Rupee firms up five paise
Mumbai: The rupee closed about five paise stronger at 46.27/28 on Monday. It had closed at a year's low on Friday at 46.32/34.
Forward Market: The six-month forward closed at 2.37 per cent (2.35 per cent) while the twelve-month closed at 1.89 per cent (1.96 per cent).
G-Secs: The 10-year benchmark 7.37 per cent 2014 was traded up to 5.92 per cent yield to maturity (YTM) against the previous day's closing of 5.91 per cent YTM.
Call rates: Closed at 3.50-4 per cent in the inter-bank market.
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Nabard cuts rates and accepts prepayment of loans
Thiruvananthapuram: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has reduced interest rates on outstanding refinance, and has accepted pre-payment of high-cost refinance from banks, according to an official press release. Nabard has so far accepted early repayment of refinance amounting to Rs 76 crore from the co-operative banks and regional banks, the release stated.
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GTB and Oriental bank merger: No share swap
Mumbai: The RBI has announced a draft scheme of amalgamation for the Global Trust Bank and the Oriental Bank, which will be implemented after August 7. The RBI has said that the merger date would be announced after the government approves the scheme. Till then the moratorium will be in force. This means, customers of GTB will not be able to do any transactions with the bank apart from those permitted under the moratorium at least till August 7. The RBI has also said it is open to increasing the Rs 10,000 limit on withdrawals. Under the proposed amalgamation scheme, all the assets and liabilities of GTB will be transferred to OBC after proper valuations are made.

Both the banks are listed on stock exchanges, but there will be no share swap arrangement. This is because the net worth of GTB is negative and shareholders would be last in the queue for any claims on the bank's assets. All employees of GTB will be retained by OBC at the same remuneration and other term and conditions. All deposit accounts of GTB will be transferred to OBC. The RBI said that the merger proposal was made by OBC as it perceived synergies between the two banks. The bank has not asked for any concessions from the RBI. OBC, with over 1,000 branches, has its main strength in the North and GTB with a total number of 104 branch has major presence in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
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Federal Bank Q1 net up
Kochi: The Aluva based Federal Bank has reported a 20 per cent increase in its net profit for the first quarter of the current fiscal to Rs 45.03 crore, as against Rs 37.43 crore reported for the corresponding period of the previous year. The total income of the bank increased to Rs 372.46 crore (Rs 365.86 crore), even as the total expenditure decreased marginally to Rs 254.14 crore (Rs 254.21 crore). Consequently, the operating profit has increased to Rs 118.32 crore (Rs 111.65 crore). The gross NPA has come down from 7.44 per cent in March to 7.20 per cent as on June 2004. The net NPA decreased from 2.89 per cent to 2.32 per cent.
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