Immediately after meeting the President, Mr Vajpayee said he will give specifial attention to economic reforms. "We are committed to second generation of reforms," Mr Vajpayee said.

Meanwhile, it is understood that the Nationalist Congress Party, which is involved in discussions in Maharashtra to form a Congress government there, has approached the NDA for possible partnership at the centre. P.A. Sangma, former Lok Sabha speaker and NCP leader, met home minister L.K. Advani in this connection. However, Sharad Pawar, leader of the party, said talks are being held only with the Congress in Maharashtra.

The Telugu Desam Party said it will support the NDA government from outside.

Governments were formed in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
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Rupee up 5 paise India rating gets upgraded
Mumbai: The rupee closed at 43.37 to the dollar, up 5 paise from the previous close. Intra-day, it touched a high of 43.3 to the dollar, which is close to the level seen in the beginning of August 1999. At this level, banks started buying dollars, which put pressure on the rupee towards the end of trading.

Dealers say that selling pressure from exporters and remittances from foreign institutional investors aided the rupee rise. In the last four days, the rupee has gone up 23 paise.

Thomson Financial Bankwatch became the second global rating agency to upgrade its India outlook. It has upgraded India’s sovereign rating from BB negative to BB stable. The agency says that since India’s ratio of short term debt to foreign exchange reserves is quite comfortable, at 13 per cent, the rating upgrade was inevitable.
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FIs may revoke sanctions
Mumbai: Financial institutions may review their sanctions for certain power projects where disbursements have not begun. In some cases, sanctions may be withdrawn.

The exposure in any particular sector for a financial institution cannot exceed 15 per cent. For most financial institutions, the exposure in the power sector is already more than 10 per cent. But this has not benefited the institutions at all since disbursements have been low. IFCI and IDBI have almost touched the maximum while ICICI has its exposure at 10 per cent in the power sector.

Until 1994 the disbursals to sanctions ratio for the power sector was 69 per cent. This ratio has deteriorated to 22 per cent during 1998-99.
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RBI announces new scheme
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has announced the Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana, the crop insurance scheme effective immediately. In its first year, the scheme will cover the cash crops – sugarcane, potato and cotton and will be managed by the Crop Insurance Corporation, a subsidiary of the General Insurance Corporation. The new scheme supplements the GIC's Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme.
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IDBI may enter takeout financing agreement
Mumbai: Industrial Development Bank of India and the Power Finance Corporation may strike a takeout financing deal that will help IDBI free some of its blocked funds.

IDBI’s current lending is in long term projects with a maturity of about 10 years. But, power projects have a maturity exceeding 12 years. By adopting the takeout financing route, one institution will take over the assets from the other after a certain mutually agreed period.

IDBI is also seeking the sale of stake in its asset management company to Principal Group of the US.
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ANZ seeks McKinsey’s help
Calcutta: ANZ Grindlays Bank, which has started focusing on the retail banking segment, has appointed McKinsey & Co. for helping it draft a three-year business plan.

The bank has recently introduced a satellite banking system.
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