punjab-national

Real Estate Agent Arrested for Occupying Properties of NRIs

by Paul Joseph May 23, 2011 Uncategorized

Police have arrested a 46-year-old businessman, currently on bail in a cheating case, for allegedly usurping properties belonging to non-resident Indians through forged documents. Dheeraj Singh, who owns D S Industry and Himland Real Estate Pvt Ltd in Punjab, was arrested from Chandigarh, police said. The arrest came after Surinder Malhotra complained to police that Singh and his brother Ram Niwas had forcefully taken into possession a property in Green Park belonging to Raj Rani, who is presently residing in the UK. During the course of investigation, the team visited the alleged property several times but the same was found locked. It was also found that electric connection there was obtained on forged documents by accused Ram Niwas. “A copy of Receipt-cum-Possession Letter was also obtained from the Saket Court which revealed that signatures of one witness and landlady were forged. Intensive search to locate accused Dheeraj Singh and Ram Niwas was made and it was found that both had earlier been arrested in December 2010 for cheating crores of rupees of Punjab National Bank, Chandigarh branch, in connivance with the bank officials,” said Chhaya Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South. Both accused had been released on bail from Bural Jail in Chandigarh, she said. During interrogation, Singh disclosed that his wife Mamta Chaudhary also runs a company in the name of Asia Himalaya Overseas in Punjab. Sharma said the accused used to visit foreign countries, especially UK and befriend Indians there either by staying with them or by making contracts with them on the pretext of his companies. “He used to collect information about their properties in India. After getting complete details of the properties, he selects vulnerable victim like old NRIs who rarely visit India but having opulence properties in India,” she said. After that he along with co-accused prepares forged documents of the targeted property of NRI and usurps the same. Singh is highly qualified and well versed in computer. Recently, he undertook the project of developing the land and constructing the flats at Baddi, an industrial area in Himachal Pradesh and collected huge amount from the NRIs for this projects.

Tagged as: chandigarh, chhaya-sharma, deputy, from-the-saket, green, himland-real, india, industry, project, properties, punjab-national, real estate, real estate developers, wife

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Ketan Parekh’s Name Surfaces in LIC Housing Scam Case

by Paul Joseph December 2, 2010 Uncategorized

The real estate scam busted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to get murkier with banned stockbroker Ketan Parekh’s name cropping up in the investigations. The scam has led to the arrest of top LIC Housing Finance officials. CBI officials, however, said no such evidence had so far been found. CBI, on receiving a tipoff from its sources, found that a private financial services company, its chairman and managing director, and other associates were allegedly bribing senior officials of public sector banks and financial institutions for facilitating largescale corporate loans. They were also gathering confidential business information from financial institutions. “As of now there is no such evidence to link Ketan Parekh to the LIC case. The investigations are going on. We would be in a better position to conclusively share further details after two weeks because the investigators are still probing the matter,” said a senior CBI officer in Mumbai who is closely monitoring the developments in the case. The agency had arrested eight officials in this regard, which included senior employees of Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and a chartered accountant of Central Bank of India, beside the CMD and two other officials of the Mumbai-based financial advisory company, Money Matters, for facilitating largescale corporate loans. A first information report filed by CBI with the Bombay High Court has named over 20 corporate houses, but not as accused. Among others, the companies named include Lavasa, Emmar MGF, Oberoi Realty and DB Realty. Other companies whose dealings with MMFSL have come under the CBI scanner include the Jaypee Group, JSW Power, Pantaloon, Adani, Religare, BGR Energy, Ashapura Minechem and Suzlon. A special court for the trial of the 1992 Securities Scam cases had convicted stock broker Ketan Parekh for manipulating stock prices.

Tagged as: central, housing, housing-finance, punjab-national, real estate, real estate developers, real estate india

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Property prices may crash as loan scam hits funding

by Paul Joseph November 26, 2010 Uncategorized

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s direction to state-run lenders to prevent a recurrence of the loans-for-bribes scandal, and banks’ decision to go for a critical appraisal of all real estate loans above Rs 50 crore may stall projects and drive developers to private funds. Liquidity for the sector may dry up as bankers turn cautious in sanctioning fresh loans, forcing builders to cut prices to improve cash position, helping prospective buyers who have been holding on due to high prices. DB Realty tumbled 10%, Indiabulls Real Estate lost 5.2%, DLF fell 3.8%, and Unitech declined 6% as a fund shortage threatens to derail their project execution, which had just started to show signs of recovery after the 2008 credit crisis. The arrest of eight finance executives by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday on charges of taking bribes to sanction loans does not lead to a systemic risk since the amount involved is tiny, bankers and bureaucrats said. It is getting more attention than it deserves, they said. “ banks and financial institutions should strengthen the NPA (non-performing assets) monitoring and management in their institutions to ensure that advance action is taken to identify incipient sickness and take appropriate action on it,” said Mukherjee. A Bank of India official said, “All big-tickets loans, particularly to builders, will come under the scanner now. Recall of loans can happen if there is a fear that the quality of loans may suffer. But as of now, there is no such worry and hence it would not prompt us to recall loans.” The arrest of finance sector executives for alleged corruption and passing on information regarding these transactions has shaken the banking sector. Bank of India, Central Bank of India and LIC Housing Finance , whose executives were arrested, have said they followed set norms and any violation may relate to individual cases involving specific executives. “There is no chance of anything becoming NPA as a result of what has happened,” said TS Vijayan, Chairman of LIC, the parent company of LIC Housing Finance. CBI has said, in-custody LIC Housing CEO Ramachandran Nair, has confessed to the involvement of other board members, according to Times NOW news channel. Some of the telephone conversations of these arrested executives have also been tapped, it said. “There will be repercussions in terms of increased caution by banks while lending to developers,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle India. “Borrowing will become more expensive and the process involved in getting it will get lengthier as banks increase their vigilance levels.” While the panicky bankers would stay from decision-making for a while, there is unlikely to be any recall of sanctioned loans that would be disruptive. “There is no question of recalling loans since all the procedures of giving loans are followed,” said KR Kamath, CMD of Punjab National Bank , one of the banks named by CBI. “There is no need for any knee-jerk reaction. However, the loans that are sanctioned will be reviewed.” An unintended consequence of the scandal could be lower prices for home buyers as developers look to sell at a faster rate to improve cash flows. “If one looks at the last three quarters, sales have been dropping and most developers have built lot of debt pressure on their books,” said Pankaj Kapoor, Managing Director of property consultant firm Liases Foras. “This issue, along with tighter measures already announced by RBI in its policy review, may expedite the process of correction,” he said, estimating the correction to be at least 25%. This scandal need not necessarily be as bad as the ones in 1992 and 2001, when investors lost thousands of crores of paper wealth source – http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/real-estate/news-/Property-prices-may-crash-as-loan-scam-hits-funding/articleshow/6991512.cms

Tagged as: country, finance, housing, india, loans, project, punjab-national

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Home Loan Growth Expected this Festive Season

by Paul Joseph October 7, 2010 Uncategorized

Notwithstanding rising interest rates, mortgage lenders continue to remain optimistic of strong loan growth in the festive season ahead. Banker and analysts said lower real estate prices , coupled with special interest rate schemes and higher salary payouts, are working in favour of strong home loan growth. “We are expecting a 22-25 % growth for this year,” said Renu Sud Karnad, managing director of HDFC. Bank of Baroda is also expecting a similar growth rate for its home loan, its chairman and managing director M D Mallya added. Last year, during the same period, BoB’s home loan portfolio had grown by around 21%. A host of banks, including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Corporation Bank, among others, are offering home loans at special rates till December 31. SBI has extended its special loan scheme wherein loans are disbursed at 8% for the first year and 9% for the second and third year. “The second half of the year is going to be the major booster in terms of home loan growth,” said Mohan Tanksale, executive director of PNB. His bank is targeting to disburse Rs 2,000 crore in the second half of FY11. The bank had sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore of home loans in the year-ago period. “Real estate prices have stabilized. The income of people have also become more stable in the last few months,” said R R Nair, director and CEO of LIC Housing Finance. Sundaram Home Finance, the home loan finance arm of Sundaram BNP Paribas, is also upbeat. It has distributed Rs 540 crore in home loans in the first two quarters and is confident of recording similar growth in the festive season . “While the Rs 20-lakh plus segment is seeing an uptick , the big driver for us, in tier II towns, are sub-Rs 20-lakh loans,” said Srinivas Acharya, MD, Sundram BNP Paribas Home Finance.

Tagged as: bangalore, faridabad, gurgaon, home-loans, housing, kolkata, mumbai, punjab-national, real estate india, year

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PSU banks rain loan discounts

by Paul Joseph September 13, 2010 Uncategorized

The festive season is spelling bonanza for bank customers. Punjab National Bank (PNB), Allahabad Bank, Uco Bank and Bank of India have launched festival offers, which include loans at concessional rates and waiver of processing and documentation charges. Offers will be valid till December end. PNB is offering home loan at 8.5 per cent — a teaser rate to attract new customers. The concessional rate of 8.5 per cent has been fixed for three years for housing loans up to R50 lakh. At present, loans up to R30 lakh attract 9.25 per cent with a repayment period of 5 years, while loans above R30 lakh is available at 10 per cent for similar maturity. Similarily, a new car loan borrower under the fixed option will get a rebate of 0.5 per cent. UCO Bank has waived the processing and documentation charges. Loans for new cars will be available at 10.5 per cent for the first three years, with an additional concession of 0.5 per cent in cases where full collateral coverage or salary tie-ups were available, and for doctors and medical practitioners. “Festive season is a good time to attract new customers as people buy new houses and vehicles,” said S . Srinivasan, general manager, finance, Uco Bank. Allahabad Bank is offering an interest concession of up to 1 per cent on loans. While the interest rebate offered on housing loans under the floating rate scheme varies from 0.25 per cent to 1 per cent, new borrowers going for the fixed rate scheme will get a concession of 0.50 per cent to 1.75 per cent for a limited period. Bank of India has introduced a deduction of R7 per gram of Source:http://www.hindustantimes.com/PSU-banks-rain-loan-discounts/Article1-598626.aspx Filed under: Home loans Tagged: Allahabad Bank , Bank of India , Home loans , Punjab National Bank (PNB) , UCO Bank

Tagged as: home-loans, india, punjab-national

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Allahabad Bank offers festive season rebate up to 1% on loans

by Paul Joseph September 2, 2010

NEW DELHI: State-owned Allahabad Bank today said borrowers will get an interest concession of up to 1 per cent on loans during the festival season, which it hopes will attract new customers. While the interest rebate offered by the bank on housing loans under the floating rate scheme varies from 0.25 per cent to 1 per cent, new borrowers taking out loans under the fixed rate scheme will get a concession of 0.50 per cent to 1.75 per cent for a limited period, Allahabad Bank said in a statement. At present, housing loans up to Rs 50 lakh at a floating rate are available at 10.25 per cent interest for a period of 15 years, while fixed rate loans of the same maturity and amount are available at 12.5 per cent. The announcement comes days after a few banks, including Punjab National Bank, launched a festival bonanza for their customers. PNB has offered floating home loans at a fixed rate of 8.5 per cent for three years. At the same time, Allahabad Bank has also reduced the interest rate on car loans for new vehicles by 1 per cent, it said. Under normal circumstances, the Kolkata-based lender provides car loans at an interest rate between 10.5 and 11 per cent. The saral loan scheme, personal loans for doctors and pensioners and housing loans for furnishing will also get a rebate of 1 per cent, it said. The concessional offer is valid from September 1 to December 31, 2010, it said. The special festival offer will encourage customers, especially from middle and lower income groups, to avail credit at reduced interest rates to fulfill their requirements during the festival season, it said. Meanwhile, Allahabad Bank has been conferred with the national award for excellence in MSE lending for 2009-10 instituted by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). The award was received by Chairman and Managing Director J P Dua from the President of India yesterday. The award reinforces the bank’s commitment and consistent contribution to overall economic development of the country through faster growth of MSMEs and other priority sectors, Dua said. Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/loan-centre/home-loans/Allahabad-Bank-offers-festive-season-rebate-up-to-1-on-loans/articleshow/6475075.cms Filed under: Home loans Tagged: Allahabad Bank , Home loan interest rates

Tagged as: bank, chairman, country, home-loans, ministry, president, punjab-national, requirements

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HDFC raises lending rate by 50 basis points on home loans

by Paul Joseph September 1, 2010 Uncategorized

NEW DELHI: Leading housing finance firm HDFC on Tuesday raised its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 14.25 per cent, a move that will make home loans costlier. The revised Retail Prime Lending Rate (RPLR) would be effective from September 1, 2010 and home loans up to Rs 30 lakh would increase to 9.25 per cent, HDFC said in a statement. It said Rs 30-50 lakh home loans would attract interest rate of 9.5 per cent, up from 9 per cent, while loans above Rs 50 lakh would be higher by 50 basis points at 9.75 per cent for the floating loan. HDFC follows a three month reset cycle for its floating rate loans and hence the change in RPLR will impact all the existing customers over the next three months depending on their date of first disbursement. It said the increase in RPLR is for the first time in two years, since August of 2008. The hike is in line with the current rates of interest in the economy, which have hardened in the last few months due to rising inflation and tightening of liquidity in the domestic market, HDFC added. The hike by mortgage lender comes days after most of banks including State Bank of India and ICICI Bank raised both lending and deposit following Reserve Bank raising key short term policy rates. The RBI, in its monetary review last month, raised the short-term borrowing (reverse repo) rate by 50 basis points and lending (repo) rate by 25 basis points to tame inflation. Following the monetary action, most of the public sector lenders, including Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Canara Bank, responded by hiking their BPLRs by up to 50 basis points. At the same time, many banks have increased deposit rates as well. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/HDFC-raises-lending-rate-by-50-basis-points-on-home-loans/articleshow/6469864.cms Filed under: Home loans Tagged: HDFC , Home loans

Tagged as: basis-points, home-loans, india, lending, punjab-national, reserve-bank, retail

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Special home loan offers galore despite rate hikes

by Paul Joseph August 27, 2010 Uncategorized

Despite an increase in lending rates, most banks and home finance institutions have continued to offer special home loan products to expand their retail books. It is not just softer interest rates that customers are enjoying. There is also a host of innovative schemes to choose from, say industry experts and bankers. For instance, LIC Housing Finance has a variable EMI (equated monthly installment) product targeted at the young salaried class. Punjab National Bank enables customers to have staggered payments even on margin money. LIC Housing Finance offers a home loan product targeted at the young salaried customer who has a job, wants a house but cannot afford a high EMI. The repayment will be structured so that EMIs remain low at the start of the loan and it increases as the loan period progresses. This is based on the assumption that the repayment capacity of the customer will rise as salaries go up. The product is available at a floating interest rate of 8.75 per cent for loans of up to Rs 1.5 crore. “This product is for the young salaried employees, who would like to own a big home but do not have the salary to match. There is a lot of scope to be innovative in the home loan market, as there are varied customers with a variety of needs,” said RR Nair, managing director and chief executive officer of LIC Housing Finance. To capture new customers, PNB is relieving customers of the need for margin money and is also offering home loans at a lower rate of interest. The bank recently announced a festival bonanza, slashing interest rate on home loans up to Rs 50 lakh to 8.50 per cent (fixed) for three years across all repayment tenures and waived off processing fees and documentation charges. The prepayment fee too has been waived. “Banks and home finance institutions are offering a variety of products. Some banks have offered a step-up product, where EMIs increase as the loan progresses or a step-down product where EMIs decrease with the tenure of the load. Banks are even foregoing margin money requirements at the start of the loan and agreeing to staggered payments during the tenure of the loan,” said Satkam Divya, chief executive Officer of Rupee Times. HDFC and State Bank of India (SBI) have floated fixed/floating rate products, which keep the interest rate fixed for a specified period of time and then revert to floating rate of interest. SBI has seen a good offtake in the home loan being offered at an invitation rate of 8 per cent, which is the lowest in the market. LIC Housing Finance also has a product, called Advantage 5, under which the lending rate is fixed at 9.25 per cent for five years and reverts to a floating rate thereafter. Other banks and home finance institutions too are offering similar fixed-cum-floating rate products to lure customers. “In a rising interest rate regime, it is beneficial for customers to get into a fixed loan scheme, so that the interest rate is protected for a short duration. Banks are looking at very aggressive strategies to win home loan customers,” said Sumeet Vaid, chief executive officer of Financial Freedom, a financial planning company based in Mumbai. Source: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/special-home-loan-offers-galore-despite-rate-hikes-069 Filed under: Home loans Tagged: HDFC , home loan , LIC Housing Finance , PNB , SBI

Tagged as: customer, financial, home-loan, home-loans, housing, housing-finance, punjab-national, retail

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No loan can be advanced below the new benchmark rate

by Paul Joseph August 25, 2010 Uncategorized

The Reserve Bank of India has said a bank will have to honour a fixed rate contract, even if interest rates move up in future. The clarification has removed doubts that some banks had over introduction of fixed rate home loans. Customers of some banks feared that if the lender’s base rate rose above the contracted fixed rate, the bank might increase the loan rate citing RBI guidelines even though the loan was termed as ‘fixed rate’ . The central bank has said no loan can be advanced below the new benchmark rate. Banks like Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank are offering fixed rate home loans, but customers were worried that they may be charged a higher rate of interest rate if the base rate goes up since no bank is allowed to lend below the base rate. However, RBI has said at the time of contracting a fix rate loan if the lending rate (under the special scheme) is higher than the base rate, banks do not need to charge higher rate even if the lenders raise their base rate in future. Banks like Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank are offering fixed rate home loans, but customers were worried that they may be charged a higher rate of interest rate if the base rate goes up since no bank is allowed to lend below the base rate. However, RBI has said at the time of contracting a fix rate loan if the lending rate (under the special scheme) is higher than the base rate, banks do not need to charge higher rate even if the lenders raise their base rate in future. However, RBI has also told banks that if they hike or lower base rate, that increase or cut in rates will have to be passed on to the new customers under the special home loan scheme. Therefore, if PNB raises its base rate, to say 9% in October, those special schemes cannot continue at 8.5%, however, the customer who have already availed loan at a fix rate of 8.5% before October, need not pay more Sources from the industry say PNB had asked for a clarification from RBI on this issue since they recently launched the festive offer and were keen to offer a fix rate scheme. The PNB fix rate offer is on loans up to Rs 50 lakh and from the fourth year onwards, the bank will charge home loan rate that is prevailing at that point of time for all its customers. Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/6425359.cms Filed under: Home loans Tagged: Home loans , National Bank , State Bank of India and ICICI Bank , The Reserve Bank of India

Tagged as: bank, home-loans, industry, lending, loan, punjab-national, reserve-bank

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Rise in base rate won’t affect your repayments

by Paul Joseph August 24, 2010 Uncategorized

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India, has said a bank will have to honour a fixed rate contract, even if interest rates move up in future. The clarification has removed doubts that some banks had over introduction of fixed rate home loans. Customers of some banks feared that if the lender’s base rate rose above the contracted fixed rate, the bank might increase the loan rate citing RBI guidelines even though the loan was termed as ‘fixed rate’. The RBI has said no loan can be advanced below the new benchmark rate. Banks like Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank are offering fixed rate home loans, but customers were worried that they may be charged a higher rate of interest rate if the base rate goes up since no bank is allowed to lend below the base rate. However, RBI has said at the time of contracting a fix rate loan if the lending rate (under the special scheme) is higher than the base rate, banks do not need to charge higher rate even if the lenders raise their base rate in future. For instance, PNB has decided to offer a fixed rate loan of 8.5% on home loan for the first three years. In case PNB decides to raise its base rate, which is now at 8-9% after a year, RBI has said they cannot charge customers (who have opted for 8.5% three-year fixed rate scheme) an interest rate more than 8.5% in the first three years. SBI scheme offers 8% for the first year and 9% for the second and third year. While SBI’s scheme is up to September, PNB’s scheme is till December 10. However, RBI has also told banks that if they hike or lower base rate, that increase or cut in rates will have to be passed on to the new customers under the special home loan scheme. Therefore, if PNB raises its base rate, to say 9% in October, those special schemes cannot continue at 8.5%, however, the customer who have already availed loan at a fix rate of 8.5% before October, need not pay more. Sources from the industry say PNB had asked for a clarification from RBI on this issue since they recently launched the festive offer and were keen to offer a fix rate scheme. The PNB fix rate offer is on loans up to Rs 50 lakh and from the fourth year onwards, the bank will charge home loan rate that is prevailing at that point of time for all its customers. Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/loan-centre/home-loans/home-loans-news/Rise-in-base-rate-wont-affect-your-repayments/articleshow/6423649.cms Filed under: Home loans , Mumbai Tagged: Home loans , Icici Bank , Mumbai , PNB , RBI , SBI

Tagged as: base, india, lending, loan, mumbai, punjab-national, rate, rbi., sbi, time

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