The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions, on Tuesday gave 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 week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman 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.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 48 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the relentless heat affecting health and livelihoods across large parts of northwestern and central India.
All the 27 public sector banks together have market share of about 70 per cent.
Applying for a loan? Your religion will soon be a deciding factor!
"When it comes to the Canadian matter, we have made clear that the allegations are extremely serious and they need to be taken seriously. We wanted to see the government of India cooperate with Canada in its investigation. Obviously, they have not chosen that path," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news conference.
Services such as deposits and withdrawal at branches, cheque clearance and loan approvals would be affected due to the strike.
"From the beginning, as of last summer, we've worked closely with our Five Eyes partners, particularly with the United States, where they have gone through a similar pattern of behaviour from India in regards to an attempted extrajudicial killing," Trudeau told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa.
Foreign investors continued their relentless selling in the Indian equity markets in August, offloading shares worth Rs 21,201 crore due to the unwinding of the yen carry trade, recession fears in the US and ongoing geopolitical conflicts. This came after an inflow of Rs 32,365 crore in July and Rs 26,565 crore in June, data with the depositories showed.
The RBI has been tightening key benchmark rates since November last year as the country started recovering from the impact of the global economic slowdown.
India SME Forum, an organisation for small and medium businesses, has called for creating a dedicated fund of Rs 5000 crore for the export capacity development, promotion, and marketing of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in its Budget recommendation. The forum for MSMEs with over 98,000 members said that to enhance India's global competitiveness and increase its market share in global exports, it was "crucial to increase the number of active exporters and enable at least 3-4 lakh first-time micro, small, and medium exporters while supporting them in promoting Indian products globally."
Key changes are expected in vehicle repossession norms to ease the process for banks to take back cars and two-wheelers from owners that default on loan repayments.
Consolidation will help banks derive economies of scale, but integration will not be easy.
US short seller Hindenburg Research, which had rocked the Adani Group with allegations of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud, on Tuesday said it has received a show cause notice from Indian capital market regulator Sebi over alleged violations in placing bets on the conglomerate stocks. Hindenburg termed the show cause notice as "nonsense" and "concocted to serve a pre-ordained purpose: an attempt to silence and intimidate those who expose corruption and fraud perpetrated by the most powerful individuals in India."
Unions claimed that about 10 lakh staff and officers of public sector banks and some private sector banks are participating in the strike.
'India's top companies currently lack the organisational wherewithal to hire and train 2 million interns annually, given their current scale of operations and existing employee base.'
Goa Cricket Association president Chetan Dessai, secretary Vinod Phadke and treasurer Akbar Mulla were today arrested by police for alleged misappropriation of over Rs three crore belonging to the organisation.
The Indian Banks Association has suggested certain alternative proposals on pension after meeting the representatives of United Forum of Bank Unions, general secretary of the All India Bank Officers' Association R J Sridharan said.
Tax shortfall: Finmin asks banks to deposit March TDS by month end.
Billionaire banker Uday Kotak founded bank as well as brokerage created and oversaw an offshore fund used by an unnamed investor to profit from a plunge in Adani shares that followed a damning Hindenburg report, the US short seller said on Tuesday. Hindenburg Research, which had in a January 2023 report alleged stock market manipulations and accounting fraud at the Adani group, said it has received a show cause notice from the Indian markets regulator Sebi over gains made from betting on the conglomerate's shares.
Borrowers wanting to prepay home loans can look forward to some relief as RBI on Tuesday indicated that it would scrap prepayment penalties charged by banks.
The move will help curb card frauds. Currently, customers use only personal identification number for automated teller machine transactions.
At 3.5 per cent per annum, interest on savings accounts is the only regulated rate in the banking system currently and a highly contentious one given its impact on the common man.
India's thriving mutual fund (MF) industry is drawing interest from several firms, with multiple applications submitted to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for asset management company (AMC) licences.
As their non-performing assets have risen sharply even as loans have remained stagnant, RBI steps in with stringent loan-management measures.
Indian start-ups raised issues, such as blockages in international wire transfers, disruptions due to threshold limits on withdrawals, lack of communication from US agencies, and the need for preferential access to credit, in a meeting with the government over the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, held a virtual meeting with over 450 members from start-ups, venture capitalists, and investors who have been directly affected by the closure of SVB. He assured them that the IT ministry would put together a list of suggestions and give it to the finance minister on behalf of start-ups.
He could have blazed a trail that few Indian judges had. It was a missed opportunity of a lifetime, notes Ramesh Menon.
The value of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) in Indian equities was at $542 billion in the March quarter of 2023, a decline of 11 per cent from the preceding year, largely due to the exodus of foreign money from the domestic market, according to a Morningstar report. In comparison, the value of FPI in Indian equities was $612 billion in the January-March quarter of 2022. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the value of FPI in Indian equities fell by 7 per cent from $584 billion recorded in the three months ended December 2022.
But there are challenges, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Banks Board Bureau chief Vinod Rai has proposed performance-linked incentives for bank employees, but the staff unions are dead against the idea.
Unlike the new private sector lenders, BoR employees' wages are still governed by the industry wage package negotiated by the Indian Banks Association with bank staff unions.
The decision, the Reserve Bank of India said, "is expected to revolutionise the retail payments system of the country".
The unions have called for a strike against proposed closure of associate banks and their merger with the State Bank of India
Shifting to floating rate deposits can work as an anaesthetic gel for some customers, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Bad loans of PSU banks rose by 28.5 per cent.
Lenders say settlements will cross over 100 accounts in the March quarter.
The current wage revision for PSBs, as well as some private lenders, is due from November 2017 for five years - up to October 2022.
The AISBOF wants bank employees' wage revision in parity with that of the Indian Administrative Services officers. Last month, the IBA had given an initial offer of 10 per cent wage hike, or a package which would cost the industry Rs 2,750 crore (Rs 27.5 billion), against Rs 2,220 crore (Rs 22.2 billion) in the eighth bipartite meeting between bank unions and IBA.
All banks are eligible for privatisation. A committee of secretaries will decide which banks will be privatised, says Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda.
The apex bank is scheduled to announce the quarterly review of its annual monetary policy on January 29, when it is widely expected to hike the cash reserve ratio or the percentage of amount banks park with the RBI to absorb excess money from the system.
