The Indian economy is growing at a robust pace, driven by strong domestic demand, low inflation, and the healthy balance sheets of banks, said a Reserve Bank report released on Wednesday.
Governments should move away from universal subsidies towards tightly targeted transfers, backed by stricter eligibility norms, sunset clauses and periodic audits to curb leakages and improve spending efficiency, a joint study by Asian Development Bank and PwC has recommended.
The most common mistake is investing without assessing suitability and long-term implications.
The IMF's Financial System Stability Assessment Update said India had improved its supervision and regulations in the 20 years since it started liberalising its economy and that its financial system fared well in the global financial crisis.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in no rush to launch the central bank digital currency (CBDC) nationwide, as its most promising use case - cross-border payments - depends on other countries rolling out their own CBDCs simultaneously for the system to work effectively. That said, the CBDC pilot is progressing well, with the user base in India expanding to about seven million, said RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar.
Indian regulators have identified certain groups as 'financial conglomerates' and they are being monitored closely for any systemic risks they may pose.
The convergence of artificial intelligence, evolving labour regulations and rising employee expectations will redefine how organisations manage pay, people and performance in the coming year, a report says.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its Financial Stability Report (FSR), cautioned that stress tests indicate two scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) may have to dip into their capital conservation buffers (CCBs), unless stakeholders infuse capital, under a scenario involving a gradual slowdown in domestic GDP growth and a moderate rise in inflation, with limited policy easing space available to the central bank.
'Some success has been achieved in raising the costs of terrorism for Pakistan.'
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) faces around 170 million cyberattacks daily, requiring a dedicated team of "cyber warriors" to work around the clock to ensure uninterrupted operations. The NSE recorded its highest-ever 40 crore (400 million) cyberattacks in a single day during 'Operation Sindoor', designed as a DDoS simulation. However, attackers failed to cause any damage due to the coordinated efforts of men, machines, and advanced technology.
At an estimated 1.9 billion in losses and over 5,000 UK organisations affected, the Jaguar Land Rover cyberattack has been labelled the most economically damaging cyber incident in UK history, exposing the deep vulnerability of interconnected supply chains.
Mint Road's proposals on banks' M&A funding are cautious even as entrants root for more elbow room, and weigh business models.
The areas for improvement include greater de jure independence of regulatory agencies, consolidated supervision of financial conglomerates and reductions in the large exposures and related-party lending limits in banks.
'Saudi-Pak defence pact is to anchor the defence and security of Saudi Arabia and not Pakistan, per se, with Islamabad being the junior partner.'
The Reserve Bank on Monday said asset quality of banks improved further and their gross non-performing assets (GNPA) or bad loans ratio declined to a 12-year low of 2.6 per cent in September 2024 on the back of falling slippages and steady credit demand. The RBI also flagged concern over a sharp rise in write-offs, especially among private sector banks (PVBs), which could be partly masking worsening asset quality in unsecured lending segment and dilution in underwriting standards.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced the increase of the UPI Lite wallet limit to Rs 5,000 and per-transaction limit to Rs 1,000, in order to encourage wider adoption of the popular instant payment system through mobile phones. A limit of Rs 500 per transaction and an overall limit of Rs 2,000 per UPI Lite wallet, is presently applicable, with the facility of auto-replenishment. Unveiling the October bi-monthly monetary policy, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das also said the per-transaction limit in UPI123Pay will be enhanced to Rs 10,000 from the current Rs 5,000.
India's bank credit remains resilient and is showing no signs of systematic risk, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Michael Patra said on Monday. A copy of the speech was uploaded on the RBI website on Thursday. "Bank credit is monitored as a lead indicator of overheating. Our assessment, based on a menu of approaches, indicates that current rates of credit expansion are not pointing to systemic stress building up. Illustratively, the credit gap - the difference between the credit to GDP ratio and its trend - is currently negative," said Patra, while delivering a speech in Cambodia.
The bad assets or gross NPAs of commercial banks fell to a 12-year low of 2.8 per cent in March 2024 and may go down further to 2.5 per cent by the end of the current fiscal, said the RBI's Financial Stability Report (FSR) released on Thursday. Scheduled Commercial Banks' (SCBs) gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio fell to 2.8 per cent, and the net non-performing assets (NNPA) ratio to 0.6 per cent at the end of March 2024. "The asset quality of SCBs recorded sustained improvement, and their GNPA ratio moderated to a 12-year low in March 2024. Their NNPA ratio too improved to a record low," said the June FSR.
'BSE has facilitated nearly Rs 35 trillion in capital raising across multiple segments.'
Payouts to key management personnel in non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are under the banking regulator's scrutiny. Top industry officials said this is a follow-through on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) circular of April 29, 2022, which asked NBFCs in the "middle" and "upper" layer of its four-tiered scale-based regulatory (SBR) framework to put in place a board-approved compensation policy.
India's banking system is stable and can withstand global shocks, but there are weak spots like decelerating growth and rising fiscal deficit which need to be addressed, said a Reserve Bank report.
'The intensity and frequency of heatwaves will be much higher than in previous years over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.'
The finance minister, in her Budget speech, should focus more on what she is directly responsible for, rather than on programmes where her role is largely supportive, notes Nitin Desai.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sought granular data from select non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) on their loan book growth. The details sought are on the outstanding product-wise portfolio and the annualised interest charged on them. The annualised interest slabs mentioned are as follows: less than 10 per cent, 10-20 per cent, 20-30 per cent, 30-40 per cent, 40-50 per cent, and above 50 per cent.
The RBI is fully aware that the high-cost loans and high indebtedness of the borrowers could pose financial stability risks, if not addressed by these NBFCs. Governor Shaktikanta Das has issued a stern warning, saying the RBI is closely monitoring these areas and will not hesitate to take appropriate action, if necessary, if the culprits don't opt for self-correction. Watch out for some action, soon, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The finance ministry has put out a revised draft in public domain.
Moody's Investors Service on Friday affirmed India's rating at the lowest investment grade of 'Baa3', with a stable outlook, saying high growth will support a gradual increase in income levels, but flagged risks of populist policies due to rise in political tensions. Moody's said although India's potential growth has come down in the past 7-10 years, the growth would outpace all other G20 economies through at least the next two years, driven by domestic demand. Moody's said the restoration of robust growth prospects post-pandemic, the effective commitment to inflation targeting and the rehabilitation of the financial system aided by reform supports its view of strengthening monetary and macro policy effectiveness.
There is a need to mainstream green finance and devise ways for incorporating environment impact into commercial lending decisions, RBI Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao has said. Addressing climate risk in the financial sector should be the joint responsibility of stakeholders as it would affect the resilience of the financial system in the long run, he said. Rao made these comments while speaking at the CAFRAL Virtual Conference on Green and Sustainable Finance, recently.
Senior bankers point out that while they will eventually attract qualified professionals, onboarding them takes time.
The cryptocurrency industry on Wednesday urged the government to take a nuanced approach towards regulating crypto assets in India and asked investors in the country to remain calm and not arrive at a rushed conclusion, a day after the government listed for introduction a Bill to ban all such cryptocurrencies, with some exceptions.
India's economy continues to be robust, but downside risks such as rising crude oil prices, adverse weather conditions, and the global banking crisis outweigh the upside potential in gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the current financial year (FY24), the finance ministry said on Tuesday in its Monthly Economic Review for March. "We reiterate that downside risks to our official forecast of 6.5 per cent for real GDP growth in FY24 dominate upside risks," the review said. "Opec's surprise production cut has seen oil prices rise in April, off their lows of low-seventies per barrel in March.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
As the number of students seeking higher education abroad continues to rise, several countries are implementing new rules. Gaurav Batra, CEO and founder of Infinite Group highlights how these changes will impact Indians who are planning to study abroad.
Why is the RBI harsh on Paytm Payments Bank? Why did it give Rana Kapoor of Yes Bank Ltd such a long rope?Often, it's a long investigation process, but the RBI doesn't discuss this openly since that can threaten financial sector stability, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The challenge for the RBI in 2024 is likely to be less about containing elevated inflation and more about curbing excessive financial market exuberance and a 'problem of plenty', notes Sajjid Chinoy, Chief India Economist JP Morgan.
Analysts expect the indices to dip further if the global macros do not stabilise
For 2021-22, it projected the economy to clock a growth of 10.6 per cent.
Emphasising the importance of sustaining food and energy security, the G20 leaders called for the "cessation of military destruction or other attacks on relevant infrastructure".
'The solution is to enable a graceful transfer of the deposit and funding 'franchise' from capital-deficient firms to capital-surplus firms.' 'This will expand credit intermediation, bring down its costs, and put the financial sector on a definite path of recovery,' argues former RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya.
Traditionally, financial institutions have operated risk functions in silos. However, the nature of unknown threats today requires industry participants to work together, says Vikram Limaye.