Rupee ends unchanged
Mumbai: Tracking the domestic equity market, the domestic currency moved in a 25 paise range before ending trade, unchanged from its previous close.

G-Secs: The 7.59 per cent 2016 10-year benchmark paper opened and closed at the same level of Rs 99.40 (7.67 per cent), lower from the previous close of Rs 99.54 (7.65 per cent).The 7.94 per cent 2021 ended trade at Rs 99.39 (8.01 per cent YTM) down from the earlier close of Rs 99.5 (7.99 per cent YTM).

Forwards: The six-month premia closed at 0.66 per cent (0.6 per cent) and the one-year premia closed at 0.85 per cent (0.76 per cent).

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

Reverse repo: In the first one day reverse repo auction under LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 38 bids amounting to Rs37, 995 crore and in the second auction, 39 bids for Rs29, 115 crore. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 286 trades aggregating to Rs17, 884.40 crore in the 4.70-5.00 per cent range.
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Centre exempts RBI from service tax
New Delhi: The Centre has exempted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from paying service tax on any taxable services provided by the central bank.

The RBI has also been provided service tax exemption for all taxable services provided to the RBI, for which the central bank was hitherto liable to pay service tax.

The Government has also said through an executive order that taxable services received by RBI in India from outside the country would not attract service tax.

Currently, 96 services are under service tax net.
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Life insurance industry grows by 41 pc in FY06
New Delhi: The Life insurance sector grew by 41 pc in 2005-06 due to better performance of country's largest life insurer, LIC, and private players like Bajaj Allianz and ICICI Prudential.

The 15 Life insurance companies together collected Rs35,898 crore in the fiscal ended March this year, compared to Rs25,343 crore in the previous fiscal, according to data compiled by regulator IRDA.

Life Insurance Corporation's premium income rose more than 28% to Rs 25,645 crore, but its market share dipped by 6.63 pc to 71.44 pc from 78.07 pc in the year ago period.

The 14 private players were able to steadily increase their market share from 21.93 pc to 28.56 pc in a year's time by collecting Rs10,252 crore during the period under review.
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Five banks hike NRE, FCNR deposit rates
Mumbai: The State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Dena Bank and the Central Bank of India have increased interest rates on NRE and FCNR (B) deposits across all maturities with immediate effect.

ICICI Bank has revised interest rates on one-year NRE fixed deposits to 6.43 per cent (6.33 per cent) and on one-year FCNR deposits denominated in dollars to 5.43 per cent (5.33 per cent). The Central Bank of India has increased interest rates on NRE time deposits for one year to less than two years to 6.4 per cent (6.3 per cent) and on FCNR (B) deposits in dollars for the same period to 5.43 per cent (5.33 per cent).

SBI has also increased the interest rate on one-year NRE term deposits to 6.43 per cent (6.33 per cent) and on FCNR deposits in dollars to 5.43 per cent (5.33 per cent). The Dena Bank has also increased the interest rate on one-year NRE term deposits to 6.43 per cent (6.33 per cent) and on FCNR deposits in dollars to 5.43 per cent (5.33 per cent).
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Vijaya Bank pays dividend to Govt
New Delhi: Vijaya Bank has paid out a dividend of Rs23.35 crore to the Central Government for the financial year ended March 31,2006.

The chairman and managing director of the bank, Prakash P. Mallya, handed over the dividend cheque to the Union finance minister, P. Chidambaram, at the North Block here today. The Government has a 53.87 per cent stake in the bank.

The paid-up equity capital of Vijaya Bank as on March 31,2006 stood at Rs433.52 crore.
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RBI fines Centurion Bank for violation of KYC norms
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs15 lakh on Centurion Bank of Punjab for violation of the 'know your customer (KYC)' norms and guidelines related to IPO financing.

An RBI release said that the bank had violated KYC norms relating to opening of accounts including joint accounts and had issued 10,200 cheque leaves to a customer within two months, without complying with RBI guidelines.

The bank also violated RBI guidelines relating to IPO financing, the release added.

Since January 2006 the RBI has imposed penalties on several banks for similar violations in the IPO scam.

These include HDFC Bank (Rs30 lakh), ING Vysya Bank (Rs10 lakh), IDBI Bank (Rs5 lakh), Bharat Overseas Bank (Rs20 lakh), Citibank (Rs5 lakh), ICICI Bank (Rs5 lakh), IOB (Rs15 lakh), Standard Chartered (Rs5 lakh), and Vijaya Bank (Rs10 lakh).
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Tata AIG launches liability cover for unlisted companies
Mumbai: Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd(Tata AIG General) has launched `Highlight,' a liability insurance cover for directors and officers of unlisted small and mid-sized businesses.

Small and medium companies and family-owned concerns typically are unlisted entities with little management infrastructure and few formal control processes. The directors and officers of these companies face the same risks as their listed counterparts such as regulatory investigations, employment practice litigations, including sexual harassment issues, stakeholder claims and accounting irregularities.

`Highlight' would provide protection to directors and officers from business-related risks, a press release from Tata AIG said. This liability insurance cover is a pre-underwritten product that requires minimum documentation.
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