The Department of Post, Tech Mahindra, Videocon Group and stock exchange NSE have joined big corporates like Ambanis and Birlas to seek entry into banking business through newly created niche category of Payments and Small Finance Banks.
India has a huge untapped population which doesn't have facilities for financial aid and insurance, and it is perhaps plausible to look at the option of having niche players catering to smaller sectors akin to non-banks and microfinance institutions in lending, said Rakesh Joshi, member (Finance & Investment), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). Speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit, Joshi said, "Today, most of our insurance companies operate at a national level. There is arguably a case for having differentiated operations, which cater to niche sectors the same way we have non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and microfinance institutions in lending." "The capital requirement for niche players may not be as large as those having national ambitions. "Enabling these niche players, which require lower capital, will enhance the penetration in areas which hitherto had not seen traction from large players," he said.
'The new ceiling will cover around 93 per cent of all deposit accounts, up from 90 per cent earlier,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The government may soon give the green light to bilateral trade between Russia and India in their national currencies to avoid any trade disruptions, multiple people aware of the matter said. While the Department of Commerce has recommended the proposal, an announcement is likely to be made by the finance ministry after further deliberations between the Department of Economic Affairs and Department of Financial Services. "The finance ministry will take a call on how to peg the two currencies," a senior government official told Business Standard. In the past, the two nations have had rupee-rouble trade, and when such an arrangement is implemented again, it will bypass the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West.
The government has released the draft Micro Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011, which seeks to make it mandatory for all microfinance institutions to be registered with the Reserve Bank of India, making it the sector regulator.
'In their over-enthusiasm to clean up the system, both the banks and the regulator should not forget that the key to the insolvency law is revival of companies -- recovery of bank dues is an offshoot of that,' points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The provisions in the FRDI bill do not modify current protections for depositors adversely at all, the ministry held, maintaining that these rather provide additional protections in a more transparent manner.
In eight cases, the banks would violate the minimum public shareholding norms if their promoter, the Government of India, infused capital as announced.
The Union Budget on Wednesday outlined several initiatives to drive India's technology agenda and boost digital infrastructure, including new centres of excellence for artificial intelligence, National Data Governance Policy, and Entity DigiLocker.
US President Barack Obama on Sunday affirmed his commitment to enhancing India's 'voice and vote' in global financial institutions like IMF.
Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been invited to join the grouping.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday made a fresh push for reforms in global institutions, including the United Nations, asserting that the world's 'new realities' should be reflected in 'new global structure' as it is nature's law that those who don't change with times lose their relevance.
'There's no pro-China tilt in BRICS.' 'All these countries want to be close to China, but they are all good friends of India also.'
'NSE has thousands of employees. It is their institution. So it's a dear family.' 'One should not hurt the morale of these people.'
Demanding that willful default to banks be made a criminal offence under the Securitisation Act, the Delhi unit of All India Bank Employees Association on Monday said the corporate sector owes Rs 13,500 crore (Rs 135 billion) to banks and financial i
There are about 5.7 crore small entrepreneurs.
For the remaining projects, it is difficult to arrive at an estimate.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has named Ravneet Kaur, a Punjab cadre IAS officer of 1988 batch, as chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Kaur will hold the post for five years or until attaining the age of 65. She is the second woman to serve in an 'economic regulator' role after Madhabi Puri Buch, who was appointed chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India last year and the first woman to head the country's chief national competition regulator.
'For years, the RBI has been warning banks on probable frauds in bank guarantees and advised them to exercise due care.' 'PSB staffers feel their jobs are secured, hence there is no need to be vigilant and exercise financial prudence.'
Could it have been more reformist? Of course, but this is an election year Budget, observes Akash Prakash.
Accelerating inequality, the market dominance of tech platforms and remote working are likely to be the longest-lasting legacies of the COVID-19 crisis, the WEF said in a report on Monday. Releasing its Chief Economists Outlook report during the online Davos Agenda Summit, the WEF said that beyond managing the pandemic and vaccine rollout, these trends could shape a new era of fiscal, monetary, and competition policy. Deglobalisation is seen as the least likely of the current trends to continue in the longer term; particularly as international coordination is key to resolving global challenges such as vaccine manufacturing and distribution.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Indian cities need $840 bn investment over 15 yrs, says World Bank report.
Of the total 53,334 cases of frauds reported during 2008-09 and 2018-19 fiscal years, involving a whopping Rs 2.05 lakh crore, a highest of 6,811 cases were reported by the ICICI Bank.
State Bank of India is also expected to tap the markets this year
They welcomed the guests before the start of the dinner from the reception dais, with its backdrop showcasing the ruins of the Nalanda University in Bihar besides India's G20 presidency theme -- 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - One Earth, One Family, One Future'.
K V Kamath to take charge of BRICS Bank in July.
Merely bringing down the government stake below 51% may not find any taker for the PSBs. The government must bring down its holding to at least 26%, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'Modi wants to reverse everything Nehru did, but is shy of touching his daughter's most unwise policies.' 'There is no example of this more stark than bank nationalisation,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is neither beneficial to banks nor helpful for the borrower.' 'Genuine people who are caught in economic stagnation will lose everything and thousands will lose jobs.'
The Reserve Bank of India on Monday directed all banks and financial institutions to provide information and documents sought by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to unearth black money.
The government also appointed Dr Vinod Paul, a pediatrician at the AIIMS, as a member of the NITI Aayog
Experts say the recent Rs 14,000-crore PNB fraud could have been avoided had there been an integration of PNB's CBS with its SWIFT system
With the Swiss government showing eagerness to help India trace suspected black money hoarders, banks based in Switzerland appear to be losing traction among the wealthy Indian clients and could not get much business commitments during the just-ended WEF summit.
The cumulative loss of 20 state-run lenders stood at Rs 14,000 crore during Q4
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
The niche banks - small finance and payments banks -have been set up to further the regulator's objective of deepening financial inclusion.
The loss of income has severely dented the loan repayment ability of small borrowers
A few state-owned banks such as IDBI Bank, Union Bank, Indian Overseas Bank have announced results for FY14.
The government has asked the Indian Banks' Association to make sure that IDBI Bank's wages are on a par with other banks.
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