6 january 2002

inflation slides back to 2.21%
new delhi: an over eight per cent fall in the price of vegetables and a near two per cent in edible oils, coupled with marginal fall in sugar and tea prices, pushed the inflation back to 2.21 per cent for the week ended 22 december, as compared to 8.57 per cent in the year ago period.

the week witnessed point-to-point price change based on wholesale price index (wpi) shedding a marginal 0.06 per cent from the previous week's level of 2.27 per cent, even as ragi, mutton, poultry chicken, sugarcane, woollen and hessian cloth, and mopeds became costlier.

5 january 2002

pnb, vijaya make fresh bid of insurance foray
mumbai: punjab national bank (pnb) and vijaya bank are scouting for a partner for their insurance venture with swiss insurer zurich.

the move comes after the new delhi-based hero group pulled out of the venture at the last minute. the group was supposed to hold 51% while zurich would have been holding 26%. the remaining stake was to be split between pnb (15%) and vijaya bank (8%).

while sbi is the only psu bank to get the central bank nod, vysya bank and jammu & kashmir bank are the private sector banks to get rbi okay for their insurance plans.

4 january 2002

citibank eyes centurion stake
mumbai: citibank is keen on picking up a 26.1 per cent stake in the centurion bank. the american banking major has already done its due diligence and the recommendations have also been forwarded to its head office.