Rupee dips as bonds rule steady
Mumbai: The rupee ended trade at 43.7205 on Wednesday against the US currency, lower than Tuesday's close of 43.67/6725.

Forwards market: Premia closed slightly stronger, with the 12-month premium closing at 1.5 per cent (1.45 per cent) and the 6-month premium at 1.75 per cent (1.65 per cent).

G-Secs: The 7.38 per cent, 10-year-2015-benchmark paper ended at Rs101.95 (7.11 per cent yield to maturity), almost unchanged from Tuesday's close of Rs101.90 (7.11 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent 12-year-2017 paper, which is currently the most actively traded paper, ended at Rs105 (7.42 per cent YTM), slightly higher than Tuesday's close of Rs104.97 (7.43 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates were steady between 4.70 and 4.80 per cent (4.78-4.80 per cent).

CBLO market: 189 trades, aggregating Rs7108.70 crore, in the rate-range of 4.01 to 4.85 per cent were realised.
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New RBI guidelines on risk exposure disclosures for FIs
Mumbai: Financial institutions, which do not accept public deposits, and having an asset size of Rs500 crore and above, will be subject to limited off-site supervision by the Reserve Bank of India from March 31.

The RBI, in another notification, has also directed all FIs to disclose their exposures to risk and their strategy towards managing it.

Regarding off-site supervision, RBI said the existing system of off-site supervision will be replaced with a simplified information system known as the "Quarterly return on important financial parameters in respect of select Financial Institutions."

The return, certified by the FI's Chief Executive Officer and the Statutory Auditor, should be submitted to RBI within one month from the end of the quarter to which it relates. With the limited off-site supervision system in place, RBI will no longer undertake the Annual Financial Inspection.

The risk disclosures should include exposure to risks in derivatives, risk management systems, objectives and policies.
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IOB's fiscal net up 27 per cent
Chennai: The Indian Overseas Bank has reported a net profit of Rs651.36 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005, against Rs512.76 crore for 2003-04, which marks a growth of 27 per cent.

The bank has recommended a final dividend of Rs1 per share (10 per cent) which takes the total dividend for the year to Rs2.40 (24 per cent).

The bank has said that the bank's outstanding advances as on March 31, 2005 stood at Rs26,274 crore, which was 23 per cent more than Rs21,293 crore a year earlier. The deposits have grown to Rs44,241 crore (Rs41,482 crore).

The total business has therefore increased to Rs70,500 crore, a growth of 12 per cent over the last year.

Net NPA has declined to 1.27 per cent from 2.85 per cent. Gross NPA stood reduced to 5.28 per cent from 7.4 per cent. Seventy six per cent of gross NPAs are covered by provisions. Cash recovery out of NPAs during the year was Rs345 crore, against the target of Rs250 crore. The capital adequacy ratio has improved to 14.21 per cent from 12.49 per cent.

The bank had to book depreciation of Rs62 crore for the fall in the value of securities. Other income declined to Rs 639.80 crore (Rs 740.65 crore).

The proposed GDR issue is likely to happen by August, bank officials have said.
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Andhra Bank fiscal net up at Rs520 crore
Mumbai: Amid falling interest rates and treasury incomes, the Andhra Bank has posted a net profit of Rs520.1 crore for the fiscal 2004-05, registering a growth of 12.21 per cent over the previous fiscal. Its total business is up 25.15 per cent at Rs45,461 crore.

The board has recommended a final dividend of 15 per cent in addition to an interim dividend of 15 per cent, taking the total dividend for the year to 30 per cent.

The total non-interest income has shown a growth of 11 per cent at Rs753.35 crore (Rs 678.04 crore).

The bank said that it has recorded a substantial growth of 105 per cent in terms of recovery in written-off accounts at Rs64.75 crore (Rs31.65 crore). It said that currently it has the lowest net NPAs in the industry. The gross NPAs have come down to 2.46 per cent (Rs441 crore) from 4.6 per cent (Rs615 crore), while net NPAs were brought down to 0.28 per cent (Rs49 crore) from 0.93 per cent (Rs120 crore).
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IDFC net up 17 per cent in 2004-05
New Delhi: The Infrastructure Development and Finance Company (IDFC) has reported a 17 per cent increase in net profit to Rs304 crore from Rs259 crore in the previous financial year. Its total income in 2004-05 has increased by 14 per cent to Rs728 crore.

The company's earnings per share rose to Rs3 from Rs2.60 while return on assets was at 4.3 per cent. The non-performing assets stood at nil at the end of March 2005.

Disclosing the results, IDFC officials said that the initial public offer of the company is expected to hit the capital market by June-end. IDFC would also launch a new fund with a corpus of Rs1,300 crore by December this year for investing in infrastructure development projects, they said.

According to the officials, the IDFC's balance-sheet is expected to grow from the present Rs8,500 crore to around Rs25,000 crore over the next five years at an average annual growth rate of 25 to 30 per cent.

The Government currently holds 35 per cent stake in IDFC directly and another 5 per cent through IDBI.
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LIC total income grows by 14.45 per cent
Mumbai: The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has announced a 30-per cent increase in first premium income of Rs15,840.67 crore in 2004-05 over Rs12,179 crore last year. Of this, Rs12,174 crore came from individual business, where the company sold 2.39 crore policies.

The company settled 1.07 crore claims during 2004-05, of which 1.03 crore were policies that had matured, while 4 lakh were claims after death. The outstanding claims ratio is about 0.11 per cent. The average size of the policy in terms of sum assured is Rs76,320 and first premium per policy is Rs5,081.

LIC's market share has fallen by almost 10 per cent in the past one year to about 78 per cent. LIC officials said this was inevitable with new entrants joining the fray.

The pension and group business has contributed Rs3,666 crore to the kitty. This accounts for 17 per cent of LIC's total business.
For LIC, 35.25 per cent of its first premium business came from two of its Unit Linked Plans (ULIPS). Bima Plus brought in Rs2,183.5 crore and Future Plus, the unit linked pension plan, Rs2,107.75 crore.

LIC's total income amounts to Rs1,06,540 crore , a growth of 14.45 per cent and the total assets stand at Rs4,62,000 crore, a growth of 26 per cent. The total value of investments is about Rs32,000 crore, up from last year's Rs25,300 crore. The market value of this investment is about Rs60,624 crore.

Officials said that LIC would introduce six policies in the current year and once the guidelines on micro-insurance are finalised by the IRDA, they would also introduce products in this area.
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