UBI Slashes Home Loan Interest Rates

Mumbai: Union Bank of India has taken the lead in reducing interest rates on home loans below Rs 20 lakh by 50 basis points with immediate effect. On April 24, the RBI decreased the risk weightage on residential housing loans to individuals from the existing 75 per cent to 50 per cent. The interest rate on fixed home loans has been revised to 10.75 per cent from 11.25 per cent. The interest rate on floating home loans has been decreased to 10 per cent (10.50 per cent) for advances up to 5 years, 10.50 per cent (11 per cent) for those above 5 years but below 10 years and 10.75 per cent (11.25 per cent) for above 10 years.

LIC Garners Highest Premium In A Month

MUMBAI: Life Insurance Corporation of India has raised Rs 12,361 crore of new business premium in March ''07 the highest recorded by the corporation in any single month. This has enabled the corporation register new business premium of Rs 55,934 crore in ''06-07 a 118% growth over the previous year. LIC''s premium collection in March 07 is higher than the premium collected in the whole of whole of ''03-04. LIC''s has been the growth driver for the entire life insurance sector, which increased 110.7% to Rs 75,406 crore from Rs 35,897 crore during the current financial year.

Karnataka Govt To Provide Land To Tata Motors In Dharwad

Bangalore: The Karnataka government is ready to give additional land to Tata Motors, a Tata Group company, at Dharwad to establish their new facility to manufacture and assemble a variety of buses and coaches. Tata Motors is mulling to infuse over Rs 1,000 crore in this plant. According to government of Karnataka, Tata Motors had submitted a proposal in this regard to the state government in September 2006. The company''s proposal is being discussed at the next cabinet meeting. They have formed a joint venture with Brazil-based Marcopolo to jointly manufacture buses in India.

Hyundai Likely To Witness Lower Revenue Growth

Bangalore: Hyundai Motor India hopes lower revenues during the current fiscal even though it has lined up several passenger cars for unveil during the year. The automaker hopes an increase in revenues of between 10 and 12 per cent. During the previous year, the company''s revenues increased 16-18 per cent. Mr Lheem said the company is working on twin 1.1 litre models for the market. Code-named PA, they will be launched in the A Plus segment. As already declared, the new version of Santro will be launched towards mid-October this year. There is also a possibility of launching the 1.1 litre model code named PA with diesel engine.

Corporation Bank Joins Hands With Dabbawallas

Corporation Bank has joined hands with Mumbai''s dabbawallas to source clients for offering banking services. The dabbawallas will act as business facilitators for distributing mailers and will also collect the filled-up application forms for opening new deposit accounts. There are around 5,000 dabbawallas in Mumbai feeding a client base of around 1.25 lakh office goers and 50,000 students every day. The remuneration to the dabbawallas will be based on a flat-fee structure. They will get Rs 2 per form for distribution and Rs 5 per form for collection of the completed application forms. There will be designated dabbawalla officials who will attest the feedback reports before passing them on to the marketing team of the bank. Dabbawallas, who have earned a Six Sigma performance rating for the efficiency in supply chain distribution, will also be encouraged to open savings bank accounts with the bank. Besides being bankable, dabbawallas are now also being found to be insurable. Recently, Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company launched a social product - GroupSuraksha. The first customers of the group cover included over 1,050 dabbawallas. GroupSuraksha is a one-year renewable group term product designed for co-operatives, institutions and NGOs operating in the rural and social sectors.

HCL Technologies Joins The Windows Vista Application Compatibility Factory

HCL Technologies Ltd on May 03, 2007 has announced that it has joined the Windows Vista Application Compatibility Factory (ACF). The ACF helps enterprises assess and remediate their existing applications to help ensure Windows Vista compatibility and accelerate rollout. In addition to producing a documented application inventory and reducing the complexity of migration to Windows Vista, the ACF can provide significant cost savings in a desktop deployment project and shorten the deployment lifecycle, thereby providing Companies with quicker return on investment.The announcement was made at Mayflower, a CIO conclave hosted by the Company and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) focused on collaborative transformation. Taking place at Microsofts Redmond campus, the one-day customer-focused event features various sessions on mainframe migration, Windows Vista compatibility, modernization of legacy assets, platform optimization through Software as a Service (SaaS), and enabling the connected enterprise through Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Key executives from both Companies including the Companys President Vineet Nayar, will be delivering presentations and leading sessions for representatives of the two Companies Fortune 1000 customers.

Jet Airways Creates Its European Hub At Brussels Airport, In Partnership With Brussels Airlines

Jet Airways India Ltd has informed that at a function held in Brussels on May 02, 2007, the Company has announced the creation of its European hub in Brussels, which will provide enhanced connectivity between India and Europe, Africa and North America. The Company will work closely with Brussels Airlines and will offer its customers seamless connections to / from Europe, USA, Canada, Africa and India.The Company will launch daily services from Mumbai to New York (Newark) via Brussels, from August 05, 2007 and later this year, will also offer daily services from Delhi to Toronto via Brussels. The Brussels Hub will enable passengers from Mumbai and Delhi to seamlessly connect to Toronto and New York respectively. In the future, the Company plans to operate a total of ten daily flights from Brussels between cities in India and cities in USA and Canada. Subject to government approvals, the Company plans to additionally operate from Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Chennai to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York (JFK), via its Brussels hub.

Deutsche Bank Hikes Deposit Rates

Deutsche Bank has announced the hike of interest rates on fixed deposits by 50 to 165 basis points for its retail customers with immediate effect. For deposits of 181-270 days, the interest rate has been increased to 8.75 per cent (7.10 per cent) while on deposits of up to 100 days, the revised interest rate is 8.25 per cent (7.75 per cent). It has also marked up interest rates on deposits of up to 89 days to 8 per cent (7.5 per cent), on 90-99 days to 8 per cent (7.10 per cent) and on 101-180 days to 8.25 per cent (7.25 per cent). Customers making fresh term deposits of more than Rs 2 lakh can also open a savings account with no average quarterly balance requirement and which comes with features, including an International Gold Debit Card, free access to VISA ATMs in India and free cash withdrawal at over 30,000 ATMs in 40 countries.

Insurance Cos Plan To Hit IPO Stands

India is one of the fastest growing insurance markets with companies clocking in triple digit growth. For most of the players it is the crucial investment stage where they have to pump in money to build their distribution network and also to meet regulatory requirements.So the next time you get an insurance cover you may also get to check its stock price to find out how well it is doing.

I-flex Solutions Announces Strategy For Accelerated Growth & Expansion Of Executive Management & Boa

i-flex Solutions Ltd on May 01, 2007 has announced the expansion of its leadership team to support accelerated growth and acquisitions, and to better leverage Oracles global organization for the banking industry.In a related development, Oracle on May 01, 2007 announced the formation of a new Financial Services Global Business Unit (FSGBU) headquartered in New York. The FSGBU will consolidate Oracles financial services applications, domain experts, and related services into a single business unit with global scale dedicated to the financial services industry.The following changes to the Companys executive management and Board of Directors were approved by the Companys Board at its meeting on May 01, 2007 and are effective immediately.- Rajesh Hukku, the current Chairman and Managing Director, will head the new Oracle Financial Services Global Business Unit, in addition to his the Companys oversight responsibilities. He will continue on the Companys Board as non-executive Chairman.- N R K Raman, currently Chief Operating Officer, joins the Board as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.