Canara CMD Dubey opens mega loan carnival in Delhi

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, July 29: In order to increase retail sector exposure and expand bank’s reach to aam aadmi, Canara Bank Chairman and Managing Director, Mr R K Dubey, inaugurated a “mega savings and loan carnival” here on Monday.

The carnival, focusing on housing, auto, education and MSME sectors, marked the highly successful campaign run by the bank in Delhi for a period of one week beginning July 22.

The carnival started with Chairman and Managing Director inaugurating the property expo and Maruti car expo.

In his inaugural address, CMD Mr Dubey exhorted the people to take advantage of Canara Bank’s lowest rates for housing, car and education loans.

He said Canara Bank has also launched Home Loan Plus in which customers can take Loan Against Property (LAP).

Underlining the need for such retail utsav, he said Canara Bank along with the Government was helping customers by offering loans at low rates to support the country, the economy and the industry.

“Though offering loans at lower rate is risky, but somebody has to take the lead. We at Canara Bank have taken that initiative,” added Mr Dubey.

He said such functions help in bonding with the customers. He said Canara Bank has arranged finance of 240 crore for Retail and MSME sectors. Over 3,000 beneficiaries have been benefited out of this.

He told the customers that if they pay in time, their credibility will go up and it would help us disperse more and faster loans to you in future. “Your prosperity to leads to our prosperity,” he added.

He said Delhi would launch of three more e-Lounges in August.

Mr Dubey said the bank had also increased its share of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Rs 2 crore with emphasis on education and health hygiene.

In his welcome address, Delhi circle General Manager, Mr T Sreekanthan said since Mr Dubey has taken over as Chairman and Managing Director in January, Canara Bank’s core business has increased by one lakh crore. Now the bank has become more aggressive in the market and empoloyess have more energized.

In his speech, Chief General Manager (Retail Asset Wing, Head Office) Mr R R Sharma said Canara Bank which made its modest beginning 107 years ago in Mangalore has now business of Rs 650,000 crore.

The bank has brought smile to 4.70 crore people, he added.

During the campaign, the branches of the circle opened more than 5,000 savings, 3,500 recurring deposit and 1,000 current accounts. Canara Bank also disbursed more than 170 housing loans, 130 car loans, 100 education loans and 400 MSME loans.

The carnival also associated with top builders of Delhi and Maruti dealers. Customers who attended the carnival visited the stalls during the day.

The Chairman also honoured meritorious students and valuable customers of the Bank. He also honoured the top three performing branches of the campaign.

The CMD also handed over sanction letters to beneficiaries of various loan schemes.

As a measure of CSR activity, the bank has donated a cheque of Rs 50,000 to “Mobile Crèches”, an NGO who runs day care for deprived children of construction workers.

In a separate tête-à-tête with reporters, Mr Dubey said Canara Bank has sought Rs 1,000 crore fund infusion from the Government to fund its overseas expansion. The Bank has got approval for opening up branches in Johannesburg in South Africa and Dubai.

“We have approached the government for Rs 1,000 crore capital infusion in the current fiscal,” he said.

“Although we don’t require funds for domestic credit expansion this fiscal, capital would be needed for overseas expansion,” he said.

The government holds about 68 per cent in the bank and with the fresh capital infusion, its shareholding will go up further.

The government has already announced that the public sector banks will get Rs 14,000 crore additional capital from government during the current fiscal.

“Before end of March 2013, we should provide Rs 12,517 crore to infuse additional capital into 13 public sector banks. In 2013-14, I propose to provide a further amount of Rs 14,000 crore for capital infusion,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said in his Budget speech.
 
“We should ensure that public sector banks always meet Basel III regulations as they come into force in a phased manner,” he had said while presenting the Union Budget 2013-14 in Parliament.

Implementation of Basel III capital regulations envisages enhancing requirement of core equity capital by banks due to higher capital ratios.

The Basel III capital ratios will be fully phased in as on March 31, 2018.

Deve Gowda confers 'Outstanding Banker of the Decade' Award on Canara CMD R K Dubey

NEW DELHI, July 29:

The Unity International Foundation, New Delhi, has conferred "Outstanding Banker of the Decade" Award to Mr R K Dubey, Chairman & Managing Director of Canara Bank.

The former Prime Minister of India, Mr H D Deve Gowda, conferred the award to Mr Dubey at a function held here at Unity Award function on Monday.

Cabinet clears 10 % stake sale in Indian Oil

NEW DELHI, Aug 1: The cabinet on Thursday cleared the proposal to divest 10% government stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), a move expected to garner around Rs. 3,750 crore to the exchequer at the current market price. The government at present holds 78.92% stake in IOC.

The IOC scrip closed at Rs. 195.75, down 4.84% on the BSE on Thursday. At current market price, the sale of 10% stake or 19.16 crore shares would fetch the government Rs. 3,750 crore..

The disinvestment department of the government has already selected five merchant bankers — Citibank, HSBC, UBS Securities, SBI Capital and J M Financial — to manage the stake sale of the oil major.

IOC is the nation’s largest oil refiner and has a market capitalisation of Rs. 54,519 crore. It posted a net profit of Rs. 5,005 crore in 2012-13, up from Rs. 3,954 crore in the previous year.

The company’s profit peaked at Rs. 10,221 crore in 2009-10. IOC sells fuel at below-market prices, for which it is partially compensated by the government.

The government’s disinvestment target through PSU stake sales in the current financial year is Rs. 40,000 crore. So far, it has managed to raise only around R929 crore through stake sale in MMTC, Hindustan Copper and National Fertiliser.

Canara CMD Dubey inaugurates 3 e-Lounges in Delhi

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, July 19: Canara Bank Chairman and Managing Director R K Dubey is a Karma Yogi, a man of words and delivers what he promises.

During one of his visits to the Capital city on April 29 last, Mr Dubey had promised several improved services, including three more e-Lounges, in Delhi in the next three months, for its customers.

On Friday, Canara Bank CMD launched, as promised, three more e-Lounges in Delhi and inaugurated renovated premises of Tagore Garden branch and Barakhamba Lane (NRI) branch of the bank.

At a special function at Tagore Garden branch, Mr Dubey also inaugurated through video-conference three e-Lounges at Sarita Vihar, East Patel Nagar and Green Park.

With this, the total number of e-lounges in the Capital has reached six.

Mr Dubey had opened Canara Bank’s first E-Lounge in the country at Bangalore on the Republic Day.

Two days later, Executive Director Ashok Kumar Gupta had inaugurated Delhi’s first E-Lounge at a function at Parliament Street branch of the Bank.

In April last, the Chairman had inaugurated E-Lounge facilities for Pitampura and Maharani Bagh branches in Delhi.

Mr Dubey said renovations of branch premises are being done to provide enhanced branch ambience to the customers and to attract younger generation.

Mr Dubey’s vision and leadership qualities can be visualized from the fact that after assuming charge of Canara Bank in January this year, the business has increased over Rs.55000 crores in the last quarter of the financial year 2013 as compared to negative growth which continued up to December 2012.

The Chairman and Managing Director said E-Lounge is a dedicated wi-fi zone in the branch having internet connectivity with online banking facility, passbook printing kiosk, video conferencing etc.

E-Lounge is Canara Bank’s latest technology initiative to its customers and the first such delivery point which will provide customers facility to update their account, withdraw and deposit cash, deposit cheques, passbook printing etc without any manual intervention even beyond the banking hours.

Customers can also use the Internet facility to do banking operations and stock trading, including video conference facility for interaction with the bank officials.

These E-Lounges cater to the needs of customers round-the-clock and all seven days of the week.

Mr Dubey also donated a Maruti EECO van to World Health Initiative for Peace (NGO).

Several senior officials from the bank including Mr T. Sreekanthan, General Manager Delhi circle and DGM Mr Ashok Aggarwal and a large number of valued customers of the Bank and public attended the event.

Later, Mr Dubey also visited the e-lounge at the Green Park branch to personally meet and encourage the staff. Mr MKS Pai, AGM of the Green Park Branch, received the Chairman and Managing Director.

The Chairman also met some valued customers of the bank.

The Chairman said the bank aims to reach an aggregate business figure of more than Rs seven lakh crore, with approximate deposit growth of 15 per cent and advances growth of 24 per cent.

"We plan to take the number of branches from 3,728 to 5,000 and number of ATMs from 3,526 to 10,000 by March 2015," he added.

The bank also has plans to open branches at nine overseas centres - Johannesburg (South Africa), where it has already got the license, Sao Paulo (Brazil), Dar-es-Salaam ( Tanzania), Tokyo (Japan), Abuja (Nigeria), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Qatar Financial Centre (Qatar), Frankfurt (Germany) and New York (the USA) by March next year.

R K Dubey conferred Institute of Director's Fellowship

NEW DELHI, July 19: Canara Bank Chairman & Managing Director, Mr R K Dubey, was conferred here on Friday Institute of Directors's Fellowship on the eve of Golden Peacock Awards.

Chairman, Authority for Advance Ruling (Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax)Justice (Dr) Arijit Pasayat and Chairman, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) Atul Chaturvedi, IAS, are also seen in the picture.

Poverty declines to 21.9% in India

NEW DELHI, July 23: Poverty ratio in India has declined to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12 from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 on account of increase in per capita consumption, Planning Commission said.

According to the Commission, in 2011-12 for rural areas, the national poverty line by using the Tendulkar methodology is estimated at Rs 816 per capita per month in villages and Rs 1,000 per capita per month in cities.

This would mean that the persons whose consumption of goods and services exceed Rs 33.33 in cities and Rs 27.20 per capita per day in villages are not poor.

The Commission said that for a family of five, the all India poverty line in terms of consumption expenditure would amount of Rs 4,080 per month in rural areas and Rs 5,000 per month in urban areas.

The poverty line however will vary from state to state.

The percentage of persons below poverty line in 2011-12 has been estimated at 25.7 per cent in rural areas, 13.7 per cent in urban areas and 21.9 per cent for the country as a whole, a Commission's press statement said.

The percentage of persons below poverty line in 2004-05 was 41.8 per cent in rural areas, 25.7 per cent in cities and 37.2 per cent in the country as a whole.

In actual terms, there were 26.93 crore people below poverty line in 2011-12 as compared to 40.71 crore in 2004-05.

This ratio for 2011-12 is based on the methodology suggested by Suresh Tendulkar Committee which factors in money spent on health and education besides calorie intake to fix a poverty line.

The Commission said the decline in poverty is mainly on account of rising real per capita consumption figures which is based on 68th round of National Sample Survey on Household Consumer Expenditure in India in 2011-12.

Earlier, a committee was appointed under Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan to revisit the Tendulkar Committee methodology for tabulating poverty. The Committee is expected to submit its report by mid 2014.

State-wise, the Commission said the poverty ratio was highest in Chhattisgarh at 39.93 per cent followed by Jharkhand (36.96%), Manipur (36.89%), Arunachal Pradesh (34.67%) and Bihar (33.47%).

Among the union territories, the Dadra and Nagar Haveli was the highest, with 39.31 per cent people living below poverty line followed by Chandigarh at 21.81 per cent.

Goa has the least percentage of people living below poverty line at 5.09 per cent followed by Kerala (7.05%), Himachal Pradesh (8.06%), Sikkim (8.19%), Punjab (8.26%) and Andhra Pradesh (9.20%).

Government not to divert gas for urea manufacturers

NEW DELHI,July 17: The government has decided not to divert supply of domestic gas from politically sensitive urea manufacturers to the fuel-starved power sector in an election year, and has asked the fertiliser ministry to reassess its demand and spare some gas, if possible, according to government officials.

"Today's decision is that the requirement of fertiliser for the agriculture sector will be fully protected. While doing that, possibilities are being explored whether any additional gas can be made available to the power sector," Oil Minister Veerappa Moily told reporters after an empowered group's meeting.

The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on gas allocation will meet again on Monday to find some solution for the power sector, officials present at the meeting said.

"Fertiliser ministry will examine if it can spare some gas through a combination of domestic and imported supply without affecting urea production," an official with direct knowledge of the matter said, requesting anonymity.

Currently, urea manufacturers get 32 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of cheaper domestic gas and import about 9 mmscmd against their total demand of 43.14 mmscmd.

The fertiliser ministry has agreed to review the sector's requirement.

The fertiliser ministry could consider sparing some domestic gas by importing some fuel and feedstock, officials said. The government may allow raising fertiliser subsidy marginally if the move would benefit the economy as a whole, they added.

"Most of the members in the EGoM were against cutting the fertiliser sector's gas supply just before the general elections although they were sympathetic about power companies facing acute fuel shortage," another official said.

A change in gas allocation policy would give them fuel to generate about 2,200 mw from existing and stranded plants, officials said.

The meeting, chaired by Defence Minister AK Antony, took place three weeks after the cabinet decided to decontrol gas prices, which would double natural gas price to $8.4 per unit from next fiscal.

An oil ministry note, prepared for the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), suggested three options for gas produced from blocks auctioned under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).

First option was to treat fertiliser and power sector customers equally. Second was to give equal priority to all core sector customers, including LPG and city gas, and third was to maintain status quo.

Currently, D6 supply is just about sufficient only for the fertiliser sector and it has stopped supplying to power plants. The power ministry last year issued an advisory to developers not to plan any gas-based power plants till 2015-16 due to paucity of gas. The gas output of D6 has dropped from 62 mmscmd three years ago to about 14.2 mmscmd.

Canara Bank to make Kolar a model district

By Deepak Arora

HONNENAHALLI, July 15: Canara Bank, Lead Bank for Kolar District, has plans to make the district a model one by adopting holistic approach, said Mr A K Gupta, Executive Director of the Bank.

Presiding over the inaugural function of the new building for its Rural Self Employment Training Institute at Honnenahalli Village, Mr Gupta said the Institute has so far trained 27,000 youth, including 18,000 women. Out of the trained candidates, about 20,000 youth were gainfully employed.

Highlighting the presence of its Branch network and number of ATMs, he said the bank has plans to double its ATM strength in the next 6 to 9 months.

The new building facilitates the Training Institute to impart free skill based trainings in various vocations. The Bank has unveiled district Credit Plan and also infrastructure development plan for the district, he said on the occasion.

Mr Gupta appealed to the people to enroll themselves for Adhaar Card and account seeding can be done for availing various Government benefits through Banks.

Earlier, Mr K H Muniyappa, Union Minister of State for MSME, inaugurated the newly constructed complex.

Complimenting the bank for its contribution for development of the District and its economic role in the country, he called upon the people to effectively utilize the facilities and achieve economic growth for them. He stressed the need for prompt repayment of loans for recycling of funds. He also said RSETIs set up by the banks will help in creating Micro and Small enterprises in rural areas.

Mr S S Bhat, General Manager, Canara Bank HO, in his welcome address said the bank has sponsored/co sponsored more than 60 RSETIs all over the country which have so far trained more than 5.50 lakhs youth out of which 70% are gainfully employed.

He also narrated the various Corporate Social Responsibility ventures of the Bank in the field of Health, Education, Training, Housing, Drinking Water, Forestation and other infrastructure development.

The new complex for the Training Institute has been built at a cost of over Rs.1.20 crores on the land leased to the Bank by Government of Karnataka. The Government of India has contributed Rs. One crore and the balance met by the Canara Bank. The complex will train skill based training to about 1000 youth per year.

The inaugural function was attended by MLAs representing the talukas in the District, Zilla Panchayat, top officials from the bank and members of SHG/public.

Adani Group pulls out of $1.7 billion Indonesian railway project due to licensing issue

JAKARTA: Adani Group has pulled out from a $1.7 billion coal railway project with Indonesian state coal miner PT Bukit Asam in South Sumatra due to Indonesia's tough restrictions on licensing, said Bukit Asam's chief executive.

Bukit Asam's CEO Milawarma also said that it is still in ongoing discussions with Indonesia's Rajawali Group to start another $2 billion South Sumatra coal railway project, which has also been delayed for years on licensing and valuation issues.

The setbacks show the difficulty for investors in developing large infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia's biggest economy due to uncertain and overlapping rules, despite government commitments to support development.

The projects are in theory straight-forward and should be easy to get going, the soft-spoken Milawarma told Reuters in his Jakarta office. "But there are lots of sectors involved ... mining regime changes and this scare off investors."

Officials with the Adani Group were not immediately available to comment.

The delay in the projects has hurt expansion plans from the state coal miner, which owns one of the nation's largest coal deposits at 7.3 billion tonnes.

Bukit Asam will produce around 17 million tonnes in 2013, a 30 percent increase from 2012. But that is far below the expected production by Asia's biggest thermal coal exporter PT Bumi Resources at 77 million tonnes this year.

The future of the projects also faces other risks, including weak coal prices and concerns China will reduce imports of low-calorie coal, Milawarma said.

He said that the company plans to shift its coal shipments to India if China declines to take it.

Canara Bank picks 10 per cent stake in Brickwork Ratings; announces Strategic Partnership

By Deepak Arora

BENGALURU, July 9: Canara Bank, a nationalized bank with total business of over Rs. 600,000 crore, has picked up 10 per cent stake in Brickwork Ratings, a Bengaluru based Credit Rating Agency.

At a function held here at Canara Bank Head Office in Bengaluru after signing the share subscription agreement, Mr. R K Dubey, Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank, said “Brickwork and Canara Bank are both Bengaluru based entities. Canara Bank and Brickwork would collaborate in various activities related to banking and credit rating. The strategic investment would help take up joint activities on risk management, training, research, financial inclusion, credit rating models, events and conferences.”

Mr A K Gupta and Mr V S Krishna Kumar, Executive Directors of the Canara Bank, were also present at the signing ceremony.

Canara Bank is committed to make credit available to every section of society – from large and mid-corporates, MSMEs, individual consumers, farmers, landless labourers, students, women and SHG groups. Brickwork is committed to research, building rating models, financial literacy and rating bank loans, NCD as well as MSMEs.

Commenting on the strategic partnership, Mr. Vivek Kulkarni, Managing Director of Brickwork Ratings said, “We are very excited to be partnering with a hundred year old Bank from Karnataka. Brickwork is committed to make a difference in the ratings industry and emphasizes research, training and financial literacy”

Widely known for customer centricity, Canara Bank was founded by Shri Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a great visionary and philanthropist, in July 1906, at Mangalore, Karnataka. In June 2006, the Bank completed a century of operation in the Indian banking industry. Today, Canara Bank with over Rs. 600,000 crore business, 3723 branches, and online banking facilities, occupies a premier position in the comity of Indian banks.

With an unbroken record of profits since its inception, Canara Bank has several firsts to its credit. These include: Launching of Inter-City ATM Network; Obtaining ISO Certification for a Branch; Articulation of ‘Good Banking’ – Bank’s Citizen Charter; Commissioning of Exclusive Mahila Banking Branch; Launching of Exclusive Subsidiary for IT Consultancy; Issuing credit card for farmers; Providing agricultural Consultancy Services.

"A good bank is not only the financial heart of the community, but also one with an obligation of helping in every possible manner to improve the economic conditions of the common people".

These insightful words of our founder continue to resonate even today in serving the society with a purpose. Not just in commercial banking, the Bank has also carved a distinctive mark, in various corporate social responsibilities, namely, serving national priorities, promoting rural development, enhancing rural self-employment through several training institutes and spearheading financial inclusion objective.

Brickwork Ratings is an Indian Credit Ratings Agency registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Brickwork is also accredited as ECAI (External Credit Assessment Institution) under Basel norms by the Reserve Bank of India. The National Small Industries Corporation has recognized Brickwork as eligible rating agency for MSME ratings. Brickwork is also recognized by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and other PSU entities.

Brickwork has rated over Rs. 200,000 Crore of Non-Convertible Debentures for hundreds of large Banks and Corporates. Brickwork offers bank loan ratings for large, medium and small Companies. Brickwork having presence in 42 cities, has rated large number of SME. Brickwork has a unique methodology to rate State Governments.

Brickwork has newly introduced Commercial Paper Ratings.

Brickwork offers a number of grading services – Hospital Gradings, Real Estate Project Star Gradings, Educational Institutions Ratings, IPO Gradings, Corporate Governance, EWRM and FS for Insurance Companies.

India in Touch With Kazakhstan After Bid Fails

NEW DELHI, July 4: India's foreign ministry is in contact with the Kazakhstan government to discuss future energy cooperation following its decision to block state oil company Oil & Natural Gas Corporation's bid to buy into the country's giant Kashagan oil project.

ONGC had been shocked by the Kazakh decision and had asked the government to seek an explanation for the decision, said a person familiar with the situation.

"Following the decision taken by the Kazakhstan government, we are in touch with the Kazakhstan government to discuss future prospects of cooperation in the energy sector," said foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin.

Indian officials accept privately that the Kazakh government has the right to block ONGC's purchase of the 8.4% stake held by ConocoPhillips.

The Kazakhstan government's intervention is a blow to India's efforts to improve its access to foreign energy resources as it meets more than 80% of its crude oil needs from imports.

An official said that this was not fair. India deserves a reason from them for pre-empting the bid.

Kazakhstan's ministry of oil and gas Tuesday said it had notified ConocoPhillips that the government is "exercising its right under the Subsoil Law of Kazakhstan to pre-empt ConocoPhillips' proposed sale of its…interest in the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement."

ONGC reached a draft agreement in November 2012 to buy the stake from ConocoPhillips.

The U.S. company has confirmed that it will now sell its stake in Kashagan to Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas for approximately $5 billion, and that the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Kashagan is a joint venture between KMG and a raft of major international companies: Eni SpA, ENI.MI, Exxon Mobil Corp., XOM, Royal Dutch Shell RDSB PLC, Total SA and Inpex Corp.

The Kashagan field was discovered in 2000 and production was due to start in 2005, at a total development cost of $10 billion. However, technical setbacks caused delays and the project cost has ballooned.

Production is due to start later this year, rising to 180,000 barrels a day by the end of 2014, the joint venture company in charge of development said Sunday.

Canara Bank ED Krishna Kumar hands over Rs 1 cr cheque for Uttarakhand flood victims

DEHRADUN, July 4: Canara Bank, a premier nationalised Bank, had announced on June 27 a donation of Rs. 1 Crore for the flood victims of Uttarkhand.

Canara Bank Executive Director V S Krishna Kumar handed over the donation Cheque of Rs 1 Crore to Chief Minister's Relief Fund to the Uttarkhand Chief Secretary at Dehradun.

Canara Bank cuts lending rate by 0.3 %, FD rates by upto 0.5 %

NEW DELHI, July 4: Heeding to the Finance Minister P Chidambaram's advise, another state-owned lender Canara Bank has slashed base rate or the minimum lending rate by 0.3 per cent.

The bank has reduced the base rate from 10.25 per cent to 9.95 per cent for all loans and advances, Canara Bank said in a statement.

All loans linked to base rate would become cheaper by atleast 0.3 per cent.

Base rate is the minimum lending rate below which banks cannot lend.

Meanwhile, the bank has also reduced rate of interest by up to 0.5 per cent on fixed deposits with select maturity slabs.

The new rates would be effective from July 8, it added. Yesterday, Chidambaram had asked banks to consider reducing lending rates to stimulate credit growth.

"We have advised banks to take a look at the base rate. The base rate of SBI is 9.7 per cent. The average of the base rate of other banks is 10.2 or 10.25," he said.

"I have impressed upon the bankers...the Reserve Bank of India has cut its policy rates by 125 basis points and some part of this must indeed be passed on to the borrowers," Chidambaram had said.

A cut in the base rate would be a powerful booster for the economy and a powerful stimulus to credit growth, he had said.

Soon after the statement, Bank of India obliged the Finance Minister by cutting the base rate by 0.25 per cent.

Govt allots 14 coal blocks to power PSUs

NEW DELHI, July 3: Kick starting the process of coal blocks allocation; the government has allocated 14 coal mines to Central and state PSUs, including four to NTPC, the allocation of the blocks, having a geological reserve of 8,311 million tonnes.

"Ministry of Coal has allocated 14 coal blocks for power sector...Around 15 states and six Central PSUs have been allocated coal blocks," an official release said on Wednesday.

The allocation of the blocks, having a geological reserve of 8,311 million tonnes (MT), will lead to an investment of more than Rs 1.6 lakh crore in the power sector, it said.

Of the four coal blocks allocated to NTPC, two are in Chhattisgarh and the remaining two in Odisha. The blocks have reserves of 1,995 MT of coal.

Other PSUs which have been allocated mines include Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd, Odisha Thermal Power Corp, Jammu & Kashmir State Power Dev Corp, Chhattisgarh State Power Gen Co Ltd, Andhra Pradesh Generation Co, Maharashtra State Power Generation Co, Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam and Punjab State Power Corp Ltd.

Deocha-Pachami coal block in West Bengal having a reserve of 2,102 MT has been given to six different state power PSUs, the release said.

The blocks capable of producing about 159 MT of coal per annum will cater to about 31,800 mw of power generation capacity in the country, it added.

The mines are allocated "on the recommendation of the inter-ministerial committee after due deliberations at every stage with applicant State Government, host states where the coal blocks are located and the concerned administrative Ministry," the release said.

The notice invited applications with regard to mines for PSUs last year. In total 318 applications were received, out of which 276 applications were found to be complete in all respects.

"Out of these, 235 applications pertained to 14 coal blocks for power. After scrutiny and verification of facts and other important parameters, 128 applications were considered eligible for these 14 coal blocks for power," it said.

Karnataka Chief Minister lauds Canara Bank

By Deepak Arora

BANGALORE, July 2: Canara Bank Chairman and Managing Director R K Dubey today called on the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Canara Bank which has its roots in the State and wide geographical spread has initiated multi farious socio economic programmes apart from carrying out its traditional banking.

Congratulating the Chief Minister on his assuming the office, C&MD briefed the Chief Minister on the bank’s contribution in the socio economic development of the State. The bank has 713 Branches in the State of which 291 are in rural place. Its sponsored Regional Rural Bank in the State, Pragathi Grameena Bank is also no. one RRB of the State having a net work of 434 branches. The bank has to its credit no. one position in lending under Priority Sector, Agriculture and Micro and Small Enterprises in the State.

The Bank has sponsored seven RSETIs, two Artisans Training Centers, one Information Technology Training Center and co sponsored seven RUDSETIs and one Farmers Resource Centre. It has also set up Farmers Training Cell at each RSETI and established exclusive Women’s Development Centre at HO and at its six of its circle offices in the State.

The Bank has also taken up drinking water supply scheme, Rural Clinic Services and providing Solar Energy systems. C&MD assured the Chief Minister on its continued involvement in the over all growth of the State.

Lauding the contribution of the Bank and tracing the Bank as our Bank, the Chief Minister promised on full co operation from the State. Top Officials from the Bank and the various State functionaries were present on the occasion.

India loses Kashagan oil field to China

NEW DELHI, July 2: India's ONGC has lost the giant Kashagan oilfield to the Chinese after Kazakhstan blocked its $5 billion deal to buy US energy major ConocoPhillips' stake in the Caspian Sea oilfield.

ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), had in November last year struck a deal to buy ConocoPhillips' 8.4 per cent stake in Kazakhstan's biggest oilfield, Kashagan for $5 billion.

As per Kazakh law, the Central Asian nation had the right of first refusal or pre-emption rights that allowed it an option to step in and buy the stake at the price agreed between the Indian firm and ConocoPhillips.

Canara Bank reviews Direct Benefit Transfer scheme in Bangalore

BANGALORE, June 25: A special DCC meeting on Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of Bangalore Urban District was held here today at the Office of Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate, Bangalore Urban District. The meeting was attended by Mr Ravindra Bhandary, General Manager, Canara Bank, Circle Office Metro, Bangalore, Dr.G.C.Prakash, IAS., Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate, Bangalore Urban District, Bangalore, Mr Bettaswamy, Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Panchayat, Bangalore Urban District, Bangalore, Mr Sankar Biswas, Manager, RBI, Bangsalore and Mrs Nalini Rajashekar, DDO, NABARD, RO, Bangalore were also present.

The participants included the DCC members, Officials of the Department handling the Scholarship schemes of Government of India (26 centrally sponsored schemes) and various dealers of LPG gas distributors in Bangalore Urban District.

Mr Ramesh Rao, Lead District Manager, Bangalore Urban District, explained in detail about various centrally sponsored schemes of Government of India operational in the district and sought the co-operation of all the departments for submission of the list of beneficiaries under the schemes applicable to their department.

Dr.G.C.Prakash, IAS, Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate, Bangalore Urban District, requested the dealers of LPG distribution to obtain the bank account details and aadhar number details from their consumers visiting them by using a simplified format or rubber stamp on the reverse of receipt at the time of delivery of the cylinder.

Mr Ravindra Bhandary, General Manager, Canara Bank, Circle Office Metro, requested all the bankers to expedite opening of bank accounts for those beneficiaries who are yet to open the bank account.

Mr Bettaswamy, Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Panchayat, Bangalore Urban District, requested all the department and bankers to ensure completion of opening of no frill accounts (Basic Savings Bank account) for all those who approach and be in preparedness for implementation of DBT as and when implemented in our district.

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