The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, November 26, 2008

MONEY & BANKING

FINANCIAL MARKETS: The WPI, PPI, CPI confusion
US inflation talk is subdued, practically absent, these days. The feeling is that the economic slowdown is so severe that businesses have no scope to raise prices. On the contrary, they must discount to be rid of their inventories. The crash ...

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS: Banks seek SLR securities status for subsidy bonds
‘Move could release at least about Rs 1.5 lakh crore of liquidity’. Bangalore, Nov. 25 Following a deluge of deposits from investors, public sector banks have approached the Reserve Bank of India for widening the category of bonds ...

INSIGHT: What hurts India’s exports
During the beginning of the year, the Government embarked on an ambitious plan to reach an export figure of $200 billion for fiscal 2008-2009; and, further, to achieve 5 per cent of global merchandise exports market share by the year 2020. ...

FOREX: Rupee decline to continue
Rupee scaled the 50-mark towards the end of last week aided by heightened volatility in equity markets. But nerves were assuaged once Citigroup’s bail-out package was announced, giving a reprieve to both Indian equities as well ...

GOVT BONDS: Bond prices fall by 13 paise
Bond prices fell by 13 paise on Tuesday, as market participants sold securities to book profits in a range bound market, said dealers. The markets rallied in the first half of trade as rate cut expectations continued, said a dealer with a ...

FOREX: Rupee gains marginally
The rupee gained marginally as foreign banks sold dollars. The rupee opened higher at 49.75/77 and touched a high of 49.70. Then, as importers started booking profits, it fell to the day’s low of 50.12. But this was followed by foreign ...

SHORT TERM INSTRUMENTS: Call rates end tad lower
The inter-bank call rate closed slightly lower at 6.60-6.70 per cent, as against the previous close of 6.90-7 per cent. In the one-day repo auction under the first liquidity adjustment facility (LAF), there was 1 bid for Rs 1,600 crore. In ...

HOUSING FINANCE: HDFC’s new office in Chennai
HDFC Ltd has opened a new office at Old Mahabalipuram Road, Sholinganallur marking its 7th office in Chennai city and 16th in Tamil Nadu. — Our ...

OUTLOOK: Andhra Bank confident of crossing Rs 1 lakh-cr business this fiscal
Chairman outlines plans to expand cover. Visakhapatnam, Nov. 25 Andhra Bank, currently doing business of Rs 87,000 crore, is confident of crossing the Rs 1,00,000 crore mark by the end of the fiscal, according to Mr R.S. Reddy, Chairman and ...

FINANCIAL MARKETS: Bankrolling Citi
The US Government has stepped in, quite expectedly, to rescue the troubled banking giant, Citigroup. Apart from an immediate $20 billion direct cash injection, Washington is also providing a backstop against any default in the bank’s ...

TECHNOLOGY: HDFC Bank unveils faster ATM facility
Mumbai, Nov. 25 HDFC Bank will offer faster transactions and personalised messages through direct banking channels such as ATMs, Internet banking and phone banking. The bank will offer this facility using “Aptra eMarketing” ...

LIFE INSURANCE: DLF Pramerica Life to step up presence, awareness
New Delhi, Nov. 25 DLF Pramerica Life Insurance Company Ltd (DPLI), a joint venture between realty major DLF and the US-based Prudential Financial, hopes to emerge as a full service player by end-2009, its Managing Director & CEO, Mr ...

CREDIT MARKET: IndusInd bullish on commercial vehicle loans
Kochi, Nov. 25 While the country continues to grapple with the economic slowdown and commercial vehicle sales are on a downswing, IndusInd Bank sees a 30 per cent growth in commercial vehicle loans. With interest rates firming up and other ...

PRIVATE BANKS: Chidambaram opens J&K Bank’s new zonal complex
New Delhi, Nov. 26 The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Tuesday inaugurated J&K Bank’s new zonal complex for Northern India at Gurgaon in Haryana ...

CREDIT RATING: S&P keeps Citi on credit watch
The long-term `AA-' counterparty credit rating assigned by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services to Citigroup Inc will continue to be on credit watch with negative implications and the same is unlikely to fall more than one notch by the yearend, ...

CONSUMER FINANCE: TVS Motor, IndusInd Bank in pact
TVS Motor Company has entered in to an arrangement with IndusInd Bank through which the company’s dealers could avail themselves of structured inventory financing from the bank. The deal is also consistent with the bank’s desire ...