rbi infuses rs 7,000 crore into markets
mumbai: the reserve bank of india opened its purchasing window on 16 october and announced that it will purchase all the seventeen 364-day treasure bills it had issued in calendar year 1999 up to 24 august 1999. this enabled banks to sell their surplus holdings in government securities to the rbi for cash and pump in rs 7,000 crore into the money markets.

the central bank it wanted to arrest the upward movement in call rates, which have been somewhere near 25 per cent. the rates fell down immediately to the 9 to 12 per cent level.

this is for the first time in the current financial year that the rbi has used its purchase window to infuse liquidity into the money market.

syndicate bank to enter insurance sector
bangalore: syndicate bank will tie up with health insurance companies when the insurance sector is opened up for private sector participation. the bank is also looking at mutual funds, gold deposits and e-commerce sectors for its growth, its chairman and managing director k.v. krishnamurthy said.

the bank proposes to hold equity in health insurance companies to take advantage of their regional strength, mr krishnamurthy said.