India should become a middle-income country and then push to make INR (rupee) a hard currency, and till then, it must promote the settlement of global trade in the local currency, think tank GTRI said on Sunday. Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that transforming a currency into a hard currency is a complex process that hinges on several pivotal factors. Firstly, economic stability is paramount; a country must exhibit low and stable inflation, consistent growth, and a balanced trade environment.
The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) will pay the depositors of 21 stressed cooperative banks, including the Punjab & Maharashtra Co-Operative Bank (PMC Bank), up to Rs 5 lakh within 90 days. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had imposed restrictions on the withdrawal of deposits from these banks. Of the 21 banks, 11 are from Maharashtra, five from Karnataka, and one each from Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab.
The country's foreign exchange reserves surged to $576.98 billion as on March 31, 2021 from $544.69 billion at September-end last year, an RBI report said. Foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves, increased to $536.693 billion as at March-end 2021 from $502.162 billion, the report noted. On balance of payments basis (excluding valuation changes), foreign exchange reserves increased by $83.9 billion during April-December 2020 as compared with $40.7 billion in the year-ago period, it said.
Funds parked by Indian individuals and firms in Swiss banks, including through India-based branches and other financial institutions, jumped to 2.55 billion Swiss francs (over Rs 20,700 crore) in 2020 on a sharp surge in holdings via securities and similar instruments, though customer deposits fell, annual data from Switzerland's central bank showed on Thursday. The increase in aggregate funds of Indian clients with Swiss banks, from 899 million Swiss francs (Rs 6,625 crore) at the end of 2019, reverses a two-year declining trend and has taken the figure to the highest level in 13 years. It stood at a record high of nearly 6.5 billion Swiss francs in 2006, after which it has been mostly on a downward path, except for a few years including in 2011, 2013 and 2017, as per the Swiss National Bank (SNB) data.
A new era of Indian equity market outperformance compared to China "appears to be dawning", according to Morgan Stanley. The firm has upgraded India to overweight in its Asia Pacific-excluding Japan (APxJ) list, making it their most preferred market not only in the region but also in the global emerging market (GEM) pack. India now holds the top position in this category, with an overweight of 75 basis points, a significant increase from nil previously.
'Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to strive to realise Gandhiji's dreams. His watchwords, truth and nonviolence, will continue to remain relevant for the whole world. He also taught us that rights and duties are but the two sides of the coin - indeed, the true source of rights is duty. Today we recall his lessons in compassion too - compassion not only for our human neighbours but also for our other neighbours, namely, flora and fauna, rivers and mountains.'
The Centre is pushing for bilateral trade with Cuba and its settlement in rupee as a part of its strategy to internationalise the domestic currency. A delegation from Cuba, including officials from its central bank, met Indian government officials and banks last month to discuss bilateral trade and settlement using the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) payment mechanism in rupee, said people aware of the matter. Since the Cuban nation has opened up its economy and is looking to implement reforms to attract investments from India, Cuban banks have evinced interest in opening special rupee vostro accounts (SRVAs) with Indian banks.
Why can't the Indian government propose to the Chinese a corridor circumambulating the Holy Mountain where people from both sides could perform the yatra again? asks Claude Arpi.
Residents in India and other emerging economies borrowed $34 billion by issuing debt securities in the international market during the last three months ending November, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has indicated.
He said this in Parliament rebutting reports last month, which quoted the Swiss National Bank, the country's central bank, as saying in its annual report that Indian deposits had risen by 50 per cent in 2017.
... and there is no stopping its pan-Islamic agenda, cautions Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
Remittance is defined as the sum of money paid to someone at a distance.
'Israelis arrested us before this war and continue to do so -- even more so -- now.'
Reserve Bank of India Governor Y V Reddy on Tuesday said the Indian economy is largely insulated from episodes of global financial instability and the country has built resilience to shocks and is less vulnerable to output volatility.\n\n
The World Bank's executive board unanimously selected 63-year-old Malpass, who is currently Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs, as the bank's 13th President for a five-year term beginning April 9.
'What's happening in Gaza is another ethnic cleansing, a repeat of what happened in 1948.' 'That is why people do not want to evacuate. Either you evacuate or you die.'
With a loan book of $268 billion, India's retail banking is now ahead of Russia, Malaysia and Mexico but behind China, Brazil and Thailand
Consensus remained elusive on a common BRICS currency as business leaders from the five-bloc nations debated the pivotal issue at a business forum on the periphery of a summit of the five-member bloc being hosted here by South Africa. In their two addresses at the Summit so far, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have made no or scant references to the issue either. "The BRICS Business Forum discussed the international payments system in detail. "Participants also debated the question of whether a BRICS currency is possible or desirable, with strong views expressed both for and against and little consensus reached," Sim Tshabalala, chief executive of Standard Bank Group, told several hundred captains of industry from the partner countries and over 40 other nations across the globe at the Summit.
Swiss authorities have always maintained that assets held by Indian residents in Switzerland cannot be considered as 'black money' and they actively support India in its fight against tax fraud and evasion.
'Israelis not only harassed Palestine Muslims, but also Christians.' 'Palestinians have been telling Israel that this will blow up the situation, but they would not listen to us.'
Your money is protected by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation.
China has launched a host of reforms to halt the slow down of the economy, which is hovering around seven per cent with forecasts that it would dip down further.
SBI Q3FY24 result review: A higher-than-factored weakness in the October-to-December quarter (Q3) results of State Bank of India (SBI), for financial year 2023-24 (FY24), has prompted brokerages to cut earnings estimates for the ongoing financial year. They, however, have maintained 'Buy' ratings on the stock, revising target price upwards in some cases, owing to the stock's recent underperformance relative to its peers.
Eyewitnesses of the Nepalese passenger plane crash have said that they had a close shave as the Yeti Airlines plane, with 72 onboard, including five Indians, crashed near their settlement and a bomb-like blast was heard.
Vodafone, according to sources, in its response to the Finance Ministry's offer for conciliation, had expressed keenness to settle the long-pending capital gains tax dispute.
'But unlike Bond who killed an individual, Israel is killing a nation.'
The RBI has this year cut interest rates by 110 basis points in four instalments but banks have passed only a part of it to borrowers. Before the last reduction earlier this month of 35 basis points, the bank on an average had passed only 29 basis points out of 75 basis points cut affected during 2019.
'The Israeli government is saying, "OK, leave northern Gaza, because we're going to fight Hamas there".' 'But Hamas is not stupid. They are going to put militants in southern Gaza too. And then what's Israel going to do?' 'At some point are they going to say, 'Leave southern Gaza too because we want to fight Hamas there? Go across the border to Egypt"'? 'That's what people are worried about. Because they fear that once they cross the border into Egypt there will be no coming back.'
'We went from zero to about 10 million users in three months. Paytm came out with the wallet play and we came out with the UPI play.'
The rupee weakened by 14 paise to close at a new lifetime low of 79.59 against the US dollar on Tuesday as a strong greenback overseas and persistent foreign fund outflows continued to weigh on investor sentiment. This comes a day after the RBI announced measures for international trade settlement in rupees. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened weak at 79.55 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 79.53 and a low of 79.66.
CBI and Enforcement Directorate are probing the huge remittances to Hong Kong from the bank.
The country's foreign exchange reserves surged by $58.38 billion in April-September 2021 to $635.36 billion, says an RBI report released on Wednesday. The forex reserves were at $576.98 billion at end-March 2021. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) publishes half-yearly reports on management of foreign exchange reserves.
Amid slowdown blues, the government has unveiled a raft of measures over the past few months aimed at improving liquidity in the system, moderating interest rates as well as credit growth apart from addressing stress in the NBFC sector.
'The purported claim that Israel can defeat Hamas and everything 'would go back to normal' is completely absurd.'
The 'Rating Level 4' means that the financial market regulators have all regulatory measures "fully in force"
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
Indian banks have started exploring opportunities in the space, including lending to crypto exchanges, and accepting bitcoins as collateral, among others.
Modi was honoured with the 'Order of Zayed', the UAE's highest civilian award, in 2019 as a mark of appreciation for his efforts to boost bilateral ties between the two nations.
