Rupee weakens - gilts range-bound
Mumbai: The rupee weakened against the dollar on Monday ending at 43.4705/4825, lower than Friday's close of 43.4350/40.

Forwards market: The 12-month premium was between 1.47 per cent and 1.45 per cent (1.35/37 per cent) and the six-month premium opened at 1.72 per cent and ended at 1.68 per cent (1.57/60 per cent).

G-Secs: The bond market was range-bound with the 7.55-5-year-2010 paper the most actively traded paper on Monday. It ended at Rs102.75/78 (6.88 per cent YTM) against Friday's close of Rs102.70 (6.90 per cent YTM). The 8.07-7-year-2012 paper closed at Rs104.58 (7.47 per cent YTM) against Friday's level of Rs104.50 (7.48 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates were in the range of 4.90 per cent -5 per cent.

CBLO market: 185 trades amounting to Rs8245.15 crore in the rate range of 4.82 to 5 per cent were realised.
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Bajaj Allianz's first premium income up at Rs.860 crore
Mumbai: Bajaj Allianz Life has reported first premium income of Rs860 crore in the financial year 2004-05, which is up by 380 per cent from the previous year's Rs179 crore.

The company issued 2,88,191 policies during the year and received close to 300 claims. The average premium per policy was about Rs25,000.

Renewal premium accounted for Rs141 crore and the Gross Written Premium (GWP) of the company came in at Rs1,001 crore, which is up from Rs219 crore last year.

The company has increased its market share to 3.39 per cent for the year ended March 2005 from 0.95 per cent in the earlier year.
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Andhra Bank eyes business volume of Rs.56,000 crore
Hyderabad: The Andhra Bank has resolved to achieve a business volume of Rs56,000 crore for the current fiscal ending March 2006.

In a press release, the bank said its Business Plan Conference has resolved to attain a business of Rs56,035 crore from a level of Rs45,461 crore achieved during the fiscal ended March 2005, which will mark a growth of 23.26 per cent.

The bank has projected total deposits of Rs33,300 crore, a growth of 20.87 per cent, and advances of Rs22,735 crore, an increase of 26.94 per cent over the previous fiscal. As a result, the credit-deposit ratio was expected to reach 68.27 per cent (65.18 per cent).

The bank proposes to increasingly focus on enlarging its clientele base and low-cost deposits to a level of Rs12,945 crore, which will amount to 38.87 per cent of projected total deposits.

The bank expects its retail lending portfolio to surpass Rs6,500 crore from the level of Rs3,597 crore. Agricultural credit would increase by 43.69 per cent to a level of Rs4,200 crore, amounting to 18.47 per cent of net bank credit, surpassing the RBI norm of 18 per cent. Andhra Bank expects its non-interest income to increase by 41 per cent to Rs406 crore from the previous fiscal level of Rs288 crore.

The bank has also resolved to contain its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at Rs326.5 crore by March 2006 from the existing level of Rs440.93 crore.
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Banking Results: Allahabad Bank, Syndicate Bank

Allahabad Bank annual profit at Rs.542 crore
Kolkata: The Allahabad Bank has said that its net profit for the fiscal were at Rs541.80 crore as compared to Rs463.38 crore in 2003-04. The profits showed a growth of 16.92 per cent and operating profit, at Rs1,072.62 crore (Rs876.25 crore), a growth of 22.41 per cent.

Total business at Rs62,914 crore (Rs47,865 crore) posted a growth of 31.44 per cent. The board of directors have recommended a final dividend of 15 per cent, which together with an interim of 15 per cent, totals 30 per cent for the year under review.

In 2003-04, the bank had declared 20 per cent dividend.
The bank's net NPA ratio declined to 1.28 per cent (2.37 per cent) and gross NPA ratio to 5.8 per cent (8.66 per cent). The NPA provision coverage ratio increased to 77.92 per cent (73.75 per cent).

The Allahabad Bank is also mulling an entry into insurance and realty fund businesses through its subsidiary AllBank Finance Ltd.
According to the bank consultants were working out the details of the insurance foray.

Officials also said that Allahabad Bank had drawn up a revamp plan for AllBank Finance, now having a paid-up capital of Rs60 crore. The emerging opportunities identified included investment banking covering structured finance and debt advisory, insurance broking, stock broking, wealth management and portfolio advisory and underwriting.

Syndicate Bank Q4 net rises to Rs.280 crore
Bangalore: The Syndicate Bank has reported a 7.14 per cent drop in net profit for 2004-05. However, the bank has reported a Rs280-crore net profit for the fourth quarter, against a loss of Rs78 crore in the third quarter.

Syndicate Bank's net profit for the year stood at Rs402.90 crore, down from the previous year's Rs434.13 crore. Operating profits also dropped 5.69 per cent to Rs994 crore (Rs 1,019.25 crore).
Bank officials said that on account of the good fourth-quarter results, the bank has declared final dividend of 14 per cent, which takes the total dividend to 20 per cent for the year.

The drop in profits was largely on account of the large provisioning by the bank. Total provisions for the year stood at Rs561 crore (Rs314.58 crore). Depreciation accounted for Rs382 crore.The large provisions also allowed the bank to bring down its net NPA ratio to 1.59 per cent from 2.58 per cent.

During the year, the bank's gross income was Rs4,322.18 crore (Rs3,861.25 crore), despite a drop in treasury profits of Rs250 crore.

This drop was partially offset by increase in interest earnings on advances, which rose to Rs2,042.10 crore (Rs1,591.60 crore).
Large cash recoveries of NPAs also helped the bank post healthy profits. Interest recoveries of the NPAs are credited to the profit and loss account and principal recoveries to the capital reserves.
The bank's cash recoveries last year were about Rs363 crore, amounting to about 22 per cent of the gross NPAs.

During the year, Syndicate Bank was also able contain the cost of deposits to 4.58 per cent against 4.96 per cent earlier.

Gross expenditure was Rs3,328 crore (Rs 2,842 crore). Interest expenditure rose to Rs2,063 crore from Rs1,655.60 crore.
Officials said that the bank was finalising its Rs50-crore public issue and was awaiting clearance from the Securities and Exchange Board ofIndia this week. The issue would be used to sustain its credit growth of 33 per cent for the current fiscal.

This year the bank also proposes to start two new subsidiaries - a venture capital fund for rural development and a BPO centre.
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