The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, February 09, 2006

Merchant banking — India Infoline arm gets licence
FINANCIAL services firm India Infoline on Wednesday said its wholly owned subsidiary, India Infoline Securities Pvt Ltd, has received a Category I Merchant Banking licence from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. "This will enable the ... More

INSIGHT

Basel norms — No guarantee of financial stability
Basel norms could have a long-term debilitating effect on the savings and investments markets and lead to potentially harmful consolidation in the banking sector. Their larger-than-life `saviour-of-the-financial-systems' image seems largely undeserve d. More

FOREX

Rupee dips; bond prices decline
MUMBAI: The rupee dipped against the dollar on Wednesday in tandem with other major currencies such as the yen. The domestic currency opened at 44.20/21 and moved up to 44.19. It then fell to 44.27 and finally closed to 44.25/26, down from ... More

HOUSING FINANCE

LIC Housing loans to get costlier by 50 bps from Friday
LIC Housing Finance Ltd will increase interest rates by 50 basis points from February 10, taking the minimum lending rate to 8.5 per cent. The company, which hopes to relieve the stress on spreads with this rate hike, plans to fall in line with ... More

ICICI Bank to raise home loan rates by 50 bps
ICICI Bank plansto raise home loan rates by 50 basis points before the fiscal end. Interest rates on other retail loans such as auto are likely to be raised by 25-50 basis points, said Mr V. Vaidyanathan, Retail Head, ICICI Bank. Mr ... More

LIC HFL commits Rs 50 cr to Kotak realty fund
LIC HF has committed Rs 50 crore to Kotak Mahindra's real estate fund. This will be released in tranches depending on circumstances. "Internationally, returns from real estate investments have been high. We hope to benefit here as well," Mr ... More

FINANCIAL POLICY

Oil bonds to carry 7 per cent interest
THE Finance Ministry has accepted the recommendation of the Petroleum Ministry to change the terms and conditions of the oil bonds to be issued to oil companies to partly compensate them for losses due to selling petroleum products below cost ... More

PRIVATE BANKS

Federal Bank to hike FII investment to 49 pc — Postal ballots sent to shareholders
FEDERAL Bank is seeking shareholders' approval for increasing FII investment in the bank to 49 per cent. "We have already attained the 24 per cent limit in FII investment and would like to move ahead. Greater exposure by FIIs in the bank would ... More

South India Bank price band
MUMBAI: South Indian Bank has set a price band of Rs 60-66 for its Rs 150-crore public issue. The issue opens on February 10.

IDBI Bank opens large corporate branch
IDBI Bank Ltd has opened its large corporate branch in IDBI Tower, World Trade Centre Complex, Mumbai, on Wednesday.The bank now has 158 branches, eight extension counters and 365 ATMs across 95 cities. The large corporate branch would be ... More

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

Chidambaram opens BoI's Sivaganga branch
THE Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram recently inaugurated Bank of India's 2,610th branch at Sivaganga. This is also the bank's 456th branch in the Core Banking Solution network. A `rural mobile ATM' (with biometric feature) was also ... More

CREDIT MARKET

Forex loans — Exporters first: RBI
THE Reserve Bank of India has directed banks to give priority to exporters in granting foreign currency loans over non-export borrowers. This is one of the recommendations of the RBI's Working Group set up to review export credit, which was ... More

Citi eyes 20 pc growth in SME business
THE SME Rating Agency of India (SMERA) is helping small and medium enterprises receive loans at a discounted interest rate. Banks that are offering concessions to the SME segment based on SMERA's ratings include Bank of India, Andhra Bank and ... More

SHORT TERM INSTRUMENTS

91-day T-bills fully subscribed
ALL the bids in the 182-day treasury bill auction were rejected, while the 91-day treasury bill was fully subscribed. In case of the 182-day treasury bill, the notified amount was Rs 500 crore. The RBI received 25 competitive bids, amounting ... More

SECURITY

Taking phishing seriously — HDFC Bank puts customers on alert
"It is our policy not to ask for passwords over the Internet. Internationally, banks have also posted such warning to their customers. It is a pre-emptive measure on our part," Mr Rahul Bhagat, Business Head-Direct Banking Channels, said. More

CO-OPERATIVES

SPECIAL FOCUS ON CO-OPERATIVE BANKS
Gaining confidence of investors again
Despite their inherent weaknesses, cooperative banks still play a major role in their role as credit institutions in rural areas. The relevance of cooperative banks cannot be questioned even after innumerable scams and meltdowns that have eroded the savings of millions of investors over the last few years. More

Acquisitions add lustre to Shamrao Vithal's centenary year
IN its centenary year, Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank has crossed another milestone. It acquired two urban co-operative banks - Saptashrungi Co-operative Bank with two branches in Nashik and Samasta Nagar Co-operative Bank with four ... More

Saraswat Co-op Bank chalks out aggressive plans
As on December 31, 2005, the bank's total deposits were Rs 5,493 crore, advances were over Rs 3,000 crore and net profit was Rs 79 crore. For the financial year 2004-05 the bank is targeting a growth of 25 per cent, which is the same rate as some of the larger private banks. More