ICICI has instituted a `ICICI Safe Hands of The Match' award for the forthcoming `Singer Independence cricket tournament' to be played in Sri Lanka between June 19 and July 7. The institution will reward the `safe hands' that take the best catch during each of the 10 matches with $500 and the `safe hands' that take the best catch of the series with $ 2000. ``We propose to consider extending this award to all international cricket matches in which India will be playing,'' said Madhabi Puri Buch, deputy general manager, ICICI Ltd. Oglivy & Mather, had done a study before recommending such an award.

Rajiv Maliwal joins ANZ Investment: ANZ Investment Bank today announced the appointment of Rajiv Maliwal as head of corporate finance and relationship management-India. Maliwal was earlier with JP Morgan where he held the responsibility for investment and commercial banking business in the country.

364-day T-Bills auction: The RBI on Monday announcedthe auction of 364-day government of India treasury bills for a notified amount of Rs 100 crore. The tenders should be submitted in prescribed form on Wednesday and payment by successful bidders will be on Friday, June 19, 1998.

14-day T-Bills auction: The RBI on Monday announced the auction of 14-day government of India treasury bills for a notified amount of Rs 100 crore. Tenders should be submitted in the prescribed form on Friday and payment by successful bidders will be on Saturday.

91-day T-Bills auction: The RBI on Monday announced the auction of 91-day government of India treasury bills for a notified amount of Rs 100 crore. Tenders should be submitted on Friday and payment will be on Saturday.

Punjab National Bank net up 111 per cent: Punjab National Bank has registered a 111 per cent increase in the net profit to Rs 501.25 crore for the financial year 1997-98 as against Rs 237.71 crore recorded in the previous year. Advances of the bank increased by 14 per cent to Rs14,067 crore registering a growth of 20.4 per cent. The bank's operating profit increased by 45 per cent to Rs 801.10 crore from Rs 619.60 crore in the previous year.

Avco assigned P1 plus: Crisil has assigned a P1+ rating to the Rs 20 crore commercial paper (CP) programme of Avco Financial Services India Pvt Ltd. The rating reflects the strong support from the parent and also takes into account the guarantee extended by the parent to AVCO's bankers for ensuring timely payment of obligations. AVCO started its operations in India from October, 1997 and is engaged mainly in the business of providing finance for automobiles and consumer durables.

RBI mops up Rs 4,137 cr via repo: The RBI mopped up Rs 4,137 crore through a three-day fixed rate repo auction of government of India dated securities held on June 15 for parties holding SGL and current account. The interest rate for the three-day fixed rate repo was pegged at 5 per cent. The central bank received four applications and accepted all ofthem.

Repo auction: The RBI on Monday announced a three-day fixed rate repos in government of India dated securities on June 16, 1998 for parties holding SGL and current account. The interest rate for the three-day fixed rate repo was pegged at 5 per cent. Payment by application will be on June 16, 1998 and repurchase by RBI on June 19, 1998.