Other leading portfolios were distributed to Mamta Banerjee (railways), Murasoli Maran (commerce and industry), Ram Vilas Paswan (communications), Manohar Joshi (heavy industry and public sector enterprises), Suresh Prabhu (chemicals and fertilisers), Sharad Yadav (civil aviation) and Ram Naik (petroleum and natural gas). Nitish Kumar (surface transport), Ananth Kumar (youth affairs and culture and sports), Pramod Mahajan (parliamentary affairs and water resources), Murli Manohar Joshi (HRD, science and technology), P.R.Kumaramangalam (power) and Jag Mohan (urban development) have also retained their positions. Mr Vajpayee inducted BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley as minister for information and broadcasting.

Surprise omissions are Ramakrishna Hegde, who held the commerce ministry in the outgoing cabinet, and Sikander Bakht (industry). The prime minister retained the portfolio of information technology. (List of ministers)
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Two insurance bills likely from govt.
New Delhi: An Insurance Amendment Bill will be tabled in the parliament so as to make necessary changes to the Insurance Act, 1938. The other bill that will be presented is the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Bill. The bills will carry rules on minimum capital adequacy for insurance companies and penalties.
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Nasscom asks for ESOP tax relief
New Delhi: The ministry of finance has met with a request from the National Association of Software and Service Companies to remove the tax demand made on information technology companies on their employee stock option plans.

The software association feels that professionals should be allowed to sell stock options out of their own choice and not be forced to do so to meet a tax liability.
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Rupee dips before recovering
Mumbai: The rupee touched 43.54 a dollar on 13 October 1999 before rallying to close at 43.44. Dealers fear a slowdown in capital inflows owing to the military coup in Pakistan.

Call rates shot up to a maximum of 18 per cent as dealers and banks were finding it tough to fund the securities held by them. Dealers feel that call rates will ease as they expect a cut in the cash reserve ratio.
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FRA to be set up
Mumbai: As proposed by the Verma panel, a Financial Restructuring Authority will manage the government’s holding in public sector banks. The FRA, which will be in existence for seven years, will decide on the disinvestments to be made in the banks, enter into memoranda of understanding with weak banks, set targets for the banks and penalise banks that do not achieve the targets.
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IDBI, ICICI calculate exposure differently
Mumbai: The 15 per cent maximum exposure limit in a single sector, specified for financial institutions, is computed differently by ICICI and the IDBI. ICICI calculates exposure on the basis of disbursals made as a percentage of total loans, while IDBI calculates it according to sanctions made.

The Reserve Bank of India is unable to give a clear direction on the method of computing of the 15 per cent.
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CARE upgrades Srei
Mumbai: Srei International Finance has been upgraded by Credit Analysis and Research by one notch from A to A+. Srei’s main shareholders include the International Finance Corporation, the Netherlands government-owned FMO and the German government-owned DEG.
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Syndicate Bank to launch co-branded card
New Delhi: Syndicate Bank, which is opening its maiden public issue on 25 October 1999, has entered into a tie-up with Standard Chartered Bank to launch a co-branded credit card. The cards will be launched by mid-November 1999. Syndicate Bank will also market Stanchart cards through its branches.

According to K V Krishnamurthy, chairman and managing director, the bank has started bullion trading in Ahmedabad, and will soon extend such trading to Chennai and Coimbatore.

Syndicate Bank will come out with an equity issue of Rs.125 crore at par, which will reduce the government’s holding to 76 per cent in the bank from the current 100 per cent.

Currently, the bank has a capital adequacy ratio of 9.5 per cent, which will go up to 10.2 per cent after the issue. The Rs.346-crore equity capital of the company will go up post-issue to Rs.471 crore.
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IT refunds at Rs.2,659 crore
Mumbai: The income tax department in Mumbai has refunded Rs.2,659 crore till the end of September 1999, and is expected to refund a further Rs.3,500 crore before 31 October 1999. This has been done at the instance of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
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