Rupee marginally higher
Mumbai: The rupee strengthened by four paise on good dollar supplies in the market on Thursday. The rupee opened at 44.75/77, touched an intra-day high of 44.61 to close at 44.65, against the previous day close of 44.69.

In forwards, the six-month closed at 2.1 per cent (2.05 per cent) and the 12-month ended at 2 per cent (1.98 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices fell by five paise as the market awaited the auction of Rs9000 crore Government paper on Friday. The total traded volumes on the order-matching system were Rs2,140 crore (Rs2,475 crore).

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 paper opened at Rs101.27 (7.39 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs101.31 (7.39 per cent) against Wednesday's close at Rs101.35 (7.39 per cent YTM).

The 8.07 per cent-11 year-2017 paper opened at Rs104.70 (7.40 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs104.69 (7.40 per cent) against previous close of Rs104.75 (7.39 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call ruled unchanged between 6.05 per cent and 6.15 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse-repo auction under LAF, RBI received and accepted 11 bids for Rs9,885 crore. There were no repo bids. In the second one-day reverse-repo auction, RBI accepted and received 16 bids for Rs16,660 crore.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 311 trades aggregating to Rs20,752.95 crore in the 5.9-6.25 per cent range.
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SBI plans public float next year
New Delhi: SBI plans to tap the domestic capital market next fiscal to fund its business growth, said O.P. Bhatt chairman State Bank of India.

Bhatt said that the bank was awaiting Parliamentary nod to the proposed amendments in the State Bank of India Act before it raises more tier-I capital.

SBI has not come out with any public offering of equity shares in the last 10 years.

According to Bhatt the bank has headroom to raise equity capital even if the existing condition in the SBI Act, mandating minimum RBI holding of 55 per cent, were to stay. Currently, the RBI holds 59.73 per cent stake in the bank. SBI's paid-up capital as on September 30, 2006 stood at Rs526.30 crore.
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IDBI seeks to open more branches
Mumbai: IDBI has sought permission from the RBI to open 100 new branches. The bank also plans to hire 1,000 employees in a couple of months. Around 500 employees have left the organisation in the past nine months and the bank has staff strength of 6,800 people.
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Citibank, SIB launch co-branded credit card
Kochi: Citibank and South Indian Bank have launched the South Indian Bank-Citibank Visa credit card for customers of South Indian Bank. The new credit card comes packed with a number of innovative features and value propositions.

New features include a zero per cent fuel surcharge at Indian Oil Corporation's petrol stations, 24-hour Internet banking facility, zero lost card liability and Visa money transfer, a press release from Citibank has said. The customers would also have an option of paying card dues at zero cost.
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Centurion Bank of Punjab to get into stock broking
New Delhi: Centurion Bank of Punjab has tied up with Ambit Corporate Finance, Television 18 group company Web18 to enter the stock broking business.

According to a company release, besides stock broking, the venture will offer a range of financial services including distribution of third-party product and portfolio management services, it said.

Also, with increasing Internet penetration in the country, retail customers will be serviced online by the venture. The joint venture is subject to obtaining all regulatory approvals, the release said.
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UTI plans micro pension scheme for Union Bank staff
Mumbai: UTI Mutual Fund is planning to offer UTI's `Retirement Benefit Pension Fund a micro-pension initiative for the staff members and customers of Union Bank of India that will enable them to get pension (periodical income) after 58.

The fund in operation for the last 13 years is an open-ended scheme which invests minimum 60 - 100 per cent in debt and balance in equity. Staffers of the Union Bank will have to contribute a minimum Rs500 per month to the fund till the age of 55 years to claim post-retirement benefits. Initially, around 1,000 members will join the scheme and will go up to 15,000 by the end of next year.
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SBI top begin operations in Israel
New Delhi: State Bank of India will begin operations in Israel by March 2007 and is eyeing Pakistan, but has no immediate plans to make any acquisitions. SBI is looking at countries with which India's trade and investment is set to grow in coming years.

India and Israel have initiated talks for a preferential trade pact and double trade to $5 billion in the next few years.

In 2005, SBI acquired three small banks -- Indonesia's PT Bank IndoMonex, Mauritius-based Indian Ocean International Bank and Giro Commercial Bank Ltd. in Kenya.
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NBFCs re-classified into three groups
Mumbai: Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) have been re-classified into three broad categories instead of the existing four groups by the Reserve Bank of India.

The new groups are asset finance company, investment company and loan company, according to the central bank.

Asset Finance Companies would include companies financing real or physical assets for productive or economic activity. The companies included in this category were divided into equipment leasing and hire-purchase category.

The AFC would include companies financing automobiles, tractors, lathe machines, generator sets, earth moving and material handling equipments, moving on own power and general purpose industrial machines.
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