Third Front leaders to meet Kalam on Wednesday

Third Front leaders will meet President A P J Abdul Kalam on June 20 to persuade him to agree to contesting for a second term in Rashtrapati Bhawan. Sources in Rashtrapati Bhawan said that Third Front leaders had sought time to meet Kalam on Wednesday. However, 75-year-old Kalam has not declared whether he would jump in the fray.

Hyderabad blast accused caught after escape bid

Mecca Masjid blast accused Sheikh Abdul Nayeem alias Sameer gave the police a slip on Sunday, but was caught after an hour’s chase two km away. Sameer, a suspected Laskhar-e-Taiba operative, has been in a five-day custody at Mahankali police station in the city.

After Singur, Mamata reaches out to tea garden workers

After Nandigram, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has found another fresh front to launch against the ruling CPM government — the closed tea estates of Jalpaiguri. On Sunday, she called upon the workers of the closed Raipur tea estate and promised them all possible support if they took on the government. Mamata wants workers to break trade union loyalties and float an apolitical — Cha Bagan Pratiraksha Committee — on the lines of the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee in Singur for revamping the closed gardens.


As Indians get richer, banks eye wealth management services


With the number of millionaires in India rising at a fast pace in view of the booming economy and robust capital markets, a host of domestic and foreign banks are eyeing a pie of wealth management services in the country.
The country boasts of about 100,000 millionaires and the number is estimated to be growing at 20 per cent per year. Wealth management services are getting more attention over the last two years as the expanding economy, rising stock prices and increase in incomes turned the spotlight on this sector.
"Wealth management industry in India today stands at USD 6 billion out of the total retail banking size of USD 10 billion. By FY10, retail banking will grow to USD 20 billion and the share of wealth management at USD 10 billion," says Murali Natarajan, regional head for consumer banking, Standard Chartered Bank.
"Wealth management is big focus area for us and we are already clocking a robust growth of 25-30 per cent per annum for the past 3 years," he said, adding the bank is present in the wealth management space with clients assets under management of Rs 10,000 crores.
A host of local banks like HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank offer this service along with foreign banks such as Standard Chartered, ABN Amro, HSBC and Citigroup.
A bank which provides the entire product suite of liability, asset and wealth management products is more likely to retain customers. Leading foreign banks have been following this strategy globally and have successfully built their franchises over the years.