Liquidity position comfortable: Jalan
Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India governor Bimal Jalan said the current level of liquidity in the financial markets is very comfortable. He said, "We are comfortable with the current levels of liquidity and stand committed to increasing it when necessary."

Mr Jalan has been reacting to the volatile situation in the money market and the high pitch of trading.

Immediately after the announcement, the markets reacted with six-month forward dollar premiums closing 80 basis points lower than the 12 August close of 5.6 per cent. The prices of government securities perked up 15 to 20 paise before falling slightly. The interest rate in the overnight money market, however, touched a high of 35 per cent.
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MSCI-EMF weightage being altered
Mumbai: Morgan Stanley Capital International said it is increasing weightage for Taiwan and re-including Malaysia in the MSCI Emerging Market Free, an index which fund managers worldwide use for their fund investments.

The step may adversely affect investment positions in India. India's weightage in the MSCI-EMF was 8.5 per cent on 30 July, 1999, while Korea had the highest with 15.8 per cent followed by Taiwan's 11.1 per cent and South Africa and Mexico's 's 11 per cent. The index comprised 25 emerging market countries.
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RBI curb on Kirloskar Investments
Bangalore: The Reserve Bank of India said it has frozen all assets of Kirloskar Investments & Finance and has prohibited the company from accepting or renewing any deposit.

RBI said an inspection of the books of account of the company revealed that the financial position of the company was not satisfactory and that the company had not complied with several provisions of the directions issued by the RBI.

A number of depositors of the company had laid a siege on the company's premises, demanding return of their deposits. They alleged that the company has not repaid the matured deposits or even interest on these deposits.
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New healthcare insurance unit under GIC
Calcutta: The government has granted in-principle clearance to set up a new subsidiary for the General Insurance Corporation to run healthcare insurance operations. Formal approval will be issued by the new government after the elections.

GIC will also set up another subsidiary for crop insurance, which is now being managed through the state government. GIC chairman Debdutta Sengupta said all the healthcare insurance schemes floated by various GIC subsidiaries will come under the purview of the new subsidiary.

The concept of healthcare insurance will change to managed healthcare services and will be more in line with the schemes available in developed countries.
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Sarrc initiative on Y2K in banks
Calcutta: The banking community in Saarc countries has decided to share information on the Y2K problem. Various banks have also agreed to work on contingency plans together for business continuity in the region.

These decisions emrged from a Saarc meeting on Y2K problems and regional cooperation for business continuity in the banking sector held in Sri Lanka recently.

The governors of the central banks of member-countries, barring Pakistan, recommended that the apex bank in each country should take proactive action to share information on Y2K problems.
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Loans to textile units for IT induction
Ahmedabad: The textile upgradation fund set up by the government to modernise the textile sector will extend loans at concessional rates of interest to purchase hardware and software by textile mills.

The decision of the government in this regard was conveyed to the industry by Shyamal Ghosh, secretary, ministry of textiles, at a regional conference and exhibition on IT in the textile sector.
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Trai application dismissed
New Delhi: The Delhi high court dismissed an application by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India seeking to replace private telecom operators with Trai as appellant in the case where the operators had challenged an earlier order of the court curtailing the jurisdiction of the regulatory body.

A division bench of the court dismissed the application as not pressed and observed since the paging service provider Modi Korea Telecommunications has not withdrawn the main appeal.

Meanwhile, the Cellular Operators Association of India has withdrawn its appeal against the single judge order of the court which paved the way for the entry of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam into cellular service in Delhi and Mumbai.
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Abhyudaya Bank deposits cross Rs 1,000 cr
Mumbai: Abhyudaya Cooperative Bank has become one of the few banks in the cooperative sector to have Rs 1,000 crore in deposits.

The bank, which has a scheduled bank status in Maharashtra, is one of the largest cooperative banks. The bank posted a net income of over Rs 11 crore for the financial year 1998-99.
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