The government will decide the interest rate on the country's largest pension fund scheme based on the rate of return on investments in the next financial year, Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma said on Tuesday.
Concerned over elevated inflation, Reserve Bank of India on Friday decided to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent but maintained an accommodative stance, implying more rate cuts in the future if need arises to support the economy hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
From the Sensex firms, Bharat Electronics, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Maruti and Tata Motors were among the gainers. However, Eternal, Hindustan Unilever, Trent and Titan were the major laggards.
Gold prices are likely to remain in a consolidation phase in the near term, but the overall bias will continue to stay positive amid heightened expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate cut in its September policy meeting, analysts said. Traders will closely track US macroeconomic data, such as Q2 GDP, PCE inflation, and speeches from Fed officials, which will provide more insights into the monetary policy stance of the Federal Reserve and the trajectory of the bullion sentiment, they added.
Expecting the Reserve Bank of India to maintain stable and soft interest rates in credit policy, State Bank of India on Wednesday hinted at further cut in home and consumer loan rates.
Recent years have been turbulent for the insurance industry due to direct and indirect tax reforms, regulatory overhaul and other external pressures. The events cumulatively slowed growth rate to single digits from the high teens seen earlier.
The popular Five-Year National Savings Certificates will earn an interest rate of 8.1 per cent from April 1 as against 8.5 per cent, at present.
Reserve Bank Governor D Subbaro on Tuesday said there is scope for banks to lower lending rates further, but most top bankers maintained that interest rates will remain the same in the near term and could even rise after 3-4 months.
'Maintain a balanced approach with a preference for short-to medium-duration funds.'
Hinting at easing of borrowing costs for retail and corporate customers, ICICI Bank's new chief Chanda Kochhar has expressed hope that interest rates could fall to single-digit level in the coming months.
'Revolving credit without full repayment causes interest to outpace repayment capacity, and leads to financial distress.'
'They are positioned as defensive products and can potentially give marginally higher returns than liquid funds.'
Credit ratings agency Moody's on Monday said the Reserve Bank of India's recent move to hike short-term borrowing and lending rates to tame inflation will put pressure on overall deposit and interest rates.
Most bankers say they will look at reducing deposit rates from April.
With inflation likely to rise further, the Reserve Bank may go in for an another hike in the key policy rates in its fourth quarterly Review, slated to be announced on January 25.
Ziddi Ishq is a messy, unhinged revenge drama that is all over the place, observes Divya Nair.
'While we expand into other areas, banca remains our primary channel, and we continue to be a banca-led organisation.'
The former CSK stalwart also noted that Axar Patel's consistency over recent years positions him as a natural leader within the DC core. But the trickier decision, according to Raina, concerns veteran opener Faf du Plessis, who endured a lean run with just 202 runs from nine games.
The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday evening increased the repo rate -- the rate at which the central bank's lends short-term money against government securities to banks -- by 25 basis points to 8 per cent.
'The statistical confidence bands of the fan charts of the forecasts will provide a better sense of the potential variability of outcomes.'
'I will not be surprised if there is a 7 per cent handle in front of the decimal place for the full financial year.'
LG Electronics India saw its net profit decline by 27.3 per cent due to margin pressures witnessed in the second quarter. Its net sales in the quarter marginally rose 0.9 per cent to Rs 6,170.4 crore in the July-September quarter.
BSE will become the fourth player in currency derivatives in India
The EPFO on Friday deferred a decision on interest rate on provident fund deposits for 2010-11 following pressure from trade unions that want rates to be raised to 9.5-10.5 per cent from 8.5 per cent.
Contrary to popular perception on interest rate movement, expected to head north following a likely central bank action on monetary tightening, banks may actually end by cutting rates in the below-prime lending rate region for at least their corporate clients. This is because of the huge pipeline of undisbursed loans the banks are sitting on and their scramble to bloat top line to reach closer to the yearly targets.
To balance growth and inflation, tax reforms such as GST and investments in increasing food productivity are vital
All policy planners want low interest rate, says Jaitley
Liquidity will be tight and inflation would be about 4.4.5 per cent. In this scenario, the 10-year yield is unlikely to stabilise below 6.25 per cent.
Interest rates will continue to be stable with a little downward bias," SBI chairman A K Purwar said. \n\n
Barclays Plc on Tuesday said its chief executive officer Bob Diamond has resigned with immediate effect after increasing pressure to step down following global interest rate manipulation scandal.
The RBI on Wednesday banned zero per cent interest rate scheme for purchase of consumer goods, a move intended to protect customers but may dampen the festive spirit.
'When an establishment operates despite demolition or closure orders, without proper fire exits, evacuation plans or safety audits, and yet is allowed to host large crowds, the state cannot hide behind the language of accident.' 'The authorities were aware of the risks and of the violations, but chose not to act decisively because doing so would have inconvenienced those with influence and financial stakes.' 'In such a scenario, the moral and legal responsibility for the resulting deaths moves from negligence towards culpability; calling it 'murder' is a way of underlining that these lives were sacrificed at the altar of greed and complicity, not fate.'
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday met the long-standing demand of banks by allowing them to finance acquisitions by Indian companies, a move that also expands banks' capital market lending in the country.
Indian corporate are increasingly shifting away from bank funding towards alternative sources, such as equity and bond markets, as their deleveraged balance sheets have improved their ability to raise equity at better valuations. Moreover, the 100 basis points (bps) rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled them to access long-term funds from the debt capital market at cheaper rates.
Now borrowers will compensate for higher provisioning on personal loans/credit cards.
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