30 April 2004

Rupee down to one month low
Mumbai: The rupee closed 25 paise weaker at 44.40/42 per dollar gainst its closing at 44.15/17 on Wednesday.

Forward Market: The six-month forward closed at - 0.10 per cent (- 0.47 per cent) and the one-year forward closed at - 0.17 per cent (- 0.02 per cent).

G- Secs: The 8.07 per cent 2017 paper got dealt to a low of Rs 124.05. The 7.37 per cent 2014 paper closed lower at Rs 117.20/25 (Rs 117.38).

Call rates hovered around 4.25 per cent in the inter-bank market.

29 April 2004

Rupee in range
Mumbai: The rupee closed at 44.15/17 in its value against the dollar.

Forwards Market- The six months forward closed at - 0.10 per cent (- 0.32 per cent) and the one-year closed at - 0.02 per cent (- 0.14 per cent).

G-Secs- The 8.07 per cent 2017 paper closed at Rs 124.55/58 levels as against Rs 124.47. The 7.37 per cent 2014 paper Rs 117.48 (Rs 117.53/54).

Call rates- were in the 4.25 per cent range in the inter-bank market.

28 April 2004

Rupee drops as corporates cover up
Mumbai: The rupee lost 13 paise in its value against the dollar closing at 44.2250/2400.

Forward Markets- The six months forward closed at - 0.32 per cent (-0.65 per cent) and the one-year forward closed at - 0.14 per cent (-0.32 per cent).

G-Secs- The Rs 5,000 crore 6.18 per cent 2005 market stabilisation bonds were oversubscribed twice.

Exim Bank goes for ECBs to retire debts
Mumbai: Export-Import Bank of India has announced plans to raise Rs 7,000 crore, including foreign exchange up to Rs 3,800 crore. The bank said that it plans to tap the overseas market immediately to raise ECB of $300 million and the Reserve Bank of India has accorded approval.

The bank plans to redeem Rs 600 crore of loans with an interest rate of 10-12 per cent during this fiscal. Last year, it had redeemed Rs 700 crore.

The Exim Bank has ended the year with a net profit of Rs 229 crore against Rs 207 crore in the earlier year, registering a growth of 11 per cent. The bank would pay Rs 47 crore as dividend to the Government.

PNB achieves total computerisation
New Delhi: The Punjab National Bank has achieved 100 per cent branch computerisation. It has computerised all its 4,026 branches including 536 in metros, 769 in urban, 788 semi-urban and 1933 in rural areas.

China Banking goes for Finacle
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies has announced that it has signed up China Banking Corporation (China Bank) in the Philippines, to deploy its Internet banking solution Finacle.

According to a company press release Finacle is being delivered by Infosys in partnership with Total Information Management, a leading solution provider in the Philippines and authorised business partner of Infosys.

Bharat Overseas announces dividend
Chennai: Bharat Overseas Bank has announced a profit after tax of Rs 35.08 crore for the financial year 2003-04, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous year. The bank has also announced a dividend of 18 per cent (shares with face value Rs 100) for the year.

The bank has said that it would focus in the current financial year on retail banking. While the total business volume (advances and deposits) in 2003-04 was Rs 3,900 crore, higher by 17 per cent, gross advances grew by 20 per cent to stand at Rs 1,428 crore.
The bank's net NPA for 2003-04 was 2.26 per cent (3.31 per cent).

27 April 2004

Syndicate Bank and United India tie up
Chennai: Syndicate Bank is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with United India Insurance to sell the latter's policies, most probably in the month of May. The bank was likely to tie up with another general insurance company to sell its products, and had sought the Reserve Bank's permission to start a subsidiary for the purpose. Insurance regulations do not permit a company to sell more than one company's policies at a time.

Speakng at a press conference officials said that the bank hoped to do more than Rs 80,000 crore (Rs 64,330 crore) of business in the current financial year. The bank also planned to open three overseas representative offices (South Africa, Dubai and Singapore) and focus on retail advances.

SBI to expand global network
Kolkata: The State Bank of India, India's largest commercial bank expects to add 10-15 more offices abroad, in all the neighbouring countries as well as others. It has recently started a new office in Bangladesh, its second in that country.

The bank is expected to announce an 18 per cent increase in deposits and a 16 per cent increase in credit. The retail-lending figure will also record an improvement. It also hoped to record a decent increase in its project finance portfolio.

Indian Bank net doubles
Chennai: Indian Bank's net profit for the year 2003-04 has more than doubled to Rs 405.75 crore, from Rs 188.83 crore for 2002-03. The bank's operating profit rose by 36 per cent to Rs 802.46 crore from Rs 590.25 crore previously.

The bank has also recovered Rs 320 crore from accounts classified as `non-performing'. In the current year, the bank expects that more cash recoveries from major default accounts would happen. The bank has three big NPA accounts, each upwards of Rs 100 crore. Net NPAs have come down to 2.71 per cent from 6.15 per cent last year.

During 2003-04, the bank's turnover (deposits plus advances) increased to Rs 45,379 crore from about Rs 40,000 crore in the previous year.

Share Microfin declares dividend
Hyderabad: Share Microfin Ltd (SML) has posted an income of Rs 24.70 crore and a profit of Rs 3.8 crore during 2003-04. SML is a community owned Micro-finance Company with 26,000 poor women as shareholders.

The company's board has declared a dividend of 10 per cent, claiming to be the first micro-finance company in the country to do so.
The company serves 2.5-lakh poor women and has disbursed Rs 366.27 crore. The average share holding of the women in the company is Rs. 5,000.

26 April 2004

Five banks get autonomy to declare dividends
Mumbai: Three of the 19 listed public sector banks (PSBs) and two of the 18 listed private sector banks
have qualified for autonomy in declaring dividends without seeking prior Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval.

The three eligible PSBs include Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank and Vijaya Bank, and the two private sector banks are HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

All others will have to seek RBI approval before they can declare dividends.

As per the RBI directive, banks will have the autonomy to declare dividends without prior approval from RBI only if they have a capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio (CRAR) of at least 11 per cent in the preceding two completed years and the accounting year for which they propose to declare dividend.

In addition, their net non-performing assets to net advances ratio should be less than three per cent.

Major PSBs such as the Bank of Baroda, Bank of India,Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, and big private sector banks such as ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank, ING Vysya Bank, and UTI Bank among others, do not qualify for exemptions.

Most of these big banks do meet that minimum 11 per cent CRAR criteria, their ratio of net NPAs to net advances is outside the 3 per cent limit, often by a thin margin.

NBFCs barred from accepting NRI deposits
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from April 24 has disallowed non-banking-financial-companies (NBFCs) from accepting expatriates' deposits through fresh remittances from abroad.

According to RBI entities, other than banks, are not allowed to accept deposits made by expatriates from foreign currency and repatriable rupee accounts.
However they will be permitted to continue to hold the existing deposits and also renew such deposits held in the name of the NRIs (non-resident Indians) on repatriation or non-repatriation basis, the apex bank said.

Before this directive, a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956, or a body corporate created under an Act of Parliament or State Legislature, and NBFCs was also permitted to collect deposits.

This move by the RBI is being seen as yet another step aimed at discouraging dollar inflows and to cap the rapid appreciation in the rupee, which has gained by about 3.5 per cent against the dollar in 2004.

DSP Merrill Lynch to diversify into portfolio management
Kolkata: DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers, is planning to get into portfolio management for high net worth individuals, insurance companies, banks, corporate treasuries and overseas investors as it has obtained SEBI's permission to enter the area.
The company hopes that the major chunk of its business would come from this avenue in the next three to four years. According to the company institutional investors comprise more than 65 per cent of its sales at present.

The company is also planning to give a push to its retail business and intends to mobilise Rs 10,000 crore to help increase the reach of its products.

Allahabad Bank to spend Rs 300 crore on IT projects
Kolkata: Allahabad Bank has targeted to achieve more than Rs 60,000 crore of business including deposits and advances over the next couple of years. The bank is also investing Rs 300 crore on IT to roll out core banking solutions and all inter-linkages between its ATMs and branches.

According to the bank during 2003-04, the total business of the bank is estimated to cross the Rs 48,000 crore mark, a growth of more than 22.5 percent over the previous year. The bank posted a 115 percent growth in its net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2003.