No prior approval for expansion off-site ATMs

August 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI / KOLKATA - Bank employees in the national capital took to streets on Thursday following the nationwide strike, which was announced after talks between the United Forum of Bank Union's (UFBU) and the Indian Bank Association (IBA) had failed on Tuesday. About one million employees of country's dominating public sector banks along with some private and foreign banks staff are on a two-day strike demanding the government to increase their wages by 17 per cent, as agreed to between bank unions and IBA earlier.

July 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's private carrier Kingfisher Airlines is planning to launch flights on eight international routes this year, it said Saturday. We have planned a roadmap for the next phase of international routes.

June 17th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Jammu and Kashmir state Congress president Saifuddin Soz said on Wednesday that cabinet expansion in the state is likely to take place within a few days. "Cabinet expansion is on the cards and it can take place any time within a couple of days," Soz said.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Realty major Parsvnath Developers Monday said it had received approval for its luxury housing project at Civil Lines in Delhi and was expecting a return of Rs.1,300 crore from the project in three years. Parsvnath Landmark Developers, a subsidiary of Parsvnath Developers, has received all approvals to start construction of the project, comprising 453 units with a built-up area of 20 lakh square feet, the company said in a statement.

April 27th, 2009 CHENNAI - State-run Indian Bank Monday reported 23.4 percent rise in its net profit for 2008-09 at Rs.1,245.32 crore from Rs.1,008.73 crore the previous fiscal. 'The bank's total business went up by 23 percent to Rs.124,413 crore (deposits Rs.75,582 crore and advances Rs.51,831 crore),' M.S.

April 21st, 2009 MUMBAI - The following are the highlights of the annual monetary policy review released by the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, Tuesday: * Repo rate cut by 25 basis points to 4.75 percent * Reverse repo rate cut by 25 basis points to 3.25 percent * Cash reserve ratio remains unchanged * GDP growth for 2009-10 to be around 6 percent * GDP growth for 2008-09 at 6.5-6.7 percent * Annual rate of inflation to be four percent by end of March 31, 2010 * Inflation to turn negative in early part of 2009-10 * Negative inflation may not persist beyond mid-2009-10 * Consumer price inflation to be in positive territory this fiscal * Banks can open ATMs without prior approval * Foreign currency convertible bond buyback limit increased to $100 million * External commercial borrowing ceiling relaxation extended * Current foreign bank policy to remain, review to happen once world economy recovers * Money supply growth for 2009-10 forecast at 17 percent * Government's market borrowing schemes will infuse liquidity worth Rs.1.2 trillion in first half of 2009-10

March 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Denying reports that the company was in talks with budget carrier SpiceJet for a possible merger, low-cost operator GoAir Wednesday said its expansion plan was on track despite bad market sentiments. 'We are not looking at any kind of consolidation or merger with SpiceJet or any other airline.

March 5th, 2009 LUCKNOW - India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) Wednesday launched its first Currency Administration Branch (CAB), an exclusive branch to handle currency notes, here. Also known as cash factory, CAB is part of the bank's plan to open one currency chest in every city that will distribute notes and rupee coins to the local banks and ATMs, apart from identifying counterfeit currencies.

March 3rd, 2009 RANCHI - Jharkhand Monday sanctioned a Rs.1.15-billion (Rs.115 crore) investment for expansion of the Birsa Munda airport here, said an official. The decision was taken at a meeting of the advisory committee of the Jharkhand governor, said P.K.

February 21st, 2009 CHENNAI - Car manufacturer Ford India that plans to roll out a small car on an outlay of $500 million, is currently studying overseas markets to finalise its engine and transmissions capacity expansion plans. 'We are working on the demand estimates of our export markets in the Asia Pacific and African regions.

February 1st, 2009 KOLKATA - The State Bank of India (SBI) will send a team of experts to probe the disappearance of Rs.1.4 million from its two ATMs in West Bengal's Malda district, a police official said Monday. 'The SBI is to get a team of software experts from Kolkata to find out how the money disappeared from the two ATMs in Englishbazar area,' district police Superintendent Satyajit Bandopadhyay told IANS by phone.

February 1st, 2009 MUMBAI - India's markets watchdog Monday decided to amend its norms on open offers to acquire companies, even as it made it mandatory for all listed companies to declare their dividends on per share basis, as against percentages. The board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also decided that the price band for initial public offers (IPO) can be announced two days before they hit the capital markets, against specifying the same in the prospectus two-three weeks ahead.

January 31st, 2009 KOLKATA - The mysterious disappearance of Rs.1.4 million from two ATMs of the State Bank of India (SBI) in West Bengal's Malda district has put bank officials in a tizzy. After futile attempts by an expert team to solve the puzzle, the SBI officials Sunday lodged a complaint at the Englishbazar police station.

January 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The central government Thursday approved the four-laning of the Walayar-Vadakkancherry section and six-laning of the Vadakkancherry-Thrissur section of the National Highway 47 in Kerala. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its approval to the Rs.13.3-billion road expansion schemes, which will be executed under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

December 26th, 2008 KOLKATA - India's largest banker State Bank of India (SBI) will strengthen its network in the Bengal Circle by adding 142 branches by the next financial year, a senior bank official said here Saturday. 'We've set a target to add 142 branches in the Bengal Circle that includes West Bengal, neighbouring Sikkim and Andaman,' SBI chief general manager (Bengal Circle) Jayanta K.