With rising credit demand, cleaner balance sheets, and renewed investor confidence, banks are positioned at the forefront of the market rally. From major players like ICICI and HDFC to broader policy shifts, there's much driving this momentum.
The rupee, which was the worst performing Asian currency in 2025 and also in January, was the best performing Asian currency on Tuesday.
Indian corporate are increasingly shifting away from bank funding towards alternative sources, such as equity and bond markets, as their deleveraged balance sheets have improved their ability to raise equity at better valuations. Moreover, the 100 basis points (bps) rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled them to access long-term funds from the debt capital market at cheaper rates.
Delay in the tapering of the $85 billion-a-month bond buyback programme by the US Fed (tapering will start from January 1) gave the country time to replenish the forex reserves and rein in the high current account gap.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) short dollar forward positions rose by $6 billion in September - the first increase in seven months - indicating the central bank's readiness to defend the rupee in the forward market amid pressure on the currency, latest data showed. The net short dollar position stood at $59.4 billion at the end of September, up from $53.4 billion in August.
From the Sensex firms, Tata Motors jumped the most by 5.54 per cent, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank. However, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Tata Steel were among the laggards.
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 revised ceiling will be within the Rs 10 lakh mark.
The central bank cut SLR to 23 per cent from 24 per cent.
The high-value Rs 2000 notes worth Rs 5,884 crore are still in circulation, according to official data released on Wednesday.
'Foreign capital will continue to come directly into India, but companies have realised that GIFT City is a more cost-efficient way of channelling funds.'
Retail inflation slipped to 1.54 per cent in September from 2.07 per cent in the preceding month mainly due to subdued prices of food items, including vegetables and pulses, according to government data released on Monday. The consumer price index (CPI) based inflation was 5.49 per cent in September 2024.
Reserve Bank on Friday decided to cut Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by a huge 1 per cent, which will unlock Rs 2.5 lakh crore liquidity to the banking system for lending to productive sectors of the economy. With the reduction in four equal tranches ending November 29, 2025, the CRR would come down to 3 per cent.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Bharat Electronics, Power Grid, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, and Bajaj Finserv were among the biggest gainers. However, HCL Tech, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, and Sun Pharma were the laggards.
Despite corporate bond yields hardening by 20-25 basis points, Indian corporates are not warming up to bank funding for their capital expenditure needs as bank lending rates remain elevated due to the higher cost of liabilities, compared to current rates in the debt capital market.
Indians remitted close to $2 billion in November under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS), latest data released by the central bank showed. Outward remittances under the scheme jumped 29 per cent to $1.99 billion compared to $1.54 billion in the year-ago month. Sequentially, outward remittances under the scheme were up about 3.5 per cent.
Gold ETFs attracted around Rs 11,700 crore, the highest in a calendar month.
ilver continues to outperform the yellow metal, with the gold-to-silver price ratio declining to its lowest level since 2013. The ratio fell to around 57 on Wednesday in the international market, from a five-year high of 100.8 at the end of April 2025.
Trai has ordered BFSI firms to move service and transaction calls to the 1600 series from 2026 to reduce spam, financial fraud, and rising digital arrest scams.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra, and Deputy Governors Poonam Gupta, T Rabi Sankar, Swaminathan J, and S C Murmu on Friday addressed issues during the post-policy media interaction.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Trent, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Bharat Electronics and Maruti were among the biggest gainers. However, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Titan were the laggards.
India's forex reserves dropped by $3.05 billion to $699.74 billion in the week ended July 4, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had jumped by $4.85 billion to $702.78 billion.
India's forex reserve jumped by $4.76 billion to $640.48 billion in the week ended February 21, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by $2.54 billion to $635.72 billion.
'The Kerala of today is not the Kerala of yesterday.' 'What has seeped into this society is the feeling of hatred towards other castes and religions.'
India's forex reserves rose by $2.7 billion to $698.19 billion during the week ended July 25, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped $1.183 billion to $695.489 billion.
Importers are rushing to hedge their dollar positions amid the sharp depreciation of the rupee against the American currency and expectations of further volatility even as exporters are holding off after suffering mark-to-market (MTM) losses on earlier hedges.
Whenever possible, the karta or head of the family should openly discuss the future distribution of movable and immovable property with all legal heirs.
The high-value Rs 2000 notes worth Rs 6,099 crore are still in circulation even after two years of the Reserve Bank withdrawing the currency, according to official data released on Tuesday. Rs 2000 banknotes continue to be legal tender.
'Losing a house is a terrible feeling... We were not given enough time to shift our belongings.'
Banks have been borrowing heavily from the Tri-Party Repo (TREPS) market and deploying those funds into the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is offering higher interest rate than the former, leading to increased volumes in the SDF window. The weighted average TREPS rate was trading at 5.66 per cent on Monday, 9 basis points lower than the SDF rate which currently stands at 5.75 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Payment Systems Report highlighted that between 2019 and 2024, credit card transactions doubled in volume and almost tripled in value. During the same period, however, debit card transactions witnessed a decline, both in volume and value.
Three laws passed in Parliament could boost central revenues, reshape GST cess flows, shift MGNREGA costs to states and create new budget headroom ahead of the 2026-2027 Union Budget, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Indian capital markets are witnessing a boom in IPO activity in 2025, with the current calendar year being expected to be the largest IPO year in India's history, according to India heads of foreign banks on Wednesday.
ICICI Bank delivered satisfactory results in the second quarter of 2025-26 (Q2FY26), sustaining return on assets (RoA) of around 2.3-2.4 per cent and improving asset quality. Provisions declined 26 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and 50 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q).
India's forex reserves rose $1.05 billion to $630.61 billion for the week ended January 31, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $5.57 billion to $629.56 billion.
The return on investment (RoI) from technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) will take time to materialise, and the immediate priority should be to increase spending on building governance frameworks around AI, top bank executives said.
The Reserve Bank of India's dilemma over rates is its alone.
Wholesale price inflation (WPI) fell to (-) 1 .21 per cent in October, driven by a decline in prices of food articles like pulses and vegetables, as well as lower fuel and manufactured items' prices, government data showed on Friday.
The RBI has removed Yes Bank from its caution list of monitoring foreign investment following the dip in shareholding by foreign investors below the prescribed limit.
'We expect modest returns in 2026 versus the steep gains seen over the past few years.'
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