Union Home Minister Amit Shah took a dip at the Triveni Sangam in Mahakumbh Nagar on Monday and described the Maha Kumbh as a unique symbol of the Sanatan culture's philosophy, which is rooted in harmony.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday said the fiscal-monetary coordination was at its best during the last six years even as he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving the opportunity to head the monetary authority of the country. Das, in a series of posts on X, on his last day of his six-year term as RBI Governor, also thanked the Finance Minister, various stakeholders and his colleagues at the central bank.
US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs and a travel ban on Colombia after the South American nation refused to accept two American military planes deporting undocumented Colombians. The move comes after President Trump announced mass deportations of illegal immigrants and warned countries of consequences if they refuse to accept them. Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in a post on X, said that the US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals and denied the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into Colombian territory. Trump responded by imposing a 25% tariff on all goods coming into the US, a travel ban and immediate visa revocations on Colombian government officials, and visa sanctions on all party members, family members and supporters of the Colombian government. The US also announced enhanced customs and border protection inspections of all Colombian nationals and cargo on national security grounds. In retaliation, Colombia announced a 25% import tariff on American products.
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
India's Parliament is set to begin its Budget session on Friday, with opposition parties poised to demand a discussion on the alleged mismanagement of the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, where 30 pilgrims died in a stampede. The opposition also accused the government of politicising parliamentary committees and pushing its agenda through its majority. The session will start with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both houses of Parliament. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Saturday for the eighth consecutive time.
Arivandakshan's arrest is the first of a political person in the alleged scam in which several political functionaries of the CPM are under scanner, they said.
The agency filed its affidavit in response to Goyal's habeas corpus (produce the person) petition in which he claimed he was illegally arrested by the ED in the case.
A key accused in the infamous PMC bank scam of Maharashtra was caught in Bihar while trying to sneak into Nepal, an immigration official said here on Thursday.
PMC Bank depositors have spent the last one year holding protests, meeting politicians, writing to various authorities in an effort to get their hard-earned money back.
India is expected to be the top recipient of remittances in 2023 as inflows increase 12.4 per cent to $125 billion, said a World Bank report on Tuesday. Mexico will come next by receiving $67 billion and China will follow it at $50 billion. The key drivers for remittance growth in 2023 are a tight labour market in the United States, high employment growth in Europe reflecting extensive leveraging of worker retention programs, and a dampening of inflation in high-income countries. India's growth in remittances is expected to halve to 12.4 per cent in 2023 from a historic peak of 24.4 per cent in 2022.
'Clearly, the depositors of cooperative banks need the maximum protection.'
We the people are left in the wind, waiting on the whims of an unengaged president and an oligarch with a nearly bottomless wallet, observes Sree Sreenivasan.
India has served a formal notice to Pakistan seeking a review of the Indus Water Treaty, arguing that 'fundamental and unforeseen' changes in the circumstances require a reassessment of the pact.
The rift between the Congress Party and Nationalist Congress Party seems to have found a new battleground Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank.
Ace Aviation, which has been fighting Jet Airways for the acquisition of three Boeing B777 aircraft, said that it has acquired another aircraft for the conversion slot in early February 2025.
The decision by the Reserve Bank of India to introduce a unified regulatory framework on connected lending for all the regulated entities (RE) is expected to reduce the influence of business conglomerates in the Indian lending space, said bankers and experts. "Connected lending pertains to lending to related parties within the same business group. "While the RBI might appear more agreeable to allowing business conglomerates to own banking licenses, it deems it crucial to bolster regulations that would prevent conglomerate-owned banks from gaming the system," said Shivaji Thapliyal, head of research and lead analyst, YES Securities.
User protection and a proposal for a licensing framework for companies seeking to operate in the cryptocurrency area will be part of an upcoming consultation paper on the sector, said a senior industry executive. Even as specific regulations around crypto are yet to take shape, companies are setting up baseline user protection processes, including a redressal mechanism, fraud detection, regular filing of suspicious transaction reports (STRs), among others.
'Filing a nil ITR serves as a formal declaration to the tax authorities that your earnings fell below the taxable threshold in the given financial year, and you had no tax liability during that period.'
If the policy is extended to NBFCs and co-operative banks, they will have to disclose divergence in asset classification and provisioning during RBI inspections in their audited financial reports. Till now, these entities have been exempted from this. At present, there are more than 98,000 co-operative banks and 10,000 NBFCs. Sources said the RBI would concentrate on the top 50 co-operative banks and NBFCs.
In the aftermath of the PMC Bank mess which was in the RBI's highest rating of 'A' category, trustworthiness of these ratings may be up for a review.
The EOW stated in its closure report that it did not see any criminality or wrongdoing in the matter, adding that the bank in question did not suffer any losses in the process of sanctioning loans or selling the Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill.
Tokhan Sahu, a first-time member of Parliament and a surprise addition to Narendra Modi's new cabinet, has been active in politics for the past three decades, though he has maintained a low profile throughout his career.
The case pertains to an alleged scam in the Sahakari Sakhar Kharkhana (co-operative sugar factories) and Sahakari Soot Girnis.
The unidentified hackers had executed money transfers on two separate occasions - August 11 and August 13 - which raises the question of why pro-active measures were not taken on the first night itself
Property of Rs 3,500 crore belonging to the company was seized by the EOW, a police official said.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
With the latest relaxation on withdrawal, more than 84 per cent of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance, the RBI said.
The 16th Brics Summit beginning Tuesday in Kazan, Russia, is expected to see more focus on creating a sharper energy policy for Brics that ensures closer partnership among members in both energy security and energy transition, official sources said. The same is expected to be a part of the Kazan declaration, currently being negotiated, they added.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recognised the Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) as a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) in the fintech sector, the central bank announced on Wednesday. The banking regulator received three applications for fintech SRO. Of the remaining two applications, one has been returned by the RBI with a provision for resubmission after meeting specific requirements, while the third application is still under examination, said Governor Shaktikanta Das at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendment to the DICGC Act to provide account holders access to up to Rs 5 lakh funds within 90 days of a bank coming under moratorium to ensure timely support to depositors. Last year, the government raised insurance cover on deposit five-folds to Rs 5 lakh to provide support to depositors of ailing lenders like Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank. Following the collapse of PMC Bank, Yes Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank too came under stress, leading to restructuring by the regulator and the government.
Oracle introduced on Thursday complete and affordable IT solutions for the cooperative banks in the country.
'What is critical today in India is confidence of depositors.' 'If you have these kinds of problems spreading like this, the confidence level of a lot of people in the system gets shaken.'
'The impact of CBDC on deposits and deposit insurance is largely unknown.'
In mid-March this year, the finance ministry asked state-run banks to review their gold loan portfolio for the two-year period between January 1, 2022, and January 31, 2024. This business had grown at a fast clip. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data has it that it grew 15 per cent to Rs 1 trillion in FY24. Now, in recent times, any kind of exuberance in financial services has seen the authorities swoop down - be it pushing the lines on governance or unsecured credit.
For the cooperation ministry, the government made a total budget outlay of Rs 1,150.38 crore for 2023-24, lower than the revised estimate of Rs 1,624.74 crore for 2022-23.
However, the RBI declined to share details of action being taken on these fraud cases saying "it is not readily available".
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Union Budget strikes a fine balance between growth, employment, and fiscal consolidation, and promotes cooperative federalism. Replying to the discussion on the Union Budget 2024-25 and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Budget in Rajya Sabha, the minister said the government is on track to achieve the pre-announced fiscal deficit target of 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. Sitharaman, also a former defence minister, said the Agniveer Scheme to recruit people in the age group of 17.5 to 21 years, is aimed at keeping the armed forces fit, young and battle-ready.
The Tata Group is one of the very few Indian MNCs which has carved out a niche in China's highly competitive market, notes Rup Narayan Das.
The Reserve Bank on Friday extended the regulatory restrictions on Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank by another six months till December 2021 to enable the completion of its takeover by Centrum Financial Services. Paving the way for takeover of the crisis-ridden bank, the RBI had earlier in the month granted in-principle approval to Centrum Financial Services to set up a small finance bank (SFB). "Taking into account the time required for completion of various activities involved in the process...the validity of the ...Directive dated September 23, 2019, as modified from time to time, has been extended for a further period from July 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021, subject to review," the RBI said in a notification.
According to the Trends and Progress Report of the RBI, 98 per cent of frauds in terms of value were related to loans, and their occurrence was spread over several previous years.