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Rupee continues plunge - closes at Rs.44.02
Mumbai: The rupee continued its downward slide against the dollar on Tuesday, ending trade at 44.02, lower than Monday's close of 43.89. The rupee had touched 44.08 in January and analysts say that these levels are likely to continue for some time, as in their opinion the rupee was overvalued.

Forwards market: The one-year premium closed at 0.63 per cent (0.6 per cent), while the 6-month premium closed at 0.66 per cent (0.51 per cent).

G-Secs: The 7.37 per cent 9-year 2014 paper closed at Rs102.08 (7.02 per cent YTM), lower than Monday's level of Rs102.12 (7.04 per cent YTM). The 10.25 per cent 16-year-2021 paper closed at Rs125.50 (7.46 per cent YTM), almost unchanged from the earlier close of Rs125.50 (7.47 per cent YTM). The 7.38 per cent 10-year benchmark paper was dealt at 7.08 per cent YTM.

Call rates: The inter bank rates were steady at 5-5.05 per cent (4.90-5.05 per cent).

Reverse repo: In the one-day auction the RBI received and accepted 43 bids amounting to Rs28,070 crore.

CBLO market: 270 trades for Rs9,830.40 crore in the rate range of 4.67-5 per cent, were realised.
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Advisory council chief, Rangarajan, advocates higher deposit rates
New Delhi: C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, has said that banks need to adjust deposit rates upwards.

"We have to pay attention to the rate of interests offered on deposits. For most maturities, the real rate of interest is not positive. This needs a correction with some upward adjustment," Rangarajan said, while speaking at the banking symposium jointly organised by Assocham and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).

The former RBI governor said there is a fractured structure of interest rates with respect to mobilisation of resources, which should be reviewed.

Talking about the escalating crude prices, he said there is a need to revise oil prices and added that the finance ministry is sticking to the RBI's forecast of 5-5.5 per cent rate of inflation for this fiscal.
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SBI to make statement about overseas acquisitions in two months
New Delhi: The State Bank of India (SBI) may make a detailed statement about it's overseas bank acquisitions in about two months time, according to the chairman of the bank, A.K. Purwar. Purwar stated this during a symposium organised jointly by Assocham and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) here today.

Purwar said the overseas acquisitions would be on the lines on which SBI has acquired a bank in Mauritius."The banking sector has been witnessing unprecedented growth because of acceleration in manufacturing, services, exports and agriculture sectors, which support the enthusiasm of banks like SBI for going overseas aggressively," said the SBI chief.

He added that not only SBI but even medium and big corporates today were on an acquisition drive the world over because of the increased competitiveness that the Indian industry has acquired.

According to Purwar, manufacturing, which witnessed 11.2 per cent growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal, experienced a growth of 12 per cent in the month of June alone, while exports have grown over 24%. All these provide adequate cushion for the banking sector to widen its horizon for acquisition, said Purwar.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr C Rangarajan, chairman, Economic Advisory Council to PM said: "Banks have to prepare themselves to grapple with the challenges and convert them into opportunities, which calls for critical introspection and intelligent anticipation."

"Management of credit risks would have to be accorded a very high priority. This is an area, which has received considerable attention in recent years. Assessing credit risks in lending to service sectors needs a methodology different from risk assessment in lending to manufacturing. There are other emerging areas of lending such as housing and consumer credit which will need approaches," said Dr Rangarajan.
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United Western Bank announces bonus and rights issue
Mumbai: The Satara-based United Western Bank has declared a bonus share issue in the ratio of 1:5 and a rights issue in the ratio of 1:2. The board of directors approved the bonus and rights issues on August 26, a press release from the bank said.

In the last two-three years, United Western Bank has posted sustained growth in its business levels, which have crossed Rs10,000 crore. The Bank has networked 170 branches spread over 100 cities to provide anywhere banking services.

The bank's network of over 65 ATMs is linked to National Financial Switch, which enables the cardholders to avail of ATM services at over 5,000 ATMs across the country.

The bank has also tied-up with New India Assurance Company and with Western Union Money Transfer for overseas remittances.
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