MUMBAI: Financial institution IFCI plans to do away with its fully-owned subsidiary IFCI Financial Services (I-Fin) as part of its strategy to exit unrelated businesses, a source familiar with the deal said.

IFCI plans to go through the process of inviting bids for selling the firm, which is involved in equity brokerage, insurance broking and other related advisory services, sources said.

�There is no synergy between the two businesses. It will happen and we are waiting for the appropriate time,� a highly placed source told ET. Parent company IFCI has itself been through a rough patch after loans provided by it to many industries turned sticky. The management is now trying to clean up the balance sheet by aggressively recovering dues and may also commence its core activity of lending this year after hitting the pause button a few years ago.

Read more here…

related/ bookmark it/ readit

India continues to remain high on the list of global private equity investors , with $2-3bn or more waiting to be invested in the country.

However, these investments have not entered the country as increasing number of Indian companies are meeting their fund requirenments by tapping domestic and overseas markets. Many companies have also been exercising the FCCB (foreign currency convertible bonds) option to mop up funds overseas.

But according to industry experts, with markets evolving, FCCBs may not be such an attractive means to raise funds, which is when overseas private equity investments might happen.

�Last year, there was $2-3bn private equity investment waiting for investment opportunities in the country. However, with companies going public, or issuing FCCBs, there was not much of an opportunity for these investments.

Read more here…

related/ bookmark it/readit

NEW DELHI: The consumer court has asked an insurance company to pay up Rs 1.25 lakh including reduction in the claim amount and compensation to the owner of a stolen car and held it guilty for coercing him to accept less amounts.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, allowing a revision petition of a consumer Shahenn Khan, asked the Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) to pay the amount along with interest at the rate of 12 percent for forcing him to accept the claim amount after reducing the same which was assessed by its own surveyor.

"In any set of circumstances, when the surveyor has assessed the loss at Rs 2.35 lakh, there was no reason to coerce the insured to accept only Rs 1.49 lakh," said the Commission Bench headed by Justice M B Shah and Member Rajyalakshmi Rao.

The order came on a revision petitio. &ile$ by Khan wherein he alleged the amount was accepted under protest.

Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1819929.cms

related/ bookmark it/readit

Tracking global trends, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark, Sensex, plunged below 10,000 level in early trading on selling by foreign and domestic funds.

The 30-share sensitive index dropped by 173 points at 9,913 points in the first five minutes of trading. The accurate update of the Sensex was not available due to a technical snag in the exchange’s computer network.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also fell sharply by 54.80 points at 2,890.20 points.

Stock brokers said weak global trends and approaching expiry of July contract in the Futures and Option segment triggered fresh selling by foreign funds.

The selling pressure was spilled over a wide front dragging all the index-related stocks on the Sensex and Nifty.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1751497,00020001.htm

related/ bookmark it/readit

MUMBAI: Bond prices rose on Friday as traders took fresh positions prior to the credit policy announcement by the RBI next week, reports Our Bureau.

Simultaneously, the markets also saw a significant dip in yields on forward premia, the overnight index swaps and the domestic benchmarks like the MIFOR and the MITOR, on expectations that rates may stabilise.

Earlier in the day finance minister Chidambaram indicated that if inflation remained moderate, interest rates would also remain moderate. The price of the 10-year benchmark 7.59% �16 bond at the closing rose to Rs 95.71, with the yield dropping to below 8.25% levels.

The Mumbai inter-bank forward offered rate (MIFOR) for six months closed at 6.56% as against 6.74% on Thursday, and the Mumbai rupee overnight offered rate (MITOR) based on the cash-spot dollar rupee premium was 5.72%, compared to Thursday�s closing levels of 5.91%.

Read more : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1789991.cms

related/ bookmark it/ readit

Union Bank of India, a mid-sized government-owned bank, today reported 30.60 per cent fall in net profit in the first quarter of 2006-07 from the year-ago period as rising rates caused a sharp dent in the valuation of its investment portfolio.

Interest rates are on the rise across the board. The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond increased by around 100 basis points during the first quarter of 2006-07 to around 8 per cent. The benchmark yield currently is over 8.3 per cent.

The bank�s net profit fell to Rs 166.81 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2006 from Rs 240.39 crore a year earlier. Profitability was also hit as the increase in expenditure was marginally higher than the growth in total income, and also because of increase in interest cost.

The Mumbai-based bank�s provisions and contingencies, including diminution in value of investments, jumped 144.07 per cent to Rs 157.89 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2006 from Rs 64.69 crore a year earlier.

Total income in April-June 2006 rose 22.74 per cent to Rs 1,830.72 crore from Rs 1,491.45 crore a year earlier. Interest income on advances was up by 31.87 per cent to Rs 1,116.91 crore from Rs 846.96 crore a year earlier.

Total expenditure increased by 23.36 per cent to Rs 1,404.24 crore in April-June 2006 from Rs 1,138.37 crore a year earlier as interest expenditure jumped 25.23 per cent to Rs 1,031.12 crore from Rs 823.04 crore a year earlier.

Union Bank�s deposits rose 21 per cent to Rs 76,517 crore at the end of 2006-07 first quarter from Rs 63,158 crore a year earlier. Advances were up by a robust 34.09 per cent to Rs 63,158 crore from Rs 55,802 crore a year earlier.

The bank�s capital adequacy ratio rose dipped to 11.25 per cent from 12 per cent a year ago.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/

related/ bookmark it/ readit