October 4, 2003 Moodies Mood Change: Oman's leading banks Credit Rating may be reviewed due to deteriorating Asset quality
LONDON -Moody's Investors Service said it had placed on review for possible downgrade the D strength rating of National Bank of Oman (NBO). This action does not affect NBO's Baa3/Prime-3 ratings for foreign currency deposits, said a statement. Moody's action stems from NBO's worsening financial position, particularly its extremely weak asset quality and elevated provisioning requirements.
Recent financial results showed that NBO's asset quality deteriorated substantially since the bank's FSR was assigned a negative outlook in 2002. Moody's remains concerned that the bank continues to lose market share to its domestic competitors, while the high level of non-performing assets on the bank's balance sheet will impose a large burden on NBO's management, as it focuses valuable time and effort on loan recovery efforts rather than franchise enhancement.
Moody's also said NBO faced a significant potential loss stemming from a dispute with the Central Bank of Egypt, for which it has not yet made any provisions. Potentially counterbalancing these concerns, NBO has recently signed a private agreement to augment its capital base by approximately 50 per cent, which is expected to take effect in the fourth quarter of this year. The rating review will focus on all these issues. NBO, headquartered in Muscat, Oman, had total assets of RO919 million ($2,390 million) as of December 31, 2002.-keralamonitor.com
Mumbai Urban Transport Project to bring down traffic congestion
MUMBAI - Oct 4, 2004 The completion of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) Phase I, undertaken with 50:50 cost sharing between the Centre and the Government of Maharashtra, will bring down congestion during the peak hours and also reduce travelling time on the existing saturated Mumbai sub-urban railway.
In addition, MUTP Phase I will improve the complex, densely loaded and intensively utilized sub-urban rail transport system wherein about 65 lakh people travel daily.
The works of MUTP relate to provision of additional lines, procurement of additional rolling stock and conversion of the existing DC traction network to AC for faster acceleration and deceleration of trains as also make sub-urban rail services safer. keralamonitor.com
Futures Trading in Gold, Silver launched
Sharad Yadav, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution launched the online futures trading in gold and silver at a function held at Vigyan Bhawan here today. This marks the beginning of futures trading in gold and silver after a gap of 42 years after getting the approval of Forward Market Commission the regulator of commodities exchanges. The National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (NMCE) Ahmedabad is the first to receive recognition of the FMC to start futures trading in gold and silver. NMCE which is a Central Warehousing Corporation led exchange with its current membership of 89 participants started futures trading in 24 commodities in November 2002 and added 23 commodities with in a period of six months.
Speaking on the occasion Yadav emphasised the need for commodity exchanges to take necessary steps to protect the interests of farmers and artisans. India consumes 800 tonnes of gold and 3500 tonnes of silver per annum and Indian bullion traders and speculators hedge and speculate in gold futures to the extent of around Rs. 1000 crore per day. The size of gold jewellery market in India is around Rs. 40,000 crore. The Minister also underlined the need for maintaining quality in our gold and silver articles by introducing hall-marking in all cities in the country.
In his keynote address, Navin B. Chawla, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs said that trading in gold and silver involved wild fluctuations in prices both in response to international trends and domestic seasonalities, which were beyond the control of common man or the market. As such, availability of market based risk management tools such as exchange traded futures contracts would provide considerable cushion to the bullion market; he said.
Gold Futures Trading in India is aimed at making it the gold price determining country for the world’s gold market. Internationally, gold and silver futures are traded on NYMEX or Commodity Exchange (COMEX); TOCOM and the Istanbul Gold Exchange. China has its Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) which was started in October, 2002. Unlike the large contract sizes of many international commexes, NMCE’s unit of trade and delivery is a 100 gms bar of .999 fineness. This small contract size is expected to attract large numbers of small and medium investors for whom gold is already an internal part of their portfolio, though in an unorganized manner. keralamonitor.com
Food Minister visits Pepsi Factory in UP
N.T. Shanmugam, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries made a surprise visit to M/s Varun Beverages Ltd. located at Koshi Kalan in UP to verify if the factory is producing quality products and keeping the required norms of hygiene in accordance with Fruit Products Order 1955. The Minister carried out inspection of raw water treatment plant, empty bottle yard, filling area, concentrate store room, raw/ready syrup room, quality control lab and finished product yard.
During random checking two bottles of pepsi cola manufactured in 1995and 1996 were found in the stock which were without the declaration "contains no fruit" which is in contravention of FPO, 1955. The two bottles have been sized. The Minister directed the firm to segregate all the bottles of make 1997 and earlier which are without the statutory statement "contains no fruit" and not to despatch for sale till segregation process is completed.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries gives licences under Fruit Products Order, 1955 (FPO) to the synthetic beverages producing industries and fruit and vegetable processing industries. keralamonitor.com
