The Hindu Business Line : Friday, August 18, 2006

FOREX
Cos borrowed $ 3b overseas in April, May
Indian Companies borrowed $3.36 billion (equivalent to Rs 15,450 crore) overseas during the first two months of the fiscal 2006-07. To put that in perspective, banks have lent about Rs 50,000 crore during the first four months of the fiscal. ... More

Rupee strong against the dollar
For the second day in a row, the rupee gained against the US dollar on Thursday, thanks to FII inflows into the domestic equity markets. The currency opened at 46.51/52 and touched an intra-day of 46.43 due to dollar selling by ... More

INSURANCE
Enam into insurance broking
Enam Financials Consultants Pvt Ltd has decided to venture into the insurance broking business through Enam Insurance Broker Pvt Ltd. The new firm will offer insurance products to corporates and individuals in the life and the non-life insurance ... More

HOUSING FINANCE
HM appoints HDFC as advisor for Bengal land sale
State Government's permission sought for the move More

GENERAL INSURANCE
Insurance cos ready to offer special cover for ports
Cost of shipwreck disposal and oil spill clearance More

Non-life insurance market up 10 pc in Q1
Private sector grows at fast pace, wrests more of low claims biz More

PRIVATE BANKS
ICICI Bank sells IDFC stake for Rs 252 cr
ICICI Bank today sold its entire stake of 3.74 per cent in Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC) to Goldman Sachs for Rs 252 crore. The Mauritius-based subsidiary of global investment bank Goldman Sachs today acquired 4.2 ... More

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS
UCO Bank to bring 500 branches under CBS
UCO Bank will bring 500 branches under its Core Banking Solution (CBS) operations by March 2008. The bank has already commenced CBS operations with two data centres to take care of disaster recovery needs and business continuity ... More

SBI urges ICAI to defer accounting code
State Bank of India has suggested deferment in the application of the revised accounting standard on employee benefits in the wake of its impact on its balance sheet. The revised accounting standard on employee benefits (AS-15) is mandatory on ... More

GOVT BONDS
Bond prices rally around 50 paise
Bond prices rallied by around 50 paise on the back of the gains made by the US treasury bills. Dealers said that the consumer price index data and the industrial production data was worse than expected, which caused the US ... More

SHORT TERM INSTRUMENTS
Call rates stay unchanged
Call rates remain unchanged between 6 per cent and 6.10 per cent. In the first one-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted 17 bids amounting to Rs 14,120 crore and in the second one-day ... More

FIXED DEPOSITS
SBT `tax saver deposit scheme'
The State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has launched a "tax saver deposit scheme" with effect from August 16, 2006. The depositor in the scheme can claim income tax deduction up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act in a ... More

EVENTS
`Financial inclusion is the biggest challenge for banks'
Chidambaram hopeful of exceeding the agricultural credit target More