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The ICICI board, which consists of 12 members, is divided on whether Kochhar should be on leave during the internal enquiry ICICI Bank Chairman M K Sharma has written an email to board members seeking their opinion on whether Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)  Chanda Kochhar  should be asked to go on indefinite leave until the internal enquiry is concluded, said people in the know. “ In an email sent to board members last week, Sharma asked board members whether they agreed that Kochhar should go on indefinite leave until the ICICI Bank-constituted enquiry is completed to have a fair outcome,” said one of the persons cited above. Kochhar is on her planned annual leave, the bank had said on June 1. The ICICI Bank board had come out in support of Chanda Kochhar on March 28, quashing allegations of a quid pro quo and favouritism in giving a loan to the Videocon group, which, in turn, had invested in Chanda’s husband Deepak Kochhar’s ...

The new charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from today Some banks, including HDFC Bank, have begun charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and   withdrawals   beyond four free transactions in a month. The new charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from today, leading private sector player HDFC Bank said in a circular. The bank would also cap the third party cash transactions at Rs 25,000 per day, while cash handling charges would be withdrawn effective today, the circular added. In the case of several banks, including ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, these charges came into effect early in January and are same as they were before the demonetisation move announced on November 8, while there is an increase in such fees in case of some others, including HDFC Bank, today onwards. These charges are for cash transactions in the branches, and not through ATMs. The move was seen in some...

United payments system to make mobile wallets redundant: Report The report, by city-based Centrum Broking, stated that   mobile wallet   services like SBI's Buddy, ICICI Bank's Pockets, HDFC Bank's Chillr and standalone operator Paytm will be redundant with the massive adoption of the UPI. "Mobile banking has taken the country by storm, growing by 212% growth in value terms in February 2016 over the same period in 2015 and by 131% in volume. "If the UPI adoption continues mobile wallets like SBI's Buddy, ICICI Bank's Pockets, HDFC Bank's Chillr and Paytm will be redundant," a Centrum Broking said in a report titled- 'Banking Transactions - Technological Disruption'. The report attributed the RBI push to adopt UPI as an effort to lower the cash economy. Quoting RBI data, the report said the cash floating in the system is about 18% of the GDP, making the country one of the most cash-dependent economies in the world. "T...

ICICI Bank has launched iWork@home, an initiative that allows women employees to work from home for up to a year. Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer, ICICI Bank, explained this could be extended for more than one year based on the requirements of the employee. This initiative allows women employees to have access to their required operating systems in a safe and secure manner, creating a seamless office-like environment. Show full article

Banks and financial institutions pitched for a delay in the fiscal deficit road map and for more focus on greater public spending to ensure economic revival, at a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday. The institutions also wanted incentives to encourage cashless transactions through debit/credit cards and rationalisation of interest rate of small savings schemes.  Read Articles   Read our full coverage on Union Budget

China, crude oil and other global events have been impacting Indian markets since early 2015. Nearly half of the broad based Nifty index stocks are trading at their 52 week lows. Shankar Sharma of First Global in an interview with CNBC TV18 said that the state of global stock markets in January 2016 eerily resembles the one witnessed in January 2008 – when equity markets topped out after a multi-year bull run.  Read Articles