Dalits make up nearly 47% of the population of Banka which is estimated to be between 7, 000 and 8, 000.

BBC: An 'English goddess' for India's down-trodden

This week, a startling revelation at Komercni Banka, which is 49% state-owned, has put the bank privatisation project in doubt.

ECONOMIST: Czech banks

IMI, an Italian bank, bought a 62% stake (but with only 33% of the voting rights) in Banka Koper last year.

ECONOMIST: Grab and smash

The foundation stone was laid in April last year and when I recently visited the Nalanda Public Shiksha Niketan School in Banka, I could see the temple walls had already been built.

BBC: An 'English goddess' for India's down-trodden

The Czech government, which has already sold two big banks to foreigners this year, has hired investment bankers to advise on the sale of big stakes in troubled Komercni Banka, Eastern Europe's biggest bank, and two other institutions.

ECONOMIST: East European banks

The country's central bank doesn't expect the euro's demise but "could be expected" to look for a potential new peg among other European countries with "prudent fiscal policies" and with which Latvia already trades heavily, said a spokesman for Latvijas Banka.

WSJ: Banks Prep for Life After Euro

But since September 1996, when it opened Trscanska Stedionica Banka in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, the Cassa has lived well from the business of Italian manufacturers who have set up shop in Croatia, where labour costs are considerably lower than at home.

ECONOMIST: Borderline banking