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Derivatives bill passed
New Delhi: The Lok Sabha passed the bill amending the Securities and
Contracts Regulations Act, thus clearing the way for derivatives trading. It also passed a
bill shifting the appellate authority and its functions out of the finance ministry, to
make it part of a tribunal.
Finance minister
Yashwant Sinha said the measures will "facilitate market operations, regulate
markets, make them deeper and equipped and protect the interests of small investors".
Derivatives trading will lead to a complete change in trading, as it will pave the way for
index-based futures and options.
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Govt. examining bank
panel report
New Delhi: The government is going through the recommendations of the
Narasimham Committee II report, which has suggested reduction of the government’s
holdings in private sector banks to below 51 per cent. It is also considering reduction of
the Reserve Bank of India's stake in the State Bank of India to below 55 per cent.
Minister of state for finance B.S.V. Patil said in
Parliament that it is necessary to reduce RBI’s holding in SBI to below 55 per cent
to enable the bank to raise equity in the market in order to enhance its capital.
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IOC mandate for ABN Amro
to get funds
Mumbai: Indian Oil Corporation has engaged ABN Amro Bank to arrange a
$200-million six-month loan for financing its crude imports. The coupon on the loan has
been fixed at 24 basis points over the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate.
ABN Amro is expected to form a consortium of 10 banks to
handle the loan. Indianoil had raised $150 million in July 1999 through a bankers’
acceptance facility at 19 basis points over Libor. The funds were arranged by Bank of
America. The company’s import bill is likely to go up from Rs 27,000 crore in 1998-99
to Rs 52,000 crore in the current year.
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Web plans of
Dhanalakshmi Bank
Bangalore: The Thrissur-based private sector Dhanalakshmi Bank is all set
to introduce web-based banking services in the new year. It will create an active website,
which will enable customers to get information about the status of their accounts,
requisition cheque books, order demand drafts, and perform other such functions.
The bank is also planning to totally computerise its
business dealings and its branches. This will be accomplished by 2005, the bank’s
chairman T.M. Venkataraman said.
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Ceat Fin allowed to
liquidate statutory holdings
Calcutta: The Reserve Bank of India has allowed the RPG group's
non-banking finance company, Ceat Financial Services to liquidate its statutory security
holdings to repay fixed deposit holders. The company has given an undertaking that it will
neither accept fresh deposits nor renew existing deposits. It has stopped expanding its
deposit liabilities since 1 November, and aims to bring down outstandings to Rs 100 crore
by 31 March 2000.
The company is planning to secure loans of over Rs 100
crore from commercial banks and financial institutions to retire some of its high cost
debts.
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Disagreements
to the fore at WTO
Seattle: The US, Japan and
the European Union clashed over the shape of a new round of global trade talks even as
activists took to the streets protesting against free trade at the World Trade
Organsiation meeting which got under way on 30 November.
Member-states remained divided over the agenda
for the new round, which almost threatened the launch of the negotiations. A major point
of disagreement appeared to be agriculture, although there were disputes over anti-dumping
laws and labour standards. The US and the European Union said they would press members to
give labour a bigger voice in future trade deals. But, developing countries have rejected
the move already.
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