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Rupee firms up - Bonds bullish
Mumbai: The rupee traded in the range of 43.42-43.48 closing at 43.47/48, a shade higher than Wednesday's close of 43.49/50.

Forwards market: The 6-month premium closed at 1.42 per cent (1.5) while the 12-month premium closed at 1.3 per cent (1.42 per cent).

G-Secs: Securities rose by 40-80 paise across medium- to long-term papers as declining crude oil prices eased concerns about domestic inflation. Yields in the US bond market had also gone down by four basis points on Wednesday. The 7.38-10 year-2015 benchmark paper was traded at Rs102.50 (7.03 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs102.30 (7.06 per cent YTM), up by about 66 paise from Wednesday's Rs101.64 (7.16 per cent YTM). The 8.07-12 year 2017 paper was up by almost 90 paise and was the most active paper of the day. It ended at Rs106.43 (7.24 per cent YTM) against Wednesday's close of Rs105.64/67 (7.339 per cent YTM). The 7.55-5 year-2010 paper closed at Rs103.25 (6.77 per cent YTM), up from Wednesday's Rs102.98 (6.83 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates were steady at 4.95-5.05 per cent.

CBLO market: 153 trades, aggregating Rs6,436.55 crore, in the rate range of 4.92-5.05 per cent were realised.
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ICICI Bank picks up Russian bank
Mumbai: The ICICI Bank has acquired the entire paid-up capital of Investitsionno-Kreditny Bank (IKB) of Russia by way of implementing its plans to expand its international operations.

An ICICI Bank release said that the bank has its registered office in Balabanovo in Kaluga region of Russia and a branch in Moscow. IKB had an asset base of $4.4 million as on March 31, 2005, the release added.

ICICI Bank has, however, not elaborated on the timing of the acquisition and the cost involved in it.
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Shriram group to partner S. African Sanlam Life in life insurance foray
Chennai: The Shriram City Union Finance, (SCUF) a joint venture of the Shriram group and City Union Bank, will pick up stake in Shriram Life Insurance Company Ltd, which is the life insurance venture of the group. Shriram City Union Finance is a non-banking finance company.

Shriram Life Insurance itself is a joint venture between the Shriram group and Sanlam Life Insurance Ltd of South Africa. Sanlam Life will have a 26 per cent stake in the Rs125-crore capital of the company, while the Indian holding will be with the Shriram Financial Holding Ltd, the holding company of the group, and SCUF.

Company officials said that Shriram Life intends to start operations within the next two months and expects to earn premium income of Rs150 crore in the first year. According to the officials, other larger companies of the group, Shriram Investments Ltd and Shriram Transport Finance Ltd, were also likely to pick up stakes in the life insurance venture.

The Sanlam group, established in 1918, is one of the leading financial services groups in South Africa with a market capitalisation of $ 5.4 billion (Rs24,000 crore). It currently has 3.2 million individual policies under administration. Officials also said that the Sanlam group would raise its stake beyond 26 per cent as and when the regulations allowed it.
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LIC looks to big jump in business via bancassurance route
Hyderabad: Life Insurance Corporation of India officials have said that they expect a four-fold increase in first premium income through alternate channels of distribution, especially the bancassurance route, during the current fiscal year.

Interacting with the media officials said that the corporation had earned a first premium income of Rs15,840.67 crore during the last fiscal, while its total income (provisional) stood at around Rs1,06,540 crore.

Officials said that LIC distributes over Rs7,000 crore as commission to its agents every year, he said, even if banks succeeds in capturing 10 per cent of it they would have revenue opportunities in the range of Rs700 crore.
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Mortality bureau for life insurance companies on the cards
Hyderabad: The Life Insurance Council, representing life insurance companies, has joined hands with the Actuarial Society of India to float a joint venture `Mortality and Morbidity Investigation Bureau'.

The basic objective of MMIB is to study the recent trends in and acquiring more data and information on mortality, morbidity and other specific risk-related contingencies in life insurance.

A memorandum of understanding to this effect has been signed by the Life Insurance Council Secretary General, S.V. Mony, and the ASI President, Liyaquat Khan, here on Thursday.
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Tata AIG premium income up 34 per cent
Mumbai: Tata AIG General Insurance has announced a profit before tax of Rs24.4 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005, a 236 per cent growth from the earlier year's Rs7.3 crore. The profit after tax is at Rs12.2 crore.

The premium income, at Rs469 crore, has grown by 34 per cent from the earlier Rs353 crore. During the financial year 2004-05, the company issued 4,17,500 policies and settled over 65,462 claims amounting to Rs168 crore. Its gross premium mix comprised 57 per cent from consumer lines of business and 43 per cent from corporate and commercial customers.

As on May 10, 2005, Tata AIG General hiked its share capital from Rs125 crore to Rs165 crore. The infusion will be in the ratio of 74:26 from Tata and its partner AIG.
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Banking Results: Centurion Bank, ING Vysya Bank
Centurion Bank turns the corner with Q4 net profit at Rs9.6 crore
Mumbai: The Centurion Bank has posted a net profit of Rs9.6 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2005, against a loss of Rs97.7 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, turning itself around on the back of strong retail growth, halving of NPAs and increase in fee-based income.

Total income for the quarter was Rs119.70 crore (Rs86.75 crore) - total interest earned was Rs91.13 crore (Rs83.22 crore). For the financial year 2004-05, the bank posted a net profit of Rs25.1 crore as against a loss of Rs105.1 crore in the previous year.

Net Interest Margin (NIM) for the year grew 26 per cent to Rs5.8 crore (Rs4.6 crore). Net NPAs improved to 2.5 per cent for 2004-05, (4.3 per cent). Capital adequacy ratio improved to 23 per cent.

ING Vysya Bank posts Rs.38 crore loss in '04-05
Bangalore: ING Vysya Bank has ended the financial year 2004-05 incurring a loss of Rs38.18 crore. The bank had posted a profit of Rs59 crore in 2003-04.

However, it made a small profit of Rs4.69 crore for the fourth quarter of the last financial year, as against a loss of Rs23.26 crore during the corresponding period the previous year.

The bank made an operating profit of Rs99.33 crore for the last year, though it was lower than Rs261.80 crore in the previous corresponding period. The reduced profits for the year were on account of the large provisions it made for depreciation of investments and non-performing assets. The provisions also brought down the banks' Net NPA down to 2.13 per cent from 2.61 per cent.

ING Vysya's total income for the year dropped to Rs1,111.08 crore from Rs1,287.42 crore in the previous year.
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