Banks to get Rs 25,000 cr for farm debt relief by 30th Sept

The government will provide first tranche of Rs 25,000 crore to banks by the September end for Rs 71,000 crore debt waiver and relief schemes implemented by them for more than 3.5 crore farmers, a senior finance ministry official said on Wednesday. "We will give first tranche of Rs 25,000 crore by September 30," the official said after Finance Minister P Chidambaram met heads of PSU banks in New Delhi.

Sensex closes below 15K level, realty, bank stocks take a hit
The benchmark Sensex on Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday shed 369 points, the biggest fall in nearly three weeks, to close below the psychological 15,000 point level on sustained selling pressure, particularly in realty, bank and consumer goods counters. The 30-share BSE barometer, which fell 119 points in the previous day's trading, lost 368.94 points at 14,724.18 on Thursday. It dipped to day's low of 14,686.66 and saw a high of 15,033.28 points. The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell by 90.35 points at 4,430.70.