Nobody is held accountable for lapses, no matter how badly it affects the person or business whose accounts are frozen. Nor is there compensation for losses. Most people get to know their accounts are blocked only when a cheque bounces, points out Debashis Basu.
India SME Forum, an organisation for small and medium businesses, has called for creating a dedicated fund of Rs 5000 crore for the export capacity development, promotion, and marketing of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in its Budget recommendation. The forum for MSMEs with over 98,000 members said that to enhance India's global competitiveness and increase its market share in global exports, it was "crucial to increase the number of active exporters and enable at least 3-4 lakh first-time micro, small, and medium exporters while supporting them in promoting Indian products globally."
India recorded a current account surplus of $5.7 billion or 0.6 per cent of GDP in the March quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. This is the first time in ten quarters that the crucial metric of the country's external strength has turned into surplus mode. In the year-ago period, the current account deficit stood at $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP, and the same was $8.7 billion or 1 per cent of GDP in the preceding quarter ending December 2023.
The bank has said rent payments will not earn reward points, and redemption of reward points on various cards have been capped in certain segments.
'Das is friendly, but he finally does what he does. The quality of engagement is very good.'
Public sector banks (PSBs) posted 16.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in net profit at Rs 39,974 crore during the June 2024 quarter. While net interest income (NII) showed subdued growth of 7.1 per cent, provisions and contingencies declined by 10.5 per cent Y-o-Y. This aided the bottom line to show steady growth.
'We went from zero to about 10 million users in three months. Paytm came out with the wallet play and we came out with the UPI play.'
To check digital frauds, the government has disconnected 70 lakh mobile numbers so far involved in cybercrime or financial frauds, Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi said on Tuesday. Emerging from a meeting to discuss issues related to financial cyber security and increasing digital payment fraud, Joshi, who chaired the meeting, said banks have been asked to strengthen the system and processes in this regard. More such meetings would take place, he said, adding the next meeting is scheduled in January.
What is digital house arrest? It is a tactic cybercriminals use to confine victims to their homes and scam them, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
"We are exploring if Indian oil firms can open accounts in banks like Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank so they can undertake a direct transfer of money for oil they buy from Iran," a senior government official said.
As on April 1, income tax arrears have increased to Rs 43 trillion from Rs 24 trillion on April 1, 2023.
Gold imports more than doubled in August to a record high of $10.06 billion, mainly on account of a drastic cut in customs duty and ongoing festive demand, according to the Commerce Ministry data. Gold imports stood at $4.93 billion in August 2023. On record high imports, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that the tariff rates on gold have been reduced drastically so that smuggling and other activities can come down.
From its lows this month, the stock of Bharti Airtel is up 14 per cent. The gains for the telco have come on the back of expectations that market share consolidation, tariff hike and lower capex should boost margins and profits. While the company is a key player in the Indian market, it also has a leadership position in major markets of Africa.
Soon, one will be able to pay utility bills at the local supermarket, while buying groceries, with the RBI allowing the setting up of payment banks.
Payments banks are niche banks which will be allowed to function with several restrictions.
The size of Reserve Bank's balance sheet increased by 11.08 per cent to Rs 70.47 lakh crore as on March 2024, leading to the highest-ever dividend payout to the government, according to the central bank's annual report. In actual terms, the increase was Rs 7,02,946.97 crore over Rs 63.45 lakh crore as on March 2023.
Multiple organisations of different kinds with overlapping goals would be a dream situation for those who believe in competition and innovation.
The RBI working group's proposal to allow corporate houses to set up banks is a "bombshell" and at this juncture, it is more important to stick to the tried and tested limits on involvement of business houses in the banking sector, according to an article jointly written by former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and ex-Deputy Governor Viral Acharya. They also said that the proposal is "best left on the shelf".
The central government has given banks and credit card entities six to eight months to put in place the requisite reporting mechanism and related features to collect tax at source on international credit card transactions, a senior bureaucrat told Business Standard. According to the bureaucrat, the plan to bring overseas credit cards under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) has not been mothballed and is simply being deferred so that banks get adequate time to get the system up and running. The official expects the reporting mechanism to be ready in the given time, and the rule could be implemented in the next financial year (2024-25, or FY25).
An article on 'State of the Economy' in the monthly Bulletin also said the improvement in the outlook for agriculture and the revival of rural spending have turned out to be the bright spots in the evolution of demand conditions. Consumer price inflation ticked up in June 2024 after three consecutive months of moderation as a broad flare-up in vegetable prices halted the overall disinflation that had been underway, it said.
The need for money among banks, especially for short-term funds, may turn more intense in the last month of the financial year to feed the demand for capital for tax payments and meet year-end targets. The mobilisation of funds via the certificate of deposits (CDs) has seen a threefold increase to over Rs 60,000 crore in the fortnight that ended February 23 from around Rs 20,000 crore in the fortnight of January 26, 2024, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
Generally, the central bank grants its approval by mid-March, or latest by March 31, but most banks have not received RBI approval on bonus packages this year.
In August, the Fed announced that it would develop a "new interbank 24x7x365 RTGS with integrated clearing functionality to support faster payments in the United States". The Fed Board asked for comments on FedNow by November. In reply to this, Google mentioned its experience of launching Google Pay -- Google's payments app which uses the UPI -- in India.
The highest-ever goods and services tax (GST) evasion has been done by the online money gaming industry.
'Compare the new slabs with the previous years to understand if your tax liability will increase or decrease after the Budget.'
'A mid-year review makes the end-of-year financial review manageable and less stressful.'
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Jalan-Kalrock consortium, the new owners of the cash-strapped Jet Airways, to deposit Rs 150 crore in SBI's escrow account by January 31, saying failure to do so will mean that the consortium is not in compliance with the terms of the resolution plan for reviving the airline. The top court, meanwhile, also refused to allow the separate plea of the Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association seeking payment of provident fund and gratuity dues, observing if additional money is awarded, the resolution plan will become "unworkable". The consortium, as per the lawyers for the workmen, has to pay over Rs 200 crore towards dues on account of PF and gratuity.
The regulator said that it is vested within its purview to regulate the bank account for payment systems and the settlement systems are finally posted in the books of account of banks with the RBI to attain settlement finality.
Banking secot to see major changes by 2020.
With NEFT, which drives the retail payments value, operationalised on a 24x7x365 basis, the country's payment systems landscape is headed for substantial growth.
As it readies for its initial public offering (IPO) later this year, digital payments firm Paytm is honing its strengths to remodel itself from being a payment wallet to becoming a financial services provider, and is working towards narrowing its losses, evident from its most recent Annual Report. Unlike many of its peers, Paytm has started expanding its merchant payment ecosystem. It has realised that though it can take the maximum share of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions, from a revenue generation point of view it will not have any impact.
Edtech company Byju's, which was once India's most valuable start-up worth an estimated $22 billion, will face insolvency proceedings for failure to pay Rs 158.9 crore to cricket board BCCI. The Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday allowed bankruptcy proceedings against the firm and appointed an interim resolution professional, suspending the company's board of directors and freezing its assets.
The payments industry is at a crossroads with the banking regulator on two pressing issues, neither of which seems headed towards an amicable solution. Depending upon which side accommodates the other, customers in India will have to choose between convenience and ironclad safety. In the end, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which regulates both banks and all payments services providers, will prevail. But the question is: will it do so by bending a little or by sticking to its firm stand? The two issues - one concerning payment facilitators storing customers' card details and the other about auto-renewal of payments - appear similar but aren't.
The RBI on April 6 directed all payments service providers to make sure "that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India."
The difference between what the banks play in the US and India is not that of soccer and football but rugby and football. SVB also has a unique character. But when risks are mispriced, the fallout could be very similar, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
A senior IDBI Bank official allegedly conspired with businessman Vijay Mallya for sanction and disbursement of loan to the latter's Kingfisher Airlines, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in its supplementary chargesheet filed in a Mumbai court. Mallya is an accused in the alleged Rs 900-crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case, which is being probed by the CBI. The Central agency had recently filed a supplementary chargesheet before a special CBI court.
Nandan Nilekani complimented RBI on granting licenses to payments banks, calling it 'a great revolution'.
Sebi on Wednesday ordered the attachment of bank and demat accounts of Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy and three others to recover Rs 6.48 crore for violating regulatory norms by two group companies. The recovery proceedings have been initiated against these four persons for violating regulatory norms in the issuance of optionally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs) by two group companies. Apart from Sahara, others whose bank and demat accounts were attached are Ashok Roy Choudhary, Ravi Shanker Dubey and Vandana Bharrgava.
With the banking regulator lifting restrictions on HDFC Bank's digital initiatives, the largest private sector lender is now girding up to launch a clutch of customer-facing applications (apps), which will act as stepping stones in its journey to morph into a technology (tech)-led bank from a conventional one. Following repeated outages in its digital offerings, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had barred HDFC Bank from issuing new credit cards in December 2020 and prevented it from going ahead with its digital launches. The embargo on issuing credit cards was lifted in August 2021 and the ban on digital launches was lifted last week.
Telecom companies (Airtel, Vodafone, ABNL-via Idea Cellular), which enjoy larger reach, appear to be better placed among the key companies bagging payments bank licences.
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