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Rupee continues losing spree
Mumbai: The rupee continued to plunge downwards on Tuesday touching an 11-month low against the US dollar to close at 45.16/17.

Forwards: The forward premia market also came down with the 6-month premium closing at 1.43 per cent (0.5 per cent) and the 12-month also closing at 1.43 per cent (0.52 per cent).

G-Secs: Bond prices closed about 20-25 paise lower. Bond prices opened about 2 paise weaker and continued to fall throughout the day, as the rupee weakened. The 7.37 per cent 9 year-2014 paper closed at Rs102.05 (7.04 per cent YTM) against Monday's level of Rs102.22 (7.02 per cent YTM). The 10.25 -16 year-2021 paper ended at Rs125.08 (7.50 per cent YTM), lower than the earlier close of Rs125.39 (7.47 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates opened at 5 per cent and closed at 5-5.05 per cent.

Reverse Repo: RBI received and accepted 31 bids amounting to Rs19,000 crore, in the one-day reverse repo auction.

CLBO: In the CBLO market, there were 235 trades for Rs12,673.05 crore in the rate range of 4.96-5.10 per cent.
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PM expects Nabard to cover funding gap in Bharat Nirman
New Delhi: Prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has asked the finance ministry to direct the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) to create a separate financing window which will help to bridge the funding gap in the rural roads and irrigation works components of Bharat Nirman.

Bharat Nirman is a time-bound business plan for four years for rural infrastructure covering roads, electrification, water supply, irrigation, housing and telephone connectivity.

While nearly Rs30,000 crore will be available for Bharat Nirman from internal revenue mobilisation and external assistance, a funding gap of Rs4,000 crore per annum remains to be bridged. This is what the prime minister hopes to cover through Nabard.

The Prime Minister has also directed that the entire information pertaining to targets, execution of works, funding and other aspects of Bharat Nirman should be placed on the Internet by November 14, to enable accountable delivery.
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India first Asian country for Deutsche Bank's retail service
Mumbai: Deutsche Bank will launch retail-banking operations in India with eight branches in seven cities. The bank had earlier closed down its single branch retail service in the city five years ago.

The first branch in Mumbai opened today with limited services. This makes India first Asian country where Deutsche Bank has retail operations.

The other branches will be located in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Gurgaon and Noida.

The bank will target the affluent and mass affluent segment under its private banking operations.

The bank will offer retail products except auto loans and services like doorstep delivery will be available to certain categories of customers. The bank is looking to cater to individuals with income of above Rs5 lakh per annum.

The retail focus will be on advisory services. The bank's product suite will include savings, fixed and current accounts, demat accounts, personal and home loans and overdraft against salaries and securities. The bank will also offer mutual funds and insurance products.

Deutsche Bank has also tied up with the ATM service provider, Euronet, and its customers will have free access to 6,000 ATMs.
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RBI asks major FIs to file quarterly liquidity reports
Mumbai: A joint regulatory committee headed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked some major systematically important financial institutions (SIFIs) to file quarterly reports of their inter-group transactions.

The move will enable continuous monitoring of the liquidity situation of each of these conglomerates. The directive has been issued primarily to the financial institutions and banks, which act as 'parent' and fund numerous subsidiaries.

According to banking sources, frequent reporting of the inter-group transactions has been directed to ensure that the subsidiaries floated by these SIFIs, as parents, do not overgrow their respective 'parent'.

The SIFIs, which have been issued such directions include State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Citibank, Standard Chartered, Corporation Bank, IDBI Bank.

Broking houses like DSP Merrill Lynch were also identified as SIFIs.

An entity is identified as an SIFI, if it has diversified into the insurance sector with business over Rs100 crore or into the mutual fund business, where the entity is included in the top 70 per cent of the segment in terms of assets under management, or into the deposits-taking, non-banking financial activity where the entity is reckoned in the top 70 per cent of the segment in terms of the deposit base.
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LIC introduces new cover plan
Hyderabad: The south-central zone of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has replaced Bima Plus insurance plan with Jeevan Plus, a unit-linked whole life plan available for people in the age group of 0-65 years.

The policyholder can choose between four fund types – bond fund, secured fund, balanced fund and growth fund – and can switch between the fund types during the policy term.

Top-ups in multiples of Rs1,000 can also be paid during the policy term. However, no additional death benefit will be available on the top-ups. The policyholder can also avail of an accident benefit and critical illness rider options.
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Crisil upgrades ratings on State govt. bonds
Mumbai: Crisil has upgraded its ratings on Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) bonds, issued by the Maharashtra Government, upgrading them to BBB- from the 2002 default status of 'D'.

Roopa Kudva, executive director and chief rating officer, Crisil, told presspersons that the bonds had been upgraded not on its own merit but based on the confidence that the Maharashtra Government has shown in debt servicing.

Along with Maharashtra, Crisil has also upgraded its ratings of bonds issued by the Karnataka Government. The rating upgrades reflect an improvement in the financial risk profiles of these two state governments.

Crisil has also reaffirmed its ratings on entities owned and supported by the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu; these States too have demonstrated good economic performance, a release by the rating agency said.

Crisil ratings on debt instruments guaranteed by state governments are as follows: Karnataka: AA-(so), Tamil Nadu: A+(so), Andhra Pradesh: A(so), Goa: A(so)/stable, and Gujarat: BBB(so)/stable.

The improvement in the financial risk profile of Karnataka stems from the State's consistent pursuit of its reform agenda, buoyancy in tax revenues backed by a strengthening of the State economy and effective expenditure containment.

The favourable economic environment in recent years has had a beneficial effect on Crisil-rated States' revenues. The agency has also noted that these States have controlled their expenditure and displayed a renewed focus on reforms.
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