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Shamrao Vithal acquires Mahavir Co-op Bank (BL 08.09.06) Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank (SVC) has acquired Kolhapur-based Mahavir Co-operative Bank for Rs 13 crore. The process was complete on September 3, said Mr S. Hemmady, Chairman, SVC. "The acquisition of Mahavir will give us entry into the agricultural sector where we have no exposure and no experience, at present," he said. Mahavir has four branches in Kolhapur and one each in Sangli and Jaisinghpur. It also has five rural branches in Maharashtra's sugar belt. Though the staff strength of Mahavir is only 86, SVC has decided to offer a voluntary retirement scheme at the insistence of Mahavir's employees. About 55-60 employees are likely to accept the VRS, Mr Hemmady said.

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SBH eyes Rs 1,000 cr additional deposits (BS 08.09.06) State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) is conducting a deposit mobilisation fortnight from September 11 to September 26, at all of its 946 branches spread over the country. During the fortnight, the bank would offer 0.50 per cent extra interest on all-time deposits invested for a period of one year and above. As a value-added service, the bank would also offer personal accident insurance cover to the depositors of Rs 1 lakh and above, free of cost. The bank is confident of mobilising one lakh new accounts contributing to Rs 1,000 crore additional deposits during the deposit mobilisation fortnight.

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United Western Bank: A failure well flagged (BL 07.09.06) The failure of United Western Bank (UWB) does not come as a surprise to those in the know of the affairs of the bank, because, at least since 1998 the Reserve Bank of India has been regularly flagging failure symptoms, warning and penalising the bank for various irregularities. On May 30, 1998, the RBI imposed penalty of Rs 10 lakh in respect of irregular transactions in respect of Makharia Group of companies. In 1999, the RBI again asked the bank to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh because it had allowed Gujarat Telephone Cables Ltd, to use cash credit facility for subscribing to the capital issue of GTCL Mobilecom. In 2001, the RBI again had reasons to fine United Western Bank. The bank had obtained the RBI's permission to give an interest-free loan of Rs 6 crore to the UWB Employees Equity Trust, but actually gave the Trust a loan of Rs 20 crore. The SEBI has also warned the bank and the employees' unions for various irregularities.

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PNB to launch credit cards (BL 07.09.06) Pinjab National Bank(PNB) said, it will launch its own credit cards within six months and would soon float gobal tenders for this purpose. The bank has appointed Ernst and Young as consultant for the credit card business and would float global tenders soon

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SBBJ offers reduced rentals for lockers (BL 07.09.06) State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ) has launched a special festival bonanza offer that provides safe deposit lockers at reduced rentals. This offer is open for four months from September 1. The reduced rentals would be applicable for the current year only for those persons hiring the new locker during the festival bonanza period. In metros/urban area, the small-size lockers rent has been reduced from Rs 1,000 to Rs 750. In semi-urban areas, the rent has been reduced from Rs 750 to Rs 650. For rural areas, the rate has been reduced from Rs 750 to Rs 600.

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Pandyan Grama Bank deposit scheme (BL 07.09.06) Pandyan Grama Bank (PGB) has introduced a new deposit scheme `PGB Double" that doubles in 102 months with a special offer of quarterly compounding interest rate of 8.25 per cent. Senior citizens are offered 0.50 per cent more with the deposits doubling in 96 months. The bank which is observing September as Deposit Mobilisation Month, offers an interest rate of 8 per cent per annum for new term deposits of one year period and above. While senior citizens are offered 0.50 per cent more, higher rates are offered for deposits of Rs 15 lakhs and above depending upon the period

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LKB on strike against merger with Centurion (BS, FE 07.09.06) The employees of Lord Krishna Bank (LKB) began an indefinite strike demanding the intervention of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the ministry of finance to block the merger of the Kerala-based bank with Mumbai-based Centurion Bank of Punjab (CboP).

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Federal Bank comes up with VRS package (FE 07.09.06) The Federal Bank has for the first time announced a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) package for its staff. A top bank official said the offer, open up to September 30, was likely to get good response. The VRS package with a limit of Rs 10 lakh was for those above 50 years of age. As the bank had never undertaken such a scheme earlier like other public and private sector banks, there were a good number of employees in the over-50> category. At the officer-level, there would over 50% of the around 2,500> staff falling in the above-50 category.