Rupee declines against dollar
Mumbai: The rupee declined against the US dollar due to rising demand for the US currency from domestic oil companies. The rupee opened at 46.50/51, touched an intra day low of 46.54 but recovered slightly on account of exporters selling dollars. It closed at 46.49/50 against the previous close of 46.45/46.

The rupee is expected to weaken further in the week due to month-end demand from importers, the dealer said.

Forwards: In the forward-premia market, the six-month premium ended at 1.38 per cent (1.41 per cent) and the 12-month premium ended at 1.33 per cent (1.35 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices were range-bound. The total traded volume stood at Rs2,480 crore on the order-matching system. Dealers said that the rise in the price of global crude and the pressure on domestic liquidity were concerns for market participants.

The outlook for the bond market seems to be bearish for the near term and the 10-year yield could inch up to 8.10 per cent," said a dealer at a private bank.

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 year paper opened at Rs97.13 (8.02 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs97.09 (8.03 per cent YTM), against Monday's close at Rs97.06 (8.03 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent-11 year-2017 paper opened at Rs99.79 (8.10 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.85 (8.09 per cent YTM), compared to Rs99.76 (8.10 per cent YTM) on Monday.
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Tata Motors to spin off auto finance arm
Mumbai: Tata Motors is planning to hive off its vehicle-financing division, Tata Motorfinance, into a separate entity, before the launch of its Rs1 lakh car so that Tata Motorfinance, can tap the opportunities that arise when the new car is launched in 2008.

Analysts said as Tata Motors is an automobile company, it should not keep debt beyond a prescribed limit in its balance sheet and hence the move to separate the automobile financing arm into a separate company.

However, the entire portfolio of the auto financing business of Tata Motors would not be transferred to the new entity. Tata Motors had availed of tax benefits due to losses incurred by the automobile finance business.

The Tata group had sometime back closed down its beleaguered NBFC arm Tata Finance, which had a huge capital market exposure. Now it seems to readying to revisit the NBFC segment even though the Reserve Bank of India is not willing to grant banking licences to corporations.
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PNB offers insurance to home loan borrowers
New Delhi: Punjab National Bank (PNB) has tied up with Tata AIG Life Insurance to offer insurance covers to home loan borrowers. A new product — `Mortgage Reducing Term Assurance' — has been launched by PNB for its existing as well as new housing loan borrowers. Under the scheme, the bank would offer insurance cover of loan outstanding on the payment of a single one-time premium to protect the house and save the bereaved family from housing loan debt in case of death of the borrower.

PNB said a very low premium, approximately 2.5 per cent of the loan amount, would have to be paid as one-time premium at the age of 40 for repayment tenor of 15 years. This is a one-time premium that is financed by the bank as part of the housing loan. This product would also be optional for the borrower and the maximum sum insured could be Rs1 crore.

The insurance cover would be available for the period up to 20 years or 65 years of age, whichever is earlier.
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Bharti AXA Life flags off insurance biz
Hyderabad: Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company has started its operations by opening its first branch in the city. The insurer aims to have several points of presence through strategic partnerships. One of the major partnerships of the insurance JV would be with Bharti Airtel, which has a large customer base of over 25-million, and is growing at around a million new customers a month. The partnerships would range from financial intermediaries to non-financial intermediaries with strong customer base. Besides having a presence in metros and mini metros, Bharti AXA will be well represented in the tier-II and upcountry markets.

Bharti AXA has launched two unit-linked products - `Future Confident' targeted at the masses and `Wealth Confident' targeting the affluent segment.
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UTI Bank offers debit card for SMEs
Mumbai: UTI Bank in association with MasterCard launched an international debit card for small and medium enterprises and self-employed professionals. The card has a five-year validity and a daily Point of Sales usage limit of Rs 2 lakh, said a press release from the bank.

It would also feature daily cash withdrawal limit of Rs50,000 and zero lost-card liability. The card offers personal accident cover of Rs 5 lakh and access to MasterCard lounges at domestic and international airports in five cities in India. The card can be used by current account holders. UTI Bank currently has a portfolio of 4.7 million debit cards.
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