Securities recover as rupee strengthens further
Mumbai: The rupee strengthened for the second day in a row to close at 46.30/31 per dollar on Wednesday up five paise from previous day's close of 46.35/36.
Forwards Market: The six-month premia ended at 2.80 per cent (2.53 per cent) and the twelve-month premium closed at 2.45 per cent (2.28 per cent).
G-Secs: Prices crashed by over a rupee in the morning only to recover towards end of the day. The 10-year benchmark 7.37 per cent 2014 paper eased to close at a yield of 6.55 per cent, off from early highs of 6.67 per cent. The 11-year benchmark 7.38 per cent 2015 paper closed up about 80 paise at Rs.105.90.
Call rates tightened substantially to the extent of 5.50 per cent.
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RBI: NBFCs need approval for balance sheet date extension
Mumbai: The RBI has directed non-banking finance companies to take its prior approval before approaching the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to extend the date of its balance sheet as per the provisions of the Companies Act. Even in cases where the RBI and the RoC grant extension of time, the company would be required to furnish to RBI a proforma balance sheet (unaudited) as on March 31 of the year and the statutory returns due on the same date.
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CBI raids officials of Bank of Maharashtra
Pune: The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) conducted a series of raids on the residences of top ranking officials of Bank of Maharashtra, including its Executive Director, A.V. Dugade. The day-long raids conducted across twenty locations in Pune, Mumbai and Delhi was followed up with the CBI lodging a case against Dugade, six other officials of the rank of Deputy General Manager and General Manager of various branches and seven individuals of a private group of firms for "causing undue losses to the bank to the tune of Rs.14.61 crore," according to information released by top official of the investigating agency.

The CBI release directly linked the entire operations to various irregularities in advances to three private firms for export purposes and the failure of the public servants (bank's officials) in ensuring its end use. The CBI release said that it has recovered incriminating documents relating to the accounts of these groups of firms and various firms floated by them.

The bank in the meanwhile maintained that a sub-committee specially constituted to look into 21 cases of old, irregular borrowal accounts has already submitted its reports in 13 of these cases to the bank's Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC). "Of these 13 cases, 8 were referred to the Central Vigilance Committee (CVC), while 6 of them were referred to the CBI''. The bank failed to answer queries regarding the remaining 8 cases of the total of 21 cases that had been identified.

The bank maintained that the operation by the CBI were based on old NPAs for which the bank had made "full provisions'' in its balance sheets and refuted allegations that the bank had suppressed and delayed action against erring officials. The 21 cases under scrutiny are totally valued at over Rs.120 crore.
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ICICI Bank refutes rumours on financial position
Hyderabad: ICICI Bank has denied rumours about the bank's financial position and said that there was no reason to worry. Bank officials said that bank's fundamentals were very strong. There were some apprehensions in the city about the financials of the bank, following trouble in the Global Trust Bank last month. The bank has pointed out that its capital adequacy ratio was 15 per cent and further that it had got good external ratings.
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Home loans from BHW Birla at 7 per cent
New Delhi: BHW Birla Home Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of German major BHW Holding, has come out with a product that offers an effective interest rate of 7 per cent. The company claims that it is able to offer a rate, which is at least 50 basis points lower than its rivals by uniquely structuring the loan. The borrower pays a slightly higher amount in the initial years, which is later applied towards principal, as against traditional home loan companies, where a bulk of the initial payment goes to service interest.

The `Easy Fixed Plus' scheme rides on the company's `Easy Home Loan Deposit' (EHLD) scheme that allows a prospective borrower to save money for a future home, according to a senior company official. Under the existing EHLD scheme of the company, any individual can start a recurring deposit with BHW Birla at 5 per cent rate of interest. After a certain `target amount' is reached, the company would provide an equal amount as loan with minimal amount of paperwork.
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Aviva to hike capital
Chennai: The Aviva Life Insurance Company is to hike its capital base by Rs.50 crore to take it to Rs.293 crore. This was announced by Stuart Purdy, Chief Executive Officer, Aviva Life, at the insurance summit organised by the company in Dubai.
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Tata AIG expects 45 percent growth for fiscal 2004-05
Mumbai: Tata AIG General Insurance Company is expected to see a growth of about 45 per cent in its premium income for the fiscal 2004-05. The company had made a premium income of Rs.353 crore in the previous fiscal along with a maiden profit of Rs.15.30 crore. The growth in premium income was 47 per cent in the last fiscal.

Tata AIG has announced a tie-up with GE Countrywide Consumer Financial Services Ltd, to offer its general insurance products through latter's offices. The rollout will initially begin in 18 locations of GE Countrywide offering Tata AIGs personal lines products. In about a year, the number of cities will be increased to 60.
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IBA talks with the unions fail
Chennai: The conciliation meeting called by the Regional Labour Commissioner of Bombay to settle differences between the Indian Banks' Association and the labour unions ended fruitlessly today. Mr C.H. Venkatachalam, Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association said, "There was no meeting ground in today's meeting. The regional commissioner has advised the IBA to negotiate with the unions once again. But given the attitude of the IBA, the unions are prepared to continue with the scheduled strike on August 24. There is also a dharna being organised by unions in front of the State Guest House in Chennai on Thursday.
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Centurion Bank files letter of offer for 2:5 rights issue
Mumbai: Centurion Bank has filed its final Letter of Offer for its rights issue aggregating Rs.90.8 crore with the stock exchanges today. The bank will offer shareholders 2 shares for every 5 shares held on the record date, which was set earlier at July 23, 2004, at a price of Rs.4 per share, said a press release. After the rights issue, the bank will be in compliance with regulatory capital adequacy requirements, said a press release.

The rights issue is in addition to Rs.154 crore of equity capital infusion in February 2004 by a group of investors, including Bank Muscat, Keppel Corporation, Sabre Capital and ADB. The bank, in consultation with its lead managers JM Morgan Stanley, has fixed August 24 as the issue opening date and September 22 as the issue closing date.
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