Manufacturing activity in the country dipped to a one-year low in January, suggesting moderation in growth, says a report by State Bank of India (SBI).

The yearly SBI Composite Index fell below the 50 mark to 47.3 in January — its lowest level in the past one year, indicating “moderation in economic activity going forward”.

Mumbai: State Bank of India will be more cautious in converting loans into a majority equity holding under the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) scheme after a surge in such cases raised questions over the ability of banks to sell these stressed assets within the 18 months given to them.

The top management of India’s biggest lender has asked its officials to invoke SDR only in cases where there is clarity on a potential buyer, two people with direct knowledge of the development confirmed.

BENGALURU: State Bank of India, the nation's top lender by assets, has launched a new wealth management services unit, and branches to cater to start-ups, as competition with private sector rivals is rising and as its core business is seeing sluggish growth.

The wealth management unit and the first bank branch for start-ups will begin operations from India's technology hub Bengaluru before these are expanded to other parts of the country, SBI, majority-owned by the Indian government, said in a statement.

SBI today said it is planning to monetise non-core assets and list some of its subsidiaries for meeting capital needs as well as global risk norms, Basel III, which will kick in from March 2019.

Public sector banks need Rs 1.80 lakh crore to meet Basel III norms, while the government will provide only Rs 70,000 crore, SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said, adding that the rest will have to be borne by banks through profits and non-core assets.

Shares of seven companies in the Nifty 50 index have touched their respective 52-week lows after the benchmark index fell more than 1% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade as concerns about China and global economic slowdown persisted.Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Bank of Baroda (BOB), ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and State Bank of India (SBI) from the Nifty 50 index hit 52-week lows on the NSE in intra-day trade. Most of these stocks were trading down in the range of 2%-3% at 09:23 a.m.

United Breweries Holdings said on Friday that ICICI Bank had unilaterally bought 1.96 million shares amounting to Rs 186 crore of its holding in United Breweries (UB), which it had pledged with the bank.

The firm said it had given non-disposal undertaking in favour of ICICI Bank with respect to the shares it owned in United Breweries. The undertaking was given only as a top-up to secure the company’s obligation to repurchase the loan provided by ICICI to Kingfisher Airlines, the firm said. ICICI had bought the shares on Wednesday.

Shares of State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) are among five Sensex stocks to hit their respective 52-week lows on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after the benchmark index dropped more than 1% today.

The NSE Nifty 50 index and the BSE Sensex have fallen more than 1% in early morning trade after China's regulators halted trading for the day following a sharp plunge in Chinese shares.

State Bank of India (SBI), Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) were three companies from the 30 share S&P BSE Sensex which touched their respective 52-week lows as the market recorded biggest single day fall in four months.

The S&P BSE Sensex tumbled 2.05% or 534 points to close at 25,627, its sharpest single day fall since September 22, 2015, due to the weak Chinese manufacturing data. The Nifty50 plunged 171 points to end at 7,793.

In an all-cash deal, State Bank of India (SBI) is all set to buy four premium flats in Mumbai's posh Peddar Road area from the loss-making Air India (AI) for Rs 90 crore.

A legal team of Air India is preparing a draft sale agreement which will then be given to the counterparts from the SBI, the country’s largest lender. The Centre recently gave go-ahead to state-owned Air India to sell the flats to SBI for about Rs 90 crore as part the airline's asset monetisation plan.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, isn’t likely to cut its key lending rate till at least end-March, chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya told reporters after opening a digital (‘sbiINTOUCH’) branch in south Mumbai.

She was responding to queries on further room for transmission of the Reserve Bank of India’s policy rate cuts. On Tuesday, HDFC Bank had reduced its base rate (BR) by five basis points, to 9.3 per cent.

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