Sundar Sethuraman &Amp;Amp; Manojit Saha

Stories by Sundar Sethuraman &Amp;Amp; Manojit Saha

IPOs Make Way Out Of Deep Freezer

IPOs Make Way Out Of Deep Freezer

Rediff.com   28 Dec 2022

The success of recent IPOs and the stability in the secondary market are propelling many firms and investment bankers to remove their IPO plans.

Banks' balance sheet grows in double digits after 7 years: RBI report

Banks' balance sheet grows in double digits after 7 years: RBI report

Rediff.com   28 Dec 2022

The health of Indian banks continued to improve in 2021-22 with their balance sheet growing at double digits after a gap of seven years and their asset quality and capital position bettering, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its annual report on trend and progress of banking in India. At the same time, the banking regulator flagged the issue of slippages from restructured accounts. "Going forward, it is imperative that banks ensure due diligence and robust credit appraisal to limit credit risk," the report said.

MPC members voiced different views on interest rate

MPC members voiced different views on interest rate

Rediff.com   23 Dec 2022

The members of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voiced different views on the interest rate and stance, with two of them indicating they may not vote for further rate increases even if Governor Shaktikanta Das and Deputy Governor Michael Patra maintain bringing down inflation as their primary objective, the minutes of the December review of the monetary policy showed. The other two members remained neutral. The MPC increased the policy repo rate by 35 basis points (bps) - which was lower than the previous three hikes of 50 bps. The repo rate has been hiked by 225 bps to 6.25 per cent since May this year.

FPIs Pull Out A Record Rs 1.22 Trillion!

FPIs Pull Out A Record Rs 1.22 Trillion!

Rediff.com   22 Dec 2022

FPIs have turned net sellers in 2022 after being net buyers in the last three years.

Can RBI's digital currency replace physical cash?

Can RBI's digital currency replace physical cash?

Rediff.com   15 Dec 2022

Despite the demonetisation of 2016 and the rise in digital transactions that followed, the economy's dependence on cash has remained as high as ever. So when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced a pilot project of its version of digital cash - called the central bank digital currency (CBDC) - on December 1, many questions were asked. Can the CBDC replace physical cash, even partially? Can it match cash in terms of convenience? Are CBDC transactions truly anonymous?

How Punjab & Sind Bank plans to boost deposits

How Punjab & Sind Bank plans to boost deposits

Rediff.com   15 Dec 2022

State-owned Punjab & Sind Bank is targeting salary accounts to boost the share of low-cost deposits. Swarup Saha, managing director and chief executive officer of the New Delhi-based lender, tells Manojit Saha that the bank may see gross non-performing assets (NPAs) fall below 8 per cent if there is resolution of the stressed assets.

2023 likely to be another volatile year for Indian equity markets

2023 likely to be another volatile year for Indian equity markets

Rediff.com   14 Dec 2022

2023 could be another volatile year for Indian equity markets, according to BofA. In a report, the brokerage pointed out that the Nifty50, at present, is trading at 20.7x against its long-term average of 18.8x one-year forward earnings of current Nifty constituents. Plus, India is trading at a 98 per cent premium to its emerging market (EM) peers against its long-term average of 45 per cent.

Morgan Stanley upgrades Chinese equities as country eases Covid curbs

Morgan Stanley upgrades Chinese equities as country eases Covid curbs

Rediff.com   6 Dec 2022

Morgan Stanley has upgraded China's equities amidst optimism about the country relaxing restrictions to slow down the spread of Covid-19. "Multiple positive developments alongside a clear path set towards reopening warrant an upgrade and index target increases for China," the brokerage said in a note. MSCI China's return on equity (ROE) is likely to rise from 9.4 per cent to 11.1 per cent by the end-2023.

e-Rupee: RBI creates Rs 1.71 crore of digital currency for retail pilot

e-Rupee: RBI creates Rs 1.71 crore of digital currency for retail pilot

Rediff.com   2 Dec 2022

The pilot project for central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the retail segment went live on Thursday with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issuing Rs 1.71 crore to four participating banks based on their indents. The central bank has identified four banks for the first phase of the pilot - State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank - in four cities, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar. The highest indent was received from one private sector bank.

FPIs regain risk appetite, pump in nearly Rs 8,430 crore in October

FPIs regain risk appetite, pump in nearly Rs 8,430 crore in October

Rediff.com   9 Nov 2022

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned net buyers in October after being net sellers in the previous month. In October, FPIs bought shares worth nearly Rs 8,430 crore ($1 billion) against net selling of Rs 13,405 crore ($1.6 billion) in September. Positive flows during three of the previous four months have pushed the domestic markets towards fresh all-time highs. At present, the Sensex and Nifty are less than 2 per cent shy of breaching record highs logged in October 2021. A rally in equity markets in the US and Europe is in hopes that the Federal Reserve may go soft on rate hikes after its November meeting.

Rights Issue See Sharp Decline

Rights Issue See Sharp Decline

Rediff.com   4 Nov 2022

The fundraising through rights issues in the first 10 months of 2022 is the lowest since 2016 during a similar period.

'Inflation will go below 6% in a couple of quarters'

'Inflation will go below 6% in a couple of quarters'

Rediff.com   28 Oct 2022

'We have delivered a bitter medicine. It will take time to work.'

Rs 9000-cr worth of IPOs lined up for next few weeks

Rs 9000-cr worth of IPOs lined up for next few weeks

Rediff.com   17 Oct 2022

IPO market hopes to come out of slump in festive season, reports Sundar Sethuraman.

Half of top 500 stocks trading below their 200-DMA, shows data

Half of top 500 stocks trading below their 200-DMA, shows data

Rediff.com   13 Oct 2022

The benchmark Nifty50 managed to reclaim its 200-day moving average (DMA) on Wednesday but about half of top 500 stocks continue to languish below this key technical indicator. The 200-DMA - nearly a year's average of closing prices - is analysed by traders to understand the market sentiment. A fall below these levels indicates a weak trend.

Rupee trade: Two Russian banks get RBI nod for special vostro account

Rupee trade: Two Russian banks get RBI nod for special vostro account

Rediff.com   29 Sep 2022

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its approval to two Russian banks for opening special vostro account for rupee trade. Sberbank, JSC VTB - the largest and second largest bank of Russia - are the first foreign lenders to receive this approval after the central bank announced the norms on INR trade in July. Both lenders have branch presence in India. Earlier this month, state-run UCO Bank received the RBI's approval to open a special Vostro account with Gazprombank of Russia. While the Kolkata-based lender is in the process of opening the account, the bank has received requests from various foreign lenders for opening such an account.

Banks alert customers about mobile banking malware targeting over 200 apps

Banks alert customers about mobile banking malware targeting over 200 apps

Rediff.com   21 Sep 2022

Several Indian banks have alerted their customers not to download apps from any source other than official app stores. Banking customers are being targeted by a new type of mobile banking malware campaign using SOVA Android Trojan. This malware captures the credentials when users log onto their net-banking apps and access bank accounts. The new version of SOVA appears to be targeting more than 200 mobile applications, including banking apps and crypto wallets.

Moscow now wants biz in ruble, trade may take a hit

Moscow now wants biz in ruble, trade may take a hit

Rediff.com   19 Sep 2022

Russian traders have started asking for payments in ruble for their exports to India in a move that could derail trade between the two countries which gathered pace after the war in Europe. This is because Indian importers are unable to pay in ruble. The India-Russia trade gathered pace after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February this year. In the April-June quarter, India's imports from Russia were valued at $9.27 billion, up 369 per cent year on year.

Another 35-50 bps repo rate hike on cards

Another 35-50 bps repo rate hike on cards

Rediff.com   14 Sep 2022

With retail inflation surprising on the upside, the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to increase the repo rate by 35-50 basis points (bps) in the review scheduled for September 28-30. According to economists, the central bank will continue to focus on bringing inflation down even though economic growth has remained sluggish. Data released by the government on Monday showed that the consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation increased by 7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in August, thus, staying above the upper tolerance limit of the central bank for all the eight months of 2022.

Small-caps outperform large-caps but fail to match mid-caps in August

Small-caps outperform large-caps but fail to match mid-caps in August

Rediff.com   8 Sep 2022

The small-cap universe outperformed large-caps, but failed to match the returns generated by mid-caps in August. The Nifty Smallcap 100 Index rose 4.9 per cent. By comparison, the Nifty50 Index rose 3.5 per cent and the Nifty Midcap 100 soared 6.2 per cent. This was only the third calendar month in 2022 when the small-cap index has outperformed the large-cap-oriented Nifty50 Index.

In August, markets log 3rd highest monthly FPI inflows since Covid outbreak

In August, markets log 3rd highest monthly FPI inflows since Covid outbreak

Rediff.com   1 Sep 2022

In August, domestic equity markets garnered one of the highest foreign portfolio investor (FPI) flows since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, despite the US Federal Reserve standing firm on unwinding its stimulus measures to control inflation. FPIs pumped in over Rs 51,000 crore ($6.4 billion) in August, the most since December 2020 and the third-highest tally since March 2020-the month the Covid-19 pandemic roiled global markets. This was the second consecutive month of positive foreign flows. In the preceding nine months, FPIs had yanked out over $32 billion or Rs 2.2 trillion.