Rupee touches high of 40.54 intraday
Mumbai: Though the rupee ended almost flat on Monday against Friday's close it touched an intra-day high of 40.53/54, which is again a fresh nine-year high.

The rupee opened strong at around 40.65/70, moved in the range of 40.53-40.60 but finally dipped sharply by around 25 paise to close at 40.87. The rupee closed at 40.85/87 on Friday.

Dealers said heavy dollar buying from corporates pushed down the rupee and the Indian currency also tracked the movement of overseas currencies against the dollar.

The six-month forward premia is at 5.30 per cent (5.61 per cent) and 12-month premia is at 4.50 per cent (4.71 per cent).

Dealers said the rupee is on an appreciating mode and is expected to go up further.

Dealers said previously, the Reserve Bank of India had not tolerated the exchange rate stronger than present levels going back to 1993-94. They said the rupee strength has been largely due to the relative absence of the RBI from the forex market despite the rise in rupee.

Call rates: Call rates closed at 6.25 - 6.50 per cent on Monday against the previous close of 7.25 - 7.50 per cent.

Reverse repo: In the first one - day reverse repo auction, the RBI received five bids for Rs4,100 crore while it accepted Rs2,000 crore. In the second one-day reverse repo auction, it received six bids for Rs5,235 crore while it accepted Rs 1,000 crore. There were no repo bids in the first and second one - day auctions.

CBLO: The CBLO market saw 430 trades aggregating Rs 21,019.05 crore in the 4.10 - 9 per cent range.

Bonds: The Government said on Monday said it would sell bonds with the coupon rate of 7.55 per cent worth Rs 2,000 crore with three year maturity under Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS). The 2010-government stock will be sold through price based auction using multiple price method.

The auction would be conducted by the Reserve Bank on May 9. Up to 5 per cent of the amount notified for the sale of stock is reserved for allotment to eligible individuals and institutions on non- competitive basis as per the scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the Auction of Government Securities, the government said. The government also announced redemption of the outstanding balance of 11.90 per cent 2007-bonds and 2007-paper with coupon rate of 11.90 per cent under MSS on May 28.
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Union Bank reports 25 per cent higher net in FY07
Mumbai: Union Bank has reported a 25 per cent increase in net profit at Rs845.39 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007 against Rs675.18 crore in FY06.

According to a release issued by the bank, total income increased to Rs8,068.72 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007 from Rs6,358.20 crore for the year ended March 31, 2006.

The bank posted a 58.06 per cent increase in net profit at Rs228.58 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2007, as compared to Rs144.61 crore for the same period previous year. The total income grew 33.87 per cent to Rs2,336.72 crore in the quarter from Rs1,745.47 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago, the bank informed the BSE.

The board of directors of the bank proposed a final dividend of 20 per cent for the financial year 2006-07 in addition to the 15 per cent interim dividend paid during the year.

The bank has also announced a reduction in interest rates of home loans of up to Rs20 lakh by 50 basis points with effect from today.

The bank said the reduction in interest rates follows the RBI's recent policy announcement reducing the risk weightage for housing loans of Rs20 lakh and less to 50 per cent.
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J&K Bank Q4 net doubles to Rs45 crore
Mumbai: Jammu and Kashmir Bank has reported nearly doubling its net profit to Rs45.28 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, against Rs22.79 crore realized in the corresponding period a year ago.

Total income of the bank, which has over 514 branches, rose 16.5 per cent to Rs575.02 crore for the January-March period as against Rs493.65 crore for the corresponding period in 2006.

The board of directors of the bank has recommended Rs11.50 per share (115 per cent) as dividend for the year 2006-07.
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Allahabad Bank to expand overseas, domestic operations
Mansa: PSU bank Allahabad Bank is planning to open branches in New Zealand and Australia in order to cater to the NRI population in these countries.

The bank has already opened a branch in Hong Kong and a representative office in China this year.

As part of its expansion plans in northern India, the bank has announced plans to open 30 more branches in Punjab, and is projecting a business growth of over 25 per cent from the state by the end of this fiscal. |

The bank was hopeful of achieving a 23 per cent rise in its business volume at Rs1,25,000 crore by the end of 2007-08 as against Rs1,01,458 crore in 2006-07.
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RBI advocates ceiling on personal loan rates
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has asked all commercial banks to fix a ceiling on rates and processing charges to be levied on borrowers.

The RBI has given banks three months to comply with its directives issued in pursuance of the annual credit policy to prevent banks from charging very high rates, which are neither sustainable nor in conformity with the normal banking practice.

The RBI further said the total cost to the borrower, including interest and all other charges levied on a loan, should be justifiable having regard to the total cost incurred by the bank in extending the loan.

The bank boards, the RBI said, should prescribe appropriate internal guidelines and procedures so that usurious interest, including processing and other charges, are not levied on loans and advances in respect of small value loans, particularly personal loans and other loans of similar nature.
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No hike in post office small savings rates: Chidambaram
New Delhi: The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has said there would be no increase in the interest rate of small savings deposits in post offices, stating that States are averse to any further hike in their cost of borrowing from the national small savings fund (NSSF). He also said that administered interest rates on small savings would continue to be benchmarked against average Government securities (G-sec) yields.

The Finance Minister said that any increase in small savings deposit rates would require a concomitant increase in the on-lending rate to the States.

Chidambaram said that net collections (gross collections minus withdrawals) under the small savings scheme still remain positive and there was no evidence of any net outflow of deposits from such schemes.

Net collections under small savings schemes declined 38.93 per cent in April-February 2006-07 to Rs45,191 crore as against Rs74,002 crore collected in the same period the previous fiscal.
Chidambaram said withdrawal did not mean that people were abandoning postal savings. He said it was possible that some funds were shifting from post offices to banks which he said was not a bad thing.
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