The central government's fiscal deficit fell to 0.8 per cent of the full-year target at the end of May, mainly due to a whopping Rs 2.69 lakh crore dividend received from the Reserve Bank of India. The fiscal deficit, or gap between the government's expenditure and revenue, had touched 11.9 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) for 2025-26 or Rs 1.86 lakh crore in April.
India's forex reserves jumped $4.307 billion to a new all-time high of $655.82 billion for the week ended June 7, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday. The kitty had jumped $4.84 billion to $651.51 billion in the previous reporting week.
The RBI is likely to reduce the key interest rate by 25 basis points this week after keeping it on hold for two years, complementing the Union Budget initiatives to push consumption-led demand, though the sliding rupee continues to be a concern. As the retail inflation has remained within the Reserve Bank's comfort zone (less than 6 per cent) for most of the year, the central bank can take rate action to boost growth hit by sluggish consumption, opined experts.
'It was like rigorously preparing for a solid, good exam...' 'I don't know what marks I will get, but I felt the rigorous preparation of an exam.' 'You may sweat, but I feel rejuvenated.'
The new hire, Gangadhar Darbha, joined as a consultant
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded on Thursday after two days of decline, mirroring a rally in global markets as a US court blocked President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 320.70 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 81,633.02.
The Indian services sector growth touched an 11 month high in July, supported by a pickup in new exports orders and sharp rise in overall sales, a monthly survey said on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index was at 60.5 in July, little-changed from 60.4 in June, and the rate of expansion was the best seen since August 2024.
CPI inflation slowed to 9.39% in April compared with 10.39% in March.
Kotak Mahindra Bank's net interest margin is likely to swell after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted its restrictions on the private lender that barred it from issuing fresh credit cards and onboarding new customers through digital mode, brokerages said on Thursday. The bank's net interest margin (NIM) has seen a decline of over 35 basis points (bps) since the restrictions were imposed by the regulator in April 2024.
Among Sensex firms, Tata Motors rose the most by 3.97 per cent. Mahindra & Mahindra jumped by 3.96 per cent. Maruti, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance and UltraTech Cement were also among the gainers. However, Trent declined 3.81 per cent. Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, L&T, TCS, Power Grid and Sun Pharma were also among the laggards.
UPI has catapulted India into the forefront on the global digital payments landscape. Working hand in hand, the AePS payments system is making life easy for rural folks, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Simplifying GST rates, removing exemptions, easing disputes, and speeding up refunds can boost investment in India and offer the best reply to Trump's tariffs, observes V S Krishnan, former member, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
The size of the Reserve Bank's balance sheet as on March 31, 2025 increased by 8.20 per cent year-on-year, leading to a bumper dividend of Rs 2.69 lakh crore for the central government. Increase on assets side was due to rise in gold, domestic investments and foreign investments by 52.09 per cent, 14.32 per cent and 1.70 per cent, respectively, said the RBI's Annual Report for the Year 2024-25 released on Thursday.
The second post of deputy governor became vacant after V Leeladhar superannuated a few months ago. Punjab National Bank chairman and managing director K C Chakrabarty is to take over as deputy governor on Monday. Apart from monetary policy, Subbarao will also handle the department of economic analysis and policy, department of statistics and information management.
Equity investors would track global market trends, inflation data and trading activity of foreign investors for further cues this week, analysts said. Moreover, progress of monsoon and developments related to trade talks would also be monitored by investors, experts noted.
More than half of all new project announcements in the June 2025 quarter came from the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing projects worth around Rs 2.3 trillion were announced in the three-month period, accounting for 54 per cent of total new projects, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
IMD data shows in the 24 hours between September 1 and 2, Haryana received 806 per cent more rainfall than normal, Punjab 759 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 510 per cent, Delhi 740 per cent, Chandigarh a staggering 1,638 per cent, and Rajasthan 193 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the trading hours for the interbank call money market from July 1, and that of repo and tri-party repo markets from August 1. Market participants said the decision is intended to help reduce the large Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) balances held by banks with the RBI, thereby addressing liquidity mismatches.
India's forex reserves jumped $2.56 billion to $644.15 billion for the week ended May 10, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the kitty had increased $3.67 billion to $641.59 billion after three consecutive weeks of decline.
India's forex reserves dropped by $2.03 billion to $646.67 billion for the week ended May 24, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the kitty had reached an all-time high of $648.7 billion after a jump of $4.55 billion.
State Bank of India (SBI), the largest lender in the country, has launched a share sale to institutional investors to raise upto Rs 25,000 crore, the biggest qualified institutional placement (QIP) so far by an Indian firm, and has set a floor price of Rs 811.05, which is at a 2.5 per cent discount on Wednesday's closing price.
Gold prices are likely to remain in a consolidation phase in the near term, but the overall bias will continue to stay positive amid heightened expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate cut in its September policy meeting, analysts said. Traders will closely track US macroeconomic data, such as Q2 GDP, PCE inflation, and speeches from Fed officials, which will provide more insights into the monetary policy stance of the Federal Reserve and the trajectory of the bullion sentiment, they added.
The country's forex reserves touched a record high of $675 billion on August 2, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday. The previous all-time high for the kitty was $670.857 billion on July 19 this year, and the last reported reserve was $667.386 billion as on July 26. Das said overall, the country's external sector "remains resilient" as indicated by an improvement in key indicators.
Among Sensex firms, Bharat Electronics rose the most by 4.26 per cent. HCL Tech gained 2.57 per cent, Bajaj Finance by 2.19 per cent, TCS by 1.99 per cent, Tech Mahindra by 1.88 per cent and Infosys by 1.85 per cent. Gains in Axis Bank and State Bank of India also supported the rally. However, Mahindra & Mahindra emerged as the biggest loser, falling by 2.47 per cent. Maruti dropped 1.53 per cent and Tata Motors by nearly 1 per cent due to profit-taking. UltraTech, Eternal and Power Grid were also among the laggards.
'Self-declaration from the customer in case of no change in KYC information or change only in the address details may be obtained.'
From the Sensex firms, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Maruti and Titan were among the major gainers. Bharat Electronics, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.
India's forex reserves dropped by $1.99 billion to $652.87 billion for the week ended December 13, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by $3.235 billion to $654.857 billion.
For nearly two decades, Nitish Kumar has cultivated women as a distinct constituency. 'To create a broader vote base, he thought it would be better to bring women to electoral politics.'
RBI Deputy Governor Swaminathan J has asked banks to follow KYC guidelines with both "precision and empathy", failing which regulatory actions will be taken against them by the central bank. Addressing a Conference of Directors of Private Sector Banks here on Monday, the Deputy Governor also expressed concern that in many cases, customer grievance mechanisms, including the Internal Ombudsman structure, are treated more as a formality than as a robust, effective resource.
DPDP Act (2023) gives individuals the right to decide how their personal data is collected and used. For many businesses, this means reworking longstanding data practices, notes Ravi Duvvuru.
Infrastructure bond issuances by commercial banks in the current financial year (FY25) are likely to surpass Rs 1 trillion, almost double that of FY24, market participants said. So far this financial year, banks have raised Rs 74,256 crore via infra bonds. In FY24, the total issuances stood at around Rs 51,081 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused Karnataka Congress MLA K C Veerendra of collecting over Rs 2,000 crore through online betting sites. The agency alleges that Veerendra and his associates used various gateways and fintech service providers to mask their illicit activities.
Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm may deliberately delay transactions, issue fraud alerts, and require an extra layer of user confirmation before processing any transactions that are likely to be classified as fraudulent.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday said 98.12 per cent of the Rs 2000 banknotes have been returned to the banking system, and only Rs 6,691 crore worth such notes are still with the public. On May 19, 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the withdrawal of Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation.
India's forex reserves dropped $2.412 billion to $637.922 billion as on April 26, in the third consecutive weekly decline in the reserves, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had declined $2.28 billion to $640.33 billion. For the week ended April 5, the reserves had hit an all-time high of $648.562 billion following multiple weeks of increases.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has started winding down its short position in the dollar forward book, after a gap of seven months, on the back of a softening dollar, while infusing funds via open market operations (OMOs) to counter the resulting liquidity drain.
New investors should avoid short-term, tactical entries and instead go for staggered buying via ETFs to manage volatility.
Public-sector banks, including Canara Bank and Bank of India, are tapping the infrastructure bond market. Canara Bank on Tuesday raised Rs 10,000 crore at a coupon rate of 7.40 per cent through 10-year infrastructure bonds. This comes after SBI on July 10 raised Rs 10,000 crore also through infrastructure bonds with a 15-year tenor at a coupon rate of 7.36 per cent.
India's forex reserves jumped by $5.74 billion to $622.47 billion for the week ended February 2, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. In the previous week, the overall reserves had increased by $591 million to $616.73 billion. In October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion.
India posted a current account surplus of $13.5 billion or 1.3 per cent of GDP in March quarter 2024-25 as compared with $4.6 billion in the year-ago period mainly on account of surge in services exports and higher remittances, according to RBI data released on Friday.