Batting for further consolidation in public sector banking, the executives of top public sector banks (PSBs) said there should be at least two Indian banking entities among the top 20 global banks.
Credit quality of Indian corporate is expected to be stable in the second half of the current financial year (H2FY26), supported by easing monetary cycle, and declining inflation, coupled with income-tax relief and rationalisation of the goods and service tax (GST) rates, among others.
A Rs 525-crore contingency provision during the July-September period led to a 19 per cent fall in IndusInd Bank's share price on Friday (October 25). Contingency provisions are generally made when a lender expects more bad loans in the coming quarters. Shares of the bank on Tuesday (October 29) declined 1.53 per cent to settle at Rs 1,038.2 apiece on the BSE.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday allayed apprehension that privatisation of state-owned banks would hurt financial inclusion and national interest. She said the bank nationalisation done in 1969 has not yielded the desired result as far as financial inclusion was concerned.
Bajaj Finance's shares fell more than 7 per cent on Tuesday after it trimmed growth guidance for FY26, from 24-25 per cent projected earlier to 22-23 per cent.
Mahindra & Mahindra on Tuesday posted a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in its consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,673 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2025, driven by robust performance of the farm sector, while also seeing the impact of the GST transition on the auto sector. The company reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 2,867 crore for the July-September period of the last fiscal.
'As the team builds, each of them will bring in a different perspective, new thinking.'
With the price of gold entering a strong bull run, gold-loan non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are under the spotlight, even though their performance is not directly linked to gold price. Muthoot Finance outperformed in the April-June quarter (Q1) of 2025-26 (FY26), with its assets under management (AUM) growing 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) and 42 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), an improvement of 88 basis points (bps) Q-o-Q in net interest margin (NIM), and a fall in credit cost. Gold AUM rose 40 per cent Y-o-Y and 10 per cent Q-o-Q. The company recorded recoveries of 350 crore, including 100 crore from an asset reconstruction company (ARC), resulting in a 100-bp Q-o-Q yield increase.
Non-banking financial company (NBFC) Tata Capital is set to launch its much-anticipated $2 billion (Rs 17,200 crore) initial public offering (IPO) in the week beginning September 22, market sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The issue is expected to value the company around $11 billion, they added. Tata Capital is likely to make its stock market debut by September 30.
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.
The next generation GST reforms would 'absolutely' set an economy open and transparent with further reduction in compliance burden and benefiting small businesses, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.
Most analysts have downgraded the stock of SBI Cards and Payments (SBI Card) as the credit card issuer posted weak results during the December quarter (Q3) of financial year 2023-24 (FY24). The sub-par show, analysts said, was for the eighth straight quarter. With this, they have slashed their earnings estimates by as much as 20 per cent over FY24-26 amid near-term pressure points in the company's growth outlook.
Public-sector banks (PSBs) are attracting the attention of investors and the PSU Bank Index has gained nearly 10 per cent in the past month. PSBs have seen return on assets (RoA) climbing to 1 per cent in 2024-2025 (FY25) and margins are believed to have moved up further in the first half of this financial year (H1FY26) with asset quality remaining stable.
The country's biggest lender SBI on Friday posted 12 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 19,160 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year. The bank had earned a net profit of Rs 17,035 crore in the same quarter of previous fiscal year.
When we talk about Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), a few of their features that strike our mind are their low cost, easy-to-understand composition, and simple trading. While Index ETFs have always been popular among investors, Gold ETFs have garnered interest in recent years due to gold prices fluctuating near their all-time highs. But from a long-term investing context, do these ETFs really deliver?
In Q1FY26, the bank reported fresh slippages of 8,200 crore, up 71 per cent Y-o-Y and sequentially. Of this, 7,500 crore is from the retail segment.
Bharat Electronics, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Eternal were also among the laggards from the Sensex pack. However, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech and Infosys were among the gainers.
The asset quality of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) deteriorated in April-September 2021 (H1FY22) owing to the second wave of the pandemic. Their gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 6.8 per cent in September 2021 from 6 per cent in March 2021. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) annual Trend and Progress report (FY21) said the sector might have to grapple with higher delinquencies as and when policy measures unwound. The pandemic posed significant challenges to NBFCs during the first wave (2020) also.
Titan, HCL Tech and State Bank of India were also among the laggards. However, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, HDFC Bank and ITC were the gainers.
Fintech firm One97 Communications, which owns the Paytm brand, reported its first-ever consolidated net profit at Rs 122.5 crore in the quarter ended June 2025, mainly on account of cost optimisation and an increase in payment revenue. Paytm had posted a net loss of Rs 840 crore in the year-ago period.
"We currently manage collections for over 98 million retail and small-business loan accounts, covering a loan book of about $250 billion," says Rishabh Goel, cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Credgenics, a software-as-a-service platform for debt collection. With more than 700 million smartphone users and over 450 million UPI users, digital access is everywhere.
'In the short-term, the markets may be affected' by the review but 'it will help address what they are worried about which is why we need transparency,' says former chief economic advisor.
Asset quality within the non-banking financial sector (NBFCs) deteriorated with the share of stressed assets rising to 5.9 per cent in March 2025 from 3.9 per cent in September 2024, according to the Reserve Bank of India's Financial Stability Report (FSR). Slippage ratios among upper layer NBFCs have been rising, along with an upward trend in loan write-offs.
Shriram Finance's (SHFL's) profit after tax (PAT) rose 10 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 2,140 crore in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q4FY25).
RBI said the improvement in asset quality was driven by state-run lenders which saw a drop both in both GNPA and in the net NPA ratios.
Despite a shaky Q3, conviction over the stock remained high, with 65 per cent of the analysts polled on Bloomberg retaining their 'buy' recommendation.
'India is a big market for StanC, and it is also fastest growing economy in the world.'
Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said second wave of Covid infections has increased asset risks for Indian banks, but a severe deterioration is unlikely. It said that the second wave of coronavirus infections in India has exacerbated stress among individuals and small businesses that were hit the hardest by the initial outbreak. Still, a number of factors will prevent sharp increases in problem loans, and banks have sufficient buffers to absorb anticipated loan losses.
State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday reported 10 per cent fall in standalone net profit at Rs 18,643 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2025. The country's biggest lender had earned a profit of Rs 20,698 crore in the January-March period of 2023-24.
Non-banking finance companies face renewed asset quality and liquidity risks amid a second wave of COVID-19, Fitch Ratings said on Thursday. These challenges are likely to increase if recent restrictions to contain the pandemic are expanded or prolonged, leading to greater economic and operational disruption, it added. The rating agency further said that an increase in the rate of infections and broadening of social distancing restrictions pose downside risks to its 12.8 per cent growth projection for the current fiscal.
The Indian financial system's asset quality improved despite the pandemic, but it could be due to special dispensations by the regulator, and banks would likely see increased stress on their books once the schemes expire. According to the annual trend and progress report of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released on Tuesday, the data available for this financial year so far indicate that banks' bad debts have moderated while provision coverage ratios (PCRs), capital buffers as well as profitability indicators have improved relative to pre-pandemic levels.
The Reserve Bank on Monday said asset quality of banks improved further and their gross non-performing assets (GNPA) or bad loans ratio declined to a 12-year low of 2.6 per cent in September 2024 on the back of falling slippages and steady credit demand. The RBI also flagged concern over a sharp rise in write-offs, especially among private sector banks (PVBs), which could be partly masking worsening asset quality in unsecured lending segment and dilution in underwriting standards.
Net profit of 19 listed banks is likely to decline by 4 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) for the quarter ended March (Q4FY25) mainly due to pressure on net interest margins (NIM) as a result of rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), according to analysts' estimates. Additionally, loan growth is expected to further slowdown amid low demand in certain secured products, stress in the unsecured segment, and a high cost to deposit (CD) ratio across the system.
Asset quality stress has ballooned recently, as growth slowed and interest rates continued to rise.
Bank credit growth is expected to moderate this financial year after a robust 16 per cent estimated for last financial year, driven by strong economic activity and retail credit demand. There are three reasons for this: a statistical high-base effect given the strong growth seen last financial year, revision in risk weights by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and relatively slower economic activity.
With rising credit demand, cleaner balance sheets, and renewed investor confidence, banks are positioned at the forefront of the market rally. From major players like ICICI and HDFC to broader policy shifts, there's much driving this momentum.
With rising credit demand, cleaner balance sheets, and renewed investor confidence, banks are positioned at the forefront of the market rally. From major players like ICICI and HDFC to broader policy shifts, there's much driving this momentum.
With rising credit demand, cleaner balance sheets, and renewed investor confidence, banks are positioned at the forefront of the market rally. From major players like ICICI and HDFC to broader policy shifts, there's much driving this momentum.
Towards the end of February, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restored the risk weighting on banks loans to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs; including to microfinance institutions, or MFIs) to 100 - back to its November 2023 position - from 125. It is only a partial relief though. "Higher risk weighting on unsecured lending continues to be in place while the same on bank funding to NBFCs has been done away with. "This is a positive step by RBI," says Rajiv Sabharwal, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), Tata Capital.
SBI Cards and Payment Services reported numbers that met Street expectations in the first quarter of the 2023-24 financial year (Q1FY24). The net profit came in at Rs 590 crore, while pre-provision operating profit grew 17 per cent year-on-year (YoY) (a little better than expectations). But provisions were hiked due to surprise stress from pre-Covid-19 period of 2018-19, and that dragged earnings.
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