United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions, has given a call for a two-day strike from March 15 to protest against the proposed privatisation of two state-owned lenders. In the Union Budget presented last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) as part of its disinvestment plan. The government has already privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority stake in the lender to LIC in 2019 and merged 14 public sector banks in the last four years.
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.
Fresh plans of privatisation or divestment in central public sector enterprises and public sector banks might take a back seat this financial year because these may require a large consensus among coalition partners.
A host of lenders, including State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Indian Bank and Andhra Bank, have lined up meetings of their asset-liability committees this week, to review their lending and deposit rates.
Services such as deposits and withdrawal at branches, cheque clearance and loan approvals would be affected due to the strike.
'The snakes and ladders game will continue till the consolidation process is complete simply because we don't know how bad the scene is, with some of the banks being merged,' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Bankers made this demand at a meeting with RBI Governor Y V Reddy, ahead of the 2007-8 monetary policy announcement on April 24.
State Bank of India and IDBI Bank have decided not to go to the IIMs this year.
Fuelled by the $57.8-billion merger of HDFC twins (HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank), M&A (merger and acquisition) transactions in India touched a record high of $124.2 billion in the first half of 2022-23. Bankers said with several transactions, including the government's stake sale in IDBI Bank and Hindustan Zinc in the pipeline, the ongoing financial year will end up as the best year for M&A activity in the country. Apart from the HDFC transaction, the $6.5-billion acquisition of Holcim stake by the Adani family and L&T's $3.2-billion acquisition of Mindtree added to the record transactions in the first half of FY23.
A lower risk appetite among investors has driven gold, traditionally a safe-haven asset, to record highs so far this year. Fuelled by geopolitical tensions in West Asia, robust demand from central banks - particularly in Asia - and US President Donald Trump's tariff volleys, spot gold touched an all-time high of $2,956 per ounce on February 24 in the international markets.
Merely bringing down the government stake below 51% may not find any taker for the PSBs. The government must bring down its holding to at least 26%, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The government will soon come up with detailed guidelines for private banks including hike in the foreign holding from 49 to 74 per cent and allowing foreign banks to set up subsidiaries in the country.
Ahead of the Budget, the government has achieved almost half the divestment target of Rs 65,000 crore. FY23 divestment receipts are unlikely to be anywhere close to the budgeted target.
The Reserve Bank of India is unlikely to sanction higher capital market exposure limits to banks which are closer to reaching the regulatory ceiling.
The parliamentary standing committee on finance on Thursday approved the repeal of IDBI Act, paving the way for conversion of Industrial Development Bank of India into a bank.
Mallya, once known as the "King of Good Times" for his flamboyant lifestyle, has until Friday to appear before an IDBI committee to explain why he should not be declared a "wilful defaulter".
Sources say given the complexity involved in the process of creating a holding company, which will ultimately be the parent company of banking and other businesses, banks are going slow in acquiring stakes in insurance arms or mutual funds of other lenders.
Since 2014, the public sector banks' branch network in rural and semi urban has grown by a mere 4,000 while for private sector banks, it doubled from 9,673 to 18,437.
IDBI has increased the interest rate on Non-Resident External and Foreign Currency Non-Resident fixed deposit for various maturities with effect from November 1, 2005.
Employees of public sector banks (PSBs) on Thursday went on two-day strike against the move to privatise public sector banks impacting normal banking operation across the country. Many branches across different parts of the country were shut as the United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) had given two day strike call. As a result, services such as deposits and withdrawal at branches, cheque clearance and loan approvals might be affected due to the strike. But ATMs are expected to function as usual.
If the banks throw caution to the winds for building loan books, the hydra-headed bad loans may resurface and spoil the party, warns Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Kingfisher Airlines owed Indian banks Rs 7,000 crore as of January.
PSB may get its first non-Sikh at the helm, vigilance clearances are awaited.
The six banks that have joined the major league are Syndicate Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, IDBI Bank and Allahabad Bank.
Move to help India Inc access funds in the absence of foreign funds.
The charge sheet has now paved way for the CBI to approach authorities in the UK for deportation of Mallya.
Analysts were expecting the government to propose higher capital infusion for banks.
Nationalisation has served its purpose. It's time to move ahead, keeping majority ownership of the government in a few banks to serve the people, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday allowed the merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and Culver Max Entertainment (earlier known as Sony Pictures Networks India). This order by the Mumbai bench, headed by H V Subba Rao and Madhu Sinha, will pave the way for the creation of a $10-billion media company, the biggest in the country. The tribunal also dismissed all objections regarding the merger.
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