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Rupee moves up - bonds decline
Mumbai: The rupee strengthened against the dollar on Monday, ending trade at 43.4950/50, higher than Friday's close of 43.53/54.

Forwards market: The 12-month premium closed at 1.34 per cent (1.25 per cent) and the 6-month premium at 1.52 per cent (1.35 per cent).

Call rates: The inter bank rates were between 5.10 and 5.50 per cent (5.10-5.15 per cent). It was dealt at the level of 6-6.15 per cent during the day.

G-Secs: The 8.07 per cent 12-year 2017 bond ended trade at Rs108.35 (7 per cent YTM), against Friday's close of Rs109.02 (6.92 per cent YTM). The 7.38 per cent 10-year 2015 benchmark paper was dealt at Rs103 (6.96 per cent YTM) against the earlier level of Rs103.75 (6.86 per cent YTM).

CBLO market: 240 trades, put through in the rate range of 4.95-6.15 per cent, aggregating Rs7169.6 crore, were realised.
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Centre asks States to act quickly on the Pension Bill
New Delhi: The Centre on Monday has asked the States to recognise the need to set up the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) quickly, so that the bill could act as a backbone for all pension-related reforms.

The Bill to set up the PFRDA, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in March this year and is currently with the standing committee on finance, needs to be passed quickly, the State Governments were informed at the 51st meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) here.

According to the finance Ministry projections the average annual increase in expenditure on pension was as high as 30 per cent between 1996 and 2001, making it the fastest growing expenditure in the Central and State Budgets. Pension liability has also grown faster than normal GDP and in the last 17 years, while nominal GDP grew by a compounded annual rate of 14.5 per cent, the Centre's outgo on pension increased at a compounded annual rate of 17.8 per cent.

For the State Governments, the pension payments in 1987 stood at Rs 1,391 crore which went up to Rs 35,585 crore in 2004-05, the projection has said.

To bring down the Government liability in pension payment, the New Pension Scheme that has come to effect from January 1, 2004, is based on individual contribution and already nine States have joined it for their own employees.

The Centre has called upon other States to follow suit as that alone can make use of the demographic advantage of having a very large population in the working age.
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RBI to regulate Andhra co-op banks
Mumbai: The government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with regard to urban cooperative banks (UCBs) in the state.

The MOU will empower the RBI to have greater say in the day-to-day functioning of the co-operative banks in AP. The MOU will enable the RBI to take action against the management of co-operative bank, raise corporate governance standards in UCB's by issuance of fit and proper guidelines for members to be eligible for seeking election for the post of director and also appoint auditors, said the analyst.

The RBI in March 2005 had proposed signing of an MOU with states to scuttle the problem of dual control. AP is the first state to sign the MOU with the RBI.

The RBI has also constituted a task force for co-operative urban banks (TAFCUB) for the state of Andhra Pradesh. The TAFCUBs among others is required to identify the non-viable UCBs and chalk out a non-disruptive exit path for them. The first meeting of TAFCUB will be held in a week's time, said the RBI.

There are around 169 UCBs operating in Andhra Pradesh. A State wise distribution of branches shows that around 80 per cent of the urban cooperative banks (UCBs) are concentrated in five states -- Maharashtra (658), Gujarat (359), Karnataka (321), Andhra Pradesh (169) and Tamil Nadu (136).
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BankAm India net at Rs.80.5 crore
Mumbai: The Bank of America has announced that its branches in India had recorded a net profit of Rs80.5 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005, registering an increase of 25% over the previous year.

The increase is primarily on account of higher net interest revenue and treasury income.

Net interest revenue increased by 10% over the previous year, while non-interest revenue grew by 46%, primarily due to an increase in treasury income. Return on assets increased to 1.46% from 1.26%, while profit per employee increased to Rs29.5 lakhs.
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LIC Housing Finance net down 14 per cent
Mumbai: LIC Housing Finance has reported its net profit at Rs143.72 crore for the fiscal year 2004-05, which marks a 14.18 per cent fall from Rs167.47 crore in the previous year. The board of directors has also recommended a dividend of 50 per cent.

The company's total interest income on housing loans grew by 7.4 per cent to Rs978 crore (Rs911 crore). Interest expenses were Rs677 crore (Rs610 crores).

Total income was at Rs1,048 crore, up by 6.4 per cent (Rs985 crore). Loan sanctions and disbursements had grown by 12 per cent and over 13 per cent, respectively during the fiscal.

Under individual loans, the company sanctioned 83,205 loans worth Rs4,415 crore and disbursed 84,387 loans worth Rs4,207 crore. Total sanctions for the year inclusive of individual and project loans amounted to Rs5,209 crore, and total disbursements amounted to Rs4,650 crore.

In terms of its outstanding mortgage portfolio, there was a growth of 25.5 per cent.

As per the new NPA recognition norms of National Housing Bank, the gross and net NPAs of the company stand at 4.43 per cent and 2.79 per cent, respectively.
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