Rupee marginally higher against dollar
Mumbai: The rupee was marginally stronger against the dollar on Wednesday due to dollar selling by some nationalised banks and exporters.

The rupee opened weak at 46.90 on the back of a strong dollar overseas, but recovered to an intra-day high of 46.78 to finally close at 46.80. Dealers said that there was hardly any demand seen from domestic oil companies strengthening the rupee. The dollar gained overseas in the early trading hours but the yen strengthened against the US currency towards the close.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the 12-month closed at 1.17 per cent (1.11 per cent) and the six-month ended at 1.04 per cent (.97 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices were flat to weak ahead of the auction to be held on Thursday. Prices moved in the 10-15 paise range. A dealer with a private bank said bond prices could remain flat till Friday, when the US will release its GDP figures.

After that yields could firm up and could even touch 8.35 next week he said.

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent 10-year 2016 benchmark paper opened at Rs95.88 (8.21 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs95.73 (8.23 per cent YTM), against the previous close of Rs95.82 (8.22 per cent YTM). The 7.37 per cent eight-year 2014 paper opened at Rs95.65 (8.14 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs95.58 (8.15 per cent YTM), against the previous close of Rs95.74 (8.12 per cent YTM).
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RBI may control payment and settlement systems
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India may regulate and oversee the various payment and settlement systems including those operated by the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL), card companies and the proposed National Payments Corporation of India. A bill to this effect was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. At present, CCIL operates the inter-bank government securities and foreign exchange clearing systems. A new National Payments Corporation would take over the operations of retail payment systems. The various retail payment systems in operation include the manual paper-based clearing, MICR clearing, Electronic Funds Transfer systems (including the electronic clearing services) and card based paper system.

RBI operates the real time gross settlement (RTGS) system for facilitating non-cash mode of payments. The Payment and Settlement Systems Bill 2006 also seeks to give legal recognition to the netting procedure and provides for the finality and irrevocable nature of settlement. Moreover, it also seeks to empower the Securities Appellate Tribunal to settle disputes between the RBI and the payment system providers. Once this Bill is passd, the RBI would have the powers to lay down operational and technical standards for various payment systems. Besides specifying the duties of the system providers, the RBI would also have the powers to audit and inspect the systems and premises of the system providers.
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LIC new premium grows by 217-pc in Q1
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation of India has reported a growth of 217-per cent in new business premium for Q1, 2007. The growth was largely driven by the sale of unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs).

The corporation's total new business premium in Q1, including group business stood at Rs9,204 crore, up by 217 per cent from Rs2,899 crore in the previous year. In terms of individual business, the company raked in new business premium of Rs8,192 crore in Q1, up from Rs2,300 crore last year.

T.S. Vijayan, chairman, Life Insurance Corporation of India, said, "Almost 90 per cent of the new business premium came from ULIPs, but this kind of growth cannot be sustained," he said.
The two unit-linked products that brought in the bulk of the business were Future Plus - a pension plan which was available with options for payment as single or regular premium and Jeevan Plus - a whole life unit-linked plan. Almost 70 per cent of the business came from single premium policies.

Since, July 1, LIC has replaced and modified Future Plus with Market Plus. Jeevan Plus has not been replaced and the Chairman said that the corporation would wait before launching a new product.

As per the guidelines, ULIPs should now have a minimum lock-in period of 3 years and the death benefit payable or sum assured under the single-premium product has to be at least 125 per cent of the premium paid.
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FIIs, NRIs, PIOs can invest in equity of ICICI Bank
Mumbai: FIIs, NRIs and PIOs can invest in the equity shares of ICICI Bank up to 74 per cent through stock exchanges in India under the Portfolio Investment Scheme without prior clearance of the RBI. The RBI also informed that foreign share holdings in ICICI Bank have gone down below the limit of 74 per cent of its paid-up capital.
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Canara Bank to foray into insurance with foreign partner
Kolkata: Bangalore-based Canara Bank is looking for acquisitions both abroad and in India and would finalise the foreign partner for a proposed life insurance venture within the current financial year.

Canara Bank chairman and managing director, MBN Rao, said the insurance foray would be a three partner venture as one more bank is likely to be part to the life insurance venture. He did not divulge the name of the second partner bank.

Canara Bank is likely to take a majority stake in the insurance venture, but details are yet to be worked out.

Canara Bank may also open new representative offices in Shanghai and Sharjah. The bank has a subsidiary in Hong Kong and was keen on acquisition of banks, forging joint ventures with international financial institutions or Indian banks in other countries of South East Asia to expand foreign operations, Rao said.
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Vijaya Bank raises Rs250-cr via bonds
Mumbai: Vijaya Bank has raised Rs250 crore as tier-II capital through its bond issue on private placement basis. The bonds issue, with a tenure of ten years and a coupon rate of 9.25 per cent, opened for subscription on July 20 and closed on July 25, after receiving full subscription, the bank informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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