Rupee moves in range
Mumbai: The rupee moved in a range and ended marginally lower against the US dollar on Wednesday ending at 44.25 against Tuesday's close of 44.26.

Forwards: The forward premia shot up, with the six-month premium closing at 2.37 per cent (2.3 per cent) and the one-year premium closing at 1.86 per cent (1.75 per cent).

G-Secs: The 8.07 per cent 11 year-2017 paper opened and closed at the same level of Rs105.25 (7.36 per cent YTM), slightly lower than Tuesday's close of Rs105.27 (7.36 per cent YTM). But it touched a high of Rs105.37 and a low of Rs105.02 during the day. The 9.39 per cent 5 year-2011 paper also opened and closed at the same level of Rs110.45 (7.02 per cent YTM). During day trade, it touched a low of Rs110.3.

Call rate: Call rates continued to be around 7-7.25 per cent (7-7.1 per cent).

Repo auction: In the first one-day auction, the RBI did not receive any bids in the repo auction, but received and accepted 34 bids for 17,520 crore in the reverse repo. In the second auction, it received and accepted four bids for Rs505 crore and four bids for Rs1,575 crore.

CBLO : In the CBLO market, there were 332 trades for Rs20,808.75 crore in the 5.85-6.52 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata, SBI launch credit card
Mumbai: The Tata Group and State Bank of India (SBI) have launched a credit card in association with MasterCard International. The card is being dubbed as country's first coalition loyalty credit card.

SBI Cards and payment services CEO Roopam Asthana said a total of 20 lakh cards are expected to be sold in the next five years with the first two lakh coming in by the end of the current calendar year.

Iinitially available across the six cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jamshedpur, Bangalore and Hyderabad — it will be available in all locations where SBI Cards are sold by April end.

Asthana said that the various channels through which the card would be sold included the SBI Card counters, outlets of partners, existing database and also dedicated Tata Card outlets.

Asthana said profit would be fairly equitable between all partners.
Back to News Review index page  

Vishal Mega Mart to offer co-branded card with SBI
New Delhi: Vishal Mega Mart has tied up with SBI Cards to launch a co-branded card. SBI Card CEO, Roopam Asthana, said SBI Vishal Mega Mart Card is one of the best co-branded credit card that offers reward points and other benefits to frequent shoppers and would be free for those who spend above Rs7,500 per annum.

Some of the features of the co-branded card include Rs250 discount voucher on signing up for the card and a process by which the cardholder earns five reward points on every Rs100 spent. The retail chain has been planning to expand its number of stores.

Vishal Mega Mart posted a turnover of Rs150 crore in 2004-05 and expects the figure to cross Rs300 crore in 2005-06.
Back to News Review index page  

Oriental Bank to raise Rs.500-cr via Tier-II bonds
Hyderabad: To augment its capital-to-risk assets ratio (CRAR) as business volumes grow and to meet the Basel-II norms, the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) plans to raise Rs500 crore as Tier-II capital.

After the acquisition of the Global Trust Bank in 2004-05, OBC suffered a steep fall in CRAR at a little over nine per cent from more than 14 per cent. The bank came out with a second public issue last year and raised the CRAR to 13.54 per cent. At present, the bank's CRAR is hovering at around 13 per cent.

Officials said that as the Government holding in the bank has come down to 51 per cent, there is no scope for an equity issue. Accordingly, it has been decided to raise Rs500-crore through an issue of subordinated bonds. The bank is also examining proposals on issue of perpetual bonds and preference shares.
Back to News Review index page