Ackermann's term expires next year, but it will be untenable for him to continue at the helm of Germany's largest bank if charges that he made fraudulent statements before a court are substantiated.

RomeshSobti, Managing Director & CEO of the Hindujas-owned IndusInd Bank, the manwho turned the bank around in just three years to make it the best performingmid-sized bank in the country, spoke to Anand Adhikari. Edited excerpts: 

With soaring inflation and high interest rates making it hard for families to repay debts, bad assets of indian banks are piling up fast. For retail borrowers, high floating interest rates and increased EMIs are causes of concern. Trends for corporate borrowers are similar. As a result, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks are close to Rs 1 trillion. But no bank wants to go on record about its NPAs.

Banks are discovering that serving rural and semi-urban customers, which started out as a regulatory requirement, is good business.

IndusInd Bank's Romesh Sobti and his team transform a staid bank into a winner. In the BT-KPMG Best Bank Study 2011, the 17-year-old bank has emerged the overall winner in the mid-sized category of lenders with a balance sheet size of less than Rs 50,000 crore.

Even as we raise a toast to the winners of the BT-KPMG Best Banks Survey of 2011, we need to take note of the many challenges that lie ahead. FULL COVERAGE ALSO SEE:  Videos | Winners in pics

As if the drying up of funds from foreign financial institutions ( FIIs) over the last few months was not enough worry to the value of the rupee, last week the government bought US dollars to pay for the country's defence deals, which put the domestic currency, rupee, on the defensive.

Companies that have steadily climbed up the rankings' ladder to take on the big boys.

With inflation remaining stubbornly high at 9.78 per cent for August, bankers and economists expect the RBI to continue with hawkish monetary policy and hike rates again at the mid-quarterly credit policy review today. The central bank is expected to hike policy rates by 0.25 per cent.

Deutsche Bank names Anshuman Jain as its co-chairman along with German banker Juergen Fitschen to lead the bank to the next level of growth.

The banking sector may not be the hottest spot at present, but watch out for cues on when to invest in it.

State-owned Corporation Bank on Thursday raised base rate or minimum lendingrate by 35 basis points to 10.25 per cent in response to the monetarytightening measures taken by RBI earlier this month.

The banking sector may not be the hot spot to be in right now, but watch out for cues on when to get in.

Two Anil Ambani group firms, Reliance Communications and Reliance Infrastructure, will move out of Bombay Stock Exchange's blue chip index Sensex in August.

Total income rose to Rs 7,168.6 crore for the quarter ended March 31, from Rs 5,120.7 crore last year. The board proposed a dividend of Rs 16.50 per equity share.

Total income of the bank rose to Rs 18,178.99 crore in the fourth quarter of 2011-12 from Rs 16,212.02 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

Net Profit for the quarter was Rs. 171.76 crore as against Rs. 97.96 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, spectacular jump by 75.34 per cent.

The portfolio size of the credit card business with nearly 2,50,000 cardholders is about Rs 225 crore, IndusInd Bank Managing Director and CEO Romesh Sobtisaid about the deal.

The London-headquartered group recognises the need to step up its pace in India but the brothers have still to take the bit between their teeth.

Unrelenting inflation also brings with it a measure of respite-the Reserve Bank of India hikes the key policy rates, which leads to banks raising the interest rates on fixed deposits (FDs)