Content Development Team, Chennai 1 Vol -1, Issue-36

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1 FDI CAP HIKE MAY BRING IN Rs. 7K CR TO INSURANCE SECTOR The Union Government's recent approval to the insurance Bill, which proposes, among other things, to raise the cap on foreign direct investment (FDI) to 49 per cent from 26 per cent for private sector insurance companies, is expected to bring around Rs. 7,000 crore into the industry, according to industry representatives. However, the Bill is yet to be introduced in Parliament. ( Business Standard Dec 1, 2008) (1184) PRIVATE LIFE INSURANCE COS TURN TO G- SECS Private life insurance majors such as Max New York Life (MNYL), MetLife, Aviva and DLF Pramerica, are increasingly shifting their focus from equity markets and corporate bonds to central government securities (G-Sec) amidst global economic uncertainty. The shift is likely to hit fund raising plans of companies as life insurers invest about Rs. 100,000 crore corpus every year in various investment instruments such as bonds and share markets. They generate about Rs. 100,000 crore assets every year as part of their standard premium collection. ( The Economic Times Dec 1, 2008) (1185) PSBs TO CUT LENDING RATES FURTHER BY 50 BPS IN DEC Auto and home loan seekers can expect further cut in the lending rates with the public sector banks gearing up for the second round of cut in benchmark lending rates by up to 50 basis points in December. Banks have already started reducing the deposit rates and with more liquidity infusion by the Reserve Bank there would be more scope for cutting lending rates to spur demand, said a senior banker. ( The Economic Times Dec 1, 2008) (1186) SIDBI's ASSET RECONSTRUCTION ARM TO BEGIN OPERATIONS BY MARCH SME financing institution Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) on Sunday said its asset reconstruction arm is likely to become operational by the end of March A subsidiary has been incorporated called India SME Asset Reconstruction Company with the initial paid up capital of Rs. 1 crore, Mr. Malla said, adding, equity is bring raised at present. The company would focus primarily on acquisition of loans to the SMEs which are currently facing credit crunch. ( The Hindu Dec 1, 2008) (1187) BAN ON FUTURES TRADING IN POTATO, RUBBER, CHANA LAPSES The Government has let the ban to lapse on futures trading in four commodities potato, soyoil, chana and rubber a development that follows the inflation easing to single digit levels. ( The Hindu Dec 1, 2008) (1188) RBI ALONE SHOULD TAKE FINAL DECISION ON M&As AMONG BANK'S The Reserve bank of India (RBI) alone should take the final decision on allowing mergers and acquisitions (M&As) between banks, and the opinion of the Competition Commission should be made available as an input to the central bank. This is the view of an advisory panel appointed by the committee on financial sector assessment (CFSA), to look at financial sector stability. ( The Hindu Dec 1, 2008) (1189) STATE BANK OF MAURITIUS CEO KILLED IN MUMBAI ATTACKS State Bank of Mauritius Ltd., the Indian Ocean islands second-biggest bank, said the Chief Executive Offer, Mr Chaitlall Gunness, died. ( The Hindu Dec 2, 2008) (1190) RBI POLICY RATES LAST ( ) CURRENT RATES THIS ( ) BANK RATE 6.00% 6.00% EXCHANGE RATES (As On) LAST ( ) THIS ( ) REPO RATE 7.50% 6.50% 1U.S $ Rs Rs REVERSE REPO 6.00% 5.00% 1 EURO Rs Rs RBI RESERVE RATIOS 1 POUND Rs Rs CRR 5.50% 5.50% 1 YEN Rs Rs SLR 24.0% 24.0% 1 YUAN Rs Rs INTEREST RATE SPECTRUM ( ) ( ) 10 YEAR GOVT. PAPER 7.14%% 6.78% CALL RATE 6.00% 6.20% PLR RANGE (TOP 5 BANKS) % % US $ LIBOR (6 MONTHS) 2.54% 2.52% SOURCE: RBI & BUSINESS STANDARD( & ) Content Development Team, Chennai 1 Vol -1, Issue-36

2 LIC STAKE IN 3 PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS TOPs 5% Life Insurance Corporation of India has bought heavily into banking stocks when markets plunged sharply in October and November, data submitted to stock exchanges indicate. LIC's stake has crossed five percent in the three public sector banks State Bank of India. Bank of India, and Allahabad Bank according to the insider trading data on the BSE. ( The Hindu Dec 2, 2008) (1191) BANKS FACING OVERDUES ON REALTY, HOME LOANS Bankers said that many banks have begun facing overdues on some of the past realty loans and some home loans. The slippages noticed were mostly through an increase in overdue debt service payments for upto one month. In the past, overdue payments were very low. ( The Hindu Dec 2, 2008) (1192) EXPORT GROWTH SLIPS INTO NEGATIVE TERRITORY India's export growth slipped into negative territory for the first time in five years, falling 12.1% in October in US dollar terms. Exports fell to $12.8 billion in October from $14.58 billion in the same month the previous year. Government officials said the Centre's export target of $200 billion for this fiscal year would be difficult to meet, with demand from key markets such as the United States, European Union and Japan likely to stay low in the coming months. ( The Economic Times Dec 2, 2008) (1193) TERROR ATTACKS NOT TO IMPACT PE INVESTMENTS IN INDIA: EXPERTS Private equity investments are likely to remain largely unaffected by the terror attacks that shook Mumbai, because the country remains a popular destination for investors in the long term, experts say. There will be no major impact on the private equity fund flow into the country as these funds prefer to stay invested for the longer term. There will be no dramatic change in the PE firms' interest in India, research firm Venture Intelligence CEO Arun Natarajan said. ( The Economic Times Dec 2, 2008) (1194) PSBs HEAD FOR TROUBLE WITH DEPOSIT- LENDING RATES MISMATCH Something unusual of sort is happening in the public sector banks (PSBs). For many nationalised banks, deposits rates have become higher than their lending rates, in some cases by as much as 75 basis points, something that rarely happens. It means that the cost at which banks are raising funds is much higher than the rate at which they are lending. Bank Home Loan rate Deposit rate Bank of India % 9.75% State Bank of India % 9.50% Punjab National bank % 9.50% Indian Bank 9-10% 10.50% Corporation Bank % % Central Bank of India 9-10% % ( The Financial Express Dec 2, 2008) (1195) CREDIT CARD INDUSTRY MAY CUT $2 TRILLION OF LINES: ANALYST The US credit card industry may pull back well over $2 trillion of lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes, leading to sharp declines in consumer spending, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney said. ( The Financial Express Dec 2, 2008) (1196) BANKS UP IN ARMS AGAINST SERVICE TAX ON GOVT BUSINESS Banks are in a quandary over the imposition of service tax by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on income out of agency commission on various services being provided by them on behalf of the government. These services include accepting advance payment of tax, pension disbursement and various government payments which generate income for the banks. In turn, the banks want an increase in the agency commission to compensate the service tax burden in case the government was unable to waive such a tax. ( The Financial Express Dec 2, 2008) (1197) SBI MF's 90-DAY DEBT PLAN COLLECTS Rs. 1,677 CR SBI Mutual Fund has collected Rs. 1,677 crore under its latest fixed maturity plan, which closed last week, indicating that short-term FMPs are still in favour. Significantly, this investor interest has come at a time when the total assets under management of mutual funds registering a drop. ( The Hindu Dec 3, 2008) (1198) Content Development Team, Chennai 2 Vol -1, Issue-36

3 MUTUAL FUNDS' ASSET BASE DROPS 7% IN NOV The mutual fund industry's assets under management (AUM) fell seven per cent in November. The fall was led by a substantial decline in the asset bases of mid-sized mutual fund houses. The industry shed Rs. 29,831 crore worth of assets in the past month. Their AUM now stands at Rs. 4,02,029 crore against Rs. 4,31,860 crore in October. ( The Hindu Dec 1, 2008) (1199) INVESTORS DUMP SMALL SAVINGS FOR BANK FDs The monthly net outflows from Small Savings touched a three year high of Rs. 2,937 crore in month of October, as investors took to back deposits, where interest rates have been firming up from July. The figures from Controller General of Accounts show that the outflows in the current financial year till October has been more than Rs. 6,000 crore. ( The Economic Times Dec 3, 2008) (1200) WORLD BANK LOAN TO HELP INJECT CAPITAL INTO PSBs The government is examining the possibility of channelising a part of the enhanced credit promised by the World Bank to infuse more capital into state-owned banks. Additional fund will help state run banks to set aside 12% of their capital in cash as a cushion against potential losses. ( The Economic Times Dec 3, 2008) (1201) BANKS' FOREIGN BRANCHES NEED RBI NOD FOR EXOTIC PRODUCTS Foreign branches or subsidiaries of Indian banks proposing to deal in structured financial products will now require the prior approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RBI has also clarified that banks need not seek its prior approval if their branches are dealing in simple financial products. ( Business Standard Dec 3, 2008) (1202) BANKS TO WORK OUT PLAN FOR INFO SHARING The Indian Bank's Association (IBA) will form a panel to identify borrowers enjoying credit facilities from more than one bank. The move is aimed at improving the information flow of borrowers among banks. ( Business Standard Dec 3, 2008) (1203) VIJAYA BANK SEEKS Rs. 1,800-CR CAPITAL INFUSION FROM GOVT Bangalore-based Vijaya Bank is seeking a capital infusion of Rs. 1,800 crore from the government to maintain its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) at the mandatory 12 per cent. Its CAR is currently at 10.4 per cent. The bank will need this amount till 2011 and expects the government to infuse the capital in tranches. ( Business Standard Dec 3, 2008) (1204) SBI TO HIRE 4,280 STAFF FOR ASSOCIATE BANKS State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, said today that it is looking to hire more than 4,200 employees for its associate banks a development that comes within days of its plan to recruit 25,000 people. ( Business Standard Dec 3, 2008) (1205) TCS TO RAMP UP H' BAD HEADCOUNT BY 23,000 Tata consultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest IT services provider, is expanding its presence in Hyderabad by building two campuses with a capacity to seat 23,000 employees. ( Business Standard Dec 3, 2008) (1206) MFs EMERGE NET SELLERS IN EQUITY MARKET The domestic mutual fund industry sold a total of Rs crore of shares in November compared with net investments of Rs. 1,431.6 crore in October, according to data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The reason, according to these funds, is to enhance cash levels and be ready to go for bottom fishing when market corrects further. ( Business Standard Dec 3, 2008) (1207) MORTGAGE APPLICATIONS MORE THAN DOUBLED IN US RATES DROP Mortgage applications in the US surged by a record last week as lending rates plunged after the Federal Reserve pledged to buy mortgage backed debt. The mortgage Bankers Association's index of applications to purchase a home or refinance a loan jumped 112% to 857.7, the highest level since March, from the prior week. The group's refinance index sky-rocketed 203%, while the purchase index rose 38%. ( The Financial Express Dec 4, 2008) (1208) Content Development Team, Chennai 3 Vol -1, Issue-36

4 PSUs SCORE IN NON-LIFE INSURANCE The public sector non-life insurers have reported a sharp growth in the gross under written premium for the six month period ended September 2008 while the private insurers witnessed a slump in their growth. Overall, the general insurance industry clocked a marginal growth in gross underwritten premium in the first six months. ( The Financial Express Dec 4, 2008) (1209) INDIAN SECURITISATION MARKET SOLID AMIDST GLOBAL MELTDOWN: CRISIL A study by Crisil reveals that the retail securitisation market in India is better placed than it is in many other countries, notably the US. The size difference notwithstanding, the Indian market-which is less than one-hundredth the size of the US markethas shown greater stability, with few rating downgrades, and zero losses on investor payouts. ( The Financial Express Dec 4, 2008) (1210) IRDA FRAMING M&A GUIDELINES The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority will announce guidelines for mergers and acquisitions in the insurance sector by the end of March The regulator is formulating these guidelines in consultation with the Institute of Actuaries, IRDA Chairman J Hari Narayan said on Wednesday. Given what is happening in the financial markets, it is an opportune time for mergers and acquisition, Narayan said at a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). ( The Economic Times Dec 4, 2008) (1211) AFTER PRIVATE EDUCATION, MANIPAL GROUP PLANS TO SET UP PRIVATE AIRPORT AT MANIPAL The Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), which has diverse interests in education, research and healthcare, is developing a private greenfield airport-cum-it special economic zone (SEZ) in the Udupi district. The company has already acquired 800 acres for the project at Sasthan, about 20 km north of Manipal. The airport is likely to cost an estimated Rs. 50 crore. ( Business Standard Dec 4, 2008) (1212) RATING DOWNGRADES ON THE RISE Reflecting the downturn in the economy, there has been a sharp increase in credit rating downgrades in the last two months. According to data collected from three credit rating agencies Crisil, Icra and Care there has been no upgrades in the last two months, while the number of downgrades has gone up. ( Business Standard Dec 4, 2008) (1213) INTEREST SUBVENTION HIKED ON FARM LOANS The Union Government has approved higher interest subvention of 3 per cent per annum as against 2 per cent per annum announced earlier to public sector banks (PSBs), co-operative banks and Rural Regional Banks (RRBs)in respect of shortterm production credit of up to Rs. 3 lakh provided to farmers for the year ( The Hindu Dec 4, 2008) (1214) PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS ON FAST TRACK NOW It's a reversal of roles. Public sector banks now have more customers knocking on their doors for auto loans than private banks, which were leading the race earlier. The reason: public sector banks have started sanctioning auto loans at the same speed that private banks used to two to three days and are offering lower interest rates as well. ( The Hindu Dec 4, 2008) (1215) DEUTSCHE BANK HIKES TIER 1 CAPITAL IN INDIA BY Rs. 325 CR On Thursday, Deutsche bank announced that it increased its tier 1 capital in India by Rs. 325 crore to fund the bank's growth. The current capital infusion will take Deutsche Bank group's total capital in India to over Rs. 6,000 crore, making it among the most highly capitalized foreign banks in India. ( The Financial Express Dec 5, 2008) (1216) REGULATORY REGIMES INADEQUATE FOR SYSTEMIC FAILURES: SUBBARAO The Reserve Bank of India governor, D Subbarao, who is going to announce a slew of stimulus measures to revive growth, pointed out that while the regulatory regimes were tailored to address institutional failures, they were not equipped to address systemic failures. ( The Financial Express Dec 5, 2008) (1217) Content Development Team, Chennai 4 Vol -1, Issue-36

5 NO TAKERS FOR LOANS DESPITE RATE CUTS Rate cuts have failed to enthuse borrowers. Even after banks cut their benchmark lending rates, credit off take still remains low. As a result, surplus liquidity in the system is rising. Bank credit dipped Rs. 2,193crore during the fortnight ended November 21 to Rs. 2,632, crore. While food credit dipped 2,183 crore, non-food credit dipped Rs crore during the fortnight, according to the latest RBI data. Banks have been seeing a slowdown in loans for nearly a month now. ( The Economic Times Dec 5, 2008) (1218) RBI GOVERNOR STRESSES FISCAL POLICY STIMULUS A strong fiscal policy stimulus has to accompany any rate cut, which the impact of the global slowdown turning out to be much deeper than feared. An indication to this effect was given by RBI governor D Subba Rao, Just two days ahead of the stimulus package that the government is expected to unveil to boost demand. ( The Economic Times Dec 5, 2008) (1219) MANIPAL BUYS ANTIGUA VARSITY; SCRIPTS PUSH INTO CARIBBEAN EDUCATION BIZ In one of the biggest cross-border deals in the education segment, Manipal Education has acquired the entire shareholding of the American University of Antigua (AUA) from New York-based Greater Caribbean Learning Resources. While confirming the buyout. Manipal Education did not disclose the size of the transaction. However, sources said the company has raised $115-million debt financing from ICICI Bank in recent weeks, which will be ploughed into the buyout as well as capex requirements for ramping up the campus. ( The Economic Times Dec 5, 2008) (1220) INFLATION TAMED, FOCUS NOW SHIFTS TO GROWTH: SUBBARAO Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao said various anti-inflationary measures had started yielding results and now the government could focus on issues related to growth and liquidity. The endeavour of our monetary stance has been to manage liquidity, both domestic and forex, and to ensure that credit continues to flow for productive activities, he told the media here today. ( Business Standard Dec 5, 2008) (1221) SEBI RESTRICTS EARLY EXITS FROM CLOSE- ENDED FUNDS The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, today said investors will not be allowed to exit from close-ended mutual fund schemes before maturity and asked fund houses to list them on stock exchanges. The market regulator also said all such funds must invest in instruments in line with their maturity profile. The latest norms are applicable for new mutual fund schemes only. ( Business Standard Dec 5, 2008) (1222) DIRECT TAX COLLECTIONS FALL 36% Economic showdown has cast its shadow on direct tax collections. Collections in November 2008 stood at Rs. 10,346 crore as against Rs. 16,189 crore in November 2007, a dip of 36.09%. However, the cumulative growth in April-November 2008 stood at a respectable 22.2% on the back of robust collections in earlier months. Collections stood at Rs. 177,251 crore in the first eight months of as against Rs. 1,45,053 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. ( The Economic Times Dec 6, 2008) (1223) RBI TELLS BANKS TO AID REALTY India's troubled realty firms may soon be thrown a lifeline with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) indicating banks to consider providing support to large real estate companies. Recently, the banking regulator wrote to select banks to assess the financial support given to builders and to finalise a workable solution, a senior banker said. ( The Economic Times Dec 6, 2008) (1224) ECONOMY TO COME OUT OF SLUMP IN ONE YEAR: F&S The slowdown will be shorter for India than for other countries. In the long term, India will be far more robust than competition in the manufacturing space, Frost & Sullivan-senior director, manufacturing and process consulting, Raghavendra Rao, told. ( The Financial Express Dec 6, 2008) (1225) RBI TOLD TO CLASSIFY SEZS AS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS The ministry of commerce has written to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider Special Economic Zones (SEZ) as infrastructure projects instead of treating them as real estate development. Content Development Team, Chennai 5 Vol -1, Issue-36

6 This will help the developers of SEZs to access external commercial borrowing (ECB) route and also raise funds at competitive rate of interest. ( The Financial Express Dec 6, 2008) (1226) EMERGING MARKETS MAY JUMP 60% IN 2009, SAYS MORGAN STANLEY Emerging-market stocks, mired in the worst annual slump since at least 1988, may rally more than 60 per cent next year as governments take aggressive steps to bolster economic growth, Morgan Stanley said. ( The Hindu Dec 6, 2008) (1227) SEBI SIGNS MOU WITH RUSSIAN FEDERAL FINANCIAL MARKETS SERVICE The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Financial Markets Services of Russian Federation (FFMS) here on Friday. The memorandum of understanding related to mutual cooperation and information sharing between the two regulatory bodies. ( The Hindu Dec 6, 2008) (1228) HDFC BANK TO BUY 10% IN INDIA BULLS COMEX HDFC bank has applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to buy 10 per cent stake in MMTC- Indiabulls-promoted commodity exchange, which is expected to be operational by March 2009, a top MMTC official said today. ( Business Standard Dec 6/7, 2008) (1229) investment in non-convertible debentures (NCDs), commercial papers (CPs) and certificates of deposits (CDs). Against an investment of around Rs. 200 crore in CPs and CDs last year, the insurer has already put in Rs. 1,000 crore so far in and hopes to invest another Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 600 crore over the remaining months of the fiscal. ( Business Standard Dec 6/7, 2008) (1231) RBI SIGNALS CHEAPER LOANS Sending a clear signal to banks to reduce lending rates and advance more credit to productive sectors, the Reserve Bank of India on Saturday cut its key short term rates -the repo and Reverse repo by one percentage point each. Repo rate cut by 1 percentage point to 6.5% Reverse repo rate cut by 1 percentage point to 5% Rs. 7,000-cr refinance for SIDBI to help SSIs Refinance of Rs. 4,000 crore for NHB under way Loans to HFCs for loans up to Rs. 20 lakhs as priority sector lending concessional treatment to commercial real estate exposures RBI encourages banks to consider applications for FCCB buyback. ( The Hindu Dec 7, 2008) (1232) GOVT TO BORROW Rs. 45,000 CRORE MORE TO PART-FINANCE SUBSIDY SPEND The central government will borrow an additional Rs. 45,000 crore from the open market, to part-finance the additional expenditure incurred due to increased subsidy payments, farmers' debt waiver scheme and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission report for government employees. The additional borrowing represents a 40 per cent increase over the Budget estimate for , which was pegged at Rs. 1,13,000 crore. ( Business Standard Dec 6/7, 2008) (1230) LIC RAISES OUTLAY FOR CASH-STARVED INDIA INC At a time when companies are finding it tough to raise funds, the country's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has stepped up Content Development Team, Chennai 6 Vol -1, Issue-36