20 January 2001

D&B ratings Indian business optimism dips
Mumbai: Dun & Bradstreet's India Business Optimism Index for January-March 2001 has continued to decline, with all six parameters including net sales, net profits, selling prices, new orders, inventory levels and employees, recording steep drops. Three of the optimism indices, including net profits, selling prices and inventory levels touched all-time lows in the first quarter (Q1) of 2001 and remaining three including net sales, new orders and employees were at their second-lowest levels.

The negative sentiment is deeper in manufacturing sector, whereas the service sector continues to remain largely upbeat. The index is arrived at on the basis of a quarterly survey of business expectations from a sample of companies that are selected randomly from D&B's commercial credit file. The steep drop in business optimism in Q1 2001 strongly reinforces the negative outlook witnessed in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2000.

The survey says that the decline of business optimism in India is along the lines of the negative trend witnessed globally. The Asian region reported the sharpest drop in Q4 2000 with all five Asian indices retreating.

19 January 2001

Indian Bank to distribute HDFC insurance policies
Mumbai: HDFC Standard Life Insurance has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chennai-based Indian Bank, for exclusive marketing of insurance policies of HDFC Standard Life.
As per the agreement, a few hundred of the bank's 2,000 odd branches, which cover a wide spectrum of the market, would be selected and the bank will nominate one person each in these branches to persuade its customers to buy HDFC Standard Life's policy.
Initially, HDFC Standard Life branded services would be promoted and later both the partners are looking forward to co-branding products. The Indian Bank is reputed for its customer service and has seen its deposits grow by 18-19 per cent, despite problems of bad debts, which has resulted in erosion of bank's networth.