Rupee declines
Mumbai: The rupee fell against the greenback on Monday closing at 44.26, down from Friday's 44.19/20.

Forwards market: The six-month premium ended at 1.90 per cent and the 12-month ended at 1.52 per cent.

G-Secs: The 7.30 per cent 29-year 2035 paper closed at Rs97.76 (7.59 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent 11-year 2017 paper closed at Rs105.38 (7.34 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The inter bank rates were between 6.9 per cent and 7.5 per cent with most deals being done between 7-7.1 per cent.

Repo: In the first one-day auction, the RBI received no bids in the reverse repo and 33 bids for Rs13,510 crore in the repo. In the second auction, the RBI received and accepted one-day bid for Rs385 crore in reverse repo and 18 bids for Rs4,865 crore in the repo auction.

CBLO market: There were 318 trades for Rs21,104.7 crore in the 6.49-6.75 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

Federal Bank wins banking tech awards
Kochi: For its outstanding achievements in technology infusion and dissemination, Federal Bank has bagged two awards for the `Best use of IT in retail banking' and `Best payments initiative,' from the Indian Banks Association and Trade Fairs and Conferences International.
Back to News Review index page  

Life insurance premiums up 51 pc in 9 months - ICICI Pru leads private pack
Hyderabad: As per the statistics prepared by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) the domestic life insurance industry has reported a healthy growth of over 51 per cent in premium underwritten for the nine-month period of the current fiscal ended December 2005.

The industry underwrote a premium of Rs19,893.38 crore for the nine-month period under review compared to Rs13,153.12 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

ICICI Prudential retained leadership in private sector with a market share of 7.19 per cent with a growth of 72.73 per cent in premium underwritten at Rs1,429.55 crore (Rs827.61 crore). Bajaj Allianz reported highest growth of 301.3 per cent in premium underwritten at Rs1,367.04 crore (Rs340.65 crore) and stood second in the private sector with a market share of 6.87 per cent.

Birla Sun Life is the only life insurance player in the industry that suffered a negative growth in premium collections. The company underwrote premium of Rs362.88 crore during the period under review compared to Rs387.32 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, a fall of 6.31 per cent.

The private sector posted a growth of 91.16 per cent in premium collections at Rs5,424.1 crore (Rs2,837.46 crore) to garner a total market share of 27.27 per cent. Life Insurance Corporation of India, with a growth of 40.27 per cent, in premium underwritten at Rs14,469.27 crore (Rs10,315.65 crore), has ended up with a market share of 72.73 per cent.

The individual segment of the industry dominated in premium collections at Rs16,971.49 crore (Rs10,814.04 crore), while group premiums stood at Rs2,921.89 crore (Rs 2,339.07 crore), contributing 85.31 per cent and 14.69 per cent, respectively.

In terms of number of policies sold, the industry reported a growth of 27.45 per cent by selling 1.78 crore policies (1.39 crore).

While the private sector posted a growth of 64.41 per cent to garner a market share of 12.46 per cent, LIC reported an increase of 23.5 per cent in number of policies sold with a market share of 87.54 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

HDFC Standard registers growth of 150 pc in April-Dec 2005
Mumbai: HDFC Standard Life has registered a growth of 150 per cent for the period April-December 2005 as compared to the same period last year. According to a press release, HDFC Standard Life's new business premium grew to Rs598.7 crore during this period.

For individual business, volume measured by the number of policies sold witnessed an 80-per cent growth, from under 125,000 in the previous first half to over 220,000 in the first half of 2005-2006. The average effective premium, on the other hand, increased to Rs28,000, from approximately Rs15,000.

The corporate agency and bancassurance channel currently accounts for over 45 per cent of the company's business.
Back to News Review index page  

ICICI Bank hikes benchmark PLR to 11.75 pc
Mumbai: ICICI Bank has hiked its benchmark prime-lending rate (PLR) by 0.5 percentage points to 11.75 per cent with immediate effect. The bank's move comes after the RBI's quarterly review of the monetary policy last month, signaling a hardening interest rate regime.

The bank has also raised home loan rates by 0.5 percentage points. The revised fixed home loan rate is 9.5 per cent, while the floating rate is 7.75-8.5 per cent, with effect from February 13.

According to a bank official, the increase in PLR will lead to a rise in short-term corporate loans rates, which is about 10-12 per cent of the bank's total loan portfolio.
Back to News Review index page