For Western Union, the world's largest money transfer company, focusing on under-banked populations is a core part of its strategy and India, the world's largest market for inbound remittances, could emerge as an important market for its value-added services, Stewart Stockdale tells Kanika Datta on his first visit to the country.

Q&A: Stewart Stockdale, Western Union

Business Standard

Vijaya Bank, which has declared this the &lsquo;year of retail and recovery&rsquo;, has set a target to grow its retail segment by 22 per cent. It also aims to recover Rs 1,000 crore of bad loans. H S Upendra Kamath, chairman and managing director, talks to Debasis Mohapatra on concerns and prospects.

Q&A: H S Upendra Kamath, CMD, Vijaya Bank

After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) upped the repo rate by 25 basis points, which also means a 25 bps rise in reverse repo rate, most banks are yet to decide whether to pass on the increased interest rates to the consumers. UCO Bank Chief Managing Director Arun Kaul tells Malvika Joshi and Shaikh Zoaib they will do so only if the RBI's action results in making his bank uncomfortable.

Q&A: Arun Kaul, CMD, UCO Bank

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Shyamala Gopinath retired on Monday after 39 years of service at the central bank. In an interview with Parnika Sokhi and Manojit Saha, she talks about the journey.

Q&A: Shyamala Gopinath, Deputy Governor, RBI

Just two months into his new assignment, S Muhnot, chairman and managing director, Small Industries and Development Bank of India (Sidbi), has firmed up his vision for 2015. In an interview with Parnika Sokhi and Abhijit Lele, Muhnot says he plans to increase direct lending and double the bank&rsquo;s branch network.

Q&A: S Muhnot, Chairman & MD, Sidbi

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently conducted a probe into Muthoot Finance for alleged violation of norms while raising money from the public. Managing director George Alexander Muthoot terms it a routine inspection in an interview with Dilip Kumar Jha.

Q&A:  Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance

Birla Sun Life Insurance is open to partner a bank to enhance its bancassurance channel. Jayant Dua, MD &amp; CEO, tells Niladri Bhattacharya that opening up a bancassurance channel would not promote misselling and if a bank can understand one company&rsquo;s product, it will understand other company&rsquo;s products too.

Q&A: Jayant Dua, MD & CEO, Birla Sun Life

Kolkata-based UCO Bank, which had a smaller customer base among its peers, wants to focus on customer acquisition, to help in increasing the share of low-cost deposits. In an interview with Business Standard, Arun Kaul, chairman and managing director, who took charge three months before, discusses the strategies with Manojit Saha.

State-run National Bank for Agriculture &amp; Rural Development (Nabard) has launched a repositioning exercise. Umesh Chandra Sarangi, its chairman, talks to Sanjay Jog on the challenges and opportunities.

Q&A: Umesh Chandra Sarangi,Chairman, Nabard

With the economy poised to expand in double digits in the coming years, Indian companies will increase borrowing from offshore markets, especially the G7 nations, to take advantage of lower interest rates and slow recovery of these economies; Ajay Mahajan, managing director and head of financial markets and institutional banking at UBS AG&rsquo;s Mumbai branch, tells Sumit Sharma in an interview.

Q&A: Ajay Mahajan, Managing Director, UBS AG

In his 33-year-long career, Thomas Mathew has never seen Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) attract so much media attention. In an interview with Sumit Sharma and Joydeep Ghosh, the LIC managing director says while the risk-management procedures are time-tested, the insurer has set up a high-powered committee to re-assess its systems.

Q&A: Thomas Mathew, Managing Director, LIC

Going by the number of committees he has been part of (the latest being on financial inclusion), HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh seems to be the government&rsquo;s Man Friday. Yet, he blames India&rsquo;s archaic rules for the mess the real estate sector is in. In an interview with Shyamal Majumdar and Abhijit Lele, Parekh, 66, shares his views on a range of issues &mdash; the real estate loan scam, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) discussion paper on new bank licences and the way forward for HDFC.

Q&A:Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is on a mission to retrieve its lost position in terms of business and has roped in consulting major KPMG to help it energise its human resources. M Narendra, who took charge as chairman and managing director of the Chennai-based lender in November, tells Manojit Saha the bank has rolled out a medium-term plan to increase its business and is venturing into several new businesses.

Q&A: M Narendra, CMD, Indian Overseas Bank

The tightness in liquidity is likely to worsen with advance tax outflows. M V Nair, CMD of Union Bank of India tells Manojit Saha the situation can only improve in the next quarter.

Q&A: M V Nair, CMD, Union Bank of India

While there are some geopolitical concerns in Korea, bigger concerns are financial in nature, such as the growth rate in the US and sovereign defaults in the EU.

Market Voice: Ritu Arora, CIO, Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance

High fee income and lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are going to be the focus areas for Allahabad Bank in the near future. The bank is also ramping up presence in the South. Chairman and Managing Director J P Dua shares his thoughts with Debasis Mohapatra on the bank&rsquo;s future and the industry&rsquo;s concerns.

Q&A: J P Dua, CMD, Allahabad Bank

After taking charge as ING Vysya Bank&rsquo;s managing director and chief executive officer last year, Shailendra Bhandari has accelerated the growth momentum. In an interview to Shilpy Sinha, he says this will have to be kept up.

Q&A: Shailendra Bhandari, MD & CEO, ING Vysya Bank

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Duvvuri Subbarao tells Manojit Saha that while the common citizen will benefit from the central bank&rsquo;s action, the policy stance is consistent with sustaining high growth in the medium term.

Q&A: Duvvuri Subbarao

On a day the Reserve Bank of India announced the ninth hike in key policy rates in just over a year, Asian Development Bank&rsquo;s Chief Economist Changyong Rhee explained to Devjyot Ghoshal that balancing growth with rising inflation was not necessarily a hard choice to make. Instead, the challenge before Indian policy makers was to make growth inclusive and manage infrastructure investments better.

Q&A: Changyong Rhee, Chief Economist, ADB

India&rsquo;s insurance market is moving to the next stage of development, believes David Nish, CEO of Standard Life Plc, the foreign partner of HDFC Life. In an interview with Niladri Bhattacharya, he says recent regulatory changes will ultimately make India a better place to invest.

Q&A: David Nish, CEO, Standard Life Plc

Aditya Puri, managing director of the country&rsquo;s second largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, believes raising of rates would not suffice to control inflation; instead, it may slow the growth of the economy. He tells Somasroy Chakraborty how HDFC Bank plans to sustain its growth in this period of elevated interest rates.

Page 33 - Interviews