banking and finance

Mumbai: Stating that banks have been found overstating value of houses they finance by adopting practices like including stamp duty and other charges in the cost, the RBI today directed lenders to refrain from such practices. “It has been brought to our notice that banks adopt different practices for deciding the value of the house property while sanctioning housing loans. “Some banks include stamp duty, registration and other documentation charges in the cost of the house property,” the Reserve Bank said in a circular. It said this leads to overstating of the realisable value of the property as stamp duty, registration and other documentation charges are not realisable and consequently

SBI came under scrutiny for offering “teaser” home loan rates, which are initially low but then escalate, to domestic customers in 2011, leading the Indian regulator to fear the country might experience a repeat of the US subprime loan crisis. The bank said that it planned to take a conservative approach to lending overseas. After nearly 90 years in the UK, SBI increased it range of services last year, growing its branch network from seven to ten. Rajnish Kumar, head of State Bank of India UK, said that the financial crisis and subsequent increase in banking sector regulation had provided an opportunity for smaller banks. “The market has become more

What do you have to learn from the Master Blaster’s decision to go in for R100-crore home insurance? W ho doesn’t idolise Sachin Tendulkar? The Master Blaster is a role model for millions for his cricketing skills, his penchant for breaking records left, right and centre, and for his professional behaviour on and off the field. However, what made Tendulkar hit the headlines recently was not his cricketing score but an insurance policy. He opted for a whopping R100 crore cover for his home, that had his fans wondering if there was a need for one of India’s richest sporting personalities to secure the safety of his asset. Tendulkar’s decision

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Private equity investments in India’s real estate projects have grown more than 75% over the past year, even as mutual funds and other investors have shunned this sector because of rising interest rates and falling revenues. Analysts say developers approach private equity players and are more amenable to negotiations during such downturns. That explains why investments in real estate projects by various private equity funds have soared, rising to $1,656 million in 2011, from $944.7 in the previous year, according to accountancy and advisory firm Grant Thornton, while mutual funds reduced their exposure to the sector drastically during this period. Total investments by mutual funds in real estate