The government&rsquo;s move of raising its stake in Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) to 58 per cent has given the bank headroom to dilute government stake to raise equity capital. Chairman and Managing Director Nagesh Pydah tells Manojit Saha the bank may come out with a follow-on public offer this financial year.

Q&A: Nagesh Pydah, Oriental Bank of Commerce

Business Standard

This year has already seen three major global catastrophes &mdash; in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Yogesh Lohiya, chairman and managing director, General Insurance Corporation (GIC), the only domestic resinsurer in the country, in an interview with Niladri Bhattacharya, says both the government and the regulator must form a pool, since over 80 per cent of land in India is prone to catastrophes.

Q&A: Yogesh Lohiya, General Insurance Corporation 

Magma Fincorp Ltd, a Kolkata-based non-banking finance company (NBFC) with assets under management of Rs 10,907 crore, recently forayed into the general insurance market with a tie-up with German insurer HDI Gerling. Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Chamria, in an interview with Niladri Bhattacharya, says the company would start with an initial capital base of over Rs 200 crore.

Q&A: Sanjay Chamria, Vice-Chairman & MD, Magma Fincrop Ltd

Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank, was in New Delhi to participate in a seminar on economic regulation. In an interview with Indivjal Dhasmana, Rahman says Bangladesh's Grameen Bank and micro financial institutions are performing well. He also says India can learn from Bangladesh's experience in the micro finance sector.

Q&A: Atiur Rahman, Governor, Bangladesh Bank

Religare Capital Markets (RCM), the Religare group&rsquo;s investment bank, is eyeing a share of Indian investment banking deals. The bank has started operations in markets in the US, UK and Southeast Asia and is currently working on deals worth $2 billion in the i-banking space. In an interview with Reghu Balakrishnan, Tarun Kataria, chief executive officer, Religare Capital Markets India, talks about RCM&rsquo;s growth strategy and his outlook on financial markets.

Q&A: Tarun Kataria, CEO, Religare Capital Markets India

In what could be a major setback to microfinance institutions (MFIs), the Andhra Pradesh government proposes to set up a non-banking financial company (NBFC) to cater to the needs of self-help groups (SHGs). The state government proposal involves roping in Andhra Bank as an equity partner. However, the chairman and managing director of the lender, R Ramachandran, says it is too early to comment on the proposed outfit.

Q&A: R Ramachandran, Andhra Bank

Vishakha Mulye faced the toughest interviews of her career after she was appointed managing director and CEO. The interviewers were representatives of some of the top global investors who wanted to figure out whether they could trust her to grow their investments, write Shyamal Majumdar and Reghu Balakrishnan.

Lunch with BS: Vishakha Mulye

With a new management in place, State Bank of India (SBI), the country&rsquo;s largest lender, is planning to focus on non-performing assets. Managing Director A Krishna Kumar, in an interview with Parnika Sokhi and Manojit Saha, talks about the new management&rsquo;s priorities and challenges.

Q&A: A Krishna Kumar, MD, State Bank of India

After taking charge as the country head and managing director of Barclays Corporate, India, Karan Bhagat changed the bank&rsquo;s focus on retail banking from the mass market to the affluent segment. In an interview with Somasroy Chakraborty, he talks about the bank&rsquo;s plans for India.

Q&A: Karan Bhagat, Barclays Corporate (India)

My Budget: Calmik Thapar

&lt;p>As the chief enterprise risk officer at Visa, the world&rsquo;s largest retail electronic payment network, Ellen Richey&rsquo;s primary responsibility is to protect the company's 1.8-billion customers from fraud. She spends a large part of her time decoding patterns of card-related fraud in various parts of the world and devises ways to combat these. She tells Malini Bhupta of some.

Q&A: Ellen Richey, Visa Inc

Given the rising number of private equity players, offshore limited partners or global investors are playing an important role by keeping investment managers under a watchful eye. Abbott Capital LLC, a US-based private equity investor since 1986, is actively scouting for opportunities in India.

Q&A: Matthew M Smith, MD, Abbott Capital

India&rsquo;s largest mortgage lender, Housing Development Finance Corporation, is betting big on education. It supplemented its acquisition of education loan company Credila Financial Services with an investment in Career Launcher's Indus World Schools. Last month, HDFC said it had bought a minority stake in Kaizen Management Advisors, the asset management company which runs India&rsquo;s first education-focused private equity fund. Executive Director V Srinivasa Rangan explains these moves to Somasroy Chakraborty.

Q&A: V S Rangan, Executive Director, HDFC

Foreign fund inflows are critical to India&rsquo;s growth story, be it for infrastructure or stock markets. Although Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has taken a number of steps to increase the foreign fund inflow, given the current macroeconomic conditions in India and the uncertainty over crude oil prices, there is a need for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to bring in more funds.

Q&A: Parul Saini, RBS Asia Securities Singapore

Term insurance products are back in favour with insurers. The cost of term plans has come down by 40-50 per cent over the past year.

Term plans score over Ulips again

When Neeraj Swaroop took charge as the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank in India in August 2005, the local business was the bank&rsquo;s third most profitable operation after Hong Kong and Korea, with a pre-tax profit of $223 million. Five years into his reign, Swaroop has turned India into the most profitable market for StanChart, with over $1-billion operating profit.

Q&A: Neeraj Swaroop, Standard Chartered Bank

After six years of investing actively in India, and with assets under management worth $550 million, Standard Chartered Private Equity believes it&rsquo;s time to chase bigger deals. Managing Director Nainesh Jaisingh shares his growth plans with Katya B Naidu and Neha Pandey.

Q&A: Nainesh Jaisingh, MD, Standard Chartered Private Equity

From being a plain vanilla lender to commercial vehicles, Shriram Transport Finance is transforming itself into a one-stop shop, particularly for truck owners. Be it AutoMalls, Shriram One Stop, Shriram New Look or the touch-screen kiosks, the largest commercial vehicle financier in the country is going hi-tech. Having embarked on equipment finance business, the company is eyeing assets under management worth Rs 50,000 crore in the next two years.

Q&A: R Sridhar, MD, Shriram Transport Finance

Following Reserve Bank of India&rsquo;s concerns regarding the high incremental credit-deposit ratio in the banking system, Mangalore-based Corporation Bank is taking steps to correct the situation. In an interview with Parnika Sokhi and Somasroy Chakraborty, chairman and managing director Ramnath Pradeep says the bank is putting the brakes on loans and diversifying its deposit portfolio.

Q&A: Ramnath Pradeep, CMD, Corporation Bank

HDFC Bank, the country&rsquo;s second largest private lender, has been growing its advances faster than the banking system for several years now. In an interview with Manojit Saha and Somasroy Chakraborty, Executive Director Paresh Sukthankar says the bank is adequately capitalised to meet the growth targets for at least a couple of years.

Q&A: Paresh Sukthankar, Executive Director, HDFC Bank

Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Ltd, a joint venture between the Chnnai-based Murugappa Group and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group of Japan, collected Rs 785 crore by selling new policies in 2009-10 and has targeted a new business premium of Rs 1,300-1,350 crore by 2011-12. SS Gopalarathnam, managing director, tells Niladri Bhattacharya about growth plans.

Page 35 - Interviews