Rupee declines against dollar
Mumbai: The rupee eased against the dollar on Monday on month-end demand not matched by dollar inflows. The rupee opened at 45.90 and touched a high of 45.84. It ended trade at 45.95, a tad lower than Friday's close of 45.90.

Forwards: In the forward premia market, the six-month premium closed at 1.25 per cent (1.21 per cent) and the 12-month closed at 1.29 per cent (1.26 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices ruled flat and were said to be awaiting the auction calendar said dealers. Traded volume on the order matching system was Rs 2,865 crore (Rs6,730 crore).

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent-10-year 2016 benchmark paper opened at Rs 99.81 (7.6175 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.78 (7.62 per cent YTM), up from Friday's close at Rs99.75 (7.63 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent-11 year-2017 paper opened at Rs 102.845 (7.66 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs102.78 (7.67 per cent YTM) against Friday's Rs102.75 (7.68 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates were between 6.40 and 6.50 per cent against Friday's 6.40-6.60 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 5 bids amounting to Rs.5.545 crore and in the second one-day reverse repo auction, 15 bids for Rs8,140 crore.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 354 trades aggregating to Rs21,972.15 crore in the 5.90-6.35 per cent range.
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DCB's promoters to reduce stake
Mumbai: The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), the main promoter of Development Credit Bank (DCB), has decided to trim its stake from 58.43 per cent to 30.13 per cent through an initial public offer of 7.15 crore equity shares.
DCB is planning to raise Rs 150-180 crore by the issue with the price band being set between Rs 22 and Rs 26. The issue will open on September 26 and close on October 6. The book running lead managers to the issue are JM Morgan Stanley and Enam Financial Consultants.
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Max NY hikes capital base
New Delhi: Max New York Life has announced that it has increased its capital base by Rs30 crore, taking it to Rs617 crore to support the company's expansion and to conform to the solvency margin requirements.
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Kotak Mahindra launches gold bars
Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank launched 24-carat Swiss gold bars under the brand name of "Gold Eternity". The gold bars will be available in lots of 50 grams and 100 grams across 42 branches of the bank. The gold bars are manufactured in Switzerland by Pamp, a gold refiner.
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Agricultural Bank of China to tie up with Canara Bank
Bangalore: Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and Canara Bank are planning to build a partnership in the areas of agricultural and rural employment promotions schemes. ABC, which has the largest service network in China with 28,234 outlets and with an asset base of RMB 4,771 billion, was ranked among the top 50 global banks.

The two banks have agreed to extend cooperation in key areas like transformation of rural poor, credit linking of the self help groups, credit administration, NPA management and agricultural lending, said a Canara Bank release.

While commending the role played by Canara Bank, the ABC team also expressed keenness to adopt the Canara Bank's model in the realms of financial inclusion and recovery initiatives. ABC showed special interest in replicating Canara Bank's model of promoting gainful self-employment in the rural areas, the release added.
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DCB offers stake to HDFC at face value
Mumbai: Development Credit Bank promoter, Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), has sold nearly 1 per cent stake in the bank to Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Amtel Finance and Singapore-based Khattar Holdings for Rs 10 per share, ahead of its IPO. The bank has kept a price band of Rs 22-Rs 26 for its maiden float.

The shares were sold to partly compensate the companies for fixing the bank's IPO price band much below Rs 45, the price at which the three investors had acquired an aggregate of 14.01 per cent stake (106,66,668 shares) in DCB in February 2006 through preferential allotment.

The promoter of DCB and the bank had signed separate subscription agreements on February 16, 2006 with the three investors, making a commitment to price the initial public offering at or above the preferential allotment pricing.
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SBI to expand ATM, branch network
New Delhi: The State Bank of India (SBI) has proposed to open 13 branches and install 192 new ATMs, including 51 ATMs at railway stations, within the Lucknow Circle in 2006-07.

The bank has sanctioned loans worth more than Rs.9 crores and disbursed to 550 beneficiaries, for the purchase of tractors, kisan credit cards; cash credit limits; SME credit cards, credit linkages of self help groups and other agricultural homes.

SBI has also come out with various innovative schemes like 'On Line Business Center' (OLBC), for the benefit of its customers.
SBI has also set a target of Rs.750 crores for agriculture lending, for the remaining years of the current fiscal in the Lucknow Circle. This will include issuance of 115000 Kisan Credit Cards, 6000 Kisan Gold Cards, 13000 tractors and 7000 units of dairy.
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UTI Bank firms up life insurance plans
Mumbai: UTI Bank is firming up its life insurance plans. As a result of this Life Insurance Corporation which is the second largest shareholder UTI Bank and also has a tie-up with it for distributing pension payments is worried. The latter may now compete with LIC in the life insurance business by distributing products of private life insurers. UTI Bank had invited most of the private insurance companies to make presentation for a possible partnership.

Before it began its partner search, the bank had obtained approval from its board, which included a representative from LIC. The corporation was initially ambivalent over the proposal since it did not want to be seen blocking the proposal of a bank where it held investments.

LIC has written to UTI's promoter — the administrator of the special undertaking of UTI — stating that the bank should first consider LIC as a partner.

There is also concern that UTI Bank may take up equity participation in a life insurance company since a few foreign insurers are understood to have approached UTI for equity tie-up.
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