With rising disposable incomes in cities beyond metros, the penetration of credit cards - and consequently, credit card spending - is growing at a much faster pace than in traditional metro cities, primarily driven by e-commerce spending.
These are the highlights of the Union Budget 2025-26 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Saturday.
Recent documents by NITI Aayog and periodic labour force surveys on employment show that the importance of agriculture is rising in the Indian economy.
'I go to Salmanbhai every day before the shoot.' 'I write straight scenes, simple scenes. He will read them and add a little bit of spice.'
Commercial banks have turned cautious in lending to smaller microfinance institutions (MFIs), which has compelled the latter to borrow from non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) at much higher rates. Recently Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao slammed micro lenders for increasing their margins "disproportionately" and said these lenders were quick to pass on the increased cost to the borrowers but reluctant to pass on the benefits under the new regime, where margins are not capped.
The overdraft facility has been sanctioned in only 40,000 accounts
Mint Road, on December 21, 2023, flagged the role of self-regulatory organisations (SROs) in strengthening the compliance culture in regulated entities (REs) and providing a consultative platform for policymaking. It also decided to issue an omnibus framework for SROs.
'Our attempt to honour the taxpayer has been since 2014 and more actively since 2019-2020 onwards.'
The government is working to provide healthcare schemes to poor people under the Jan Dhan initiative.
Will allowing business correspondents to hawk insurance products help in reviving 5-lakh strong field agents as a viable channel?
Like Indira Gandhi, even Narendra Modi seems to be relying on directing public-sector banks through ministry of finance supported by party cadres, says Debashis Basu.
Inaugurating the Grameen Bharat Mahotsav, the Prime Minister exuded confidence that villages will play a key role in pushing forward the dream of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Replying to a question about women empowerment, Sitharaman insisted that patriarchy is a concept invented by the Left.
The Union Finance Ministry on Tuesday said that aggregate business of public sector banks (PSBs) has shown strong growth of 11 per cent in the first half of the financial year 2024-25 (H1FY25) to touch Rs 236 trillion. The operating and net profit were also robust. At Rs 1.5 trillion, operating profit grew by 14.4 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) while the net profit saw an impressive 25.6 per cent jump at Rs 85,520 crore in the first half of FY25.
There were concerns that simply opening a bank account wouldn't constitute meaningful financial inclusion, as the poor would rarely use these accounts. However, recent data submitted to Parliament attests to increased account usage, says Ishan Bakshi.
Fully know your customer-complaint Jan Dhan account holders will be allowed to withdraw Rs 10,000 per month from their account, while limited or Non KYC compliant account holders can withdraw Rs 5,000 per month.
Led by state-run banks, the system has opened over 5 crore (50 million) accounts under the Jan Dhan scheme as of September 25 and the deposits collected through the scheme have crossed Rs 3,500 crore, Financial Services Secretary GS Sandhu told the annual meeting of the Indo-American Chamber.
Swachch Bharat and Jan Dhan grabbed more eyeballs across clusters, regardless of party in power across states.
The two states account for 24% of total accounts opened under financial inclusion scheme.
More than 50 per cent of SIP accounts come from semi-urban and rural areas.
The Jan-Dhan accounts are zero balance accounts, comes with a life cover of Rs 30,000 per person, and an accidental cover of Rs 100,000. An active user of the account can also get overdraft facility of Rs 5,000 from banks.
The total balance in 255 million Jan Dhan accounts now stands at Rs 66,637 crore against Rs 45,637 crore on November 9.
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Private banks account for a total of 21.15 per cent in terms of advances in the overall banking system.
The CBDT has begun the process of matching the deposits in accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), or Jan-Dhan accounts, with the profile of the depositors.
In view of the "runaway success" of the scheme, now it has been decided to make it open-ended with more incentives
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred four non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), including two microfinance institutions (MFIs), from sanctioning and disbursing loans for charging exorbitant interest rates to the borrowers. These four entities are Asirvad Microfinance, Arohan Financial Services (also an MFI), DMI Finance, which provides personal, consumption, and micro, small and medium enterprises loans, and Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal's Navi Finserv, which offers home and personal loans. The ban will take effect on October 21 to "facilitate closure of transactions in the pipeline", the regulator said in a statement.
The announcement comes on the first anniversary of the project.
This week, as the I-T department scanned the deposits, reality hit them: Only a minuscule percentage of the Jan Dhan accounts had been used for money laundering.
Government's financial inclusion mission is well intentioned, but it may be putting a severe strain on the banking sector.
The music of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is well done, and seems to be exactly what the filmmaker ordered, writes Aelina Kapoor.
The RBI Governor had earlier cautioned the banks on the risks involved in just hunting for numbers, asking them not to compromise on core objectives of the programme.
Local people prevented the police from reaching the site immediately after the blast and it could have been done to shield the accused, said Thakur's lawyer, advocate JP Mishra.
'Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to strive to realise Gandhiji's dreams. His watchwords, truth and nonviolence, will continue to remain relevant for the whole world. He also taught us that rights and duties are but the two sides of the coin - indeed, the true source of rights is duty. Today we recall his lessons in compassion too - compassion not only for our human neighbours but also for our other neighbours, namely, flora and fauna, rivers and mountains.'
All Jan Dhan bank accounts should be linked to Aadhaar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday while asking bankers to speed up this process and redouble efforts on financial literacy.
An accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh is also given to all individuals who open a bank account under the Jan-Dhan Yojana.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
Discussions are on in government about how to make the process simpler for the poor and more cost-effective for telecom operators, says Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
Deposits in Jan Dhan account have more than doubled to Rs 87,000 crore in 45 days post demonetisation, prompting the tax department to "dissect" information relating to such deposits, a top government official said.
A packed beyond capacity bus carrying passengers returning to work after Diwali fell into a deep gorge in Uttarakhand's Almora district on Monday, killing at least 36 of the over 60 people on board.
Against National Democratic Alliance's 75 million target, United Progressive Alliance added 61 million in 2013-14.
