Bid
for Bombay High, Neelam
New Delhi: Bids will be invited for two
of Indias biggest oilfields, Bombay High and Neelam,
to foreign oil companies. This is being done to enhance
recovery.
Other discovered
fields such as D1 and D12 are also likely to be opened
for bidding. The Oil and Natural Gas Commission has appointed
consultants to study the declining level of output from
these oil fields. The Union petroleum ministry will take
a final decision in the matter on the basis of the consultants
findings.
Bombay High's
oil output, which had peaked at 3,90,000 barrels per day,
is now a lowly 2,30,000 bpd. Neelams peak production
has declined from its peak of 90,000 bpd to 38,000. Each
barrel of increased output would result in a gross foreign
exchange saving of $23.
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Inflation
rises
New Delhi: The inflation rate, measured
as per the wholesale price index, has risen for the third
consecutive week, and was 1.94 per cent for the week ended
4 September 1999. It was1.81 per cent for the previous
week. The rise is attributed to a sharp increase in food
and fuel prices. Primary food articles are given a weight
of 20 per cent in the wholesale price index.
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Dena
Bank to retail gold
Mumbai: Dena Bank will retail gold in
India. It has signed an agreement with UBS and CommerzBank
International, for supplying gold consignments.
The bank
has designated six of its branches Karol Bagh branch
(New Delhi), Soni Bazar (Rajkot), Ashram Road (Ahmedabad),
T Nagar (Chennai), Zaveri Bazar (Mumbai) for retailing
gold.
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Banks
see fall in deposits
Mumbai: Banks reluctance to aggressively
push for increased deposit mobilisation has resulted in
a fall in the growth rate of deposits during the first
half of the financial year 1999-2000. Deposit growth during
the period April to August 1999 was Rs.26,692 crore compared
to Rs.30,139 crore during the same period in 1998. These
figures are as per a J P Morgan research report.
The report
states that the reason for the fall in growth rates of
deposits is the emergence of mutual funds as strong competitors
to banks. Not only have the capital markets been booming,
the 1999-2000 budget had also given various benefits to
investors in mutual funds. Mutual funds raised Rs.7,376
crore during the period April to August 1999.
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Exim
Bank to raise Rs.500 crore
Pune: The Export Import Bank of India
is planning to raise Rs.500 crore through a private placement
during the financial year 1999-2000.
The bank
may also revive its hitherto dormant agreement with Templeton
for providing venture capital assistance to the software
sector. The agreement was for financing venture capital
projects to the tune of $10 million, which Templeton had
put on hold earlier.
In the meantime,
the bank has sanctioned advances worth Rs.800 crore during
the first six months of fiscal 1999-2000. Exim Bank has
also disbursed Rs.400 crore during the same period compared
to the Rs.500 crore disbursed during the first half of
1998-99.
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Newbridge
acquires Korea First Bank
Seoul: US-based Newbridge Capital has
acquired over a 51 per cent stake in Korea First Bank
for $415 million. Korea First Bank is a nationalised
bank. According to the deal, the government has the option
to buy back 5 per cent of Korea First Bank after three
years, which would mean a return of government control
over the bank.
The agreeement
is also significant because only recently the government
failed in its plans to sell another nationalised bank
-- Seoulbank -- to HSBC Holdings of the UK.
Negotiations
for the deal have been on between the two banks since
December 1998. But the government and Newbridge disagreed
on the valuation of the banks assets.
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