Home prices are unlikely to see any fall, with property developers saying they plan to pass on the increase in cost of borrowing to home buyers following the recent raising of bank interest rates.
While the formation of a holding company will not outright privatise State-owned banks, officials believe it will help the Centre deflect criticism arising out of the latest banking scams.
Sebi on Thursday sent a notice to fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi asking him to pay Rs 5.35 crore in a case pertaining to fraudulent trading in the shares of Gitanjali Gems Ltd and warned of arrest and attachment of assets as well as bank accounts if he fails to make the payment within 15 days. The demand notice came after Choksi failed to pay a fine imposed on him by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Choksi, who was the chairman and managing director as well as part of promoter group of Gitanjali Gems, is the maternal uncle of Nirav Modi.
'The RBI is not releasing Rs 2,000 notes for the last 10 days; probably they have stopped printing it.'
Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan had said recently that there was "no need" to set up a separate bad bank to deal with stressed assets of public sector lenders.
A few state-owned banks such as IDBI Bank, Union Bank, Indian Overseas Bank have announced results for FY14.
The special court, however, did not permit the ED to attach the paintings owned by Modi and seized by the Income Tax department as the Bombay high court had earlier directed for the artworks to be auctioned but the money to be deposited and not disbursed.
Enlarging the scope of its investigation, the finance ministry has asked some non-bank finance companies for loans-related information on an urgent basis.
Though most experts remain bullish on the banking space, they suggest investors buy only those banks whose NPAs are at a manageable level of 3% to 4% and there is credit growth or earnings visibility.
"Photographs (Nirav Modi Davos photo) mean nothing. Even you people are sitting with me and we being photographed and if somebody does anything will I be linked?" he told reporters.
The capital infusion would help improve the financial health of banks. While some banks would get necessary regulatory capital while others would get it for fueling growth.
Country's biggest mortgage lender HDFC on Tuesday announced a festive offer in line with peers like SBI with home loans starting from 6.70 per cent. Last week, SBI as part of festival bonanza offered a concessional home loan rate of 6.70 per cent under its festive offer. This was followed by other lenders like Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda.
United Bank's exposure to Kingfisher Airlines was around Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.50 billion)
In the April-June period, bond yields rose by 30 bps.
The new rates will become effective from Tuesday.
Going forward, markets will take cues from Reliance Industries earnings on Monday, and the Reserve Bank of India's policy on Tuesday on rate hike.
A major fire broke out in a multi-storey building housing offices of banks, around 300 metres from Parliament House, in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, fire brigade officials said.
'The government must find worthwhile private owners for some of the banks, increase the share of private sector banking in the system, and then ask the remaining government banks to face the discipline of the market and compete, or shrink into irrelevance,' says T N Ninan.
Peers describe Sanjay Sachdev, new chief executive officer of Tata Asset Management Company, as a man who can form alliances with ease.
Certain banks, such as Punjab National Bank, allow loans from the very next day of making the deposit. Some like HDFC may even offer one after six months. You need to check with your bank on the same.
Currently, the enforcement officers are making seizures of assets directly and indirectly connected to offenders, including jewelers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in the Punjab National Bank fraud and Vijay Mallya in the Rs 9,000-crore IDBI loan case.
The government may delay Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion) fund infusion in the public sector banks in view of volatile market conditions.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Foreign Minister of Antigua and Barbuda E P Chet Greene on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly and raised the extradition issue of Choksi, who is currently in the Caribbean island.
'A government whose policies are focused around making the life of ordinary citizens, specially the most deprived sections, richer; a government that prioritises education, health and transport, that doesn't treat its citizens as subjects who must come to it for everything, is rare in our country.' 'When such a government is thrown out, one is left stunned,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
Even under the RTI response, all public sectors banks have washed their hands of any responsibility.
'The BJP has killed public anger. They have killed people's self-respect.'
The country's largest lender State Bank of India will get the largest sum of Rs 8,800 crore as government's capital infusion.
Lenders are likely to convert part of the airline's debt into 11.4 crore shares at a consideration of Re 1 apiece as per RBI norms.
Officials said the Enforcement Directorate along with the Central Bureau of Investigation launched fresh searches on March 22 at the Samudra Mahal luxury residential flats of Modi in Mumbai's Worli area which resulted in the recovery of fresh valuables.
India's largest IT-ITeS company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is all set to launch its smart card solution that would enable banks to reach the remote areas and address their need for microfinancing.
Former British Army soldier Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, who was awaiting trial on charges of breaching the UK's Official Secrets Act at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London, escaped allegedly by clinging to the under-carriage of a delivery van.
'We can't have the best of both worlds -- large, efficient, world class government-owned banks, doing social banking and making profits. 'Why not set them free from the shackles of such obligations and run them as business units?' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
A common feature in India is the lag between the occurrence of frauds and the time they are actually reported.
This is the first tranche of capital infusion for the fiscal and more funds would be provided in future depending upon the performance of PSU banks.
Every defaulter is not a wilful defaulter who has the capability of paying back and is yet not servicing the bank loan, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
He has been lodged at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his arrest in March in connection with the nearly $2 billion Punjab National Bank fraud and money laundering case.
SBI remains a favourite of most brokerages in the PSB segment.
Since January this year, RBI has cut the repo rate - at which it lends to commercial banks -- to a gross of 1.25 per cent.
Home and auto loan customers will have to shell out more with several public sector banks including the State Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India (BoI) deciding to end the concessional or limited period loan regime, popularly called teaser rates.
The case of phishing involves a senior manager with Dabur India Ltd, Sahibabad, who lost about Rs. 8 lakh in the fraud.
