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Rupee slips further - securities decline
Mumbai: The rupee depreciated further against the dollar on Thursday closing at 43.92/9250, lower than Wednesday's 43.88.

Forwards market: The 12-month closed at 0.78 per cent (0.75 per cent) and the 6-month closed at 0.87 per cent (0.78 per cent).

G-Secs: The 10.25-16 year-2021 paper ended at Rs126.13 (7.40 per cent YTM), lower than Wednesday's Rs126.43 (7.37 per cent YTM). The 7.37-9 year-2014 paper closed at Rs102.50. (6.98 per cent YTM) against Wednesday's close of Rs102.68 (6.94 per cent YTM). The 7.38 per cent 10-year benchmark 2015 paper was dealt at Rs102.68 (7 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rate was at 5.10-5.15 per cent (5.05-5.10 per cent).

Reverse repo: In the one-day auction the RBI received and accepted 22 bids amounting to Rs11,115 crore.

CBLO market: 251 trades for Rs12,110.75 crore in the rate range of 4.85-5.25 per cent.
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RBI: Six States to raise development loans of Rs.839 crore
Mumbai: Six State governments have announced the sale of 10-year State Development Loans for an aggregate amount of Rs839.42 crore through a yield-based auction using multiple price auction method, RBI said in a press release.

The States are: Assam - Rs208.83 crore; Jharkhand - Rs117.81 crore; Kerala - Rs145.81 crore; Maharashtra - Rs290 crore; Manipur - Rs36.95 crore and Tripura - Rs40 crore.

The auction will be held on September 27, and the successful bidders will have to make payment on September 28.
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RBI asks banks to finalise vendors for cheque truncation by October
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to finalise vendors for their Cheque Truncation Systems by October. The system allows transferring the electronic image instead of a physical movement of the cheques.

RBI is likely to begin live testing of CTS in Delhi by January or February 2006 and roll out the pilot project by March 2006, said Kaza Sudhakar, General Manager and in-charge of the Products and Developments Division of the Payments Department, RBI. Sudhakar was speaking at the Banknet seminar on information technology business benefits in banks.

The process of cheque truncation reduces the clearing time and also cost involved in physically sending the cheques.

Sudhakar said that eventually only two major fund transfer products will remain, the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) for low value or retail transfers and Real Time Gross Settlement for high value transfers. Other payment types such as like SEFT (Special Electronic Fund Transfer) would be migrated to NEFT by December, he added.

Sudhakar also said that banks must have at least one fund transfer product linked to Real Time Gross Settlement on their Web sites as electronic fund transfer products work out cheaper than legacy or traditional products, banks must charge lesser for these services, he added.
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SpiceJet to close US$70mn FCCB issue in October
Mumbai: SpiceJet will close its US$70mn FCCB issue in the first week of October and intends to list the bonds at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The airline has reduced the FCCB size to US$70mn from US$90mn proposed earlier.

According to an official statement, the general body meeting called on September 30 will seek the required approvals before opening the offers and fixing allocations in the first week of October. The FCCB holders will have the option of converting the bond into equity shares within 10 years at a pre - determined price.

SpiceJet had formerly announced that Singapore-based MacRitchie Investments (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings) and Istithmar, a private equity firm in the UAE, have agreed to invest US$20mn in the equity capital of the company.
This investment will be made as per the pricing formula laid down by SEBI.
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ICICI Bank opens 2 branches in UK
Mumbai: ICICI Bank UK Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ICICI Bank, has added two more branches in Manchester and Southall, taking its tally of branches in the UK to four.

According to a press release, Bhargav Dasgupta, Head-International Banking Group, ICICI Bank Ltd said, "As a full service bank with strong Indian links, we believe we are in a unique position to become the preferred provider of financial services for the NRI & PIO community in the United Kingdom".

ICICI Bank UK set up its first branch in Knightsbridge, London in November 2003, and its second branch in Leicester in July 2005.
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Dena Bank to start 12 hour banking in Mumbai and Gujarat
Mumbai: Dena Bank has selected 12 branches in Mumbai for 12-hour banking, and will operate them from 8am to 8pm, according to a press release from the bank. Out of these 12 branches, eight branches are in Mumbai city region and the rest are in the suburban regions.

The bank has also started 8 to 8 functioning in 15 branches at six centres in Gujarat.

These are Ahmedabad, Bhuj, Mehsana, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodra, the release said.
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