10 april 2004

uco bank does rs 60,000 crore business for '03-'04
kolkata: uco bank's total business crossed the rs 60,000-crore mark as at the end of the year, recording a growth of 26.4 per cent during fiscal 2003-04. uco bank added over rs 12,500 crore to its business by clocking a 25.2 per cent increase in deposits, which now stands at over rs 39,200 crore. its advances portfolio have swelled 28.8 per cent to over rs 21,350 crore against rs 16,580 crore last year. the total business done was rs 48,000 crore.

dhanalakshmi bank officers protest mass transfers
kochi: officers of thrissur-based dhanalakshmi bank will strike work on saturday protesting against the "mass transfer" of their union's office-bearers to branches outside the state. from april 12, the officers also propose to go on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the head office. the all india bank officers' confederation has said that it proposes to organise an all-kerala strike, unless the management agrees for a compromise.

sc validates securitisation act - relief for borrowers as well
new delhi: the supreme court today upheld the constitutional validity of the securitisation act thereby allowing banks and financial institutions to sell assets of defaulting borrowers that have been attached under the act. the court, however, quashed as unconstitutional the provision that required aggrieved borrowers to make an upfront deposit of 75 per cent of the dues claimed in case they preferred to go in appeal on action initiated against them.

the judgment was delivered by a three-judge bench, which included the chief justice v.n. khare, justice brajesh kumar and justice arun kumar. the 2002 act was challenged in various courts on grounds that it was loaded heavily in favour of lenders, giving little chance to the borrowers to explain their views once recovery process is initiated under the legislation.

mss paper oversubscribed
mumbai: in the rs 5,000-crore auction of the 6.18 per cent 2005 paper under the market stabilisation scheme the central bank received 169 competitive bids amounting to rs 6,220 crore.
the cut-off price for this security has been fixed at rs 102.11 (4.59 per cent ytm).

election of tmb directors challenged before clb
chennai: the legal tussle among the various groups of the nadar community to take control of the tuticorin-based tamilnad mercantile bank ltd continues unabated with a group challenging the election of the 10 directors at the annual general meeting held on march 12. in an application moved before the company law board, additional principal bench, chennai, the group led by s. ashok and 33 others, contend that on various grounds, the election of respondents (the 10 directors who are considered as associates of b. ramachandra adityan) 4 to 13 were invalid and was therefore to be set aside by the company law board.

canara bank's first obu starts operations at noida
new delhi: the canara bank has opened its first offshore banking unit (obu) in the special economic zone (sez), noida. the obu would accept foreign currency deposits from non-resident indians (nris) by offering libor-linked rates. according to the bank, the obu would not only cater to units situated within the sez but also those in the domestic tariff area. it will commence operations with start-up funds of $10 million.

citigroup fund for financial education
mumbai: citigroup and the citigroup foundation have announced a 10-year, $200 million commitment to financial education, which will include the 100 countries that citigroup operates in around the world, including india. the indian segment of the citigroup team is yet to develop a model to identify deserving units. in india, citigroup supports a financial literacy programme since 2001 for women in partnership with ahmedabad-based, sewa bank for the members of their micro-credit programme.

8 april 2004

rupee up 20 paise
mumbai: the rupee gained by 20 paise to close at 43.5450, up from previous close of 43.74/75 in its value against the dollar.
forwards market - the six months premium closed at 0.52 per cent (0.42 per cent) while the one-year ended at 0.44 per cent (0.36 per cent).

g-sec prices - the 6.05 per cent 2019 paper opened at rs 105.40 touched a high of rs 105.78 and closed at rs 105.60.
call rates were flat at 4 per cent.

punjab & sind bank to audit performance
new delhi: punjab and sind bank (psb) has set up an ad hoc committee on procedure and performance audit on public services.

the committee would comprise three general managers, who would look into ways to simplify the procedures and practices to ensure that the customer do not face any difficulties in their transactions with the bank.

rbi: forex market is 'orderly'
new delhi: the reserve bank of india governor, dr y.v. reddy, has said that the foreign exchange market was witnessing `orderly conditions'. the rbi governor pointed out that though the rupee had appreciated by 9.5 per cent against the dollar since march 2003, it had at the same time depreciated by 3.1 per cent against the euro, 5.9 per cent against the pound sterling and 4.4 per cent against the japanese yen. he said that significant depreciation of the us dollar against other major currencies had prompted adjustments in world currencies and this reflected in the exchange rate of the rupee as well.

'finacle' in south africa
bangalore: according to an infosys release, comparex africa has announced an alliance with infosys technologies to market the latter's universal banking solution, finacle, in southern africa.
comparex will act as infosys's business alliance partner for sales and services related to finacle in south africa, namibia, swaziland, mozambique, lesotho and malawi, and will provide after-sales support for finacle customers in the region as well.

tata aig life launches unit linked schemes
mumbai: tata aig life insurance company ltd (tata aig life) has launched unit linked insurance plans (ulip) for superannuation and gratuity schemes. tata aig ulip superannuation scheme provides individual members the flexibility to decide on the allocation of their moneys based on their risk appetite, said a press release. in case of the ulip gratuity scheme, the employer or trustee has the flexibility to decide the ratio of investment based on their risk taking appetite, the release said.

now `car overdraft' with icici bank
mumbai: icici bank has launched the `car overdraft' - an overdraft facility with the car as security. under the scheme, the bank opens an icici bank roaming current account in the customer's name with a pre-approved overdraft limit. according to a bank release, the limit of the overdraft is determined on the basis of the vintage and condition of the car.