Banks move to Mutual funds as loan applications dip

(posted under - Indian Economy, Mutual funds investing) - According to the latest RBI figures, the first week of April has seen a dip in outstanding loans. Total bank loans as on April 9 stood at Rs 32,41,255 crore, up Rs 1,167 crore over the previous fortnight’s levels. However, outstanding loans were marginally lower than the Rs 32,43,175-crore loans outstanding on end March 2010. The second half of March saw bank loans growing by over Rs 1,00,000 crore — a feat which banking sources say was achieved only by banks window dressing their books.

Banks have invested an additional Rs 50,016 crore during the fortnight ended April 9, taking their total MF exposure to Rs 1,05,519 crore. This is despite the central bank asking lenders to cut down exposure to mutual funds. Foreign exchange reserves were flat at $280 billion during the week-ended April 16, largely on account of revaluation of non-dollar assets.

Govt to infuse 15000 cr into public sector banks - nice move

(posted under PSU banks, banking sector news)- just headrd that the government on Friday approved a plan to infuse Rs 15,000 crore capital into state-run banks in the current fiscal to boost their lending capacity. looks like a nice move if whole amount is infused without anything taken by politicians from it.

The proposed infusion will increase the lending capacity of the banks by Rs 1,85,000 crore. This additional availability of credit is likely to benefit employment oriented sectors, especially agriculture, micro and small enterprises and entrepreneurs that in turn would contribute substantially to the growth of the economy.

Indian Share Markets closes in red | SENSEX | NIFTY closing rates

(posted under - BSE stocks, NSE stocks, SENSEX closing) - Major indian stock indices closed in red as profit booking lowered the indices.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 16780.46, down 79.22 points or 0.47 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 16705.56 and high of 16877.77.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 5007.90, down 28.10 points or 0.56 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 4983.05 and high of 5035.70.

The BSE Midcap Index was down 1.30 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index fell 0.90 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index was down 2.88 per cent, BSE Auto Index fell 2.14 per cent and BSE Metal Index declined 1.52 per cent. BSE FMCG Index was up 1.14 per cent and BSE Capital Goods Index advanced 0.42 per cent.

Prediction : Indian economy to grow at 9.2 perc in 2010-11

(posted under - Indian Economy news) - The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) expects the Asia's third largest economy's GDP growth to accelerate to 9.2 percent in 2010/11 from 6.9 percent in 2009/10.

The measures helped as the country's industrial output grew at its fastest pace in two years in November at 11.7 percent, the economy expanded 7.9 percent in the September-quarter and inflation jumped to a one-year high of 7.3 percent in December CMIE expects the wholesale price index, the main price barometer, to steadily fall to 7.7 percent in the June quarter and further to 3.8 percent March quarter of 2011.

Govt seeks CVC nod for new norms for advisors

The Government has sought the opinion of the CVC to change the norms for appointing investment bankers for advising it on divesting its stakes in the companies it runs.

Last year, the Government had identified over 60 Central public sector undertakings for disinvestment over the next few years to bridge the gaping fiscal deficit and fund its social sector and infrastructure programmes.

Under the plan, the Centre would dilute up to ten per cent of its stakes in those CPSUs which are unlisted through IPOs and those already listed would have to dilute up to 15 per cent through follow-on public offers to meet Sebi guidelines.

The proposed regulations would help the Government modify the criteria of choosing investment bankers from cost- basis to quality-cum-cost basis, as the current norms put those advisors who do not have deep-pockets at a disadvantageous position.

The objective is to give more weight to the quality of these advisors and not just cost.

Currently, the investment bankers are selected on the cost-basis under which the technically qualified investment bankers are selected on the basis of the lowest bid.

India can join WTO pact

India is not a member of the WTO agreement on government procurement and has so far resisted the attempts by the developed countries like the US and European Union to subject Indian state purchases to the multilateral bidding rules.

While the observer status will not mean India immediately coming on the board, it could signal that the country would eventually play the ball, a source said.

The WTO agreement on government purchases is an accord among 30 select countries and is voluntary in nature.

The central government alone has an expenditure budget of Rs 10 lakh crore (approx $125 billion) of which at least more than one third is spent on state purchases. The multinational companies see it as a huge opportunity but find the procurement procedures falling short of global guidelines.

Import ban on steel lifted - sigh of relief for Auto sector

The government on Friday removed restriction on imports of hot-rolled steel, which is mainly used in the automobile and consumer durable industries, giving a big relief to these sectors from rising raw material prices.

A notification to this effect has been issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

The government had put the mother steel product in the restricted category in October 2008, which meant that the users required an import licence from the government.

Experts said the government is allowing free imports as the domestic demand is picking up and steel prices have gone up by 10-14 per cent in the last 45 days.

During April-December 2008-09, the imports of this product were worth USD 2.33 billion.

RBI all set to curb inflation

Concerned over the spiralling food prices, the Reserve Bank has indicated at tightening money supply to contain the rising inflation pressures.

The Reserve Bank is slated to come out with the third quarter review of its monetary policy on January 29 amid intense speculations that it may signal an interest hike to tighten money supply to contain the rising inflation.

The food inflation was nearly 19 per cent last week while the overall wholesale price inflation rose massively to 4.78 per cent in November compared to 1.34 per cent in October.

The deputy governor further said the near-term policy challenges are clearly conditioned by the evolving growth-inflation outcome that supports shifting the balance of policy focus on managing the recovery and on containment of inflation.

Foreign Direct Investment down 11 percent

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India fell 11 percent on year to $15.3 billion in the first six months of fiscal 2009/10, the trade minister said, as the global financial downturn clipped flows. India had received $17.2 billion in FDI in the corresponding period last year