The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking stay on further sale of electoral bonds ahead of assembly elections.
Rajan said in order to export, one needs to be able to import things that go into those exports as cheaply as it can.
The most common complaint of financial consumers is cumbersome processes, complicated products, usurious charges, and mis-selling of products, which finally don't deliver what is promised or as expect, notes Debashis Basu.
It was the RBI which destroyed our $-job economy. It is for the RBI to resurrect it by instituting news ways of managing the INR, says Sonali Ranade
'Indian macro conditions have never been better, and many businesses will safely compound earnings over the next five years.'
The Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said bringing down inflation would help stabilise the rupee.
First, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, much-lauded as a game changer, needs serious reform. Second, some vital policy choices would need to be made as far as competition law is concerned., says Somasekhar Sundaresan.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das tells Anup Roy, Raghu Mohan and Niraj Bhatt that it is time for banks to lower interest rates and start lending to cash-starved finance companies after due credit appraisal and proper risk assessment.
India has a unique window of opportunity to effectuate long-lasting structural change in its banking sector, says Riju Agrawal.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India may need all the suave charm of the fictional British spy to sell that same hard-nosed agenda to a powerful new prime minister.
Of the Rs 20-lakh-crore package that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to defend the economy against coronavirus disruptions, fresh support may be only around 60 per cent of the offer as it counts the first financial stimulus and liquidity support that Reserve Bank has given already, and will overburden the bond market, says a report.
The report expects the inflation framework, fiscal consolidation, infrastructure spending, FDI focus and strong external affairs policies to continue.
Rajan said that while there were talks about Jan Dhan, it was difficult to target transfers to people through this tool. Jan Dhan, he said, does not really work as advertised.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to meet heads of public sector banks (PSBs) next week to review performance of the lenders and progress made by them to support the economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Banks would be urged to sanction loans for productive sectors to accelerate revival of the economy, sources said. According to sources, the two-day meeting would commence on November 17 and undertake a comprehensive review of various segments, progress in government schemes including Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
'It may sound like sacrilege, but does it really matter if the global raters downgrade India for fiscal slippage?' asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The decision to do away with Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes accelerated the slowdown in economic activity with growth averaging 6.8 per cent in the seven quarters after it, as against an average of 8 per cent in the six quarters preceding it, says former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian.
'The macro-economic stresses -- high interest rates, rupee depreciation and capital flows -- have receded now.' 'Interest rates have come down, inflation is down and the rupee has bounced back.' 'If oil prices continue at this level, there will be no vulnerability.' 'Growth is a different story.'
The government kept its nerve in the face of a massive shock. It chose not to resort to a massive fiscal stimulus. It focused instead on providing liquidity support and easing restrictions on movement in stages, observes T T Ram Mohan.
A record GST tax collection, an overhaul of the income tax return filing portal and the landmark move to scrap retrospective taxation have set the stage for the next level of reforms in tax administration that include bringing a framework for cryptocurrencies and rationalising the GST rate structure. With tax reforms such as faceless assessment taking roots, 2021 will go down as the year that pivoted the tax administration in a country aspiring to become the world's favourite investment destination. The task ahead is going to be a tough one as the tax department would grapple with taxing cryptocurrencies, rationalising Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates to shore up revenues and post June 2022, the scenario of how the GST revenue plays out for states without the Centre's support of compensation.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last month pointed to the high cost of capital for India's businesses as a key factor behind a manufacturing slowdown.
Banks feel happy shifting their toxic assets from loan books to investment books while the ARCs enjoy the management fees with a smile, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'A rag-tag coalition is more insecure and hence, more inclined to reform,' argues Devangshu Datta.
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.
The markets regulator made it easier for banks to acquire control in listed companies.
The Indian economy requires a Rs 3 lakh crore fiscal stimulus, including cash transfer to households through Jan Dhan accounts to spur economic growth amid the pandemic, industry chamber CII said on Thursday and pitched for appointment of a 'Vaccine Czar' for speedy vaccination coverage. CII president T V Narendran also said the chamber expects GDP to grow at 9.5 per cent in 2021-22 as the strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year will be supported by robust external demand and large-scale coverage of vaccination, allowing resumption of economic activity. He also advocated for appointment of a "Vaccine Czar" for speedy vaccination coverage.
The better performing states throw up more employment opportunities including at unskilled levels.
'Modi has not lacked courage in the political sphere. It is time he showed it in the economic sphere as well.' 'To do this, he needs to shed the simple-minded nostrums about economic growth and swadeshi that he learnt in the Sangh Parivar,' suggests Virendra Kapoor.
Subhash Chandra Garg, the former finance secretary who was shunted out of the finance ministry within three weeks of Modi-2.0 government's first budget last year, on Saturday alleged that new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman got him transferred out.
The draft regulations on compensation of private banks, based on sound risk management and productivity linked principles, comes within days of the US Congress passing a major financial reform bill to discipline firms on Wall Street.
Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) chairman Deepak Parekh on Tuesday said that while the country's macroeconomic fundamentals remain strong and the recovery is in progress, the unpredictability of coronavirus will remain a key challenge. Owing to the second wave, the Indian economy is likely to mirror a similar trend seen in FY21, where the first half of the financial year is weaker and the second half is significantly stronger, he said. "I remain confident that India's macroeconomic fundamentals are strong. Recovery is underway," Parekh said while addressing the 44th annual general meeting of HDFC Ltd. He said, the country's forex reserves and foreign direct investment inflows have scaled record highs, the capital markets are also buoyant and agriculture growth is expected to remain strong with food grain production estimated at over 305 million tonnes.
Swiss banking professionals under the agies of the Swiss Bankers Association met the Reserve Bank of India officials on Wednesday to discuss areas of cooperation. They also apprised the Indian banking regulator about the steps that Swiss authorities had initiated to implement stringent anti-money laundering laws.
India's economic growth is likely to reach pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of the 2021-22 fiscal as the GDP contraction in this financial year is expected to be less than 8 per cent, Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Sunday. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also revised its forecast of economic growth for the current fiscal year (2020-21) to (-)7.5 per cent as against its earlier forecast of (-)9.5 per cent.
The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission, chaired by Justice B N Srikrishna, has suggested a non-sectoral, principle-based approach to revamp the existing framework.
'We still need a certain number of large public sector banks for financial inclusion and stability purposes.'
BoB now has over 9,500 branches, 13,400 ATMs, 85,000 employees to serve 12 crore customers.
Lack of decisiveness and courage to deal with PSBs may turn out be the biggest impediment to the Modi government's economic initiatives, says Debashis Basu.
'This is clearly a much stronger government, a much strong Prime Minister's Office and a much more disciplined approach. There is an improvement of the work culture in the government -- people don't play golf in the mornings anymore. There is a huge attempt going on to making business easier,' says Rakesh Mohan, executive director at the IMF.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had set up a committee to review the monetary policy framework.
'The banks cannot pass on the hike in premiums to its customers, according to the norms. The premium won't go up substantially in any case and may be hiked to 12-13 paise (per deposit of Rs 100 a year),' Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said.