The Hindu Business Line : Thursday, January 01, 2009

MONEY & BANKING

INTEREST RATES: ICICI Bank cuts lending, home loan rates by 50 bps
LIC Housing slashes rates up to 75 bps for existing customers. Mumbai, Dec. 31 ICICI Bank on Wednesday announced a 50 basis points cut in its floating reference rate for home loans with immediate effect, from 14.25 per cent to 13.75 per cent. ...

GENERAL INSURANCE: United India launches top-up medical policies
Chennai, Dec. 31 United India Insurance Co Ltd has launched two new medical insurance policies that help people add up to Rs 15 lakh to their medical cover. The policies — Top Up and Super Top Up — will be available to ...

CONSUMER FINANCE: A bumpy, hard ride for vehicle finance segment
Slowdown, tight liquidity conditions, high interest rates cited as impacting factors. The vehicle finance industry, which includes financing of both passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles, witnessed a roller-coaster ride during 2008-09. ...

CONSUMER FINANCE: Auto dealers make headway in talks with private banks
Bid to revisit banks’ decision on paring down exposure to loans. Bangalore, Dec. 31 Automobile dealers have made a major breakthrough in their talks with private sector banks as some of the banks have agreed to revisit their decision to ...

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS: Branchless banking, the Corporation Bank way
What is the similarity between `uzhavar santhai' (farmers' shandy) in Tamil Nadu and dairy sector in Andhra Pradesh? Yes, they are connected with farmers, and in particular with banking activity of unconventional type -i.e. ...

GOVT BONDS: Bond prices up 17 paise
Bond prices lost most of intra-day gains, closing up by 17 paise. In the first half of trade, the markets rallied on expectation of a rate cut announcement, said a dealer with a private bank. However, a Finance Ministry official’s comment ...

SHORT TERM INSTRUMENTS: Call rates end higher
The inter-bank call rate closed substantially higher at 6.40-6.50 per cent against the previous close of 5.20-5.30 per cent. In the one-day repo auction under the first liquidity adjustment facility, there were no bids. In the one-day reverse ...

FOREX: Rupee sheds 22 paise
The rupee depreciated by around 22 paise against the dollar on Wednesday, as trading volumes continued to remain thin in a year-end market. The currency opened at 48.37 and touched an intra-day low of 48.78. It recovered marginally to close ...

INTEREST RATES: More banks cut BPLR
Bangalore, Mumbai, Dec. 31 Public sector Canara Bank has reduced its Benchmark Prime Lending Rate by 75 basis points effective from January 1 to 12.50 per ...

PEOPLE: Rawal is Dena Bank CMD
...

CREDIT RATING: Ratings of global majors’ affiliates downgraded
Mumbai, Dec. 31 Rating agency Crisil has downgraded the long-term ratings of eight Indian affiliates of global financial ...

GENERAL INSURANCE: IRDA panel to evaluate TPAs
Hyderabad, Dec. 31 The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has constituted a 12-member committee for evaluation of the performance of the Third Party Administrators-Health ...

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS: SBI, Vizag zone profit at Rs 155 cr
...

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Markets (Dec 31)

Nifty (at close)	2959.15(-20.35)
US Dollar (Buy/Sell)	48.70/72
Brent crude (a bbl) Rs	1,839
Gold (a gram) Rs	1,223
Silver (a kg) Rs	18,680

Cross Currency Rates

In Focus
Who is hiring?

More

Other Top Stories
IT, BPO market in for ‘slowest’ growth

Ratings of global majors’ affiliates downgraded

‘No major redemptions in mutual funds’

External debt down $1.2 b in Sept quarter

Air India (Domestic) sees increase in passenger traffic

2008: Many a roadblock in highways

Branchless banking, the Corporation Bank way

Looking back
Dec. 21-Dec. 27
It’s financial circumvention, not innovation: Y.V. Reddy

Bonds rally on surging deposits, weak oil prices

‘Rupee could touch 47 to a dollar by March’

Rate cuts: Cheaper loans, but margin pressures for banks

10% additional cover for exporters on the cards

‘Exchange rates will be range-bound in medium term’

Small, medium exporters to get higher ECGC risk cover