Rupee strengthens further - gilts move up
Mumbai: The rupee strengthened for the second consecutive session on Tuesday to end at 43.80/81 against the dollar, finishing 14 paise stronger than its previous close at 43.94/95 to the dollar.

Forwards Market: The six month annualised premium closed at 2.07 per cent (2.25 per cent) and the one year annualised premium at 1.51 per cent (1.65 per cent).

G Secs: The benchmark 7.38 per cent 2015 paper ended at Rs105.30 at a yield of 6.68 per cent while the 7.55 per cent 2010 paper ended at Rs105.12 at a yield of 6.41 per cent.

Call Rates: In a tight range of 5.90 to 6.00 per cent.

CBLO market: 141 trades worth Rs5,500 crore were transacted.
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New Securities Bill tabled in Lok Sabha
New Delhi: The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has introduced the Government Securities Bill, 2004 in the Lok Sabha. The Bill aims to make trading in Government securities more customer-friendly by doing away with the various `rigidities and deficiencies' in the Public Debt Act, 1944.

Among other things, the new Bill - which also seeks to repeal the Indian Securities Act, 1920 - enables creation of pledge, hypothecation or lien in respect of Government securities, which means allowing individuals to these as collateral for borrowing purposes.

The Bill allows banks, which maintain a subsidiary general ledger (SGL) account with the Reserve Bank of India, to operate a constituent SGL on behalf of an individual.

While the bank would be deemed to be the holder of such an account, the constituent would, however, be a beneficial owner, who "shall be entitled to claim from the holder all the benefits and be subjected to all the liabilities in respect of Government securities held in the Constituent SGL account."
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IDBI: NPAs transferred to Stressed Assets Fund
Chennai: IDBI will avoid Rs750 crore of provisioning consequent to the transfer of Rs9,000-odd crore of non-performing assets (NPAs) to the Stressed Assets Stabilisation Fund, the IDBI Chairman and Managing Director, M. Damodaran, has revealed.

Under the proposed scheme, Rs9,000-crore of NPAs will go off the books of IDBI, into the Stressed Assets Stabilisation Fund. IDBI will get in return, 20-year, non-interest bearing bonds worth the amount. The bonds will be redeemed as and when the bad loans are recovered.

He has also indicated that the swap ratio of the merger of IDBI and IDBI Bank would be decided next month. Since it is a merger of two banks (now that IDBI has become a deemed bank), there is no need to go to the High Courts for approvals, Damodaran noted.
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PNB awaiting nod for second public offer
New Delhi: Having completed all formalities for its second public offer, the Punjab National Bank is awaiting the Government's nod to hit the capital market. The PNB intends to sell five crore shares through its second public offer.

The bank expects advances to grow by 23.4 per cent to Rs58,000 crore this fiscal from Rs47,000 crore last fiscal. Deposits are likely to grow by 16 per cent to Rs1,00,000 crore this fiscal from Rs86,000 crore in 2003-04.
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IndusInd launches 'young savers' scheme
Mumbai: IndusInd Bank launched `IndusInd Young Saver' a savings scheme for children on December 19. Children can open a savings account with the bank with a minimum opening balance of Rs11 under this savings scheme, said a press release.

The scheme has plans for education loan at concessional rates for professional courses children could pursue in future.
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