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Rupee continues fall - bonds rise
Mumbai: The rupee fell below the psychological level of 46 against the dollar for the second time this month, ending trade at 45.96/97, lower than the previous close of 45.80/81.

G-Secs: The 7.49 per cent -12 year-2017 paper closed at Rs102.11 (7.21 per cent YTM), up from Friday's level of Rs101.94 (7.23 per cent). The 7.37 per cent - 9 year- 2014 paper ended trade at Rs102.5 (6.96 per cent YTM) against the earlier close of Rs102.47 (6.97 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates were unchanged between 5.25 percent and 5.30 per cent.

Reverse Repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction, under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility, RBI received and accepted 16 bids for Rs4,620 crore. The second auction saw 11 trades amounting to Rs1,625 crore.

CBLO: There were 246 trades for Rs10,969.05 crore in the range of 4.3 to 5.5 per cent.
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Iffco-Tokio aiming at Rs.750 crore in premium income this year
Chennai: Iffco Tokio General Insurance Co is looking at a premium income of Rs750 crore in the current year, 50 per cent more than last year. The company earned a premium income of Rs428 crore in the first half of the current year, up 92 per cent over the Rs222 crore achieved in the year-ago period.

The company is also facing claims of Rs230 crore from Gujarat and Mumbai floods in the current year.

The company has launched a new insurance product, the `Sagar Bandhu Bima' policy. The policy will provide insurance for barges, tugs and similar small coastal vessels operating in the coastal and inland waters of India.

The company aims to cover approximately 1,000 small vessels. Goa alone has around 250 vessels, which makes it an area of importance to Iffco Tokio.
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ABN-Amro to expand micro-finance business
Kolkota: ABN Amro Bank is targeting an increase in its micro-credit portfolio at Rs150 crore, out of which 12 per cent will be lent in West Bengal.

The bank said its micro-credit portfolio would be enhanced to Rs18 crore in the next one-year, covering 50,000 households, from the current Rs5.5 crore. ABN Amro started its micro-finance operation from 2003 and claimed to be the first foreign bank to lend in this segment.

In Bengal, the bank lends through two micro finance institutions and reaches poor women in the districts of Nadia, 24 Parganas, Coochbehar, Murshidabad, Malda, Hoogly, Jalpaiguri, Howrah, Burwan, Darjeeling, Bankura among others.

By 2009 the bank targets a portfolio of Rs500 crore in micro credit, covering one million poor households. The current portfolio of the bank is Rs 62 crore and it operates in six states through 16 Micro Finance Institutions and reaches 1.2 lakh households.

Estimates suggest that the size of the market is vast, with about 40 per cent of the population considered `vulnerable.'
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Lending rates will harden gradually: ICICI Bank
New Delhi: ICICI bank has said that there will be a gradual hardening in domestic lending in line with international trends.

The bank also said that it has no immediate plans to revise interest rates upwards as there is enough liquidity in the system.

The interest rates in India was expected to harden especially after the Reserve Bank of India raised two key short terms rates, Repo and Reverse Repo, by 0.25 per cent each in the busy season credit policy.

Earlier, the country's largest lender SBI had also stated that there was an upward pressure on rates. However, none of the PSU or private banks has raised their lending rates so far across the board.

After his meeting with bank chairmen on November 18, the finance minister, P Chidambaram, had stated that lending rates to productive sectors would remain stable till fiscal end.
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ICICI Bank to use IPO proceeds for internal growth
New Delhi: ICICI Bank, which is coming out with an Rs5,750 crore IPO, will use the proceeds to meet its growing credit demand, meet Basel-II norms and infuse more capital in its insurance arms.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio is likely to shoot up from 11.5 to 16.5 per cent after the proposed public offer opening for subscription on December 1.

Post-issue, the paid up capital of the Mumbai-based bank will increase to Rs900 crore from about Rs736 crore.

As part of a consolidated capital raising plan of Rs8,050 crore both from domestic and overseas markets, ICICI Bank is raising Rs5,750 crore (including a green shoe option of Rs750 crore) from a domestic issue from December 1-6.

The public offer will be on book-building basis based on the price band to be announced by the bank on November 30.
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