get 9.75 per cent and 8 per cent on the fixed deposits for 181 to 1 year. The hike in the interest rate will be effective from 28 March 2012.

However, the impact of hike in the interest rates on fixed deposits weighted high on the shares of the State Bank of India, the indices fell by 1.62 per cent at BSE Sensex on Wednesday.

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SBI cuts Home Loan Processing Fee

Business News: The largest bank of India, State Bank of India has cut the loan procession fee on the home loans. The bank cut around half of the processing fees on the home loans. The move will help to attract more and more home loan customers to choose the bank to finance their home loans.

According to media reports, the SBI will charge Rs. 10,000 as the procession fees for home loans above Rs.75 lakh instead of Rs. 20,000 processing fees. Similarly, the bank has reduced the fees on home loans between Rs. 35 to 75 lakh to Rs.6,500 from Rs.10,000. However, the processing fees for the home loans below Rs. 30 lakh to remain at 0.25 per cent.

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SBI net profit dips to Rs.1,584 crore

The net profit of Sate Bank of India (SBI) dipped to Rs.1,584 crore by 45.7 per cent for the quarter - April to June in the current fiscal, from Rs 2914 crore in the previous quarter.

The net profit of SBI plunged following higher provisioning for bad loans and investment depreciation. But the bank’s net interest income (NII) was up by nearly 33 per cent to Rs 9,699 crore.

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SBI hikes Lending Rates by 50 bps

State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank of India, raised lending rates by 50 basis points to 10 per cent on Thursday. Now the home, auto and corporate loans from the SBI will be costlier.

The hike in the base rate will come into effect from August 13, according to a statement issued by the bank. The bank hiked the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 50 per cent to 14.75 per cent.

Last month, the Reserve Bank of India had hiked the repo and reverse-repo rate while kept the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) unchanged. Since March 2010, the RBI hiked the key interest rates 11 times to tame the soaring headline inflation.

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State Bank of India hikes Lending Rates by 25bps

In significant development, the largest bank of India State Bank of India has hiked the lending rates by 25 bps making the loans dearer for the customers.

The state bank of India has also hiked the deposit rates by 100bps or up to 1 per cent.

Most of the bank have hiked their lending rates following hike in the interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India last month.

The headline inflation was recorded at 9.06 in May 2011. To control the inflation in India the RBI has changed the interest rates ten times.

With the hike in the lending rate now customers need to pay more for their loans - home loan, auto loan, personal loan etc.,

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