document.writeln("
Rupee
weakens; bond prices fall
Mumbai: The rupee weakened against the greenback on
Monday and closed at 43.4950/50, down from Friday's close
at 43.42/43.
Forwards market: The 6-month premia closed at 1.58
per cent and the 12-month premia ended at 1.38 per cent.
G-Secs: Prices fell by 15-20 paise on the back
of concerns about the outflow of liquidity with the scheduled
Rs7,300 crore state loan auction on May 17. The 7.55-5
year-2010 closed the day at Rs103.5 (6.82 per cent
YTM). The 8.07-12 year - 2017 paper finished trade
at Rs105.28/32 (7.38 per cent YTM). The 7.38-10 year-2015
benchmark paper was traded at Rs101.40 (7.18 per cent
YTM), down from Friday's close at Rs101.48 (7.17 per cent
YTM).
Call rates: The inter bank rates closed at 4.95-5.05
per cent.
CBLO market: 187 trades amounting to Rs8,244.35
crore, in the rate range of 4.80 to 5.10 per cent were
realised.
Back
to News Review index page
RBI:
Floating Rate Bond rates
Mumbai: The rate of interest on the floating rate
bonds, 2014 (FRB, 2014) applicable for the year May 20,
2005 to May 19, 2006, will be at 5.73 per cent per annum,
as against 5.59 per cent in the previous year, said a
press release from the Reserve Bank of India.
The rate of interest on the floating rate bonds, 2006
(FRB, 2006) applicable for the half-year May 22 -November
21 will be 5.5 per cent per annum, as against the earlier
rate of 5.60 per cent.
Back
to News Review index page
SBI
and HDFC dilute stake as CIBIL diversifies shareholding
Mumbai: The State Bank of India and the Housing Development
Finance Corporation (HDFC) have reduced their stake in
Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd (CIBIL) to 16.25
per cent each, down from 40 per cent each.
Their stake has been divested in favour of ICICI Bank,
Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India,
Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Citibank, HSBC, and
Sundaram Finance, according to a CIBIL release.
Seven of these banks now own five per cent stake each
in CIBIL, while ICICI Bank holds 10 per cent and Sundaram
Finance 2.5 per cent, said a senior HDFC official. Dun
& Bradstreet Information Services India and Trans
Union International, the earlier shareholders, will continue
to hold 10 per cent each.
According to CIBIL officials the well-dispersed shareholding
and wider participation by credit grantors will allow
CIBIL to leave a positive impact on the financial sector
in a significant way.
The divestment is in keeping with the Credit Policy of
2004-2005, which said that credit bureaus should move
towards a sufficiently diversified ownership, with no
single entity owning more than 10 per cent of the paid-up
capital in the first stage and five per cent later, the
release added.
Credit information reports from CIBIL enable banks to
offer differential pricing to customers with good credit
records and reduce defaulters, thereby decreasing potential
non-performing assets. CIBIL launched its operations last
year with a database size of four million records from
12 members. The database has now grown to over 20 million
records from 30 members.
CIBIL has a paid-up capital of Rs25 crore.
Back
to News Review index page
HDFC
Standard Life new business premium up at Rs.486 crore
Mumbai: HDFC Standard Life has reported a 132 per
cent increase in new business premium at Rs486 crore for
the year ended March 2005, while total premium income
of the company for the year was Rs687 crore, up from the
previous year's Rs298 crore.
Unit Linked Products accounted for 50 per cent of the
new business premium. The average premium was Rs17,000
and the cumulative sum assured for all the policies issued
last financial year crossed Rs30,000 crore.
HDFC Standard Life has also tracked its New Business Premium
on the basis of Effective Premium Income (EPI), calculated
by giving only a 10 per cent value to a Single Premium
policy. Based on this, bancassurance has contributed to
37 per cent of the premium income and group business has
contributed Rs32 crore.
Back
to News Review index page
SBI
Life premium income grows 166 per cent
Mumbai: SBI Life Insurance has shown a growth of 166
per cent in premium income at Rs601 crore for financial
year 2004-05 against Rs225 crore in the previous year.
Bancassurance contributed 67 per cent of this income.
While credit life insurance accounted for about 75 per
cent of the company's group premium income, new businesses
accounted for Rs482 crore, up by 138 per cent from the
earlier year's Rs202 crore. The company's total new business
sum assured for FY 04-05 is Rs17,285.1 crore. It now manages
a portfolio of 29-lakh lives.
On the growth plans for FY 2005-06 Mr Krishnamurthy said,
"The recent capital infusion by our shareholders
will be utilised for further expansion of our business.
We are also in the process of upgrading our IT within
our branches".
Back
to News Review index page
Govt.
issues freshly designed non-judicial stamp paper
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has approved a new
design of stamp papers in denominations ranging from Re1
to Rs25,000. Production and supply of these stamp papers
have started in a phased manner, a ministry release has
said.
The new stamps papers are printed on special security
paper with special security inks and printing techniques,
the release added. The stamps would now be State-specific,
with the name of the State printed on them. The stamps
would also be serially numbered to make their tracking
easy.
The new design and the special security features are aimed
at countering the menace of fake stamp papers. The Security
Printing Press in Hyderabad has started printing stamps
in denominations up to Rs20, while the India Security
Press, Nashik, is printing the Rs50, Rs100 and Rs500 denominations.
All these stamps are being sent to the States, the release
said.
The Finance Ministry also said that stamps in the denomination
of Rs1,000 and Rs5,000 are under print and would be despatched
in a phased manner. Stamps in the denomination of Rs10,000
to Rs25,000 are in the process of being designed and printed.
According to the release, the complexities of the security
features are commensurate with the face-value of the stamps.
High-value stamps have been printed on special paper with
"intricate security features".
Back
to News Review index page
Metaljunction
launches coal sales through e-auction
Kolkata: Metaljunction Services Ltd, a 50:50 joint
venture between Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India
Ltd (SAIL), has formally launched its new e-auction coal
sales services, Coaljunction.
The new service line intends to leverage the power of
Internet and e-commerce technologies to make coal available
at market-driven prices to all consumers, big and small,
including traders.
Govt. officials said that the State-owned coal companies
together would sell about 10 million tonnes (mt) of coal
per annum through e-auction. The volume would be increased
in phases. If everything went well, the Government had
plans to sell entire production of domestic coal through
this route.
Officials said that the ministry had approached the Union
Cabinet to allow coal companies to sell at least 10 per
cent of their total production through e-auction, but
the Cabinet had pegged the volume to only 10 mt in order
to see how the system works.
Officials said that coal companies under the administrative
control of Coal India Ltd (CIL) had so far acted as producers
and distributors of coal. They now wanted to market their
coal during the post-deregulated regime in the domestic
coal sector.
In fact, Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) has already initiated
e-auction sales on trial basis from utilising services
of Metal Scrap Trading Corporation (MSTC). The services
of Coaljunction would be used now by all subsidiaries
of CIL, including BCCL.
The Managing Director of metaljunction, Viresh Oberoi
said that Coaljunction had been launched to bring about
efficiency and transparency to the way coal is sold. The
other objective was to bring about fair market price realisation
for CIL and its subsidiaries. Oberoi said that Coaljunction
would at present confine its services to the state-owned
coal companies. A complete range of buying, selling, financial,
inspection and logistics services would be provided.
Back
to News Review index page
