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HSBC Introduces New Banking Solution for NRIs
2007-05-04 10:22:00
HSBC announced today a new banking solution for global Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)। The comprehensive solution allows the NRI community to conduct cross-border banking transactions and choose from a variety of tailored US and Indian deposit, mortgage and investment products.In addition to helping NRIs better facilitate their banking transactions in the US and India, the solution also offers the following benefits:Assistance in account opening with HSBC India(a) while in the US, and assistance in account opening with HSBC USA, while in India।FastCheque - Free remittances to HSBC India from the US, at competitive exchange rates, by USD checks।FastClick – Free remittances from the US to India through internet banking, whereby customers banking with both HSBC USA and HSBC India can remit monies to their NRI Accounts held with HSBC India, in a speedy and convenient manner।Assistance in choosing from a wide array of HSBC USA personal and commercial productsAssistance in choosing...
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ECB & NRI deposits: Half the outstanding external debt
2007-05-03 07:43:00
If the Reserve Bank of India took measures in the past months to curb internal liquidity in order to check inflation, it has now taken measures to reduce the flow of external funds to strengthen its effort। In its latest annual monetary policy statement presented last Tuesday, the central bank has sought to discourage capital inflows by slashing rates on NRE and FCNR deposits. The bank has also taken measure to reduce the existing liquidity by enhancing the prepayment limit of external commercial borrowings (ECBs)। Prepayment of ECBs up to $400 million is now allowed against $300 million earlier by authorised dealer banks without prior approval of RBI, subject to compliance with stipulated minimum average maturity period as applicable to loans. These measures may have come at a time when the priority of the bank is to curb liquidity in order to check inflation, but what is significant is that they would play a big role in reducing the country’s external liabilities also। The...
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RBI revises priority sector lending norms for banks
2007-05-02 11:35:00
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the lending norms for priority sector, allowing banks to include direct finance to corporates for agriculture and allied activity of up to Rs1 crore as priority sector (PSL) exposure as against the earlier limit of Rs20 lakh.Home loans up to Rs20 lakh (excluding loans granted to by banks to their own employees), will also now qualify to be classified under priority sector advances compared to the earlier limit of Rs15 lakh।Besides, loans given for repairs to damaged houses of families up to Rs1 lakh in rural and semi-urban areas and up to Rs2 lakh in urban and metropolitan areas would also be included as priority sector advances, it said।The central bank, while maintaining the overall priority sector lending limit to 40 per cent, has also increased the lending cap for educational loans to Rs10 lakh for studies in India and Rs20 lakh for studies abroad. Earlier, the limits were Rs7.5 lakh and Rs15 lakh respectively."Only those s...
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NRI deposits in Kerala banks on a high
2007-04-30 12:29:00
NRI deposits in Kerala banks touched a new high of Rs 329 billion on Dec 31, 2006.NRI deposits in 3,539 branches of various banks grew from Rs 288 billion in December 2005 to Rs 329 billion, constituting 38।42 per cent of all deposits in the state's banks, said figures released at a bankers' committee meet in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.Details of the NRI deposits show that the State Bank group leads the pack with a total of Rs 124 billion, followed by private sector banks with Rs 101 billion। Then come nationalised banks with Rs 97 billion.The State Bank of Travancore, Kerala's own bank, leads all other banks with a record Rs 81 billion। Among private sector banks, the Federal Bank leads with Rs 48 billion.Kerala has a record two million Keralites working abroad, of which close to 85 per cent are in the Middle East.
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Central Bank has Reduced the Ceiling on NRI Deposits
2007-04-25 12:30:00
Non-resident Indians (NRI) will now have to settle for lower returns from their deposits in India। The central bank has reduced the ceiling on NRI deposits - FCNR (B) and NRE - by 50 basis points, making these deposits less attractive for investors. The downward revision in the cap on interest rates comes in the wake of large capital flows into the country.At present, the interest rate ceiling on FCNR (B) deposits is fixed at London Inter Bank Offered Rate (Libor) minus 25 basis points for all maturities। Now, this will be Libor minus 75 basis points.For NRE deposits, where the depositor takes the exchange rate risk due to the conversion of the funds into rupees, the interest rate ceiling has been brought down to Libor। Earlier, the ceiling was not to exceed 50 basis points above Libor."These measures should result in smaller net inflows and help stabilise the rupee in the medium term,'' said Romesh Sobti, country executive, India ABN Amro Bank।RBI's decision is expected ...
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Banks Seek Hike in FII, NRI Cap in Hybrid Capital
2007-04-20 05:49:00
Banks have asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to review the ceiling on investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) in perpetual debt and debt capital instruments (hybrid capital)।According to RBI guidelines, investment in these instruments by FIIs and NRIs are to be within an overall limit of 49 per cent and 24 per cent of the issue। Investment by a single FII and NRI was capped at 10 per cent and 5 per cent of the issue.This demand was made to the RBI Governor Y V Reddy by a delegation of bankers, including K V Kamath, managing director and chief executive officer,ICICI Bank, V P Shetty, chairman and managing director (CMD), IDBI Ltd, A K Khandelwal, CMD, Bank of Baroda, P J Nayak, CMD, UTI Bank, and Sanjay Nayar, chief executive officer, Citibank, India।In January, 2006 the RBI had permitted banks to raise capital through additional instruments popularly known as hybrid instruments। This was to let banks shore up their capital in...
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THE NR EYE: Real estate investments beckon NRIs
2007-04-18 10:14:00
The hike in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India, the ongoing regulatory reforms by the government and enhanced liquidity place non-resident Indians in a very good position to park their excess funds in property back home।These factors, coupled with the phenomenal growth pattern currently being experienced by the real estate market in India, have not gone unnoticed on the real estate companies which have high expectations of overseas Indians।India’s FDI climbed to a record-breaking $11।2bn in 2006, a 155 per cent year-on-year increase. Reformed real estate investment regulations for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and more crucially foreign investors have provided the impetus to drive the value of the Indian real estate market towards $50bn by 2010.In 2005, the Indian government announced that FDI in the real estate sector was permitted through the ‘automatic route’, in other words without requiring additional ministerial approvals, streamlining the investment process...
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Builder held for duping NRI of Rs 14 cr
2007-04-12 07:25:00
NEW DELHI: A builder was arrested by the economic offences wing (EOW) for defrauding several NRIs of over Rs 14 crore। The accused, Naresh Chandra, had reportedly started a charitable trust called Human Care Medical Charitable Trust, and lured NRI doctors to invest money into the trust."He had got the trust registered with the Registrar of Societies and showed in the papers that the trust had acquired land in Dwarka to construct a charitable hospital," said Prabhakar, deputy commissioner of police (EOW)।He convinced a handful of doctors settled abroad to invest in the trust and managed to collect a sum of Rs 14 crore constructing a hospital। But after giving the money, investors found that the building was coming up slowly and that the quality of construction was not up to the mark. After confronting the accused, one of the doctors filed the complaint.Investigations found that the builder was using inferior quality material and showed inflated bills. He was transferring the ba...
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Online trading Safe for NRI Investors
2007-04-12 07:25:00
At a high-profile launch, Indian firm UTI Securities Limited and its associate company in Bahrain, Indo-Gulf फिनान्सिअल सेर्विसस Limited, explained the benefits of their new audience of business figures। Promoting the website usectrade as valuable means for NRIs to oversee their portfolios, investors were told the volume of stock transactions made online will soon overtake that of those conducted through a broker। "There are a lot of disadvantages in conventional trading, as far as the communication part is concerned," UTI Securities vice-president and e-brokering head Rakesh Singh told the GDN। "Typically a broker handles a number of customers and this can range from 30, to 50, to 100। "Suppose a customer calls a broker at a particular time, but a broker only has three or four lines and if he has 100 customers then 100 people could be calling him at a similar time. "But in ऑनलाइन त्रदिंग the customer can trade at...
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NRI Buying Homes, Properties more Easliy
2007-04-10 12:13:00
NRIs are now buying Prop erties , homes in their very own homeland in more relaxed way than ever for non resident status people abroad. Reasons are RBI relaxed and imroved norms for non resident indians to buy property in India.Reserve Bank of India has spelled out clear norms for NRIs to invest in different kinds of property. NRIs holding Indian passport do not require prior permission of RBI to buy residential or commercial immovable property in India. The purchase consideration may be paid either by remittance of funds from abroad through normal banking channels or out of NRE / FCNR / NRO account. Money can be repatriated abroad if bought with the foreign exchange earned abroad. That too, only in the sale of two residential properties but any number of commercial properties. NRI’s of Indian nationality do not require any permission for acquisition, transfer or disposal by way of gift of immovable property which is not a farmhouse or agricultural land or plantations property...
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Interest hike means twin benefits for NRIs
2007-04-09 13:08:00
The hike in interest rates in India gives NRIs an opportunity to reap twin benefits।The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) jacked up interest rates March 30 to control inflation since this is the number one priority of the government। The unexpected increase in interest rates sent a Tsunami to the Indian stock market when it opened April 2 as it plummeted by over 600 points in a single day. The market recovered quickly but the yo-yo effect has scared the investors.For the long-term investor, this is the time to buy। And NRIs have amply demonstrated this response when they pumped nearly Rs.1 billion in just two months of February and March. In January they were sellers. Compared to Rs.80 million they invested in the same period last year, the trend now shows that NRIs are bullish.Earlier, NRIs were not investing due to high rupee-dollar rate and valuation concerns। When the Indian market corrected, they returned. This was not the case when the rupee appreciated and the market was at...
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NRI foundation
2007-04-04 05:46:00
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said that the Gujarat government handed over 5।77 lakh square metres of land, near Gandhinagar, to Puri Foundation , run by Nottingham-based NRI Natt Puri, "at a concessional value of Rs 75.02 lakh against the market value of Rs 28.85 crore." The foundation is setting up an Advance Research and Development Centre for Information Technology and Biotechnology on the allotted land. The CAG scrutiny has revealed that the land was allotted in June, 2001, "without obtaining the authorisation from the department concerned which is a prerequisite for allotment of land for setting up higher educational institutions। Concessional rate was also applied to land meant for construction of residential houses"। Despite the fact that Foundation was not registered as a society in Gujarat State, under the Registered Societies Act, 1960। CAG said the Foundation did not start construction of the centre, nor did it finish completing it within three yea...
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South Indian NRI docs head home
2007-03-31 05:15:00
An increasingly large number of non-resident Indian doctors is returning home to south India, giving a third leg to the reverse brain drain phenomenon that mostly involved software engineers and corporate scientists.A trickle of NRI doctors returning home has been there all around the country for decades now (that is how Apollo Hospitals started), but what marks out the present phase is the accelerating pace and the peninsular focus. The latter is only to be expected since more doctors from the south left India in the first place."We get enquiries on a daily basis from NRI doctors wanting to come back," says K Hari Prasad, CEO of Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad. On an average, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, gets five to six resumes every week from NRI doctors in the US and UK. Corporate hospitals in Kerala are seeing a similar inflow of applications. A good 15 per cent of the doctors at the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences are former NRIs. Wockhardt hospitals have 28 specialists who h...
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NRIs seeking home loan? Check this out
2007-03-28 13:22:00
While home loans are available to resident individuals as well as non-resident Indians (NRIs), there are some differences in the terms and conditions applicable to the two. Here are a few points to get started:Who is an NRI?Banks follow the RBI definition, that is, an Indian citizen who holds a valid Indian passport and who stays abroad for employment or for carrying on business or vocation outside India or stays abroad under circumstances indicating an intention for an uncertain duration of stay.Terms and conditionsEligibility:The NRI has to be a graduate. The same does not apply to resident Indians. He should earn a minimum monthly income of $2,000. This criterion may differ across housing finance companies (HFCs).Size of loan:The loan amount should not exceed 85 per cent of the cost of property. In case of Indian residents, banks can lend up to 90 per cent of the cost of property. The size of the loan depends upon the borrower’s repayment capacity. However, there is a maximum l...
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NRIs Craze for Indian Real Estate
2007-03-27 07:16:00
Since the investors making investments in Indian retail sector has become conscious about putting in the volatile equity market at current levels, Non Resident Indians (NRIs) are taking a contrarian stand towards the same.Nowadays, NRIs seem to be changing their mindset about making investments in Indian real estate. They have invested a whopping 100 crore, in less than two months of the current calendar year. Contrary to this, NRIs had emerged as net buyers at less than Rs 8 crore in 2006. Connoisseurs feel that the corrections witnessed in the past few years have made NRIs bullish on the Indian real estate market. However, they are looking towards reinvesting.Data complied by surveys clearly show that NRIs have been taking out their money, with the concerns such as high rupee-dollar rate and valuation on mind. All these factors have forced them to reconsider their decision to invest, says the head of brokerage with a sizeable overseas presence.Although, the value of rupee has incr...
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NRI Hills-International City at Jaipur
2007-03-26 06:07:00
Average NRI real estate project sizes have shot up from around Rs 30-60 crore, when the realty boom began three years ago, to between Rs 500 and Rs 2,500 crore today. Largely because of a far larger scale of these projects.From now, despite the 200% growth since the past 3-4 years, real estate projects (whether residential, commercial or retail) are expected to reach astronomical levels of a colossal 1,000%. That’s one of the key reasons why rates across the board are shooting through the roof. The first phase of the 2,504 acre hi-tech township by Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited in Greater Noida, for which it has signed an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government, is estimated at a whopping Rs 20,000 crore.Natraj Buildwell Ltd has launched NRI Hill s-International City at Jaipur at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. The cost of Alpha G:Corp’s project, Alpha International City, Karnal is estimated to be Rs 600 crore. The various projects of Parsvnath launched recently are pegged a...
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Merrill Lynch vies to be biggest private bank in NRI segment
2007-03-24 04:30:00
Global financial services major Merrill Lynch on Wednesday said, it plans to roll out more products for NRIs as it aims to become the biggest private banker catering to the niche market."With $360 billion in investable assets, the 22 million Non-Resident Indians are an important growth area for us," Rahul Malhotra, Merrill Lynch's head of India Global Private Client, told PTI."We are leveraging the global business by rolling out products and developing talent, which will result in the largest private banking businesses in NRI segment," he added.The company would also double the number of financial advisors serving Indian clients this year, both within the country and living abroad."We plan to grow the clients' assets under management for both onshore and offshore India by 8-10 times in the next three years," Malhotra said.Merrill Lynch has had a long experience in India through its partnership with DSPML, which gives it a great advantage over other firms as it boosts of both globa...
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NRI invest in biggest project of 100-acre condominium complex in Clacutta
2007-03-23 05:45:00
NRIs are looking to invest money in real estate india and have put eyes on calcutta.NRI invest in biggest project of 100-acre condominium complex in Clacutta.Uniworld City -New Town's biggest project of 100-acre condominium complex.-Uniworld City will strive to be the one-of-a-kind worldclass condominium project with 82 apartment blocks of nine to 27 stories.-The company proposed 4,500 flats to be developed in nine phases that will cost Rs 20-70 lakh.-Large restaurants with terraces have been suggested for the main plaza to provide an architectural focal point and activate the plaza with outdoor dining areas with 300,000 sq ft of premium built space convenience kiosks, books, music and cafes-The streets allow for visual connections and easy transitions from private to public areas-Added wide variety of apartments in terms of the number of bedrooms and area to cater to different choices and budgets.-Three club houses with modern indoor/outdoor sports and recreational facilities-A bo...
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NRI group plans biggest FDI in Indian real estate
2007-03-19 07:45:00
A US-based infrastructure company on Thursday unveiled plans to invest $1 billion in Indian real estate in what is being billed as the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the newly liberalised sector.Royal Indian Raj International Corporation (RIRIC), a Nevada-based company promoted by people of Indian origin, is firming up plans to build integrated townships and planned cities in the country.The company has entered into a strategic partnership with New York-based real estate investment banking firm The Greenwich Group International to finance the development of multiple private cities in India. “We have already been working on our inaugural residential project on a 17-acre plot on the outskirts of Bangalore,” said RIRIC CEO Manoj C Benjamin.“With the Indian real estate sector in transition and recent landmark legislation allowing FDI into it, the opportunity for participation in this formerly closed market is heightening,” Benjamin said. RIRIC said it aimed to take a...
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NRI uses RTI to get tax refund
2007-03-15 12:08:00
This is one problem that most tax-payers in the country may have faced at some point in their lives. The income tax department directly deducts your tax at source, but when it comes to refunds, it sends you on a wild goose chase.An assessee has now shown a way around the problem through the use of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Tushar Dalvi used RTI and managed to get his refund, which was pending for five years, in a week's time.Dalvi, an NRI, who settled in Santa Cruz a few years ago, has a non-resident ordinary account from which the bank was deducting tax at source (TDS) on the interest accumulated on his deposits. Although he had filed returns and applied for a refund with the central international taxation department from 2002 onwards, he had not got a single reply from the I-T department."I was stone-walled for quite sometime and then I tried to use the services of a chartered accountant (CA). But he said he would charge me Rs 50,000 as service charge,"said 60-year-old ...
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Separate NRI investment cell for Kerala tourism
2007-03-08 05:08:00
Steps are underway to set up a separate cell to tap the cash-rich non-resident Keralites (NRKs) for developing Kerala 's tourism infrastructure, state Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said here Tuesday."Though the central and state governments are doing their bit to promote tourism in Kerala, this will not be enough for the development of tourism infrastructure. For this we should tap the NRKs and a special cell will be created to this effect," Balakrishnan said in the state assembly.The minister was replying to questions on the steps taken to promote tourism in Kerala.He said that an Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation would also be set up to look into tourism infrastructure development.The minister pointed out that the biggest problem faced by the Kerala tourism industry was shortage of rooms."During the peak season Kerala requires around 20,000 rooms and what we have now are a mere 8,000 rooms," Balakrishnan said.In 2006, the number of foreign tourists visiting K...
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Budget: NRI investors get lower returns
2007-03-05 08:09:00
More Indians are paying more taxes, the economy is growing at over nine percent, exports are booming and foreign reserves have touched a new record of $180 billion. So Finance Minister P. Chidambaram focused on the poor to lower prices, provide better education and healthcare, offer selected insurance cover and improve infrastructure.Now that foreign companies are rushing to India and Indian companies are buying out foreign companies, new investment incentives take a back seat. Thus it is no wonder the budget did not have any special provisions to attract NRI investors. However, NRIs, like all Indians, will pay less income tax but also get lower returns on Indian stocks.NRIs who file income tax returns in India will benefit marginally as the tax exemption has been raised by Rs.10,000 to Rs.110,000; to Rs 145,000 for women and Rs.195,000 for senior citizens. However, the education cess has increased from two percent to three percent on all direct and indirect taxes to finance higher ...
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NRIs Woo Real Estate in India
2007-03-05 08:09:00
NRIs wanting to park their funds in India are taking the real estate market seriously enough to form informal groups to back select projects. This is the latest trend observed in the Indian realty market, and nobody’s complaining.NRIs tend to invest in residential properties in India, preferably in their native towns or cities where their relatives and friends can supervise such projects. However, funds are now being put into some commercially viable projects as well, such as malls, hotels and office complexes. Around $600 million has poured in from such investments in the last one year, with a single investment from a group averaging between $10 to 15 million.Law firms receive 5 to 6 enquiries every week from overseas Indians who club together and float a fund to build a property, stay on through the lock-in period, and sell it at a good profit.Jaipur, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat have seen groups of NRIs making such investments in malls, office spaces and re...
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Remit2India to offer NRE transfers
2007-03-01 07:49:00
World’s number one independent online money transfer portal for NRIs recently unveiled its exciting NRE promotional campaign. The promotion promises premium exchange rates to NRIs allowing them to earn up to Rs.4500 over the standard rates for transferring money into their NRE accounts.NRE(Non-Resident External) account, is a bank account, which can be opened by any person of Indian origin or nationality, currently settled abroad. These accounts can be maintained in the form of savings, current or term deposit accounts with any authorized banks in India. An NRI gets the opportunity to enjoy the multiple benefits of higher interest rates, tax- free principal and interest amount and also full reparability of funds involved.Furthermore, the NRI can use his NRE account to invest into the various investment vehicles including mutual funds, property, insurance, etc. as tools for wealth creation.The NRE money transfers promotion being latest on the platter is designed and framed to steal...
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NRI investment route’s not tax-efficient now
2007-02-19 12:24:00
Select overseas investors may get to invest in local stock markets by registering with foreign institutional investors (FIIs). The aim is to ensure a minimum issuance of participatory notes (PNs) in the Indian markets, an official privy to the development said.“Let more foreign portfolio investors come in. But we want investors operating under various umbrellas to come in through the front door and not through subterfuge,” said a senior official. As against PNs, ‘sub-accounts’ have to be registered with Sebi by non-residents on whose behalf investments are made in India by an FII registered with Sebi.Since Sebi is in no position to verify the antecedents of each of the PN investors, a sensible course would be to pin down the responsibility on FIIs, officials feel. Sebi’s FII regulations will need to be revised as the responsibility of FIIs relating to sub accounts is regarded as a grey area.The existing norms of a broad based fund (which stipulates at least 20 investors wi...
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