Overhauling India's bloated and often sluggish state banks is critical for the government
A combination of factors, including heavy investments in US Treasury bonds and dollar sales at a healthy profit, facilitated the Indian central bank in transferring a record surplus of Rs 2.11 trillion to the government for 2023-24 (FY24). The RBI's dollar purchases increased in FY24, supported by robust capital inflows endorsing the economy's health.
AIBEA is part of United Forum of Bank Unions, the umbrella organisation of employee and officer unions of nine banks, which has given the call for one-day strike on January 7 and four days from January 21 in support of their wage hike demand pending since November 2012.
India's top private banks might soon exit from the gold coin business.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has announced that the long-delayed Mumbai-Goa highway will be completed by June this year. He also revealed that a new toll policy will be announced within the next 15 days, which will eliminate physical toll booths across the country. Gadkari attributed the delay in the highway project to legal disputes and land acquisition issues. He expressed confidence in India's infrastructural future, stating that the country's road infrastructure will be better than that of the United States in the next two years.
He is expected to be produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court on Saturday where the ED will seek his remand for custodial interrogation.
Bank CFOs may meet next week to discuss minimum public shareholding and takeover rule issues.
Most of the lenders had informed their customers in advance about the strike call given by All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA), BEFI, INBEF, INBOC and Bank Karmachari Sena Mahasangh (BKSM), and its impact on banking services.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
Rajan said the RBI is working on upgrading the capabilities of its inspectors to undertake bank system audits as well as to detect vulnerabilities in them
Banking services across the country were hit on Wednesday by the day-long strike by 10 central trade unions and 14 bank unions, but workers of largest lender SBI and a few other banks stayed off the agitation.
Corporation Bank is the biggest beneficiary of this round of capital infusion with Rs 9,086 crore of funding, followed by Allahabad Bank with Rs 6,896 crore.
A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people.
A host of lenders, including State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Indian Bank and Andhra Bank, have lined up meetings of their asset-liability committees this week, to review their lending and deposit rates.
Shaktikanta Das will demit the office on Tuesday after completing six years as the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra will replace him as the 26th Governor. He was appointed as the Governor on December 12, 2018, after the abrupt exit of Urjit Patel.
At least 13 candidates are in the race for the position of managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of Punjab National Bank (PNB), the second-largest public sector bank (PSB), according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. "Among the candidates, some are executive directors (EDs) and managing directors in major PSBs. "Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) will conduct the interviews next month," said a source.
The central government has asked public sector undertakings to dissuade their employees from participating in the bandh.
From the Sensex pack, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. In contrast, Tata Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Tata Motors and Tata Consultancy Services were among the laggards.
Amid a debate on the basis of a monetary policy stance, one may be curious enough to know how non-food retail inflation has behaved over the years in India. Let the eager souls catch a glimpse of facts. In the past 10 years, non-food inflation came down below 4 per cent on two occasions - pre-Covid period of 2019-20 and now in the first four months of the current financial year (FY25).
Rajan sees banks passing on the benefit of lower rates regime to customers.
Seasoned bureaucrat and a stickler for rules Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey will be at the helm of capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), for three years. The 1987-batch Odisha-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Pandey, would replace Madhabi Puri Buch, whose three-year term ends on Friday.
Nationalisation has served its purpose. It's time to move ahead, keeping majority ownership of the government in a few banks to serve the people, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Caste census politics took centre stage on Thursday with the Congress terming the government's decision as a 'diversionary tactic' and a move for headlines management and the Bharatiya Janata Party saying it has exposed the difference between the Centre's 'true intentions' and the 'empty sloganeering' of the opposition party.
This is the second all-India bank strike in as many months.
In all, 14 unions representing bank employees and officers will be supporting the day-long stir.
The bosses of SBI, Union Bank and Central Bank have been driving down to their offices everyday to take stock of the biggest loan drive ever undertaken for MSMEs, discovers Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday allowed inbound travellers from G20 nations arriving at select airports to use the popular UPI for making payments in the country. Later, the RBI also proposes to extend the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) facility to travellers from all countries. UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
The central government is looking to strengthen the boards of public sector banks (PSBs) by specifying terms of office and conditions of service for whole-time directors, and also seeking disclosures from all directors about interests in other companies. Through the Banking Laws Amendment Bill, the government is likely to introduce conditions for disqualification of whole-time and independent directors which are not specified in the current legislation. The Centre is seeking to introduce fresh changes that are aimed at strengthening the boards of PSBs, and holding their directors accountable, an official said.
'The snakes and ladders game will continue till the consolidation process is complete simply because we don't know how bad the scene is, with some of the banks being merged,' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
In FY24 alone, 1.34 million fraud cases were reported, amounting to losses of Rs 1,087 crore.
The current wage revision for PSBs, as well as some private lenders, is due from November 2017 for five years - up to October 2022.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President JD Vance have expressed satisfaction with the progress made in negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement. The two leaders met in New Delhi and discussed a range of bilateral issues, including cooperation in energy, defense, strategic technologies, and other areas. They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
In FY24, loans given out by such firms had topped a whopping Rs 146,517 crore, up by 49 per cent year-on-year and spread over 10.19 million accounts (up 35 per cent).
The Union home ministry has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) for alleged violation of laws, a move the public think-tank termed "incomprehensible and disproportionate" and vowed to seek legal recourse against.
The pilot project for central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the retail segment went live on Thursday with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issuing Rs 1.71 crore to four participating banks based on their indents. The central bank has identified four banks for the first phase of the pilot - State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank - in four cities, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar. The highest indent was received from one private sector bank.
Replying to a question about women empowerment, Sitharaman insisted that patriarchy is a concept invented by the Left.
'Consider 40% to 50% in equities, 10% in gold as a hedge, and the remaining 30% to 40% split between multi-asset funds and hybrid funds.'
Responding to questions, the World Bank president insisted that this slowdown is temporary.
According to the complaint filed by SBI, the account had become non-performing asset on January 27, 2016.