Rupee declines marginally
Mumbai: The rupee has dipped marginally against the dollar, following the movement of the Japanese yen. The domestic currency opened at 45.88 and depreciated to close at 45.95, lower than Monday's 45.93.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the six-month closed at 1.14 per cent (1.12) and the12-month at 1.22 per cent (1.22).

Bonds: In the bond market, there was no buying interest and sentiment was lacklustre following Monday's crash in prices.

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent - 10-year-2016 benchmark paper opened at Rs97.80 (7.91 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs97.84 (7.91 per cent YTM), almost the same level as Monday's close at Rs97.82 (7.91 per cent). The 7.40 per cent-6-year-2012 paper, which was most actively traded, opened at Rs98.92 (7.63 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs97.84 (7.91 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates remained unchanged between 5.75 per cent and 5.85 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 29 bids amounting to Rs22,465 crore and in the second one-day reverse repo auction, 36 bids for Rs19,730 crore. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 300 trades aggregating to Rs.17,921.70 crore in the 5.52-5.70 per cent range.
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Corporation Bank acquires forex firm in Oman
Chennai: Corporation Bank has acquired an Oman-based foreign exchange firm and has signed an agreement according to which it will be managed by the bank for a share in profits, B Sambamurthy, chairman & managing director, Corporation Bank, said on the sidelines of a Corporation Bank event instituting national small and medium enterprise awards.

The Reserve Bank of India is expected to give its clearance to this shortly.

A significant percentage of remittances to India from West Asia are dominated by exchange companies rather than banks, which is the underlying reason for acquiring the company.

The bank would consider more acquisitions of exchange companies dealing in remittances to India. The bank has also applied for a representative office in Dubai.

Corporation Bank aims to double its total business to touch Rs1 lakh crore by the end of 2008. The bank, to promote and encourage small and medium enterprises, has instituted awards for small and medium enterprises. The awards will be given on the basis of economic performance, environmental and ethical practices followed by these enterprises. The bank has framed a comprehensive policy for financing SMEs.
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No plans to hike PLR for now: SBI
Bangalore: State Bank of India (SBI) has no immediate plans to hike its benchmark prime lending rate (PLR) according to SBI acting chairman and managing director T S Bhattacharya.

Asked whether the bank will increase the interest rates on deposits, Bhattacharya replied in the negative:
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Union Bank, SBI to share ATMs
Mumbai: Union Bank of India has signed an agreement with State Bank of India for bilateral sharing arrangement of ATMs.

Customers of both the banks would be able to use the ATM machines of each bank. Union Bank and SBI have over 500 and 5,500 ATMs, respectively.
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Royal Sundaram signs pact with ING Vysya Bank
New Delhi: Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company has signed a pact with ING Vysya Bank for distribution of general insurance products. ING Vysya Bank will distribute health, personal accident, motor, travel, and home insurance products through the bank's extensive branch network and further increase insurance penetration in the SME and rural segments, the statement added.

A statement said, "This will further strengthen the relationship between both the partners, thereby helping them achieve far greater efficiencies both in terms of its reach to customer as well as scaling up the partnership."
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Oriental Insurance net declines
New Delhi: The Oriental Insurance Company has reported a 14.10 per cent decline in net profit at Rs283.91 crore in 2005-06, from Rs330.52 crore during the previous fiscal. The company said the decline was largely on account of the additional burden arising out of the Maharashtra floods last July-August and consequent underwriting losses.

The fall in net profit was due to underwriting loss of Rs750 crore as the company witnessed higher claims in health and motor business, besides settlements of claims due to Mumbai floods last year. However some of the losses were offset by a profit of Rs1,100 crore from investments in equity, mutual funds and bonds. The company has announced a 50 per cent dividend and would be paying Rs50 crore to the Government.

Oriental Insurance's premium income for 2005-06 saw a gross growth of 16.80 per cent at Rs3,609.77 crore from Rs3,090.55 crore in 2004-05. The growth rate on net basis was 12.73 per cent against 9.10 per cent in 2004-05.
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Andhra Bank to offer long-term deposit plans
Hyderabad: Andhra Bank has decided to come out with new products, both in deposit and credit in the retail segment, every second month.

Having studied the needs of customers in the recent rough stock markets, the bank found that they wanted safe, stable and reasonably attractive returns. Hence the bank will come out with deposit products of eight to ten years of maturity with attractive interest rate of up to eight per cent. For senior citizens the bank will offer additional interest of 50 basis points.
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