Rupee unchanged
Mumbai: The rupee remained unchanged against the dollar on Wednesday and opened at around 44.61/63 to touch a low of 44.74/75 before closing unchanged at the previous close of 44.69/70. Forwards: In the forwards, the six-month premium closed at 2.28 per cent (2.06 per cent) and the one-year at 2.03 per cent (1.92 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices fell by around 11 paise on profit-booking by traders. The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 paper opened at Rs101.50 (7.36 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs101.28 (7.39 per cent YTM) against the previous close of Rs101.39 (7.38 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent 11-year paper opened at Rs105 (7.36 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs104.78 (7.39 per cent YTM) against Tuesday's close of Rs104.89 (7.37 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates were higher between 6.15 per cent and 6.25 per cent against Tuesday's 6.1-6.2.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse-repo auction under the LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted five bids for Rs2,235 crore. There were no repo bids. In the second one-day reverse-repo auction, the RBI accepted and received 15 bids for Rs9,690 crore.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 307 trades aggregating to Rs19,823.25 crore in the 5.96-6.10 per cent range.
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SIB ties up with Citi to launch co branded credit card
Bangalore: South Indian Bank (SIB) will launch a co-branded Citi Bank credit card next month as part of its endeavour to increase its non-fund based revenue. SIB has already signed MoUs with five mutual funds to distribute their products.
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ING Vysya promoters to infuse Rs840-cr of fresh equity by 2009
Kolkata: ING Vysya Life Insurance's promoters will infuse Rs840 crore of fresh equity by calender 2009 after which the company's total paid-up capital will rise to Rs1,380 crore from Rs540 crore.

The insurance major has set an ambitious target to achieve total premium income of Rs5,000 crore by 2010 and in the current fiscal the company hopes to achieve premium income of Rs700 crore against Rs290 crore in 2005.

ING Vysya's biggest promoters are Exide Industries (EIL), which holds 50 per cent and Netherlands-based ING Group, which holds 26 per cent.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements and Enam Financial Consultants hold 14 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

Till now EIL has infused Rs270 crore in the company's equity and would infuse an additional Rs420 crore by 2009. The rest would be brought in by other shareholders in proportion to their holdings.
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Fitch not to provide ratings to 10 Indian banks
New Delhi: Global credit rating agency Fitch has withdrawn its services to 10 banks in India and will no longer provide specific analytical coverage to them. These banks are Karnataka Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Syndicate Bank and seven associate banks of SBI, it said.

The rating agency expects to continue to include a few of these banks in its benchmark study of key financials for Indian banks and would continue to maintain individual and support ratings to 31 Indian banks, 16 of which are government-owned.
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Birla Sun changes load structure in index fund
Mumbai: Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company plans to charge an exit load of one percent in its Birla Index Fund for redemption of less than Rs one crore if done within six months of purchase. For redemption of more than Rs one crore but less than Rs5 crore and within six months of purchase, the fund house would charge 0.50 per cent as exit load.

Redemptions of Rs5 crore and above within six months of purchase would attract an exit load of 0.25 per cent, the fund house said. The change comes into effect from December 1, it said.

The asset management company at present charges a flat one per cent as exit load for any redemption within three months of purchase.
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Scotia Bank of Canada plans expansion
Toronto: Canada based Bank of Nova Scotia is planning to get more business as well push its brand in India after more than two decades of a minor banking presence in the country. Officials said since India was a regulated market, it was difficult for a foreign company to invest in the country. The bank has five branches serving retail and commercial customers in India and is exploring opportunities to make bigger acquisitions that could include banks or financial service companies in the country.

The Scotia Bank will soon open a commercial branch in Shanghai. In China, where regulators have not yet allowed the bank to establish retail locations, Scotia bank is building a relationship with regulators that it hopes will open doors.
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Kotak Bank looks to expanding in Japan, Middle East
Hyderabad: The Kotak Mahindra Bank is looking at expanding its operations in Japan and the Middle East. The bank which currently has 84 branches across the country, is also planning to take its total number of branches to 110 by the end of the current financial year.

The bank would finance its expansion with the $100-million funds raised through a global depository share in April 2006. Plans are also on to scale up branch network to 110 from the existing 84 by the end of March 2007. The bank also intends to add 5,000 employees this year.
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