'Corporates now have multiple funding sources beyond banks, and many are sitting on large cash reserves.'
'There are no additional benefits for banks and market participants to use CBDC...'
Sanjay Malhotra has made structural changes to banking regulation to bring down costs and increase efficiency. Plus, he kicked off a benign interest regime. But there are challenges ahead.
India was being evaluated for a potential weight of around 1 per cent in the index, an allocation that could have translated into $25 billion of inflows, spread over roughly 10 months.
But selectively, with regulatory scrutiny and special approval, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
India has managed high government debt-to-GDP, a slowing domestic revenue engine, lower household savings and a more hostile geopolitical environment separately in the past. But together, they threaten to undo the growth narrative on which today's optimism rests, warns Debashis Basu.
Gold prices are likely to trade firm next week as traders await key economic data, including US inflation numbers, for fresh cues on interest rate outlook, while silver may remain volatile amid shifting risk sentiment and speculative activity, analysts said.
'We have seen that stablecoins lack the basic attributes of money, their advantages are neither unique nor unambiguous and their risks are all too real.'
India's forex reserves increased by $4.496 billion to $702.28 billion for the week ended October 17, as the value of gold reserves rose further, the RBI said on Friday.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Friday said the central bank does not target any band for the rupee in the forex market, and allows the domestic currency to find its own correct level.
As India's biggest Unified Payments Interface (UPI) app PhonePe prepares to list, the updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) shows the impact of regulations on the business, and concentration of payments-linked revenue even as UPI lacks MDR (merchant discount rate).
The bull-market in gold is not yet over and prices can rise to $6,200 an ounce (oz) by mid-2026, up nearly 25 per cent from current levels, according to UBS.
Private sector banks slipped in market capitalisation (mcap) during the July-September quarter, underperforming their government-owned peers as trade uncertainties dragged market sentiment, said S&P Global Market Intelligence. According to its analysis, HDFC Bank shed 4.8 per cent in mcap during the third quarter, while ICICI Bank's dropped 6.7 per cent.
The core dilemma remains: Why provide further stimulus to an economy that is already booming at an 8 per cent growth rate? asks Rajeswari Sengupta.
'Economic activity appears to have peaked in the second quarter of FY26, with industrial output, exports, and business confidence all softening from October 2025.'
The recent policies that have been announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will allow banks to fully use its capital, funding profile to keep business at an equilibrium level, which otherwise was getting skewed towards retail, said K V Kamath, chairman, Jio Financial Services.
From the 30-Sensex firms, InterGlobe Aviation, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, and Tata Steel were among the biggest laggards. However, Trent, UltraTech Cement, Maruti, and Power Grid were among the gainers.
The first day of the year 2026 was positive for the debt market with foreign investors buying a net domestic debt of Rs 7,524 crore, the highest single-day inflow since May 29 last year.
Market sentiment is likely to remain cautious as investors position themselves for the upcoming Union Budget and the US Fed's interest rate decision, where expectations are muted.
The RBI has flagged concerns over rising volatility in gold prices and advised lenders to exercise caution in the gold loan segment.
The forthcoming Budget could think of maintaining public capital expenditure at 3 per cent so that domestic resources are available for private investments, points out N R Bhanumurthy.
Private-sector lender IndusInd Bank had said the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) interacted with its officials this week and would send a written communication seeking specific details related to the accounting discrepancies identified at the bank.
As the government moves to revamp India's securities legislation, unifying three different laws into the Securities Markets Code (SMC), regulatory experts and market insiders have raised concerns on potential funding challenges for the stock market regulator.
Stock market is gearing up for an eventful week ahead where key triggers such as quarterly earnings from corporates, the US Fed interest rate decision and the upcoming Union Budget for 2026-27 would grab the limelight, analysts said.
A national rollout will take place after the pilot test in which SBI, PNB, Axis Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank are participating.
As the rupee remains under pressure due to several headwinds and the uncertainty around the India-US trade deal, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been stepping in only to calm volatility, not to stop the fall.
The government on Wednesday put out the draft of a new policy that projects the country's power sector will need Rs 50 trillion in investments by 2032 and Rs 200 trillion by 2047, proposing ambitious reforms in generation, transmission and distribution.
India's first maritime lender, state-owned Sagarmala Finance Corporation Ltd (SMFCL) hit the ground running with a Rs 4,300 crore disbursement announcement last Tuesday, within months of being registered as a non-banking financial company (NBFC) in June 2025.
The Indian economy is likely to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2025-26, up from 6.5 per cent in the previous fiscal, mainly on account of better performance of manufacturing and services sectors, as per the government data released on Wednesday.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday announced a fresh round of liquidity measures through open-market operations (OMOs) and a foreign exchange buy-sell swap, under which it will inject close to Rs 3 trillion into the banking system. The central bank said it would purchase Government of India securities worth Rs 2 trillion through OMOs, spread across four tranches of Rs 50,000 crore each to be conducted on December 29, January 5, January 12 and January 22.
The committee formed under the Life Insurance Council to review the commission structure in the life insurance sector has recommended capping distributor commissions or deferring them to ease acquisition costs. The recommendations will be sent to the insurance regulator -- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).
Private-sector lender Federal Bank on Friday announced that New York-based Blackstone will invest Rs 6,196.51 crore in the bank through its affiliate Asia II Topco XIII Pte Ltd via a preferential issue on a private placement basis.
The best way for India to prepare is by preserving and strengthening the RBI's hard-won credibility, point out Rajeswari Sengupta and Vaishali Garga.
The rupee, which was the worst performing Asian currency in 2025 and also in January, was the best performing Asian currency on Tuesday.
Yes, the entry of private bankers, particularly with global experience will add value to PSBs, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
State debt is rising because revenues are disappointingly weak. Ten states have debt ratios exceeding 30 per cent. In 2023-2024, states were borrowing simply to meet day-to-day expenses, points out Debashis Basu.
India's forex reserves were up by $4.84 billion to $702.78 billion for the week ended June 27, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the foreign exchange reserves had dropped by $1.01 billion to $697.93 billion.
India's forex reserves dropped by $2.334 billion to $700.236 billion during the week ended September 26, according to the RBI data on Friday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's biggest challenge will be to find a new growth driver, particularly against the backdrop of a global economy ravaged by heightened uncertainty and fragmentation, financial markets on a precipice, and global commodity prices on a continued uptrend.
The government bond yield curve is likely to flatten in the financial year 2027 (FY27) as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to ease supply pressure in the ultra-long segment. In FY26 so far, reduced investments by insurance companies and pension funds pushed up yields on ultra-long tenor securities, steepening the curve.