Re recovers
Mumbai: The rupee recovered its losses against the dollar along with the strengthening of other major currencies.

The US Fed Governor's signal to remain soft on interest rates pushed the dollar down against all major currencies. The euro and the pound gained around 300 basis points from Wednesday's low. The rupee opened at 46.81/83, up from Wednesday's close at 46.99/47. Dollar selling by exporters towards the end of the session caused the rupee to close firm at 46.78/79. The rise in the domestic stock market also improved sentiment in the forex market.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the 6-month closed at 0.94 (1.03) and the 12-month ended at 1.1 per cent (1.18).

Call rates: Call rates remained unchanged between 5.75 and 5.85 per cent. In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the RBI received and accepted 29 bids amounting to Rs25,465 crore and in the second one-day reverse repo auction, 38 bids for Rs21,750 crore. There were no repo bids.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 348 trades aggregating to Rs21,530.15 crore in the 5.40 - 5.75 per cent range.
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Union Bank net down 30 pc
Mumbai: Union Bank of India's net profit fell by 30 per cent to Rs 166.81 crore for the quarter ended June 30, against Rs240.39 crore registered in the previous quarter.

"The net profit is down because of higher provisioning, which has increased by 144 per cent," M.V. Nair, CMD of the bank said.

Total income was Rs1,830.72 crore (Rs1,491.45 crore). Net interest income was Rs634.48 crore (Rs534.72 crore). Other income was Rs165.04 crore (Rs133.69 crore). Total expenditure was Rs1,404.24 crore (Rs1,138.37 crore).

The total provisioning increased to Rs157.89 crore (Rs64.69 crore). Capital Adequacy Ratio was 11.25 per cent (12 per cent). The proportion of net NPAs to total assets fell to 1.22 per cent (2.39 per cent). The bank saw a recovery of Rs193 crore in the first quarter (Rs129 crore) due to the robust credit monitoring system put in place to arrest slippage and help recovery, Nair said.

Last year, the bank had an interest income from tax refund, which was not there this year. This too brought the revenues down, he said. Total deposits increased by 21.15 per cent to Rs76,517 crore (Rs63,158 crore). The share of low-cost CASA deposits (current account and savings account) increased to 33.62 per cent of total deposits against 32.37 per cent last year. Total advances grew by 34.09 per cent to Rs55,802 crore from Rs41,615 crore. Retail advances grew by 38.07 per cent, agricultural advances grew by 30.17 per cent and infrastructure lending grew by 33.68 per cent.
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HDFC Standard introduces new products
Mumbai: HDFC Standard Life has introduced three new products as per the new unit-linked guidelines (ULIP) which include--HDFC Unit Linked Endowment Plus, HDFC Unit Linked Young Star Plus, and HDFC Unit Linked Pension Plus.

The new range of products have a one-year Investment Content Rate (ICR) structure wherein, a major portion of the charges is deducted in the first year itself, and thereafter almost the entire amount is invested.

Some of the key features are top-up benefits, partial withdrawal benefits and loyalty bonus units of the fund value added every year to the policy-holder's fund, in addition to all the other benefits available with unit linked plans. The products are targeted at all age groups, above 18 years.
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Karnataka Bank in financing pact with New Holland Tractors
Mangalore: Karnataka Bank has signed a pact with New Holland Tractors (India) Pvt Ltd for financing tractors and other farm equipment manufactured by the company. The bank said that the finance would be extended under bank's `KBL - New Holland Sarathi Scheme'. The farmers availing of finance under the scheme will get a benefit of sum equal to the first year's insurance premium for the tractor and the tractor will carry a warranty of two years from the date of sale, the release added.
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KPMG to assess banks' preparedness for Basel II Accord
New Delhi: KPMG will begin a survey of the banking system in the country to assess the level of preparedness of banks in meeting with the requirements of the Basel-II Capital Accord.

According to KPMG the survey would look at bank's state of preparedness and also whether there are any issues of concern to banks in the implementation of the Basel-II programme. He said he was in discussions with some banks to help them implement the Basel-II accord in respect of operation risk. While the 1988 capital accord addressed market and credit risks, Basel II had substantially changed the treatment of credit risk and also required banks to have substantial capital to cover operational risks.
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