20 september 2003

rbi decree to rnbcs on nre deposit rates
mumbai: the reserve bank of india has said that interest rates on fresh repatriable nre deposits accepted from non-resident indians by residuary non-banking companies (rnbcs) must be in line with the interest rates offered by scheduled commercial banks and non-banking finance companies.
scheduled commercial banks can pay interest on these deposits contracted in india for one to three years not exceeding 100 basis points above the libor/swap rates for the us dollar of the corresponding maturity on new repatriable nre deposits. rnbcs are not allowed to accept deposits for a period less than one year with the maximum period set at three years.

dealers says genuine dollar inflow will continue
mumbai: market participants across the board are optimistic about the long-term outlook of the rupee-dollar exchange rate, say reports. while genuine inflows will continue to grow, funds coming in for pure interest rate advantage will recede, dealers were quoted as saying. they said despite the recent central bank measures, nothing much seems to have changed to create such a volatility both in the forex and the inter-bank money markets.
"india is an attractive market and on a medium term outlook, the rupee is expected to remain firm. but in the short term, foreign exchange inflows on a daily basis will tend to slow down. since the rupee is fairly valued, as per reer, it is likely to exhibit two-way volatility depending upon export cancellations and outflows owing to the resurgent india bond (rib) redemption on one hand and reduced inflows on the other," said m a ravikumar, regional head, global markets, standard chartered bank.

sbi, pnb in race for big bull's 11% acc stake
mumbai: the late harshad mehta's 11-per cent holding in cement major acc, which will be out for open bidding from the custodian's shelf shortly, is attracted new bidders. along with old bidders like lic and a few private players, including mehta's shell companies, some new entrants which are joining the fray to pick up the shares are the two large domestic state-owned commercial banks - state bank of india (sbi) and punjab national bank (pnb).
sources were quoted as saying that sbi and pnb are interested in bidding for this holding. market sources pointed out that though these two banks cannot invest more than 5 per cent of their total investment in equities under the prudential guidelines, the attraction of a blue-chip company and the available lucrative bid price are believed to be the two key motivating factors for these banks to join the bidding bandwagon.

19 september 2003

rbi eases advance remittance norms
mumbai: the reserve bank of india has liberalised the procedure for advance remittance by authorised dealers of over $100,000 or equivalent without bank guarantee for import of goods into india.

nri-owned overseas firms on par with foreign investors'
mumbai: the reserve bank of india has today permitted overseas entities owned by non-resident indians (nris) to enjoy all the facilities available to any foreign investor, including automatic route for foreign direct investment.
however, these entities will not be able to enjoy any special facilities such as holding nre, nro, fcnr(b), savings or current accounts.

rib outflows will not impact markets
mumbai: with the resurgent india bonds redemptions just a fortnight away, the reserve bank of india has reiterated that ` no cognisable impact' is anticipated in the financial markets on account of the dollar outflow.

sbi computerisation drive
kochi: all branches of sbi in kerala will be fully computerised soon, mr c. narasimhan , chief general manager, kerala circle, said while inaugurating the full branch computerisation of the ernakulam south branch.

sbi, bajaj auto sign pact
mumbai: state bank of india and bajaj auto ltd on thursday announced a strategic tie-up to offer loans for its two-wheeler customers.
the two entities signed an agreement entering into a preferred relationship for extending consumer finance all across the country.

lic in pact with sbi caps
mumbai: life insurance corporation of india (lic) has entered into a strategic alliance with sbi caps to avail of the merchant banker's investment banking and project advisory services.
lic

18 september 2003