A day after Vikram Akula stepped down as the executive chairman of SKS Microfinance, the firm's chief financial officer, S Dilli Raj, tells Somasroy Chakraborty the board did not force Akula to resign.

Q&A: S Dilli Raj, SKS Microfinance

Business Standard

A spate of suicides by borrowers led to the Andhra Pradesh Microfinance (Regulation of Money Lending) Ordinance last year.

Q&A: Alok Prasad, CEO, Microfinance Institutions Network 

Spain's largest lender, CaixaBank, recently opened a representative office in India at a time when the euro zone is battling crisis. Head of its international division, Ignacio &Aacute;lvarez-Rendueles, tells Shaikh Zoaib Saleem the office would serve business clients from Spain who look to explore opportunities in India.

Q&A: Ignacio Alvarez-Rendueles, CaixaBank

Swiss Re, the second-largest reinsurer globally, is focusing on strengthening its presence in India through micro insurance initiatives. In an interview with Somasroy Chakraborty and N Sundaresha Subramanian, Michel Li&egrave;s, chairman (global partnerships), shares the company&rsquo;s plans for India.

Q&A: Michel Lies, Chairman, Swiss Re

Canara Bank, which recently raised Rs 2000 crore through qualified institutional placement, has become only the second public sector bank to take this route after Bank of India&rsquo;s issue in 2007-08. Chairman and Managing Director S Raman discusses growth plans with Abhijit Lele and Manojit Saha.

Q&A: S Raman, CMD, Canara Bank

A week after announcing the deal with Nippon Life, the largest Japanese life insurer, Reliance Life is set for the next level of growth. Malay Ghosh, ED &amp; President, talks to Niladri Bhattacharya on the details and other matters.

Q&A: Malay Ghosh, Reliance Life Insurance

Deutsche Bank&rsquo;s profit after tax from India operations recorded compounded growth of 42 per cent per annum in the past five years. In an interview with Manojit Saha and Somasroy Chakraborty, its chief executive officer here, Gunit Chadha, says the bank will continue to invest in its India franchise to sustain growth momentum. He also talks about the likely sale of their credit card business.

Q&A: Gunit Chadha, CEO, Deutsche Bank, India

Kolkata-based United Bank of India (UBI) is hopeful of healthy growth in advances in the next financial year despite interest rate hardening. The bank has improved its low cost deposit share which in turn helped to grow the net interest margin in the last one year. Bhasker Sen, chairman and managing director of UBI, discusses the bank&rsquo;s plan in the areas of business growth and human resources with Parnika Sokhi and Manojit Saha.

Q&A: Bhasker Sen, CMD, UBI

In the past year, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has introduced several guidelines to ensure that unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) become cheaper and are recognised as insurance, not investment products. J Hari Narayan, chairman of Irda, tells Business Standard that despite the strain, the industry has coped well with the changes.

Q&A: J Hari Narayan, Chairman, Irda

Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co, a joint venture between Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Japan's Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company, expects to break even within five years of starting operations.

Q&A: Kamalji Sahay, Star Union Dai-ichi Life 

IL&amp;FS Investment Managers (IIML), India&rsquo;s largest private equity (PE) company and the only one listed, recently merged another firm, Saffron Asset Advisors, with itself. Archana Hingorani, executive director and chief executive officer, outlines IIML&rsquo;s business strategy to Raghavendra Kamath.

Q&A: Archana Hingorani, ED & CEO, IIML

Corporation Bank on Tuesday launched floating rates both in the home loan and vehicle loan segment to boost retail credit. The bank has also announced to increase the deposit rates to attract low cost deposit. In an interview with Debasis Mohapatra, the new Chairman and Managing Director Ramnath Pradeep, discusses about the bank&rsquo;s growth plans.

Q&A: Ramnath Pradeep, CMD, Corporation Bank

A little over three weeks have passed since S Raman took charge as the chairman and managing director of Canara Bank. But he has already identified the main priorities. In a chat with Manojit Saha, he charts the growth path of the Bangalore-based lender.

India last week raised investment limit for overseas investors in local bonds. The authorities should review the withholding tax on overseas investment in local debt to attract long-term and stable investors as large sums of overseas funds are critical to fund the nation&rsquo;s infrastructure, Jayesh Mehta, managing director and treasurer at Bank of America, tells Sumit Sharma in an interview.

Q&A: Jayesh Mehta, MD & Treasurer, Bank of America

Gerry Grimstone, Chairman of UK-based Standard Life says there is a misapprehension that foreign players will raise their stake in their insurance joint ventures when the FDI (foreign direct investment) Bill is passed. In an interview with Shilpy Sinha, he says that clarity on foreign shareholding, stability of regulatory framework and strong management is necessary to list an insurance company.

Page 60 - Interviews

Q&A: S Dilli Raj, SKS Microfinance

Q&A: Alok Prasad, CEO, Microfinance Institutions Network

Q&A: Ignacio Alvarez-Rendueles, CaixaBank

Q&A: Michel Lies, Chairman, Swiss Re

Q&A: S Raman, CMD, Canara Bank

Q&A: Malay Ghosh, Reliance Life Insurance

Q&A: Gunit Chadha, CEO, Deutsche Bank, India

Q&A: Bhasker Sen, CMD, UBI

Q&A: J Hari Narayan, Chairman, Irda

Q&A: Kamalji Sahay, Star Union Dai-ichi Life

Q&A: Archana Hingorani, ED & CEO, IIML

Q&A: Ramnath Pradeep, CMD, Corporation Bank

Q&A: S Raman, CMD, Canara Bank

Q&A: Jayesh Mehta, MD & Treasurer, Bank of America

Q&A: Gerry Grimstone, Chairman, Standard Life