Strong dollar inflows prop up rupee
Mumbai: Strong dollar inflows for ICICI Bank and DLF issues helped strengthen the rupee by three to four paise. The rupee opened at 40.80/82 to finally close at 40.71/72 against Wednesday's close of 40.75.

Forwards: The six-month forward premia stood at 2.93 per cent (2.81 per cent) and 12-month premia at 2.83 per cent (2.73 per cent).

Bonds: Prices rose by about 10 paise, and yields fell by one basis point driven by the surplus liquidity in the system. The yield on the 10-year-paper ended at 8.23 per cent on Thursday against the previous close of 8.24 per cent.

The 7.49 per cent 10-year-paper closed at Rs95.08 (8.23 per cent) against the previous close of Rs94.98 (8.24 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent 10-year-paper closed at Rs99.50 (8.14 per cent YTM), against the previous close of Rs99.45 (8.14 per cent).

Call rates: The inter-bank call rates remained at the low level of 0.2-0.3 per cent for the second consecutive day.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction, the RBI received 34 bids for Rs47,805 crore, while it accepted bids to the tune of Rs1,994 crore. In the second one-day reverse repo auction, the central bank received 34 bids for Rs32,500 crore while it accepted Rs1,006 crore. There were no repo bids in the first and second one-day auctions.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 236 trades aggregating Rs24,807.50 crore in the 0.02 per cent-0.1 per cent range.
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State Bank of Hyderabad launches MoneyGram remittance service with UAE Exchange
Hyderabad: The State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) will soon launch `MoneyGram', a popular foreign inward money remittance product in association with the UAE Exchange & Financial Services. The facility will allow cash remittances to take place in just 10 minutes, for amounts up to $2,500 from overseas accounts.

An added advantage is that the recipient does not need to have a bank account, but can conduct the transaction with a valid ID card.

As per RBI rules, a person can conduct a maximum of 12 transactions in a year, with $2,500 as the limit each time. The remittance should be for personal use only.

About 250 branches of the SBH in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra will offer the service at the start. The bank expects remittances of up to Rs1,000 crore after the product's launch on July 16.

UAE Exchange is the super agent for MoneyGram in India, and will facilitate transactions through agreements with Indian banks.
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Deutsche Bank says full-year net higher by 73%
Mumbai: The Deutsche Bank has posted a net profit of Rs218.22 crore for the fiscal ended March 2007, an increase of 73 per cent from the previous year's Rs125.92 crore.

Total income increased 40 per cent to Rs1,625.36 crore, from Rs1,158.97 crore. Total assets of the bank jumped 47 per cent to Rs17,715 crore from Rs12,050 crore.

Its capital adequacy in India stands higher at 13.2 per cent (10.62 per cent).

Total advances increased by 92 per cent to Rs4,945 crore (Rs2,581 crore) while total investments grew by 90 per cent to Rs6,203 crore (Rs3,260 crore).

Net NPAs were negligible at 0.01 per cent.

According to a press release, Deutsche Bank recently infused Rs1,125 crore of fresh capital in its Indian operations.
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Syndicate Bank to go for public issue in current fiscal
Manipal: The Syndicate Bank is planning to come out with a public issue in the current fiscal in order to meet Basel II requirements and also to continue growth in business, according to chairman and managing director, C.P. Swarnkar.

Seeking shareholder approval at the eighth annual general meeting at Manipal, in Udupi district, on Thursday, he said that the bank would initiate requisite preparatory work and seek the approval from the regulators and the Union Government after getting the same from shareholders.

"Because of our international operations, the bank is required to be Basel II compliant by March 2008. We have foreseen robust growth in our business. In order to continue the growth, we need higher capital.

To meet these two ends, and since there is headroom available, we are now proposing this public issue," he said.

The resolution for the follow-on public issue was approved on the occasion.

Swarnkar informed the shareholders that the bank's paid-up capital was likely to touch Rs601.97 crore (Rs521.97 crore) after the public issue. With the public issue, the Government equity in the bank will come down to 57.63 per cent (66.47 per cent).
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