IMD redemption: SBI may not face exchange rate burden
Mumbai: According to the present rupee dollar exchange rates SBI may be on safe ground with respect to any major additional burden on its India Millennium Deposit (IMD) scheme due to exchange rate fluctuations.

The rupee was trading at 45.34 against the dollar, well below the exchange rate of 46.65 on the date of the IMD issue in 2000.

The bonds are due for redemption on December 29. Given that it is the festival and holiday season internationally, little is likely to happen in the next 10 days that could affect the rupee significantly. Analysts have been saying that any dollar rally may be expected only in early 2006.

SBI expects to retain at least 15-20 per cent of the IMD proceeds. It has offered new reinvestment schemes; some are plain vanilla FCNR (B) and NRE deposit schemes, while some offer interest rates 40-50 basis points above the FCNR rate.

Other SBI entities such as SBI Mutual Fund and SBI Life Insurance have also introduced special products, hoping to get a share of the IMD pie.

The interest rates for IMD were 8.5 per cent for US dollar deposits, 7.85 per cent for sterling deposits, and 6.85 per cent for euro deposits, which were higher than normal FCNR (B) deposits.
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Premium incomes grow by 30 per cent in 2005
Hyderabad: The chairman, Insurance Regulatory Authority C.S. Rao, said that as a result of the Indian insurance industry being thrown open for private players, the aggregate premium income levels of the industry grew from around Rs9,700 crore in 2000-01 to over Rs25,000 crore in 2004-05, which is an average annual growth around 30 per cent.

He said the country has substantial potential for many more new insurance players owing to the highly untapped market. At present 14 players operate in the Indian life insurance arena and another 14 entities in the general insurance business.
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IBOA meet to be held at Delhi
Mangalore: The all-India conference of the All-India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) to be held in Delhi from February 18 to 20, will discuss issues related to the working hours of bank officers and will constitute a fund for helping the unorganised sector.

R.J. Sridharan, AIBOA general secretary, while inaugurating the 14th conference of the Karnataka Bank Officers' Organisation (KBOO) in Mangalore said that officers in the bank were under tremendous pressure. He said the officers are made to work from morning to night throughout the year, bringing down their effectiveness.

He also said that the branch in-charge is heaped with so much of work that many a time, he/she fails to devote time for marketing and business development.
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Canara Bank introduces loan scheme for solar heaters
Thiruvananthapuram: Canara Bank has launched a scheme for financing purchase of solar water heaters at soft rates of interest.

The scheme, subsidised by the Union ministry of non-conventional energy sources (MNES), will charge a 2 per cent per annum rate of interest for individuals while institutional users like colleges and hostels, would pay 3 per cent interest, and commercial and industrial users would pay 5 per cent.

The finance will be available for the purchase of "flat plate collector based systems" (BIS approved) as well as "evacuated collector based systems" (MNES approved). The loan amount will be 85 per cent of the project cost with repayments spread over five years at convenient monthly installments.

The bank has not stipulated any upper ceiling for the loans.

Income tax-paying small and medium industries and commercial establishments would will be able to claim accelerated depreciation to the extent of 80 per cent of the investment under Section 32 of the Income Tax Act.
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Kotak, CNBC TV 18 to hold insurance camps
Kolkata: Kotak Life Insurance and CNBC TV 18 have launched an investor awareness drive to educate common investors.

The forum would educate the consumers in understanding a host of insurance offerings and the need to select the most suitable offering, based on ones requirements.

The forum has already travelled from Bangalore to Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and New Delhi before coming to Kolkata.
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ABN Amro changes reporting structure
Mumbai: ABN Amro is changing its reporting structure in India as part of a global work over. At present the Dutch bank follows a strategic business units (SBUs) reporting system, which means individual business heads in India report to persons heading the business internationally.

From now the bank will move to a geographic reporting structure under which all the business units will report to the bank's India head, Romesh Sobti making the ABN Amro the only foreign bank in the country with a geographic or consolidated structure reporting.

Most other foreign banks in India stick to the SBU reporting structure.

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