The Hindu Business Line : Friday, January 20, 2006

RBI Quarterly Review — No sparks expected!
There is obviously a tightening of liquidity in the banking system. Reverse repo transactions have come down considerably from past highs and the appetite for government securities has declined. While thishas implications for banks' asset-liability m anagement, does it mean the RBI's forthcoming policy review will raise rates? More

Convergence of public sector banks — Management matters, not just ownership
In India, a heated debate on consolidation among banks, especially public sector banks, has been generated recently, with the Finance Minister welcoming the idea, as part of his convergence, consolidation and competition mantra. Expert opinion on its desirability, however, appears to be divided. While the performance of PSBs has been satisfactory of late, there is need, first, to strengthen their fundamentals, before embarking on consolidation, says Katuri Nageswara Rao. More

FOREX

Rupee range-bound; bonds bearish
MUMBAI: The rupee was range-bound against the US dollar on Thursday in the absence of any indication for the market, but gained about 6 paise from the previous close. Itopened at 44.41, the same level as Wednesday's close. During the day it moved ... More

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

`RTGS transactions to be free only till March 31'
TRANSACTIONS undertaken through the real time gross settlement (RTGS) system, designed to make inter-bank payments and receipts safe, transparent and efficient, will not be cheap though the cost might drop as and when the volume increases. ... More

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Kotak Mahindra Bank posts 71 per cent rise in Q3 net
KOTAK Mahindra Bank recorded net profit of Rs 32.64 crore for the quarter ended December 2005, up 71 per cent to from Rs 19.1 crore in the corresponding previous period. The rise was due to an increase in advances and other income. Mr Dipak ... More

SBT net tad up in 9 months
STATE Bank of Travancore (SBT) has registered a net profit of Rs 163.50 crore during the first nine months of 2005-06 as compared with Rs 161.21 crore in the corresponding period last year. The operating profit during the period stood at Rs ... More

HOUSING FINANCE

PNB Housing shifts focus to builders, realty developers
PNB Housing Finance Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Punjab National Bank, is changing its business strategy. The company is planning to focus more on builders and real estate developers, as against individual home loan borrowers, in view of ... More

PRIVATE BANKS

ING Vysya Bank ties up with Euronet for self-help outlets
ING Vysya Bank has tied up with Euronet Services Pvt Ltd, an electronics payments provider, for opening 200 "Self Help" outlets across the country. Speaking to reporters here, the ING Vysya country head for Retail Banking, Mr Santanu Ghosh, ... More

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

Govt allows PSB boards to appoint auditors — ICAI says 'a retrograde step'
"In an era of good corporate governance, giving such an option to the bank managements (to appoint auditors) will, in our opinion, be a retrograde step," said the President, ICAI, Mr Kamlesh S. Vikamsey. More

BoI sets exim finance target at Rs 50,000 cr
BANKof India is aiming to increase substantially its export-import finance this year with a target of Rs 50,000 crore in mind, according to Mr M. Balachandran, Chairman and Managing Director. At a press meet here on Thursday, he said currently ... More

Vijaya Bank inks pact with SME rating firm
VIJAYA Bank has signed a MoU with SME Rating Agency of India Ltd (SMERA), which enables independent third-party assessment of SMEs' financial position and several qualitative factors, according to a release. The release also said that the ... More

GOVT BONDS

Indian holdings of US treasuries up $400 m in Nov
INDIAN institutions and the Reserve Bank of India's holdings of US Treasuries rose $400 million to $14.4 billion in November 2005. According to data released by the US Treasury Department, the holdings were down $1 billion from the same period ... More

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

`Syndicate Bank has buying capacity'
THE Chairman and Managing Director of Syndicate Bank, Mr N. Kantha Kumar, has expressed confidence that the bank is in a position to acquire other banks, if opportunities come in its way. He told newspersons here that Syndicate Bank is known ... More

PUBLIC OFFER

ICICI Bank exercises green-shoe option
ICICI Bank has exercised in full the green-shoe option of Rs 750 crore in its domestic public issue of equity shares in December 2005, on completion of the price stabilisation period, said a price release from the bank. The size of the issue ... More

BoB, Andhra Bank IPOs oversubscribed
THE FOLLOW-ON public issue of Bank of Baroda (BoB) was oversubscribed 3.24 times and that of Andhra Bank's 2.64 times, according to information available on the National Stock Exchange Web site. BoB's issue of 7.1 crore shares received a total ... More