RBI to Banks - tell us how much you are losing!

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), concerned over the crisis in overseas markets, has asked commercial banks to provide data on their exposure to "troubled financial entities", two newspapers said on Thursday.

The RBI has asked banks to furnish details of their exposure to Wachovia Corporation, Fortis, American International Group Inc, Washington Mutual and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the newspapers said.

"We have sent letters to the chief executive officers of all banks seeking information on their exposure to the troubled financial entities," a senior Reserve Bank of India official said, according to one daily.

It said the RBI was also planning a special audit of ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector bank, to assess whether it has any exposure to these entities and the possible impact on its profit and loss account.

On Tuesday, the RBI joined ICICI Bank to reassure investors and customers about the financial health of India's second biggest lender, saying ICICI was well capitalised and has enough cash to meet depositor demand.

Separately, another daily reported that some large foreign institutional investors (FIIs) told the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the country's stock market regulator, that they have not been aggressively short-selling ICICI's stock.

At a meeting convened by SEBI Chairman C B Bhave, quite a few of the FIIs said they had been buying ICICI's stock, it quoted a person familiar with the development as saying.

ICICI Bank's shares ended up 3.1 per cent at 551.45 rupees on Wednesday after hitting its lowest in more than two years on Tuesday. The markets are shut on Thursday for a local holiday.