In January, banks had rejected SBI Caps' initial proposal on Air India's debt recast, which suggested converting a part of the carrier's debt into cumulative redeemable preference shares, with an eight per cent dividend.
Reserve Bank Governor D Subbaro on Tuesday said there is scope for banks to lower lending rates further, but most top bankers maintained that interest rates will remain the same in the near term and could even rise after 3-4 months.
In the quarterly review of its annual monetary policy on Tuesday, the central bank is also likely to lay out a more clear roadmap to conduct the government borrowing programme in a smooth manner and may hike the GDP and inflation forecast for FY'10, they said. To arrest the slowdown in the economy by stimulating demand the apex bank has trimmed its CRR to 5 per cent, repo and reverse repo rates to 4.75 per cent and 3.25 per cent respectively since October last year.
Top bankers on Wednesday exuded confidence that Raghuram Govind Rajan, who today took over as the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank, has the intellectual prowess to wade through the present difficulties facing the economy and wished him all success for the stint at Mint Road.
Foreign banks and private credit funds are queuing up to fund acquisitions by Indian companies who are buying out their local rivals. The Adani Group, Torrent Group, and the Hindujas have approached several foreign banks and private equity (PE) firms to fund their acquisitions. Global investors have about $2 trillion of funds to invest, and about $100 to $150 billion is set aside for India, according to an estimate by JP Morgan.
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While bankers and experts expect the lending rate to fall by about one percentage point in the near-term, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council has strongly pitched for rate cut by the RBI in its monetary policy review later in the month.
Mallya's comments came a day after country's largest lender, State Bank's Chairman O P Bhatt said that rising levels of stressed assets may push up defaults in the domestic banking system and banks need to enhance their risk management mechanisms to tackle the issue. However, BoB has a comfortable liquidity position and has its NPA levels under control, Mallya said, adding, "the bank has adequate headroom to raise capital but did not have any immediate plans to do so."
In a surprise move, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday left the repo rate unchanged at 7.75 per cent, while the cash reserve ratio too is retained at 4 per cent.
Swiss banking professionals under the agies of the Swiss Bankers Association met the Reserve Bank of India officials on Wednesday to discuss areas of cooperation. They also apprised the Indian banking regulator about the steps that Swiss authorities had initiated to implement stringent anti-money laundering laws.
Officials from 22 banks made representations before the minister and his panel about the industry expectations from the next financial budget.
The venue for Saturday's meeting was shifted at the last minute from the headquarters of the India Banks' Association in Cuffe Parade to avoid media glare.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by Indian companies have declined sharply by 80 per cent so far this year, in contrast with the same period last year, as bankers predict lower deal volumes due to falling profit margins of Indian companies and feeble stock markets. The decline in Adani Group shares has also hit buyer sentiment. According to data from Refinitiv, M&As in India stood at $3.3 billion from 253 deals, year-to-date (YTD) - a fall of 80 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Cross-border deals by Indian companies were also down 84 per cent to just $1.5 billion.
Head of state-run Indian Bank T M Bhasin had called for a CRR cut.
Bankers on Thursday said the status quo in the monetary stance of the Reserve Bank is largely on expected lines taken after considering the tight liquidity situation and overall cooling inflation numbers.
There hasn't been any dramatic moment in the first act (the Budget) but nobody would complain. It's par for the course as long as the figures don't change in the main Budget, which will be presented after general elections.
Sebi takes 6 merchant bankers to task for lapses in IPO
Aided by the $57.8-billion merger of HDFC Bank and HDFC, India Inc reported its highest ever mergers and acquisitions in calendar 2022 at $171 billion as against deals worth $145 billion announced last year. The acquisition by the Adani group across cement, media and ports dominated the headlines with the conglomerate making its foray into the cement sector by buying Swiss materials firm Holcim's stake in Ambuja Cements for $6.5 billion. The Adani family's additional $4-billion open offer for Ambuja did not get a response because shareholders preferred to stay invested with the new owner.
Bankers on Wednesday told the Reserve Bank of India that it will be difficult to make significant cuts in lending rates for about six months - the time required by them to shed high-cost deposits.
A key hindrance to a faster turnaround of these banks is the slow progress in the resolution of legacy bad loans and the need to build up provisions against those assets.
Former investment banker Ed Woodward will take on the top executive role at Manchester United from July, working with manager Alex Ferguson to hire new players for the 19-times English soccer champions.
Bankers said on Friday interest rates are likely to be stable in the short term as the liquidity position in the country is comfortable. "Interest rates look stable for the time being... at least till April," O P Bhatt, chairman of State Bank of India, told reporters on the sidelines of Finance Minister P Chidambaram's meeting with bankers in New Delhi.
FM will meet public sector bankers tomorrow in a pre-budget meet to stress on credit targets and enhancing credits to minorities.
Bankers said the mammoth task of cleaning up the PSBs and improving their health will be a mammoth task for any chief executive.
The government by mid-January will appoint merchant bankers for the mega Rs 13,500 crore (Rs 135 billion) public offering of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), which is targeted to hit the market in March.
The government intends to disinvest 5 per cent stake in PFC, while the company would issue fresh shares to the tune of 15 per cent through the follow-on public offer.
The 14-year political journey of Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra has encountered both upheaval and elevation, as her expulsion from Parliament in a cash-for-query case marked the culmination of her tumultuous parliamentary term.
More than half a dozen companies will hit the market with their initial public offerings (IPOs) between now and the end of next week. The cumulative amount raised from these IPOs is expected to be around Rs 8,000 crore. Stationery products firm DOMS Industries and home financier India Shelter Finance's IPOs - of Rs 1,200 crore each - got off to a flying start on Wednesday (December 13), with the former garnering over six times the subscription and the latter getting 1.5 times subscribed.
The bosses of SBI, Union Bank and Central Bank have been driving down to their offices everyday to take stock of the biggest loan drive ever undertaken for MSMEs, discovers Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Year-end bonuses to be low to zero, as banks cut jobs, re-deploy staff.
Diwali fireworks are expected to continue on Dalal Street next week, with four companies collectively seeking to mobilise over Rs 6,600 crore through initial public offerings (IPOs). In terms of the amount raised, this is poised to be the busiest week of calendar year 2023. Tata Technologies (Tata Tech), a subsidiary of Tata Motors, could lead the charge with an IPO projected to be over Rs 2,900 crore. This will mark the first maiden share sale by a Tata Group firm in nearly two decades.
Poor governance, constant interference of promoters, opposition from unions and talks of being an acquisition target seen as main deterrents.
Bankers believe rates will remain high in near future.
Eleven companies have launched their initial public offerings (IPOs) in December 2023, making this month the second-best December for public offerings since 1996. Collectively, they are raising Rs 8,182.7 crore this month. In December 2021, 11 companies raised Rs 9,534 crore. However, excluding December 2021, this month marks the best December for IPOs since 1996.
After being hailed as Masters of the Universe for the last two decades, western bankers are now being blamed for the global financial crisis and being branded as the ugly face of capitalism.
State Bank of India and Canara Bank said on Thursday interest rates are expected to remain soft and stable in the near future as inflation is down and there is ample liquidity with the banks. "Interest rates are expected to remain stable to down," SBI Chairman O P Bhatt told reporters before participating in a meeting of bankers and exporters with Finance Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi.
Private equity (PE) players and investment bankers are divided over the timing of the BT Group's reported move to exit Tech Mahindra. BT owns about 30 per cent in TechM.
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