Rs.185 crore for loans to poorest of poor among minorities

August 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Thursday said it would convert loans taken by state-owned Tamil Nadu Telecommunications Ltd (TTL) to equity as part of efforts to revive the ailing company. TTL is a joint venture between Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL), a public sector telecom consultancy and engineering company, and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corp.

July 23rd, 2009 CHENNAI - The city-based Indian Bank closed the first quarter with a 52 percent increase in net profit and nearly 21 percent increase in total business as compared to the corresponding period in the previous fiscal, said a top bank official here Thursday. "Despite the challenging economic environment, the bank has earned a net profit of Rs.331.66 crore and did a total business of Rs.1,28,701 crore (deposits plus advances) as against Rs.217.62 crore and Rs.1,06,691 crore posted during the corresponding period of the previous year," said the bank's chairman and managing director M.S.

July 23rd, 2009 MUMBAI - Beating forecasts by analysts, telecom major Bharti Airtel posted a 22.2 percent increase in net profit for the first quarter of 2009-10 at Rs.2,647.95 crore (Rs.26.48 billion / $547 million). The company's total income during the period under review rose 22 percent to Rs.10,448.69 crore from Rs.8,567.8 crore in the same period a year ago, it said in a regulatory statement.

July 22nd, 2009 MUMBAI - Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) has seen its net profit for the quarter ended June 30 increase over 20 percent to Rs.565 crore, as compared to Rs.468 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. The company's total income increased 22.8 percent to Rs.2,849 crore from Rs.2,318 crore, it said in a regulatory statement.

July 18th, 2009 PUDUCHERRY - Apart from the earlier proposal to build 1.5 million houses for urban poor, the government will build a million affordable houses for the middle income group, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja said here Saturday. "Now, we have launched another scheme called Affordable Housing.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Funds for the ministry of minority affairs has been hiked from Rs.1,000 crore to Rs.1,740 crore to implement projects for the welfare of the minorities, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced Monday. "The plan outlet in the ministry of minority affairs has been enhanced from Rs.1,000 crore in 2008-09 to Rs.1,740 crore for 2009-10, registering an increase of 74 percent.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday increased the 2009-10 budgetary outlay for the national capital by over 200 percent to about Rs.2,500 crore (Rs.25 billion). The city will get more funds for housing, infrastructure and for basic services to the urban poor.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Plan Outlay of the Ministry of Minority Affairs has been enhanced from Rs. 1,000 crore in BE 2008-09 to Rs.1,740 crore in 2009-10, registering an increase of 74 per cent.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The budget has increased the outlay for the minority affairs ministry from Rs.1,000 crore last fiscal to Rs.1,740 crore with a focus on educational schemes. The funds have been hiked to implement projects for the welfare of the minorities, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced while presenting the union budget Monday.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The allocation for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission has been increased by 87 percent to Rs.12,887 crore, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while presenting the union budget in parliament Monday. Additionally, the Indira Awas Yojna, a housing programme for the poor, has been allocated Rs.2,000 crore, while a Rs.2,000-crore special fund has been set up to finance rural housing projects.

June 9th, 2009 MUMBAI - India's fraud-hit IT giant Satyam Computer Services Tuesday said it had a bank balance of Rs.373 crore (about $75 million) at the end of March 2009, but at the same time, it also had a Rs.460-crore loan outstanding. At the beginning of the year, the IT giant's outstanding loan stood at Rs.200 crore.

May 9th, 2009 MUMBAI - The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) Saturday reported a 45.62 percent rise in its net profit for the quarter ended March 31. The bank said in a regulatory statement that its fourth quarter profit stood at Rs.2,742.31 crore, up from Rs.1,883.25 crore in the like period last year.

April 25th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Banks in Kerala have posted a marginal growth of 6.3 percent in advances from Rs.80,131 crore in June 2008 to Rs.85,174 crore as on Dec 31, according to the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC). The SLBC in a meeting here said loans given to the education sector reported the biggest jump when it went up from Rs.2,920 crore in June to Rs.4,049 crore in December.

February 22nd, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government suffered a revenue loss of over Rs.1.85 billion (Rs.185 crore)) during 2007-08 because of 'undue benefits' provided to various companies, a report by India's audit watchdog said. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report on Chhattisgarh said: 'The state government stood to lose revenue of Rs.185.71 crore due to undue benefits to the allottees such as allotment of land at reduced rates.' The report has widely criticised Chhattisgarh State Industries Development Corp (CSIDC) for its its inadequate monitoring of the implementation of several state-sponsored projects.

February 12th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Infrastructure and minority welfare grabbed the lion's share of allocation in the second budget of the 20-month-old Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, presented by Finance Minister Lalji Verma in the state assembly here Friday. Top priority was been accorded to the development of infrastructure in the Rs.1,335.96 billion (Rs.133,596-crore) budget, with the allocation for the sector taking a 19 percent jump over that allocated in the previous year.