Strict finance terms for Nano finance scheme

Tata Motors is giving final touches to the launch of Nano car. The company is having final talks with the State Bank of India (SBI) India’s largest bank, regarding finance scheme for the Nano car. Company has tied-up with SBI for the finance scheme for Nano, under which the bank will be financing 70 per cent of the price of the car at an interest rate of 14 to 14.75 per cent for a tenure of up to 5 years.

Last week meetings were held between General Managers of SBI branches across the country with the senior Tata Motors executives to decide the branches through which the finance will be offered and the method of rolling out the loan scheme across the country, especially in rural locations and small towns.

The strict terms have been made for the Nano finance scheme in comparison to those offered by both government-owned and private sector banks for comparable tenures. Currently government-owned banks are charging between 11.5 and 12 per cent, while SBI before 31 May is charging a concessional 10 per cent for car loans for the first year as part of a special scheme.

Private Banks like HDFC Bank are charging interest of 12 to 12.5 per cent and ICICI Bank 14.5 per cent. Most banks offer finance up to 85 per cent of the price of the car.

As per information provided by sources, the company has already received over 40 million queries on the Nano on its websites. According to dealers the cost of the opening level model will be Rs 1 lakh (excluding freight and value-added tax ) and consumers will have to pay Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 more for the air-conditioned model, though the dealers have still not been given the final pricing.

Regarding finance scheme a Tata Motors spokesperson told, “The booking process and other details will be announced on March 23, 2009. In any case, we have said on February 26, 2009, that Tata Motors is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that prospective customers can conveniently avail of booking facilities at their locations, across the length and breadth of India. Your information on interest rates etc is purely speculative.” However no reply to an email query was given by the SBI spokesperson.

The sources closely related to the process say that the company will be roll out limited number of cars from assembly lines in Pune (Maharashtra) and Pant Nagar (Uttarakhand), until a makeshift arrangement the main plant in Gujarat starts operations in October. While, the company’ aims to roll out around 100,000 cars in the first 12 months.

HDFC Standard Life in tie-up with Manipal introduced certificate program

HDFC Standard Life a private sector insurer in collaboration with Manipal Education has started a three-month certificate program in Insurance and Management.

HDFC Standard Life released a statement which stated the program has been started with an aim to search for the talent, provide them training and groom talent from across the country to ready pool of insurance-trained sales professionals for the company.

It also stated the program has been designed to cater those individuals (MBAs, experienced and fresh graduates) who want to take up insurance as their career.

HDFC Bank launched a unique scholarship scheme for school children

HDFC Bank leading private bank in India has launched a scheme “HDFC Bank Meritus scholarship”. The scheme is first of its kind related to education program. The aim of the scheme is to cover students of class 4 to 9 across the country and to shortlist the best 5000 students for an educational scholarships amounting to Rs 1.5 crore per year using various academic and non- curricular criteria. Bank has launched this program in alliance with Horlicks.

The HDFC Bank Meritus Scholarship programme is a motivating program, which look for rewarding all-round excellence among students and help add to their overall development. The awardees from all over the country would receive a scholarship ranging from Rs.2, 500 to Rs.10 Lakh.

Publicizing this first of its kind scholarship program, Group Head, HDFC Bank Rahul Bhagat, notified, “This initiative emphasizes the values our Bank stands for. It is a small contribution we are making towards the nation by facilitating young India in its quest for excellence. We are confident we’ll play the role of mentors to these bright children for years to come, and help them create an India that is better, more educated, and, more prosperous.”

Parents have to fill in the registration form available in respective schools to get their wards registered in the scheme. Otherwise, one can also register online by visiting the bank website www.hdfcbank.com/meritus. The last date is February 22, 2009 for submitting the registration form. One can see all the details of the program on the bank website.

To be eligible for the scholarship, registered students have to undertake four rounds of tests - two telephonic and two written, over a period of 16 weeks. To certain the full involvement of the parents in the overall progress of their child, the first two participation rounds will be conducted via telephone through an Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) system. Parents can help their children while taking the IVR test and help them get to the final rounds and in the final round the student has to give a written test. The questions prepared will be largely picked from the existing curriculum so that this program helps them in preparing for their school exams too.

Bank will select the final 5000 awardees on the bases of the final round scores, extra-curricular achievements and academics. To make the selection of scholarship awardees completely fair, an independent panel of qualified judges will select the scholarship awardees.