It generates huge end-user benefits as well as dramatic industrial spinoffs.
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.
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.
Payments banks are niche banks which will be allowed to function with several restrictions.
The Reserve Bank is looking to use mobile phones as a medium for taking banking facilities to the remote and far flung areas.
The bad loans of public sector banks were at 4.4 per cent in March 2014 compared with 2.09 per cent in 2008-09, it said, adding, the gross NPA increased by almost four times from March 2010 (Rs 59,972 crore or Rs 599.72 billion) to March 2014 (Rs 2,04,249 crore or Rs 2,042.49 billion).
With Narendra Modi about to make his first Independence Day speech, there is a buzz in Delhi that Modi will make some big announcements to signal major reforms and directional shifts. But we have to wait and see if it happens, says Mohan Guruswamy.
"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.
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.
The banks are not ready to open accounts of the beneficiaries through the IT-enabled financial inclusion programme, which is running on a pilot basis in various districts of the state. "The panchayat staff do not co-operate with our business correspondents. They do not come forward to endorse the identity of the beneficiaries. How can we open accounts," asked an official from State Bank of Indore.
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.
Brokers also want tax rebates, removal of additional tax on dividends, streamlining of GST...
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.
With the Reserve Bank of India allowing retired teachers, kirana shop owners and public call office (PCO) operators to be hired as business correspondents, banks are set to hire over 200,000 people over the next few years to push financial inclusion initiatives.
Bankers have hailed the Prime Minister's call to end "financial untouchability" and opened millions of accounts on the inaugural day itself.
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.
Kumar said the Commission will follow the time-tested methods of consultations and consensus building in bringing about any reforms and will not shy away from tough decisions, according to an Election Commission (EC) statement.
RBI to issue discussion paper on new licence conditions this week.
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.
The original intention of the 15-km restriction was to ensure timely service to customers, especially in the rural areas. But now, new generation private banks do not have an extensive branch network in semi-urban and rural areas.
RBI had received 72 applications for small finance bank licences.
The committee on financial inclusion, headed by C Rangarajan, the chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, has recommended that the profits transferred to their reserves by such banks should be exempted from tax till the banks achieve the standard capital adequacy ratio (CAR).
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.
The committee headed by RBI's Deputy Governor Usha Thorat made a series of recommendations that include increasing banking penetration and strengthening of Regional Rural banks and Urban Co-operative banks in the region. It said post offices, traditional institutions and NGOs need to be co-opted by the banking industry so as to encourage economic activities.
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.
Bharti Airtel aims to leverage its 180 million plus digital service customers and its wide presence in rural areas to grow its payment bank business. "We are well placed as we can leverage the 180 million plus customers we have across our digital assets. "We offer a plethora of services such as lucrative interest rates, gift cards, FASTag, telecom recharges, payments and debit cards. "Our large merchant base of more than eight million allows us to drive both engagement and monetisation.
A Krishna Kumar, deputy managing director (IT) of the bank, said on the sidelines of Infocom in Kolkata, "Given the reach of the facility, we expect the number to double within a year."
After a 25-year stint at ICICI Bank, Mor suddenly quit as he wanted to add more value in the bigger areas of health care and financial inclusion.
179 million debit cards were issued during December 2016 to June 2018. A mere 2,000 ATMs were opened in the same period.
In a business friendly move, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday said that the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, used for large value transactions, will be made available round-the-clock in the next few days. In December 2019, the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system was made available on a 24x7x365 basis. Currently, RTGS is available for customers from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm on all working days of a week, except second and fourth Saturdays of every month.
Jalanga or its neighbouring villages do not have a single bank branch. The nearest bank branch, that of UCO Bank, where Das has an account, is located at Bhadrak, around 20 km from the village.
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.
With inflation turning positive after 13 weeks, the Reserve Bank on Thursday said the wholesale price index may rise to six per cent by this fiscal end a development that may pose challenges to the central bank in maintaining a stable monetary policy.
Ultimately quotas kill talent and true meritocracy, argues R Jagannathan.
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.
'We are committed to achieving the targets we had outlined.'
AI, IoT, 3D printing, drones, data storage, quantum computing etc are all re-writing world economic order, the FM said.
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.
Sinha, who is steering Sebi efforts to tackle the ponzi menace, said that in regions like West Bengal and North East -- where penetration of banking services is low -- have seen a larger number of people getting trapped in illegal money pooling schemes that promise high returns.
In March this year, Worldline India launched Vabox (Voice Alert Box): merchants will now get instant audio alerts on the settlement of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments via QR codes in languages of their choice when customers check out. "They needn't worry whether the amount has been credited to their account," says Gulshan Pruthi, the firm's executive vice-president. The French payments giant will roll out 500,000 Vaboxes in the initial phase.
