New players show up after 3 years; northern states take lead in loan growth.
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.
'Other sectors that manage the savings pools of Indians are giving tough competition to life insurance companies.'
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.
UPI has catapulted India into the forefront on the global digital payments landscape. Working hand in hand, the AePS payments system is making life easy for rural folks, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
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.
Industry fears waiver of interest on interest would distort credit culture, may encourage borrowers who can pay to defer repayment.
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.
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) reported a 25 per cent rise in net profit attributable to the owners of the company for the January-March quarter of 2024-25, owing to higher revenues and an exceptional gain. For the quarter under review, L&T posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,497.3 crore, while revenue rose 10.9 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 74,392.28 crore.
With the mantras 'Explore, Dream, Discover,' the 17th edition of the three-day Network of Indian Professionals in North America (NetIP) conference to be held in Boston offers to the 800 participants opportunities to hear industry leaders and stalwart professors, including Gururaj 'Desh' Deshpande of Sycamore Networks; Tarun Khanna, professor at Harvard University Business School; and Vikram Akula of SKS Microfinance.
'We need to be far more careful given the fact that while this is group lending, it's essentially unsecured.'
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
From zeroing in on the best means for stake dilution to moving beyond microfinance, Bandhan navigates a tough path. Namrata Acharya reports.
'India has formed tremendous resilience and still a strong growth.'
Industry experts estimate that demand for loans from the sector outstrips supply by more than $80 billion.
The company is set to be India's first microlender to become a bank
One of the factors behind the rise in securitisation deals was State Bank of India's (SBI) decision to buy portfolio worth Rs 45,000 crore from NBFCs
MUDRA bank will help microfinancing firms to lend more.
A vast majority of borrowers are in the essential services' supply chain with tiny and micro businesses, and this has sprung back.
A bunch of CEOs in their mid-30s and early 40s are trying to rectify the scenario where shady lending applications trap hapless borrowers with astronomically high interest rates and even bodily harm if the money was repaid. Anup Roy reports.
The niche banks - small finance and payments banks -have been set up to further the regulator's objective of deepening financial inclusion.
While the total disbursement of housing loans by PSBs as well as HFCs witnessed a deceleration in 2016-17, there was significant growth for the lower slabs
Tamal Bandyopadhyay offers some unsolicited advice for a government wh,ich came to power, with brute majority and the nation's pragmatic chief money man.
Rose Valley is one of the biggest money businesses after Sahara.
India Inc has few leaders who are likely to grab headlines in 2015.
