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Saturday, October 16, 2021

Banking and Financial Update for October 16, 2021

 

16.10.2021 : Today's Banking / Financial Bulletin

🍒 ‘Higher loan growth for private banks’ : Private sector banks recorded higher loan growth compared to other bank groups (PSBs and foreign banks), with their share in total credit steadily increasing to 35.4 per cent in March 2021 from 20.8 per cent in March 2015, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This has been at the cost of public sector banks, whose share in total credit has come down from 71.6 per cent to 56.5 per cent over the same period, said the central bank. - Business Line


🍒 PNB Housing shelves ₹ 4,000-cr share sale plan to Carlyle Group, other investors : PNB Housing Finance Limited (PNBHFL) has called off it’s proposed ₹ 4,000 crore share sale plan to Carlyle Group and other marquee investors including General Atlantic and Ares SSG, citing protracted delays and uncertainty over regulatory approvals required for the preferential issue.  At a Board meeting held on Thursday evening, PNBHFL decided not to proceed with the proposed preferential issue and therefore will now evaluate other alternatives to raise capital. Also, all the share subscription agreements executed with the proposed allottees have been terminated. - Business Line


🍒 Fintech firm Tala raises $145 m in Series-E round : Tala, a financial services company, has raised $145 million in Series E fundraise led by Upstart, taking the total funds raised to $350 million.  Stellar Development Foundation, Kindred Ventures and the J. Safra Group, IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, and PayPal Ventures also joined the round. Tala will use the investment to accelerate the rollout of its new financial account experience, which provides customers with fresh tools to borrow, save and manage their money, all through Tala’s top-rated consumer finance app,” a Tala statement has said. - Business Line


🍒 India's Forex reserves rise by $2.04 billion to $639.51 billion : The country's foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.039 billion to $639.516 billion in the week ended October 8, according to RBI data. In the previous week ended October 1, the reserves had dipped by $1.169 billion to $637.477 billion. The reserves had surged by $8.895 billion to a lifetime high of $642.453 billion in the week ended September 3. During the reporting week ended October 8, the rise in the reserves was on account of an increase in the Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs), Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly data released on Friday showed. FCA rose by $1.55 billion to $577.001 billion in the reporting week, as per the data. - Economic Times


🍒 Bitcoin nears $60,000 as investors eye first US ETFs : Bitcoin hit a six-month high on Friday,approaching the record hit in April, as traders became increasingly confident that US regulators would approve the launch of an exchange-traded fund based on its futures contracts.  The world’s biggest cryptocurrency rose nearly 4 per cent to as high as $59,664, its highest since mid-April. It has doubled in value this year and is near April’s record high of $64,895. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is poised to allow the first US bitcoin futures ETF to begin trading next week, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. - Business Line


🍒 RBI Guv to IMF, World Bank: Will remain accommodative in monetary policy : India, which is experiencing robust economic recovery although uneven across sectors, has decided to remain accommodative in its monetary policy, the Reserve Bank of India Governor told the international community on Thursday. India is witnessing a very robust economic recovery, but there is still unevenness across sectors, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in his address to the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. - Business Line


🍒 Karnataka Bank to get Centenary building : Foundation stone for the establishment of the centenary building of Karnataka Bank was laid in Mangaluru on Friday. Established in 1924, the bank will observe its Centenary Year during the financial year 2023-24.  To be constructed adjacent to the present Head Office premises of the bank in Mangaluru, the proposed new building will be of 2.41 lakh sq ft of area. Laying the foundation stone for the centenary building, Mahabaleshwara MS, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Bank, said the bank has always travelled ahead of time to cater to the varying demands of the customers from all walks of life. - Business Line


🍒 Unity Small Finance Bank plans to tap 100 million Payback users : Unity Small Finance Bank (SFB), promoted by the Centrum-BharatPe combine, is looking to target over 100 million members of Payback - a loyalty programme company BharatPe acquired in June - to become a digital bank. Jaspal Bindra, chairman of Centrum Capital, had said that the proposed business model is one of collaboration and open architecture, to deliver a seamless digital experience, and aspire to be India’s first digital bank. Elaborating on the bank's approach on a digital platform, Ashneer Grover, co-founder and managing director, BharatPe, said it would need all possible digital channels, including Payback's 100-million-plus customer base. "This will be done within what the regulatory framework allows us to do at arm's length. This (Payback) is an independent business,” said Grover. - Business Standard


🍒 Public insurers lost 30% motor segment business since FY18: Care Ratings : Even as the motor insurance segment, which had a massive decline in FY21, is returning to the growth path, public sector general insurers have been steadily losing ground to the private insurers overall and more so in the bread and butter motor segment, with pie crimping to 32.6 per cent in August, down from 36.6 per cent a year ago. As against this, the private sector has improved their market pie to 67.4 per cent in the reporting month from 63.4 per cent in the same period last year, shows an analysis of the monthly data by Care Ratings. - Business Standard


🍒 Sensex jumps 50% from last Dussehra to scale 61,000 mark. 169 stocks give multibagger returns : India’s equity markets have generated huge wealth for investors since Dussehra last year as the benchmark indices scaled new highs, even though there was a pause in April-May due to the second Covid-19 wave.  The BSE Sensex has rallied more than 50 percent since last Dussehra on October 25, 2020, to surpass the 61,000 milestone on October 14, a day before Dussehra celebrations across the country this year. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 The 4 largest US consumer banks posted another strong quarter this week as the rebounding economy allowed them to release more cash they had set aside for pandemic losses, while sizzling deals, equity financing and trading also boosted their bottom lines. JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup, Well Fargo & Co and Bank of America Corp, seen by analysts and economists as bellwethers of the broader economy, reported a combined profit of $28.7 billion for the third quarter, beating analyst estimates. - Moneycontrol


🍒 Max Life seeks IRDAI nod to launch subsidiary ; Max Life Insurance (MLI) has sought insurance regulator IRDAI’s approval to set up a subsidiary to undertake pension fund management business, said Prashant Tripathy, Managing Director & CEO. Pension regulator PFRDA had recently granted approval to MLI to become a sponsor of a pension fund manager. - Business Line


🍒 RBI approves appointment of Pradeep Kumar Panja as Chairman of Karnataka Bank : Karnataka Bank Ltd has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India to appoint Pradeep Kumar Panja, an Independent Director of the bank, as part-time non-executive Chairman with effect from November 14, for a period of three years. He will succeed P Jayarama Bhat, who will complete his term on November 13. Pradeep Kumar Panja retired as Managing Director (Corporate Banking) of State Bank of India (SBI). Prior to this, he also held the post of Managing Director of State Bank of Travancore for about a year. - Business Line


🍒 IL&FS seeks NCLT approval to place Rs 4,000 crore of assets in InvIT : The IL&FS group has sought approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to move five highway assets of the beleaguered group to an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT). An independent assessment has valued the projects at Rs 4,000 crore, said a company spokesman while confirming the development. The valuation is a regulatory requirement under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rules. With the NCLT approval, a total of 11 projects would be ready for monetisation through the InvIT route. The first tranche of six projects valued at around Rs 9,200 crore already have the NCLT approval. - Business Standard.

Friday, October 15, 2021

Banking and Financial Update for 15 October 2021

 

Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance


🍒 UCO Bank CEO Atul Kumar Goel appointed chairman of Indian Banks' Association : UCO Bank CEO Atul Kumar Goel has been appointed as chairman of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) for 2021-22 succeeding Union Bank of India CEO Rajkiran Rai. Last month Goel was shortlisted by the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) to take over as Punjab National Bank (PNB) CEO from January 2022. In the managing committee meeting on Thursday, IBA members also elected State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, Canara Bank CEO L V Prabhakar and IDBI Bank CEO Rakesh Sharma as deputy chairmen of the IBA. Madhav Nair, country head of Mashreq Bank was elected as honorary secretary of the association. - Economic Times


🍒 Atleast 50% of retail, MSME loans to move to digital lending: Union Bank MD : With digitization gaining pace, close to 50 per cent of retail and MSME loans offered by banks will shift to digital lending platforms over the next two to three years, Union Bank of India's Managing Director and CEO Rajkiran Rai G said on Thursday. Rai said digital lending is changing the banking landscape in a big way because of the availability of data and many ecosystem partners collaborating with banks. "I feel that at least 50 per cent of the loans under retail and MSME segments will move to the digital lending platforms, right from sourcing to documentation level, in two to three years," Rai said while speaking at Sibas 2021, an annual banking and finance conference. - Business Standard


🍒 RBI approves reappointment of Amitabh Chaudhry as MD & CEO of Axis Bank : The Reserve Bank on India (RBI) on October 14 approved the reappointment of Amitabh Chaudhry as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Axis Bank. The private sector lender, in a regulatory filing, confirmed that it has received the central bank's nod to reappoint Chaudhry as the MD and CEO for another three-year period. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 RBI withdraws restrictions on Hindu Cooperative Bank, Pathankot : The RBI on Thursday withdrew all restrictions imposed on Hindu Cooperative Bank Limited, Pathankot. The Reserve Bank had issued directions stipulating certain restrictions on the bank in March 2019. The directions were modified from time to time and were last extended up to October 24, 2021. "The Reserve Bank of India on being satisfied that in the public interest it is necessary to do so...hereby, withdraws with effect from close of business on October 14, 2021, the said directions so issued to Hindu Cooperative Bank Limited, Pathankot, Punjab," it said in a statement. - Economic Times


🍒 PMC Bank fraud case: HC rejects Rakesh Wadhawan's medical bail plea : The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to grant bail on health grounds to jailed businessman Rakesh Wadhawan, accused of money laundering in the multi-crore Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank fraud case. Wadhawan, founder of Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2019 in the case. A single bench presided over by Justice Nitin Sambre said that Wadhawan's submission that he was immediately required to be released on temporary bail on medical ground, was "not justified". - Economic Times


🍒 Five banks may bid for Citi's India consumer businesses : Five top lenders, including HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, are expected to submit binding bids for the Citi India consumer businesses before the October 26 deadline, two officials aware of the development told ET. Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and DBS India are also in contention for the businesses Citi is exiting in India. Although the US lender is seeking a valuation in excess of $2 billion, the bids could be more circumspect after Citi lost significant market share in its retail and credit card books, one of the executives cited above said. HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, two of India's top three most valued private sector lenders, are considered front-runners to win the business that generates about $1 billion in revenue. - Economic Times


🍒 PhonePe revenue up 85%, losses down 44% in FY21 : PhonePe, a digital payments platform backed by US-based retailer Walmart Inc and homegrown ecommerce entity Flipkart, has reported revenue from operations of Rs 690 crore in the previous financial year, a jump of 85%, according to its latest regulatory documents sourced by ET. PhonePe, which competes with Paytm, Google Pay and Amazon Pay, has reported marginally lower net loss of Rs 1,727 crore for the period. Excluding a one-time allocation for employee stock options, the loss is around Rs 884 crore, down around 44%. The narrowed losses is an outcome of PhonePe cutting operational costs. It has significantly reduced its marketing and promotional spends, by around 47%, to about Rs 535 crore from Rs 1,016 crore in FY20. - Economic Times


🍒 Capital account convertibility: India on the cusp of fundamental shifts, says RBI Dy Guv : India is on the cusp of fundamental shifts in the capital account convertibility space, with increased market integration in the offing and freer non-resident access to debt on the table, according to T Rabi Sankar, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In this regard, Sankar observed that there is an effort to liberalise foreign portfolio investment (FPI) debt flows further, with the introduction of the Fully Accessible Route (FAR), which places no limit on non-resident investment in specified benchmark securities. - Business Line


🍒 Securitisation volume more than doubled to Rs 50,000 cr in H1 FY22: Report ; Securitisation volume more than doubled to Rs 50,000 crore in the first half of the current fiscal year, Crisil Ratings said in a report. The volume zoomed to Rs 20,000 crore in September 2021, growing around 85 per cent year-on-year, marking a clear recovery from the subdued activity seen in the beginning of this fiscal due to the pandemic's second wave, the agency said in a report. It said the investors are getting reassured by the return to near normalcy across businesses and improvement in collection ratios in securitised pools and portfolios of originators. Crisil's senior director and deputy chief ratings officer Krishnan Sitaraman said market activity typically suffers in times of uncertainty like in the pandemic's wake. - Business Standard


🍒 Rupee gains 12 paise to 75.25 against US dollar in early trade : The Indian rupee appreciated 12 paise to 75.25 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday, buoyed by heavy buying in domestic equities and fresh foreign fund inflows. Weakness of the American currency in the overseas market also helped the domestic unit, forex dealers said. However, higher crude prices restrained the rupee to gain momentum, they added. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened strong at 75.27 against the US dollar, then gained further ground to 75.25, registering a rise of 12 paise against the previous close. - Business Line


🍒 Still strong bias for cash payment; need to reassess PSS Act: Report : The pandemic forced an inevitable shift to digital payments but Indians continue to have a strong bias for cash payments, a report said. Due to the emergence of disruptive technologies leading to technology led payment solutions, there is a need to reassess the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS), a key enabler for promoting digital transactions, the report by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy said. The Act was enacted more than a decade back when the digital payments market in India was at its nascent stage and the law was primarily enacted to regulate payment systems from a systemic perspective and to confer the RBI with necessary powers to regulate these systems, it said. - Financial Express


🍒 PNB Housing terminates deal with Carlyle-led investor group ; The board of PNB Housing Finance Ltd has terminated a Rs 4,000-crore fund raising deal with a Carlyle-led group of investors citing pending legal issues which may delay regulatory approvals. Subsequently, Pluto Investments, a Carlyle entity will be initiating the process to withdraw an open offer made by them, the finance company said in a notice to stock exchanges. The Securities and Exchange Board of India had asked PNB Housing to halt a preferential allotment of shares and warrants to entities including Pluto investments, an affiliate of the Carlyle Group, General Atlantic, Salisbury Investments Private Ltd. and Alpha Investments to raise Rs 4,000 crore - Financial Express


🍒 Gold prices rise above Rs 48,000 per 10 gm ahead of Dussehra; silver soars Rs 1,154 a kg : Gold prices continued uptrend for the eighth consecutive day on October 14, up by Rs 638 to touch Rs 48,125 per 10 gram in the Mumbai bullion market a day before Dussehra, tracking sharp gains in the international market and weak dollar. The precious metal edged closer to $1,800/oz on rising inflation- boosted safe-haven appeal. The bullion soared Rs 1,145 or 2.44 percent in this holiday-shortened week in the domestic market. The price of 10 gram, 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 44,083 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram stood at Rs 48,125 plus GST. The 18-carat gold is quoted at Rs 36,094 plus GST in the retail market. Silver prices climbed by Rs 1,154 to Rs 63,290 per kg against its closing price on October 13.


🍒 RBI imposes monetary penalty on The Kurla Nagarik Sahakari Bank : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 14 imposed a monetary penalty of Rs one lakh on The Kurla Nagarik Sahakari Bank for violation of certain rules. "The penalty is for contravention of Section 26-A read with section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (the Act), the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme, 2014 (the Scheme) framed under section 26 A of the Act," the RBI said. - Moneycontrol


🍒 Sensex tops 61,000, Nifty moves past 18,300 as bulls take charge : The BSE Sensex, which recorded a fresh all-time high of 61,353.25 during the day, closed at a record high of 61,305.95, up 568.90 points or 0.94 per cent. It hit an intraday low of 60,978.04.  The Nifty 50 closed at 18,338.55, up 176.80 points or 0.97 per cent, after recording a fresh all-time high of 18,350.75. It recorded an intraday low of 18,248.70. Adani Ports, Wipro, Grasim, HDFC Bank and ITC were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while Coal India, Tata Motors, Eicher Motor, HCL Tech and HDFC Life were the top losers.

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Banking and Financial News Update for 14 October 2021


14.10.2021 : Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance


🍒 PNB reduces gold loan interest rates: : Punjab National Bank (PNB) has announced that it has reduced interest rates on loans against gold jewellery and Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) by 145 basis points (bps); this is part of its festive season offerings. According to a press release issued by PNB, the bank is now offering loans against Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) at 7.20% and loans against gold jewellery at 7.30%. "Additionally, PNB has slashed the home loan rate which now starts from 6.60%, while customers can avail car loans starting from 7.15% and personal loans from 8.95%," stated the release. - Economic Times


🍒 Dish TV board cites rules, rejects YES Bank's demands to hold EGM : The board of Dish TV Ltd (DTL) rejected on Wednesday, YES Bank's demand to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to consider resolutions, citing regulatory limitations and absence of prior approvals from the government and lenders. Private lender YES Bank, which holds 25.93 per cent stake stake in DTL, had sought the removal of DTL directors Jawahar Lal Goel and others, and appointment of the bank's own nominees. - Business Standard.


🍒 Shivalik Small Finance Bank partners with Go Digit Insurance : Shivalik Small Finance Bank on Tuesday announced a strategic partnership with Bengaluru-based insurtech company, Go Digit General Insurance, to provide an array of instant, easy-to-understand insurance products through the bank’s network of branches across India. This will include health insurance plans, motor insurance, and home and shop insurance. This partnership will enable over 4.5 lakh customers of Shivalik Small Finance Bank to instantly access and purchase from Digit’s list of offerings, through paperless processes, in real time. - Business Line


🍒 Government announces conversion of two G-Secs into six FRBs : The government on Wednesday announced the conversion or switch of two Government Securities (G-Secs), both maturing in 2022 and aggregating ₹36,000 crore (face value) into six floating rate bonds (FRBs) maturing between 2028 and 2034. Thus, the government does not have to redeem the aforementioned G-Secs on their maturity dates — April 13, 2022 (for the security carrying 5.09 per cent coupon rate) and August 02, 2022 (for the security carrying 8.08 per cent coupon rate). Redemption pressure on the government is alleviated to the extent of the face value of the securities being converted or switched. - Business Line


🍒 Mobikwik sees ‘BNPL’ as its fastest growing business segment : IPO-bound One Mobikwik Systems (Mobikwik) sees it’s ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ product — which enjoys higher margins — as a major growth driver and it’s fastest growing business segment in the days to come, said Co-founder Upasana Taku. This digital financial services firm is also aiming to launch its ₹1,900 crore initial public offering (IPO) by this month end, Taku told BusinessLine in an interview. - Business LIne


🍒 PhonePe and NBBL partner to launch ClickPay : Digital payment platform PhonePe has, in association with NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd (NBBL), launched ClickPay for its customers. ClickPay is a unique payment link that enables customers to make recurring online bill payments (electricity, water, gas, loan, etc) and removes the need to remember tedious account details associated with each biller or service. This link sent by the biller will lead the customer directly to the payment page, fetching the bill amount instantly. - Business Line


🍒 Shriram Housing gets ₹300-cr equity capital from parent firm : Shriram Housing Finance Ltd (SHFL) on Wednesday said it has received the second round of equity capital infusion of ₹300 crore from parent company, Shriram City Union Finance (Shriram City). With this round, the total equity infusion in FY22 stands at ₹500 crore, SHFL said in a statement. The current infusion will increase Shriram City’s holding in SHFL from 81 per cent to 85.02 per cent. SHFL is an affordable housing finance company with Assets Under Management (AUM) of about ₹4,000 crore as of June 2021. - Business Line


🍒 U GRO Capital and Kinara Capital enter into strategic co-origination partnership : U GRO Capital and Kinara Capital have entered into a strategic co-origination partnership to offer collateral-free business loans to small business entrepreneurs in India. Together, both companies plan to disburse ₹100 crores by the end of FY22 to MSMEs in manufacturing, trading and services sectors, per a joint statement. “Available financing for MSMEs will range from ₹1 lakh to ₹30 lakh with tenure ranging from 12–60 months. “Financing can be availed for working capital and asset purchase directly from Kinara Capital, and women-led businesses receive an automatic, upfront discount with the HerVikas program,” according to the statement. - Business Line


🍒 RBI imposes monetary penalty on The Sahyadri Sahakari Bank : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 13 imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 3 lakh on Mumbai-based The Sahyadri Sahakari Bank Limited over non-compliance with RBI directions on Frauds - Classification and Reporting, the central bank said in a release. The inspection report of the bank with the bank's position as of March 31, 2019, revealed the bank had not transferred unclaimed amounts in accounts for more than ten years to Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEA Fund). Further, the bank had reported frauds to RBI with an inordinate delay. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 Banks' loan growth picks up pace at 3-5%, asset quality stress to remain elevated in Q2 : As the economy revives post deadly second wave of COVID-19, backed by festive demand and season, banks have started seeing growth in their loan disbursals.  In the second quarter of FY22, data released by lenders reveal the loan growth has been around 3-5 percent on a sequential basis. India’s largest private sector bank, HDFC Bank, saw a 4.4 percent sequential growth in its loans and advances. Its outstanding advances were at Rs 11,98,500 crore in the September quarter as compared to Rs 11,47,700 crore in the June quarter of FY22. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 Rupee recovers 15 paise to close at 75.37 against US dollar : The rupee on Wednesday rebounded by 15 paise to close at 75.37 (provisional) against the US dollar following a rally in domestic equities and weak American currency in the overseas markets. In addition, lower crude prices also supported the rupee sentiment, forex deals said. At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened strong at 75.29 against the greenback. During the session, the domestic unit swung between 75.19 and 75.51. On Tuesday, the rupee had closed at 75.52 against the dollar


🍒 M-cap of BSE-listed companies at fresh record high of over Rs 270.73 lakh crore ; Helped by the ongoing rally in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies has reached a fresh record high of Rs 2,70,73,296.03 crore on Wednesday. Rallying for the fifth straight session on Wednesday, the 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 452.74 points or 0.75 per cent to settle at its all-time closing high of 60,737.05. During the day, it rallied 552.32 points to its intra-day all-time high of 60,836.63. In five trading days, the BSE benchmark index has gained 1,547.32 points. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 Sensex, Nifty up nearly 1% after fresh highs, Nifty tops 18,100 : At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading at 60,748.56, up 464.25 points or 0.77 per cent, near its new all-time high of 60,755.70. It recorded an intraday low of 60,452.29. The Nifty 50, after recording a fresh high of 18,162.90, was trading at 18,156.85, up 164.90 points or 0.92 per cent. It recorded an intraday low of 18,050.75. Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Powergrid and Tata Consumer were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while Maruti, ONGC, Hindustan Unilever, Coal India and Eicher Motor were the top laggards.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Banking and Financial News Update for 13 October 2021

 Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance


🍒 RBI allows multinational banks to store limited data abroad : Bringing a closure to a contentious issue, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed multinational banks operating in the country to store a limited set of data in offshore servers. Certain fields of static information such as name and address of client, some know-your-customer details along with select transaction particulars like date and amount, name of beneficiary, and reference number can be stored abroad by foreign banks. This was communicated a week ago by the regulator to the Indian Banks' Association (IBA), an industry source told ET. - Economic Times


🍒 Air India sale kicks off major privatisation drive, next up LIC listing, says official : The sale of national carrier Air India to conglomerate Tatas has opened the way for faster privatisation of state firms and the government is on track to list Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) early next year, a top government official said on Tuesday. Tuhin Kanta Pandey, spearheading the drive to sell state enterprises or shut them down, said the government hoped to complete the valuation exercise of LIC by November-December before filing the draft red herring prospectus for the IPO planned by March. - Economic Times


🍒 HDFC Bank inks lease renewal for head office building in Mumbai’s Worli : HDFC Bank has renewed the lease for an entire office building that houses its head office on Dr Annie Besant Road in Mumbai’s Worli locality at a monthly rental of Rs 1.45 crore. The lease tenure for the office where the bank's top officials sit is set at 36 months, taking the total rent payout to over Rs 52.2 crore. The commercial property, Sandoz House, with a basement, ground floor and eight upper floors has a total 64,872 sq ft space. The office building has parking slots for 40 cars. HDFC Bank has paid Rs 3.79 crore as security deposit for the lease, as per documents accessed through real estate data analytics firm CRE Matrix. - Economic Times


🍒 Five foreign investors shortlisted for majority stake in Yes Bank-backed ARC : Five foreign investors have made presentations to the Yes Bank management to form a new joint venture asset reconstruction company (ARC) that will house the lender's bad loans, three people familiar with the development told ET. The investors which have made presentations include Los Angeles based $149-billion Ares-SSG Capital, $15-billion alternative investment firm Varde Partners, US based $55-billion Cerberus Capital and distressed asset giants $156-billion Oaktree Capital and private equity company JC Flowers, people familiar with the move said. - Economic Times


🍒 Kotak Mahindra Bank launches Micro ATMs across India : To deliver essential banking services conveniently to a larger section of consumers living in relatively far-off areas, private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd on Tuesday announced the launch of Micro ATMs across the country. Customers of all banks who possess a debit card can use a Kotak Micro ATM for key banking services such as cash withdrawals and checking account balances. A mini version of an ATM, micro ATMs are small handheld devices. The bank will use its extensive Business Correspondents (BC) network to launch micro ATMs. - Economic Times


🍒 Bank FD to fetch negative real interest with elevated inflation : Senior citizens and others depending upon income from bank fixed deposit (FD) schemes will be at the receiving end with the retail inflation exceeding the interest rates. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest monetary policy review has projected retail inflation at 5.3 per cent for the current financial year. Last week, the RBI said that the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation is now projected to be at 5.3 per cent for 2021-22 with risks evenly balanced. - Economic Times


🍒 RBI authorises Karur Vysya Bank to collect direct taxes : Private sector Karur Vysya Bank on Tuesday said it has commenced the integration process with the Central Board of Direct Taxes to collect direct taxes on its behalf, following the approval it received from the Reserve Bank. "Reserve Bank of India has authorised Karur Vysya Bank to collect direct taxes on behalf of Central Board of Direct Taxes. Following the approval received, the bank has initiated the integration process with CBDT", the Tamil Nadu based-bank said in a statement. - Economic Times


🍒 Evergrande bond coupon payments crisis intensify contagion fears : As China's Evergrande looks set to miss its third round of bond payments in three weeks, markets remain on edge over contagion fears involving other property developers as a wall of debt payment obligations come due in the near-term. A total of $38.8 billion offshore bonds issued by 40 Chinese developers will be maturing from October to end of 2022, according to brokerage CGS-CIMB, with the next peak of $6.2 billion in payments coming up in January. The deadline for Evergrande's $148 million of coupon payments was 0400 GMT Tuesday, but bondholders hadn't received anything by end of Asian trading on Monday. Markets expect the distressed developer is likely to miss payments again, following two other payments it missed in September. - Business Line


🍒 IIFL Finance launches instant business loan on WhatsApp : IIFL Finance has launched instant business loan on WhatsApp, whereby users of the latter will be able to avail loan up to ₹10 lakh with minimum documentation and get approval in five minutes. The retail-focussed non-banking finance company (NBFC), in a statement, claimed that it has become the first NBFC in the country to launch instant business loan on WhatsApp. WhatsApp’s 45 crore-plus users across India can avail a 24x7 loan facility to get a loan in under ten minutes from IIFL Finance, per the statement. - Business Line


🍒 Saraswat Bank and Axis Securities tie-up to offer a 3-in-1 account to the lender’s customers : Saraswat Bank and Axis Securities (ASL) have come together to offer the bank’s customers a 3-in-1 account that comprises savings, demat and online trading, all in one account. “With this tie-up, Saraswat Bank’s customers can conveniently perform a perfect blend of banking and trading transactions,” the two entities said in a joint statement. This facility will make it easier for customers to transfer funds quickly, reduce paperwork and most importantly, provide a comprehensive platform to invest in various investment instruments like equities, derivatives, currency, commodities, MF, IPO, etc., per the statement. - Busines Line


🍒 AUMs of NBFCs to rise 18–20% y-o-y this fiscal: Crisil Ratings. : Assets under management (AUM) of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), which primarily offer loans against gold, are expected to rise 18–20 per cent to ₹1.3 lakh crore this fiscal against ₹1.1 lakh crore in FY21, according to Crisil Ratings. The credit rating agency said that this growth would be despite a contraction in the first quarter, when pandemic-driven lockdown measures hindered branch operations and kept potential borrowers away. - Business Line


🍒 RBI debars Haribhakti & Co from undertaking audit assignments in central bank regulated entities : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has debarred Haribhakti & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants, from undertaking any type of audit assignments in any of the entities regulated by RBI for a period of two years with effect from April 1, 2022.  This is the first case of debarment of a CA firm under section 45MAA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. “This action has been taken on account of the failure on the part of the audit firm to comply with a specific direction issued by RBI with respect to its statutory audit of a Systemically Important Non-Banking Financial Company,” RBI said in a statement titled “Action against Statutory Auditors of NBFC under section 45MAA of RBI Act, 1934”. - Business Line


🍒 RBI issues SFB licence to Centrum-BharatPe consortium ; The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has on Tuesday issued licence to the consortium of Centrum and BharatPe to set up a small finance bank (SFB). The lender, to be named Unity Small Finance Bank, will start operations in few weeks with atleast Rs 1,500 crore loan book. This SFB will take over the beleaguered urban co-operative lender Punjab and Maharashtra Bank over period. Jaspal Bindra, Chairman of BSE listed Centrum Capital, said with RBI issuing the license, the focus will shift to board formation and building top management team. The bank will become functional before close of calender 2021 and aspires to be India’s first digital bank. - Business Standard


🍒 Bajaj Finserv cuts home loan interest rate to 6.70% per annum : The NBFC Bajaj Finserv Limited announced an interest rate reduction for its home loans today. The rate of interest for salaried and professional applicants now starts from 6.70%* p.a. - 0.05% down from the earlier 6.75%* p.a.Applicants with strong credit and income profiles stand a good chance to be offered this promotional rate, effectively making their home loan EMIs as low as Rs. 645/lakh*. Existing home loan customers can also benefit from this new interest rate by transferring their home loan to Bajaj Finserv.  - Business Standard


🍒 ICICI Bank launches 'Home Utsav'; offers attractive interest rates :  ICICI Bank today announced the launch of ‘Home Utsav’, a virtual property exhibition that digitally showcases real estate projects by renowned developers from key cities across the country. The exhibition offers enhanced convenience to prospective home buyers as they can select their dream home simply by browsing through projects, which are approved by the Bank, and avail exclusive benefits from the comfort of their home and office.   The ‘Home Utsav’ showcases over 350 projects by more than 200 leading developers across 12 cities, namely, Mumbai MMR, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nashik, Vadodara, Surat and Jaipur.  - Live Mint


🍒 71 loans cleared during Rana Kapoor’s  tenure turned bad:  ED : At least 71 loan accounts worth more than ₹31,855 crore sanctioned during the tenure of Rana Kapoor, the co-founder and former managing director of Yes Bank, have turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) or non-performing investments NPIs, according to a charge sheet by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The charge sheet, reviewed by Hindustan Times, was filed on 1 October in a Delhi court in connection with irregularities in a loan worth ₹514.27 crore granted to Avantha Group by Yes Bank in 2018. - Live Mint


🍒 RBI cancels registrations of six NBFCs : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on October 12 announced the cancellation of registration (licenses) of six NBFCs. The list includes names such as Cartel Finance and Investments Private Limited,  Alamgir Motor Finance Limited, Nau-Nidh Finance Limited, Kim Investment Limited, Sambandh Finserve Private Limited, and  BTL Holding Company Limited. On April 22, Moneycontrol had reported that RBI had issued a show cause notice to Sambandh Finserve prior to cancelling the license. In a separate announcement, RBI said seven NBFCs have surrendered their Certificate of Registration. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 Gold prices rise to Rs 47,335/10 gm on rupee slide; silver up by Rs 148 : Gold prices climbed for the sixth consecutive day on October 12, up by Rs 233 to touch Rs 47,335 per 10 gram in the Mumbai bullion market, as the rupee slipped and overseas trends remained positive. The precious metal was also supported by a dollar downtick and fall in Treasury yield.  The price of 10 gram, 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 43,359 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram stood at Rs 47,335 plus GST. The 18-carat gold is quoted at Rs 35,501 plus GST in the retail market. Silver prices rose by Rs 148 to Rs 61,638 per kg against its closing price on October 11. 


🍒 Sensex, Nifty recover in late session to end at record highs : The BSE Sensex closed at a record high of 60,284.31, up 148.53 points or 0.25 per cent. It hit an intraday high of 60,331.74 and a low of 59,885.39. Nifty 50 closed at a record high of 17,991.95, up 46.00 points or 0.26 per cent. Nifty managed to cross the 18,000-mark intraay with a high of 18,008.65. It recorded an intraday low of 17,864.95. Titan, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India and Divi’s Lab were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while HCL Tech, HDFC Life, Coal India, Ultratech Cement and Tech Mahindra were the top laggards.


🍒 Rupee extends losses, declines 16 paise to 75.52 : Falling for the third day in a row, the rupee weakened further by 16 paise to end at 75.52 against the US currency on Tuesday, weighed down by a strong greenback in the overseas market and firm crude oil prices.  At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 75.41 and witnessed an intra-day high of 75.16 and a low of 75.66 against the US dollar in day trade. The local unit finally settled at 75.52 a dollar, down 16 paise over its previous closed figure.

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Banking and Financial News for October 12, 2021


12.10.2021 : Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance


🍒 CBI files FIR against company, its directors for cheating SBI-led consortium of over Rs 862 cr : The CBI has registered an FIR against Trimax IT Infrastructure and Services Ltd and its directors for allegedly cheating the State Bank of India-led consortium to the tune of over Rs 862.06 crore between 2009 and 2017, officials said on Monday. The agency has also named TIISL managing director Surya Prakash Madrecha and director Chandra Prakash Madrecha as accused in the FIR, they said. Following the FIR, the agency conducted searches at nine locations, including residential and office premises of the accused at Mumbai, Kolhapur etc, CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said. - Economic Times


🍒 EoI for strategic sale of IDBI by Dec: DIPAM Secretary : The government intends to come out with Expression of Interest (EoI) for strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank by December.  “Our preparation for Expression of Interest (EOI) has begun and our target is to issue that by December,” Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), told BusinessLine in an interview. Government of India (GoI) and LIC together own more than 94 per cent of equity of IDBI Bank (GoI 45.48 per cent, LIC 49.24 per cent). LIC is currently the promoter of IDBI Bank with Management Control and GoI is the co-promoter - Business Line


🍒 Bank credit to grow at 7.5- 8.0 per cent for FY’22: CARE Ratings : The outlook for bank credit growth is expected to be in the range of 7.5 per cent to 8.0 per cent for FY22 on the back of a low base effect, economic expansion, extended Emergency Credit (ECLGS) support, and retail credit push, according to CARE Ratings.  On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit growth stood at 4.9 per cent in March 2021 as compared to 6.7 per cent in March 2020, per Reserve Bank of India data. “The medium-term prospects look promising with diminished corporate stress and increased provisioning levels across banks. Retail loan segment is expected to do well as compared with industry and service segments,” the credit rating agency said in a report. - Business Line


🍒 Indian Bank to leverage Fisdom tie-up for offering more wealth management products : Indian Bank has said it has expanded the partnership with Fisdom, a fintech player, by adding new digital products to widen the suite of wealth management products for its customers.  In addition to existing products of mutual fund investment and e-NPS, new digital products such as mutual fund HNI advisory products, digital gold and e-tax filing were on-boarded under the association by way of an agreement, according to a statement. Imran Amin Siddiqui, Executive Director, Indian Bank pointed out that the bank’s latest initiatives were part of its efforts to upscale business generation through digital channels both for liability and asset products of the bank. “Considering our rich experience of working with various banks and Indian Bank’s commitment to delivering customer delight, we are confident that the partnership will be able to deliver great products, high quality service and a user-friendly wealth management ecosystem to Indian Bank customers,” said Anand Dalmia, Co-founder, Fisdom. - Business Line


🍒 Bank of Maharashtra slashes lending rate by up to 0.1% : State-owned Bank of Maharashtra on Monday said it has reduced lending rate by up 10 basis points, a move which will make housing, car and other loans cheaper. Repo Linked Lending Rate (RLLR) has been reduced from 6.90 per cent  to 6.80 per cent with effect from October 11, 2021, it said in a statement. Customers availing home, car, education, personal loans along with MSME loan products can avail this benefit, it said. - Moneyccontrol.


🍒 Axis Bank unveils open APIs to help customers use integrated services : Axis Bank has launched open APIs (Application Programming Interface) to facilitate its retail and corporate customers/ partners to use banking services integrated across partner platforms. The API Banking portal has a suite of API products covering 200 plus retail APIs across cards, deposits, accounts, loans, 51 corporate APIs across payments, trade, collections, bill payments as well as cross-cutting APIs, India’s third largest private sector bank said in a statement. - Business Line


🍒 RBI may hike rates in March quarter of 2022; coal and chip shortages a worry: Report : The Reserve Bank is likely to change the stance of its monetary policy and hike rates from the first quarter of 2022, a Japanese brokerage said on Monday. The central bank will start with liquidity normalisation moves this month, narrowing the difference between the rate at which it funds the system and at which it absorbs excess liquidity in December, Nomura said.  The brokerage upped its consumer price index (CPI) inflation target for 2022 to 5.2 per cent from 5 per cent earlier. - Economic Times


🍒 RBI imposes Rs 30 lakh penalty on Janata Sahakari Bank, Pune : The RBI on Monday said a penalty of Rs 30 lakh has been imposed on Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd, Pune for non-compliance with certain directions. The penalty, the RBI said, has been imposed for non-compliance with specific directions issued by RBI under the Supervisory Action Framework (SAF) and RBI directions on 'Frauds in UCBs: Changes in Monitoring and Reporting mechanism'. The statutory inspection of the bank with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2019, the Inspection Report pertaining thereto, and examination of all related correspondence revealed that the bank had not complied with the directions on exposure to sensitive sectors (real estate) and classification and reporting of frauds, the RBI said. - Economic Times


🍒 RBI retains advisory committee on Srei group companies : The RBI on Monday said it has decided to retain the advisory committee of Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd (SEFL) to advise the administrator in the operations of the two Srei group companies during the corporate insolvency resolution process. After superseding the boards of SIFL and SEFL last Monday, the Reserve Bank had appointed a three-member advisory committee to assist Rajneesh Sharma, administrator of the two crisis-ridden firms. The members of the committee are: R Subramaniakumar (Former MD & CEO, Indian Overseas Bank), T T Srinivasaraghavan (Former Managing Director, Sundaram Finance Limited), and Farokh N Subedar (Former Chief Operating Officer and Company Secretary, Tata Sons Limited). - Economic times


🍒 I-bankers make $761 million in advisory fees during Jan-Sept; lowest in three years, says report : Despite deal making scaling past a three-year-high level during the first nine months of the year at over USD 90 billion, investment bankers' advisory fees fell to USD 761.5 million during the period, the lowest in three years, according to a report. SBI Caps tops the underwriting fees league table with 8.6 per cent wallet share or USD 65.7 million, followed by Morgan Stanley (6.3 per cent with USD 48.1 million) and JPMorgan (6.2 per cent pie with USD 47.5 million) during the first nine months of the year 2021, according to a report by financial markets data provider Refinitiv, is an entity owned by the London Stock Exchange Group. - Economic times


🍒 IIFL Finance launches instant business loan on WhatsApp : IIFL Finance has launched instant business loan on WhatsApp, whereby users of the latter will be able to avail loan up to ₹10 lakh with minimum documentation and get approval in five minutes.  The retail-focussed non-banking finance company (NBFC), in a statement, claimed that it has become the first NBFC in the country to launch instant business loan on WhatsApp. WhatsApp’s 45 crore-plus users across India can avail a 24x7 loan facility to get a loan in under ten minutes from IIFL Finance, per the statement. - Business Line


🍒 Rupee slumps 37 paise to 75.36 against US dollar : The rupee tumbled by 37 paise close at a 15-month low of 75.36 against the US dollar on Monday as rising crude oil prices and a stronger American currency in the overseas market weighed on investor sentiment. The Indian currency for the first time this year settled below the 75 level. The unit had closed at 74.99 on Friday. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened lower at 75.11 and witnessed an intra-day high of 75.06 and a low of 75.39 against the US dollar in day trade. - Business Line


🍒 ICAI against exempting small firms from mandatory statutory audit ; The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has defended its stance, saying it is not for exempting micro, small, and medium firms from mandatory statutory audit and that the National Fin­an­cial Regulatory Authority has no jurisdiction over MSMEs. ICAI said the audit is a preventive check on companies, whether small or big, which enjoy limited liability of their shareholders. “It is not within its purview to propose whether an audit of a particular class of companies is required or not. However, we may look at merits in having audits of these companies,” Nihar N Jambusaria, president, ICAI, in response to email queries. - Business Standard


🍒 Finance companies sell Rs 25,000 cr loans in Q2FY22, up 65% year-on-year : Non-banking finance companies and housing finance firms (HFCs) sold loans worth Rs 25,000 crore through the securitisation and direct assignment (DA) in the second quarter (Q2FY22), up 65 per cent over the same period last year. Sequentially, volume of activity was 45 per cent over Rs 17,200 crore in June 2021 quarter (Q1FY22).  Reflecting receding investor concerns about collections, the share of DA moved back to the normal trend of two-third of volumes Q2FY22 from 50 per cent in quarter ended June 2022 (Q1FY22), according to rating agency Icra. - Business Standard


🍒 RBI issues revised operational guidelines on on-tap SLTRO scheme for SFBI : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday issued revised operational guidelines on the special long-term repo operations (SLTRO) scheme for small finance banks (SFBs). In the monetary policy announced last week, the RBI had extended the on-tap SLTRO for SFBs till December 31, 2021. This facility was earlier made available till October 31, 2021.The RBI in a statement on Monday said all SFBs eligible under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) can participate in the scheme."There is no tenure restriction regarding lending by SFBs under the scheme. However, the SFBs will have to ensure that the amount borrowed from the RBI should at all times be backed by lending to the specified segments till maturity of the SLTRO," the statement said. - Business Standard


🍒 Air India divestment: Tata to retain all employees for 1 year, offer VRS in second year : The central government has clarified that Tata Sons, the successful bidder for Air India, will have to retain all employees of the airline for one year. For retrenching employees after this period, the company will have to offer them a voluntary retirement scheme. “The winning bidder will retain all employees, which means they will not retrench anybody for a period of one year. Thereafter, for the second year, if anybody is to be retrenched or removed, they will be offered a VRS," said Civil Aviation Secretary Rajeev Bansal on Friday while announcing the new owner of the embattled carrier. - Live Mint


🍒 PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm retain UPI market share, even as WhatsApp transactions double : The top three in the digital payments space using the UPI platform maintained their market share ahead of the festive season despite WhatsApp doubling its transactions. PhonePe stayed the market leader in the United Payments Interface (UPI) segment, followed by PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm Payments Bank. PhonePe logged in 165 crore transactions in September, amounting to Rs 3.06 lakh crore. The digital payments-to-financial services company commanded a 45 percent share of the volume pie and 47 percent of the value of UPI transactions, according to data by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). - Moneycontrol.


🍒 Gold prices soar to Rs 47,102/10 gm on weaker rupee, silver climbs Rs 410 a kg : Gold prices rose by Rs 122 to Rs 47,102 per 10 gram in the Mumbai bullion market on rupee depreciation and muted global cues. The precious metal was also pressured by surging Treasury yield and strength in the dollar.  The price of 10 gram, 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 43,145 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram stood at Rs 47,102 plus GST. The 18-carat gold is quoted at Rs 35,327 plus GST in the retail market. Silver prices soared by Rs 410 to Rs 61,490 per kg against its closing price on October 8.


🍒 RBI staff writes to Governor Shaktikanta Das on delay in wage settlement; no resolution yet : All India Reserve Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has written to Governor Shaktikanta Das seeking intervention in the wage settlement issue of central bank employees. RBI staff wages are decided through a bipartite settlement once in five years through negotiations between management and employee unions. The current round of wage revision is pending since November, 2017. The wage settlement applies to all central bank staff although officers typically get slightly higher revision compared with lower level employees. The Indian central bank has around 12500-13000 employees. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 Sensex, Nifty surrender all gains to end flat; Nifty tops 18K intraday : The Nifty 50, after recording a fresh all-time high of 18,041.95, closed at 17,945.95, up 50.75 points or 0.28 per cent. It hit an intraday low of 17,839.10. The BSE Sensex, which recorded a fresh all-time high of 60,476.13, closed at 60,135.78, up 76.72 points or 0.13 per cent. It recorded an intraday low of 59,811.42. Tata Motors, Coal India, Maruti, Powedgrid and Grasim were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while TCS, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech and Britannia were the top losers.

Monday, October 11, 2021

Banking and Financial News Update for October 11, 2021


11.10.2021 : Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance


🍒 Punjab National Bank (PNB) launches ‘6S Campaign’. : With India celebrating 75 years of Independence, the Government of India has launched “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" for various outreach activities on financial services, with the focal theme of ‘Janta Se Jodna’. In line with the above Government’s initiative, Punjab National Bank, as the country’s second-largest Public Sector Bank, has launched a “6S Campaign" encapsulating different schemes such as – Swabhiman, Samruddhi, Sampark and Shikhar, Sankalp and Swagat. The objective is to drive a special awareness campaign for the development of financial services in the country and to accelerate credit growth, improve penetration of social security schemes and drive digital banking push. - Live Mint


🍒 Most PSUs on govt's privatisation list created by private sector: Sanjeev Sanyal : Defending privatisation policy, Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal on Saturday said most of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) that the government intends to sell were actually created by the private sector. Stressing that this government is unapologetic about privatisation, he said "you (Opposition) made the point that this (PSUs) has been built through the blood and sweat of the public sector. So, let me put the record straight on this: Actually much of what we are attempting to privatise were actually built by the private sector." Citing an example, he said Air India was simply taken away from the private sector and nationalised in 1993. "In 1969, banks were simply taken away and nationalised. So, when people say that these institutions were built by the blood and sweat of the Indian bureaucracy, let me point out to you that these things were originally built by private companies," he said at India Today Conclave. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 Uttarakhand: HDFC Bank launches 24 gold loan desks : Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami digitally launched 24 Gold Loan desks by private sector lender HDFC Bank, as reported by Moneycontrol. The CM also launched the Green Card for Char Dham Yatra at the event which will be issued to facilitate easy movement for pilgrims. The facility will allow people to make the most of their idle gold with minimal documentation and transparent charges. The loans will be available for tenures starting from three months up to 24 months. The branches include Kashipur, Rudrapur, Khatima, Sitarganj, Haridwar, Haldwani, Rishikesh, Dehradun among others. - Economic times


🍒 FY22 credit growth turns positive first-time ever : Credit growth turned positive year-to-date (YTD) at 0.1 per cent in September for the first time in 2021-22 (FY22), reflecting gradual pick-up in demand. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, bank lending rose Rs 7,283 crore till September 24, against a contraction of 1 per cent (or Rs 99,280 crore) on a YTD basis in the same period last fiscal year (2020-21). Outstanding bank credit stood at Rs 109.56 trillion as on September 24. - Business Standard


🍒 Govt initiates process for filling posts of independent directors in PSBs, FIs : The government has initiated the process of filling about 100 vacancies of independent directors in public sector banks and financial institutions to meet regulatory norms of corporate governance. There have been vacancies at the independent director level across the public sector space leading to regulatory non-compliance, sources said. - Live Mint


🍒 FPIs invest Rs 1,997 crore so far in October : Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,997 crore so far in October as India continues to be a competitive investment destination from a long-term perspective.  As per depositories data, Rs 1,530 crore was invested by FPIs in equities and Rs 467 crore into the debt segment between October 1-8. The total net investment stood at Rs 1,997 crore. FPIs have been net buyers for two consecutive months and have invested Rs 26,517 crore in September and Rs 16,459 crore in August. - Business Line


🍒 Court takes cognisance of charge sheet against Avantha Group promoter Gautam Thapar : A Delhi court on Saturday took cognisance of a charge sheet by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against businessman and Avantha Group of companies promoter Gautam Thapar and 20 others in connection with Rs 500 crore money laundering case. Special judge Sanjeev Aggarwal summoned the accused persons and companies on five dates from October 20 to November 30, noting that the presence of such a large number of accused persons and their counsels on a single date may not be conducive for adhering to the Covid SOPs. "I hereby take cognisance of offence as there are sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused persons arraigned in the present complaint," the judge said. - Economic times


🍒 Rupee Bank administrator seeks its merger with another lender : Rupee Co-operative Bank's administrator Sudhir Pandit said on Saturday that he has requested the RBI authorities to merge the city-headquartered bank with another, stronger lender. He had a meeting with Reserve Bank deputy governors Rajeshwar Rao and M P Jain in this regard, he said in a statement here. "Liquidation is not the solution. Instead, we requested for the merger of the bank with another strong bank and protection of the interest of depositors with deposits of over Rs five lakh," Pandit said. - Economic times


🍒 Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank resolution at an advanced stage: RBI : The resolution process for Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank is at an advanced stage, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao said on Friday. In June, the central bank had given in-principle approval to a consortium set up by Centrum Financial Services and BharatPe to acquire the beleaguered co-operative bank. “Centrum and its partner BharatPe have submitted their application for licence and is at an advanced stage of consideration. Once that final licence is approved, we will very shortly be proceeding ahead with the draft scheme and getting the requisite approvals,” Rao said, adding, “So, it is in an advanced stage.” - Financial express


🍒 Industrial loan growth, which has been decelerating during the last decade, turned negative for the first time during 2020-21 as economic activity slowed down in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest RBI data. Working capital loans in the form of cash credit, overdraft and demand loans, which accounted for a third of total credit, contracted during 2020-21, the RBI said. The RBI on Friday released data on 'Basic Statistical Return on Credit by Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) in India March 2021'. -Business Standard


🍒 M-cap of 8 of top-10 most valued companies jump Rs 2.32 lakh crore; Reliance Industries lead gainer : Eight of the top-10 most valued companies together added a whopping Rs 2,32,800.35 crore in market valuation last week in-tandem with rally in the broader market, with Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services emerging as the biggest gainers. Last week, the 30-share BSE benchmark rallied 1,293.48 points or 2.20 percent. The benchmark soared past the 60,000 level on Friday. The market valuation of Reliance Industries zoomed Rs 93,823.76 crore to reach Rs 16,93,170.17 crore. Tata Consultancy Services added Rs 76,200.46 crore taking its valuation to Rs 14,55,687.69 crore. - Moneycontrol.


🍒 Over 100 smallcaps jump 10-59%, market jumps 2% on supportive cues : Market recovered all the previous week's losses and jumped 2 percent on the back of positive cues including expectations of better quarterly earnings and in-line RBI policy with no rate change. In the last week, BSE Sensex rose 1293.48 points (2.20 percent) to close at 60,059.06, while the Nifty50 added 363.15 points (2.07 percent) to close at 17,895.20 levels. The broader indices - BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 2.4 and 3.9 percent, respectively.

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Banking and Financial News for October 10, 2021

 *Banking and Financial News Bulletin Dt. 10th October , 2021*


Industrial loan growth, which has been decelerating during the last decade, turned negative for the first time during 2020-21 as economic activity slowed down in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest RBI data. Working capital loans in the form of cash credit, overdraft and demand loans, which accounted for a third of total credit, contracted during 2020-21, the RBI said. The RBI on Friday released data on 'Basic Statistical Return on Credit by Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) in India March 2021'.

-Business Standard


The RBI announced that ‘prevention and mitigati­on of financial frauds’ will be the fourth cohort under the regulatory san­dbox structure. “The focus would be on using technology to reduce the lag between the occurrence and detection of frauds, strengthening the fraud governance structure, and minimising response time to frauds,” the RBI said.

 -Business Line


The resolution process for Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank is at an advanced stage, RBI deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao. In June, the central bank had given in-principle approval to a consortium set up by Centrum Financial Services and BharatPe to acquire the beleaguered co-operative bank.

-Financial Express


The pendency of proceedings in cheque bounce cases and the multiplicity of complaints, in which a cause of action arising from one transaction is litigated, has "dampened" the ease of doing business in India and hindered investments, the Supreme Court said on Friday.

-Financial Express


Bank of Maharashtra has launched a Digital Lending Platform which will enable its current and prospective customers to avail home and car loans through a paperless process at the convenience of their place and time of choice. The platform provides ‘in-principle approval’ for home loans and car loans instantly on filling in the required information digitally without human intervention, the bank said in a statement.

-Business Line


The Bandhans Bank aid its collection efficiency improved to 90% at the end Sept from 80% 3 months back with the easing of lockdowns and fall in number of Covid-19 active cases that offered relief and room for economic recovery. The bank's repayment collection from microfinance vertical, which contributes about a third of its loan portfolio, also improved to 86% from 72% over the same period, the bank said in a regulatory filing to stock exchanges.

-Economic Times


The Income Tax Department detected "unaccounted" income of Rs 550 Cr and seized over Rs 142 Cr cash after it recently raided Hyderabad- based Hetero pharmaceutical group, official sources claimed today.

-Business Standard


The country's foreign exchange reserves dipped by USD 1.169 billion to stand at USD 637.477 billion in the week ended Oct 1, RBI data showed. In the previous week ended Sept 24, 2021, the reserves had declined by USD 997 million to USD 638.646 billion. The reserves had surged by USD 8.895 billion to a lifetime high of USD 642.453 billion in the week ended September 3, 2021.

-Business Standard


Defending privatisation policy, Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal today said most of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) that the Govt intends to sell were actually created by the private sector. "In 1969, banks were simply taken away and nationalised. Let me point out to you that these things were originally built by private companies," he said. Talking about the banking sector, he said it is part of the strategic sector and the Govt will have its presence in the sector.

-Business Line


The IMF says it needs more time to weigh its response to a law firm's findings that the agency's managing director was involved in data-rigging at the World Bank when she was a top official there. The fund's executive board met Friday to consider the results of an investigation that found that in 2018, World Bank employees were pressured to alter data affecting its business-climate rankings of China and other nations. At the time, current IMF head Kristalina Georgieva was a top official at the World Bank.

-Business Today


Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person, joined Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in the world’s most exclusive wealth club with a fortune of at least $100 billion. The chairman of India’s Reliance Industries Ltd. entered the rarefied group of 11 men as his conglomerate’s stock climbed to a record on Friday. He’s now worth $100.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after his wealth increased by $23.8 billion this year.

-Financial Express.

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