RBI Restricts UCB’s

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday clamped restrictions on Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) to exposure on realty sector up to 15% of their total deposits.

Gift House Loans
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Specified in the circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India , it said the total exposure of UCBs to realty sector, including individual housing loans and commercial real estate, should be restricted to 15% of total deposit resources of any bank.

It further mentioned that the loans granted against the security of any immovable property should be classified as Real Estate Loans. The source of repayment will determine whether the exposure is against commercial real estate. Moreover, the ceiling of 15% is to be reckoned on total deposits of a bank based on the audited balance sheet as on March 31 of the fiscal year 2009-10.

RBI’s latest move will benefit the real estate sector or not is only to be told by time.

The RBI’s Realty Indices For Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad happens to be one of the 11 countries for which the reserve bank of India would prepare one index for commercial and one for residential properties. This is done to curtail speculations and expected realty bubble burst in the coming years. The RBI report on asset price monitoring system (ASMS) advised to formulate these indices two months back.

Reserve Bank of India, Kolkata
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Many different countries such as Canada, France, us refer to these indices for realty prices.

The report says, RBI should start compiling a realty index and update it every quarter. To begin with, the report has proposed Mumbai and Delhi where property prices have skyrocketed to record levels. After these cities RBI would add 10 other cities which include Greater Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bangalore and Bhopal.

The real estate price index once devised would become the primary index that could be perused by investors to gauge the performance of companies that are listed in the realty sector. The index can also help the investor analyze how real estate is performed in comparison to stocks and bonds. It can also provide information on the risk involved in a particular investment and returns that can be achieved from it.

The ASMS report has defined the deficiencies this indices would help overcome.

SBI May Give Reason to Cheer

Bank to every Indian
Photo by RamN
March 25, 2010

After the budget 2010, SBI brings a gleam of hope for home loan borrowers as it plans an extension in the home loan relief plan.

SBI, the State Bank of India, one of the largest lenders in India, has indicated that although there would be slight changes, but it may still consider continuing its much-talked-about 8 % home loan scheme. One of the top officials of SBI said that even though they bring modifications in their products, which tune with their liquidity position normally they don’t kill any product. However, the banking major have not yet formally announced the extension of the bid whose tenure gets over on March 31.

The corporations like ICICI Bank and mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corporation which are the major competitors of SBI also copied this scheme of SBI but later withdrew them because the RBI disapproved such products and drying liquidity.

But according to the officials it is one of the best home-loan plans in the market since it assisted other sectors to grow like cement and steel. It is a very successful offer. It also tremendously contributed to the overall economic growth.

However, the ‘teaser’ schemes were not liked by the Reserve Bank since it was related with the ability of customers to pay the rates of interest when it got back to the usual level after the period of this scheme expires.

RBI Deputy Governors, Usha Thorat and K C Chakrabarty, had openly expressed their concerns about the scheme. “Teaser rates…