Credit growth to the services sector accelerated to 21.6% during the month from 11.2% a year ago primarily driven by higher lending to non-banking financial companies which rose 29% year-on-year and trade at 18%. Retail loans rose 19.4% in April compared to 4.4% a year ago, mainly driven by 'housing loans' and 'vehicle loans', RBI said.
Abrdn, a promoter of HDFC Life Insurance, on Wednesday divested its entire 1.66 per cent stake in the firm for Rs 2,069 crore through open market transactions. Abrdn offloaded 3.56 crore shares of HDFC Life in 15 tranches through its affiliate abrdn (Mauritius Holdings) 2006 Ltd. SBI Mutual Fund (MF), Nippon India MF, BNP Paribas Arbitrage, BofA Securities Europe SA, Societe Generale, Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore Pte, Norges Bank and among others were the buyers of the shares of HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd.
Lending to industry on the other hand slowed to 7.0 per cent (y-o-y) in April 2023 as compared with 8.0 per cent in April 2022. "Demand from corporates for working capital requirements could be lower this fiscal due to a fall in global commodity prices resulting in lower input costs" said Saugata Bhattacharya, chief economist at Axis Bank.
The central government appoints Ashwani Kumar as managing director and chief executive officer in UCO Bank for a period of three years, the Finance Ministry said in a notification. The appointment comes into effect from the date of assumption of office on or after June 1, 2023 or until further orders, it said. Kumar, a chartered accountant, rose through ranks serving various offices of five public sector banks -- Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank and Indian Bank.
Kotak Life's bonus for fiscal 2023 is 24% higher than what was paid for FY22 and marks 22nd consecutive year of bonus payment to policyholders. Cash bonuses or special one-off bonuses will also be paid out on specific policy events as per policy conditions, the insurer said.
Ma-Money offers a wide range of loans, including personal loans, business loans, consumer durables' loans, loans for the healthcare industry, food industry, small-scale industries, car loans, home repair loans, among others.
Crypto exchanges in India are planning to introduce a rule that will only allow a transfer of cryptocurrencies after the sender discloses the identity of the persons behind the private wallet receiving the cryptos. While there is a standard procedure to get to know the identity of buyers and sellers as part of the know-your-customer process, there is no way to know the identity of a private wallet owner. Transfers to private or unknown wallets have been a problem in the crypto ecosystem, leading to the new proposal to track transfers to private wallets and enhance security.
Sarma brings with him nearly four decades of experience in commercial, retail & transactional banking, technology and payments. He has previously held key positions at HDFC Bank, Yes Bank and Jio Payments Bank. At HDFC Bank, he was part of the founding management team and was involved in setting up the bank’s corporate and retail banking, treasury and capital markets infrastructure business. At Yes Bank Limited, he was instrumental in setting up the commercial banking infrastructure.
The RBI is proposing to introduce expected loss-based approach for provisioning during 2023-24 as part of its measures to strengthen the bad loan resolution ecosystem. This will enable banks to design their own credit loss models and spread the higher provisions over a five-year period under a newer system of setting aside money for lending.
Yes Bank is set to increase its advertising spend by 30% in FY24, according to Nipun Kaushal, chief marketing officer. The bank has been "tactical" in its marketing spend for the last two years as it had to restore its standing following a bailout by peers. Yes Bank's retail brand has now reached a critical mass and is at an inflection point, the bank's executive director Rajan Pental said. The advertising campaign, which will begin on 20 June and last for the full fiscal year, is designed with the bank's current position in mind.
Capital Small Finance Bank Limited is looking at its total business rising over Rs 14,000 crore by the end of current financial year on the back of growth in its advances led by MSME loans and mortgages. The Jalandhar-headquartered bank has also plans to expand its branch network by opening 20 more branches in the northern region.
"The MD & CEO is expected to function under the overall supervision, direction and guidance of the board and at the same time, maintain independence in performance of duties. At times, however, we have noticed the dominance of CEOs in board discussions and decision making. It has been seen in such cases that boards are not asserting themselves. We would not like this type of situation to develop. At the same time, there should not be a situation where the CEO is inhibited from doing his duties. Directors and CEOs should, therefore, foster an atmosphere of free and fair discussions in board meetings," Das said in his address to board of directors of private banks.
Avijit Saha will be joining the company as the CEO and will be co-investing in partnership with Warburg Pincus. Warburg Pincus, the US-based private equity firm, has acquired a controlling stake in Vistaar Finance, an NBFC lending to MSMEs in India in partnership with ICICI Bank veteran Avijit Saha. The PE fund and Saha acquired about 95% stake in Vistaar for Rs 2,500 crore
The Indian banking system is witnessing a revival of sorts of late after suffering from seething bad loan issues for nearly a decade. Policymakers' efforts and banks' measures have ensured banks are on a stable footing, for now. However, if history is anything to go by, this turnaround in fortunes for Indian banks remains vulnerable to monetary policies and external contingencies including geopolitical risks.
The Indian government is discussing with lenders a regulatory mechanism to transfer assets attached by investigative agencies to a buyer or successful resolution applicant under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code. Presently, such assets of a fraudulent bankrupt borrower removed by investigating agencies, such as the Enforcement Directorate, are difficult for lenders to include in the corporate insolvency resolution process under the IBC. Discussions are in the early stages, though experts suggest prompt settlement of the case could result in better outcomes under the IBC in both timing and valuations.
Banks in India saw a fall in loan loss provisioning for the fifth consecutive period, indicating improving asset quality and sustained collection efficiency. Cumulative bad loan provisioning declined by 42.5% to Rs 18,354.4 crore, the lowest since March 2019 quarter, indicating an overall improvement in the country's banking system. The private sector banks' provisioning decreased by 59.4% YoY, while public sector banks' provisioning fell by 37.3%. The country's credit offtake remained robust despite rising interest rates and global uncertainties, with personal loans and NBFCs being the key growth drivers.
Bankers say that CBI has the power to call for information and don't require permission to investigate. The agency, however, is of the view that banks are protecting their employees and preventing the recovery of public money lost due to fraud.
The RBI on Friday said it has imposed a penalty of Rs 84.50 lakh on Central Bank of India (the bank) for non-compliance with certain provisions of norms related to frauds classification and reporting. The Reserve Bank had conducted statutory inspection for supervisory evaluation of the bank with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2021.
A loan acocunt is categorised as a 'fraud account' after it is red-flagged on the basis of practices like fund diversion (even if there is no siphoning of money from the company). A bank is supposed to report the fraud to RBI within 21 days of its detection as well as report it to the CBI or the economic offences wing of the police depending on the amount involved
The finance minister announced in the February budget the scrapping of the tax exemption on maturity proceeds of non-unit linked insurance plan (ULIP) policies purchased after April 1 with annual premiums above ₹5 lakh. That had led to a rise in pre-booking of high-ticket, non-linked policies in March.
S&P Global Ratings predicts that the Indian banking sector's profitability will stabilize at a healthy level and asset quality will continue to improve, as the sector has improved substantially from the past few years. Indian banking profitability is benefiting from higher net interest margins and lower credit costs. The system-wide return on average assets (ROAA) is estimated at 1.2% for fiscal 2023. The formation of new non-performing loans will remain low and a recovery in written-off accounts will boost profitability, despite expected pressure from higher interest rates. India is also forecast to remain the fastest-growing large economy globally.
Less than 30% of users of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) are women, according to Arati Deo, engineering director at Google Pay. She said that trusted assistance for women making their first few digital payments would help overcome the problem. While courses build knowledge, the usage of digital products builds capability, she added.
HDFC Bank's merger with HDFC is set to take place in the next few weeks, resulting in a lower net interest margin (NIM) for the bank this year, according to analysts. The bank expects NIM to reduce from 4.1% to 3.7%-3.8% in 2023-24 due to the merger. However, Nomura stated that lower credit costs and increased operating leverage would compensate for the reduction in NIM. HDFC Bank's management is confident about maintaining a post-merger return on assets of 1.9% to 2.1%.
Bank of Maharashtra emerged as the top performing public sector bank in loan and deposit growth, recording a 29.4% increase in gross advances and 15.7% rise in deposits at the end of March 2023. The bank also recorded the highest profitability growth at 126% to Rs 2,602 crore during the year.
The absence of a country strategy poses challenges to project performance, Muthoo said in an interview with ET, even after expressing satisfaction over the execution of the first project his office evaluated in India. The New Development Bank, earlier called BRICS Development Bank, was set up in 2015 to finance public and private projects through loans, guarantees and equity participation.
The recovery, totalling about ₹10,090 crore on factoring in the target company's cash balances and the Hinduja offer, falls short of the ₹12,500-13,000 crore estimated liquidation value.
Paytm's UPI SDK is part of the existing UPI acquiring arrangement between Paytm Payments Services Ltd. and Paytm Payments Bank, under which Paytm Payments Services Ltd provides UPI acquisition service to merchants. This UPI SDK is an add-on feature under the same arrangement.Paytm's UPI SDK is part of the existing UPI acquiring arrangement between Paytm Payments Services Ltd. and Paytm Payments Bank, under which Paytm Payments Services Ltd provides UPI acquisition service to merchants. This UPI SDK is an add-on feature under the same arrangement.
The users can now link their RuPay credit cards with Google Pay to pay at all online and offline merchants where RuPay credit cards are accepted. The feature is now available to RuPay credit card holders of Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, HDFC bank, Indian Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India, the company aid in a statement.The users can now link their RuPay credit cards with Google Pay to pay at all online and offline merchants where RuPay credit cards are accepted. The feature is now available to RuPay credit card holders of Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, HDFC bank, Indian Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India, the company aid in a statement.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had announced on May 19 the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes but gave the public until September 30 to either deposit the Rs 2,000 notes in accounts or exchange them at banks.
The Rs 2,000 was introduced with the primary purpose of quickly replenishing the value of money that was being taken out of the system, Das said.
With UPI being allowed on RuPay credit cards, NPCI is hoping to attract more lenders as it could be a major source of attraction for consumers.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Friday said ₹2,000 denomination notes can't be used for transactions after September 30 and asked banks to stop issuing this denomination to customers. "We don't see any major impact on the ATM front, already, as per RBI directions, stakeholders have submitted the plan for implementation of lockable cassettes in 30 cities for both white label and bank-run ATMs," said a senior bank executive.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Friday said ₹2,000 denomination notes can't be used for transactions after September 30 and asked banks to stop issuing this denomination to customers. "We don't see any major impact on the ATM front, already, as per RBI directions, stakeholders have submitted the plan for implementation of lockable cassettes in 30 cities for both white label and bank-run ATMs," said a senior bank executive.
While the "global turnover" rule doesn't specifically apply to any particular section of firms, big tech companies are likely to be hit by it, given the nature of their business that cuts across jurisdictions. Usually, their revenues from India operations are only a fraction of their earnings in other key economies like the US and the EU.While the "global turnover" rule doesn't specifically apply to any particular section of firms, big tech companies are likely to be hit by it, given the nature of their business that cuts across jurisdictions. Usually, their revenues from India operations are only a fraction of their earnings in other key economies like the US and the EU.
The fundraising could be via debt or equity, or a combination of the two, with the final structure still under consideration, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Shyam Srinivasan said in an interview. The capital will fund growth as Federal Bank pushes further into retail banking with plans to open about 100 branches this year, and seeks to buy a microfinance company, he added.The fundraising could be via debt or equity, or a combination of the two, with the final structure still under consideration, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Shyam Srinivasan said in an interview. The capital will fund growth as Federal Bank pushes further into retail banking with plans to open about 100 branches this year, and seeks to buy a microfinance company, he added.
As a part of the partnership, Yobee will allow IIFL Securities’ customers to access the Tradebox application within the IIFL app and web. Additionally, customers can also begin their trading journey from the Tradebox website using the "Login with IIFL Securities" feature.As a part of the partnership, Yobee will allow IIFL Securities’ customers to access the Tradebox application within the IIFL app and web. Additionally, customers can also begin their trading journey from the Tradebox website using the "Login with IIFL Securities" feature.
