Rupee ends higher - G-Secs flat
Mumbai: The rupee ended marginally higher against the dollar at 43.74/75 on Thursday, against Wednesday's close of 43.79/80.

Forwards market: The 12-month premium closed at 1.33 per cent (1.35 per cent) and the six-month premium closed at 1.52 per cent (1.60 per cent).

G-Secs: The 7.38 per cent 10-year benchmark paper closed at Rs105.10 (6.68 per cent YTM) against Wednesday's close of Rs105.20/30 (6.67 per cent per cent).

Call rates: The inter-bank rates closed at 4.60/65 per cent (4.50/75 per cent).
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RBI: WMA for Centre fixed at Rs16,000 crore
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has fixed the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limit for the Government of India for the financial year 2005-06 at Rs10,000 crore for the first half, and Rs6,000 crore for the second.

The RBI said that it may trigger fresh floatation of market loans as soon as 75 per cent of the WMA limit is utilised by the Government, depending on market conditions. While the interest rate for the WMA will be at the level of the bank rate, for overdrafts it would be two per cent above the bank rate.
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Forex reserves: Investment inflows account for 40 per cent
Mumbai: As per the latest RBI statistics, foreign investment flows constitute around 40.1 per cent of the total accretion to the foreign exchange reserves during the nine-months ended April-December 2004-05, while external commercial borrowings account for 22.5 per cent, external assistance 3.8 per cent and short-term credit 14.8 per cent.

Valuation gains, reflecting the appreciation of the sterling and the euro against the US dollar, accounted for an increase of $4.8 billion in the total reserves during April-December 2004-05 as against a valuation gain of $5.8 billion in the corresponding period of 2003-04, said an RBI press release.

Other items under capital account, which mainly reflect the difference between customs data on imports-exports and banking channel data, rupee debt service and other transactions, accounted for 23.6 per cent.
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Corporation Bank and MCX tie up for farmers scheme
Mumbai: In association with the Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), the Corporation Bank has launched a 'Crop Agriculture Produce Loan' (CAPL) scheme for farmers.

The scheme is aimed at mitigating the losses incurred by farmers who often resort to sale of agriculture produce immediately after harvest due to lack of holding capacity and need for ready cash. The scheme will enable farmer to store goods until such time they can get decent returns on their products, the bank said.

Under the CAPL scheme, loans up to Rs2 lakh can be availed of at nine per cent per annum, while loans above Rs2 lakh and up to Rs20 lakh will be available at 9.50 per cent.

With the minimum margin of 20 per cent of the value of agriculture products, loan can be availed of against the warehouse receipts covering the agriculture produce stored in Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), State Warehousing Corporations and warehouses having the approval of national-level multi commodity exchanges, like the MCX.

Wherever possible the farmer-trader may enter into futures sale contract through authorised members or brokers of any national-level multi-commodity exchanges. In such cases, the price risk is covered by a futures contract, the rate of interest on the loan will be 25 basis points less than the stipulated rates.

The Corporation Bank holds an equity stake of 4.9 per cent in MCX.
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MS Office for banks launched
New Delhi: The Microsoft Corporation India has launched the Microsoft Office for Banks, a solution targeted at Indian public sector banks.

The offering is a customised solution, which is fully localised and Unicode compliant, and on par with global standards in information worker computing, a Microsoft release said here.

Microsoft Office for Banks is based on Microsoft Office Hindi, and its features have been developed following guidance and feedback from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it said, adding that in keeping with Microsoft's product localisation strategy, this offering has been developed with the help of Indian partners.
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Union Bank total business hits Rs one lakh crore
Mumbai: The Union Bank of India has achieved a total business Rs one lakh crore comprising its deposits and advances, in the current fiscal.

The bank has a network of 2051 branches. It added 23 branches during the year. While all the branches are computerised, 603 branches covering 155 centres are on core banking and are networked.

The bank has enlarged its network of ATMs to 400, said a press release.
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Priority sector status proposed for biotech companies
New Delhi: Accepting a long-standing industry demand, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has proposed that bank lending to biotech companies be categorised as priority sector lending. Also, it has proposed the formation of a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority to streamline the regulatory approval procedures.

Additionally, the DBT has proposed a scheme for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises through grants extended by the Department of Biotechnology in 2005-06. As per the scheme - `Small Business Innovation Research Initiative' (SBIRI) - companies with up to 1,000 employees will be provided support in pre-proof of concept, early stage innovative research and problem solving support in addition to grant of soft loans.

Listing various fiscal and trade policy initiatives in its National Biotech Development Strategy draft, the DBT said that to encourage banks to lend and provide banking services to the biotech sector, a significant push through appropriate policy guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India is necessary. It also called for inclusion of international patenting costs under the 150 per cent weighted average tax deduction on R&D expenditure until 2010. It has also called for removal of Customs duty on raw materials imported into India where the finished product is imported duty-free.
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