It was merely an obligation in the past, but financial inclusion has now turned into a big business opportunity for private banks.
Bandhan Financial Services, which is to start banking operations soon, has received a combined equity commitment of Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion) from International Finance Corp (IFC) and GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund.
The Finance Ministry has asked all banks, including private sector lenders, to open branches in locations with population of more than 5,000 in the under-banked districts by September, 2012.
Banks now ride on what is defined as a "banking outlet". This is a fixed-point service unit, manned by either the bank's staff or its business correspondent (BC), where all kinds of services - acceptance of deposits, encashment of cheques, cash withdrawal or lending of money - are provided for a minimum of four hours per day, for at least five days a week. Banks are now turning to reposition the manner in which they acquire customers, report Abhijit Lele and Raghu Mohan.
Foreign Portfolio Investors' (FPIs) selling spree continues as they pulled out over Rs 3,400 crore from the Indian equity markets in the first three trading sessions of November on rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. This came after such investors withdrew Rs 24,548 crore in October and Rs 14,767 crore in September, data with the depositories showed. Before the outflow, FPIs were incessantly buying Indian equities in the last six months from March to August and brought in Rs 1.74 lakh crore during the period.
Remunerate Business Correspondent Channel to bring sustainability and scalability in the model
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Private banks account for a total of 21.15 per cent in terms of advances in the overall banking system.
Dean of ISB, M Rammohan Rao on ISB's new programmes, their unique selling proposition, placement programme, their recently launched pre-doctoral programme and dearth of quality faculty crunch faced by Indian management schools.
The government will formulate a strategy to make India self-reliant in edible oils by boosting domestic output of oilseeds and launch a comprehensive programme to support dairy farmers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday. India imports a large quantity of edible oils to meet the domestic demand. During the 2022-23 marketing year (November-October), the country imported nearly 165 lakh tonnes of cooking oils, valuing a whopping Rs 1.38 lakh crore.
There are allegations that MFIs are charging exorbitant interest rates and using strong-arm tactics to recover the loans.
FM will meet public sector bankers tomorrow in a pre-budget meet to stress on credit targets and enhancing credits to minorities.
Seeking to insulate small and marginal farmers from exploitation by moneylenders, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi has asked banks to provide credit to farming community at lower rates of interest.
In a dazzling resurgence, foreign investors have graced the Indian equity markets with an influx of nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore in 2023, fuelled by optimism over the country's resilient economic fundamentals amid shadows of a gloomy global scenario. Experts believe that the positive trend may continue in 2024. This follows Indian equities witnessing the worst-ever net outflow of Rs 1.21 lakh crore by FPIs in 2022 on aggressive rate hikes by the central banks globally after net inflows for three consecutive years.
Called 'Swabhiman', the programme, to be launched by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, was to be introduced earlier, but put off twice.
Like Indira Gandhi, even Narendra Modi seems to be relying on directing public-sector banks through ministry of finance supported by party cadres, says Debashis Basu.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Sarma said a total of eight sub groups will be formed with members from the indigenous Muslim community to suggest various developmental measures.
Digital literacy is emerging as the professional language of 2024. It is the ability to process complex data sets, deploy critical communication technologies appropriately and validate your importance at your workplace, explains Jagdeep Kochar, managing director, Baker & Taylor India.
Manish Khera, chief executive officer, Fino, tells Shriya Bubna that the smart card technology platform of Fino can help banks cut operational costs by one-third and MFIs, but connectivity remains an issue.
As the Andhra crisis continues to deepen, proponents of financial inclusion might find both unexpected challenges and inspiration in a short film called 'The Future of Money'.
An Irda official said the idea was to improve the penetration levels of insurance and deepen financial inclusion.
The government's plan to tap into India's vast postal system to reach out to the unbanked population by utilising offices across the country as banks is expected to take some shape this year as the proposal has been sent to the Finance Ministry for its nod.
If states have to fall in line with MSPs declared by political parties, they will have to do so in violation of central order or bear the full expense of the surplus procured at above MSP rates.
The Unique Identification Number, renamed as 'Aadhaar', would be issued soon to Indian residents, Nandan Nilekani, chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said on Wednesday.
ICICI works on similar lines; alternative to Business Correspondents to reach financial inclusion targets.
Addressing the CII annual session, he also indicated to further liberalisation of policies to attract more FDI and FII funds, promote external commercial borrowings, service exports and tourism.
To ensure its financial inclusion drive is not restricted to meeting branch opening targets, the Union finance ministry is to ask banks for a performance report of the 'ultra small' branches set up in the past two years in about 73,000 villages.
The venture is applying to the Reserve Bank of India for approvals.
"The budget adopts following seven priorities -- inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power and financial sector," she said.
Tata Consultancy Services TCS) said it has bagged a Rs 85-crore three-year deal for implementing smart card-based Financial Inclusion Solution (FIS) for Indian Bank.
The rating agency expects the Reserve Bank of India to continue its accommodative monetary stance.
The decision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow banks to engage companies with large retail outlets as business correspondents has the potential to change the future of financial inclusion and branch banking in India.
Tata Communications has seen analyst upgrades after reporting Q3FY24 results. The biggest factor is the visible signs of a turnaround in its new acquisition, Kaleyra. The consolidated revenue grew 16 per cent Q-o-Q to Rs 5,630 crore led by 15 per cent Q-o-Q improvement in the data segment.
Rinku Singh says a burning desire to give his parents a good life while wading through tough times paved the way for his inclusion into the Indian team.
It is in circumstances like this that the Constitution becomes extremely important. It reminds us that we have a commitment towards higher human values to fulfil, a path to get back to, suggests Shyam G Menon.Else, we risk being rudderless in an ocean of money and majoritarianism, suggests Shyam G Menon.
The Jan-Dhan accounts are zero balance accounts, comes with a life cover of Rs 30,000 per person, and an accidental cover of Rs 100,000. An active user of the account can also get overdraft facility of Rs 5,000 from banks.
Modi said New Delhi has emphasised on dialogue and diplomacy along with restraint to deal with the situation arising out of the Hamas-Israel conflict.
The World Bank has approved loans totalling $1.75 billion (about Rs 13,834.54 crore) to fund India's PM Ayushman Bharat scheme and private investment to boost the economic growth. Of the total loan, $1 billion will go towards the health sector, while the rest $750 million will be in the form of development policy loan (DPL) to fill the financing gaps through private sector investment in the economy. The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved two complementary loans of $500 million each to support and enhance India's health sector.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday called upon G20 nations to resolutely address the challenges, like threats to financial stability and debt distress that confront the global economy. Addressing the inaugural session of the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, Das said although the outlook for the global economy has improved in recent months and there is now greater optimism that the world may avoid a deep recession and only experience slow growth or softer recession,"yet uncertainties lie ahead of us." "Together we must resolutely address the challenges that confront us, including those that are of medium to long-term nature such as threat to financial stability, debt distress, climate finance, fractures in global trade and strains on global value chains.
'We are committed to achieving the targets we had outlined.'
It generates huge end-user benefits as well as dramatic industrial spinoffs.
