Though the Kolkata-based UCO Bank was selective in lending to certain sectors, it has recorded more than 20 per cent rise in advances and deposits in the fourth quarter of the last financial year. The bank, which expects further softening of interest rates, plans to reduce deposit and lending rates by almost 100 basis points in the first quarter of this financial year.

'There is good scope to cut deposit rates'

Business Standard

New business shrank last year but ICICI Prudential Life Managing Director and CEO Shikha Sharma says that there are some signs of revival and premium from new sales will grow this year. She tells Shilpy Sinha that the country&rsquo;s largest private life insurer intends to focus on consolidating its business as it works towards a break-even over the next 12-18 months.

'Break-even is not something investors are looking at'

Birla Sunlife Asset Management has been one of the consistent performers in the stock market. It was one of the few fund houses to see a rise in its assets under management during the last fifteen months, even as markets saw a sharp fall in the same period. A Balasubramaniam, chief investment officer of Birla Sunlife, speaks to Anju Yadav about the performance of the industry and its outlook.

'Sooner than later, India will begin to attract risky capital'

At a time when large insurers have failed to become productive even in their eighth year of operations, Bharti AXA Life Insurance is hoping to turn profitable in another three years. Nitin Chopra, the company&rsquo;s managing director and chief executive officer, tells Shilpy Sinha that cost-effective operations will help it achieve profits.

'Six-month or one-year aberrations shouldn't make customers nervous'

Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvurri Subbarao describes his first seven months on the job as challenging, partly due to the uncertain global economic environment and also because he has had to adjust to living in the financial capital, Mumbai. It hasn&rsquo;t stopped him from reworking the monetary policy statement. Apart from the changes in presentation, the annual statement and the three reviews are likely to be rechristened.

'Zero policy rate is not an option in India'

Foreign banks are often criticised for not lending pro-actively and for keeping interest rates high, despite the RBI injecting more liquidity into the system and lowering repo rates as well. Deutsche Bank&rsquo;s Managing Director and CEO for India Gunit Chadha speaks to Sudeep Jain and Sidhartha on the reasons for this, the likelihood of banks raising their lending as well as the overall global and local economic environment.

'Risk management is critical'

After many years, ICICI Bank did not hold the annual press conference to announce the bank&rsquo;s results. Chanda Kochhar, who is slated to take over as the private sector bank&rsquo;s Managing Director and CEO on May 1, spoke to Business Standard to clarify on some of the issues.

'Overall environment has improved'

ICICI Bank today announced the appointment of V Vaidyanathan, who is at present the executive director in-charge of retail and SME lending, as the new managing director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

'Expanding our reach will be the key'

Chanda Kochhar is slated to take over as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank tomorrow. In an interview with Shyamal Majumdar and Sidhartha, Kochhar says she is going to focus on the immediate challenge of correcting the cost structure of the country&rsquo;s second largest bank.

''My term will be pretty long, it's just starting'

Citigroup Global Markets India &ndash; the Mumbai-based arm of the global investment bank which advised RPL on its merger with RIL &ndash; views Monday's merger of the two firms as an indication of how mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;As) will get increasingly restricted to the domestic market and inbound deals.

'M&As skewed towards domestic consolidation'

Even as its parent reported drop in profits due to a pile up of bad debt and losses from North American operations, the Indian arm of HSBC reported a healthy growth in net earnings. HSBC India&rsquo;s country head Naina Lal Kidwai tells Sapna Dogra Singh that the foreign bank intends to continue investing in India but she wants the government to treat banks from countries such as the UK differently from the others.

'All foreign banks can't be treated the same way'

With an ambitious plan of doubling its business from about Rs 62,000 crore at the end of December 2008 to Rs 1,25,000 crore within the next three years, public sector player Dena Bank hopes that its new branches will help it meet the target. Chairman and Managing Director D L Rawal speaks to Niladri Bhattacharya and Abhijit Lele about the bank&rsquo;s strategy and how it is dealing with the current economic slowdown.

&#39;Incremental businesses will help us achieve our target&#39;

After spending 22 years at Morgan Stanley, Mihir Doshi took charge of Credit Suisse business in India in 2006. The external environment has been tough since then, but Doshi has used the time to set up its equity broking, investment banking, fixed income, private equity and real estate businesses in India.

&#39;The banking sector is expected to suffer more than others&#39;

Tata AIG General Insurance has had to deal with a lot of bad news this year. First came the troubles at AIG, which holds a 26 per cent stake in the joint venture with the Tatas. The company also underwrote the insurance cover for The Taj Mahal Palace &amp; Tower, which was one of the main targets in the Mumbai terror attacks. In January, it also had to deal with the after-effects of the Satyam scam as Tata AIG is part of the consortium that provided Directors&rsquo; &amp; Officers&rsquo; liability cover. In an interview with Shilpy Sinha, the company&rsquo;s Managing Director &amp; CEO Gaurav Garg spoke about all this and his plans for the next year, while betting big on customisation.

&#39;Add-ons will change the way policies are chosen&#39;

The global meltdown has sent UK-based 3i Group Plc&rsquo;s debt-equity ratio to a high of 50 per cent from its targeted 30 per cent. While the group has cut its global headcount by about 15 per cent, Anil Ahuja, head of the company's Asian operations, tells Rajesh Bhayani and Kalpana Pathak that 3i remains bullish on India and has even set aside about $1 billion (Rs 5,100 crore) for investments in the country within the next three years.

&#39;The PE system is in turmoil today&#39;

IL&amp;FS Investment Managers (IIML), the private equity arm of Infrastructure Leasing &amp; Financial Services Limited (IL&amp;FS), has raised over $1 billion during the last four months to invest in real estate, media, manufacturing and information technology companies, among others. The company&rsquo;s Vice-chairman and Managing Director Shahzaad Dalal tells Raghavendra Kamath &amp; Nevin Johnthat IIML will invest in companies that are well-funded and can survive the downturn.

'We're looking for firms that can survive the downturn'

Madhabi Puri Buch is completing 50 days as the Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Securities shortly. In an interview, Buch tells Sidhartha that she has managed to meet some of the targets she had set for herself and is using the present market conditions to focus on innovation.

'People are still willing to sign cheque books'

Hemendra Kothari has been at the helm of DSP Merrill Lynch since the organisation was formed in the summer of 1984. The 25-year relationship is set to end with Kothari deciding to retire on March 31 and sell his 10 per cent stake in the firm to the new owners, Bank of America (BofA). Kothari spoke to Rajesh Bhayani on his association with Merrill Lynch, his post-retirement plans and the road ahead for DSP Blackrock.

'I am leaving behind a great company'

It has been just three weeks since S Sridhar took over the as the Chairman and Managing Director of Central Bank of India. Having worked with Exim Bank and National Housing Bank earlier, Sridhar is relatively new to commercial banking. He spoke to Abhijit Lele about the issues that he is dealing with in his new role.

'Loan demand has improved in Q4'

Bharti AXA General Insurance India started operations last year. At a time when insurers are forced to be cautious in underwriting business, the company is focusing on the retail segment where prices have dropped substantially. The company&rsquo;s CEO Milind Chalisgaonkar talks to Shilpy Sinha about the company&rsquo;s strategy.

'Add-on products will help in cross-selling'

Asset finance company Srei Infrastructure Finance has seen a steep decline in lending growth. The company&rsquo;s Vice-chairman and Managing Director Hemant Kanoria attributes it to the lack of availability of funds. He tells Niladri Bhattacharya in an interview the situation may not be a lot different next year.

Page 48 - Interviews