Bank of Maharashtra, MUDRA seal pact to finance small business.

 Bank of Maharashtra and MUDRA Bank have signed an agreement to finance new entrepreneurs and small businesses.

To provide credit facilities to small business, the central government aims to facilitate credit up to Rs 1 lakh crore under MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) scheme in the current year.

"Bank of Maharashtra and MUDRA Bank signed a general refinance agreement to finance new entrepreneurs and small business," Bank of Maharashtra said in a statement.

Under the new scheme, there are three categories of loans, 'Shishu' (loan of up to Rs 50,000), 'Kishor' (loan above Rs 50,000 up to Rs 5 lakh) and 'Tarun' (above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh), that will be sanctioned and disbursed by banks, it said.

The amount will be refinanced through MUDRA Bank, it added.

S Muhnot, Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Maharashtra, said the bank has already started financing new entrepreneurs/small business and sensitised its field functionaries on extending finance under the scheme.

Sensex falls nearly 2%, bonds retreat on Greece worries

India`s stock markets fell nearly 2 percent on Monday and bond yields rose as Greece looked set to default on its debt repayment this week, sparking concerns about foreign selling in emerging markets.

Greece closed its banks and imposed capital controls on Sunday to check the growing strains on its crippled financial system, bringing the prospect of being forced out of the euro into plain sight.

The Nifty fell 1.9 percent at 9:15 a.m., while the BSE Sensex was also down 1.9 percent.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield was up 3 basis points at 7.85 percent, while the rupee was trading at 63.90 compared to its 63.64/65 close on Friday.

Tech Mahindra shares hit over one-year low on Q1 warning

Shares of Tech Mahindra Ltd dropped almost 7 percent to a more than one-year low on Monday after the IT firm warned of a weak first quarter, partly due to higher U.S. visa sponsorship costs for its employees.

Local IT services companies send hundreds of workers to the United States to work on client projects, making them among the top applicants for U.S. visa.

Applications for H-1B visas allowing U.S. businesses to hire foreign workers in science, engineering and computer programming have already reached a record 233,000 in the financial year 2016.

Higher costs of H1-B visas will be a drag on first-quarter margins, Tech Mahindra said earlier in the day without elaborating.

The company also said its mobility business would be a seasonal drag on results in the first quarter.

"Organisation-wide there is renewed focus on improving operational levers and cost-control parameters, however the impact is expected to be visible only from Q3 FY16," the company said in a filing to the exchange.

Tech Mahindra shares were down 7.6 percent at Rs 482 on the NSE as of 1:23 p.m.