Rupee slides on blast impact
Mumbai: Tuesday's serial bomb explosions saw the rupee sliding to 46.24 on dollar buying in thin trade. The domestic currency opened at 46.27/28 and moved in the range of 46.20-46.22 to finally close at 46.24. On Tuesday, the rupee closed at 46.17/18.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the six-month closed at 1.10 per cent (1.09 per cent) and the 12-month at 1.21 per cent (1.20 per cent).

G-Secs: The 7.59 per cent 10-year benchmark paper closed at Rs94.82 (8.38 per cent). The 7.37 per cent-8 year-2014 paper ended at Rs95.05 (8.24 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs94.90 (8.27 per cent YTM).

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

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction under the LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 21 bids amounting to Rs15,495 crore and in the second one-day reverse repo auction, 35 bids for Rs27,615 crore. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 310 trades aggregating Rs18,231.55 crore in the 5.49 -5.90 per cent range.
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PNB to invest £25 million in UK subsidiary
New Delhi: The Punjab National Bank (PNB) plans to make a capital infusion of about £25 million in its subsidiary in the UK, once approvals are in place. This subsidiary came into being in April.

Bank officials said that the bank's London-based subsidiary would file an application before the Financial Services Authority of the UK this month for opening branches there.

Bank officials indicated that they were essentially following their customers as most of them are moving abroad as they internationalise their operations.
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Insurance companies simplify procedures for Mumbai blast victims
Mumbai: Insurance companies are offering a simplified claims processing procedure for victims of the serial blasts in Mumbai.

LIC has said that it would waive off investigation of claims in the case of policies of sum-assured up to Rs2 lakh. The corporation will also pay double accident and disability benefit without insisting on police reports.

Evidence of death will be accepted in the form of entry in the register of births and deaths or panchnama, police inquest report or post-mortem report. If the Central or State Government of any municipal authority has paid compensation or made any ex-gratia payment, it will also be treated as satisfactory evidence.

In the case of policies of sum-assured up to Rs40,000, the statement of the spouse endorsed by persons specified to attest the death claim discharge form will be accepted.

ICICI Prudential has also offered a three-step process for its policyholders in the event of "death" or "total and permanent disability" claims. The requirements for the claim to be processed are copy of death certificate or proof issued by the Bombay Municipal Corporation or hospital.

In the case of disability, proof from the hospital is required. A written intimation will also have to be furnished by the claimant along with the policy document and a copy of photo identity proof (PAN card, passport, elections card, driving licence etc).
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PSBs opposed to deregulation of savings bank rates
Bangalore: Public sector banks are opposed to the deregulation of savings bank (SB) deposit rates and instead prefer continuing with the current administered rate mechanism.

Public sector bankers fear that deregulation of the SB deposit rates would lead to excessive volatility in both deposit and lending rates. At present, SB deposits account for a major pool of long-term funds for the public sector banking system. The SB deposit base of public sector banks is estimated at Rs7 lakh crore or 40 per cent of the aggregate deposits.

This was in view of the large number of accounts and the minimum balances that are maintained in these accounts.
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