04 KALEIDOSCOPE ERGO Monday, June 22, 2009

Numbers that matter

Gold: Rs. 1350 per gram
Silver: Rs. 23,600 per kilogram
Sensex closing: 14521.89 (June 19)
Nifty closing: 4274.05 (June 19)
Dollar: Rs. 48.0103 per USD
(The rates given above are as on June 20)

Quiz
A: State Bank of Pathankot
B: UTI Bank
C: SBI Bank
D: Grindlays Bank
2. NFO stands for:
A: Nationalised Financial Organisations
B: New Fixed Deposits
C: New Fund Offer
D: Nano Fund offers
Send your answers to finergo@goergo.in or SMS
your answers to 92813 98889. For example if you
choose A as the answer to question 1 and B as
the answer to question 2 type it as 1A2B and
send it. Winner will be chosen by lucky draw
from all correct answers.
Answers for last week’s quiz:
Equity Linked Savings Scheme
Capitalisation

News you can use

Guaranteed returns from Bajaj Allianz
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has launched
Investplus, a Life Insurance product that guar-
antees a specific return on the investment. It is
Is it housing boom?
a traditional insurance plan in which the in- DIVYA DARSHINI 2. The liquidity situation is improving
vestor is made aware of a guaranteed mini- divya@finerva.com and the cash flow in the market seems
mum investment right at the beginning of the to be getting better. 3. There is also a
year and also a guaranteed maturity value at

the end of the term.
New life plan
Future Generalli India Life Insurance Com-
pany has launched Future Anand, a life insur-
ance plan which is a combination of
endowment and whole life plan. The plan as-
sures Guaranteed Additions at the rate of 3.5
per cent of sum assured per annum com-
pounding at the end of each of the first five
policy years and compounded reversionary
bonuses thereafter.
Fixed deposit from Mahindra
Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services
launched a three-year cumulative fixed depos-
it giving returns at the rate of 10 per cent. This
interest is considerably higher than what most
banks and financial institutions are offering.
The FD also has been given a good credit rat-
ing and this backed by the brand of the Ma-
hindras makes this a good investment
opportunity.
T
op CEOs in the housing loan in- strong indication that interest rates on
The price fall dustry have indicated that the
property prices are expected to go
loans will continue to drop.
This is again an incentive for inves-
in the housing up soon. Reason: There seems to
be an increase in demand for houses.
tors to borrow and spend on their
dream house.
loan industry This is besides other economic indica-
tors. What’s happening
might be over During the past few months property
prices were showing stagnation and in
Business move by corporates in the
housing finance domain also indicate
and one can many cases a downward trend mainly
due to drop in demand for housing.
an upcoming price hike. LIC Housing
Finance has witnessed a 40 per cent rise
expect a rise This forced builders to lower the price
and focus on economically priced pro-
in the number of loan applications
compared to last year. The TATA Group
in real estate jects. In fact, it looked as if the demand
for expensive or luxurious properties
re-launched the TATA Capital Housing
Finance Ltd, which had stopped its
prices soon, would not go up for a long time. But,
that doesn’t seem to be the trend. The
housing finance business about six
years ago.
say industry demand for housing is slowly but surely
coming back and there seems to be re- What should I do as an investor?
officials newed activity in the housing domain. If you are a prospective buyer and
have been waiting for prices to fall fur-
Why is demand rising ther, it’s time you start talking to loan
1. People probably feel more secure companies.
and comfortable to see a stable govern- Any chance of further price drop
ment at the centre. seems minimal. ■