The Hindu Business Line : Tuesday, December 23, 2008

MONEY & BANKING

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: Insurance reforms gain pace; FDI cap to be hiked to 49%
Bill introduced in Rajya Sabha amid stiff protests from Left parties. New Delhi, Dec. 22 In the last leg of its term, the UPA Government has come up with a big-bang approach to insurance sector reforms by introducing two Bills in ...

FINANCIAL POLICY: LIC Bill seeks to trim pay-out to policy holders
New Delhi, Dec. 22 Amid protest from the Left parties, the Government on Monday introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha to raise the minimum capital of Life Insurance Corporation to Rs 100 crore from the existing Rs 5 crore. Insurance regulator ...

FIXED DEPOSITS: BoI, BoB to cut lending, deposit rates
Mumbai, Dec. 22 Bank of India and Bank of Baroda announced cuts in lending rates by 75 basis points and deposit rates across all maturities with effect from January 1. For both banks, the BPLR will come down to 12.5 per cent from 13.25 per ...

FOREIGN INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS: Disconnect between FII sales, outflows
Chennai, Dec. 22 Data on sales and purchases by FIIs are available on SEBI’s Web site the very next day. On the other hand, as a matter of policy, Balance of Payments (BOP) data on the money that FIIs bring into the country and take out ...

INTERVIEW: ‘Rupee could touch 47 to a dollar by March’
Monetary easing will take more time to stimulate demand. Thiruvananthapuram, Dec. 22 The rupee is more likely to appreciate over the medium run and could touch 47 to a dollar by March 2009, according to Dr Dharmakirti Joshi, Director and ...

OUTLOOK: SBI Life to post lower growth in new biz
SBI Life's new business is to post a lower growth in the current fiscal vis-…-vis 2007-08, according to its Managing Director and CEO, Mr U.S. ...

FOREX: Rupee breaches 48-mark
Month-end dollar demand by corporates and dollar-buying by participants to take advantage of the arbitrage in the overseas non-deliverable forwards market saw the rupee closing above the 48 mark. On Monday, the rupee opened at 47.35/36 and ...

GOVT BONDS: Bond prices fall
Bond prices fell by Rs 1.30 on Monday, as market participants booked profits. The prices were down as most of the investors had built up positions during last week’s rally, said a dealer with a private bank. The cut in lending rates by ...

SHORT TERM INSTRUMENTS: Call rates close lower
The inter-bank call rate closed lower at 6.05-6.20 per cent, as against the previous close of 6.50-6.60 per cent. In the one-day repo auction under the first liquidity adjustment facility (LAF), there were 2 bids for Rs 2,050 crore. In the ...

CREDIT MARKET: IDBI Bank plans to double SME portfolio
Mumbai, Dec. 22 IDBI Bank has set an aggressive short-term target of nearly doubling its SME portfolio to Rs 8,000 crore in the remaining three months of the current financial ...

PRIVATE BANKS: Karnataka Bank to split Chairman, CEO post
Mangalore, Dec. 22 Mangalore-based Karnataka Bank Ltd has resolved to split the post of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the ...

HOUSING FINANCE: Corpn Bank’s special housing loan package
Mangalore, Dec. 22 Corporation Bank has introduced a special package housing loan scheme and announced certain relief for MSME ...

NBFCS: Peerless General gets approval for AMC
Mumbai, Dec. 22 The Peerless General Finance & Investment Company Limited (PGFI) on Monday said it has got the preliminary in-principle approval from SEBI to set up its asset management ...

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS: Rate cuts: Cheaper loans, but margin pressures for banks
Improvement in quality of asset book likely. Announcing its second set of interest rate cuts in two months, State Bank of India has cut its Prime Lending Rate (PLR) by 75 basis points and deposit rates by 25-100 basis points, to take effect from ...