Rupee slightly higher
Mumbai: The rupee closed marginally higher on Wednesday on global dollar weakness. The rupee opened at 44.82 against the dollar and touched a low of 44.88 before ending at 44.78, against the previous close of 44.83.84.

Dealers said support for the rupee is likely at 44.50/60 and there could be selling of dollars if it crosses 44.90.

Forwards: Forward premia continued to be high with the six month closing at 2.75 per cent (2.79 per cent) and the one-year closing at 2.44 per cent (2.47 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices fell by around seven paise and yields rose by around one basis point on strong selling by traders.

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 paper opened at Rs99.90 (7.6 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.66 (7.64 per cent YTM) against Rs99.73 (7.63 per cent YTM) on Tuesday. The 8.07 per cent-11 year-2017 paper opened at Rs103.20 (7.61 per cent YTM) and ended at Rs102.85 (7.66 per cent) against Tuesday's close of Rs102.98 (7.64 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates jumped to 7.8-7.9 per cent on Wednesday, against 7.25-7.35 per cent earlier, on fund shortage. They touched an intra-day high of eight per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted four bids for Rs160 crore.

In the first one-day repo auction it received and accepted 18 bids for Rs5,590 crore. In the second one-day reverse repo auction, the apex bank accepted and received seven bids for Rs4,915 crore, while it received and accepted three bids for Rs795 crore in the second one-day repo auction. CBLO: The CBLO market saw 397 trades aggregating to Rs21,335 crore in the 6.9-7.9 per cent range.
Back to News Review index page  

ICICI Bank raises lending, deposit rates
Mumbai: ICICI Bank has hiked its lending rates by almost 50 basis points after the recent hike in the cash reserve ratio. The benchmark advance rate has been revised to 13.75 per cent per annum payable monthly against the present rate of 13.25 per cent, effective December 18. The bank's floating reference rate for consumer loans including home loans will be 10.75 per cent (10.25 per cent). The bank has also increased interest rates on deposits of value less than Rs1 crore by 25 basis points-75 basis points across various tenors.
Back to News Review index page  

Bharti to partner with AXA for life insurance foray
Mumbai: Bharti Enterprises and French insurance company AXA SA will partner to set up a mutual fund and a non-life insurance company in the near future. Globally, AXA is one of the largest insurance companies and the fifth largest asset manager.

Speaking at the national launch of Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company, Henri De Castries, chairman, AXA SA, said, "We commit capital as well as people to India as we believe in the economic development of this country."

AXA SA generated 72 billion euros in consolidate revenues and had 1,064 billion euros in assets under management in 2005. Life insurance forms bulk (63 per cent) of the company's revenue followed by property and casualty insurance (27 per cent) and asset management (5 per cent).

Bharti AXA Life Insurance will set up shop in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata on in addition to branches in Hyderabad and Mumbai. The company plans to set up branches in 28 metros by 2007, of which, 50 branches will be in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

The company is planning a multi-distribution approach using channels such as the agency force, bancassurance relationships and corporate brokers. It will also leverage the 32-million customer base of Airtel.
Back to News Review index page  

Private equity investments double in 2006: PwC
New Delhi: India saw private equity investments more than double this year according to management consultants PriceWaterHouse Coopers. The total investments by private equity players have soared to $5.4 billion in the first nine months of 2006 against $2.2 billion in the whole of last year, the global consulting firm said in a study.

As many as 246 deals took place so far in 2006 against 169 last year, it added.

The largest deal was the $900-million buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co, one of the largest PE funds in the US, for 85 per cent in Flextronics Software.

Singapore's Temasek bought 10 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices for $360 million, Farallon invested $143 million in Indiabulls Financial and Warburg Pincus acquired 27 per cent stake in Lemon Tree Hotels, PwC said.

However, as compared to the traditional seed or growth stage funding that venture capitalists provide in other markets such as the US and Europe, investments in India have been for late-stage funding and private investments in public enterprises, PwC said. The consultants added that unlike the technology boom of the late 1990s and early 2000, investments are being made across a variety of sectors such as auto components, real estate, infrastructure and pharmaceutical, indicating a gradual shift in focus from the traditionally blue-eyed information technology sector.
Back to News Review index page  

YES Bank offers scheme for seniors
Mumbai: YES Bank has launched a special high interest fixed deposit scheme for senior citizens. With effect from December 14, interest rates on deposits with maturity period of six months and one year will earn 8.5 per cent and that of one year and one day to two years is at 8.75 per cent. Rates on deposits for two years and one day to five years would be at 8.5 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

More direct debt funding from Japan bank
New Delhi: The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) would provide more direct debt funding to Indian banks and Japanese companies operating in the country. JBIC wants to enhance the size of its asset book under the international finance operations (IFO) window, where companies are directly approached and funding is typically done without a Government guarantee. Officials at the bank said the Japan Bank was looking at ending this year with total asset book of $1 billion on the IFO side while its current commitment is about $700 million. In 2005, JBIC had restarted funding to India under the IFO window.

The IFO funding is aimed at promoting Japanese exports, imports and economic activities overseas. The IFO window is semi-commercial and interest rates are attractive than the commercial funding rates for dollar/yen finance.

JBIC has since December 2005 signed five agreements with various banks and financial institutions under the IFO window.
Back to News Review index page  

Allbank-PNB JV plan halted
Kolkata: Allahabad Bank's proposed joint venture with Punjab National Bank (PNB) for setting up a banking subsidiary in Kazakhstan is said to have been halted.

Allahabad Bank sources said no progress had been made so far regarding the formation of the JV, where PNB was likely to take the major role with a shareholding of 60 pc.
Back to News Review index page