Bank stocks surge on hope of better profits

Banking stocks have gained between 5 per cent and 11 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in the last two days on higher advance tax payments by banks and a correction in valuation of small banks
A total of 15 banking stocks are currently trading at their respective 52-week highs. These include State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.
The BSE Bankex, an index of banking stocks, has gained 5 per cent in the last two days. It closed at an 18-month high of 9,361.27 on WednesdayA total of 15 banking stocks are currently trading at their respective 52-week highs. These include State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.
The BSE Bankex, an index of banking stocks, has gained 5 per cent in the last two days. It closed at an 18-month high of 9,361.27 on Wednesday.

RBI to continue soft monetary policy

Seeking to allay apprehensions that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may soon revert to tight money policy to tackle the upward movement of inflation expected in the coming months, RBI Governor D. Subbarao on Tuesday maintained that the current soft monetary policy approach adopted as a measure to combat the fall-out of the global financial crisis would continue until the economy is securely on the growth track.
At the same time, setting timelines for an eventual reversal of the expansionist monetary policy which had been put in place to tackle the economic slowdown and spurring growth, Dr. Subbarao said: “Especially on monetary policy, we [the RBI] will not exit unless we are sure that recovery is secured...but soon thereafter, when we make the judgement that the recovery is secured, we have to unwind the accommodative monetary policy”.
The RBI Governor, however, pointed out that the government and the apex bank would have to then take a call on the timing of withdrawing the stimulus measures which had been injected to perk up the slowing economy. And this, he said, would be sooner than in most of the other countries.

West Bengal keen on giving new sites to Wipro, Infosys

KOLKATA: Though the West Bengal government decided against proceeding with the joint sector integrated information technology (IT) township near Rajarhat in the outskirts of the city in North 24 Parganas district, it is keen on providing alternative land to IT majors like Wipro and Infosys who were to set up facilities in the township. 

According to earlier plans, the two IT companies were to be provided 90 acres of land each. Separate Memoranda of Understanding was signed by the State and each of the two companies to this effect in April 2008. 

But, having decided withdraw from the project, because the government did not want to become a party to land dealings by a partner in the joint sector company entrusted with the setting up of the proposed IT township, the State government expressed its inability to keep its assurance of providing the land to the two companies for the moment.
CM to take decision 



The State government will be persuading the two companies to set up their facilities elsewhere. “It is trying to ensure that they (Wipro and Infosys) stay (in the State),” the State Housing Minister, Goutam Deb, said after a meeting of the State Secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) here on Friday. The alternative sites on which they could come up will be decided following discussions with the Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, once he returns from north Bengal, he added.