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Rupee firms up - securities weaken
Mumbai: The rupee gained substantially against the greenback on Thursday closing the day at 43.5150, up from Wednesday's close at 43.56/57.

Forwards market: The 12-month premium closed at 1.3 per cent (1.31) and the 6-month at 1.48 per cent (1.45).

G-Secs: The 7.37-9-year-2014 paper, which is currently the most active paper, closed at Rs103.20 (6.87 per cent YTM). The 7.38-10 year-2015 benchmark paper was dealt at Rs103.58 (6.88 per cent YTM), down from Rs103.70 (6.86 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates remained tight at 5.70/75 (5.75-5.5).

CBLO market: 244 trades in the rate range of 5.05 per cent to 6.00 per cent, aggregating to Rs7,259.35 crore, were realised.
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IndusInd Bank net down 19.67 per cent for 2004-05
Mumbai: IndusInd Bank has reported a 19.67-per cent drop in net profit for the financial year 2004-05, mainly due to fall in treasury income.

The bank has reported net profit for the fiscal at Rs210.15 crore as against Rs262.07 crore in the previous year. Total income for the bank was at Rs1,385.15 crore (Rs1,331.08 crore), while net interest income was at Rs415.51 crore (Rs316.9 crore).

The bank has recommended a dividend of Rs1.8 per share of face value of Rs10.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2005, the bank reported an increase of 29.08 per cent in net profit, at Rs62.91 crore against Rs48.73 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Total income was at Rs373.03 crore (Rs320.35 crore), while net interest income was at Rs123.15 crore (Rs69.35 crore).

Speaking to media persons, Mr Bhaskar Ghose, Managing Director, said the fall in profit this year was due to the fall in income from treasury operations. "We took a hit of Rs 52 crore due to the depreciation of Government securities."

Net interest margin for the year was at 2.92 per cent against 2.62 per cent in the earlier year. Capital adequacy ratio was 11.62 per cent (12.75 per cent). The net non-performing asset was at 2.71 per cent (2.72 per cent).
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Infosys to integrate Oracle applications with Finacle
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies has said that it will integrate its Oracle E-Business Suite of applications into its universal banking solution Finacle.

The integration will enable financial services companies to acquire a world-class core banking solution unified seamlessly with financial, ERP and performance management applications - streamlining IT management and support, said a Infosys press release.

Infosys will integrate a range of Oracle E-business Suite applications, spanning financial and corporate performance management, project management and business intelligence.

Targeted applications include Oracle Financials, Oracle Procurement, Oracle Projects and Oracle Balanced Scorecard, the release said.
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SBI targets doubling of overseas business
Mumbai: The State Bank of India (SBI) has set a target of around $100 million in income from its overseas operations. Addressing the bank's annual general meeting here on Thursday, A. K. Purwar, Chairman, said that SBI's income from its overseas operations in 2004-05 was $50 million.

Currently, the bank has 54 overseas offices in 28 countries. In the coming months, the bank plans to increase the number of overseas offices to around 75.

In February 2005, SBI picked up a 51 per cent stake in Mauritius-based Indian Ocean International Bank Ltd (IOIB). Furthering its acquisition plans, the bank is looking to acquire small and mid-sized banks in Asian and African countries, Purwar said.

On SBI's bad loans, Purwar said the bank hoped to bring the NPAs to below 2 per cent by March 2006. It will lend aggressively to agriculture, small and medium enterprises and retail consumers and also seek to tap opportunities in the services industry.
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Canara Bank to raise Rs.500 crore via bonds
Bangalore: The Canara Bank has ruled out equity issue during the year and proposes to raise at least Rs500 crore through issue of bonds during the current financial year in order to augment its capital.

M.B.N. Rao, Chairman and Managing Director, has said that this capital was required in view of the high credit growth, which was upwards of 30 per cent during last year.

An equity issue during the year is ruled out in view of the high capital to risk weighted assets ratio. This ratio for Canara Bank is currently upwards of 14 per cent. The high capital adequacy was also contributed by the recovery efforts of the bank and balance sheet clean-up through liquidation of non-performing assets.

So far the bank has sold about Rs100 crore of bad loans to the Asset Reconstruction Company of India Ltd.

Rao also said that the bank, which is celebrating its centenary year, was launching special deposit products targeting senior citizens. This product, branded as Canrelax, would be in the form of an annuity scheme offering the benefits of a pension. This scheme would be in the form of 5-year and 10-year duration deposits.

The bank this year plans to bring at least 1,000 more branches into the computer network. Besides, the bank also plans to expand its operations into South Africa, West Asia and to North America. In addition, the bank proposed to convert some of its existing operations in Shanghai to full-fledged branches. The bank's deposit taking company in Hong Kong is in the process of being upgraded into a branch.
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