Rupee declines 36 paise
Mumbai: The rupee declined by around 36 paise against the dollar on sustained buying of the US currency.

The domestic currency closed at 41.28/29 on Thursday, down from the previous close at 40.92/93.

The home currency opened the day at 41 and saw an intra-day high of 40.98 before closing at 41.28/29.

Dealers said that the dollar now seems to be on the rebound and regaining its strength vs other major currencies like euro and pound.

Traders said there might not have been the RBI intervention in the forex market. They expect the rupee to trade in the 41.05-41.45 range this week.

In forwards, the six-month premia closed at 4.90 per cent (5.39 per cent) and the 12-month ended at 4.26 per cent (4.55 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices fell by around 30 paise as excess cash in the system raised concerns over possible RBI action.

Dealers said surplus cash of around Rs25,000 crore in the system would require larger Market Stabilisation Scheme auctions.

G-secs: The 8.07 per cent - 10 year-2017 paper opened at Rs99.84 (8.09 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.62 (8.12 per cent YTM), against the previous close at Rs99.92 (8.08 per cent YTM). The 7.38 per cent- 10 year-2015 paper opened at Rs95.51 (8.11 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs95.41 (8.15 per cent YTM).

Call rates: The interbank call rate fell to a low of 2 - 2.50 per cent on Thursday, as excess cash flooded the system. Call had closed at 3.25 - 3.50 per cent on Wednesday.

G-secs: In the first one - day reverse repo auction, the RBI received 24 bids for Rs23,020 crore while it accepted Rs2,000 crore. In the second one - day reverse repo auction, it received 19 bids for Rs11,475 crore while it accepted Rs999 crore. There were no repo bids in the first and second one - day auctions.

The CBLO market saw 461 trades aggregating Rs23,948 crore in the 0.10 - 2 per cent range.
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Indian Bank offers global debit card
Chennai: Indian Bank has launched a global debit card jointly with MasterCard.

The Indian Bank Global Debit MasterCard is an unembossed signature-based card and is the bank's second debit card - the first was the Maestro card launched last year.

According to bank officials the bank has over 60 million savings bank account holders but only 1.5 million have opted for the Maestro card and even fewer use them.

The global debit card would be valid at over a million ATMs worldwide and over 25 million points of sale.

In India, it would be accepted at over 16,000 ATMs and 300,000 points of sale.
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External commercial borrowings rise to $3 billion in Feb
Chennai: Indian companies raised a little more than $3 billion to about Rs13,000 crore through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) in February 2007, according to figures provided by the Reserve Bank of India. About 86 companies raised money abroad during the month. In January 2007, 81 companies raised about $1.29 billion. The figures for March 2007 are not available yet.

The top fundraiser in February was Reliance Industries, which raised $700 million, followed by Reliance Communication, which raised $500 million. Adani Enterprises raised $250 million while Jet Airways raised $177.50 million. HDFC was the top borrower in January with about $200 million.
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LIC, SBI, PNB, Reliance Mutual Funds get largest share of divested stake in Maruti
New Delhi: Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India, Reliance Mutual Fund, Punjab National Bank, HDFC Mutual Fund and Corporation Bank have together bagged over three-fourths of the 2.97 crore shares of Maruti Udyog (MUL) put on the block by the Government.

About 43 per cent of the shares on offer went to LIC, which had bid for 1.3 crore shares at Rs800 per share taking LIC's shareholding in MUL from the current 8.1 per cent to 12.60 per cent.

SBI got 49.76 lakh shares at Rs775 per share while Reliance Mutual Fund got 20 lakh shares at Rs790 per share. PNB got 12.29 lakh shares at Rs815 per share and HDFC Mutual Fund got 10 lakh shares at Rs782 per share. Corporation Bank, which was the highest bidder at Rs850 per share, got 5.88 lakh shares at this price.

The proceeds of the stake sale may not go to the National Investment Fund. But the Finance Minister said that he has an open mind on this issue.
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RBI permits loans to overseas arms of Indian firms
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted banks to give loans and non-funded credits to wholly-owned entities of overseas subsidiaries floated by Indian companies. The central bank has clarified that Indian companies must have more than a 51 per cent stake in the overseas subsidiary.

The facility is being granted with the view that overseas markets are expected to offer better opportunities of growth and bring in higher revenue and volumes to Indian corporates, the RBI said in its notification. The banks could extend credits to such outfits out of funds held in foreign currency accounts such as FCNR (B), EEFC, RFC etc in respect of which they would have to manage the exchange risk, it said.
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