Taking Kharg would give the US control over virtually all of Iran's oil exports and thus provide significant leverage, notes Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War. It would also put American troops within range of Iran's remaining missiles, drones, and artillery on a piece of real estate that is just eight square miles in size, and just 15 miles from the Iranian mainland.
The pause gives the US time to breathe, to regroup, to move its expeditionary force into position without risk of interception along the way. It gives Iran nothing -- on the ground, attacks against its infrastructure continue apace. Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
The ratio of MF assets under management to total bank deposits has more than doubled in 10 years.
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.
Yes, the entry of private bankers, particularly with global experience will add value to PSBs, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
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.
India's forex reserves increased $1.98 billion to $688.13 billion during the week ended April 25, the RBI said on Friday. This is the eighth consecutive week of a rise in the kitty, which had jumped 8.31 billion to $686.14 in the previous reporting week.
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.
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.
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.
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.
State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Sunday said it has cut its benchmark lending rate linked to repo rate by 50 basis points in line with the RBI's rate reduction. Meanwhile, private sector HDFC Bank reduced its Marginal Cost of Funds-based Lending Rates (MCLR) by 10 basis points across tenure, which will benefit borrowers whose loans are linked to this benchmark.
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.
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.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said it expects several companies which have raised money through foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) to face severe funding problems in the next two years due to lacklustre equity markets.
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 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.
Winds of change are blowing across Mumbai's Mint Road.
The RBI on March 12 approached the Election Commission seeking its approval for granting bank lincences as the model code of conduct had come in place after the general elections announcement on March 5.
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.
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.
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.
Gopalakrishna's name was in the reckoning for Deputy Governor in place of Anand Sinha who retired in January.
Officials from both India and the US in the recent past have indicated that a "fair deal" will be concluded soon, with Indian officials holding that more formal rounds of talks are not needed.
RBI norms on foreign control of corporations will clear the air.
'Do exhaustive research and then select the one that best fits your budget and requirements.'
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.
Back in March this year, when the Reserve Bank of India stepped in with a cap of 60 per cent on the loan-to-value ratio for gold loan non-banking financial companies, it said it was acting to pre-empt systemic risks and to safeguard public funds.
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 will hold a special meeting of its rate-setting committee on November 3 to prepare a report for the government on why it failed to keep retail inflation below the target of 6 per cent for three consecutive quarters since January. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will prepare the report on reasons for failure to meet the inflation target as well as the remedial measures the central bank is taking to bring down prices in the country. "Under the provisions of Section 45ZN of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act 1934... an additional meeting of the MPC is being scheduled on November 3, 2022," RBI said in a statement on Thursday.
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.
Among Sensex shares, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Eternal, BEL, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, ITC and Sun Pharmaceutical were the major laggards. However, Titan, Maruti, Trent, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, L&T, HCL Technologies and NTPC were among the gainers.
Most expect a 25 bps rate hike today, but want pause.
Report by March 31; banks' gold coin sales, wealth management biz also under scanner.
'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 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday realigned the bank rate to marginal standing facility (MSF) rate in one-time technical adjustment. The bank rate now stands at 9.5 per cent as against six per cent earlier.
The central bank cut SLR to 23 per cent from 24 per cent.
Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran on Wednesday said that the country is not pursuing any proposal to replace the US dollar as international currency for global trade. "No, certainly not. I think India is not part of any such initiative," he said in response to a question if India is looking at an alternative currency to the US dollar for global trade.
Payments banks have urged the Union finance ministry to increase their deposit limit for each account to Rs 5 lakh, according to a source who participated in a meeting, chaired by the Department of Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju, in New Delhi. At present, they can accept deposits of up to Rs 2 lakh.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday exhorted the fledgling fintech ecosystem to focus on the underserved sections of the society to deepen financial inclusion. Speaking at the annual Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, Malhotra accepted that serving the "privileged" will be a lucrative business, but urged the smaller companies to focus on the underserved.
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