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Rupee moves up - G-Secs decline
Mumbai: The rupee gained against the dollar on Monday closing the day at 43.56/57, up from Friday's close at 43.61/62.

Forwards market: the 12-month premium closed higher at 1.35 (1.33) per cent and the 6 month at 1.56 per cent (1.50).

G-Secs: The 7.27-8 year-2013 paper which is currently most active closed at Rs100.70 (7.15 per cent YTM), down from Friday's Rs101.08 (7.09 per cent). The 7.38 - 10 year-2015 benchmark paper was dealt at Rs100.90 (7.25), lower than Friday's close at Rs101.40 (7.18).

Call rate: The inter bank rates closed at 5.10-5.30 per cent (6 per cent).

CBLO market: 205 trades were put through in the rate range of 5.05 - 5.50 per cent, aggregating Rs7,671.50 crore.
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IDBI commissions Watson Wyatt to work out roadmap for insurance JV
Calcutta: IDBI Bank has firmed up plans to float a life insurance company on its own and has engaged the Indian arm of international consultants Watson Wyatt to work out a roadmap for the venture as well as to look out for joint venture partners.

Watson Wyatt is an international consultant, which provides wide-ranging insurance and financial services. SBI Life's former chief executive R. Krishnamurthy heads the Indian arm of the consultant.

IDBI chairman V.P. Shetty stated at a press conference that Watson Wyatt would find out joint ventures partners, which may be foreign or domestic, or both. The IDBI chairman also said that the plans would crystallise within the next two to three months.

The chairman also said that IDBI aims to grow organically and increase the number of its branches to 500 by March 2008. Currently IDBI has 131 branches and the number will go up to 200 in the current financial year. In the next two years, 300 branches will be added.

The bank is aiming at a 25 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in the next three years. The growth in retail will be 42-45 per cent. The retail credit is expected to grow from Rs6,000 crore to Rs12,000 crore in the current financial year.

IDBI, which, so far, had been providing term loans to companies, is open to the idea of providing working capital advances to them. The bank has identified specific areas of investment: power, roads and basic infrastructure.
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Dena Bank to reduce NPAs
Calcutta: Dena Bank plans to reduce its non-performing assets (NPA) from 5.23 per cent of advances to 2 per cent in the current financial year. The NPAs of the bank as on March 31, 2005 stood at Rs550 crore.

The bank also plans to cut its gross NPA, which now stands at 9.7 per cent, to 5 per cent by the end of the current fiscal, said chairman and managing director M.V. Nair on the sidelines of the Banking Conclave organised by FICCI. The gross NPA, on March 31, stood at Rs1141 crore.

The capital adequacy ratio of the bank now stands at 11.9 per cent.

The government holding in the bank has come down to 51.19 per cent following two public issues. "We have no room for further dilution. We will have to take preferential route for raising further capital," added Nair. He also said that to meet Basell II norms and achieve a 25 per cent growth in assets, the bank would need Rs450 crore as tier I capital and the balance as tier II.

Speaking about targets, Nair said during the current financial year, deposits growth was pegged at 20 per cent over last year's Rs 20,000 crore. The bank plans to grow its advances by 26 per cent from Rs12,000 crore in 2004-05.

Recognising the importance of the small and medium enterprises sector in the economic growth and the opportunities that it would provide to the banks, Dena Bank is entering into an arrangement with Sidbi for financing of SMEs. A strategic business unit has been set up with a pre-defined role to push SME credit.
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Centurion net zooms 251 per cent
Mumbai: Centurion Bank's net profit jumped by 251.4% to Rs11.1 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 as against Rs3.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal.

The bank has declared standalone results for this quarter without considering the results for the same period of the Bank of Punjab, with whom the bank's board has approved a merger.

Centurion Bank's managing director Shailendra Bhandari said that the bank was currently working on an integration plan that would lead to efficient distribution of available resources.

For the reporting quarter, the bank's total income rose by 51% to Rs73.6 crore (Rs48.7 crore). An increase in other income to Rs20.6 crore in the reporting quarter (Rs6.6 crore) was accounted for by an increase in wealth management fees and core banking income.

The net interest income for the April-June quarter of 2005 stood at Rs53 crore (Rs42.1 crore), reflecting a growth of 25.8%. The interest expended grew by 8% to Rs46.26 crore (Rs42.99 crore) while its operating expenses grew by a modest 19% to Rs57.3 crore (Rs48.1 crore).

As of June 2005, net advances grew by 49% at Rs2448.5 crore (Rs1640.2 crore), with retail advances growing by 66.6% at Rs2319.6 crore (Rs1392.7 crore). Total deposits were up by 18.6% to Rs3,564.2 crore (Rs3,004.8 crore).

In the same period, its net non-performing assets (NPA) have fallen to 2.4% (4.4%). The bank's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) has gone up to 20.7% from 5.1% as of June 30, 2004.
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