Rupee touches 20-month high
Mumbai: The rupee touched a 20-month high rate of 43.30 against the dollar due to tight liquidity in the banking system. The rupee opened at 43.50/52 but rose by 26 paise to close at 43.30 against the previous close of 43.56/57 on Friday. According to dealers, the tight liquidity prompted banks to sell dollars to meet their cash requirements.

The dealers expect the rupee to trade in the range of 43.10-43.15 this week. In the forward premia, 6-month closed at 5.45 per cent (3.97) and the 12-month closed at 4.15 per cent (3.37). Dealers said the market will normalise in the first week of April.

Bonds: Market participants expect bond prices to be slightly volatile as traders will be `window-dressing' and shoring up their balance sheets before the end of the financial year.

G-secs: The 8.07 per cent-10 year-2017 paper opened at 100.70 (7.96 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs100.48 (7.99 per cent YTM), against Friday's Rs96.86 (7.56 per cent YTM).

The 7.37 per cent-7 year-2014 paper opened at Rs96.60 (7.96 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs96.54 (8.02 per cent YTM) against Friday's Rs96.86 (7.56 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call rates ruled at 13-15 per cent, more than the previous close of 11-12 per cent on tight liquidity.

Reverse repo: In the first two-day repo auction under LAF, the central bank received and accepted 39 bids for Rs29,495 crore. In the second two-day repo auction, it received and accepted 18 bids for Rs7, 265 crore. In the second (there was no reverse repo in the morning) reverse repo auction, it accepted and received one bid for Rs40 crore. The CBLO: CBLO market saw 392 trades aggregating to Rs17, 051.30 crore in the 7.31-9.25 per cent range.
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Allianz eyes bigger India play with banking foray
New Delhi: German insurance company Allianz is expanding its operations in India with a foray in banking business through its unit Dresdner Bank and will also expand its existing non-banking financial services. Allianz is said to have have approached regulatory authorities for necessary approval to launch its banking business in the country. Allianz currently offers life and general insurance services through its joint ventures with Bajaj Auto.

The company is upbeat on starting retail banking business here after signing its third joint venture with Bajaj Group earlier this month to sell financial products such as mutual funds, credit cards and home loans.
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Watch hardening interest rates: Citigroup tells Indian govt
New Delhi: Citigroup, the world's largest financial services company, has cautioned against the impact of hardening interest rates on India's economy the second fastest growing economy globally.

He said increase in interest rates tend to have a negative impact on growth, but added at present it has not reached an alarming situation in India. Interests rates have been hardening following tight monetary policies by RBI to tame rising inflation, which has touched 6.46 per cent.

Prince, who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with other key government officials during his visit here, also said the group hopes for a relaxation in norms for foreign banks to operate in India and recognise their ability to offer better services.
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IndusInd comes out with GDR issue
Mumbai: IndusInd Bank plans to raise above Rs130 crore through global depository receipts. The bank has launched the issue of global depository receipts on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, said a BSE announcement. The bank will issue close to 30 million shares, which will bring down the promoters' stake from 31.3 per cent to 28 per cent.
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UTI Mutual launches micro-pension scheme for rural women
Pune: UTI Mutual Fund has tied up with Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank (Mann Deshi) for providing its members an investment opportunity through a micro-pension initiative under its Retirement Benefit Pension Fund. This will enable rural women with meagre income in Western Maharashtra to achieve financial independence and become self sufficient in their old age.

Mann Deshi has over 40,000 members and all women, of which 2,000 will be joining the scheme initially. Under this arrangement, those between 18 and 55 years will contribute a minimum of Rs200 per month towards UTI-Retirement Benefit Pension Fund till they are 58. They will receive pension in the form of periodical income after that age.
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Syndicate Bank ties up with CARE
Bangalore: Syndicate Bank has entered into an MoU with credit rating agency Care, to utilise the latter's services for supporting SMEs by making available affordable, transparent, comprehensive and reliable rating services to enhance credit acceptance.

A Syndicate Bank release said that the rating would also provide independent and objective opinion for evaluating infrastructure, corporate and other loan exposures of the bank. The rating services provided by CARE will be an independent third party assessment of the overall condition of SMEs, the release added.
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