The soul of India is her secular constitution,' said His Excellency the High Commissioner of India, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee when he attended a glittering Vaisakhi dinner on April 30 at the SAS Radisson Hotel in London, hosted by the BSA (British Sikh Association).

He was speaking at the gathering of over 400 dignitaries and guests which included the Shadow Justice Secretary the Rt. Hon Dominic Grieve MP, Baroness Emma Nicholson, Mr Stephen Pound MP, Baroness Sandy Verma, Lord Bikhu Parekh, Lord Mohamad Sheikh, Chairman and Managing Director of the Punjab National Bank Mr. K C Chakarbarty, Prof Colin Green Director of Northwick Park Institute of Medical research, Mr. Asif Ibrahim (Minister Coordination) , Mr Tilak Devasher (Minister Consular) and Mrs. Monica Mohta (Director Nehru Centre) to name a few.

The High Commissioner went on to praise the Sikh community for their hard work and self reliance and said that wherever they have settled, they have brought glory to their motherland, India.

Mr. T S Sahni, President of the BSA, welcomed the guests and reminded everybody about the supreme sacrifices made by the Sikh Gurus to uphold basic human rights.

The Secretary General, Dr. S S Kapoor, highlighted the work done by the World Sikh University and Khalsa College, which are affiliates with the BSA.
The Chairman, Dr. Rami Ranger MBE, said our Gurus neither wanted to divide India nor did they want a kingdom for themselves. Instead they were against human oppression by religion or the state. Their battles were to uphold human dignity.

The Shadow Justice Secretary, the Rt. Hon. Dominic Grieve who has a large number of Sikhs in his constituency, praised the contribution made by the Sikhs to the UK in almost every field.

Baroness Emma Nicholson whose father served in the British Army during the Second World War said that she had learnt one thing from her father — that 'it was always good to have the Sikhs on your side.'

Lord Sheikh who has his roots in the holy city of Amritsar said that there was a great deal in common between the teaching of the Sikh religion and Islam.
Baroness Verma praised the concept of 'langar' in the Sikh gurdwaras where everyone sat and ate on the floor, symbolising that everyone was equal in the eyes of God. She also highlighted equality of women in the Sikh religion.
The Rt. Hon. Stephen Pound MP narrated his experiences when he visited Jallianwala Bagh where innocent men, women and children were massacred and the Golden Temple in Amritsar. He said the first place reminded him of the brutality of man and the second the splendour of God.

Lord Bikhu Parekh praised the 10th Guru for his concept of being a Guru as well as a disciple, thereby symbolising the democratic nature of the Sikh religion.

Mr. K C Chakarbarty said he always looked forward to Vaisakhi for two reasons  to celebrate the birth of the Khalsa and to celebrate the birth of his bank which was also founded on a Vaisakhi day itself.

Prof. Colin Green praised Bobby Gerewal, a Sikh, for raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for research into the cure for cancer and Aids for the institutes that he heads.

An award for public service was presented to Mr. Kulveer Singh Ranger, Director of Transport Policy for the Mayor of London.

A cheque of £2001.00 was presented by the Finance Secretary Mr. HS Sethi to the Sikh Primary School, Southall, which was received by Mr. Gurmail Singh Malhi, a member of the project.

The guests were entertained with bhangra by the Suraj group.
The vote of thanks was given by Mr. Hardyal Luther, Vice Chairman of the BSA.

BSkyB's Mayday Hero

Eco Trojan in action

Nishy Lall's kitchen garden now has a royal seal of approval by the Prince of Wales.

Nishy, who works for BSkyB in Hounslow, headed up a team of workmates to build a garden for pupils at the Chiswick Community School.

It was just one of numerous environmental projects which have earned Nishy the title of 'Mayday Hero'.

On May 1 she met Prince Charles at The Prince's May Day Summit when leaders of Britain's leading businesses came together in London to discuss collective action on climate change. The summit was coordinated by Business in the Community, which awarded Nishy the Mayday Hero title.
Nishy (35), who lives in Greenford and is part of the Asian Affairs family, said: 'It was pretty amazing meeting Prince Charles; he's done so much to raise awareness of our need to protect the environment  but somehow I think he knows a lot more about gardening than I do!'

As well as building the Community Garden, Nishy and her team are working on environmental projects with at least ten other local schools. Plans under discussion range from building a bike shed to drawing up schemes to cut down on water and energy consumption.

Nishy is also an Eco Ambassador at BSkyB where she works as an Operations Admin Manager. She says 'I'm more of an Eco Trojan than an Ambassador. I'm always persuading people to recycle and be more responsible and it's paying dividends. In my department we've cut the amount of paper we use by more than 20 per cent and it's all sustainable.'
Nishy is also a BSkyB Eco Team Leader, working with a half a dozen colleagues to help them go green at home.

Punjab National Bank (International) Ltd

New branch in Birmingham

Punjab National Bank (International) Limited (PNBIL) opened its branch in Birmingham city at the 290 Soho Road, Birmingham B21 9LZ. The new branch was inaugurated by Councillor Mike Whitby, leader of the Birmingham City Council on 1 May 2009 and has created five new jobs.

The ribbon cutting ceremony was performed by Councillor Mike Whitby. This was followed by the lighting of the lamp ceremony by all the distinguished guests. Mr. Harpal Singh, Assistant General Manager & Head of retail and branch expansion popped the Champaign bottle and offered toast to all to celebrate the launch of the Birmingham office. 

The new Birmingham branch is the fourth of a number of new openings for PNBIL in 2009/10 including Wolverhampton, Manchester and London in addition to its existing branches in Southall, Leicester and London City. The opening coincides with the celebration of Vaisakhi.

Punjab National Bank was supported in its move to Birmingham by large and thriving Indian population. The other important guests were Ms Neena Gill, Member of European Parliament, and Mr. Pavel. The branch opening was also attended by various community leaders and prominent businessmen. Dr SS Sahota, Vice Chairman of West Midlands regional Assembly assured full support to the bank on behalf of the business community.

Dr KC Chakrabarty, Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank commented: "The bank established in Lahore (now Pakistan) in 1895 is the 3rd largest bank in India in terms of assets and 2nd largest in terms of branch network, with more than 4500 offices. The UK market represents an excellent opportunity for Punjab National Bank and Birmingham being the second largest city of UK, with its large Asian population, made it an ideal location for the opening of our branch.” He further went on to say, “This opening of a new branch demonstrates that the bank is less affected with the current economic crisis, has its lending intact and that it's an organisation with people of strength and cash. PNB demonstrates that business is as usual and the group is quite strong in managing this financial turmoil.” Dr Chakrabarty added that “Bank's prosperity is dependent on the prosperity of its customers which is paramount and at the heart of bank's ethos.”

Councillor Mike Whitby said in his speech "Birmingham welcomes the Punjab National Bank's new office as an addition to our already large banking sector. The new office demonstrates the closeness the City of Birmingham has with India and our reputation as a vibrant and diverse international city. India represents a formidable array of mutually beneficial opportunities for Birmingham businesses and the presence of one of India's largest banks opening in Birmingham goes on to prove that the city is growing even in the current difficult time when the UK financial services industry is significantly affected by the global downturn. It is heartening to see that Punjab National Bank is not only growing its UK presence but is committing itself to Birmingham. This is a strong indication of the bank's confidence in the opportunities on offer here. The opening of the Punjab National Bank provides further evidence of the growing trade between Birmingham and India and will give confidence to businesses both in India and in Birmingham to develop trade and investment opportunities in both regions.”

Mr SR Sharma, Managing Director of PNB (International) Limited asserted that “With the opening of this new branch, the bank has definite plans of expansion by opening many new branches in London and other cities. PNBIL has followed sound banking practices of its parent, leading to profitable operations from very first year. PNBIL is authorised and regulated by FSA. PNB had put in capital of $ 50 million in PNBIL and has agreed to pump in another $ 75 million as capital to meet the growing business needs of PNBIL due to expansion. Thus it is a rare case of not only creation of jobs but also flow of capital from an emerging economy into a developed economy.”

Punjab National Bank (International) Limited (PNBIL) was incorporated in the UK on 13 April 2007. PNBIL is the wholly owned subsidiary of Punjab National Bank (PNB), India, the third largest bank in India having more than 38 million customers and a network of 4,500 branches.

Bank of Baroda

Net profit soars 172 per cent

Bank of Baroda's net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 surged by 172 per cent to Rs 753 crore against Rs 276 crore in the same quarter last year.

Overall income growth and containing of costs helped the bank post high profits, said Mr M.D. Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director.
Treasury income, which increased by 131 per cent to Rs 387 crore (Rs 168 crore), also aided the growth in profits. Profit from sale of investments was Rs 301 crore (Rs 81 crore).

The bank recommended a dividend of Rs 9 per share of Rs 10 face value.
For the fiscal 2008-09, the bank posted net profit of Rs 2,227 crore, higher by 55 per cent from Rs 1,435 crore in the previous year. Other income increased to Rs 2,262 crore, up 30 per cent from Rs 2,051 crore. On a year on year basis, Total Business of the Bank increased by 30.0 per cent to Rs 3,36,383 crore from Rs 2,58,735 crore from end-March 2008 to end-March 2009.

'We put special emphasis on sustainable growth and did not rely on bulk income. This has helped in protecting our margins,' Mr Mallya said.



In the fourth quarter, net interest margin increased to 3.17 per cent (2.72 per cent).

The bank cut its dependence on bulk deposits and brought down the share of bulk deposits, including certificates of deposits, to 17 per cent (24 per cent).
But the share of low-cost CASA (current account savings account) decreased marginally to 34.87 per cent (35.93 per cent).

Mr Mallya said, 'CASA was a difficult parameter which we wanted to change. The NIM has improved due to this shift in CASA. As the base is growing, we would like to ensure that CASA is sustained at these levels.'

The bank managed to protect its    asset quality as it contained growth in certain segments such as personal loans and sectors such as textiles, real estate, gem and jewellery and leather. This helped to lower the net NPA, Mr Mallya said.
The bank restructured a total of 40,423 accounts during the just ended fiscal, amounting to a total of Rs 2,659 crore. Of these, the share of the retail sector was 18,510 accounts, amounting to Rs 502 crore, SME was 6,790 accounts amounting to Rs 836 crore and wholesale was 41 accounts, amounting to Rs 1,018 crore.

For the current year, the bank is looking at credit growth of 23-24 per cent. 'We have seen slight moderation in the demand. Continuing the growth momentum this year would be a challenge,' Mr Mallya said.

The bank, one of the largest Indian Public Sector Banks with wide global presence through its 74 foreign offices in 25 countries, plans to open 10 new branches in the current financial year.

At present, the bank has presence in 25 countries with 74 overseas offices. The contribution of Overseas Business to the Bank's Total Business was 22.5 per cent and to Gross Profit was 21.2 per cent in 2008-09 despite a synchronised downturn in the global economy. While the Bank's Gross NPA (per cent) in overseas operations was just 0.51 per cent, the Net NPA (per cent) was 0.04 per cent at end-March, 2009.

During 2008-09, the bank opened four new overseas branches/offices in Abu Dhabi, China, Uganda and Kenya and plans a further 10 offices/branches in 2009-10.

The bank's UK Operations, with over 50 years of presence through 9   branches in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leicester, has been a major contributor to the Bank's Global Business.  It contributed a  commendable 38 per cent to the Bank's Business size from overseas operations in 2008-09.

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