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Rupee
in range - securities steady
Mumbai: The rupee, though range bound, gained slightly
on Wednesday ending trade at 43.52, a shade higher than
Tuesday's close of 43.54.
Forwards market: The 12-month premium closed at
1.35 per cent (1.32 per cent) and the 6-month at 1.55
per cent (1.50 per cent).
G-Secs: In the bond market, the 7.27-8 year-2013
paper ended at Rs101.12/15 (7.08 per cent YTM), almost
the same as Tuesday's Rs 101.10 (7.09 per cent YTM). The
7.38 per cent - 10 year-2015 benchmark paper was
traded at Rs101.4850 (7.17 per cent YTM), slightly higher
than Tuesday's Rs101.44 (7.18 per cent YTM).
Call rates: The inter bank rates ended at 5-5.05
per cent (4.75-5).
Reverse repo: In the reverse repo auction, under
the liquidity adjustment facility, the Reserve Bank of
India received and accepted 31 bids amounting to Rs18,470
crore.
CBLO market: 227 trades, put through in the 4.91-5.10
per cent range, amounting to Rs7,688.60 crore, were realised.
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Securities
resale norms relaxed
Mumbai: In order to deepen the government securities
market, the Reserve
Bank of India has decided to permit buyers of securities
from original allottees to resell them on the same day.
At present, buyers of securities are not allowed to re-sell
them without securities being actually transferred into
their investment accounts.
In a notification issued today, the RBI said, "It
has been decided to permit a buyer from an allottee in
a primary auction to re-sell the security subject to compliance
with the terms and conditions."
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RBI's
Technical Advisory Committee on monetary policy meets
Mumbai: The Reserve
Bank of India's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
on Monetary Policy held its first meeting here today.
The meeting was chaired by the Governor, Dr. Y.V Reddy.
A press release said the committee reviewed the macroeconomic
developments in the context of the forthcoming first quarterly
review of the Annual Policy Statement for the year 2005-06,
scheduled for July 26, 2005.
The RBI had set up the advisory panel with external experts
to r strengthen the consultative process in monetary policy.
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91
and 364 day T-bill auctions fully subscribed
Mumbai: The auctions of the 91-day and the 364 -day
Treasury bills on Wednesday were fully subscribed, said
a Reserve
Bank of India press release.
The notified amount for the 91-day Treasury bill was Rs2,000
crore.
The RBI received 46 competitive bids, amounting to Rs3,238.70
crore. Of these, it accepted 21 bids. The cut-off price
was Rs98.65. The partial allotment percentage amounted
to 46.91 per cent from 15 bids. The weighted average price
was Rs98.66.
The RBI did not receive any non-competitive bids for this
auction.
In case of the 364-day Treasury bill, the notified amount
was Rs2,000 crore. The RBI received and accepted 57 competitive
bids, amounting to Rs2,676 crore. It accepted 46 bids.
The cut-off price was Rs 94.45.
The partial allotment percentage amounted to 95.29 per
cent from six bids. The weighted average price was Rs94.50.
The RBI received one competitive bid amounting to Rs30.33
crore. The partial allotment percentage was 100 per cent.
The devolvement of RBI was nil in both the auctions.
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RBI's
technology vision document asks
banks to focus on rural areas
Chennai: The Reserve
Bank of India has released its Financial Sector Technology
Vision Document for the period 2005-08, which aims to
provide inputs for banks on the RBI's medium term policy
perspectives in this area.
The Vision document acknowledges that the risk management
systems, and the preparedness for implementation of anti-money
laundering and Basel-II norms, in terms of technology,
is still in its infancy.
The document underlines the challenges posed by the presence
of varied types of banks and the different reporting requirements
that make the adoption of a generic architecture for all
banks difficult.
The document says, "The major challenge staring at
bankers in India relates to the need to introduce innovative,
customer friendly products and services for which newer
technologies have to be brought in multiple areas to reduce
the overall transaction costs."
It draws attention to the fact that IT implementation
has traditionally targeted metros and urban customers.
It says, "The time has now come to make the benefits
of IT penetrate to the rural population as well. There
may be also a need to provide for multi-lingual facilities,
which is a migration from the existing English-only paradigm,
in a manner akin to some of the other large countries
such as China, Korea and Japan."
The document calls for the setting up of business continuity
plans and disaster recovery systems, given the large-scale
dependence on IT.
With regard to government-related transactions, the Vision
document calls for computerisation of respective government
departments. This would enable reduction in delay in providing
service to customers as well as enable faster dissemination
of information.
Listing some of the emerging challenges in this area (government
transactions), it said, that procedural changes would
be required and amendment to treasury rules would be needed
for e-governance. It also pointed out that cross-certification
of digital signatures would be required since the certification
authority for the banking sector and Government were different.
The document, laying a roadmap for the above, said that
the retail activities of the RBI were being hived off
or entrusted to a separate set of banks as for example,
in the case of the new MICR-based cheque-processing centres.
A time-bound plan would be formulated to ensure their
complete IT-based functioning, the document said.
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LIC
dominates single premium policies in FY05
New
Delhi: According
to data compiled by insurance regulator IRDA, when it
comes to individual single premium, LIC
has been the preferred insurer for FY05. In the case of
individual non-single premium segment, that is traditional
products, the newer private players are creating opportunities,
though.
As
far as the group premium segment is concerned, SBI Life
dominates for group-single premiums possibly on account
of its housing loans that are hedged by taking term life
covers.
According
to IRDA, with the stock market booming and with more disposable
income in the pockets of the young and the employed, life
insurance is on an upswing and the industry can expect
40% growth in FY06 with the right strategies.
New
business in FY05 saw an impressive growth of 35.7%. The
life insurance industry recorded a new business premium
level of Rs25,343 crore. The accretion over the FY04 figure
was to the tune of Rs6,674 crore, with LIC contributing
Rs3,546 crore and thirteen private players contributing
the rest, registering a growth rate of 128.7%.
Of
the total new premium income (Rs25,343 crore), the individual
segment contributed Rs20,933 crore while group contributed
the balance. Within the individual segment, single premium
policies contributed Rs5,904 crore while non-single traditional
policies contributed the rest.
Unit
linked policies (ULIP) constituted the majority of the
single premium policies at Rs4,940 crore while, in traditional
products, ULIP constituted another Rs3,041 crore. In total,
ULIP constituted Rs7,981 crore, that is almost 31%, of
the total new business accrued.
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PNB
to offer 12-hour banking at all centralised branches
New Delhi: The Punjab
National Bank has decided to offer 12-hour banking
services at all its 650 centralised banking branches across
41 cities in the country.
During the extended hours customers would be able to access
all types of banking services normally available.
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SIDBI,
IL&FS tie up to develop textile parks
Mumbai: IL&FS
and SIDBI
Ltd have tied up to provide infrastructure and financial
support in the development of textile parks. The tie up
intends to provide a boost for small and medium textile
units.
Under a MoU signed between the two institutions on Wednesday,
IL&FS will give infrastructure and marketing support
and SIDBI will provide short-term and long-term capital.
Based on the public-private partnership principle, these
textile parks will see the central and State governments
working together with the owners of the weaving and processing
units and the two financial institutions, said an IL&FS
official.
SIDBI-IL&FS combine has already identified seven textile
parks - four in Tamil Nadu, two in Andhra Pradesh and
one in Karnataka - for development.
Exports from the textile industry are likely to increase
by Rs15,000 crore once the textile parks are set up.
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Tata
AIG's mobile service for insurance claims
Mumbai: Tata
AIG General Insurance Company Ltd (Tata AIG General)
on Wednesday launched its SMS-based initiatives to provide
customers with another avenue to register their claims
and renew their policies.
Through this initiative, a customer has to register his
claim by typing 'Claim' and sending an SMS to 8888. The
company's call centre would then contact the customer
and provide assistance in registering his claims in addition
to addressing any claim related queries, Tata AIG said
in a release here today.
The service would be accessible through all mobile services
providers across the country, it said.
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