Public sector banks on Monday announced that home loans up to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000) would be given at a maximum interest rate of 8.5 per cent, while those between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 20 lakh (Rs 500,000 and Rs 2 million) would be offered at 9.25 per cent.
The health of Indian banks continued to improve in 2021-22 with their balance sheet growing at double digits after a gap of seven years and their asset quality and capital position bettering, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its annual report on trend and progress of banking in India. At the same time, the banking regulator flagged the issue of slippages from restructured accounts. "Going forward, it is imperative that banks ensure due diligence and robust credit appraisal to limit credit risk," the report said.
The Delhi Commission for Women has issued a notice to Indian Bank seeking withdrawal of its new recruitment guidelines which prevents a woman, who is three or more months pregnant, from joining service.
Six nationalised banks, including Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda, on Wednesday signed an agreement with Indian Railways for setting up more than 700 ATMs at railway stations across the country.
Operating margins have been the primary driver of corporate earnings in India in recent quarters, despite revenue growth suffering from weak consumer demand. Companies across sectors have reported a sharp improvement in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margins over the past two years, benefiting from lower commodity and energy prices. Higher margins more than compensated for slower revenue growth, resulting in double-digit growth in net profit for five consecutive quarters.
The Indian financial system's asset quality improved despite the pandemic, but it could be due to special dispensations by the regulator, and banks would likely see increased stress on their books once the schemes expire. According to the annual trend and progress report of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released on Tuesday, the data available for this financial year so far indicate that banks' bad debts have moderated while provision coverage ratios (PCRs), capital buffers as well as profitability indicators have improved relative to pre-pandemic levels.
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
The decisions come within 24 hours of the home loan package offered by public sector banks. Chennai-based Indian Bank reduced interest rates of domestic term deposits of Rs 1-5 crore (Rs 10-50 million) by 150-25 basis points across various maturities.
Never before has the need for creating an ambience for economic policy reforms been as critical as it is now, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The country has come a long way in the process of financial inclusion, Raghuram Rajan said, but "still has a way to go".
It won't be easy for the banking sector to better its performance every quarter, predicts Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
After a hiatus of nearly two decades, the government's programme to privatise state-owned firms restarted with the handing over of debt-laden national carrier Air India to the Tata Group. With the new owner shelling out Rs 18,000 crore for the buyout of the 'Maharaja', this would be the highest-ever amount garnered through privatisation, and is even more than the cumulative sum mopped up through strategic sales from 1999-00 to 2003-04. The government had in October last year inked the share purchase agreement with the Tata Group for sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Tatas would pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) move to ban Mastercard from issuing new cards for not complying with the local data storage guidelines may hit five private banks, a non-bank lender, and a major card-issuing company. The impact is expected to be felt for a few months as these players transition to other card networks. According to Nomura Research, RBL Bank, YES Bank, and Bajaj Finserv are the ones most impacted by the ban as all their credit card schemes are allied to Mastercard. Among others, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank have 35-40 per cent of their credit card schemes tied to Mastercard, the report said.
'The race is now on for Indian IT firms to develop their AI prowess and focus on a software-first approach to services as the people element becomes more complicated with Trump's expected new regulations.'
Gross non-performing assets of public sector banks surged to 9.32 per cent (Rs 4.76 lakh crore) of advances in 2015-16, from 5.43 per cent (Rs 2.67 lakh crore) in 2014-15.
India-Turkiye ties are strained over Ankara's Islamabad tilt, its arms links with Pakistan, and fallout from the Pahalgam terror attack.
The evolving RBI-government relationship, a reversal in the interest rate cycle and return to profitability will dominate bankers' conversation this year, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Reflecting strong momentum in business, commercial banks, including one public sector lender, reported a year-on-year (YoY) growth in advances. This was higher than or around the banking sector trend in the first quarter ended June 2023. Bank of Maharashtra said its loans expanded by 25 per cent YoY to Rs 1.75 trillion. This pace was much higher than the banking system's 15.4 per cent growth till June 16, 2023, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
The rally in PSBs, analysts feel, was more a knee-jerk reaction to the development, and the actual benefits will start to accrue once the addition takes place in 2024. "The actual benefit for banks from the inclusion in JP Morgan's EM Index will accrue from June 2024 onwards. "Until then, the larger fundamentals of the market will dictate the moves. "Once the initial euphoria subsides, bond markets will look to global cues which may trigger fresh selling," said Siddharth Khemka, head of retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
The rally in the equity markets in the second half of 2023 has led to a sharp surge in the cutoff for stocks to qualify as largecaps and midcaps. On the latest list put out by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), the smallest largecap stock now has a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 67,000 crore, 35 per cent higher than in July 2023. In the case of midcaps, the cutoff has surged 26 per cent to Rs 22,000 crore.
'They have since only tried to improve systems. Also, with regulatory guidance from time to time, we are in a position to assess a situation and react in time.'
Owing to the risk perception attached with the segment by banks, the residential realty segment has been increasingly relying on non-banking financial companies and housing finance companies to raise debt financing, reports Abhijit Lele.
Given that it is only a temporary breather for PSBs, the government now needs to look at the harder options.
Public sector banks have asked the Centre to intervene as talks with bank unions for allowing half of their employees a second chance to opt for pension instead of provident fund have reached a deadlock.
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.
Banks may approach the government to further strengthen the Securitisation Act, which apparently got diluted with the waiver of a provision requiring defaulters to deposit 75 per cent of the loan
The finance minister said easy access and efficiency in providing banking services will help in revival of businesses which are restarting operations after the lockdown.
The finance ministry is considering amending the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, which governs public-sector banks (PSBs), to make suitable provisions for allowing PSBs to transfer shares to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) when dividends of such shares remain unclaimed by the investors for seven consecutive years. "While Section 10B of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, allows the transfer of unclaimed dividends to the IEPF, it, however, does not mention a provision for transferring unclaimed shares and may now be amended by the next government to allow such transfers to happen," said a person familiar with the matter.
PSBs dominate India's banking system, meaning any failure could jeopardise financial stability, as such, we expect government support will remain forthcoming, said Moody's.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slapped 11 new conditions on Pakistan for the release of the next tranche of its bailout programme and warned that tensions with India could heighten risks to the scheme's fiscal, external, and reform goals, according to a media report on Sunday.
Kamal has a crisp pen when it comes to writing short and yet powerful film dialogues. But while speaking ex tempore -- and that has been his style -- he looks every bit a confused man, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The finance minister chaired a meeting through video conference with major private banks and NBFCs to ensure effective rollout of ECLGS and uninterrupted liquidity to Indian MSMEs in this difficult time.
Why did the company zero in on RBL Bank to understand the business of banking? While the M&M investors heaved a sigh of relief, one gentleman must have been all smiles after this, RBL Bank MD and CEO R Subramaniakumar, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
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.
