HDFC Bank Q1 PAT seen up 31%

India's third largest lender HDFC Bank is expected to report a 31% rise in first quarter FY12  profit after tax of Rs 1,064.2 crore as against Rs 811.7 crore in a year ago period, according to CNBC-TV18 estimates.

Net interest income is seen going up by 19.7% to Rs 2,874.6 crore from Rs 2,401 crore on year-on-year basis.

Other expectations

-Some margin contraction is likely between 10 to 15 basis points due to:  
o         Full quarter impact of hike in savings rate will impact net interest margins (NIMs)
o         Deposit rate hike
o         But strong CASA base will cushion NIMs
-Loan growth to be subdued on account of higher base effect 
o         (3G related disbursements in FY11)
-Deposit growth should be stronger due to increase in term deposits 
-Asset quality is likely to remain stable – could even see an improvement 
-Non interest income is expected to grow around 13%

Pratibha Industries led consortium bags

Construction firm Pratibha Industries today said it has bagged two orders worth Rs 1,249 crore, along with its joint-venture partner Mosinzhstroi Open Joint Stock Company, for the Delhi Jal Board projects.

The order has been awarded through Engineers India, Pratibha Industries said in a filing to BSE.

The consortium has been awarded two of the six packages worth Rs 692.79 crore (Package 2) and Rs 556.66 crore (Package 3) respectively through Engineers India. The projects are scheduled to be completed within a period of 36 months.

Following the news announcement, the stock climbed by 4.55% to Rs 57.45 a piece on BSE.

The scope of the work includes design, construction and lying of Interceptor sewers along three major drains - Najafgarh, supplementary and Shahadra in Delhi.

"This is the largest order won by the company and the construction of the interceptor Sewers which will help in the reduction of pollution in Yamuna River ," Pratibha Industries Managing Director Ajit B. Kulkarni said.

The company said Yamuna River, which passes through Delhi, has been immensely polluted in the past few decades due to untreated sewage discharged into the river.

Banks' association suggests rate hike pause to RBI

Indian lenders have suggested to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to pause its rate hike cycle.

They also urged for a clear forward looking statement on interest rates at the policy review next week, said Indian Banks' Association (IBA) Chief Executive K Ramakrishnan on Monday.

Select bankers led by the bankers' body met RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn at a meeting to give their views.

Providing their outlook on interest rates, credit and deposit growth, economic growth, bad loans and other macro-economic parameters ahead of the first-quarter policy review due on July 26.

The RBI has raised rates 10 times so far since March 2010 to combat sticky inflation.

L&T Finance IPO on July 26 2011

L&T Finance Holdings' up to Rs 17.5 billion (USD 392 million) initial public offering will open on July 26 and close July 29, the company said in a filing with the Registrar of Companies.

The offer will be open for anchor investors on July 26, while it will open for retail bids the next day.

Earlier this month, L&T Finance, a unit of Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro , raised Rs 3.3 billion through a share placement to US private-equity fund Capital International.

L&T Finance is the holding company for the financial services business of the group and operates through four units that manage the mutual fund, asset financing, infrastructure financing and working capital funding businesses.

HSBC, Citigroup, JM Financial, Barclays Capital, and Credit Suisse are the arrangers to the L&T Finance offer.

Gold shines

Gold and the Swiss franc hit record highs on Monday while equities and the euro tumbled as the lack of any breakthrough to the escalating debt crisis in the euro zone and the United States sapped demand for risky assets.

With policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic offering no clear solutions to their respective debt problems, risk-averse investors are expected to incrementally keep increasing their exposure to safe-haven assets this week.

Even though Asian markets have remained largely resilient to the latest flare-up in the ongoing euro zone debt crisis, a U.S. debt default or the euro zone debt crisis engulfing one of its major economies like Italy or Spain could trigger sharp outflows from emerging markets.

In the United States, Republican and Democratic senators sought on Sunday to craft a plan that could, before an Aug. 2 deadline, avert an unprecedented government default while making modest cuts in the deficit.

"Investors are gradually losing confidence as the U.S. debt ceiling date nears and even though we expect a last-minute deal to materialise, this kind of behaviour is making markets very nervous," said Adrian Foster, head of financial markets research -Asia Pacific at Rabobank International in Hong Kong . Read Full Story Gold Shines