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Rupee pulls back a bit - G-Secs rise
Mumbai: The rupee gained against the dollar as the greenback weakened in the global markets ending trade at 44.03. On Wednesday, the domestic currency closed at 44.13/14.

Forwards market: The 12-month premium and the 6-month premium were unchanged at 0.50 per cent and 0.45 per cent respectively.

G-Secs: The 7.37 per cent 9-year 2014 paper closed at Rs102.17 (7.02 per cent YTM), higher than the earlier level of Rs102.0675 (7.04 per cent). The 10.25 per cent 16-year-2021 paper closed at Rs125.65 (7.45 per cent YTM), up from Wednesday's close of Rs125.46 (7.4705 per cent YTM). The 7.38 per cent 10-year benchmark was dealt at 7.08 per cent YTM (7.09 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates were unchanged at 4.9-5 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the one-day auction, the RBI received and accepted 40 bids amounting to Rs26,555 crore.

CBLO market: 302 trades, for Rs15,081.75 crore, in the rate range of 4-6 per cent, were realised.
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RBI asks banks to finalise the point of truncation
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked all banks who are the members of the New Delhi Bankers' Clearing House to finalise the "point of truncation" for their outward presentations.

For the banks participating in the Pilot Cheque Truncation Project at New Delhi, the current paper based clearing will be replaced by image and data clearing. Cheque data and images will be stored in image archives for outward and inward items. The archive at the clearing house will retain all the clearing images and data for eight years. The paper instruments are required to be retained for eight years till further instructions on the subject.

"Banks can choose to truncate and process their cheques at the branches, ATMs, client locations, in central locations or clusters and at image service bureaus," said RBI in a notification. Some banks may choose to opt for a hybrid model if required. This would help the banks decide on the type of scanners and the networks that are necessary for participation.

Banks are also required to amend their existing internal banking and clearing manuals for presentation of images in clearing, the bank said.
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LIC to give bonus of Rs.2,100 crore
Lucknow: Union finance minister P Chidambaram has announced that Life Insurance Corporation would give away a special bonus of Rs2,100 crore to its policy holders to mark the completion of 50 years of service this year.

He made this announcement while addressing a golden jubilee celebration function of the LIC, presided over by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh.

The minister said those who possess an LIC policy as on March 31 this year would be eligible for the bonus.
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GE Countrywide will now be GE Money
Chennai: GE Consumer Finance, the global consumer-lending unit of General Electric and its third biggest division, has launched its India GE Money service, the new global umbrella brand of all GE businesses providing financial services.

With this launch, all existing GE Countrywide products will henceforth go to market as GE Money, company officials said. The joint ventures with SBI Card and Maruti will, however, continue to use their existing branding, they clarified.

GE Money is targeting a three fold growth in consumer finance assets in the next three years to around Rs15,000 crore. It now operates a consolidated balance sheet in India incorporating all its businesses, officials said.

In the next three years, GE Money intends to focus on cards (to contribute 30 per cent of the assets), mortgages (30-35 per cent), personal loans (25 per cent) and the balance from financial services. The company plans to go slow on auto loans, as the returns were poor. Auto loans currently contribute around 30 per cent of the company's total assets, he said.

GE Money also plans to spend Rs45 crore to expand its distribution network to 200 centres in 110 cities from the present 118 centres in 60 cities.

GE Money also plans to foray into banking in India in the next 18 months.

Officials said that they have applied with the Reserve Bank of India and are awaiting clearances. They said that the bank would focus only on retail banking.
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Catholic Syrian Bank to pay 15 per cent
Kochi: The Thrissur-based Catholic Syrian Bank has declared 15 per cent dividend for 2004-05.

At the 84th Annual General Meeting, N.R. Achan, chairman, said the bank had notched up a net profit of Rs10.66 crore on a total operating profit of Rs78.58 crore for 2004-05. The notable contribution to profit came from an increase in net interest income of Rs146.18 crore (Rs122.21 crore).

The bank could maintain a capital risk asset ratio of 11.35 per cent as against the RBI stipulated norm of 9 per cent. The net NPA declined to 3.8 per cent (4.65 per cent).

The net advances grew 20 per cent to Rs2,289 crore (Rs1,898 crore), while the deposit base rose to Rs4,021 crore (Rs3,880 crore). The total business volume grew to Rs6,310 crore (Rs5,778 crore). Backed by better deployment of credit, the credit-deposit ratio grew to 56.93 per cent, up from 48.92 per cent last year.

Business per employee also increased to Rs21.6 crore (Rs18.2 crore).
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IOB launches multi-city cheque facility
Chennai: The Indian Overseas Bank has launched a multi-city cheque facility for its corporate clients, which will enable its customers to issue cheques payable at par at 40 centres across the country.

Initially, the facility will be available to current account holders and those enjoying credit facilities, according to the bank.

The maximum drawing per cheque is Rs5 lakh. This facility will do away with the need for the bank's corporate clients to issue demand drafts for making payments.

The bank will extend this facility to all its networked branches.
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BNP Paribas India posts Rs15 crore PAT
Mumbai: French bank BNP Paribas India has posted profit after tax of Rs14.76 crore for the year ended March 2005, compared with a net loss of Rs13.07 crore for the year ended March 2004.

Net income increased 11.6 per cent to Rs243.83 crore (Rs218.46 crore). Deposits dropped to Rs1,673.72 crore (Rs 1,737.11 crore), while advances were up at Rs1,718.76 crore (Rs1,314.90 crore).

Net interest income was at Rs85.60 crore (Rs81.91 crore), while fee income touched Rs67.61 crore (Rs40.72 crore).

Net NPA ratio has been reduced to 0.58 per cent (2.7 per cent) and capital adequacy ratio stands at 9.41 per cent.

BNP Paribas group plans to inject extra capital of around US$50mn during the current fiscal into its India operations, said a release.

According to a release the bank has arranged external commercial borrowings for its Indian clients to the tune of over US$450mn during 2004-05, the release added.
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