United Western joins Sidbi, Sicom to float venture capital fund

The bank chairman P N Joshi told The Financial Express that the VCF will be launched latest by August this year and United Western Bank plans to increase its share in the venture.

Sidbi has decided to contribute Rs 12 crore and Sicom plans to add Rs 11 crore to the VCF kitty. Another Rs 1 crore is expected from the Kolhapur Maharashtra based Ratnakar Bank.

quot;Apart from the greenfield ventures, the VCF will also be focussing at reviving projects to which loans have already been given by the banks and institutions. However, it will not be appropriate to call it an NPA turnaround fund as this is not its primary objective,quot; Joshi said adding that this is a new endeavour which will put extra emphasis at promoting greenfield ventures in the rural and semi-urban sectors.

The old private sector bank has set up a depository participant DP in Pune and plans to go in for DP of the Central Depository Service CDS, promoted by the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai.

Joshi added that United Western Bank will also open two special branches in Mumbai for housing finance. quot;This is in line with our objective to invest about 5 per cent of our incremental deposits into the housing sector in this fiscal,quot; the bank chairman added.