The NPAs of banks stood at over Rs 3 lakh crore as on December 2014.
'The Reserve Bank's independence has remained a work in progress, an enduring challenge that the nation has been grappling with on an ongoing basis,' says RBI Deputy Governor Dr Viral Acharya.
Capital markets are becoming more prominent in India's growth story, with an expanding share in capital formation and investment landscape on the back of technology, innovation and digitisation, according to the Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday. Further, Indian markets are resilient to global geo-political and economic shocks, it added. "Despite heightened geo-political risks, rising interest rates and volatile commodity prices, Indian capital markets have been one of the best performing among emerging markets in FY24," the Economic Survey said.
On November 12, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to ring in uniformity in asset classification and income recognition across all lending institutions. Shadow banks, or non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), like commercial banks, are to test non-performing assets (NPAs) on a daily basis and upgrade them to "standard assets" only when interest and principal arrears are settled by borrowers. This is going to create all manner of headaches for shadow banks and their clientele. Says Y S Chakravarti, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), Shriram City Union Finance: "NPA levels will go up, especially of small borrowers.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
Among the Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, JSW Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Nestle were the major laggards. Maruti, Power Grid, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, NTPC, HDFC Bank, ITC and IndusInd Bank were the gainers.
Shelar demanded that Desai's death should not be treated just as a case of accidental death, but must be dealt with from a larger perspective.
All banks are eligible for privatisation. A committee of secretaries will decide which banks will be privatised, says Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda.
Indeed, there were frauds, and the politician-banker-industrialist nexus played a role in the rise of NPAs, but governance issues in Indian banking are far more nuanced and complex, reveals Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Notwithstanding the recent sharp decline in the stocks of public sector companies, analysts at Jefferies remain bullish on this segment. State Bank of India, Coal India, and NTPC are their top picks in this space, they said in a recent note. The public sector undertaking (PSU) or state-owned enterprise (SOE) index, with a 70-percentage-point outperformance versus the National Stock Exchange Nifty50 over the past 12 months, comes after a decade of underperformance before 2020.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday said banking sector will see major changes in the coming years.
For the time being, digital lending remains a grey area, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Five state-run general insurance companies have a total exposure of Rs 347.64 crore, or 0.14 per cent of their total assets under management (AUM), in Adani group of companies, the finance ministry said on Monday. In a written reply to a question by Congress' Manish Tewari, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said Life Insurance Corp (LIC) held Rs 35,917.31 crore in debt and equity of Adani group of companies as on December 31, 2022. This is 0.97 per cent of its total assets under management (AUM) of Rs 41.66 trillion.
Funds parked by Indian individuals and firms in Swiss banks, including through India-based branches and other financial institutions, jumped to a 14-year-high of 3.83 billion Swiss francs (over Rs 30,500 crore) in 2021 on a sharp surge in holdings via securities and similar instruments while customer deposits rose as well, annual data from Switzerland's central bank showed on Thursday.
Why do we need a bad bank, owned by the banks themselves when there are at least 28 ARCs around, asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Without bringing sound governance and technical capabilities into the RBI's work, injecting new money sets the stage for a next wave of bad behaviour by banks, warns Ajay Shah.
The finance minister asked lenders to identify eligible borrowers and reach out to them and urged for quick implementation of a sustained resolution plan for the revival of every viable business.
Stocks of public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been on fire in the past year as investors cheered an improvement in key operating metrics and embraced counters of these state-owned enterprises, analysts suggest. The S&P BSE PSU Index has gained over 90 per cent in the past year, rising much higher than the S&P BSE Sensex, which has rose nearly 19 per cent during this period, according to ACE Equity data. The BSE PSU Index, reports show, has delivered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28 per cent (including dividends reinvestments) over five years and risen by almost 60 per cent in the past year.
Tata Motors was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 2.94 per cent. It was followed by Vedanta, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, RIL, HDFC duo, L&T and SBI, rising up to 2.78 per cent.
SBI Q3FY24 result review: A higher-than-factored weakness in the October-to-December quarter (Q3) results of State Bank of India (SBI), for financial year 2023-24 (FY24), has prompted brokerages to cut earnings estimates for the ongoing financial year. They, however, have maintained 'Buy' ratings on the stock, revising target price upwards in some cases, owing to the stock's recent underperformance relative to its peers.
The Enforcement Directorate questioned former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah for five hours on Thursday in connection with a case related to the purchase of a building by the J&K Bank about 12 years ago when he was in office, officials said in New Delhi.
'We are all in a tizzy about NBFCs in the aftermath of the IL&FS default.' 'We tend to jump to the notion that an NBFC is like a bank. But banks make a promise that deposits are liquid and have an assured return.' 'NBFCs make no such promises,' points out Ajay Shah.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
In December, Aisha Shah was named as Partnerships Manager at the White House Office of Digital Strategy.
Shares of public sector enterprises have corrected by up to 22 per cent month-to-date until March 19, 2024. Analysts attribute this steep fall to the valuation exuberance seen after a sharp run in these counters last year and suggest investors remain selective regarding the stocks in this space. "The rally in public sector undertaking (PSU) stocks has been stretched and sharp, although it is somewhat justified by improvements seen in earnings, operations, balance sheets, and overall profitability.
Only NIIF has stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution.
A whirlwind trip of the dark underbelly of global finance, covering everything from tax law changes to aiding criminals to decamp with money from bank accounts.
'No Budget has so far has addressed the issue of the government's abysmal productivity of capital spending, improving which will be the big game changer. 'But, the government's tight lock on businesses, banks, education, and even essential services like transportation and large parts of infrastructure and healthcare is destroying capital year after year,' points out Debashis Basu.
Education finance is a complex and dynamic sector. There are too many variables -- the course, the calibre of students, the universities, and the job prospects once the course is over, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
United Nations proscribed terrorist Lakhvi, 61, who was on bail since 2015 in the Mumbai attack case, was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department of Punjab province on Saturday.
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
False and acrimonious debates such as Modi versus Manmohan might allow for victories that are political and partisan. But the real loser is the nation, India and Bharat, notes Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor to the Modi government in its first term.
'For a responsible person like him to utter such nonsense is shameful.' 'He is not fit to be a director on the RBI central board.'
The finance ministry on Saturday asserted that Indian customer deposits in Swiss banks have fallen since 2019, but said it is seeking details from Swiss authorities on the relevant facts along with their view on possible reasons for changes in the funds parked by individuals and entities in 2020. In a statement, the ministry said the deposits have halved but did not give numbers. Quoting data from Switzerland's central bank, PTI had reported on June 17 that funds parked by Indian individuals and firms in Swiss banks, including through India-based branches and other financial institutions, jumped to a 13-year high of 2.55 billion Swiss francs (over Rs 20,700 crore) in 2020 on a sharp surge in holdings via securities and similar instruments, though customer deposits fell.
Ajay Banga will be a 'transformative leader', who will bring expertise, experience, and innovation to the position of World Bank President, United States President Joe Biden has said after the top Indian-American business executive was confirmed as the new head of the international lender.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Kotak Bank, HCL Tech, HUL, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and SBI, while Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Infosys ended with losses.
The FATF continuing Pakistan in the 'Grey' list means its downgrading by IMF, World Bank, ADB, EU and also a reduction in risk rating by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
We must stop stigmatising business failures. Particularly when startups are mushrooming all around, the financial system, backed by the RBI and the government, can explore ways of extending support to restart the journey of a failed entrepreneur by finance as well as counselling, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Banks do extensive investigation before declaring an account fraud; they owe it to us as they deal with our money. Why would they try to fix an innocent borrower? asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.