HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh on Thursday said RBI is expected to raise key short-term rates by 25-50 basis points later this month.
Declining interest rates, a near-normal monsoon leading to higher rural incomes and pay hikes for central government employees are key triggers, says Dev Chatterjee.
Retail inflation declined to an 18-month low of 4.7 per cent in April mainly due to falling prices of vegetables, oils and fats, and came closer to Reserve Bank's target of 4 per cent, showed government data released Friday. It was for the second month in a row that Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation remained within the RBI's comfort zone of below 6 per cent. The government has tasked the central bank to ensure retail inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.
The headline for corporate profit growth has been very encouraging in the July-September quarter (Q2) of 2023-24 (FY24), with the combined net profit of listed companies up by 38 per cent year-on-year. However, the earnings distribution has been very lopsided, with most of the growth coming from public-sector oil-marketing companies (OMCs), banks, non-bank lenders, automobile (auto) companies, and cement producers. By comparison, companies from information technology services, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail, and consumer durables were disappointed, experiencing a sharp slowdown in net sales growth and a relatively muted increase in reported net profit.
"The corporate pipeline is still strong, which will lead growth. We expect to maintain a 15-16 per cent year-on-year credit growth," ICICI Bank's Joint Managing Director Chanda Kochhar told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. On ICICI Bank's microfinance portfolio, she said that the bank has covered more than 3-million customers under this portfolio.
There is so much liquidity in the system, in the global economy, and that's why the stock market is very buoyant. It will certainly witness correction in the future: RBI's Das.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported an 11 per cent drop in its June quarter net profit largely due to weak oil-to-chemical (O2C) vertical and higher interest and depreciation cost. Net profit was Rs 16,011 crore, or Rs 23.66 per share, in April-June - the first quarter of current 2023-24 fiscal year - compared with Rs 17,955 crore, or Rs 26.54 a share, earning a year back, according to a company's stock exchange filing.
Gold prices fell to a 5-year low of less than $1,100/ounce.
Banks get bonds boost to raise funds for core sector; up to Rs 50 lakh of home loans in metros and Rs 40 lakh in other cities not to have CRR, SLR requirements
They also have to reveal terms and conditions for loans, credit cards.
A year on, the outlook is much more positive. In 2010, public sector players, which have done a bulk of the lending over the last 15 months, are going to strengthened with the government set to start the Rs 15,000-crore recapitalisation programme.
Company is looking to raise the funds through dollar-denominated loans.
'I don't think we have ever seen such alignment of everything that we need in the banking sector.'
We have millions of newbie investors who are clueless about how to handle sudden and severe adverse market reactions, which arrive from time to time, observes Debashis Basu.
With rising interest rates and inflation taking a toll on home loan customers, banks are beginning to encourage them to partly prepay their loans. Many of them are doing so without charging them prepayment penalty.
While IDBI Bank's 140 million customers and 1800-odd branches will come in handy for LIC to hawk insurance, the bank can use LIC's massive agent network to sell its retail loans. But if it is run the same way it had been in the past and LIC is a proxy of the government, then it has no future, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Public sector banks have suddenly developed cold feet on raising lending rates even if it means sacrificing on their bottom lines.
'We have already sanctioned loans worth over Rs 3,000 crore to around 120,000 customers.'
Polarisation in the performance of Indian banks will persist as many large public sector banks are still saddled with weak assets, high credit costs, and poor earnings, S&P Global Ratings said on Thursday. It said State Bank of India and leading private sector banks have largely addressed their asset quality challenges, and their profitability is improving more sharply than the banking system. In its Global Banking Outlook-2023 report, S&P said economic recovery is driving credit costs to cyclical low levels and stronger balance sheets and higher demand should boost bank loan growth, but deposit growth will lag.
After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised key policy rates by 25 bps in the third quarter review of monetary policy, banks have started raising lending and deposit rates.
At the start of 2008, Manoj Singh headed Tranzact Consolidated India, among the largest direct sales agents in Mumbai with about 200 employees.
Brokerages have maintained their ratings and target prices on FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of Nykaa, after the fashion and beauty online retailer posted in-line numbers during the October-December quarter (Q3) of financial year 2023-24 (FY24). They have, however, cut earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) estimates after weak demand weighed across line items in Q3. "While revenue growth was healthy at 22 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), gross margins declined 90 basis points (bps), weighed by higher discounting in own brands and lower ad income.
S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said Indian banks face a systemic risk as the second COVID wave will impair the performance of financial institutions in the April-September period. Stating that economic recovery remains highly vulnerable to setbacks due to COVID, particularly if fresh outbreaks trigger new lockdowns, S&P said the banking sector's weak loans will likely remain elevated at 11-12 per cent of gross loans in the next 12 to 18 months. "The second wave has front-ended weakness in asset quality," said S&P Global Ratings Credit Analyst Deepali Seth Chhabria. "Financial institutions face a strained first half amid weak collections and poor disbursements."
Corporate indebtedness is now twice what it was before the global financial crisis; banks' bad loans ratio is 3.5 times higher.
It takes a longer time to avail of these loans, owing to tight due-diligence process of banks.
The country's largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, on Thursday slashed its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 15.75 per cent, a move that would benefit the bank's home, auto, consumer and corporate loan borrowers.
Festive season is the mainstay of most brick and mortar retail chains.
Chanda Kochhar, who was arrested for a cash-for-loan scam on Friday, was once a powerful banker and instrumental in making ICICI Bank the country's biggest private sector lender. Kochhar, a regular feature on Forbes top global honchos lists, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) along with her husband Deepak Kochhar in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by ICICI Bank to Videocon Group companies. Kochhars were called to the agency headquarters and arrested after a brief questioning session. Her chapter at ICICI Bank ended abruptly in 2018 when the board of directors approved a request from Kochhar to seek early retirement following allegation of corruption and quid pro-quo while extending loans to the now bankrupt Videocon Industries.
Banks are ruling out an immediate hardening of interest rates and will wait for cues from the Reserve Bank of India before effecting any changes. Most bankers said that unlike last time when inflation was above 6 per cent, the government this time has a bigger role to play than the Central bank since most price pressures are emanating from rising food and metal prices.
HDFC Bank on Monday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 16,811 crore for the September quarter, its maiden quarterly earnings announcement after merging parent HDFC with itself. On a standalone basis, the largest private sector lender reported a net profit of Rs 15,976 crore. In the year-ago period, the net profit of the merged entity would have been Rs 11,162 crore on a consolidated level while the same on a standalone basis would have been Rs 10,606 crore.
In an indication of easing financial stress among borrowers, the number of unsuccessful auto-debit requests through the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) platform declined in July, reversing a three-month trend that started with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the NACH data, of the 86.4-million transactions initiated in July, 33.23 per cent, or 28.7 million transactions, failed, while 57.7 million were successful. Compared to June, this is a significant improvement in bounce rates.
Citibank on Wednesday joined the list of foreign banks that have exited retail banking business in India. Mumbai-based Axis Bank completed acquisition of Citigroup's consumer business for Rs 11,603 crore. Under the deal, Axis acquired consumer banking businesses of Citibank India, which includes credit cards, retail banking, wealth management and consumer loans.
'The rising cost of construction, the cost of doing business, high compliance, and inflation/interest rates going up have already reduced returns to single digits.'
Banks had raised the interest rates on loans by as much as 350 basis points although the cost of deposits had increased by a maximum of 200 basis points. With the deposit rates having softened from the April 2007 levels, banks have decided to pass on the benefits but only to the new borrowers.
Despite rising interest rates, and high inflation, the banking sector is doing well, on the back of a recovering economy. The last couple of quarters indicate credit demand is picking up and Return on Assets (RoA) is more than acceptable at the moment. The PSU bank pack may be more interesting at the moment simply due to being valued at far lower multiples than the private banks.
If a 5% to 10% fall in the equity market gives you sleepless nights, you are not cut out for a 75% to 80% allocation to equities and must reduce it.
While the economy seems to be on a firm growth path, the fight against inflation is not over yet. Shaktikanta Das seems to be in no hurry. After playing well through a five-year Test match, he doesn't want to get out hit wicket, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
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