The Hindu Business Line : Tuesday, September 02, 2003

Move to boost pension reforms — PPF likely to be phased out
THE proposed pension sector reforms are expected to have a major victim, with the Government considering phasing out the hugely-popular three-decade old Public Provident Fund (PPF) scheme. With powerful tax saving and retirement planning ... More

INSIGHT

Dr Jalan on exchange rate, reserves — India's currency model best for Asia
EXCHANGE rates have always excited controversy. Indeed, one of the most politically explosive economic episodes in India's history concerned the devaluation of the rupee in 1966. The ruling party was sharply divided, ... More

Tasks before Dr Reddy at RBI
DR Y. Venugopal Reddy is taking over as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). I had an opportunity to work with him during the tumultuous days of the Gulf Crisis in the early 1990s. He was then Joint Secretary in ... More

FOREX

Rupee weakens; g-secs decline
MUMBAI: The rupee on Monday opened higher but closed a notch lower, comparable to Friday's closing levels of 45.8550/8650 against the dollar. There was good dollar inflow, which was matched by demand from banks towards the latter half ... More

LIFE INSURANCE

LIC rides Sensex wave, books Rs 1,200-cr gain
THE Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has booked a profit of about Rs 1,200 crore from sale of its investment in equities since April this year, a senior official said on Monday. In January-March-2003 when Sensex was ruling at 2900 points, LIC ... More

LIC relaunches New Jeevan Shree
LIFE Insurance Corporation of India on Monday re-launched the Jeevan Shree-I scheme on its 47th anniversary. The assured returns scheme, which had been pulled out of the market earlier on account of the guaranteed additions becoming ... More

Ernakulam LIC division registers 26 pc growth
THE Ernakulam division of the Life Insurance Corporation of India has registered a 26 per cent growth in the premium income among the 12 divisions in the southern zone. The division had achieved a first premium of Rs 24.71 crore in the current ... More

GENERAL INSURANCE

Oriental Insurance back in the black; PBT at Rs 176 cr
ORIENTAL Insurance Company Ltd (OIC) has clocked a net profit of Rs 64 crore for fiscal 2002-03 as against a net loss of Rs 235 crore during the previous fiscal. The company has registered a profit before tax of Rs 176 crore during 2002-03. At ... More

United India improves show
UNITED India Insurance has reported a pre-tax profit of Rs 214.15 crore for 2002-03, compared to Rs 156.69 crore for the previous year. Profit after tax was Rs 170.18 crore, compared to Rs 152.85 crore in 2001-02. The public sector non-life ... More

CREDIT RATING

S&P upgrades banking outlook to `stable'
THE global rating agency Standard & Poor's on Monday revised its outlook for the Indian banking system to `stable' from `negative.' However, S&P said the industry risks in the country remain high relative to other developed banking markets. ... More

Govt welcomes upgrade
THE Finance Ministry on Monday welcomed Standard and Poor's upgrading the outlook of Indian banks to `stable' from `negative.' "The timing has been opportune, considering that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued the licence for the ... More

PRIVATE BANKS

Pre-paid travel card from UTI Bank
PRIVATE sector UTI Bank is targeting 25-30 per cent growth in advances for the year ending March 2004. ``The retail book will grow faster than the corporate book. But, majority of our business is still corporate. We see our total advances ... More

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

Core profitability of PSBs has improved: Crisil study
TREASURY income, falling interest rates and profits from investments have aided public sector banks to maintain the trend of improving core profitability in 2002-03, in addition to the `impressive' overall profitability growth trend, according to ... More

GOVT BONDS

Has RBI's sterilisation drive `approached its limits'?
THE Reserve Bank of India's holdings of Government of India (GoI) securities have plummeted to a low of Rs 69,469 crore, raising questions about the sustainability of its sterilisation operations for neutralising the continuing surge in foreign ... More

Kerala to issue power bonds

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