The Reserve Bank is unlikely to ease the benchmark policy rate during 2024 given the uncertainty over food inflation, State Bank of India (SBI) chairman C S Setty has said. The US Federal Reserve's first cut in interest rates in more than four years is expected soon, triggering central banks in other economies to follow suit. "On the rate front, a lot of central banks are taking independent calls.
Private sector banks in India are taking the lead in the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in areas like fraud detection, customer segmentation, and chat automation, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) study. The asset size and capital adequacy ratio are influencing the rate of adoption.
The country's forex reserves jumped by $4.53 billion to $658.8 billion during the week ended March 21, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $305 million to $654.27 billion.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said that this stage would have been "premature" and "very very risky" as the retail inflation is still high, and future monetary policy action would depend upon the income data and outlook. Earlier this month, the RBI continued to maintain the status quo in the short-term lending interest rate (repo), citing inflationary concerns, though it changed the monetary policy stance to neutral.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) abstained from selling any US dollars throughout February, for the first time in nine months. The decision comes amid increasing pressure on the rupee, as expectations of rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve keep pushing back. The last time the RBI did not sell dollar over a month was in May 2023.
India's forex reserves increased $591 million to $616.733 billion for the week ended January 26, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped $2.79 billion to $616.14 billion. The country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion in October 2021.
Among Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, NTPC, Infosys, Nestle, Sun Pharma, and Tata Steel were the major laggards. Eternal, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries and Bajaj Finserv were the gainers.
The RBI on April 6 directed all payments service providers to make sure "that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India."
The country's forex reserves increased by $305 million to $654.27 billion during the week ended March 14, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves rose by $15.27 billion to $653.97 billion and registered the sharpest weekly rise in two years.
India's economic growth is expected to be lower at 6.3 per cent this fiscal compared to the RBI's projection of 6.5 per cent, a SBI Research Report said on Thursday. The report pegged the first quarter GDP estimate at around 6.8-7 per cent, mainly due to muted private capex.
The Indian services sector growth touched an 11 month high in July, supported by a pickup in new exports orders and sharp rise in overall sales, a monthly survey said on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index was at 60.5 in July, little-changed from 60.4 in June, and the rate of expansion was the best seen since August 2024.
Movement in the equity market this week will be guided by a host of macroeconomic data announcements, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors, analysts said. Stocks markets concluded the last week on a subdued note, as investors grappled with global uncertainties.
Infrastructure bonds, which were relied upon the most in 2024-25 (FY25) by commercial banks to raise funds through the domestic debt capital market amid lagging deposit growth, seem to have lost their sheen in FY26. So far in FY26, no bank has tapped the domestic debt capital market to raise funds via infra bonds, and the expectation is that the amount raised through this route will be significantly lower than that last year, unless credit demand picks up.
From the Sensex firms, Eternal climbed 3.32 per cent. Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel and Hindustan Unilever were the other major gainers. However, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan and Larsen & Toubro were among the laggards.
India's forex reserves increased $1.98 billion to $688.13 billion during the week ended April 25, the RBI said on Friday. This is the eighth consecutive week of a rise in the kitty, which had jumped 8.31 billion to $686.14 in the previous reporting week.
India's forex reserves jumped $1.63 billion to $618.94 billion for the week ended January 12, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had declined sharply by $5.89 billion to $617.3 billion. The country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion in October 2021.
'They are positioned as defensive products and can potentially give marginally higher returns than liquid funds.'
Stock markets snapped the four-day falling streak on Tuesday with the benchmark Sensex rebounding by 317 points on buying in auto and pharma shares amid a decline in retail inflation to a more than six-year low, nearing the RBI's comfort zone. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 317.45 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 82,570.91. During the day, it jumped 490.16 points or 0.59 per cent to 82,743.62. The 50-share NSE Nifty edged higher by 113.50 points or 0.45 per cent to 25,195.80.
India's forex reserves declined $5.24 billion to $617.23 billion for the week ending February 9, according to weekly data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday. The forex kitty stood at $622.5 billion for the week ended February 2. However, in the current fiscal, the forex reserves have increased $50.28 billion, the RBI data showed.
In an eventful week ahead, stock markets may face volatile trends before the RBI's interest rate decision and the US inflation data announcements, as investors continue to assess the broader implications of US tariffs on global economy and inflation, analysts said. Investors fear that a full-blown trade war will impact global trade and economic growth, according to market experts.
India's forex reserves dropped by $1.78 billion to $638.7 billion in the week ended February 28, the RBI said on Friday.
Banks have issued Rs 7.78 trillion worth of CDs in the current calendar year until August 2024, compared to Rs 4.9 trillion in the same period of 2023, registering a 59 per cent growth
Snapping the three-week rising streak, India's forex reserves dropped by $2.54 billion to $635.72 billion in the week ended February 14, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the reserves had increased by $7.65 billion to $638.26 billion.
India's consumer price index (CPI)-based retail inflation rate is likely to have cooled further in June, thus remaining below the 4 per cent target of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a fifth consecutive month, giving the central bank wiggle room to focus on growth. Economists reckon that the decline is on account of easing prices in various categories of goods, especially food items, and a favourable base effect.
Among Sensex stocks, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Maruti, Bajaj Finserv and NTPC were the biggest gainers. However, Eternal, ICICI Bank, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra, Adani Ports, Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.
The need for money among banks, especially for short-term funds, may turn more intense in the last month of the financial year to feed the demand for capital for tax payments and meet year-end targets. The mobilisation of funds via the certificate of deposits (CDs) has seen a threefold increase to over Rs 60,000 crore in the fortnight that ended February 23 from around Rs 20,000 crore in the fortnight of January 26, 2024, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
Wholesale price inflation dropped to 0.85 per cent in April as prices of food articles, manufactured products, and fuel eased, government data showed on Wednesday. WPI-based inflation was 2.05 per cent in March. It was 1.19 per cent in April last year.
Retail inflation eased to a nearly six-year low of 3.16 per cent in April mainly due to subdued prices of vegetables, fruits, pulses, and other protein-rich items, creating enough room for the Reserve Bank to go for another round of rate cut in the June monetary policy review. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was 3.34 per cent in March and 4.83 per cent in April 2024. It was 3.15 per cent in July 2019.
India's forex reserves increased by $1.57 billion to $677.83 billion for the week ended April 11, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. This is the sixth consecutive week of a rise in the kitty.
We propose an expert group be set up to form a national strategy on digital fraud. This group would bring together skills in financial regulation, security economics, cyber defence, and public communications, and an understanding of the Indian financial and security systems. It should lay the foundations of a coordinated approach by the Indian State in fighting digital fraud, suggest Ajay Shah and Nandkumar Saravade.
India's forex reserves jumped by $7.65 billion to $638.26 billion in the week ended February 7, the RBI said on Friday. This is the third consecutive week of a jump in the kitty, which had increased by $1.05 billion to $630.61 billion for the week ended January 31.
Merchandise exports to the US jumped 23.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to $8.3 billion in June, even as India's overall outbound shipments witnessed contraction during the month, according to the data released by the commerce department on Tuesday. The increase in outbound shipments to the US was largely driven by the rush among exporters to utilise America's pause on its plans to impose country-specific reciprocal tariffs.
Domestic passenger vehicle wholesales were down 0.8 per cent at 3,44,656 units in May this year as compared to 3,47,492 units in the same month last year, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said on Monday.
India's real GDP growth in FY26 will slide further to 6.2 per cent in FY26 from 6.5 per cent in FY25, a Japanese brokerage said on Monday. In a research report, Nomura said there is a "divergence" between the growth in GST collections and across other high-frequency growth indicators like auto sales and bank credit growth.
Wholesale price inflation eased to 2.05 per cent in March, as against 2.38 per cent in February, government data showed on Tuesday. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation, however, rose year-on-year.
India's forex reserve jumped by $4.76 billion to $640.48 billion in the week ended February 21, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by $2.54 billion to $635.72 billion.
Benchmark Sensex advanced 110 points in a choppy trade on Wednesday, extending its gains to the fourth day in a row helped by buying in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and fresh foreign fund inflows. The 30-share barometer rose by 110.58 points or 0.14 per cent to settle at 80,956.33 with 14 of its constituents ending with gains and 16 stocks with losses. During the day, it jumped 399.64 points or 0.49 per cent to 81,245.39 and dipped to a low of 80,630.53.
From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Bharat Electronics and Sun Pharma were among the major gainers. In contrast, Trent, Eternal, Axis Bank and Titan were among the laggards.
From the Sensex firms, Tata Steel, Eternal, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel were the major gainers. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel climbed nearly 1 per cent after it posted about a five-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 11,022 crore in the March 2025 quarter, mainly due to the tariff hike impact and one-time gain on tax benefits. However, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC and Power Grid were among the laggards.
'Maintain a balanced approach with a preference for short-to medium-duration funds.'
