Digital payments across the country registered an 11.11 per cent year-on-year rise as on September 2024, according to RBI's index that measures the adoption of online transactions. RBI's Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) for September 2024 stands at 465.33 as against 445.5 for March 2024, the Reserve Bank said in a statement on Wednesday.
'Just like oral hygiene, cyber hygiene must become a daily habit,' says Beena Vaheed, executive director, Bank of Baroda. 'It is not enough to rely only on banks, companies, or the government. Each of us must play our part.'
While UIDAI has given a nod for face authentication, banks need to join the process.
Among Sensex firms, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Trent, Bajaj Finserv, Titan and Reliance Industries were the major laggards. However, UltraTech Cement, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Bharat Electronics, Bajaj Finance and Hindustan Unilever were among the major gainers.
After effecting two back-to-back 25 basis points rate cuts, Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday hinted at another reduction in key policy rate by changing the central bank's monetary stance to 'accomodative' from 'neutral', which may further lower EMIs for consumers.
Moody's Ratings on Tuesday said tax cuts in the current fiscal has dented India's revenue growth, leaving less scope for fiscal policy support for the economy.
The Reserve Bank should focus on making liquidity easier rather than cutting rates if the intent is to drive growth, Axis Bank's chief economist Neelkanth Mishra said on Tuesday. Mishra, who is also a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM, said the rate cut announced earlier this month or even the subsequent ones if they were to come will not end up increasing borrowings as the scarce liquidity will hamper transmission.
India's forex reserves dropped by $396 million to $703 billion for the week ended September 19, according to the RBI data. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had jumped by $4.7 billion to $703 billion.
From the Sensex pack, Eternal, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Trent, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, ITC, PowerGrid, Tata Motors Ltd's Commercial Vehicles business, and Bajaj Finserv were the gainers. Infosys, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Maruti Suzuki India, and Larsen & Toubro were the laggards.
Stock markets will be driven by RBI's interest rate decision, tariff-related developments, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors in this holiday-shortened week, analysts said.
As deposit growth lags credit expansion, Indian banks face shrinking low-cost Casa inflows, rising funding costs, and structural shifts driven by UPI, e-Kuber, and digital savings trends, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
While participants in the domestic financial market are expecting a 25 basis-point policy repo rate cut in the December meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), economists remain torn between a reduction in rate cut and a pause.
'Bank has a robust capital adequacy base. Along with balance sheet preparation, the bank is focusing on strengthening risk management for the new regime.'
'Growth, liquidity and deposit mobilisation are likely to be discussed during the interaction.'
Asset quality within the non-banking financial sector (NBFCs) deteriorated with the share of stressed assets rising to 5.9 per cent in March 2025 from 3.9 per cent in September 2024, according to the Reserve Bank of India's Financial Stability Report (FSR). Slippage ratios among upper layer NBFCs have been rising, along with an upward trend in loan write-offs.
'Previously, contributing only 25 per cent of material costs, states now face burdens of 40 per cent to 100 per cent of total costs, ensuring poorer states will curb project approvals, directly stifling work demand.'
The Indian economy could remain less affected by global trade wars than other countries because the two engines of domestic growth - consumption and investment - are likely to face a limited impact from such headwinds, according to an article on the 'State of the Economy' in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) bulletin, released on Tuesday.
Deloitte India on Thursday projected India's economy to grow 6.7-6.9 per cent in the current fiscal amid buoyant demand and policy reforms. Indian economy grew 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter of current fiscal.
The Indian banking sector could be due for a rise in profitability after several quarters of net interest margin (NIM) compression. The Q2FY26 results suggest NIMs have bottomed out.
With deposit growth remaining sluggish and the credit - deposit ratio of commercial banks crossing 80 per cent, banks have ramped up their borrowing in the certificate of deposit (CD) market. In the fortnight ended November 14, CD issuances climbed to nearly Rs 55,000 crore - double the borrowings of the preceding two fortnights and the highest since the September 19 fortnight.
'Challenge is basically near-term growth as the outlook has turned a bit adverse.'
India's forex reserves jumped by $3.51 billion to $694.23 billion for the week ended August 29, the RBI said on Friday. The overall reserves had dropped by $4.39 billion to $690.72 billion in the previous reporting week.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley have updated their outlook for the Indian markets, and they now expect the Sensex to hit the 107,000 mark by December 2026 in a bull-case scenario, translating into an upside of 26 per cent from current levels.
State Bank of India has embarked on a drive to cut the Know Your Customer (KYC) process to a single one across its branches, a top official said on Tuesday.
India's forex reserves dropped by $2.18 billion to $697.79 billion during the week ended October 10, according to the Reserve Bank data released on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall kitty had decreased by $276 million to $699.96 billion.
From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement and HCL Technologies were the only gainers. On the other hand, Eternal, Tata Motors' commercial vehicles arm, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Trent, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, and Infosys were among the laggards.
'There are no additional benefits for banks and market participants to use CBDC...'
'I don't see 88 per dollar now.'
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to cut interest rates for the first time in nearly five years in Governor Sanjay Malhotra's first monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting on Wednesday. The meeting of the six-member MPC, which will culminate on Friday, aims to boost sluggish economic growth, which is seen falling to a four-year low. Malhotra took charge as the 26th RBI governor in December last year.
SP Group chairman Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry on Friday reiterated calls for public listing of Tata Sons to bring transparency, amid infighting among trustees of Tata Trusts which controls a 66 per cent stake in the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate. Shapoorji Pallonji family is the single largest minority shareholder with about 18.37 per cent in Tata Sons.
Tata Capital is set to launch India's largest ever initial public offering (IPO) by a non-banking financial company (NBFC), valuing the Tata group firm at Rs 1.38 trillion. This will make the company India's fifth-most-valued NBFC after Bajaj Finance (Rs 6.12 trillion), Bajaj Finserv (Rs 3.2 trillion), Jio Financial Services (Rs 1.87 trillion), and IRFC (Rs 1.59 trillion).
Sanjay Malhotra takes charge as the 26th RBI governor at a time when headline retail inflation has shot up to 6.2%.
A 57-year-old woman in Bengaluru was allegedly defrauded of approximately Rs 32 crore in a 'digital arrest' scam. Posing as CBI officers, fraudsters coerced her into sharing financial details and making numerous bank transfers over six months.
From the Sensex firms, Tata Motors jumped the most by 5.54 per cent, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank. However, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Tata Steel were among the laggards.
The rupee continued to face pressure in the first half of the current financial year (FY26), hitting fresh lows against the dollar, due to strengthening of the greenback, rising crude oil prices, and foreign outflows. Rupee has depreciated by 3.7 per cent so far in the current financial year after starting at a good note in April.
Axis Bank reported a sharp drop in net profit in the second quarter of financial year 2026 (Q2FY26) on higher provisions and weak operating profit growth while revenue growth was moderate. But loan growth and deposit growth improved to double-digits year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and asset quality also improved with the gross non-performing loan or NPL ratio moving down.
Tata Trusts, which exerts decisive influence over India's most valuable conglomerate through its about 66 per cent stake of Tata Sons, finds itself in the midst of infighting among its trustees over board appointment and governance issues.
Reserve Bank on Tuesday launched mobile application 'RBIDATA' which will provide access to more than 11,000 different series of economic data related to the Indian economy. The mobile app offers macroeconomic and financial statistics relating to the Indian economy in a user-friendly and visually engaging format, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a release.
Currently there are 26 licensed players in the P2P lending sector but only 10-11 are actively operating.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday said there is no proposal to levy any charge on UPI transactions.
