The industry also emphasised on supply-side interventions by the government to tackle persistently high food inflation.
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.
Sustaining 8 per cent-plus growth rates is necessary if we are to reach high-income status by 2047, points out Amitabh Kant.
Infrastructure bonds, which were relied upon the most in 2024-25 (FY25) by commercial banks to raise funds through the domestic debt capital market amid lagging deposit growth, seem to have lost their sheen in FY26. So far in FY26, no bank has tapped the domestic debt capital market to raise funds via infra bonds, and the expectation is that the amount raised through this route will be significantly lower than that last year, unless credit demand picks up.
The pace of loan growth among public sector banks (PSBs) has seen a surge in the financial year 2024-25, and this is an exception to the overall moderation in bank credit during FY25. PSU banks' share in incremental credit rose to 57.3 per cent in March from 51.7 per cent a year ago, according to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Monetary Policy Report (April 2025).
A massive liquidity outflow of over Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) in the coming weeks is expected to pull back the overnight call rates from the near sub-zero levels to the central bank-desired 6-7.75 per cent range.
'We may see little softness in liquidity position after the stabilisation of the government.'
The move by the central bank follows concerns over tight liquidity conditions and banks' unwillingness to lend to NBFCs.
The RBI, which had been following soft monetary policy since September last year to inject liquidity into the system to help industry combat the impact of the global meltdown, on Tuesday reversed its stance by increasing the SLR by one per cent to 25 per cent, though it kept other rates unchanged.
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.
Banks have issued Rs 7.78 trillion worth of CDs in the current calendar year until August 2024, compared to Rs 4.9 trillion in the same period of 2023, registering a 59 per cent growth
The government has introduced friendly policies for the infra sector
Banks have asked for an exemption of statutory requirements such as the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) for lending to the infrastructure sector. While the CRR is a tool where banks have to set aside liquidity with RBI in proportion of the deposits mobilised by them, the SLR requires banks to invest 25 per cent of their liabilities in government securities to generate instant liquidity.
Although the RBI's open market operations have ensured sufficient system-level liquidity, some sectors are finding liquidity to be a challenge owing to their credit profile.
State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara has pitched for tax relief on interest income, saying it would help banks to garner savings that could be used for funding long-term infra projects. Currently, banks are required to deduct tax when interest income from deposits held in all the bank branches put together is more than Rs 40,000 in a year. With regard to savings accounts, interest earned up to Rs 10,000 is exempt from tax.
The RBI, however, kept other key rates and ratios like repo, reverse repo and cash reserve ratio unchanged.
The Reserve Bank on Tuesday increased a key statutory deposit ratio for banks to 25 per cent but the move is not expected to push interest rates up. RBI left other key policy rates and ratios unchanged. Due to this, it is unlikely that banks will banks hike their auto, home and education loan rates in the near term.
The inflation target has been hiked to to 6.5 per cent from 5 per cent. The FY10 GDP target is unchanged at 6 per cent.
The Reserve Bank on Friday took steps towards normalisation of liquidity management to pre-pandemic levels, with the introduction of the standing deposit facility (SDF) as the basic tool to absorb excess liquidity, and narrowing the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) to 0.50 per cent from the 0.90 per cent. Governor Shaktikanta Das said the SDF will be at 3.75 per cent, 0.25 per cent below the repo rate and 0.50 per cent lower than the marginal standing facility (MSF) which helps the banks with funds when required. The SDF has its origins in a 2018 amendment to the RBI Act and is an additional tool for absorbing liquidity without any collateral.
The Centre's fiscal consolidation resolve led to the cut in banks' mandatory SLR for the second time in a row, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Tuesday, hinting at more such liquidity enhancing steps in tandem with the government's action on fiscal deficit.
State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest lender, is looking to raise Rs 10,000 crore through 15-year infrastructure bonds as early as next week, said multiple sources aware of the development. Market participants expect a coupon in the range of 7.15-7.18 per cent for SBI's upcoming infrastructure bond issuance. This comes as demand for longer-tenor papers has remained strong in recent domestic capital market offerings.
Bankers have suggested that the Reserve Bank of India lower the statutory liquidity ratio and the cash reserve ratio as the present liquidity crunch is affecting their business. During the mid-term resource management discussion with the RBI team led by Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan, the country's top bankers said the tight liquidity condition was pushing up the cost of funds and putting further pressure on margins.
There are however, enough dovish signals in the governor's statement to indicate a pro-growth policy going forward.
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.
State Bank of India hinted at lowering lending rates to retail customers.
The Reserve Bank of India, in its first-quarter review of monetary policy, kept the benchmark policy rate constant at 8 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday said it was starting to unwind some of the extraordinary policy easing and liquidity support measures taken to shore the economy up against the global credit crisis and economic slump.
The central bank cut SLR to 23 per cent from 24 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) clarification on the final norms for new bank licences has much to mull on for the many entities interested. It has clearly ruled out any benefit to the new entrants in terms of more time to meet the cash reserve ratio/statutory liquidity ratio (CRR/SLR) requirements.
The flow of money into Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) deposits witnessed a substantial increase, touching $2.14 billion in the first quarter of this financial year (Q1FY24), compared with $349 million in the same period in FY23. The outstanding NRI deposits rose by $2.5 billion, standing at $141.28 billion at the end of June 2023, up from $138.77 billion in May 2023, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. RBI released the updated data in the bulletin after almost three months.
In short, if India Inc lives up to the expectations in the required measure of resilience, innovation, initiative, imagination and leadership, it can help harmonise the imperatives of growth with control of inflation.
The Reserve Bank of India will provide foreign exchange liquidity to foreign branches and subsidiaries of Indian banks through currency swaps.
ICICI Bank Chairman K V Kamath on Thursday disagreed with the suggestion of SBI chief Pratip Chaudhuri that RBI should scrap CRR, saying it is part of the monetary policy and no issue can be made of it.
What's encouraging is that the process of unwinding some of the extraordinary steps taken in last July-August is continuing, so moreliberalisation is back on their agenda.
NBFCs seek level playing field with banks in terms of treatment of NPAs, TDS on deposits, removal of service tax on HP and lease transactions, refinance mechanism akin to NHB etc
RBI is also considering a proposal to re-introduce inflation-indexed bonds.
The central bank raised statutory liquidity ratio, the portion of deposits that banks are required to keep in government securities, by 100 basis points to 25 per cent. Other key rates were unchanged.
Benchmark share indices ended at record closing highs as the cut in statutory liquidity ratio by the Reserve Bank of India at its policy meet today will help inject liquidity, paving the way for credit growth revival.
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