Stronger rupee to hit textiles exports

Textiles exports, especially that of cotton yarn, grey fabrics and bed linen, are likely to face stiff competition from Pakistan following the latter's move to devalue its currency, industry sources said. The stronger rupee will definitely increase competition between India and Pakistan and the former will be forced to reduce its prices, the Indian Cotton Mills Federation (ICMF) secretary-general, MP Gajaria, told PTI on Tuesday. Until July 11, when Pakistan further devalued its rupee after the dollar firmed up against other currencies, Pakistan had a 10 per cent advantage in terms of the currency value. ``The latest devaluation of Pakistan rupee will make that country's products cheaper by 12 per cent in comparison to Indian rupee,'' he said.

Money laundering bill: The report on the money laundering bill has been finalised by the inter-ministerial group. The meeting of the group was held under the chairmanship of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) member K Subramaniam. Revenue secretary NK Singh told UNI that the report would be placed shortly before the committee of secretaries for consideration. The draft report will be submitted to finance minister P Chidambaram who plans to introduce the bill during the monsoon session of the Parliament.

SBT official given marching orders: The State Bank of Travancore has fired a branch manager, J Kanan, in the light of a CBI inquiry report. The CBI had charged him with criminal misconduct in sanctioning huge advances to a private firm in Jaipur beyond his discretionary powers, causing a loss of Rs 55.77 lakh to the bank, a bureau release said today.

Stanchart cuts PLR: Standard Chartered today announced a 50-basis point cut in its prime lending rate (PLR). Standard Chartered brought down its PLR from 16 to 15.5 per cent to be effective from July 17.

RRB staff to get arrears: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has instructed the regional rural banks (RRB) to disburse the first instalment of the arrears of pay and other benefits awarded by the national industrial tribunal. The first instalment has already been disbursed to 100 RRBs and the Nabard has instructed the remaining 96 on the advice of the centre to disburse the first instalment of the arrears by August 20 this year, the chief coordinator of All India Bank Officers and Employees Coordination Committee, S K Rathore said here in a statement.

T-bill auction: The Reserve Bank of India has announced the auction of 91-day government of India treasury bills for a notified amount of Rs 400 crore. Tenders should be submitted in the prescribed form on Thursday, July 17, 1997 before 2:30 p.m. The results will be announced the same evening. Payment by successful bidders will be on Saturday, July 19, 1997.

Repo auction: Reserve Bank has announced a three-day repo auction of government of India dated securities for parties holding SGL account and current account with it at Mumbai. The bids will be accepted on July 17, 1997 up to 2.30 p.m. and the auction results announced the same evening. Payment by successful bidders will be on July 19, 1997 upto 12.30 p.m. and the repurchase by the RBI on July 22, 1997.

Three local area banks to be set up: Three local area banks would soon be set up by the private sector for providing credit to the small scale business enterprises, a PTI report from New Delhi said on Tuesday. Approval for these banks from the RBI was expected shortly, PTI quoted secretary, department of small scale industries, SS Boparai. He was speaking at a conference on `SSI marketing and export development strategies through linkages with large and medium enterprises', organised by the PHDCCI.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.