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Rupee fall continues - securities up
Mumbai: The rupee continued to slip on Wednesday, closing at 43.56/57, lower than Tuesday's close of 43/53/53.

Forwards market: The 12-month premium closed at 1.31 per cent (1.31 per cent) and the six-month premium closed at 1.45 per cent (1.44 per cent).

G-Secs: The 8.07-12 year-2017 paper closed at Rs109.15 (6.91 per cent YTM). The 7.38-10 year-2015 paper was dealt at Rs103.60 (6.88 per cent YTM), up from Tuesday's Rs103.50 (6.89 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates closed at 5.75-5.5 per cent (5.5).

CBLO market: 190 trades in the rate range of 5.10 per cent to 5.98 per cent, aggregating Rs6,556.25 crore, were realised.
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RBI: T-bill auctions fully subscribed
Mumbai: The auctions of the 91-day treasury bill and the 182-day treasury bill on Wednesday were fully subscribed, said an Reserve Bank of India (RBI) press release. The notified amount for the 91-day treasury bill was Rs2,000 crore.

The RBI received 44 competitive bids, amounting to Rs4,030 crore. Of these, it accepted 12 bids. The cut-off price was Rs98.68. The partial allotment percentage amounted to 49.26 per cent from 11 bids. The weighted average price was Rs98.69.

The RBI also received four non-competitive bids, amounting to Rs782.265 crore, which were accepted. The partial allotment percentage was 100 per cent.

In case of the 182-day treasury bill, the notified amount was Rs1,500 crore. The RBI received and accepted 24 competitive bids, amounting to Rs1,507.10 crore. The cut-off price was Rs97.25. The partial allotment percentage amounted to 85.80 per cent from 1 bid. The weighted average price was Rs97.35.

The devolvement of RBI was nil on both the bills.
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RBI: Floating rate bonds
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has set the interest rate on the floating rate bond (FRB), maturing in 2017, at 5.93 per cent per annum for the half-year from July 2, to January 1, 2006.

It set the interest rate on the FRB maturing in 2015 at 5.78 per cent per annum for the year July 2 to July 1, 2006.
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Bank of Punjab and Centurion complete merger
New Delhi: The Bank of Punjab (BoP) and the Centurion Bank (CB) have merged to form the Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBP). The merger has been effected through a share swap ratio of 9:4, that is for every four shares of Rs10 of the Bank of Punjab, its shareholders will receive nine shares of Re1 of Centurion Bank.

The merger will be subject regulatory and shareholder approvals. After the merger, the paid up capital of the merged entity will be around Rs128 crore and the net worth will be Rs692 crore.

After the merger, the bank will have total assets of Rs9,395 crore and deposits of Rs7,837 crore. The merger will change the holding pattern in the bank. Bank of Muscat, which holds 31% in CB, will now hold 25% in the merged bank. The holdings of Capital Corporation and Sabre Capital, which were 14% and 5.4% respectively in CB will come down to 11% and 4.4% respectively in the new bank. The 27% holding of Tejbir Singh in BOP, will also come down to 5%.
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Infosys and B-Source tie up for business service provisioning
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies and B-Source have announced a partnership to provide 'pay-as-you-transact' services, known as Business Service Provisioning, to European banks in the private and asset management sectors. This model helps simplify management of IT infrastructure and back-office administration, enabling private banks to focus on customer service.

The product would enable private banks to expand operations outside European markets to deliver products and solutions in the global marketplace.
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I-Sec to set up shop in Singapore
Mumbai: I-Sec, the merchant-banking arm of ICICI Bank, may have become the first Indian merchant banker to receive permission from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to commence operations in Singapore.

I-Sec was spun off from ICICI Securities Ltd as a wholly owned subsidiary.

I-Sec officials said that it would take another two weeks or so before operations could commence. Both the office location and staff had been identified.

ICICI Securities Inc has been permitted to act as lead manager and arranger for issue of equity and equity linked instruments (Singapore Depository Receipts and Convertible bonds) by Indian companies. It can also act as an underwriter and provide broking and related services to investors in the secondary market.

According to company officials, the permission allows them to target Singapore companies as well.
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SIDBI ties up with UCO Bank for funding resources
Kolkata: The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), which expects to have a direct credit exposure of Rs5,000 crore by end-March 2006, is planning to raise substantial funds over the next few months.

While the bank has already tied up $120 million, courtesy the World Bank, additional resources have also been finalised through the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK.

SIDBI, which has now signed an MoU with UCO Bank to increase the flow of credit to SMEs, and has decided to forge similar arrangements with a couple of other banks, officials said.

The Indian Bank and the Oriental Bank will soon join the Bank of India (BOI) and the UCO Bank, as the entities that it has already tied up with.
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Syndicate Bank to provide BPO services
Kolkata: The Syndicate Bank has firmed up plans to enter the BPO space, through a venture aimed at catering to a number of sectors.

The bank says that it intends to deploy select personnel and use its own premises to serve businesses such as insurance and credit cards. The idea is to leverage the potential of its staffers, provide them the right training and environment, and enable them to add value to clients from across industries.

The bank is hoping to secure mandates from companies, which may need assistance for salary disbursements. The bank says that it will also look at insurance outfits that require back-office inputs.

The bank also proposes to foray into venture funding, through a special purpose vehicle that will be earmarked for investing in agri-projects. Final details of the plan are yet to be worked out, though RBI permission for the venture fund has been obtained.
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DCB declares net loss of Rs.163 crore
Mumbai: The Development Credit Bank (DCB) has recorded a net loss of Rs163 crore on account of provisioning and re-valuation for the fiscal 2004-05.

The bank's promoter, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), which is the majority shareholder of the bank at 68 per cent, recently strengthened the bank's balance sheet through an investment of $32 million (Rs140 crore) and has increased its provisions on its non-performing assets (NPAs).

Coverage of NPAs now stands at 54 per cent, the bank said.
The fresh capital infusion has helped the bank absorb the impact of the depreciation of its investments in government securities, which were re-valued on a mark-to-market basis in September 2004, the bank said.

The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) is within acceptable norms at 9.8 per cent. Going forward, the bank plans to further strengthen its balance sheet and proposes to raise capital during the current financial year.

The bank has also undertaken a cost-cutting exercise by trimming down its staff by 20 per cent from a year ago.

The bank has also appointed former IDFC Managing Director Nasser Munjee as its chairman with effect from August. He succeeds Naushad Padamsee, who has served as chairman since 1995.
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