Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's call for making lending rates affordable may not resonate anytime soon as banks still struggle with margin compression, and await clues from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on liquidity and rate action. Hinting that any lending rate cut was some time away, State Bank of India (SBI) managing director Vinay M Tonse said there was still some aggression in the market regarding deposit pricing.
After subdued earnings in the first half amid global headwinds, India Inc is taking a cautious approach on their capital expenditure (capex) for the second half of the financial year ending March 2025, according to management commentary. Minutes from the October monetary policy meeting show the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) optimism about private investments picking up.
Tata Steel is in the process of filing a curative petition in the Supreme Court in connection with the apex court ruling which said that states have the power to levy cess on mining and mineral-use activities. The petition by the steel manufacturing firm is aimed at seeking remedy to the order, passed by a 9-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on July 25. However, Tata Steel's managing director and chief executive officer T V Narendran told Business Standard that there was no demand note on the firm.
Private sector banks in India are taking the lead in the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in areas like fraud detection, customer segmentation, and chat automation, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) study. The asset size and capital adequacy ratio are influencing the rate of adoption.
Roughly 40% of this projected outlay is expected to go towards emerging industries, including green hydrogen, clean energy, semiconductors, and electric vehicles.
Truck movements across the India-Bangladesh border are on the rise, with increasing rentals signalling a trade recovery between the two South Asian nations. Yet, geopolitical tension looms large, with Bangladesh now under an interim government for nearly two months.
'In India, managers and the leadership almost glorify overworking.'
Two young men jostle in a rickshaw as it clatters along a narrow, bustling lane of North Kolkata, each with a leg dangling over the side of the vehicle, a bulging sack of cosmetics nestled between them. The protagonists here are the founders of Emami - Radhe Shyam Agarwal and Radhe Shyam Goenka - childhood friends who gave up cushy corporate jobs to build a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company. From a 200-square-foot rented space on Muktaram Babu Street in North Kolkata, brand Emami stepped into the competitive world of FMCG 50 years back, armed with just three products: Vanishing cream, talcum powder, and cold cream.
'The Bengali middle class, who never fully embraced Mamata Banerjee's policies, are now expressing their deep-seated frustration by spilling out on to the streets.'
The Labour government in the UK has cleared the decks for a 500 million grant to Tata Steel, paving the way for decarbonisation of the company's British business and a sustainable financial future. In a statement, Tata Steel said that it has signed a 500 million Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) with the UK government, allowing it to "proceed at pace with the project to install a state-of-the-art electric arc furnace (EAF) at the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales". This is part of the 1.25 billion green steel project in Port Talbot, of which Tata Steel's investment is to the tune of 750 million.
Eying benefits from digital banking, lenders are now looking at building Unified Recovery Interface (URI) for enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and getting good prices for properties of defaulters. This would be managed by PSB Alliance Ltd, a company set up by all public sector banks in the country. M V Rao, chairman, Indian Banks' Association (IBA), said: "Till now we had Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a product developed by National Payments Corporation Ltd (NPCI).
West Bengal is home to 43,000 Durga Pujas, and the business around it is a major economic driver.
State-owned mining giant, Coal India, is hoping to recover around 75-80 per cent of its liabilities from customers with whom it has long-term fuel supply agreements (FSAs) after the Supreme Court (SC) allowed states to recover dues retrospectively. A legal recourse, however, is underway. "We are impacted in two states - Jharkhand and Odisha.
'In the case of corporate credit, especially to AAA borrowers, lenders will have to take a fresh look at pricing.'
'The biggest impact will be on coal and hence on power cost. Then comes iron ore, coking coal, bauxite.'
Public sector banks (PSBs) posted 16.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in net profit at Rs 39,974 crore during the June 2024 quarter. While net interest income (NII) showed subdued growth of 7.1 per cent, provisions and contingencies declined by 10.5 per cent Y-o-Y. This aided the bottom line to show steady growth.
From setting up cutting-edge facilities to cater to the domestic market and building capabilities of global standards, the action is building up.
Private banks' net profit grew 26.3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 48,982 crore in the first quarter ended June 2024 (Q1FY25) owing to healthy growth in credit and other income. The gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) increased with the end of dispensation granted during the pandemic, according to the data compiled by BS Research Bureau for listed 18 private banks.
Chief executive officers (CEOs) across sectors have expressed intentions to expand capacities, expecting the government's target to invest a record Rs 11.11 trillion on infrastructure development will act as a catalyst for a jump in consumer demand. "With the government planning a capex of Rs 11.11 trillion, private sector investment will come in a big way. Companies will be preparing for it right from today," H M Bangur, chairman of Shree Cement, told Business Standard. For the past few years, the investment scene in India has been dominated by government capital expenditures; private investments in the manufacturing sector have remained muted.
'Bilateral trade has suffered seriously because of the growing unrest.' 'There is a standstill on both sides amid the curfew.'
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