India's current account deficit declined sharply to 1 per cent of the GDP or $8.3 billion in the second quarter of this financial year, mainly due to lower merchandise trade deficit and growth in services exports, according to a RBI data released on Tuesday. The current account deficit (CAD), which represents the difference between the total amount of money sent abroad and money received from overseas across the economy, was 3.8 per cent of GDP or $30.9 billion in the July-September quarter in 2022-23. CAD was $9.2 billion or 1.1 per cent of GDP in the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year 2023-24.
The NDA government has asked states to enrol all MNREGA workers under the three newly-launched social security schemes.
Nominations and addresses are of paramount importance in bank accounts, insurance policies, mutual funds, etc.
The DoP has moved a Cabinet note for the government to provide Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) as initial capital to India Post towards starting a bank.
It is difficult to say if the banking sector will see the worst behind it by March 2020, warns Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Under the partnership, IOC's rural petrol pump outlets -- Kisan Seva Kendras -- will act as the bank's Business Correspondents, HDFC Bank said in a statement.
The finance ministry on Friday asked state governments to accord priority to employees of banks and insurance companies for Covid-19 vaccination, saying they are exposed to high risks during these difficult times.
The deficit stood over Rs 8 trillion in the first seven months of the current financial year. Non-tax revenues, comprising transfers from the RBI and dividends of the public sector units, shored up the Centre's revenues.
'Avoid rushing into any financial transactions or disclosing personal information.'
Bandhan Bank to fund SMEs, create jobs, says FM
Wholesale price-based inflation remained in the negative territory for the fifth straight month in August at (-)0.52 per cent, but prices of food articles and fuel showed an uptick. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rate has been in the negative since April and was (-)1.36 per cent in July. In August last year it was 12.48 per cent. Inflation in food articles remained in double digit at 10.60 per cent in August, lower than 14.25 per cent in July.
India will drive growth in the Asia-Pacific (Apac) region as the growth engine is likely to shift from China to South and Southeast Asia in the coming years, S&P Global Ratings said in a report on Tuesday. The rating agency's report projected China's growth to slow down to 4.6 per cent by 2026 from an estimated 5.4 per cent in 2023. India is likely to clock 7 per cent economic growth from 6.4 per cent estimated for 2023.
The country's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Saturday reported a 23 per cent jump in standalone net profit to Rs 10,055.20 crore for the March quarter, led by growth in loan demand across categories and lower provisioning as bad loans were trimmed. The bank's net profit during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal stood at Rs 8,186.51 crore. "After providing Rs 2,989.5 crore for taxation, the bank earned a net profit of Rs 10,055.20 crore, an increase of 22.8 per cent over the quarter ended March 31, 2021," HDFC Bank said in a regulatory filing.
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
Shares of Bajaj Finance sprinted 4.7 per cent to Rs 7,732 per share on the BSE in Thursday's (January 4) intra-day trade as the non-bank finance company's (NBFC's) December quarter business update reflected minimal impact of the Reserve Bank of India's ban on two of its lending products. The shares, eventually, ended 4.4 per cent higher at Rs 7,710 per share as against 0.69 per cent gain in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. The NBFC's asset under management (AUM) topped the Rs 3-trillion-mark at the end of December 2023, swelling by roughly Rs 20,700 crore (35 per cent year-on-year) to hit Rs 3.11 trillion-mark.
Food delivery major Swiggy has received approval from its shareholders for a $1.25 billion initial public offering (IPO), according to filings made with the Registrar of Companies sourced by Tofler. The Bengaluru-based firm plans to raise as much as Rs 3,750 crore (around $450 million) via a fresh issue and up to Rs 6,664 crore (around $800 million) through an offer-for-sale (OFS) component, the filings stated.
The International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) plans to operationalise the framework for direct listing of companies at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) exchanges by the end of the year, said Chairperson K Rajaraman. He added that the amendments would be notified within three months. Further, the GIFT City regulator is also considering the launch of separate payments system regulations - similar to that of the real time gross settlement (RTGS) for banking within a few months.
While the RBI's guidelines aim to streamline the loan closure process, borrowers must remain proactive.
Cox & Kings is currently going through the corporate insolvency resolution process. Around 2,500 operational creditors have submitted claims of over Rs 631 crore, 2,440 employees and workman have claimed dues of over Rs 94 crore and other creditors have submitted claims of over Rs 3 crore.
the three investors that have submitted their final bids are not commercial banks. Among the three, one is a non-banking financial company. Another distinctive feature of the revival is that PMC may lose its cooperative bank characteristic after its reconstruction.
'If you give your ID and password to somebody else, how can anybody blame the technology for that problem?'
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
A task force will speed up the recalibration of 200,000 ATMs so these can dispense the new Rs 2,000 notes.
Total income rose to Rs 20,163.25 crore during the quarter as compared to Rs 16,832.22 crore in the same period a year ago.
UIDAI will have to assail concerns over authentication and connectivity that have emerged in the Jharkhand pilot projects.
The Election Commission (EC) had, in 2019, flagged its concerns in the Supreme Court on the changes made in several laws relating to political funding to facilitate the electoral bonds scheme, saying it will have 'serious repercussions' on transparency.
Discussions are on in government about how to make the process simpler for the poor and more cost-effective for telecom operators, says Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
The party has contested the reassessment proceedings, claiming they were barred by limitation.
Nearly two million postcards and eight million letters pass through India's post offices daily.
Former RBI governors Urjit Patel and Raghuram Rajan have also expressed worry about the Mudra scheme, particularly government's target-setting practice and the rising bad loans.
Bankers need to take a call on whether they will allow technology firms to run banks or banks themselves will turn into tech firms, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Housing sales rose 36 per cent year-on-year to a record 120,280 units across seven major cities during the July-September period on robust demand amid stable mortgage rate, according to Anarock. Housing sales stood at 88,230 units in the year-ago period across the seven major cities. Releasing the data, real estate consultant Anarock said average housing prices across the seven cities grew 11 per cent annually in the July-September period this year.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said many countries have evinced interest for bilateral trade in the rupee after the RBI announced a mechanism recently. Speaking at Mindmine Summit 2022, she said this along with other steps taken by the government is towards full capital account convertibility. "It isn't the rouble-rupee which was in the old format. "Now this (bilateral rupee trade) formulation, which I am glad the RBI has come up at a time which was so critical," she said when asked if India is ready for capital account convertibility.
Banks in India must have a modern approach, suggests a panel comprising of banking bigwigs.
While some are relatively new in this business, Vodafone, which has 1.8 million touch points in the country, has been offering basic banking and payment services through its pre-paid mobile digital semi-closed wallet called M-Pesa since 2012.
Remunerate Business Correspondent Channel to bring sustainability and scalability in the model
For the first time, consumers, including those at the so-called bottom of the pyramid, are monetising gold by taking loans from banks, offering the yellow metal as collateral, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Uttam Prakash Agarwal alleged that Citax and Braich offers were incomplete and did not include firm commitment as to the price, size, timings, confirmation from the banks about availability of the funds.
The government has amended rules under the anti-money law, making it mandatory for banks and financial institutions to record financial transactions of politically exposed persons (PEP).
'I know margins are under pressure, but have banks begin to stoop so low to enhance their floats or slip in strange charges?' asks Keya Sarkar.
