Banking and Financial News Update for 17 October 2021

 *Financial News Bulletin Dt. 17th October , 2021*

Private sector banks recorded higher loan growth compared to PSBs and foreign banks, with their share in total credit steadily increasing to 35.4% in March 2021 from 20.8% in March 2015, according to RBI.  This has been at the cost of PSBs, whose share in total credit has come down from 71.6% to 56.5% over the same period, said the central bank. As of March-end 2021, foreign banks had a 4% market share (4.9% as of March- end 2015); regional rural banks (3.1% vs 2.6%); and small finance banks/ SFBs (1%).  At the end of March 2021, gross outstanding credit of scheduled commercial banks amounted ₹1,10,78,050 crore (₹68,78,400 crore as of March-end 2015).

-Business Line

HDFC Bank’s standalone net profit rose by 17.6% for the second quarter of the fiscal, supported by a robust growth in net interest income. For the quarter ended Sept 30, 2021, the bank reported net profit of ₹8,834.3 crore, as against ₹7,513.11 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. 

-Business Line

Bank of Baroda today launched centralised agri-loans processing units across 16 Zonal Offices. Christened as the Centre for Agriculture Marketing and Processing (CAMP), the unit is a dedicated credit delivery model with a focus on financing non-traditional agricultural products and handling agri-marketing activities, the bank said in a statement.

-Business Line

Karnataka Bank has received approval from the RBI to appoint Pradeep Kumar Panja, an Independent Director of the bank, as part-time non- executive Chairman with effect from Nov14, for a period of 3 years. He will succeed P Jayarama Bhat, who will complete his term on November 13.

-Business Line

Max Life Insurance has sought insurance regulator IRDAI’s approval to set up a subsidiary to undertake pension fund management business, said Prashant Tripathy, MD & CEO. Pension regulator PFRDA had recently granted approval to MLI to become a sponsor of a pension fund manager.

-Business Line

Petrol and diesel prices on Saturday were hiked again by 35 paise a litre to take retail rates across the country to new record highs. With this hike, petrol is now at the ₹100-a-litre mark or more in all State capitals, while diesel has touched the ₹100-level in a dozen States. Diesel is nearing the ₹100-a-litre mark in Goa and Bengaluru.

-Business Line

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.

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.

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.

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.

Banking and Financial News Update for October 6, 2021

06.10.2021 : Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 Central Bank of India enters co-lending partnership with lIFL Home Finance : Central Bank of India on Tuesday announced that has entered into a strategic co-lending partnership with IIFL Home Finance.  In its regulatory filing it said, Central Bank of India has entered into a strategic Co-lending Partnership with lIFL Home Finance Ltd to offer SME LAP Loan product under priority sector to MSME borrowers subject to the compliance with the applicable law(s) including the applicable guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBl). - Live Mint.

🍒 State-owned Canara Bank cuts MCLR by up to 15 bps : State-owned Canara Bank on Tuesday announced an up to 15 basis points cut in its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR). The bank has decided to reduce the MCLR for one-year tenor by 10 basis points to 7.25 per cent effective from October 7, Canara Bank said in a regulatory filing. Most of the consumer loans such as personal, auto and home are priced on the basis of the one-year MCLR. The bank has lowered MCLR on overnight and one-month tenors by 0.15 per cent to 6.55 per cent. - Business Line

🍒 HDFC Bank launches festive offers, partners with over 10,000 merchants : Private lender HDFC Bank on Tuesday said that it has partnered with over 10,000 merchants for its Festive Treats 3.0 campaign, a near 10 fold increase from 2020. Customers can choose from 10,000 offers on cards, loans and easy EMIs.  “As India unlocks, we are also trying to spread a little cheer in the lives of people and help the overall national economic good,” said Arvind Kapil, Group Head – Retail Assets, HDFC Bank. “This is reflected in our range of offers spanning Personal loans, Car loans, two-wheeler loans as well as the Business Loan & working capital loans for really small businesses.” - Economic times

🍒 HDFC Bank posts strong loan growth in September quarter : In signs that bank credit growth may be on an uptrend, private lender HDFC Bank said its advances book grew by around 15.4% at the end of the September quarter, proforma numbers released by the bank showed. The lender’s total loans aggregated to Rs 11.98 lakh crore and grew 4.4% sequentially. As per the Bank's internal business classification, retail loans grew by around 13% over September quarter last year and 5.5% over June. Commercial and rural banking loans grew by around 27.5% year-on-year at the end of the September 2021 quarter while other wholesale loans grew by around 6%. HDFC Bank’s total deposits aggregated to Rs 14.06 lakh crore at the end of September 30, 2021, a growth of around 14.4% over September last year. - Economic times

🍒 Kotak Mahindra Bank becomes 1st scheduled private sector bank to collect direct, indirect taxes : Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd (KMBL) has received approval from the government for collection of direct and indirect taxes, such as income tax, Goods and Services Tax (GST) etc, through its banking network.  With this, the bank becomes the first scheduled private sector bank to receive approval after the announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allowing all banks to participate in government-related business. - Economic times

🍒 Festive fervour: Credit card spends zoom 54% over last year : Buoyed by the festive season credit card spends are signalling a revival of consumer spending. Indians spend a total of Rs 77,981 crore in August a rise of 54% over last year figures, latest RBI data showed. Spends on credit cards also rose 4% sequentially, when spending in July was recorded at Rs 75119 crore. Before the pandemic hit in February last year, credit card spends were recorded at Rs 62,902 crore. Bankers are hopeful that spends will rise further in October and November. “We are seeing a significant revival on ground, and shows that consumer spending is back, our range of festive offers on credit cards is not just about coming back with a bang but also about spurring India’s consumption story,” said Parag Rao, Group Head - Payments, Consumer Finance, Digital Banking, and IT, HDFC Bank. - Economic times

🍒 IDFC First Bank clocks 10 per cent loan growth in Q2 : IDFC First Bank on Tuesday said it has posted 9.75 per cent growth in advances at Rs 1,17,243 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2021. Gross Funded Assets stood at Rs 1,06,828 crore at the end of the second quarter of 2020-21, it said in a regulatory filing. The bank's deposits also rose 20.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 83,793 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 69,368 crore in the same period a year ago, it said. The bank's low-cost deposits -- current account and saving deposits (CASA) -- stood at 51.9 per cent of the total liabilities during the quarter. - Economic times

🍒 SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd stuck in 5% lower circuit as RBI supersedes co’s Board : The shares of SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) were locked in the 5 per cent lower circuit during the morning trade on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank of India superseded the Board of Directors of SIFL and SREI Equipment Finance Limited.  The shares of SIFL opened at ₹8.17, down ₹0.43 or 5 per cent on the BSE as against the previous close of ₹8.60 and were locked in the 5 per cent lower circuit post opening. It was trading at ₹8.20 on the NSE, down ₹0.40 or 4.65 per cent. - Business Line

🍒 IndusInd Bank records 10% loan growth in September : Private sector lender IndusInd Bank on Tuesday said it has posted a 10 per cent growth in advances at ₹2,21,821 crore for the second quarter ended September 30. Net advances stood at ₹2,01,247 crore at the end of the second quarter of the last financial year, IndusInd Bank said in a regulatory filing. The bank's deposits also rose by 21 per cent (year-on-year) to ₹2,75,486 crore in the quarter under review, from ₹2,28,279 crore in the same period a year ago, it said. - Business Line

🍒 Rural insurtech start-up GramCover raises $7 million in Series A funding ; Leading rural insurtech start-up GramCover has raised $7 million through its Series A funding, led by Siana Capital and Inflexor Ventures. Stride Ventures also participated in this round of Series A, the first round of institutional funding led by one or more investors.  Omidyar Network India, Flourish Ventures and Emphasis Ventures (EMVC) have already invested in GramCover. Unitus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor for the funding. GramCover, a tech-enabled insurance marketplace for rural India, has adopted a unique technology-led distribution and servicing model customised for rural India to minimise the inefficiencies and transaction costs involved in protecting people’s assets and families. - Business Line

🍒 Fino Payments Bank gets SEBI nod to float IPO : Fino Payments Bank has received market regulator SEBI’s nod for launching a ₹1,300 crore Initial Public Offering (IPO).  SEBI has issued its observation letter for the proposed IPO. The issuance of observation letter on October 1 implies SEBI go ahead for the IPO. Fino Payments Bank IPO is likely to see fresh issue of equity shares worth ₹300 crore and an Offer for Sale of 15,602,999 equity shares by promoter Fino Paytech Limited (FPL). The payments bank may consider a pre-IPO placement aggregating upto ₹60 crore. - Business Line

🍒 SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd stuck in 5% lower circuit as RBI supersedes co’s Board : The shares of SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) were locked in the 5 per cent lower circuit during the morning trade on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank of India superseded the Board of Directors of SIFL and SREI Equipment Finance Limited.  The shares of SIFL opened at ₹8.17, down ₹0.43 or 5 per cent on the BSE as against the previous close of ₹8.60 and were locked in the 5 per cent lower circuit post opening. It was trading at ₹8.20 on the NSE, down ₹0.40 or 4.65 per cent. - business line

🍒 HDFC AMC files paper for 9 passive funds : HDFC Asset Management Company has filed papers with Sebi for launching nine passive funds including exchange-traded funds on Nifty Growth Sectors 15, Nifty IT, Nifty Next 50, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty 100 Low Volatility 30, Nifty 100 Quality 30, Nifty 200 Momentum 30 and NV 20. Being the market leader and one of the early entrants into the asset management business, the fund house has few options to launch a new product on actively managed funds category as per Sebi scheme Categorization and Rationalization of Mutual Fund. - Business line

🍒 IRDAI, Banks Board Bureau in the dock on promotions in insurance sector : All is not well in the government insurance sector with regard to elevation of officials, it seems.  Recently, orders by two different High Courts, in a matter of two months, relating to non-promotion of insurance industry experts, has shocked the sector. In both cases, the court decisions were in favour of the petitioners. In one case, the aggrieved party is Ravi, General Manager, National Insurance Company Ltd. And in the other, it was S.N. Jayasimhan, Joint Director now known as General Manager, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). - Business Stnadard

🍒 Axis Bank economists don't see rate hike in upcoming monetary policy review : Economists at private sector lender Axis Bank do not see the Reserve Bank hike key rates at the policy review later this week to contain mounting inflationary pressures, even though the market as a whole has already priced in a 10-15 bps rise in the reverse repo, according to its Chief Economist Saugata Bhattacharya. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee has not changed the key policy rates since May 22, 2020, when it had slashed the interest rate to a historic low of 4 per cent in an off-policy cycle to perk up demand. - Live Mint

🍒 Over 1.5 lakh family pensioners are going to benefit: IBA CEO on bank employees family pension revision : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted banks to amortise the additional liability on account of revision in a family pension over five years beginning 2021-22. The banks, the RBI said, will be required to make appropriate disclosures of the accounting policy followed in this regard in the 'Notes to Accounts' to the financial statements. The relaxation follows a request by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) that it would be difficult for some banks to absorb large amounts of liability with regard to revision in the family pension in a single year. - Live Mint

🍒 Bank employees family pension revision: RBI eases norms for banks : The Reserve Bank on Monday permitted banks to amortise the additional liability on account of revision in family pension over five years beginning 2021-22. The banks, the RBI said, will be required to make appropriate disclosures of the accounting policy followed in this regard in the 'Notes to Accounts' to the financial statements. The relaxation follows a request by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) that it would be difficult for some banks to absorb large amounts of liability with regard to revision in the family pension in a single year. - Live Mint

🍒 Rupee Co-op Bank seeks govt intervention to resolve problems : The administrator of the Rupee Cooperative Bank, CA Sudhir Pandit, met Union minister for state for finance & banking Bhagwat Karad, urging him to intervene to resolve issues being faced by the bank.  According to Pandit, although 99% depositors will get a refund of their entire deposits as per the amended Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) Act, high-value depositors with deposits of more than Rs 5 lakh will lose 65% of their deposits if the bank goes into liquidation. “A majority of these depositors are senior citizens and entire liquidity of around Rs 800 crore will be exhausted once deposits below Rs 5 lakh are fully refunded,” he explained. If the bank’s liquidity is exhausted, no other bank will come forward for a merger, he pointed out. - Financial express

🍒 IndusInd Bank share price up 4% on better deposits, advances number ; IndusInd Bank share price added 4 percent intraday on October 5 after the private lender reported better deposits and advances numbers for the September quarter. The net advances rose 10 percent to Rs 2,21,821 crore against Rs 2,01,247 crore in the same quarter last year, IndusInd Bank said in a statement to exchanges. Its deposits grow 21 percent YoY at Rs 2,75,486 crore against Rs 2,28,279 crore. - Moneyconrol.

🍒 Gold prices rise by Rs 288 to Rs 46,682/10 gm on strong demand; Silver up Rs 908 a kg : Gold prices soared by Rs 288 to Rs 46,682 per 10 gram in the Mumbai bullion market on rupee weakness and improving consumer demand. However, weak global cues, tapering fears and rising Treasury yield and dollar index capped the upside.  The price of 10 gram, 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 42,761 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram stood at Rs 46,682 plus GST. The 18-carat gold is quoted at Rs 35,012 plus GST in the retail market. Silver prices surged by Rs 908 to Rs 60,905 per kg against its closing price on October 4.

🍒 Rupee slips 13 paise to close at 74.44 against US dollar : The rupee fell 13 paise to close at 74.44 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday weighed down by the strengthening of the greenback in the overseas market and rising crude oil prices. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened on a weak note and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.41 and a low of 74.63 against the US dollar in day trade. The local unit finally settled at 74.44 a dollar, down 13 paise over its previous close.

🍒 Sensex ends 445 points higher and Nifty above 17,800, led by oil-and-gas sector : The BSE Sensex closed at 59,744.88, up 445.56 points or 0.75 per cent. It hit an intraday high of 59,778.87 and a low of 59,127.04. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,822.30, up 131.05 points or 0.74 per cent, near its intraday high of 17,833.45. It hit an intraday low of 17,640.90. ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Coal India, IOC and SBI Life were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while Cipla, Hindalco, Shree Cement, Sun Pharma and Tata Consumer were the top losers.

Banking & Financial News Update for October 4, 2021

 

04.10.2021 : Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 Soma Sankara Prasad likely to be next UCO Bank MD : The government is considering appointing Soma Sankara Prasad, the deputy managing director of State Bank of India, as managing director of Kolkata-based UCO Bank. The Banks Board Bureau (BBB) has suggested the name of UCO Bank Managing Director Atul Kumar Goel for heading Punjab National Bank as MD. The managing director position of PNB will fall vacant after the superannuation of S S Mallikarjuna Rao in January. According to sources, since Prasad was in the reserve list when the interview for appointment for managing director of Indian Bank took place earlier this year, he has been recommended to head UCO Bank subject to various clearances including vigilance. - Economic Times

🍒 Covid impact: Term insurance premiums to rise up to 40% as re-insurers push up rates : The term insurance premium is set to rise by anywhere between 15 per cent to 40 per cent after reinsurers tightened underwriting norms in the wake of the Covid-19. While Munich Re has tightened underwriting norms, GIC Re had hiked rates earlier this year. - Business Line

🍒 Federal Bank records 10% loan growth in Q2 : Private sector lender Federal Bank on Sunday said it has posted a 10 per cent growth in advances at Rs 1,37,309 crore for the second quarter ended September 30. Total advances stood at Rs 1,25,209 crore at the end of the second quarter of the last financial year, Federal Bank said in a regulatory filing. The bank's deposits also rose by 10 per cent (Y-o-Y) to Rs 1,71,995 crore in the quarter from Rs 1,56,747 crore in the same period a year ago, it said. - Business Standard

🍒 Google halts plans for Google Pay-based banking service: Report : Tech giant Google has stopped working on its Plex service, which aimed to let users do their banking through the Google Pay app, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported. The service was supposed to let users sign up for checking or savings accounts offered by a variety of traditional banks that the user would then manage through the app. Google cancelled the project due to a series of missed deadlines and because an executive who pushed for the project left the company, The Verge reported citing the WSJ as saying. - Business Standard

🍒 RBI grants permission to Emirates NBD bank to open two more branches in India: Goyal : Amid growing business ties between India and UAE, the Reserve Bank of India has granted permission to Emirates NBD, the government-owned bank of UAE, to open two more branches in India, visiting trade minister Piyush Goyal informed the 9th meeting of the High Level Joint Task Force on Investments held in Dubai. "Payment of one company was held up. That has been resolved," Goyal told reporters. - Live Mint

🍒 RBI advises Dhanlaxmi Bank to ensure transparency in nominating directors : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June had advised Dhanlaxmi Bank to ensure transparency in the nomination process of directors and follow the best corporate governance practices. The regulator also directed the bank to expedite and complete the process of appointment of directors. The lender currently has just 5 directors, against the maximum strength of 11. It also has two RBI nominees on the board as additional directors. Dhanlaxmi does not have a chartered accountant on board as director after the tenure of the former chartered accountant-director ended on September 30, 2020. - Financial express

🍒 FPIs net buyers for 2nd consecutive month; invest Rs 26,517 crore in September : Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers for the second month in a row in the Indian market with an investment of Rs 26,517 crore in September. As per depositories' data, FPIs pumped in Rs 13,154 crore into equities and Rs 13,363 crore in the debt segment during September 1-30. The total net investment stood at Rs 26,517 crore. This comes after an investment of Rs 16,459 crore by FPIs in August. - Moneycontrol.

🍒 RBI may again opt for status quo on key policy rate next week, say experts ; Amid rising global commodity prices and the need to contain inflation at home, the Reserve Bank is likely to maintain status quo on interest rates for the eighth time in row in its upcoming bi-monthly monetary policy review later in the week, according to experts. The Reserve Bank had last cut repo rate by 40 basis points in May 2020 to 4 percent to spur demand in the COVID-hit economy. Since then, the RBI has refrained from taking any action on interest rates. - Moneycontrol.

🍒 LIC to file draft IPO papers with Sebi next month : Country's largest insurer LIC is likely to file draft papers with Sebi by November for the largest IPO in country's history, a finance ministry official has said. "We target to bring the IPO within this fiscal and we have set strict timelines. The DRHP would be filed by November," the official told PTI. - Moneycontrol.

🍒 Rupee may weaken to 75.50 or 76 by December as oil prices could climb to $90 a barrel : The rupee was fairly volatile for the quarter and saw a front-loaded appreciation mainly on account of the stellar rally in domestic equities and the global risk-on sentiment. As for the October-December quarter, we expect the rupee to broadly hover in a range of 72.80 to 76. - Moneycontrol.

🍒 Mcap of eight of top 10 valued companies tumble over Rs 1.80 lakh crore : Eight of the top 10 valued companies together suffered an erosion of Rs 1,80,534.34 crore in their market valuation last week, with IT majors Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys emerging as the biggest laggards. From the top 10 list, only Reliance Industries Limited and State Bank of India emerged as gainers. During the last week, the 30-share BSE benchmark plunged 1,282.89 points, or 2.13 percent. Market benchmarks faced losses for the fourth straight session on Friday. - Moneycontrol.

Yes Ban looking to raise 12,000 Crores by September 2020

Medium sized new generation bank Yes Bank has announced that it is looking to raise 10 to 12,000 Crores through various fund raising plans such as Rights Issue, Qualified Institutional Placement or follow on public offer.

The Bank has to raise minimum 4,000 Cores to meet the regulatory requirement this year.

Meanwhile Yes Bank declared its Q 4 results which showed a profit of more than 2,600 Cores which is very much healthy sign for the days to come for this bank.

We had already initiated a buy call on this bank. People looking for multibagger returns in coming 2 to 3 Years should buy the Yes Bank stock now trading at Rs 27.

The stock is available at very very cheap price due saga of events which has happened in recent pasts but bank is having strong fundamentals and good retail base of clients as well as state of art technological investments which makes is way much ahead than any other banks of our country especially public sector banks.

Important Financial News for week 19 to 26 April 2020

• Franklin Templeton India has informed that they have shut down 6 of their debt funds , and amount will be paid to investors in phased manner as and when money is received from from the securities maturing on their due dates.
• Banks have parked more than 7 Trillion Rupees with the Central Bank i.e., Reserve Bank of India which is highest in recent times , as they are afraid of lending the bulk amount to NBFC fearing repayment delays.
• PhonepPe has informed that they are eyeing to become profitable by 2022.
• Mid sized Indian it firm Mindtree has declared their q 4 results which are better than the market expectations and their q 4 profit now stands at 206 Cores.
• Third largest public sector lender after State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank , Bank of Baroda has announced that they are planning to raise Rs 13, 500 Crores over a period of 1 years through mix of both debt and equity and also planning to sell shares to their staff under employee stock options schemes at a discount.
• Tata Steel to raise Rs 5,000 Crores via NCD and that too through private placements hence retail investors will not be getting chance to subscribe the same.
• Due to slump in demand India's number one food delivery mobile app Swiggy has informed that they shall be laying off 500 cloud kitchen staff.