Asian Development Bank on Wednesday lowered India's economic growth forecast for FY2019 to 5.1 per cent on slowing job prospects, rural distress exacerbated by poor harvest and credit crunch. Growth in FY2020 is likely to recover thanks to this support, low oil prices, and a weakening rupee, but risks to the projections remain tilted to the downside, it said on India.
'We get to know secrets such as some of India's top-rated firms do not always make payments when due and many State-owned, listed, enterprises that borrow in bond markets default regularly.' 'Without naming the bank, he says that ever-greening of poor loans by a part of India's shadow banking lay at the doorstep of India's banking, notably 'one private bank'.' Viral Acharya's Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India won't be music to many ears, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
India's huge digital prowess and potential will play a huge role in enabling digital lending, says Romita Majumdar.
At a pre-Budget meeting, the FM was asked to ensure that NBFCs come out of the liquidity crisis they are facing with the help of RBI. They also spoke about the futility of trying to achieve a 3 per cent fiscal deficit target over the medium term.
Realtors split on possibility of price fall, gold may replace cash in secondary deals.
Long-term investors should consider moving into smaller stocks. Rather than try to pick stocks, it makes sense to build a diversified portfolio by exposure across midcap and small caps funds, suggests Devangshu Datta.
Stating that an economic recession gripped global economy following the lockdowns due to COVID-19 pandemic, Fitch Ratings on Friday said the initial disruptions to regional manufacturing supply chains in China have now broadened to include local discretionary spending and exports.
Listening -- really listening -- to advisers in the government and outside would help. India has plenty of wise economists who have worked within the bureaucracy during previous crises, points out Rahul Jacob.
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.
ICICI Bank extended yesterday gains, rising 10% in two trading sessions
The two parties did not share the deal size but said MavenHive's two founders and 40-odd team members have joined the Bansal-owned firm. MavenHive was started by Bhavin Javia and Anandha Krishnan in 2012.
Analysts attribute the surge to a host of factors, particularly the interest shown by the retail investors in these two market segments.
The sale will be quicker if an Indian private bank buys it; it will take longer for regulatory clearances if a foreign bank or an NBFC buys it, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The interest offered is mostly 0.5 to 1 per cent more than what other banks offer. Moreover, customer service and long-term association spanning generations are also other reasons for the popularity.
'When growth drops precipitously from 7% to 4.5% in four quarters, it is for all practical purposes a recession' notes T N Ninan.
The draft amalgamation scheme of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank with Unity Small Finance Bank (SFB) allowed quick relief to depositors with savings of up to Rs 5 lakh, but a long wait for those who had their nest egg with the scam-tainted bank. If the scheme gets approved, 96 per cent (or 880,000 of 924,000) depositors will get their full money straightaway after PMC is merged with Unity SFB. According to the draft scheme, retail investors may get up to Rs 5 lakh from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) instantly, and then some more in phases till they can recall their full deposits after 10 years.
Having successfully executed the merger with parent HDFC, HDFC Bank's managing director and chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan on Saturday said the country's largest lender aims to double every four years. In a letter to the over 4,000 employees from HDFC who joined the bank's rolls on Saturday, Jagdishan said the future is bright, and the work on realising the potential of the merger starts now. "The runway for financial services and mortgage, which are so underserved and under penetrated, is going to be very large. HDFC Bank - the combined entity - with a large and growing distribution and customer franchise, more than adequate capital, healthy asset quality and profitability, will be best positioned to capture growth.
The governor made it clear that the RBI is aware of what's happening and acts accordingly, but doesn't make a noise about that, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Budget a little more than a month from now. Like any other FM, Sitharaman will depend on her team of bureaucrats and advisors to frame and present the Budget.
The improved outlook on the Government of India announced by rating agency Moody's might need to be viewed with some scepticism. There is no doubt the performance of the Indian economy has sharply improved from the deep trough it hit last year. But the ability of the second largest global ratings agency to assess an upside and downside before events make everyone wise about India has been dismal for a long time, as the chart shows.
'If an investor is ready to stay put for the next five years, one can consider investing in mid- and small-cap funds, but through SIPs.'
"So you will not have anything better... democracy loving, capitalist respecting environment... in India," Sitharaman said at the event hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in association with the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Rs 30,600 crore government guarantee for the bad bank has changed the body language of bankers for the better, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Axis Bank's acquisition of Citibank's consumer finance business for Rs 12,325 crore - the second biggest deal in the Indian banking sector - is seen as a good deal at a good price. The acquisition enables Axis Bank to close the gap with competition in some key segments such as credit cards. At the same time, there are some key issues that are crucial for the deal's success, apart from the fact that it will take some time for Axis to reap the full harvest of its investment.
A top-class board is important from a systemic point of view, more so at a time when the wider financial world and India Inc is chasing the same talent as banks.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said the central bank will ensure adequate liquidity in the system to ease the financial stress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The central bank reduced the reverse repo rate -- the rate at which banks park their fund with the central bank -- by 25 basis points to 3.75 per cent.
The bosses of SBI, Union Bank and Central Bank have been driving down to their offices everyday to take stock of the biggest loan drive ever undertaken for MSMEs, discovers Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
There is little sense in trying to find stocks that will not be vulnerable in a situation where 87% of the market is trending down and India is getting set for a crucial election, says Devangshu Datta.
But there are challenges, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The main objective is to determine whether among these companies there are NBFCs that ought to have registered with the RBI for carrying on their NBFI activities.
The regulator has put a cap on the business a bank can get from a single insurer.
'Facilitating conversion of well-run NBFCs into banks is urgently needed.'
Nearly three-fourths of the debt money, as of April 30, 2019, was invested in securities with duration of less than three years.
The Nifty Index features 50 of the largest companies in the country and represents close to 50 per cent of total market capitalisation. It is now trading at valuations that could only be justified if India Inc grows earnings at better than thrice the GDP growth rate. This is extremely unlikely, says Devangshu Datta.
"We will raise Rs 300 crore via bonds of two-, three- and five-year tenures. This will be our maiden bond issuance and is part of our effort to widen funding sources," says Vimal Bhandari, executive vice-chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Arka Fincap. The firm, a subsidiary of Kirloskar Oil, is only five years old and small (assets of around Rs 5,000 crore with an "AA" rating), but the response to this float will be closely watched: It would be the first by a non-banking finance company (NBFC) after Mint Road upped the risk weights on bank exposures to them by 25 percentage points. The move by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has caught NBFCs off guard even though the issue had been flagged by Governor Shaktikanta Das with their corner-room occupants (and that of banks) in July and August 2023 - on consumer credit and the dependency on bank borrowings.
The first quarter of 2018 saw infrastructure and real estate drive investment worth close to $8 billion across 180 deals
Since December 2018, monetary policy has been eased substantially by RBI with policy rates being cut by 75 bps and policy outlook being changed to 'accommodative'.
The third-quarter financials didn't excite market watchers. But equity investors can still make money if they invest in the right stocks.
Farmers have suffered a lot on account of natural calamities.
The recovery was led by information technology exporters.
