Loans against gold jewellery in India surged by an impressive 128 per cent year-on-year to nearly 4.28 trillion in February 2026, according to the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, significantly outpacing overall retail loan growth.
'When there is such an elaborate and a strong process, one would have expected anyone to either place the issues so that they can be addressed or go to the regulator and probably tell them rather than creating a kind of uncertainty for the stakeholders.
'There is a challenge in repositioning yourself, maybe reinventing yourself.'
India's wholesale price inflation (WPI) increased for the fourth consecutive month in February, reaching 2.13 per cent, primarily due to rising prices of food and manufactured goods, according to government data.
Wipro has launched its AI-Data Centre solution, integrating NVIDIA's AI Enterprise platform, to accelerate enterprise-scale AI adoption and modernise data centre environments.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday proposed to allow banks to lend to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with certain prudential safeguards to deepen the financing pool for the real estate sector.
'In the last one year, we have added more than Rs 1.7 trillion, and we are on track.'
Fitch Ratings on Friday said persistently higher oil prices could cause India's retail inflation to rise faster than the expected gradual pace, and lead to a slowdown in economic growth in the first half of financial year 2026-27 (FY27).
Households should moderate large discretionary expenses for the time being.
'They should prioritise essential spending. They should maintain an emergency fund covering 6 to 12 months of expenses.'
ICICI Bank, Eternal, Titan, Adani Ports, Tata Consultancy Services and UltraTech Cement were also among the laggards. However, InterGlobe Aviation, Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever and Bajaj Finance were among the gainers.
'There is no shortage of fuel whatsoever.' 'India is stock surplus as far as petrol and diesel are concerned.'
'Except for extremely conservative investors, others can consider allocating 10 to 20 per cent of their portfolio to small caps.'
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its Financial Stability Report (FSR), cautioned that stress tests indicate two scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) may have to dip into their capital conservation buffers (CCBs), unless stakeholders infuse capital, under a scenario involving a gradual slowdown in domestic GDP growth and a moderate rise in inflation, with limited policy easing space available to the central bank.
'LIC will reduce but not fully exit its stake in IDBI Bank, which remains an important bancassurance partner,' says LIC of India' MD and CEO R Doraiswamy.
India's retail inflation, which has stayed below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) 4 per cent target in recent times, is likely to remain benign in the coming months, RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said in a speech, on Friday, which was uploaded on the central bank's website on Tuesday. Headline inflation dipped to multi-year lows of around 1.5-2.8 per cent in late 2025.
Wholesale price inflation extended upward momentum for the third straight month, at 1.81 per cent in January, driven by an uptick in prices of food, non-food articles, and manufactured items on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Monday.
'Reinvention is not a hugely difficult task. With technology as available today, you can reinvent yourself pretty quickly.'
Ask rediffGURU Reetika Sharma your insurance, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
The Indian banking sector could be due for a rise in profitability after several quarters of net interest margin (NIM) compression. The Q2FY26 results suggest NIMs have bottomed out.
Trading pattern in the stock market this week will largely depend on the ongoing Q3 earnings announcement from corporates, global trends, and foreign fund movement, analysts said. Moreover, geopolitical developments and any update on trade negotiations would also be keenly tracked by investors, experts noted.
Foreign banks set the template in consumer banking in its infancy, but have almost vacated this booming space.
Wholesale price inflation extended upward momentum for the second straight month, recording at 0.83 per cent in December 2025, driven by an uptick in prices of food, non-food articles, and manufactured items on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Wednesday. Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation returned to positive in December, after witnessing a deflationary trend in the previous two months.
'Credit growth in India remains in double digits, even though corporate borrowing is subdued.' 'Corporate credit is weak because companies are cash-rich and cautious amid global uncertainty.'
New investors should enter gradually and with a long horizon. 'Staggered investment through systematic purchase plans is advisable rather than lump-sum buying.'
Retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 1.33 per cent in December 2025 mainly due to higher prices of kitchen essentials, including vegetables and protein-rich items.
India's household debt climbed to 41.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of March 2025, marking a sustained rise from its five-year average of 38.3 per cent, with consumption-related loans accounting for bulk of the borrowings, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report.
As deposit growth lags credit expansion, Indian banks face shrinking low-cost Casa inflows, rising funding costs, and structural shifts driven by UPI, e-Kuber, and digital savings trends, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'As the team builds, each of them will bring in a different perspective, new thinking.'
Is the parabolic rise in silver running out of steam or just getting started? Ramalingam Kalirajan offers his take on if you should invest in silver now?
'Global uncertainty is something which definitely occupies the minds of officials when we are preparing for the Budget.'
'Corporates now have multiple funding sources beyond banks, and many are sitting on large cash reserves.'
'MIB which is a part of retail, will grow in the range of 20 per cent.'
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty dived sharply by nearly 2 per cent on Sunday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a hike in the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on derivatives. Reversing the early gains, the 30-share BSE Sensex plunged sharply by 2,370.36 points or 2.88 per cent to slide below the 80,000-mark at 79,899.42 in afternoon trade as the finance minister announced a hike in STT on futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from the current 0.02 per cent.
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.
Axis Bank reported a sharp drop in net profit in the second quarter of financial year 2026 (Q2FY26) on higher provisions and weak operating profit growth while revenue growth was moderate. But loan growth and deposit growth improved to double-digits year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and asset quality also improved with the gross non-performing loan or NPL ratio moving down.
'Headcount expansion is more likely in revenue-linked and product-critical teams than in broad based hiring.'
A neutral monetary policy stance, heavy government borrowing, and issuers adjusting to a higher-for-longer yield environment have set the stage for a largely stable corporate bond market in 2026.
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).
'We expect modest returns in 2026 versus the steep gains seen over the past few years.'
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.
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