The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, April 19, 2006

The think-tank
SURPRISE PACKAGE OF NO CHANGE: Mr Y. V. Reddy (centre), Governor, RBI; and his deputies (from left) Ms Usha Thorat; Mr V. Leeladhar; Mr Rakesh Mohan; and Ms Shyamala Gopinath, on their way to announce the Credit Policy in Mumbai on ... More

Risk weightage on VF investments up
Inadequate public disclosures on performance/asset quality More

Policy statement highlights global downside risks
Sufficient signals to govt on need for constant vigil More

Exporters to feel the pinch
The hike in the ceiling interest rate on export credit in foreign currency by 25 basis points in the RBI's Annual Policy statement on Tuesday has not come as a surprise for exporters. "We were expecting this kind of a hike. What else can the ... More

Increased cost of credit worries exporters
Higher transaction cost will cut into competitive edge More

Credit Policy: More bark than bite
Pre-emptive moves by RBI likely if conditions warrant More

State loans now become repoable
RBI's move is to improve banks' liquidity More

More NRI remittances likely
The upward revision of interest rates on NRE rupee deposits for one- to three-year period by 25 basis points is expected to increase remittances into the country and shore up NRI deposits, several bankers said. NRE deposits will henceforth ... More

Pro-growth, says CII
Describing the Annual Policy Statement of the RBI, released on Tuesday, as growth oriented, CII President Mr Y.C. Deveshwar commended the bank for keeping the interest rates unchanged.The chamber observed that the unchanged Repo ... More

`CRR cut would have helped'
Congratulating the RBI for maintaining stability in interest rates, the FICCI President, Mr Saroj K. Poddar said the new credit policy would ensure momentum of growth, particularly in manufacturing. However, the RBI has displayed ... More

Over-cautious: PHDCCI
The PHDCCI too has said that the RBI should have reduced the CRR by 50 basis points to improve liquidity in the system. The chamber felt that the RBI has announced an overcautious policy and "erred towards controlling the ... More

INSIGHT

An exercise in political economy
Until such time that we have a legally or, even better, a constitutionally-guaranteed autonomy of the central bank it has to walk the tightrope, of satisfying the politician and still performing according to its dharma. More

MONETARY AND CREDIT POLICY
A vote for growth
How the Governor's latest Monetary Policy statement will pan out depends very much on the international and domestic developments, including crude oil prices and the domestic political situation. Hopefully, the Governor's expectations of a smooth rid e for India will come to pass, says S. VENKITARAMANAN. More

FOREX

Rupee falls on dollar buying
The rupee dipped against the greenback on Tuesday on the back of dollar buying particularly by oil companies. The domestic currency opened at 45.07/09 and touched an intra-day low of 45.28. It closed the day at 45.18, down from ... More

PRIVATE BANKS

ONGC to bank with ICICI also
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd has approved parallel banking arrangement with ICICI Bank. A statement issued by the oil major points out that till now State Bank of India had been the sole banker for ONGC. On April 12 this ... More

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

Cabinet approves writing off United Bank losses
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved netting off of United Bank of India's (UBI) accumulated losses amounting to Rs 278.44 crore against the capital of Rs 1,810.87 crore with effect from March 31. Briefing newspersons on the Cabinet decision, ... More

Corporation Bank board meet
Corporation Bank is scheduled to hold its board meeting on April 26 in Mumbai, to consider amongst others, the audited financial results for the year ended March 31, 2006, and to propose the final dividend for 2005-06, if any. A bank release ... More

GOVT BONDS

Bond prices surge 50 paise
Bond prices surged by 50 paise after interest rates were left untouched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its annual monetary policy for 2006-07. Dealers in the bond market welcomed the move. "The fact that rates were ... More

SHORT TERM INSTRUMENTS

Call rates at 5.5-5.6 pc
The call rate traded between 5.5 and 5.6 per cent (5.5). In the one-day reverse repo auction, under LAF, the RBI received and accepted 19 bids amounting to Rs 9,180 crore in the first auction and 46 bids for Rs 46,790 crore in ... More

INTERVIEW

`Ready to act promptly on inflation signs'
Keen to prevent potential imbalance: Reddy More

CO-OPERATIVES

Mahesh Bank plans anywhere banking
Net increases to Rs 5 cr More

PEOPLE

Sridhar is CMD NHB
Mr S. Sridhar took over as Chairman and Managing Director, National Housing Bank on Tuesday. Earlier, he was Executive Director, Exim Bank. He began his career with SBI in 1973 and joined Exim Bank in 1985. ... More

Cross Currency Rates