ICICI Bank and IDBI to launch tax-saving bonds
Mumbai: ICICI Bank and IDBI are set to launch tax-saving bonds this week, by way of raising Rs350 crore and Rs400 crore.

Analysts say that the banks are issuing these bonds in order to target the investments that most salaried employees make at the year-end by way of saving tax. While IDBI bonds will be open for subscription from March 21 to March 29, ICICI Bank bonds will be open for subscription from March 26 to March 31.

The ICICI Bank bonds are available in three schemes - tax saving bond, regular income bond and children growth bond. NRIs are also eligible to invest in these bonds on both repatriable and non-repatriable basis.

The tax saving bond has two options, both at an issue price of Rs5,000 and a redemption period of five years. In the first option, the face value is Rs5,000 and the interest is 5.8 per cent per annum. The second one is a deep discount bond with a face value of Rs6,630 and a yield to maturity of 5.8 per cent. The regular income bond is of three kinds, each with an issue price and face value of Rs5,000. The redemption period and interest rates vary. For a redemption period of five years, the interest rate is 6.75 per cent. For seven years, the interest rate is 7 per cent. These bonds have received `LAAA' ratings from ICRA and `AAA' from CARE.

IDBI is coming out with the second tranche of IDBI Flexibonds-23 with an earliest closing option on March 24. Flexibonds-23 has a target of Rs400 crore with a greenshoe option to retain an additional amount of Rs411.64 crore.

The minimum investment in the IDBI Flexibonds 23 bonds is Rs5,000. Investors can choose from two options: an annual interest option and a cumulative option. The annual interest option offers 5.8 per cent interest, payable annually for five years. Under the cumulative option, Rs5,000 becomes Rs6,630 after five years (YTM 5.80 per cent).

IDBI Flexibonds-23 have been rated `AA+ (stable)' by Crisil, AA+ (ind) (Outlook on rating is stable) by Fitch Ratings and `LAA +' by ICRA.
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RBI to raise Rs2,000-crore through T-bills auction
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India proposes to raise Rs2,000 crore through an auction of 91-day Government of India treasury bills.

Of this amount, Rs500 crore will be auctioned under the regular auction calendar and Rs1,500 crore under the Market Stabilisation Scheme. The auction will be conducted using `multiple price auction' method.

The allocation to non-competitive bidders will be outside the notified amount at the discretion of the RBI. Tenders should be submitted in the prescribed form on March 22, before 12.30 p.m. Results will be announced the same evening and successful bidders will have to make the payment by March 24.
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Insurance unions to strike on March 23, 24
Kochi: Officers and employees of the public sector general insurance companies have threatened to go on strike on March 23 and 24 to demand the resumption of wage revision talks and the resumption of promotions at the earliest.

The unions under the banner of the All India Insurance Employees Association, General Insurance Employees Association, National Federation of General Insurance Employees, National Confederation of General Insurance Officers Association and General Insurance Officers All India Association said that agitation was against the indifferent attitude of the General Insurers Public Sector Association (GIPSA), the management body of the four public sector general insurance companies. The vital issue of wage revision has been pending for more than two years.

According to GIPSA, there was no scope for wage revision beyond the proposed level of 8.5 per cent already offered by the management.
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