RBI is keen that all large financial institutions lend themselves to greater regulation by turning into a bank as, globally, non-bank players in finance are seen to be engaged in shadow banking.

The last of non-government financial institutions is HDFC, the largest housing finance company. But unlike other institutions that received a bank licence — ICICI, IDBI and now IDFC — HDFC is neither constrained for resources nor for growth opportunities.

Shares of India’s third-largest private sector lender, Axis Bank, are trading higher by 1% at Rs 389 on the BSE after it reduced its base rate by 10 basis points (bps) to 10.15 per cent on the back of a decline in cost of funds.

The move comes despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deciding to hold interest rates in the past four policy reviews, the last one being in September.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had changed its mind on the treatment of ICICI Bank shares that came into the accounts of promoter group entities of Bank of Rajasthan (BoR), led by Pravin Kumar Tayal, following the merger of the two entities in 2010.

In August 2010, it had taken a view that the merger would not affect the ban on the promoter group entities from the securities market. Nearly two years later, it said as the merger had been approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the promoters could be allowed to sell these shares.

Markets continued to trade flat with negativc bias weighed down by profit taking in IT majors after recent gains post upbeat earnings from Infosys and index heavyweight ITC.

At 10:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 42 points at 26,342 and the 50-share Nifty was down 17 points at 7,868.

MUMBAI: Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) today launched a Facebook-based instant fund transfer service wherein one can send money to friends on the social media network real time, for free.

This is a bank agnostic product, the sender and the receiver may not be our account holders. We have used the IMPS platform on the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) network to make this possible, KMB's executive vice president and head of digital initiatives, Deepak Sharma, told PTI over phone.

Foreign investors are anticipating a long-pending nod from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for an increase in foreign investment limit in HDFC Bank, going by the recent narrowing in premiums.

The premium between HDFC Bank's American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and its local shares have seen a sharp reduction in the past month.

Benchmark shares indices remained weak in late trades on Wednesday with technology shares declining the most led by Infosys amid reports of downgrade by global financial services major Citigroup.

At 2:15PM, the 30-share Sensex was down 79 points at 26,193 and the 50-share Nifty was down 26 points at 7,826.

Stung by allegations of going easy in the Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) case, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has shifted the blame on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

In a letter to the department of economic affairs (DEA), Sebi has said merger between the erstwhile BoR and ICICI Bank was approved by the banking regulator despite being "fully aware" of the "surrogate acquisitions" made by the former's promoter entities.

Mumbai: Bank of Baroda on Monday said its board has approved a stock split wherein one existing equity share will be split into five, subject to regulatory approvals. With this, it is now the eighth bank this year to take the route to make its stock more affordable to smaller shareholders.

In its filing to BSE, Bank of Baroda said that in a meeting held on 27 September, the board had considered and given its in-principle approval to the bank for the sub-division of one existing equity share of face value of Rs.10 each fully paid up into five equity shares of face value of Rs.2 each fully paid up.

After a brief opening in red, benchmark indices edged higher on account of gains in IT and pharma names. At 0940 hrs, the Sensex was up 62 points at 26,688 and the Nifty edged higher up 13 points to trade at 7,981.

In line with weak Asian cues, the benchmark indices started on a flat note with a negative bias. The one weighing on the indices were ICICI Bank, L&T, ITC and ONGC in opening deals.

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