Over the next 2 years, public sector banks will get Rs. 35,000 crores from Center. This measure has been taken in order to meet the credit needs of the economy.

According to the RBI norms, at least 6% Tier I capital must be kept by the banks. The planned capital infusion will let the banks keep an 8% Tier-I capital adequacy ratio (CAR).

IDBI Bank intends to raise Rs. 300 crore this month by issuing perpetual bonds. Mr. P Sitaram, chief financial officer, IDBI Bank said, “The amount raised will be to meet Tier-I capital requirement of the bank.”

A perpetual bond is a bond without a maturity or redemption time. The holder of this bond can earn coupons permanently. As there is no necessity of redeeming these bonds they are as good as equity instead of debt.

State Bank of India (SBI) has shortlisted 3 applicants as prospective associates for a joint venture to install 5 lakh swipe machines for credit and debit cards throughout the country. These applicants are Visa, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Global Payments.

SBI has been looking to reach leadership position in electronic networks. SBI has more than 20,000 automated teller machines, and has long beaten ICICI Bank in ATMs.

Giving in to the banks’ demand, the Reserve Bank of India has delayed the date of implementation of the planned base rate system to 1^st July and also removed 3 types of loans from the new model. This means the rates on old home loans will not change till 1^st July.

Usha Thorat, RBI Deputy Governor said, “Yes. We have allowed that it (the base rate) will start from July 1. All concerns of banks (regarding the implementation of the base rate model) have been addressed.”

This piece will try to look at the numbers post budget 2010 and compare it with the tax laws prevailing in 2009-2010 to see which part of the Indian junta will laugh its way to the bank in 2010-11.

There have been countless discussions on how the budget is pro-middle-middle class (the repetition of middle is intentional to define a new creed- the people in the 4 lakh to 8 lakh taxable income). Let’s look at actual numbers to see how much you and me stand to save post budget 2010 vis-à-vis 2009-10.

This article will try to look the pros and cons of investing in Infrastructure bonds for the sake of tax saving. The analysis will be from the perspective of the different “tax groups” post budget 2010. For the sake of parameters we will have to make an assumption on the lock-in period (as nothing has so far been announced by the Finance Minister). As is generally the case with most tax saving instruments we can assume two scenarios -  3 year lock-in and 5 year lock-in

Reams of paper and millions of words are used to discuss the budget every year, but, by the time the next budget has come many of these experts are more involved about thinking of what should be done in the upcoming budget rather than what has been done that was promised in the last year.

Health insurance plans get benefit under section 80D in the form of deduction from taxable income upto Rs.15,000/- for non-senior citizens and upto Rs.20,000/- if senior citizens are covered. But many a times for a normal household with parents under the age of 45 and 2 children, the premiums may not come upto the levels at which one can maximise the Section 80D benefits.

The profit from Indian arm of Standard Chartered has exceeded the $1 billion mark for the 1^st time. The profit before tax for the year 2009 went up by 19% to 1.06 billion from $891 million last year. Actually, the Indian arm of the emerging markets bank is turning out to be the biggest profit center for the bank.

The year 2010 has brought a smile on the face of the ICICI bank employees as the bank is likely to offer bonuses to most of its 36,000 employees for the period 2009-10 by April.

The bank had not offered bonuses in 2008-09 due to the worldwide financial crisis. In this year, it is for the first time in the history of the bank, it saw a reduction in its annual profits.

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra have increased rates on home and auto loans, highlighting the hardening market that may cause RBI to hike interest rates to combat inflation.

These banks have increased lending rates by as high as 100 basis points, subsequent to the stiffening of the interest rate, despite RBI trying to keep the rates low to prevent disruption of economic growth.

In a clear indication of an increasing interest rate scenario, India’s biggest private sector bank, ICICI Bank said it has increased its car loan rates by up to 0.5% and removed its special home loan scheme offering loans at 8.25%.

India’s biggest lender, State Bank of India intends to increase the staff recruitment in its branches throughout the country. The bank has hiked the target of recruiting 11,000 employees for its clerical post to 25,000 in order to deal with the retirements and the vacancies at its new branches.

Andhra Bank, a public sector bank is concentrated mainly in Andhra Pradesh. The bank is in the news for having one of the lowest Non Performing Assets (NPAs). During the last 5 years, bank’s official NPA was just 0.2% of the total advances. This included even the personal loans.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has at last obtained authorization from RBI to recommence its Indian operations after 10 years. The group intends to establish its first branch in India in Mumbai within a year.

Loans against fixed deposits, loans to bank’s staff, and restructured loans, which provide borrowers with more time and have lower rates to prevent defaults, can be offered at interest rates lesser than base rate. So this means, the interest rates on the personal loans will not change.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) is thinking about establishing its 2^nd plant in Rajasthan. It plans to invest a sum of Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 11 billion) and the plant will have a capacity of manufacturing 12 lakh units per year.

After receiving a good response from its trial study in Bangalore, Citibank is intending to increase its mobile payment service to other cities of the country and abroad.

This decision was based on the results of the study conducted at Bangalore in July. The bank had commenced using mobile phones for credit card payments at retail outlets and other POS outlets.

Ashok Leyland’s new commercial vehicle unit at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand, inaugurated on Friday, is believed to be its biggest production unit. Spread over 190 acres with a built up area of 2 lakh sq mt., it is also one of the complete production units in the Indian commercial vehicle sector.

The company said,” Best in class industrial architecture combined with the latest manufacturing technologies has created a truly modern facility that is also ecology sensitive as reflected in the selection of machinery and processes”.

As of now, if you have taken a home loan, the interest payments up to Rs. 1.5 lakh and up to Rs. 1 lakh towards principal repayment are eligible for tax benefit. But this is set to end once the new code comes into effect. So if you have paid Rs 3 lakhs as interest and Rs 2 lakhs as principal, you will not get any tax benefit. But if you have rented out a home, you can still avail of the tax benefits for taking the home loan.