Oriental Bank pares PLR; SBI, BoB, BoI to follow
Oriental Bank of Commerce slashed its prime lending rate (PLR) by one percentage point to 13% in an immediate reaction to the bank rate and repo rate cut. State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India are all set to follow suit on Thursday by cutting the PLR by 50-100 basis points. The financial institutions will not be left behind in this exercise.
Govt plans to shift 300 more items to special import licence list
The government proposes to shift 300 more items from the restricted to the special import licence (SIL) list in the 1997-2002 export-import policy under the first phase of the plan for lifting the quantitative restrictions on imports. The transfer is in keeping with India's commitment to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and represents the first year of the plan spanning three years from 1998-99.
Alcan hikes Indal offer to Rs 120 a share
The $7.9 billion Alcan Aluminium of Canada, the principal shareholder of Indian Aluminium Co (Indal), on Wednesday increased its offer price to Rs 120 per share from its original offer of Rs 105 for a 20% stake in Indal. This is against Sterlite Industries' offer price of Rs 115 per share. Both the Alcan and Sterlite offers will open on May 4 and will close on June 2.
RBI cuts repo rate to 6 per cent
The Reserve Bank of India today announced a cut in the repo rate by one percentage point to 6% shortly after the RBI governor Bimal Jalan had announced a 1% cut in the Bank Rate in his credit policy. This is the second time within a month that the RBI had cut its Bank Rate and repo rate signalling the banks to bring down the lending rates.
Dr Reddy's Labs plans halogen-lamp unit sale
The Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories plans to divest its loss-making halogen-lamps business, Compact Electric Ltd, as part of the company's strategy to focus on its core competency, pharmaceuticals. The divestment is likely to be made during the course of this year.
BoB Mutual Fund to unveil open-ended scheme
The Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund plans to launch an open-ended income scheme in the next two to three months. The scheme will not provide assured returns. The mutual fund arm of BoB also plans to mobilise around Rs 50 crore in the financial year 1998-99. This would lead to a 78.49 per cent rise in its corpus from Rs 63.70 crore to Rs 113.70 crore.
