Tag: India

Citi commits ₹200 crore more to support India’s Covid relief efforts

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Citi, on Wednesday, announced an additional ₹200 crore ($27 million) pledge over the next three financial years towards India’s recovery and relief efforts against Covid-19, as the country experiences a surge in cases.

Of the total pledged amount, ₹75 crore ($10 million) is being allocated immediately towards the procurement of oxygen supplies, adding beds to hospitals, diagnostic testing systems, personal protection kits and other supplies for India’s frontline healthcare workers, it said in a statement.

The funds will also be utilised towards food and hygiene supplies for low-income families.

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“We have been in India for more than 100 years, and the country is home to over 20,000 of our colleagues. We are determined to support India through this unprecedented health crisis,” said Peter Babej, Asia Pacific CEO of Citi.

₹75 crore deployed earlier

“Our efforts in India are an important part of our global commitment to fight Covid. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have focused on assisting communities around the world, including through financial support of $100 million from Citi and the Citi Foundation.”

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The additional pledged amount for India will also be used to fund public and private healthcare infrastructure and to impart employable skills to the youth, thereby promoting economic revival, important for India’s recovery.

“The resurgence in India, which is now overwhelming the country’s healthcare system, calls for efforts from all sections of our society to come together to bring India back on track. This is an extraordinary situation and while the need of the hour is for medical equipment, it is equally important to reinforce the country’s healthcare infrastructure for citizens’ health and safety,” said Ashu Khullar, India CEO of Citi.

Today’s announced commitment builds on the ₹75 crore Citi has already deployed in India towards pandemic relief efforts.

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SBI allocates Rs 71 crore for Covid-19 relief, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The State Bank of India (SBI) has allocated Rs.71 crore for various support initiatives to aid the country in combating COVID-19’s second wave. The Bank has set aside Rs. 30 crores to set up ,1000 bed makeshift hospitals, 250 bed ICU facilities and 1,000 bed isolation facilities across some of the worst-hit states. These facilities would be set up in collaboration with government hospitals and Municipal Corporations of the respective cities. The Bank will also contribute Rs. 10 Crore for genome-sequencing equipment / lab and vaccine research equipment / lab to the Government.

Additionally, SBI has allocated Rs.21 crore to all its 17 Local Head Offices to meet citizens’ urgent medical needs, such as procuring life-saving healthcare equipment and improving hospital oxygen supplies. PPE kits, gloves, rations, and cooked meals will be provided by the Bank on a continuous basis. The Bank will spend Rs.10 crore in partnering with NGOs to undertake community-based testing, boosting vaccination campaigns, establishing a helpline for COVID-19-related issues, providing oxygen, and other essential activities.

SBI has also partnered with several hospitals to get its staff vaccinated. In addition, the Bank has decided to cover the cost of vaccinations for its employees and their dependent family members. 60 of the Bank’s training centres throughout the country have been transformed into isolation/quarantine centres for affected employees and their families.

Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI said, “We are committed to contribute funds and resources, and reach out to Indian citizens and join in the government’s efforts to combat the virus. I urge everyone to help those in need in every way they can and contribute towards making the country COVID-19 free.”



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Digital payments see muted growth in April

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The growth of digital transactions eased in April at a time of localised lockdowns in several states amidst surging Covid-19 cases. The volume and value of transactions however, remained higher than that in February.

According to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India on Saturday, transactions on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in April scaled down from the ₹5 lakh crore peak it had touched in March.

As many as 264 crore transactions worth ₹4.93 lakh crore were processed on UPI in April 2021 versus 273 crore payments amounting to ₹5.04 lakh crore in March this year.

Similarly, the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) processed 32.29 crore transactions worth ₹2.99 lakh crore in April. In contrast, there were 36.31 crore transactions of ₹3.27 lakh crore on the IMPS platform in March.

The transaction value on Bharat BillPay increased in April even though the volume fell marginally compared to March. It processed 3.51 crore transactions worth ₹5,201.92 crore in April as against 3.52 crore payments amounting to ₹5,195.76 crore in March.

Transactions through NETC FASTags saw a sharp decline in last month indicating lower movement of people and goods on highways. It processed 16.43 crore transactions worth ₹2,776.9 crore in April. In March, it had processed 19.32 crore transactions amounting to ₹3,086.32 crore.

Even the Aadhaar enabled Payment System registered muted transactions in April. It processed 7.42 crore transactions valued at ₹22,139.05 crore last month as against 7.78 crore payments worth ₹22,697.82 crore in March.

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HDFC Bank unveils organisational changes to power future growth

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The country’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Friday unveiled organisational changes under ‘Project Future – Ready’ for its next wave of growth.

“The bank is reorganising itself into three clear areas of Business Verticals, Delivery Channels and Technology/ Digital to further build its execution muscle and be ready for the future,” it said in a statement, adding that the creation of focused business verticals and delivery channels will enable it to capitalise on the opportunities across customer segments in the time to come.

HDFC Bank will re-double its efforts on its business verticals that include corporate banking, retail banking, private banking, government and institutional banking, retail assets and payments as well as commercial banking or the MSME vertical, it further said.

‘Engines of growth’

“We are creating engines of growth with top tier talent backed by technology and digital transformation to capitalise on opportunities that will accrue in the coming time,” said Mr Sashi Jagdishan, MD, HDFC Bank

Kaizad Bharucha, Executive Director, will continue to drive the wholesale bank including corporate banking group, capital and commodities markets group and financial institutions, HDFC Bank said.

Rahul Shukla, Group Head, will now be responsible for commercial banking (MSME) and rural vertical while Rakesh Singh, Group Head – Investment Banking and Private Banking will also be responsible for marketing, retail liability products and managed programmes.

Parag Rao, Group Head – Payments Business, will now drive the technology transformation and digital agenda, the bank said, adding that he will continue to be responsible for the payments vertical. Ramesh Lakshminarayanan, Chief Information Officer and Mr Anjani Rathor, Chief Digital Officer will report to Rao, the bank said.

Ravi Santhanam, CMO, will now be also responsible for driving digital marketing as a stand-alone delivery channel. He will also be additionally responsible for the retail liability products and managed programmes.

Sampath Kumar, Group Head – NRI will now be in charge of all tele-service relationships, including VRM delivery channel of the Bank.

“The role of Credit, Risk, Control and enabling functions continue to be critical as we scale up further in size and reach,” HDFC Bank said, adding that the current leadership would continue in these roles and support in the transformation journey to realise the vision of ‘Project Future Ready’.

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Shriram Housing Finance to provide free vaccination to customers, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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In an industry first, mortgage lender Shriram Housing Finance has decided to provide free vaccination to its 20,000 affordable housing customers. The company would roughly spend Rs 1000 per loan as vaccination cost and would cover two members in a family. It estimates to spend nearly Rs 2 crore to provide free vaccination to its customers.

The mortgage lender had earlier announced that it would bear the vaccination cost of its employees.

“Customers in the affordable housing space are not very well off and for them even the small sum to be incurred in vaccination through private players can become a big deterrent, this in turn can derail the vaccination drive,” said Ravi Subramanian, MD, Shriram Housing Finance. “We would be reaching out to all customers with details of this program.”

Several banks including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank have said that they would bear the vaccination cost of employees.

State Bank of India has set up an internal task force to extend immediate assistance to its members.

A Quick Response Team (QRT) headed by a General Manager has been set up at Corporate Centre for monitoring the COVID position at the whole Bank level,” said Rana Ashutosh Kumar Singh, DMD (HR) & Corporate Development Officer, SBI. “Similar teams headed by Deputy General Managers have been set up in all 17 Circles for monitoring the COVID situation in their area and providing assistance to staff and their family members.”

HDFC Bank has converted its training centres in Pune, Bhubaneswar and Gurgaon into isolation centres to deal with Covid-19-related emergencies for employees with symptoms. The bank has also tied up with hotels across the country for rooms.

Some banks have started tying up with doctors who could guide employees in dealing with their Covid-19-related fears. About 1.5 million people are employed across Indian banks.



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Ageas Federal Life Insurance net profit down 20%

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Ageas Federal Life Insurance reported a 20 per cent drop in its net profit to ₹119 crore in 2020-21 from ₹148 crore 2019-20. Total premium grew by 6 per cent on a year on year basis to ₹1,959 crore in 2020-21 while renewal premium increased by 4 per cent to ₹1,327 crore last fiscal.

“This is the ninth consecutive year of profit for the life insurer since it first declared profit in 2012-13. The growth in total premium was driven by a 24 per cent rise in individual new business premium to ₹504 crore,” it said in a statement.

New business premium

The company also benefited from a 40 per cent growth in individual new business premium from Federal Bank, it said. The private sector insurer’s 13th month persistency was at 86 per cent as of March 31, 2021 as against 83 per cent, a year ago.

“We will continue to ramp up our proprietary distribution channels, while looking to further leverage the relationship with our bancassurance partners,” said Vighnesh Shahane, MD and CEO, Ageas Federal Life Insurance. The board has recommended a final dividend of ₹104 crore, at a rate of dividend of 13 per cent, subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting.

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L&T Finance Holdings Q4 net profit down 31%

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L&T Finance Holdings reported a 30.9 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to ₹266.85 crore in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year as against ₹386.15 crore in the same period in the previous fiscal. For the full fiscal 2020-21, its consolidated net profit fell 42.9 per cent to ₹970.94 crore as compared to ₹1,700.17 crore in 2019-20.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2021, its profit before exceptional items and tax was much higher at ₹718.24 crore as against ₹455.94 crore. Its total revenue from operations increased by 1.8 per cent to ₹3,415.16 crore in the fourth quarter of 2020-21, from ₹3,353.7 crore a year ago.

“Highest quarterly net interest margin (NIM) and fees in 2020-21 reached 8.17 per cent in the fourth quarter led by a strong growth in rural. In 2020-21, NIMs and fee was at 6.95 per cent,” L&T Finance said in a statement on Thursday. It maintains a strong capital adequacy of 23.8 per cent. In the fourth quarter, it had raised about ₹3,000 crore through a rights issue.

“As a prudent measure, LTFH is carrying additional provisions of ₹1,033 crore (1.2 per cent of standard book) as of the fourth quarter 2020-21,” it further said.

Its total lending book however, dropped by four per cent to ₹94,013 crore in the fourth quarter of the fiscal versus ₹98,384 crore a year ago.

Dinanath Dubhashi, Managing Director and CEO, L&T Finance Holdings, said, “With normalcy returning in the latter half, our focused businesses have witnessed continued momentum in disbursements, with increased market share across desired businesses (15 per cent in farm and 11 per cent in two-wheeler finance).”

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Bank of Maharashtra’s Q4 net soars

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Bank of Maharashtra’s (BoM) net profit soared 187 per cent year-on-year (yoy) in fourth quarter to ₹165 crore on the back of a large recovery in a technically written-off account and a robust growth in net interest income.

The Pune-headquartered public sector bank reported a net profit of ₹58 crore in the year ago quarter. The higher net profit in the reporting quarter comes despite a 92 per cent rise in loan loss provisions.

Interest income

Net interest income was up 35 per cent yoy to ₹ 1,383 crore (₹ 1,023 crore). Non-interest income, comprising fee-based income, trading income and other income, skyrocketed 215 per cent to ₹1,235 crore (₹392 crore).

MD & CEO, AS Rajeev, said recovery of ₹508 crore from the Bhushan Power (technically written-off) account bumped up the other income. Loan loss provisions, including Covid-19 related, increased to ₹1,376 crore (₹717 crore). Provision coverage ratio improved to 90 per cent as at March-end 2021 against 84 per cent as at March-end 2020.

As of March-end 2021, the total deposits rose 16 per cent yoy to ₹1,74,006 crore and total advances were up 13 per cent yoy to ₹1,07,654 crore.

Within deposits, the proportion of low-cost current account, savings account (CASA) deposits rose to 54 per cent from 50 per cent a year ago.

Within total advances, retail advances were up 26 per cent; mico, small and medium enterprises advances (35 per cent); and agriculture (13 per cent). However, corporate & other advance de-grew about 2 per cent.

Rajeev expects 14-15 per cent growth in deposits and 15-16 per cent growth in advances in FY22. Further, the proportion of CASA deposits could go up to 55 per cent and the loan mix between retail:wholesale could change to 65:35 from the current 63:37.

Net interest margin improved to 3.11 per cent in the reporting quarter against 2.41 per cent in the year ago quarter.

Gross non-performing asset (NPA) position improved to 7.23 per cent of gross advances against 12.81 per cent in the year ago quarter. Net NPAs declined to 2.48 per cent of net advances against 4.77 per cent

Meanwhile, the Bank said it is planning to raise up to ₹5,000 crore via equity and bonds.

Last year, out of the enabling provision for raising up to ₹3,000 crore, BoM could raise only ₹505 crore via Tier-II bonds. The market then was not conducive for tapping Tier-I (equity) issuance, the Bank’s chief said.

Rajeev said, in FY22, BoM could raise the resources via follow-on public offer, rights issue, qualified institutions placement issue, preferential issue and via Basel III compliant bonds.

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Resolution to appoint Samit Ghosh as MD and CEO, Ujjivan Financial Services not approved

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A special resolution to appoint Samit Ghosh as Managing Director and CEO of Ujjivan Financial Services was not approved by the required majority of shareholders.

According to data with BSE, the special resolution to approve the appointment of Ghosh as MD and CEO of the company for a three year period, effective May 1, 2021 was “not approved by the requisite majority”.

Only 70.527 per cent of the votes were polled in favour of the resolution while 29.473 per cent of the votes were polled against the proposal. Ghosh is currently the non-executive Chairman of the company.

“These being special resolutions in nature, required a minimum of 75 per cent of the votes polled in favour of the resolution or a minimum of three times of the votes polled against the resolution,” said a regulatory filing by Ujjivan Financial Services.

A career banker, Ghosh was the erstwhile founder of the Ujjivan Financial Services and has served as its MD and CEO until January 31, 2017. He then took charge as the MD and CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited effective from February 1, 2017 and retired on November 30, 2019 on attaining the age of 70 years.

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Despite pandemic, TMB registers impressive performance in FY21

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Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has reported an impressive performance on many parameters in FY21 that include strong growth in net profit, good asset quality and higher business.

The Tuticorin-based bank’s net profit grew 48 per cent at ₹603 crore in 2020-21 as compared to ₹408 crore in 2019-20.

“While higher net interest income and other income, and lower provisions are major factors for profit growth, this performance is truly on account of the efforts of branches. Our strength lies in relationship banking and today if at all we are cut above the rest, it is because of field level staff and their connect with the customers,” said KV Rama Moorthy, Managing Director & CEO, TMB told Businessline.

Operating profit

The operating profit of the company grew 21 per cent at ₹1,202 crore in FY21 when compared with ₹995 crore in previous fiscal, on the back of 17 per cent growth in net interest income that stood at ₹1,538 crore as against ₹1,320 crore. The interest expenditure decreased to ₹2,072 crore from ₹2,147 crore.

TMB had a gross NPA of ₹1,085 crore as of March 31, 2021, up from ₹1,021 crore a year ago. Its gross NPA as a percentage of total advances reduced to 3.44 per cent in FY21 from 3.62 per cent in FY20. Net NPA was marginally up to 1.98 per cent from 1.80 per cent. NPA and restructured advances of the bank is only 3.93 per cent.

The bank has made additional Standard Asset Provision of ₹50 crore for the pandemic. Total advances grew 12 per cent to ₹31,541 crore from ₹28,236 crore. Total deposits stood at ₹40,970 crore from ₹36,825 crore. The company achieved its total business target of ₹72,500 crore at ₹72,511 crore, up 11 per cent from ₹65,061 crore in FY20.

Credit to MSME sector grew 18 per cent to ₹12,036 crore (₹10,170 crore in FY20).

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