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Rupee declines marginally - securities fall
Mumbai: As crude prices touched record highs,the rupee declined marginally against the dollar ending trade at 43.55, against Friday's 43.52/53.

Forwards market: The 12-month premia closed at 0.79 per cent (0.85 per cent) and the 6-month premia ended at 0.77 per cent (0.86 per cent).

G-Secs: In the bond market, prices fell towards the close on account of a rise in the US bond yields from 4.39 per cent to 4.41 per cent YTM. The 10.25-16 year-2021 paper, which is currently most active, closed at Rs125.23 (7.49 per cent YTM). The 7.37-9 year-2014 paper closed at Rs102.69 (6.95 per cent YTM). The 7.38-10 year-2015 benchmark paper was dealt at Rs102.60 (7.01 per cent YTM), down from Friday's Rs103 (6.96 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates closed at 4.75-5 per cent.
Reverse repo auction: The RBI received and accepted 48 bids amounting to Rs31,295 crore.

CBLO market: 266 trades, for Rs11,997.75 crore, in the rate range of 3.25-4.95 per cent, were realised.
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Canara Bank begins China operations
Bangalore: The representative office of the Canara Bank in China has begun operations in Shanghai.

M.B.N. Rao, chairman and managing director, and Sujan Chinoy, the consul-general of India, in the presence of leading bankers and business community members of Shanghai, jointly inaugurated the office, a press release has said.

The representative office will liaise with the banks in China that have dealings with India and also offer banking services through its large branch network.
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Corporation Bank to push business to Rs.55,000 crore
Kolkata: The Corporation Bank is eyeing a 25-30 per cent growth in credit during 2005-06, in order to shore up its business to roughly Rs55,000 crore.

Its total business currently stands at around Rs46,000 crore.
Officials said that the Government's holding in the bank, currently at 57 per cent, is not likely to be reduced immediately. The bank's net worth now stands at Rs3,200 crore.

The officials also said that that the bank is trying to open about 70 new branches. It has also made applications for representative offices in Hong Kong and Dubai.

The bank is also awaiting court approval for merging its home finance subsidiary. The bank's board has already approved the merger.
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SIDBI to disburse Rs.2,500 crore to the SME sector
Chennai: The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is planning to disburse Rs2,500 crore this financial year to finance small and medium enterprises (SMEs), tiny units and micro enterprises, according to N Balasubramanian, chairman and managing director, SIDBI.

SIDBI has already disbursed Rs800 crore to 30,000 units in the SME sector up to July this year. "We are targeting Rs2,500 crore disbursement in the current fiscal," he said.

After signing an agreement with Indian Bank to co-finance projects under the SME sector, service sector and infrastructure projects in Chennai on Monday, Balasubramanian said, that the bank had identified 32 places and 150 clusters across India to promote and finance the SME sector.

As the SME sector has immense potential in generating employment opportunities in the country, SIDBI is planning to tie up with major commercial banks for financing the sector, he added.

In a major move that will improve the quality of credit off take in the SME sector, SIDBI is also planning to set up a credit rating agency, which will come up by September, Balasubramanian informed.

In another move to promote budding entrepreneurs with 'good ideas and vision,' SIDBI has initiated a venture fund recently. "Small entrepreneurs who got an idea and vision will get sufficient capital for their start ups," he said. SIDBI has already disbursed Rs70 crore for new ventures and plan to finance an additional Rs80 crore by March 2006.

According to Balasubramanian, most of the start-ups are coming up in the IT, auto components, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector.
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Banking and financial cos. Results: Indian Bank, ICICI Prudential, PNB

Indian Bank Q1 net up at Rs.137 crore
The Indian Bank has reported a net profit of Rs136.57 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year, compared with Rs118.13 crore in the same period last year, an increase of 15.6 per cent.

Total business has grown 5.3 per cent over the same quarter last year, to Rs2,843 crore. Net advances have increased 33 per cent to Rs4,842 crore and deposits by 4.89 per cent to Rs1,703 crore.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio stands at 13.68 per cent. It has also recovered Rs70 crore from delinquent accounts.

The bank has said that its core-banking solution will be adopted in 500 branches by March 2006.

The bank has also tied up with the Small Industries Development Bank of India for joint financing of small and medium enterprises.

ICICI Prudential Q1 premium income up 57%
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has posted a quarter-on-quarter growth of 57% to notch up an annualized premium of Rs2.65bn in April-June 2005. Of this, Rs520mn came from group business premiums, a growth of 73% over the same quarter last year.

The company has also underwritten 111,522 policies over the period, and notched up a total sum assured of Rs26.19bn. New business-received premiums stood at Rs3.35bn for the quarter.

ICICI Prudential's renewal premiums have seen a huge jump on a quarter-on-quarter basis, from Rs770mn to Rs2.12bn, a growth of 177%. Unit-linked policies continue to be the most popular product platform, comprising 86% of the total business.

The company's market share in the April-June 2005 period stood at 33%, amongst all private companies and nearly 10% of the total market, including LIC.

PNB pays Rs.55 crore dividend to Govt
The Punjab National Bank has paid a dividend of Rs54.67 crore to the Government for the financial year 2004-05.

The Chairman and Managing Director, PNB, S.C. Gupta, handed over the dividend cheque to the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram.

The final dividend of 30 per cent is in addition to the 30 per cent interim.
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