Rupee declines further
Mumbai: The rupee declined to 46.33 on account of heavy demand from several oil companies. The domestic currency opened at 46.28/29 and was in the range of 46.27-46.29, to finally close at 46.33. On Wednesday, the rupee closed at 46.24.

Dealers said that there was a strong demand from domestic oil companies.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the six-month closed at 1.02 per cent (1.10 per cent) and the 12-month at 1.16 per cent (1.21 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices saw a slight rise due to some value buying by PSU banks. Traded volumes also increased marginally to Rs1,545 crore on the order matching system. The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 paper opened at Rs94.90 (8.36 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs95.05 (8.34 per cent YTM), higher than Wednesday's close at Rs94.82 (8.38 per cent). The 7.37-8 year-2014 paper opened at Rs95.25 (8.21 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs95.23 (8.21 per cent YTM), against the previous close at Rs95.05 (8.24 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, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 30 bids amounting to Rs31,685 crore and in the second one-day reverse repo auction, 25 bids for Rs13,725 crore. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 296 trades aggregating to Rs16,419.85 crore in the 5.56-5.70 per cent range.
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UTI Bank Q1 net up 30 pc
Mumbai: UTI Bank reported a 30 per cent rise in its first quarter net profit at Rs120.55 crore, up from Rs92.63 crore in the year-ago period. Dr P.J. Nayak, chairman and managing director, UTI Bank, said the results were despite higher provisioning and depreciation in valuation of tax-free bonds.

The total income grew by 52.67 per cent to Rs1,178.42 crore from Rs771.85 crore. Net interest income for the quarter was up by 44.66 per cent to Rs321.84 crore from Rs222.48 crore. Other income rose to Rs224.5 crore (Rs150.01 crore).

Net advances grew by 65 per cent to Rs25,836 crore from Rs15,666 crore. Retail advances, which grew by 82 per cent to Rs7,842 crore, now accounts for 30 per cent of the total advances.

The net interest margin for the quarter was 2.68 per cent (2.66 per cent). Provisioning increased by 96 per cent to Rs124.81 crore from Rs63.54 crore. Valuation of tax-free bonds has depreciated to the extent of Rs88.37 crore, following amendments to the Income Tax Act. Net NPA was at 0.73 per cent at the end of June, down from 1.19 per cent a year ago.

UTI Bank shares ended at Rs273.1 on the BSE today against its previous close of Rs276.25.
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PSU insurers to outsource 3rd party motor cover services
Chennai: PSU general insurance companies -- United India, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance - plan to extend the outsourcing of claim settlement service for third party motor insurance (TPMI) also. This is in line with the third party administrator (TPA) system introduced for mediclaim policies four years ago.

As per the new system, all the claim settlement for third party motor insurance would be handled by the new firms.

However, the insurers are yet to announce the sharing of premium for TPMI. Sources said that this would not in any way affect policy-holders as in the case of mediclaim policies.

The decision to outsource services for TPMI claim settlement has drawn flak from employees' organisations of all PSU general insurance companies. They claim that this would impose an additional burden on companies.
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SBI introduces On-line Business Centre
New Delhi: State Bank of India (SBI) has launched an On-line Business Centre at its Lucknow head office. The business centre will give the public banking-related information through telephone or internet.

The centre aims at addressing needs of new customers, particularly the younger generation, who desire to avail of the SBI services.

Any customer contacting SBI On-line Business Centre will be given an auto generated index number for all future references. This system will also record the date and time of the call so that the for bank management can monitor the response time.

The customers can utilise the on-line service of the bank through the numbers offered by the bank including toll-free number, mobile number and e-mail.
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ICICI Bank takes initiative in micro-financing
Mumbai: ICICI Bank has acquired a stake of just below 20 per cent in the newly launched Financial Information Network and Operations Private Ltd (FINO), that would provide technological solutions as well as services to finance providers to reach the underserved in the country. ICICI Bank is the lead facilitator.

ICICI Bank expects to target 200 micro-finance institutions (MFIs) by March 2007. At present, the bank has tie-ups with 100 MFIs. FINO is an initiative in the micro-finance sector. It would target 300-400 million people who do not have access to basic financial services. The company has an authorised capital of Rs50 crore. MFIs, NBFCs, RRBs, co-operative banks, etc would directly or indirectly tie up with FINO to use its services. FINO would charge Rs25-30 per account every year.

FINO has partnered with IBM and i-flex to offer core banking products. It would also provide credit bureau services, which includes individual customer credit rating and analytics based on transaction history. It also launched biometric cards for customers, which would be a proof of identity and give collateral to them. The card would also offer multiple products including savings, loans, insurance, recurring deposits, fixed deposits and remittances. The company would also build-up customer database, thus bringing them into mainstream banking.
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Life insurance policies to be based common format
Mumbai: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has roped in National Insurance Academy (NIA), Pune, and other members from the life insurance industry to work out a common format and language for life insurance players and has mandated NIA director KC Mishra to head the 'harmonisation of documentation of the life insurers committee'.

"Each foreign partner of the insurance players has brought in their own definitions, language and procedures to the Indian market. This has led to confusion in the customer's mind and made it difficult to understand and compare products. We plan to change this," said Mishra.

The committee, formed two weeks ago, has already obtained documentation from most life insurers. It is in the process of compiling the information and will now find a way to simplify the procedures and language to bring down the policy and proposal document to just two.

Currently there are close to 300 types of policy and proposal documents. The plan will ensure that every player follows the same format of documentation as well the same language. To begin with, only linked and conventional life insurance products be covered under the plan.

Though Irda has asked the committee to restrict the format to two documents, Mishra says in all probability it will be brought down to four. Within the four documents, the committee is hoping to ensure that each document is only one page.
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