Axis Bank reported a sharp drop in net profit in the second quarter of financial year 2026 (Q2FY26) on higher provisions and weak operating profit growth while revenue growth was moderate. But loan growth and deposit growth improved to double-digits year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and asset quality also improved with the gross non-performing loan or NPL ratio moving down.
The Indian banking sector could be due for a rise in profitability after several quarters of net interest margin (NIM) compression. The Q2FY26 results suggest NIMs have bottomed out.
Sectoral funds, focused exclusively on public sector banks (PSBs), have delivered the strongest returns among domestic mutual fund (MF) categories over the past six months. However, active banking funds have significantly lagged because of their heavy tilt towards private lenders.
A minimum of 50 per cent tax may be levied on unexplained bank deposits made using the banned currency notes up to December 30 along with a 4-year lock in period for half of the remaining amount under the amendments to tax law the government plans to bring in Parliament shortly.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Friday said the key policy rates will remain at low levels for a long period and may go down even further.
Bank chiefs told the RBI said they needed to mobilise deposits as they were facing additional demand for funds with other sources drying up. "When government schemes are offering 8 per cent rate, banks cannot go below that. If we cut rates further, we will not be able to attract fresh funds and will also face the prospects of depositors exiting in favour of small savings instruments," said a banker who attended the meeting.
Noting that recent uncertainties created by global tariffs have not impacted the Indian economy severely, Anuradha Thakur, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, said the central government is hopeful that the recent goods and services tax (GST) rationalisation will ignite the much needed animal spirits in the financial sector.
The Delhi High Court has suspended actor Rajpal Yadav's sentence in a cheque bounce case until March 18, allowing his release from jail after he deposited Rs 1.5 crore.
The federal agency said it conducted raids against a director of Zanmai Lab Pvt Ltd, which owns WazirX, on August 3 in Hyderabad and alleged he was "non-cooperative". The agency's probe against the crypto exchange is linked to its ongoing investigation against a number of Chinese loan apps (mobile applications) working in India.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet in connection with alleged financial irregularities at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, naming former principal Sandip Ghosh and others as accused.
When banks deposit their money with RBI, the central bank offers government securities of equal value. But now, it could be running out of enough securities to offer banks against the overnight deposits.
Public-sector banks (PSBs) are attracting the attention of investors and the PSU Bank Index has gained nearly 10 per cent in the past month. PSBs have seen return on assets (RoA) climbing to 1 per cent in 2024-2025 (FY25) and margins are believed to have moved up further in the first half of this financial year (H1FY26) with asset quality remaining stable.
Payments banks have urged the Union finance ministry to increase their deposit limit for each account to Rs 5 lakh, according to a source who participated in a meeting, chaired by the Department of Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, in New Delhi. At present, they can accept deposits of up to Rs 2 lakh.
'As the team builds, each of them will bring in a different perspective, new thinking.'
Residents of some Patel-community dominated villages in Gujarat are withdrawing their bank deposits with one cooperative bank.
India's private-sector banks are likely to lose market share for a second consecutive year in 2025-26, as their loan books continue to expand much slower than overall bank credit.
State Bank of India on Saturday reported an all-time high profit of Rs 21,028 crore in December quarter FY26 on a standalone basis.
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ICICI Bank delivered satisfactory results in the second quarter of 2025-26 (Q2FY26), sustaining return on assets (RoA) of around 2.3-2.4 per cent and improving asset quality. Provisions declined 26 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and 50 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q).
The Reliance Centre, a guesthouse and some residential assets in Mumbai, apart from 231 plots of land in Chennai, are among the fresh assets worth Rs 1,120 crore attached by the ED as part of its ongoing money-laundering probe against the companies of Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday allayed apprehension that privatisation of state-owned banks would hurt financial inclusion and national interest. She said the bank nationalisation done in 1969 has not yielded the desired result as far as financial inclusion was concerned.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Ayush Varshney, co-founder of Darwin Labs, in connection with the 200 million Gain Bitcoin cryptocurrency scam. Varshney was apprehended while attempting to flee the country.
But selectively, with regulatory scrutiny and special approval, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani to appear for questioning on February 26 after he skipped deposition this week, official sources said on Thursday.
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The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre, the CBI and others on a plea filed by a 78-year-old retired banker who was duped of Rs 23 crore after allegedly being put under "digital arrest" for nearly a month.
'There is no shortage of fuel whatsoever.' 'India is stock surplus as far as petrol and diesel are concerned.'
A retired soldier of Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh has been duped of Rs 98 lakh after being kept under 15 days 'digital arrest' by the fraudsters, officials said on Friday.
'We are profoundly energy-dependent on the Gulf. That dependency must now be redirected towards the United States, because we require American permission to procure oil.' 'We additionally require Iranian permission to acquire oil from that source. So India now has to seek two separate permissions merely to secure its energy supply.' 'Should we be compelled to source from America, or from Venezuela -- which is, in effect, American-controlled supply -- that will inevitably carry a price premium, an elevated shipping cost, and a considerably extended delivery timeline, given the distances involved.'
A grooming branch network for servicing HNIs is a stepping stone for a full-fledged wealth management business.
For commercial banks to float subsidiaries, approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may not remain mandatory, according to highly placed sources.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Monday held a performance review meeting with heads of public sector banks and asked them to make concerted efforts to garner deposits. Deposits have been growing 300-400 basis points lower than the credit growth in the last few months, creating an asset-liability mismatch for banks. During deliberations on the deposit mobilisation, she said that while the credit growth has picked up, mobilisation of deposits could further be improved to fund the credit growth sustainably, and asked banks to make concerted efforts to garner deposits by conducting special drives.
The Delhi High Court has granted Rajpal Yadav granted an interim suspension of his sentence until March 18.
The move is aimed at making settlement of claims or return of articles from a locker smooth for relatives after the death of a customer.
Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said a centralised portal would be ready in three to four months wherein depositors and beneficiaries can access details of unclaimed deposits across various banks. As of February this year, about Rs 35,000 crore of unclaimed deposits were transferred to RBI by public sector banks in respect of deposits which were not operated for 10 years or more. "In order to improve and widen the access of depositors/beneficiaries to such data, RBI has decided to develop a web portal to enable search across multiple banks for possible unclaimed deposits based on user inputs," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current financial year.
The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over 441 crore in connection with the Andhra Pradesh liquor scam, which allegedly occurred during the previous YSRCP government's tenure.
The share of low-cost money in total deposits continued to take a knock at the close of FY23 as banks engaged in intense competition by offering higher interest rates on term money to garner funds amid tight liquidity conditions. The share of current accounts and saving accounts (CASA) in total deposits declined by 2-4 per cent by end of March 2023 from March 2022 figure, according to BSE filings by private banks. The ease of movement of funds on digital platforms and the deployment of money by businesses from current accounts also played a role in dwindling the share of CASA money.
The prime minister also said that he expects inflation to come down in next two months. He, however, did not rule out 'indirect impact on th eIndian economy' due to the global financial crisis.
While bank credit growth seems to be showing signs of revival, deposits could soon emerge as the new area of concern for bankers.
