Rupee appreciates sharply - bonds fall
Mumbai: The rupee substantially appreciated against the dollar on Wednesday along with the global rally of some of the major currencies against the greenback. The domestic currency finally closed the day at 44.79.

Forwards market: The 6 month ended at 1.15 per cent (1.07) and the 12 month at 0.87 per cent (0.85).

G-Secs: The 8.07-12-year 2017 paper closed at Rs106.65 (7.19 per cent YTM) lower than the earlier level of Rs106.69 (7.18 per cent YTM). The 10.25-16-year 2021 paper ended at Rs126.64 (7.33 per cent YTM), slightly lower than Tuesday's close of Rs126.67 (7.33 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates were between 5.5 and 5.6 per cent (5.5-5.6 per cent).

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction, RBI received four bids for Rs750 crore and eight bids for Rs2,415 crore in the second auction.

CBLO market: There were 379 trades for Rs19,040.5 crore in the range of 5.31-6 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

IndusInd bank expects Q3 net to fall
Mumbai: IndusInd Bank's net profit in the third and fourth quarters of 2005-06 is likely to fall from a year ago, said managing director, Bhaskar Ghose. He said this was due to delays in branch expansion, reduced income from securitisation of assets, and the Rs1bn loan to Essar Oil that the bank has not yet recovered.

The bank's October-December and January-March net profit in 2004-05 was Rs428 million and Rs629 million, respectively. The bank was hoping to get the RBI's approval to set up another 70 branches by December. However, with the approval yet to come, the bank's business is likely to take a hit.

Currently, the bank has 131 branches. "We hope to get the licence for the 70 branches by the first quarter of 2006-07," Ghose said. The bank lent Rs1 billion to Essar Oil in 1999. The loan has not yet been recovered and has been shifted to corporate debt restructuring process.
Back to News Review index page  

The changing face of IDBI Bank
New Delhi: IDBI Bank's financial services division IDBI Capital has launched an online investment portal to provide information, analysis and tips to retail investors to help them invest in IPOs, equities and mutual funds.

The portal Idbipaisabuilder.in is targeted at retail investors who have missed out the boom in Indian stock market. The site will concentrate on helping them in right decision-making by minimizing risk involved in equity investment, the bank said. The investors will be given unique bank, demat and trading accounts, which will be safe for carrying out trading, the bank said.

Apart from this, investment information on the portal would free to all. To carry out trading, an investor has to be a member by giving a one-time fee of Rs700 and thereafter only broking charges for trading in shares.

IDBI Capital has also roped in top 15 broking houses to give recommendations to retail investors. Besides online guidance, IDBI Capital will open about 350 franchises in urban and rural areas to help investors who do not have access to Internet.

The portal has two platforms 'Paisa Power Classic Account' for relatively new investors and 'Paisa Power Streaming Account' for active investors in BSE and NSE. The company aims to introduce trading in commodities, F&O and debt instruments later.

Meanwhile IDBI Bank is foraying into commodities, mutual fund, insurance and pension, as it has shifted focus from wholesale to retail segment to emerge as a financial powerhouse.

The bank has applied to SEBI and RBI for approvals to set up an asset management company (AMC) which would be in place by March 2006, said IDBI Capital CEO S Muhnot.

The AMC is likely to start operations from the first quarter of next fiscal or from April 2006.
Back to News Review index page  

ICWAI offers cost management system for BPOs
Chennai: The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) is planning to offer a new cost management and accounting system for the BPO industry as well as for the power and telecom sectors. The institute will come out with a syllabus for its various courses by the end of April.

The draft of the new cost management system is now under the consideration of industry experts and will only be introduced by April this year, said M Gopalakrishnan, ICWAI central council member.

The new system for the power sector will have separate management practices for generation, transmission and distribution.
Back to News Review index page  

KVB offers banking services through mobiles
Chennai: Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) has introduced mobile banking services through SMS. The service enables savings and current account holders to view account information such as balance, transaction status and cheque status by sending SMS to the bank.

The bank said in a statement here that the account holders would also be able to request for chequebook, issue stop payment on cheques and make enquiry on their term deposit status by sending SMSs to the bank.
Back to News Review index page