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A day after HDFC Bank Chairman Atanu Chakraborty resigned on ethical concerns, a top Finance Ministry official on Thursday said the bank is a "strong institution with strong fundamentals". Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has already issued a statement in this regard. "HDFC Bank is a strong institution with strong fundamentals," he told reporters. The remarks come after the sudden exit of Chakraborty as chairman of HDFC Bank -- the country's second-biggest lender -- effective March 18, 2026, citing ethical concerns. This is the first time that a part-time chairman of HDFC Bank has left mid-way, raising concerns over its functioning. Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank said there were no material concerns on record as regards the bank's conduct or governance. "HDFC Bank is a Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB) with sound financials, a professionally run board and a competent management team. Based on our periodical assessment, t
About 72 crore Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA), including those under the PM Jan Dhan scheme, are not subject to any penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, she said banks offer zero-balance savings accounts facility in Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDAs), including the accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), to ensure universal access to banking facilities, particularly for unbanked, vulnerable and small depositors, and to promote financial inclusion. These accounts do not require maintenance of any minimum balance, and the account holders are provided basic banking services such as deposits, withdrawals and ATM access free of charge, without levy of any penal charges. "Approximately 72 crore BSBDAs, including PMJDY accounts, are not subject to any penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance," Sitharaman said.
Non-bank lender UGRO Capital's borrowing costs are higher than peers by 1.25 per cent, and the company will focus on reducing them in FY27, a top official has said. "Our focus is now to reduce our cost of borrowing. Our cost of borrowing is at least 1.25 per cent higher than that of our peers. So, the focus is to reduce that because if we don't reduce that, both the end customer, we cannot service well," the founder and managing director of small-business-focused lender, Sachindra Nath, told PTI. The company, which has grown its assets under management from around Rs 3,000 crore in 2020 to nearly Rs 15,000 crore in 2025, said the sharp expansion in recent years had necessitated higher liability mobilisation, impacting borrowing costs. "With the base now becoming large and growth expected to moderate, the demand for liabilities will also reduce. This will give us the flexibility to negotiate better rates," he said. He indicated that while its liability mix will broadly remain ...