The evolving RBI-government relationship, a reversal in the interest rate cycle and return to profitability will dominate bankers' conversation this year, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'BJP's ultimate ambition is to control Bihar independently.'
The move would also help banks garner more funds to meet their lending needs.
India has the best hiring outlook globally, second only to Brazil, with 54 per cent of companies surveyed planning to hire in the December quarter as against 51 per cent in the September quarter, according to a report by global staffing firm ManpowerGroup. The report titled "ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey" showed that India has the strongest net employment outlook for the December quarter in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by China (46 per cent), and Australia (38 per cent). The global net employment outlook in the December quarter would stand at 30 per cent, down by three percentage points from the June-September quarter, yet six percentage points higher than the same period last year, the staffing firm said.
Branch usage has dropped by 27 per cent on an average across Asia between 2007 and 2011.
The base rate, or the minimum lending rate, of HDFC Bank will become 9.8 per cent from the existing 10 per cent, sources said.
'The reason is that you may not enter the branch but you want to see it near you as it establishes trust.'
Corporate India's net profit as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) dipped in the 2022-23 financial year (FY23) -- after rebounding sharply in FY22 -- amid a decline in global commodity prices. Top 500 companies' combined net profit stood at 4.1 per cent of the GDP for FY23, down from 4.3 per cent in the previous financial year when it had gone up from just 3.5 per cent in FY21. "The year-on-year (YoY) decline was led by global commodities, which contributed adversely to the ratio, while the financial sector contributed positively.
Your money is protected by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation.
RBI moves to restrict bank exposure to corporate loans.
Retail inflation declined to a one-year low of 5.72 per cent in December 2022, mainly due to softening prices of food items, according to official data released on Thursday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation was at 5.88 per cent in November 2022 and 5.66 per cent in December 2021.
The IMF on Tuesday cut India's economic growth forecast by 0.5 percentage points to 9 per cent for the current fiscal year, with its chief economist Gita Gopinath saying that the slight downgrade is mainly due to the impact of the spread of the Omicron variant. "If you look at the 2021-22 fiscal year, we have a slight downgrade of -0.5 percentage points and for the next fiscal year 2022-23 we have a slight upgrade of 0.5 percentage points. So, growth for the previous fiscal year is now nine per cent and for this year now is at nine per cent. We moved it up slightly," Gopinath told reporters during a news conference in Washington. In its latest update of World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund has cut India's economic growth forecast to 9 per cent for the current fiscal year ending March 31, joining a host of agencies which have downgraded their projections on concerns over the impact of the spread of Omicron on business activity and mobility.
Some of the public banks showed improvement; much more still needs to be done
'In their over-enthusiasm to clean up the system, both the banks and the regulator should not forget that the key to the insolvency law is revival of companies -- recovery of bank dues is an offshoot of that,' points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Public sector banks have already begun slashing their prime lending rates while some in the private sector space have so far refrained from doing so. "Private sector banks will (now) have to reduce their rates," Prime Minister's Economic Advisory panel chief Suresh Tendulkar said. "Banks are well-capitalised but the current problem is that they are unwilling to lend."
What's different this time is that global financial stress -- which has its genesis in four policy choices made in recent years -- is juxtaposed with a more resilient real economy, observes Sajjid Z Chinoy, chief India economist at J P Morgan.
'The banking sector appears to be on course to recovery,' declares the RBI governor.
'The Israeli government is saying, "OK, leave northern Gaza, because we're going to fight Hamas there".' 'But Hamas is not stupid. They are going to put militants in southern Gaza too. And then what's Israel going to do?' 'At some point are they going to say, 'Leave southern Gaza too because we want to fight Hamas there? Go across the border to Egypt"'? 'That's what people are worried about. Because they fear that once they cross the border into Egypt there will be no coming back.'
'The BJP is doing politics 24x365, but the Congress revs up only during elections.'
'India is respected by both Israel and Palestine.' 'India can push the international community for the peace process.'
Group term insurance is far more cost-effective than an individual cover.
There will be no charge for RuPay credit card use on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for transactions up to Rs 2,000 in line with the RBI direction, a recent NPCI circular said. RuPay credit card has been operational for the last four years, and all major banks are enabled and are issuing incremental cards for both commercial and retail segments. "During credit card on-boarding on the apps, the device binding and UPI PIN setting process shall include and be construed as customer consent for credit card enablement for all types of transactions," the circular dated October 4 said.
Union Bank of India on Thursday slashed its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 0.50 per cent to 12 per cent per annum, a day after RBI cut key rate by similar percentage points.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel on Saturday exhorted banks to reduce their lending rates to push credit demand in laggard segments, saying banks have benefited from influx of low-cost deposits and its previous repo rate cuts.
RBI wants the lending rates to be determined by the market.
Net profit rose to Rs 1,982 crore (Rs 19.82 billion) in the quarter ended September 30 from about Rs 1,560 crore (Rs 15.6 billion) a year earlier, the bank said on Tuesday. Net interest income grew nearly 15% to Rs 4,480 crore (Rs 44.8 billion).
Fifteen months after taking power, Modi's credibility as an economic manager is on the line.
From zeroing in on the best means for stake dilution to moving beyond microfinance, Bandhan navigates a tough path. Namrata Acharya reports.
Axis Bank has reported a better-than-expected 18.4 per cent increase in quarterly net profit.
"Growth is expected to moderate gradually in China... pick up in India, and remain broadly stable in the Asean-5 region."
'What is critical today in India is confidence of depositors.' 'If you have these kinds of problems spreading like this, the confidence level of a lot of people in the system gets shaken.'
MMFS is looking at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 per cent in assets under management (AUM) during FY23 to FY26 on the back of the strong recovery. The company has initiated risk-mitigating initiatives, including diversification into non-vehicle loans, building digital capacity and re-classification of customer profiles into affluent and mass-affluent in semi-urban segments to better target marketing.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Mumbai has convicted four former bank officials in one of the multi-crore securities scam cases and sentenced them to three years imprisonment, 25 years after the scam involving 'Big Bull' Harshad Mehta came to the fore.
Total income of the bank during January-March 2018 stood at Rs 14,559.85 crore, slightly up from Rs 14,181.31 crore earned in the same period of 2016-17.
'The others have been looting the people all these years. If you don't do that, you can do a lot for the people,' says Tamil star politician Vijayakanth.
As many as 7 per cent of bank account holders in the country are using the Internet for banking transactions, while branch banking has fallen by a full 15 percentage points, according to a report by global management consultancy McKinsey & Company.
Only a small percentage of passengers who traveled on the trains involved in the June 2, 2023 accident in Odisha had availed of travel accident insurance while booking their tickets online on the IRCTC portal.
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