Axis Bank Launches Happy Ending Home Loans

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank, today announced the launch of “Happy Ending Home Loan” a unique home loan product with a built-in EMI waiver scheme. As long as the customer pays his EMIs on time, the product would waive the last 12 EMIs automatically.

The product would be offered at the same rates as a regular loan, and would be applicable to new customers (Resident Indians) under Floating rate option. The EMI waiver would be offered to all loans with an initial tenure of 20 years or more that cross their 15th Year with Axis Bank. Any customer who pays EMIs on time would be automatically eligible for the benefit. As with the standard Axis Bank home loan, Happy Ending home loans would come with zero prepayment penalties.

For a customer taking a home loan for Rs. 50 lac at 11% floating rate, the EMI per lac of loan size would be Rs.1,032. For such a customer taking a Happy Ending home loan, the EMI waiver would be worth upto Rs. 6.19 lac.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Jairam Sridharan, Head Consumer Lending & Payments, Axis Bank said,“Every customer wants to pay their loan EMIs on time. When someone has been a loyal customer for a long time, and has been very disciplined with their EMI payments, we would like to reward them for that behaviour and show our appreciation for their business. Happy Ending home loans is our attempt to do that.”

Union Bank

Delhi, July 5, 2012: As one of the measures to boost credit flow to Agriculture, Union Bank of India has reduced interest rates for various categories under Agriculture up to 175 bps. Now, Crop Loans, Investment Credit and Loans for Allied Activities up to Rs 50,000/- will be available at Base Rate only. Interest rate for lending to Self Help Groups (SHGs) has also been reduced by 175 bps.

The revised interest rates are effective from 1st July 2012. At present, the Base Rate of Union Bank of India is 10.50 %.

The revised interest rate of the Bank for Agriculture is very competitive and attractive. This will be affordable to Small and Marginal farmers and will help them in availing finance from the Bank at cheaper rates.

Union Bank has taken various initiatives for targeted credit flow to Agriculture sector through Agri focused Branches which have been identified for exclusive activities under Agriculture with special focus on post harvest finance and Food & Agro based Industries.

For the benefit of farmers, Union Bank is extending credit under Crop Loan up to double the scale of finance fixed by DLTC (District Level Technical Committee). It also offers 3% Interest subvention upfront to the farmers for their repayment of dues in time for both pre harvest & post harvest finance (For Loans up to 3 lacs).

Union Bank has already launched a new scheme named ‘Project Hariyali’ to provide additional touch points and facilitate the branches to reach out to the farmers with the help of Business Facilitators.
With these measures, Union Bank aims to achieve substantial credit growth in Agriculture Sector during the current Financial Year.
Union Bank’s total business as on March 31, 2012 stood at Rs 4,03,900 crore, with deposits of Rs 2,22,869 crore and advances of Rs 1,81,031 crore. Bank has strong capital adequacy ratio of 11.85% at the end of March 2012. Union Bank has the Vision of becoming No.1 Retail Bank in Customer Service Excellence. It has opened 10 million Financial Inclusion (FI) accounts for branchless banking customers. Further, Bank has designed customized micro-loan products to suit the various specific needs of FI customers.

Axis Bank Cash Deposit Machines

• Deploys 200 machines across 90 cities
• A 24 x 7 self-service terminal
• Plans to roll out 350 more such machines in the next 6 months

Chennai, April 2, 2012: Axis Bank, India’s third largest private Bank, today announced the deployment of 200 Cash Deposit Machine Machines in various branches in 90 cities across the Country. The Bank has installed these machines to provide its customers a 24 x 7 convenience of cash deposit with instant credit, a first in this category.

The Cash Deposit Machines enable customers to deposit cash in real-time, with funds credited instantly to their accounts for all successful transactions. The machine segregates the notes denomination wise, counts and displays it for the customer’s confirmation before crediting the account. A unique receipt slip is issued after each deposit made confirming the transaction. The Bank plans to deploy 350 more such machines in the next 6 months.

Speaking on the occasion Mr.R.K.Bammi, ED, Retail Banking, Axis Bank said, “This facility underpins Axis Bank’s sharp consumer banking focus and reinforces our commitment to bring superior banking services, marked by convenience to our customers.”

With the deployment of Cash Deposit Machines, manual cash deposit transactions at the branch will be diverted to the automated environment. Thereby offering the customers benefits of ease of operations, time saving and error free transactions, without human interface.

Bank of India

Mumbai, March 26, 2011: Bank of India, India’s premier public sector bank, has signed a service agreement with TimesofMoney to offer remittance solutions to NRIs in UK. This strategic partnership will enable NRIs send remittances in Great Britain Pounds (GBP), seamlessly and securely.

This online remittance service will offer all users competitive pricing, both in terms of exchange rates and transaction costs. Moreover, the customer is assured of convenience as he has no longer, to visit a branch and can execute the online money transfers from the comfort of his home/office.

Speaking on occasion, Shri Alok K. Misra, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of India said that ‘’NRIs are a strong focus for our bank, and our global reach makes us uniquely positioned to serve them. We are happy to offer a technology driven service to U.K. based NRIs. The main concern for all NRIs is to have a fast, secure and cost effective way to send money to India. The product will ensure that the users can now transfer money 24×7 in an affordable and secure manner’’.

Commenting on the occasion, Avijit Nanda, President – TimesofMoney said “India is the highest remittance receiving country in the world, estimated at over US$ 58 billion. TimesofMoney’s proprietary platform, ‘Remittance in a Box’ provides banks with a unique plug-and-play solution to power their online remittance service. This platform offers user interface & design, risk management, technology, operations and customer service. This alliance with Bank of India gives us a great sense of pride and we look forward to growing this relationship.”

Bank of India has an overseas presence of over 65 years. It has offices in 19 foreign centres spread over 5 continents, where its services are extended through 49 outlets, including 7 in UK. Almost 25% of the Bank’s business is contributed by its foreign offices. TimesofMoney is India’s leading digital payment service provider and serves a varied client base. Spanning Indian and international clients, its offerings include specialized NRI services, Money Transfers, and e-Payments.

HDFC Bank Bharosa Gold Loan

Chennai, March 6, 2012: HDFC Bank, the second largest private bank in the country, on Tuesday announced the launch of ‘Bharosa Gold Loan’, a product tailor-made for the rural customer. This is an important step in the Bank’s mission to provide ‘Viable Finance’ to the millions of underprivileged who do not have access to credit lines offered by organized finance channels.

HDFC Bank has weaved in the most secure processes into ‘Bharosa Gold Loan’ drawing from customer insights and its experience in handling the widest repertoire of sophisticated financial products in the country to ensure that the customer gets the right valuation and his gold is safe. In a first in the industry, the product will offer a loan amount of up to 140% of gold’s valuation.

Over the next six months, the Bank will take ‘Bharosa Gold Loan’ to 1300 branches in over 950 locations across the country. A vast majority of this expansion will take place in semi urban and rural regions. The objective is to cater to 5 lakh potential rural and underprivileged customers in 10,000 villages, aiming to meet their credit needs and help move into mainstream banking.

As part of the process, the customer is given a detailed valuation certificate mentioning a) the itemized description of Gold, b) weight and c) amount lent. This is then signed by the customer and the Bank to ensure complete transparency. Every customer is met by a bank officer to ensure customer education on the loan prior to taking the funds. Finally, the jewellery is sealed in a three-layered tamper-proof manner and put in a vault, in line with the best safety standards. Further, the bank contacts the customer on maturity to help the customer renew the loan or repay. This communication ensures customers do not miss their maturity date and risk sale of their gold in the custody of the bank.

Mr. Biju Pillai, Senior Executive Vice-President & Business Head, said: “It is estimated that Indian households have privately held gold stocks of 18000 tonne. However till now, the lion’s share of this was either lying idle or being pawned to moneylenders at exorbitant rates. We, at HDFC Bank, are committed to making a difference to people’s lives and Bharosa Gold Loan will be a key element to unlock value for millions of families.” Most customers use this loan for productive purpose, thus helping them improve their financial status while adding to the economy.”

He added: “With the entry of organized sector into Gold Loan, consumers have begun to seek Gold Loans from Banks and NBFCs rather than from traditional moneylenders. As this shift gathers momentum, the Gold Loan market is set for strong growth.

Mr. Dhiraj Relli, Branch Banking Head, South-2, said: “While we’re rolling out ‘Bharosa Gold Loan’ nationally, we’ll ensure that it is available in every part of rural Kerala through our rapidly expanding branch network. We’ll use gold loans to bring more customers into mainstream banking, particularly in smaller, developing regions of the state.”

HDFC Bank has a Board-approved plan to bring 10 million families into the banking fold in five years through its ‘Viable Finance’ initiative. As part of this, the Bank has held over 400 Grameen Loan Melas in the hinterland in the last two years, extending credit in the form of Two-Wheeler Loans, Commercial Vehicle Financing, Gold Loan, etc, to people who require them the most. Last November, the Bank tied up with Vodafone to take banking to the unbanked millions of the country, riding the crest of mobile banking.

Axis Bank

- Offers PG Diploma in Retail Banking (PGDRB)- anexclusive 3 monthprogram customised for career opportunities with Axis Bank

Chennai, March 6, 2012: Axis Bank, India’s leading private sector bank and NIIT Institute of Finance, Banking & Insurance Training Ltd. (IFBI)- India’s largest Banking training institute, today announced the launch of Post Graduate Diploma in Retail Banking (PGDRB), an exclusive career program designed for Axis Bank. A first of its kind the program aims to build a pool of modern banking professionals for Axis Bank. To this end, IFBI has designed a comprehensiveprogram that builds competencies on 4 dimensions – domain, application, technology and customer-service needed bynew-age banking professionals.

Admission to the PGDRB Program will be through Admission test and Interview. The selected candidateswill be provided with Provisional Appointment letters at the time of enrolment, and after successful completion of the program will join Axis Bank at the officer level.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Rajesh Dahiya, President Human Resources, Axis Bank said, “We are delighted to join hands with India’s leading training institute to help develop professionals attuned to Bank’s systems, processes and values. We aim to offer challenging careers in banking to aspiring youth in the country.”

Mr. S. Venkatesh, President, NIIT IFBI said, “This is a unique initiative where we have partnered with Axis Bank to design a program that will exclusively cater to the growing needs of professionally trained and job-ready manpower of the bank. Having empowered over 18,000professionalsto take on exciting careers in banking, we continue with initiatives to developa trained resource pool for the fast evolvingBFSI industry.”
Onsuccessful completion of the program students will join Axis Bank as Front Desk Officers (FDOs), who are the first point of contact for existing and potential customers. FDOs play the crucial role of representing the bank to first time customers and hence need to have a pleasant personality, good communication skills and thorough knowledge of the bank’s offerings along with an understanding of the customer’s requirements.

PGDRB is a comprehensive career program for banking professionalsthat familiarizes students with the Banking industry (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance industry) in India in an interesting and informative way. The program focuses on core component of modern banking which is Customer Service, Transaction Processing;Selling Skills & Banking Software Application. The Program covers an overview of the entire industry and the key players in each sector. All the key products and services offered by Banking, Financial Services and Insurance sector are covered in brief. The Program further outlines the various roles that exist in the sector, and the demands of the selection process for each role.

Further this Program delves deeper into banking to enable students to understand the concept of money and banking, the role of banks, various verticals in the banking industry, various products and services offered by them and the channels used to deliver the same. It also enables the learner to understand the functions of the RBI, impact of globalization on the banking sector and the role of technology in the banking industry, among various other topics.

Union Bank

New Delhi, 21st February 2012: Union Bank of India today announced reaching the milestone of 3000 ATMs along with a host of new products and services on ATMs. Chief Guest of the function, Shri Anand Sinha, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, said that it is heartening to see the bank reaching out to its customer with more and more services and convenience through the most popular channel. Speaking on the occasion, Chairman & Managing Director Shri M.V. Nair said that bank intends to convert its ATMs into a ”one stop shop” for many banking services. The ATMs of Bank thus are now SampUrna ATMs. Shri A.P. Hota, CMD, NPCI and Shri Pradeep Kumar, CEO, Union KBC, Senior Officials of the bank, customers and well wishers were present on the occasion.

Bank announced three remittance products on ATMs viz. NEFT, IMPS and Union eCash. All these remittance products will support online transaction and provide SMS confirmation to the sender and receiver.

National electronic funds transfer (NEFT) which hitherto is available through branches and internet is now made available through ATMs also. NEFT transaction on ATM will reach destination bank account through RBI system in straight through processing mode.

Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS), is interbank funds transfer utility using mobile number and MMID (Mobile Money Identifier). 34 Banks in India are offering this service through mobile banking channel. The service for the first time is being introduced on ATMs. Customers will need to input only mobile number and MMID of beneficiary to make an instant fund transfer to any bank.

Union eCash will enable remittances to anyone based only on mobile number alone. No account number or bank/branch codes are necessary. The beneficiary can draw money from any of the Bank’s ATMs using a pair of codes, generated during the transaction.

Bank also announced the facility of investments into its own mutual fund Union KBC AMC through ATMs. Union Bank debit card holders having an existing folio with Union KBC MF, can now conveniently make their mutual funds investments through ATM. They can also make redemption requests.

Bank has also enabled self generation of ATM pin for customers. Customers of bank will be able to generate the ATM PIN on their own, by calling the toll free IVR using their registered mobile number in two easy steps. Hereafter Union Bank Customers need not wait for receiving the regenerated PIN through PIN Mailers.

Bank also unveiled Student Combo Cards. These cards serve dual purpose of Debit card as well as Identity cards. Students can use the cards at ATMs for drawing cash, for purchases at merchant establishments and internet, as Identity cards in their college and also as access cards for the library.

At this occasion, bank also announced its tie up with M/s. Loyalty Rewardz for offering reward points on card transactions at merchant establishments and internet. Bank’s 8 million debit card holders will now have added incentives for use of their debit/credit cards for purchases and e-commerce. They will be able to redeem online the reward points earned for attractive gifts.

Ministry of External Affairs has authorized TCS to remodel and develope the existing passport offices into Passport Sewa Kendras (PSKs). These PSKs will use state of art technology and infrastructure to provide better ambience and service to the Public. Bank announced a tie up with TCS for establishing ATMs at all Passport Seva Kendras in India. Citizens visiting the PSKs in India will have the facilities of ATMs and Value added services at all locations.

The launch of multiple facilities through ATM is a part of bank’s current initiative aimed at Customer Service Excellence and superior customer experience across all its channels.

• Plans to replicate this module with other reputed Universities

Axis Bank Ties Up With Gauhati University

Chennai, February 22, 2012: Axis Bank, India’s third largest private Bank, today signed a MOU with the Gauhati University for offering a Co-certification programme in Banking for MBA/MBE students of the University. The MOU signing ceremony held in the presence of Honorable Chief Minister of Assam – Mr Tarun Gogoi, was attended by the Vice Chancellor – Prof. O. K. Medhi, Registrar – Uttam C Das, Dean & HOD – Dr. M Kakati of Gauhati University and Mr.Rajesh Dahiya, President, HR of Axis Bank.

The Co-certification programme will include a 40 hour module covering knowledge and skills, principles and practices, legal, regulatory aspects and current trends in Banking. This programme would be in addition to the regular syllabus of the MBA/MBE course of the university. Upon successful completion of the programme and the selection process the students will be absorbed by Axis Bank in the Assistant Manager grade.

Speaking on the occasion Mr.Rajesh Dahiya, President, HR at Axis Bank said, “Axis Bank offers young aspirants a bright career opportunity in the exciting field of financial services. We provide our employees a stimulating opportunity conducive to learning, performance and growth. This programme is aimed at equipping management graduates with necessary banking knowledge and skills for a career in Banking with Axis Bank.”

Dean and HOD of the Gauhati University Dr. M Kakati added “The Co-certification programme will enrich the students with insight into the functioning of banks and will help them immensely to find ready employment in the booming banking sector”

HDFC Bank On Harvard Business Reviews Elite List

Chennai, Jan 17, 2012: HDFC Bank has been featured by Harvard Business Review on an elite list of 10 companies globally which have grown their net income by 5% every year for the 10-year period ended 2009. A report titled “How The Growth Outliers Do It” by Rita Gunther McGrath, a professor at Columbia Business School, says only 10 of the surveyed 2,347 organizations, all with market capitalization of US$1 billion, have achieved this consistent performance. What makes this even more special is that HDFC Bank is the only Bank on the list. While there were three companies from the US, 2 each from India and Spain, and one each from Japan, Slovenia and China. Infosys is the other Indian company on the list. Yahoo Japan (Japan), Cognizant (US), and Atmos Energy (US) are some of other prominent names on the list.

These companies have been recognized for “prosper(ing) over the long term” and for being “more stable and innovative than their competition”, as the report puts it. “Steady, predictable growth is what every big company strives for and what investors prize above all else…… Steady, consistent growth is difficult to achieve even at modest rates, never mind by the double digits that corporate leaders are fond of promising,” the report says.

According to the report, these companies stand out from for the rest due to the following traits: “They make small bets early and diversify their portfolios”, are “active acquirers”, “have processes that support speed and flexibility”, “build innovations into everyday operations”, and “hold on to their talent and keep their senior leadership stable”.

The report further observed: “HDFC’s (sic) history of entering new growth markets is illustrative. In 1998 HDFC (sic) joined the Cirrus interbank network so that Mastercard holders worldwide could use its ATMs. In 2001 it became the first bank in India to launch an international debit card, in association with Visa. It introduced various credit card innovations, including a card specifically for farmers…… HDFC (sic) moved early and built from initial success in other markets as well, including telebanking, mobile banking, and foreign exchange services.”

Dhanlaxmi Bank

Mumbai, January, 2012: Dhanlaxmi Bank, one of India’s fastest growing mid-size private sector banks, has announced an upward revision of interest rates on Non-Resident External (NRE) Rupee term deposits across various maturities, effective January 4, 2012.

Interest rates for medium term deposits of 366 to 499 days, 500 days and for deposits above 501 days and above up to two years have been increased to 9%, 9.75% and 9.00% p.a. respectively.

For term deposits above 2 years and up to and inclusive of 3 years, interest rates have been increased to 8.75% p.a. from 8.00%. The bank has added a new maturity above 3 years up to and inclusive of 5 years, where the bank will offer a peak rate of 10.10% p.a. from 7.75% p.a. earlier. Interest rates for long term deposits above 5 years and up to and inclusive of 10 years have been revised to 9.00% p.a. from 7.75%.

Speaking on the revised rates, Mr. Salil Datar, Head, Branch Banking & NRI Business, Dhanlaxmi Bank said: “While NRI remittances in the country have increased due to depreciation in the rupee, our revised rates will now make NRE term deposits an attractive proposition vis-à-vis other investment avenues.”

These rates are applicable on deposits of up to and inclusive of Rs 1 crore.