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Rupee gains — bonds rise
Mumbai: The rupee gained against the dollar on Wednesday ending trade at 45.76, higher than Tuesday's close of 45.8350/8450.

Forwards: In the forwards premia market, the six-month premium closed at 0.55 per cent (0.54 per cent) and the one-year at 0.45 per cent (0.44 per cent).

G-Secs: The 7.49 per cent-12 year-2017 paper closed at Rs102.25 (7.19 per cent YTM) against the earlier level of Rs101.85 (7.25 per cent YTM). The 7.37 per cent - 9 year- 2014 paper closed at Rs102.59 (6.95 per cent YTM), up from Tuesday's level of Rs102.53 (6.965 per cent YTM). The 10.25 per cent 16-year 2021 paper closed at Rs125.72 (7.42 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The call rates were between 5.25-5.30 per cent (5.30 per cent).

Reverse Repo: In the one-day reverse repo auction, under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility, RBI received and accepted 19 bids for Rs8,140 crore.

CBLO: There were 283 trades for Rs11,425.5 crore in the range of 5.15-6 per cent.
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LIC to launch a combo policy
New Delhi: The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India is coming out with a combo policy that would have multiple benefits of whole-life, money-back, endowment and maturity repayment, LIC chairman, A K Shukla said here on Wednesday.

LIC's life scheme `Bima Bachat,' will be its third policy this year after `Bima Gold' and `Jeevan Plus.' Based on its new policies the insurance company aims to double its business this year and mop up over Rs1,00,000 crore through premium.

The new policy will target domestic consumers as well as NRIs who will redeem their Indian Millennium Deposits in December this year.

Shukla said LIC's decision to tap IMD redemption worth US$7bn or over Rs30,000 crore will surprise SBI and other banks, which have been so far alluring people to invest the withdrawals from LIC policies into their deposit schemes. The insurer will offer the benefit of capital gains along with insurance cover.

LIC is also planning to foray into health insurance, and build more homes for elders.
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IRDA in favour of hiking FDI level to 49 per cent
New Delhi: The chairman of the Insurance and Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), C.S. Rao, says the regulator favours hiking foreign direct investment limits in the insurance sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent. The hike was needed as insurance companies needed more capital to sustain their growth, he said.

He also said separate guidelines relating to ULIP policies will be in place in 2-3 weeks. He said the new guidelines would deal with issues such as the relationship between the premium and insurance cover and investment in ULIPs.

Rao also said that IRDA would submit a report to the Government for a comprehensive legislation and de-tariffing motor business from 2007. There is a need to move from a tariff -regulated regime to free market in general insurance products, he added.
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Ramadoss: Health insurance policy for rural India on the anvil
New Delhi: The government is working on a comprehensive health insurance policy for rural areas, according to health minister Ambumani Ramadoss.

Addressing a CII Health summit, Ramadoss said that health spending is the second biggest cause of indebtedness in rural areas. He also said that the heath insurance policy would involve public-private partnership.

The government also has plans to set up two schools of public health - one in North and another in the South of the country — to be set up at a cost of Rs100 crore each he said. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corporation, who is visiting India next month, would be a major partner in the institutes, he said.

Other measures to improve rural health would be to make a one-year rural posting compulsory for doctors and make 60 hours of continuing medical education of doctors mandatory every five years.
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RBI: new guidelines for SME NPA's
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has issued fresh guidelines pertaining to a one-time settlement of chronic non-performing assets (NPAs) of up to Rs10 crore of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

RBI says these guidelines would be applicable to all NPAs in the SME sector, which attained status of doubtful, loss or sub-standard as on March 31, 2004 with outstanding balance of Rs100 million and below.

This scheme would not be applicable to cases of willful default, fraud and malfeasance, it stated.
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SBI Caps in tie up with Doha Bank to offer consultancy services
Mumbai: SBI Capital Markets has joined hands with Doha Bank to provide project finance and advisory services in the Gulf country. The two banks will focus on infrastructure projects in Qatar, where the Qatar government is planning to inject US$120bn into the sector.

The tie up would give SBI Caps direct access into the Qatar market using Doha Bank's contacts and access to financial institutions.

SBI Caps officials said, "The Government of Qatar is planning to invest $120 billion in infrastructure. Pooling the local market knowledge of Doha Bank and our experience in investment banking, we will provide project advisory, syndication and other consultancy services."
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SEBI approves ICICI Bank's follow-on public offer
Mumbai: ICICI Bank said on Wednesday that it has received approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a follow-on public offer (FPO) of its equity shares.

Having filed a red herring prospectus with Sebi the bank is in the process of filing the same with the Registrar of companies, Ahmedabad, ICICI Bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The Bank has decided to keep a five per cent reservation in the FPO for those shareholders, who hold equity shares of the Bank worth Rs. one lakh as on November 25, it said.
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