The Hindu Business Line : Tuesday, March 30, 2004

FARM CREDIT
Banks may let FCI prepay loans sans penalties
AS part of a strategy to retain good customers on their books, public sector banks have indicated that they would not impose any prepayment charges on Food Corporation of India (FCI). FCI was allowed to raise funds directly through bonds early ... More

INSIGHT
Private banks: Profitability easier to invent than reinvent
If the banking sector has an NPA level of 3-4 per cent of GDP, and is still "improving dramatically," it is because a "large number" of banks made huge `treasury' gains, which they used judiciously to "clean up" the system. Private banks, relative ne wcomers, did not have much spring cleaning to do. More

Capital Account Convertibility — Right road, but best with speed-breakers
With foreign investors investing their money on the Bombay Stock Exchange and Indian companies acquiring foreign assets with foreign capital, full rupee convertibility seems the way to go now. But there is need for careful monitoring of the inflows a nd their end-use as, otherwise, India could invite trouble like the East Asian and Latin American countries. More

FOREX
Rupee gains 40 paise, closes at 44.06
BUOYED by the strong tide of dollar inflows into the country, the domestic currency gained another 40-paise lead over the greenback on Monday, closing at 44.06/07 per dollar in a liquidity-driven forex market. According to market participants, ... More

STOCKS
Valuation hopes inspire interest in ICICI Bank
THE ICICI Bank stock on Monday perked up on the prospect of a new valuation opportunity provided by its equity issue, which opens from April 2. Today's huge volume driven demand saw the stock cross the upper limit of the issue price band and ... More

HOUSING FINANCE
Birla Home Fin securitises retail housing loans
BIRLA Home Finance Ltd (BHFL), a joint venture between Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd and BHW Holding AG of Germany, has securitised its retail home loans at a premium of Rs 9.277 crore. The Residential Mortgage-Backed Securitisation ... More

CREDIT RATING
`Earnings strong enough to absorb BCCI fines' — Moody's affirms stable ratings on Bank of India
MOODY'S Investors Service has affirmed the Ba2 long-term and not Prime short-term foreign currency deposit ratings of Bank of India (BoI) as well as the bank's D financial strength rating (FSR). The outlook on all ratings remains stable. ... More

RBI & OTHER CENTRAL BANKS
RBI Mumbai offices to function on Apr 1
MUMBAI: All the offices of the Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai will conduct normal business on Thursday (April 1), said a news release.

RBI raises WMA ceiling for States
THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has hiked its aggregate normal ways and means advances (WMA) of State Governments by 13.53 per cent to Rs 8,140 crore effective from April 1, against the earlier limit of Rs 7,170 crore. The minimum normal WMA ... More

PRIVATE BANKS
Karnataka Bank plans to vend mutual funds
KARNATAKA Bank, the Mangalore-based private sector bank, is planning to become a `supermarket of financial services' in the next couple of years. Having already taken up non-fund based businesses such as selling insurance products and ... More

Federal Bank sees rate gains from renewal of NRI deposits
FEDERAL Bank expects the average cost of deposits to come down by nearly 2 percentage points in 2004-05, as a big chunk of NRI deposits will mature that year and will be priced down upon renewal. The Kerala-based bank has NRI deposits of around ... More

Lakshmi Vilas Bank's business tops Rs 5,000 cr
THE total business of the Karur-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) has crossed Rs 5,000 crore. It comprises deposits of around Rs 3,100 crore, according to Mr A Krishnamoorthy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the bank. Mr Krishnamoorthy, ... More

GOVT BONDS
G-sec deals to shift to new settlement mode
THE settlement mode of Government securities transactions, now carried out through the Clearing Corporation of India, will be shifted to the Delivery Versus Payment-III (DVP-III) mode effective April 2. With this, each security will be ... More

Bond prices up in thin trading
MUMBAI: Bond prices were up by 9 paise to 13 paise across some maturities on good liquidity in the Government securities market on Monday. The 10-year benchmark paper, the 7.37 per cent 2014 paper opened at Rs 117.12/15 and closed at Rs ... More

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Allahabad Bank mulls acquisitions in South
THE state-owned Allahabad Bank plans to buy similar public sector or privately owned banks or financial institutions to spur growth in the South, the Chairman and Managing Director, Mr O.N. Singh, has said. The target companies are likely to ... More

ALLIANCES & JOINT VENTURES
PNB ties up with NCR for faster cheque clearance
The process of cheque truncation reduces the clearing time window in all the clearings, offering significant time benefits to the customers and cost savings to the banks. More

Andhra Bank to share ATMs with HDFC Bank
ANDHRA Bank has entered into an alliance with HDFC Bank for sharing its network of automated teller machines (ATMs). In a press release here on Monday, Andhra Bank said the ATM sharing, which would bring about synergy, would be made operational ... More

Cross Currency Rates

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Looking back
Mar. 21-Mar. 27
Forex reserves increase by $464 million

Bonds get a boost from inflation figures

Vijaya Bank eyes NBFCs for acquisition

LIC covers 2 crore lives

GIC stops reinsurance of third-party motor risk

Market stabilisation scheme — RBI to issue bonds, T-bills for Rs 35,500 cr

IRDA restores 5 pc special discount, tags riders