'Just the amount of work which is there just to become more and more successful in banking. For this to happen you need to have leaders who understand technology.'
The interest charged on an inter-state loan given to a credit card holder without the use of a plastic card would not be subject to the integrated goods and services tax (IGST), a two-judge bench of the Calcutta high court has ruled. In this connection, it recently set aside a ruling by a single judge of the high court. The issue was a loan of Rs 650,000 granted by Citi Bank with an EMI of Rs 58,056 for 12 months and inclusive of integrated GST (IGST) on each installment of interest.
Citi Bank on Wednesday joined the list of foreign banks that have exited the retail banking business in India as the US-based banking giant announced selling its consumer banking portfolio to Axis Bank for an estimated Rs 12,325 crore. Global banking majors such as ANZ Grindlays, RBS, Commonwealth Bank of Australia have scaled down their operations in India. In a mega-deal announcement on Wednesday, Axis Bank and Citibank said their boards have approved acquisition of Citibank's consumer businesses in India by Axis Bank.
Ivan Manuel Menezes, the India-born CEO of the world's biggest spirits company Diageo, died on Wednesday, days after being hospitalised for treatment of stomach ulcer. Menezes, 64, who was to retire at the end of this month, died in London, the company said. "It is with great sadness that Diageo announces that Sir Ivan Menezes has passed away following a brief illness, with his family at his side," it said in a statement. Diageo had on Monday announced that CEO-designate Debra Crew will assume the top role on an interim basis immediately as Menezes undergoes medical treatment.
Private sector banks reported a robust profile with healthy growth in net interest income (NII), credit offtake and reduction in provision burden for the fourth quarter ended March 2023 (Q4 of FY23). However, as a pack, their net profit declined by 9.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at Rs 25,317 crore in Q4. This is because Axis Bank posted losses due to its one-time hefty charge for the acquisition of Citibank India's consumer business.
Fuelled by the $57.8-billion merger of HDFC twins (HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank), M&A (merger and acquisition) transactions in India touched a record high of $124.2 billion in the first half of 2022-23. Bankers said with several transactions, including the government's stake sale in IDBI Bank and Hindustan Zinc in the pipeline, the ongoing financial year will end up as the best year for M&A activity in the country. Apart from the HDFC transaction, the $6.5-billion acquisition of Holcim stake by the Adani family and L&T's $3.2-billion acquisition of Mindtree added to the record transactions in the first half of FY23.
Axis Bank has strengthened its positioning -- on both the assets and liability side -- and it may be set to deliver sustained improvement in performance. The valuation gap between Axis Bank (which trades at 1.4x core book value (or BV) and peers like ICICI Bank (valued at 2x BV) is expected to narrow.
It won't be easy for the banking sector to better its performance every quarter, predicts Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
George Acland from Great Britain ran a coffee plantation in Sri Lanka and set up India's first jute mill in 1855. He raised capital and imported the machinery for the mill on the banks of the Hooghly in West Bengal. His company wasn't a great success, but his pioneering work paved the way for India to dominate the jute industry.
Credit card spends in June, although down marginally month-on-month (MoM), remained above the Rs 1-trillion mark for the fourth consecutive month. In June, credit card spends topped Rs 1.09 trillion, down 4.34 per cent MoM, revealed the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). However, on a year-on-year basis, spends were up 73 per cent. In May, credit card spends hit an all-time high, reaching Rs 1.14 trillion.
The Tata Tech IPO will be the first from the Tata group since TCS listed its shares in 2004.
The key features of the product include a dedicated priority service platform, superior foreign exchange rates on inward remittances and lower service charges on banking services, a release said.
Axis Bank's acquisition of Citibank's consumer finance business for Rs 12,325 crore - the second biggest deal in the Indian banking sector - is seen as a good deal at a good price. The acquisition enables Axis Bank to close the gap with competition in some key segments such as credit cards. At the same time, there are some key issues that are crucial for the deal's success, apart from the fact that it will take some time for Axis to reap the full harvest of its investment.
Vikram Pandit-led Citigroup has came under fire from the US President Barack Obama and his administration for purchasing a $50 million jet plane.
Indian start-ups breathed a sigh of relief after the UK government facilitated the acquisition of the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB's) British arm by HSBC. In a bid to allay fears, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC) announced recently that it had transferred all deposits of start-up-focused SVB to a newly created bridge bank and all depositors would have access to their money. President Joe Biden also sought to reassure jittery depositors that they can have confidence that the US banking system is "safe".
The sale will be quicker if an Indian private bank buys it; it will take longer for regulatory clearances if a foreign bank or an NBFC buys it, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
India has been relatively insulated from the severe headwinds in the West. However, with a third of the global economy expected to slip into recession in calendar year 2023, the impact will strongly be felt on India's exports and trade economy, leading economists said in a panel discussion at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit in Mumbai on Wednesday. The panel comprised former Reserve Bank of India executive director and former Monetary Policy Committee member Mridul Saggar, State Bank of India Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Citibank India Chief Economist Samiran Chakraborty, ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar, and IndusInd Bank Chief Economist Gaurav Kapoor. The topic of the panel discussion was No recession in sight: Is India decoupled from developed economies?
The Indian regulatory framework forced Citi to hibernate -- contrary to the claim that it never sleeps!
Nick Kyrgios made it clear girlfriend Costeen Hatzi is a big reason why he feels he has come of age.
Learning perhaps from the Kargil debacle, Musharraf tried hard to evolve as a statesman in his dealings with India, recalls Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Of the 1,145 offers made this year, consulting firms made up 34 per cent, followed by banking, financial services and insurance, pharma/healthcare, IT/ITeS and FMCG/retail.
Forum president M G Rahatgaonkar and Member Jyoti Mandhale observed in their order that the complainant had not filed the complaint within the specified time frame (the case pertains to 2006) and hence it was being disposed off.
Foreign banks set the template in consumer banking in its infancy, but have almost vacated this booming space.
The financial services major posted a profit of $1.6 billion in the first quarter of this year against a whopping loss of $5.11 billion in the same period last year.
A film-maker has accused Citi India of 'picking up' his idea for their latest ad. But the bank denies this vehemently and has threatened legal action.
'Instead of making this a four-year phenomenon, when you look at us and get thrilled, do it more regularly.'
The plan was to expand further, add more branches and also eventually become the third bank in India to start a wholly owned subsidiary after Singapore's DBS Bank and State Bank of Mauritius, but those plans never materialised due to lack of scale and rising non-performing assets in the country.
The foreign lender's profit after tax was Rs 2,960 crore
2022 is shaping up as the year brimming with job opportunities for people who possess relevant skillsets. Therefore, it is crucial for fresh graduates and young professionals to enroll in relevant certification courses to add more feathers to their introductory portfolio
Former HDFC Bank CEO Aditya Puri will be guiding global Carlyle on investment opportunities across Asia as a senior advisor, the global private equity major said on Monday.
Sebi also plans to examine if any comments made by company officials or the bankers could have misled investors.
Customers are increasingly preferring to pay through EMIs while buying high-value consumer items, as affordability has become a key factor in the post-pandemic scenario, payments solution provider Ezetap said on Thursday. Buying ability of consumers across the country has been significantly reduced due to the pandemic. They are either avoiding a single big payment or entirely skipping to buy any new item, Ezetap said.
A probe into the fraud had revealed that the main accused, Shiv Raj Puri, then a Citibank relationship manager at its Gurgaon Branch, was offering to its clients fabricated investment schemes with guaranteed high returns and received signatures on blank fund transfer forms.
Puri gave up the comforts of Citibank to set up a new-age bank from a rat-infested room in the Kamala Mills Compound in Worli, Mumbai and build a marquee brand. A look at his 26-year stint as HDFC Bank's boss.
A career Citibanker, 'Selva' came into the spotlight as the person who rewired the financial behemoth's Indian retail operations.
When Anand Mahindra becomes non-executive chairman in November, Shah will become the first professional MD and CEO in the history of the Mahindra group to have a complete oversight of and responsibility for the Mahindra group businesses.
'The concern that the bad bank may create a moral hazard for the system is extremely valid.'