SME Segment to Figure High on Federal Bank’s Agenda

Chennai,Mar,19.For the newly appointed Managing Director and CEO of Federal Bank, Mr Shyam Srinivasan, the SME segment is the immediate priority as he, buoyed by the bank’s solid footprints outside India, sets out to exploit opportunities for doing business matching .

Out of its 750 branches, Federal bank has identified 114 branches as SME and is going to establish regional commercial hubs that will have committed teams of sales executives who will aggressively generate business.

The underleveraged treasury products will be given prime attention. In order to secure full value for the SMEs domestic as well as international products will have to be rolled out, as several of the SMEs do cross-border transactions. The under-marketed foreign exchange products also need to be spotlighted. Given that several of the SMEs are looking beyond Indian shores, Federal Bank should be leveraging its relationship and scaling up its capability.

Federal Bank expects to boost the risk management by setting up 13 regional credit hubs. The bank already enjoys good technology platform like Finacle, CBS and also has the Internet and mobile banking.

Bankers Breathe Easily as Warning of Report to CIB Helps Defaulters Mend Their Ways

Mumbai, Mar,19.It would seem that the defaulters would now have to mend their ways and pay up or they could end up in the credit bureau’s negative list which could well jeopardize their future relationship with other banks that would refuse entertaining such individuals as have a bad credit history. Not only have a lot of banks breathed a sigh of relief, as well they might, some of them have actually got the defaulters to cough up their dues, as the warning of a possible report to the Credit Information Bureau works like a charm, convincing the defaulters to refrain from defaulting on their payments.

The gambit has apparently paid off as the banks try this as a first resort before appealing to the debt recovery tribunal or taking refuge in Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002.

The provisions of the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 make it mandatory for all credit institutions including banks and housing finance companies to become a member of at least one credit information company (to name a few, Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd, Experian Credit Information Company of India Pvt Ltd and Equifax Credit Information Services Pvt Ltd) with whom they would be sharing their credit data.

Sugar Prices May Head North This Month

Jakarta, Mar,19. Sugar prices may be driven north this month on the back of spiraling international prices and decreasing domestic supplies. It is typical of sugar prices to zoom northward when the consumption and demand of sugar takes off.

The sugar price may well touch US$800 per ton by December this year. At that point in time the public may have to pay about Rp 11500 for 1 Kg of sugar. If sugar prices creep up to that high, the price of imported sugar may well touch Rp 11500 per Kg, or $1.17 per Kg. A statement to this effect was made by Indonesian Sugar and Flour Traders Association head Natsir Mansyur.

The Indonesian government set a production target of 2.7 million tons of sugar for this month.However there is little hope of the national production of sugar to reach the targeted level, Natsir opined. The national production of sugar could go only as far as 2 million tons, a pessimistic Natsir informed.

It has been seen that sugar prices spiral north during Christmas season and the New Year’s as global consumption and demand of sugar during the festive season experience a surge. To meet domestic demand and increased consumption, increased domestic production as well as import of sugar assumes significance.