The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday decided to keep the policy rate unchanged for the ninth time in a row, saying food inflation remains stubborn. The rate increase cycle was paused in April last year after six consecutive rate hikes, aggregating to 250 basis points since May 2022.
He said the transformation brought about by the fintech sector in India is not just limited to technology, but its social impact is far-reaching. He also stressed that fintech has dented the parallel economy and is bridging the gap between villages and cities on the financial services front. The prime minister also said that in the last 10 years, the fintech space has attracted investments of more than $31 billion and fintech startups have grown by 500 per cent.
The April-June quarter (Q1) of the current financial year (FY25) may be soft for banks with loan growth moderation, net interest margin (NIM) pressures, and higher staff and credit costs inching up, according to analysts. Credit growth could ease due to the lagged impact of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightening and deposit growth has weakened, and the current account and savings account (CASA) ratio has declined 10-370 basis points (bps) quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) for many banks.
The recent depreciation of the rupee along with sharp fall in the country's foreign exchange (FX) reserves has sparked a debate whether stability of the exchange rate is necessary and desirable. The rupee was one of the least volatile currencies among peers for almost two years before the current downward pressure started in September after the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rate.
Reserve Bank of India on Friday said NPCI has been asked to examine the possibility of it becoming a third party application provider for continued UPI operations of the Paytm app. The central bank has barred Paytm Payments Bank from accepting further credits into its customer accounts and wallets after March 15, 2024.
Caste census politics took centre stage on Thursday with the Congress terming the government's decision as a 'diversionary tactic' and a move for headlines management and the Bharatiya Janata Party saying it has exposed the difference between the Centre's 'true intentions' and the 'empty sloganeering' of the opposition party.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday said the amalgamation of Lakshmi Vilas Bank with DBS Bank India will come into force from November 27 and the moratorium imposed on the crisis-ridden lender will be removed on that day. The RBI issued the statement within hours of the Cabinet clearing the Scheme of Amalgamation of Lakshmi Vilas Bank Limited (LVB) with DBS Bank India Limited (DBIL).
India's forex reserves declined by $1.27 billion to $561.58 billion for the week ended January 6, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. The overall reserves had increased by $44 million to $562.85 billion in the previous reporting week after two consecutive weeks of the slide. In October 2021, the country's foreign exchange kitty reached an all-time high of $645 billion.
'Challenge is basically near-term growth as the outlook has turned a bit adverse.'
India's forex reserves jumped $4.54 billion to a new all-time high of $648.7 billion for the week ended May 17, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. This is the third consecutive week of increase in the overall kitty, which had increased by $2.56 billion to $644.15 billion in the previous reporting week ended May 17.
The Commission concluded that the bank officials had evidently been negligent in failing to compare the signature prior to making payment, notes Jehangir B Gai.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent, marking the first reduction in five years. The central bank also projected GDP growth for fiscal year 2026 at 6.7 percent and inflation to come down to 4.2 percent in FY26 from 4.8 percent in FY25. The RBI said the global economic backdrop remains challenging but the Indian economy continues to remain strong and resilient.
After subdued earnings in the first half amid global headwinds, India Inc is taking a cautious approach on their capital expenditure (capex) for the second half of the financial year ending March 2025, according to management commentary. Minutes from the October monetary policy meeting show the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) optimism about private investments picking up.
Modi alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka gave reservations in tenders based on religion, "snatching the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs." But Ambedkar had said there would not be reservation based on religion and there is a bar on giving reservation on the basis of religion in the Constitution, he stressed.
India added nearly 4.7 crore jobs during 2023-24, taking the total number of employed people to 64.33 crore spread over 27 sectors covering the entire economy, according to Reserve Bank data. The number of employed people was 59.67 crore at the end of March 2023, said the RBI's update on 'Measuring Productivity at the Industry Level-The India KLEMS [Capital (K), Labour (L), Energy (E), Material (M) and Services (S)] Database'.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's call for making lending rates affordable may not resonate anytime soon as banks still struggle with margin compression, and await clues from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on liquidity and rate action. Hinting that any lending rate cut was some time away, State Bank of India (SBI) managing director Vinay M Tonse said there was still some aggression in the market regarding deposit pricing.
As the total number of bank frauds increased from 6,800 in FY19 to more than 13,500 in FY23, the share of private banks in the occurrence went from 34 per cent to 66 per cent.
'I believe that the overall demand for commercial vehicles will improve, even though there is a slowdown in the GDP.'
Real estate developers are hoping that the slew of tax concessions announced in Union Budget 2025, set to take effect this financial year, will spur demand for affordable and mid-segment housing, even as the broader housing market shows signs of fatigue.
From CEOs to RBI governors, cricket's rich imagery and strategy resonate deeply with leadership, uncertainty, and decision-making across industries and global diplomacy, points out Suveen Sinha.
Gold prices advanced Rs 700 to reach a new lifetime high of Rs 91,950 per 10 grams in the national capital on Wednesday on the back of continued buying by jewellers ahead of wedding season, according to the All India Sarafa Association. Besides, increased tensions in the Middle East and concerns about the US economic slowdown have kept the demand for safe-haven assets intact.
The private corporate sector showed improvements across various segments in the third quarter of the current financial year (Q3FY25), with the operating profit margin of listed non-financial companies increasing sequentially by 50 basis points (bps) to 16.2 per cent, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data released on Monday. Sales of listed private non-financial companies increased by 8.0 per cent during Q3FY25, compared to 5.5 per cent in the corresponding quarter a year ago. It was, however, 5.4 per cent in Q2FY25.
Tata Sons Private Limited, the holding company of the Tata group, witnessed a precipitous drop in its net debt to Rs 5,656 crore in the 10 months ended January this year, as its cash reserves burgeoned to Rs 9,516 crore during this period. Eight years ago, in 2015-16, Tata Sons reported a net debt of Rs 5,132 crore; from March 2017 until March 2023, this figure was above the Rs 14,700 mark, peaking at Rs 27,437 crore at the end of March 2019, according to data sourced from Capitaline. The company's gross debt nearly halved to Rs 15,173 crore until January 2024 on a standalone basis, down from a peak of Rs 31,363 crore reported in the financial year ended March 2019.
Prospects of a bumper kharif harvest are expected to lower food inflation in the coming months, making the country's inflation outlook benign, the Union Ministry of Finance (FinMin) said in its monthly economic report for October released on Monday.
Food and grocery delivery major Zomato has pulled the plug on its plan to enter the lending business. Zomato Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zomato, has withdrawn its application for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), stating that the company does not have plans to pursue lending in the future. "There is no material impact on the revenue/operations of the company and this disclosure is being made voluntarily," the Gurgaon-based company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has been ranked as the top central banker globally for the second consecutive year by US-based Global Finance magazine. "Happy to announce that for the 2nd consecutive year, RBI Governor @DasShaktikanta has been rated 'A+', in the Global Finance Central Banker Report Cards 2024," the RBI said in a post on X.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) abstained from selling any US dollars throughout February, for the first time in nine months. The decision comes amid increasing pressure on the rupee, as expectations of rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve keep pushing back. The last time the RBI did not sell dollar over a month was in May 2023.
After rising for five consecutive weeks, India's forex kitty dropped $571 million to $563.5 billion for the week ended December 16, according to RBI data released on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had swelled $2.91 billion to $564.06 billion, making it the fifth straight week of an increase in the kitty after a protracted decline. In October 2021, the country's foreign exchange kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion.
Banks are preferring instruments with higher premium over government securities for their held-till-maturity (HTM) portfolio, following the new investment norms, which came into effect from April 1. They are stocking up on corporate bonds and state government securities to boost yield on their portfolio, according to market participants. "Definitely, if there is a good spread available and without lower credit risk, those instruments will be favoured to boost the yield on the portfolio.
Fintech firm One97 Communications, owner of Paytm brand, is laying off an undisclosed number of employees and claimed that it is providing outplacement support for their smooth transition, according to a company statement. Paytm's sales employee headcount in March 2024 quarter dropped by about 3,500 to 36,521 personnel on a quarter-on-quarter basis, mainly due the impact of the Reserve Bank of India's ban on services of Paytm Payments Bank.
The fall in total reserves was mainly because of a decline in foreign currency assets worth $4.5 billion, the data showed.
India's manufacturing sector growth eased slightly in July, on softer increases in new orders and output, while cost pressures and demand strength led to the steepest increase in selling prices since October 2013, a monthly survey said on Thursday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) moderated slightly from 58.3 in June to 58.1 in July.
Mint Road, on December 21, 2023, flagged the role of self-regulatory organisations (SROs) in strengthening the compliance culture in regulated entities (REs) and providing a consultative platform for policymaking. It also decided to issue an omnibus framework for SROs.
India's GDP is likely to grow at 6.5 to 7 per cent in the current fiscal year amid global challenges which may impact exports, said Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday. The growth projected for 2024-25 is lower than the economic growth rate of 8.2 per cent estimated for the previous financial year. The Reserve Bank has projected the GDP growth for the fiscal year ending March 2025 at 7.2 per cent.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday said the fiscal-monetary coordination was at its best during the last six years even as he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving the opportunity to head the monetary authority of the country. Das, in a series of posts on X, on his last day of his six-year term as RBI Governor, also thanked the Finance Minister, various stakeholders and his colleagues at the central bank.
The Indian rupee is likely to depreciate further against the US dollar through the end of 2024. This is due to the continued strengthening of the greenback, combined with the weakening of the Chinese yuan, which is expected to keep pressure on the Indian currency.
'If the US stagnates and falls into a recession, the dollar will weaken, oil prices will also dip. This augurs well for India.'
At a time when banks are finding it challenging to mobilise resources, State Bank of India (SBI)-the country's largest lender-has devised a three-pronged strategy to boost deposit accretion. First is an aspirational product that promises to make depositors lakhpatis by helping them grow their deposits to Rs 1 lakh through recurring deposit (RD) schemes.
India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined by $2.68 billion to $593.28 billion for the week ended May 13, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed on Friday. This is the 10th weekly drop in the country's foreign exchange reserves. During the week ended on May 6, the forex reserves had dipped by $1.77 billion.
The number of cyberfraud cases has skyrocketed from 2,677 in 1999-2000 to 29,082 in FY24 -- more than a 10-fold increase. The RBI pegs digital payment frauds at Rs 1,457 crore in FY24, up more than five times in a year. It's not just the number of frauds. What's alarming is the growing sophistication of the fraudsters, exposing the vulnerabilities within the financial system, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
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