1. Indian workers in other countries will soon be able to send money, less than $100, to their family back home using a mobile phone. Bharti Airtel and Western Union have decided to jointly develop and pilot a mobile money transfer service in the country. The move is part of a global initiative by the GSM Association wherein 35 mobile operators spread across 100 countries have taken a commitment to enable the world’s 200 million international migrant workers to easily and securely send remittances to their dependents.
2. Short-term hedging, particularly those ranging from 12 months to within three years, are the most frequently used by corporates and there are hardly any takers for the long-term hedging contracts in India, as per a survey report.
3. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) plans to soon come out with separate guidelines for health insurance players, aimed at comprehensive medical insurance coverage and redressal of consumer grievances.“To handle a plethora of issues relating to health insurance with focussed attention, a separate health unit has been set up in the Authority; specialised resources have been inducted to strengthen the role of IRDA in the development and better conduct of health insurance business,” Mr C.S. Rao, Chairman of IRDA, said at a conference organised by FICCI.
4. Faced with a deteriorating US dollar, public sector banks (PSB) are beginning to reduce their cash and cash equivalent balances with the American banks and shifting to the Euro.
5. Mr K.V. Kamath, Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank, has been named the Businessman of the Year 2007 by Forbes Asia magazine. The 60-year-old is the third Indian in four years after Mr Nandan Nilekani of Infosys.
6. Reliance Industries Ltd plans to investment Rs 17,000 crore in oil and gas exploration over the next few years.
7. Credit Analysis & Research Limited (CARE) and United Bank of India have signed a MoU for facilitating Bank Facility Ratings to borrowers of United Bank of India from CARE for the purpose of Basel.
8. ICICI Bank is talking to the West Bengal government to involve with the University of Calcutta for starting a banking and insurance course.
9. Bank of India (BoI), along with its partners Union Bank of India and Dai-Ichi Insurance, is likely to infuse around Rs 500 crore in the next 6-7 years in a proposed life insurance joint venture.
10. The Foreign Exchange Services (FES) division of Centurion Bank of Punjab Limited (CBoP) is contemplating forging tie ups with travel companies like Kuoni Travel Group and Cox & Kings for launching various travel products. Aimed at offering convenience in payments and credit to travellers, the FES division plans to launch a slew of products including holiday loans and travel-oriented cards. The move is aimed at cashing in on the growing outbound tourism market in India. The number of Indians travelling abroad is set to reach 50 million by 2010.
