Forex reserve rises to $ 28.75 bnMUMBAI: The forex reserves went up marginally by $ 38 million to touch $ 28.75 billion in the week ended May 29. The reserves rose primarily due to a rise in the foreign currency assets, which went up by $47 million to $25.56 billion. This is the second consecutive week the forex reserves have gone up. In the previous week, the reserves had registered a growth of $53 million."The modest growth in the reserves is a healthy sign. But because of net sales by FIIs, there is likely to be an outflow next week which may see a dip in the forex reserves," a foreign exchange analyst in a broking house said. The Ways and Means Advances (WMA) rose by Rs 399 crore to touch Rs 10,306, about Rs 700 crore short of the Rs 11,000-crore limit for the first half.Bank credit fell by Rs 656 crore during the fortnight ended May 22 to Rs 3,20,974 crore, owing to a Rs 2,279-crore dip in the non-food credit. Deposits continued to grow and for the fortnight ended May 22 aggregatedeposits went up by 0.4 per cent to Rs 6,13,041 crore. Deposits grew by Rs 2,684 crore, demand deposits fell by Rs 416 crore.Silver prices upMUMBAI: Silver prices rose further on the bullion market here Saturday on increased industrial buying coupled with thin arrivals of raw silver. However, prices of gold held steady due to restricted activity.Ready silver of .999 fineness and tenderable silver rose further by Rs 45 each to close at Rs 7650 and Rs 7655 from yesterday's level of Rs 7,605 and Rs 7,610 respectively. Raw silver of .916 fineness closed higher at Rs 7,510, showing a gain of Rs 20 over the last close of Rs 7,490. Standard gold at Rs 4,170, 22-carat gold at Rs 3,860 and ten tola gold bar of .999 purity at Rs 48,900 remained steady from the last close.Philips IndiaMUMBAI: Philips India launched three new products in Mumbai on Friday to make an entry into the, hitherto, untapped markets of the digital reality. The company launched, Philips DVD player, a digital cameraand `Velo,' a hand held personal computer.UTI BankMUMBAI: The aggregate deposits of UTI Bank which stood at Rs 1409 crore as on March 31,1997 rose by 94 per cent during 1997-98 (4th year of operations) to Rs 2731 crore. The share of household sector deposits rose significantly during the year to 26 per cent of the aggregate deposits. The bank has also been able to mobilise sizeable NRI deposits during the year. The aggregate advances during the year increased to Rs 1627 crore from Rs 689 crore in 1996-97 registering a growth of over 136%.Advani-OerlikonMUMBAI: The turnover of Advani Oerlikon has declined modestly to Rs 178.48 crore during the year ended March 1998 (excluding excise) compared to Rs 178.48 crore in the previous year. The gross profit of the company amounted to Rs 20.03 crore. The net profit stood at Rs 9.77 crore compared to Rs 11.53 crore in the earlier year. The directors have proposed a dividend of 25 per cent for the year compared to 40 per cent declared in theprevious year. The earning per share works out to Rs 6.17 and the book value of the share stood at Rs 38.J S BankMUMBAI: Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd, Kalyan has mopped up deposits over Rs 121 crore during the year ended March 1998 thus crossed the bench mark for awarding scheduled bank status and the membership of the National Clearing Cell by the Reserve Bank of India says Wamanrao Sathe the Chairman of the bank.
