Global rating agency Fitch has upgraded its support ratings for several Indian banks, including ICICI Bank, HDFC, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India and IDBI among others.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the country needs big and world-class banks, and discussions are on with the Reserve Bank and lenders in this regard.
Out of the 12 executive directors announced on Wednesday, five will fill vacancies with immediate effect, while the remaining will be promoted as and when posts are vacant.
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 two Indian banks will make available their combined network of 3,600 branches and a customer base of 40 million.
The cases pertain to State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra and Bank of India.
Moody's has revised to positive the outlook on the long- term ratings of private sector lenders
Rating agency Moody's has placed 13 Indian banks, including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Punjab National Bank, on watch for possible downgrade under a global review of systemic support available for the banking sector.
The public-sector lenders were yet to get a formal proposal on sale from HSBC.
Banking PSU stocks made a brave comeback on Monday after succumbing to losses Friday following the Union Budget's ignoring a long-standing demand by the sector on FDI limits.
After upgrading India's foreign currency debt rating, Moody's Investor Service on Wednesday upgraded the foreign currency deposit, debt and issuer ratings for 11 Indian banks and financial institutions.
In the biggest consolidation exercise in the banking space, the government on Friday announced four major mergers of public sector banks, bringing down their total number to 12 from 27 in 2017, a move aimed at making state-owned lenders global sized banks.
Bank stocks took a hammering today as the Centre said it was not in its policy to take back its equity from public sector banks at par value.
As per the mega consolidation plan, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India will merge into Punjab National Bank (PNB); Syndicate Bank into Canara Bank; Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India; and Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank. Following this merger, PNB will become second largest after the SBI, Canara Bank fourth, Union Bank of India fifth and Indian Bank seventh biggest public sector lender.
The Reserve Bank has asked the public to pay their income tax dues well in advance so as to avoid standing in long queues and stated that 29 agency banks are also authorised to accept such payments.
The move to make the appointment process more robust comes after last month's arrest of S K Jain, chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank last month, over graft charges.
The candidate will be expected to have at least two to three years of remaining service.
The probe into selections for banks such as Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank followed the arrest of Syndicate Bank CMD S K Jain for alleged graft.
For the first time, PSU banks will have a non-executive chairman, giving operational responsibility to managing director and chief executive officer.
The finance minister was speaking after launching the maiden IDF scheme of IIFCL Mutual Fund in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Banks are also weighing the option of hiring experts for help in specialised areas.
Bank unions - officers and workmen - had buried their differences and sat across the table on August 29 to work out a fresh deal with the IBA involving a 20 per cent wage hike.
All transfers and promotions for next financial year will be decided by respective banks, not by the merged entity.
Govt renews search for five PSU bank chiefs; norms relaxed.
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After scrapping the selection of six UPA-appointed bank chiefs, the government has now decided to make significant changes to the selection process.
The finance ministry on Wednesday allowed all private sector banks to participate in government-related business, like collection of taxes. pension payments and small savings schemes. At the moment, only few large private sector are allowed to conduct government-related business.
Finance secretary Rajiv Kumar was positive in formation of a committee consisting all concerned to address the issues arising out of the proposed merger of 10 banks including preserving the identity of all the banks.
Amendments would be required in the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 for privatisation, sources said.
The post of chairman and managing director has been split and the government has appointed managing directors and chief executive officers in four banks -- Indian Overseas Bank, United Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Vijaya Bank.
The country's largest lender State Bank of India will get the largest sum of Rs 8,800 crore as government's capital infusion.
'Investors should not commit fresh money to these stocks right now, unless they can hold for the next three to four years.'
Among other demands, the unions are also seeking immediate introduction of five-day week in full and reduction of cash transaction hours and regulated working hours.
Business is down to such an extent that last year these firms could not even meet RBI's capital norm of Rs 50 million for partnerships and Rs 100 million for public and private firms in this line of business.
Addressing the 74th Annual General Meeting of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA), she said the industry needs to imagine how Indian banking has to be in the immediate and long-term future. As far as the long-term future is concerned, she said it is going to be largely driven by digitised processes and there is a need for seamless and interconnected digital systems for a sustainable future for the Indian banking industry.
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The penalty was levied in connection with deficiencies and lapses in the operation and maintenance of the currency chest at the Secunderabad branch of SBI, it said. Last month, the RBI had imposed a penalty of Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) on SBI for violating know your customer/anti-money laundering norms.
As per norms, sanction for prosecution of government employees accused of corruption has to be given within four months' stipulated time.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative from positive
