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Rupee recovers ground - bonds rise
Mumbai: The rupee recovered some of its losses against the greenback on Friday closing at 44.84/85, up from Thursday's 44.9450/9550.

Forwards market: The 12-month premium closed at 0.47 per cent (0.55) and the 6-month at 0.47 per cent (0.63).

G-Secs: The 10.25-16 year-2021 paper closed at Rs125.45 (7.46 per cent YTM), higher than Thursday's Rs125.20 (7.49 per cent YTM). The 7.37-9 year-2014 paper ended at Rs102.29 (7 per cent YTM). The 7.38-10 year-2015 benchmark paper closed at Rs101.80 (7.12 per cent YTM), up from Thursday's Rs101.60 (7.15 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates closed at 4 per cent (5-5.05).

Reverse repo: In the three-day auction, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 22 bids amounting to Rs9,255 crore.

CBLO market: 335 trades, for Rs11,609.15 crore, were realised.
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RBI: T- Bill auctions
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India proposes to raise Rs2,500 crore through the auction of the 91-day and 182-day Treasury Bills, under the Market Stabilisation Scheme. Of this Rs1,500 crore would be raised through the auction of 91-day T-bills, while Rs1,000 crore would be raised through the auction of 182-day T-bills.

According to an RBI press release, the bank also proposes to raise Rs1,000 crore through the regular auction, with Rs500 crore each to be raised in the auctions of the 91-day T-Bills and 182-day-T bills respectively.

The auctions will be conducted using `Multiple Price Auction' method.

Tenders should be submitted on October 19. Successful bidders will have to make payment on October 21.
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Citigroup focusing on organic growth in India
Mumbai: Citigroup, one of the top banking groups in the world, has said that it is focusing on organic growth in India rather than embarking on the acquisition route.

"Citigroup is focused towards organic growth strategy. We would like to take a patient view towards growth of business. We have a lot of room to grow in India," said Citigroup Global CEO Charles Prince, who is the first Citigroup CEO to visit India after five years.

Prince said Citigroup had the patience to go by the regulations of the Reserve Bank of India. As of now, foreign banks are not allowed to take over local banks. However, the RBI has come out with a road map for listing and takeovers by foreign banks by 2009.

Speaking on India as an investment destination, Prince said ample opportunities exist in India and Citigroup is positive about Indian growth prospects and the group is retaining all their earning from the country as investment. He also stated there has been fresh capital infusion in the bank's India operations time to time as per the requirements.

Prince also said that currently the ratio of Citigroup's earning from US vis-a-vis other global destinations was to the tune of 60:40, but thte bank was aiming to reduce it to 50:50 in the next five years. Markets in Asia are likely to grow rapidly when compared to Europe and Latin America, he said.

Citigroup has $10 billion in assets and 15,000 employees in India, including outsourcing unit E-Serve and a finance company Citicorp Finance Ltd through which it funds retail loans.
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GDS issue from India Cements raises US$100mn
Chennai: India Cements has raised US$100mn (about Rs450 crore) through a Global Depositary Shares (GDS) issue. The issue is meant primarily to extinguish some of the company's debt.

Following the inflow of GDS funds, India Cements' long-term debt-equity ratio would stand at about 1.5:1 as compared to a ratio of 5:1 at the beginning of the year. The GDS would make up about 21.5 per cent of the company's equity.

The GDS was priced at about Rs95 a share, about 3 per cent less than the closing price on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on October 13.

An India Cements press release said that the GDS pricing "represents one of the tightest discounts witnessed in recent times by an Indian GDS offering." The GDS will be listed on the EuroMTF of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The GDS issue included a greenshoe option of US$15mn (about Rs67.5 crore), which has not yet been exercised.

This is the second largest equity transaction this year. Earlier, the company reached a deal with a foreign institution — Asian Debt Management — to raise Rs250 crore through equity-related instruments. In addition to the equity-related instruments, Asian Debt Management agreed to invest an additional Rs405 crore through debt.

Asian Debt would hold about 17 per cent of the equity in India Cements once it fully exercises the conversion option in the equity-related instruments it currently holds.

India Cements controls the largest cement capacity in south India, i.e. about 9 million tonnes (including 1 million tonnes with Visaka Cement). The company registered a net profit of Rs4.58 crore in 2004-05 after a period of losses.

The India Cements press release said that ABN AMRO Rothschild and Deutsche Bank acted as joint global coordinators and joint book runners on this transaction.
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Highest ICRA rating of LAAA for Tata Power debentures
Mumbai: Tata Power Company Ltd's Rs1,000-crore and Rs500-crore non-convertible debenture programmes have received the highest LAAA rating from Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA). The earlier rating was LAA+, informed a press release issued by the company.

The LAAA rating is the highest credit quality rating assigned by ICRA, and signifies the lowest credit risk.

The rating revision takes into consideration the company's stable cash flows from the licensee area and reduced vulnerability to competitive pressures given the energy deficit in the Western region. Clarity on regulatory issues with the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission's (MERC) announcement of tariff principles that would be adopted from this year; and sale of non-core assets, which has offset the impact of lower operating profitability have also been taken into account.
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BoI to ramp up overseas operations
Kochi: The Bank of India intends to upgrade its office in China, and set up a new branch in that country as well. The bank also plans to open new offices in Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan.

However as far as the Pakistan operations are concerned there are a lot of formalities still to be complied with before these branches become a reality, bank officials said.

The bank will also be upgrading its Vietnam office, and will open a new subsidiary in Tanzania and a new branch in Belgium. The bank has substantial exposure in the diamond and jewellery business for which the Belgium office will become a major facilitator. Belgium and New York are the two major hubs for the global diamond business and the bank already has an office in New York, officials said.

Almost 20 per cent of Bank of India's business turnover comes from its international business. The bank has 23 branches and offices abroad, including major centres such as London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Nairobi, Vietnam, Shenzhan and Jakarta. By extending its global reach, the bank plans to expand its global business.

The corporate plan for the current year envisages operating profits to touch Rs2,000 crore, deposits Rs93,450 crore, advances Rs69,650 crore and net NPAs of less than 1 per cent.
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Baja Auto Finance to raise share capital
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd has informed BSE that its board of directors has approved the increase in the authorised share capital of the company to Rs50 crore from the existing Rs20 crore.

The decision to raise funds through various means would be taken up in the next board meeting, the company said.
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UK patents ruling: Crisil reaffirms outstanding ratings on Ranbaxy
Mumbai: CRISIL has reaffirmed its outstanding ratings on the fixed deposit and commercial paper programmes of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. The reaffirmation follows the ruling of the UK High Court of Justice in a case filed by Ranbaxy against Pfizer, challenging two of latter's patents on atorvastatin (marketed by Pfizer as Lipitor).

The court has ruled that one of Pfizer's patents is invalid, but that Ranbaxy's product infringes the other patent. Ranbaxy has announced that it intends to appeal against the second decision.

The ratings continue to reflect Ranbaxy's leading position as the largest Indian player in the global generics market and one of the top ten globally. Ranbaxy's strong position as the third-largest player in the Indian pharmaceutical market also drives its rating.

According to a Crisil report, Ranbaxy's strong market position derives support from its sound research and development capabilities across process re-engineering (generics), specialty drugs, novel drug delivery systems and basic research areas.

However, Ranbaxy's declining profitability because of increasing pricing pressures in its mainstay US market, growing R&D expenditure, and high litigation costs continues to be a key rating sensitivity factor.
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Banking Results: UTI Bank

UTI Bank net up 136 per cent to Rs.109 crore
Mumbai: Mid-sized UTI Bank has reported a 135.85 per cent jump in net profit to Rs109.01 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2005 from up from Rs46.22 crore a year earlier.

The net profit in July-September 2005 has grown at a compounded annual rate of 30 per cent over two years, suggesting that the bank's profitability is close to its growth trajectory, said P J Nayak, chairman and managing director, UTI Bank.

UTI Bank's board has also approved proposals to float two wholly-owned subsidiaries. One of them would be a sales and services subsidiary to deal with bank's products. This subsidiary will also help the bank boost sales of its credit cards, proposed for launch in the fourth quarter of 2005-06. The second subsidiary will be a venture capital fund for providing finance to infrastructure.

In the second quarter of 2005-06, UTI Bank's total income increased by 94.23 per cent at Rs865.73 crore against Rs445.72 crore a year earlier. Net interest income (NII) stood at Rs255.45 crore in July-September 2005, reflecting a healthy increase of 41 per cent from Rs180.72 crore a year earlier.

Advances grew by 75 per cent at Rs18,404 crore as at end September 2005 from Rs10,498 crore a year ago.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio was 11.77 per cent against 10.67 per cent a year earlier. Its net non-performing assets were 1.03 per cent as on September 30, 2005.
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