rediffGURU Jinal Mehta answers readers' financial planning and health insurance queries
State Bank of India's earnings growth may turn lacklustre in the near-term, warn analysts. This, they said, could be due to margin compression and likely lower fee income over the next one year. "While the cost of deposits is repricing sharply across the system, there will be relatively lower yield expansion going ahead as most of the back-book has been repriced and there is a high competitive pressure on yields.
The country's biggest bank SBI on Friday posted over two-fold jump in standalone net profit at Rs 16,884 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year, helped by decline in bad loans and improvement in interest income. State Bank of India (SBI) had reported a net profit of Rs 6,068 crore in the April-June quarter of 2022-23. The bank's total income increased to Rs 1,08,039 crore in the first quarter of 2023-24, as against Rs 74,989 crore in the same period a year ago, as per the regulatory filing.
Equity mutual fund (MF) schemes were flush with cash at the start of this month, even as fresh investments shrank in February. As of February 28, equity schemes from the top 20 fund houses held 6.8 per cent of their portfolios in cash, up from 6.1 per cent in January and 5.9 per cent in December 2024, according to a report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
ICICI Bank has cut its savings account deposit interest rate by 0.25 per cent, according to the lender's website. The second largest private sector bank's move comes days after larger rival HDFC Bank announced similar move amid a spate of cuts in deposit offerings following RBI's two back-to-back rate decreases.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Jalan-Kalrock consortium, the new owners of the cash-strapped Jet Airways, to deposit Rs 150 crore in SBI's escrow account by January 31, saying failure to do so will mean that the consortium is not in compliance with the terms of the resolution plan for reviving the airline. The top court, meanwhile, also refused to allow the separate plea of the Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association seeking payment of provident fund and gratuity dues, observing if additional money is awarded, the resolution plan will become "unworkable". The consortium, as per the lawyers for the workmen, has to pay over Rs 200 crore towards dues on account of PF and gratuity.
The argument that India is going towards a 'Hindu rate of growth' is "ill-conceived, biased and pre-mature" when weighed against the respective data on savings and investments, said SBI Research in its Ecowrap report. The term Hindu rate of growth was coined by economist Raj Krishna in 1978, which denoted the economic growth of about 3.5-4.0 per cent in terms of GDP during 1947-1980. "India's quarterly sequential Y-o-Y GDP growth has been in a declining trend in FY23.
Backed by their strong physical presence across the country, UTI Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund (MF) have managed to mobilise a higher proportion of their total assets under management (AUM) from towns and villages than their peers. Data compiled by Nuvama Institutional Equities shows that UTI MF and SBI MF are the only two major fund houses with over a fifth of their AUM coming from areas beyond the top 30 cities (referred to as B-30). UTI MF tops the chart with 23.8 per cent of its assets belonging to B-30 centres, followed by SBI MF with 21.2 per cent B-30 assets. The industry average stands at 17 per cent.
The price hikes during Covid were more because of supply chain and logistics disruptions caused by the pandemic and the Ukraine war rather than firms increasing prices because of higher pricing power, a report by State Bank of India (SBI) said. "It is thus incorrect to infer that concentration power dictated pricing capacity of firms, thus resulting in unyielding core inflation," the report authored by Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, SBI, said. A recent research article by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Viral Acharya had observed that persistence of core inflation in India is due to purchasing power of top-five corporate houses.
India's largest asset manager SBI Funds Management on Tuesday said they are negative on equities from a shorter-term perspective as valuations have risen above the comfort zone. "We are not positive on equities. We think valuations are expensive. "The market has gone up a lot more than the earnings have grown," said R Srinivasan, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) - Equity at SBI Mutual Fund, at the launch of asset management companies' (AMC) yearly report on the market outlook.
The net financial savings of the household sector has moderated to 5.1% of GDP in FY23 from 7.6 per cent in FY20, as households shifted their savings to physical assets amid low interest rates during the pandemic, according to State Bank of India's (SBI) Research report.
The data for individual weighted received premium (WRP) showed divergent trends for life insurers in December 2024. Overall, the industry's individual WRP grew 4.8 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y); LIC's individual WRP declined 13 per cent while private players saw 11.4 per cent growth.
Regulator Irdai on Friday directed SBI Life Insurance Company to takeover the policy liabilities of around two lakh policies along with assets of Sahara India Life Insurance Co Ltd (SILIC) with immediate effect. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) in view of deteriorating financial health of the SILIC. "The Authority has identified SBI Life Insurance Company Limited (SBI Life), which is one of the largest life insurers in the country with satisfactory financials, as the acquirer insurer of the life insurance business of SlLIC.
Ace Indian cueist Sourav Kothari clinched the 2025 IBSF World Billiards title after an emphatic victory over multiple-time winner Pankaj Advani in the final in Carlow, Ireland.
Despite sharp interest rate cuts expected in this financial year amid easy liquidity conditions, state-run banks are treading cautiously on their loan growth projections for FY26. Most large banks are projecting loan growth at 11-13 per cent, almost similar to the previous financial year.
State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have again been named as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank on Wednesday came out with the list of D-SIBs.
SBI has suggested that banks be exempted from handing over the complete forensic audit report to the borrower as it would hamper future investigation and forewarn the borrower by way of disclosure of confidential information.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
SBI is expected to mop up almost $202 million via the share sale.
AUM heavyweights SBI, HDFC and ICICI Pru flex muscle, adding Rs 2 trillion+ each.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) brass, including its Governor Sanjay Malhotra, on Tuesday told a Parliamentary panel that it was "optimistic" about the impact of the US tariffs on the Indian economy and, in long-run, it could benefit the country due to dipping trade relations between the US and China.
The RBI on Monday said state-owned SBI, along with private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank continue to be Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) or institutions which are 'too big to fail'. SIBs are perceived as banks that are 'too big to fail (TBTF)'. This perception of TBTF creates an expectation of government support for these lenders in times of distress.
10 largecaps stocks which stand to gain from the Budget.
'The US has agreed to negotiate with us a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement, which will go for reduction of tariffs on both sides so that our trade can grow.'
The per capita income of Indians as gleaned from income-tax filing is expected to increase from Rs 2 lakh in FY23 to Rs 14.9 lakh in FY47, coinciding with 100 years of the country's Independence, according to SBI Research. In dollar terms it will increase from about $2,500 in FY23 to $12,400 in FY47. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, State Bank of India, said the weighted mean income was Rs 4.4 lakh in AY14. That rose to Rs 13 lakh in FY23.
India has decided to authorise the country's biggest lender SBI to promote rupee trade with Russia and soon Moscow will name its bank to operationalise the mechanism, exporters' body FIEO said on Wednesday. The RBI in July issued a detailed circular asking banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and import transactions in Indian rupees in view of increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency. Currently, a large part of bilateral trade between India and Russia is getting settled in rupee due to sanctions imposed by the US and Europe following Moscow's attack on Ukraine.
The SBIF Asha Scholarship Programme for Overseas Education 2024-25 aims to provide financial assistance to meritorious students from low-income families across India, ensuring the continuity of their education.
Lenders of bankrupt airline Jet Airways, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday told the Supreme Court that successful bidder Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) was "unwilling" to pay the dues and that the "liquidation" was the only option left. The bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud was hearing the SBI-led consortium plea against the NCLAT's March order upholding ownership transfer of the bankrupt airline to JKC.
'Health and motor insurance will continue to be our two most important segments'
Absconding diamond jeweller Mehul Choksi has been detained in Belgium following an extradition request by Indian probe agencies for his alleged involvement in the Rs 13,000 crore PNB bank loan 'fraud' case, official sources said Monday. The action against the diamantaire was taken on Saturday.
Public sector banks (PSBs) have proposed the Finance Ministry their plan to raise Rs 54,800 crore through Additional Tier-1 (AT-1) and Tier-2 bonds in the current financial year (FY25), 37 per cent more than the Rs 39,880 crore raised in FY24
rediffGURU Rohit Gupta, co-founder and COO of College Vidya, provides a list of competitive exams that can help you land a job in the public sector.
Bank employees want a five day work week.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's call for making lending rates affordable may not resonate anytime soon as banks still struggle with margin compression, and await clues from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on liquidity and rate action. Hinting that any lending rate cut was some time away, State Bank of India (SBI) managing director Vinay M Tonse said there was still some aggression in the market regarding deposit pricing.
'When we look at the quality of our retail loan book, the non-performing asset percentage is low.'
Three men in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, received income tax notices demanding crores of rupees despite earning meager salaries, highlighting the growing issue of identity theft in India. The victims, who earn between Rs 8,500 and Rs 15,000 per month, were shocked to receive notices for Rs 33.88 crore, Rs 3.87 crore, and Rs 7.79 crore respectively. The authorities believe that businesses have been conducting large-scale transactions using forged Aadhaar and PAN cards in the names of these individuals.
Despite rising interest rates, leading home loan players SBI and HDFC have announced discounted interest rates beginning at 8.40 per cent as part of their festive offerings. SBI in a statement said that its home loan book has topped the Rs 6 lakh crore mark, a first in the industry. The leading lender said it is offering up to 25 bps discount on interest rate to new home loan borrowers, making the entry level rate at 8.40 per cent and the offer will run up to January 31, 2023.
DDinesh Kumar Khara is someone who cares for others's ideas and suggestions.
If he takes the people along with him (which he always does); cares for the customers (80 per cent of SBI's new customers are in the 20-40 age group); and doesn't take his eyes off technology, his job is done, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday raised its benchmark lending rates by up to 50 basis points (or 0.5 per cent), a move that will lead to an increase in EMIs for borrowers. The increase in lending rate comes days after the Reserve Bank of India hiked its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to tame inflation. External Benchmark based Lending Rate (EBLR) and Repo-Linked Lending Rate (RLLR) have been raised by 50 basis points while the hike in Marginal Cost of funds-based Lending Rate (MCLR) is 20 basis points across all tenure.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone has repaid Rs 1,500 crore loan and will repay another Rs 1,000 crore in commercial papers due in March. The Adani Group firm paid Rs 1,000 crore to SBI Mutual Fund and Rs 500 crore to Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund on commercial papers that matured on Monday, as scheduled.