Despite infusion of Rs 32,000 crore in January through a cut of 50 basis points in CRR, liquidity has continued to stay way above the comfort zone of the central bank.

RBI may cut CRR next month over tight liquidity concerns

Business Standard

The Union finance ministry has directed banks to set up &lsquo;ultra small&rsquo; branches in all villages under the financial inclusion scheme by March 31. The plan is to provide a wide range of banking services, including credit transactions, in villages where only cash transactions are being provided by banking correspondents.

Micro branches to cater to rural areas

Leading ratings agency Standard &amp; Poor's today said the rating for the State Bank of India (SBI) was not affected despite a significant slippage in the asset quality of the country's largest state-owned lender.

SBI's rating unaffected despite slippage in asset quality: S&P

Press Trust of India

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today announced that it will purchase government securities worth Rs 10,000 crore through open market operations (OMOs) on Friday to ease the current liquidity crisis.

RBI to buy govt securities worth Rs 10,000 cr

Every day, between 7.30 pm and 11 pm, a top official of a public sector bank gets text messages from 46 zonal managers. The messages contain details on recovery figures of respective zones, with additional information on ranking of centres, based on recoveries.

Banking on staff for recovery

Taking note of the dependence of Punjab&rsquo;s small and marginal farmers on non-institutional sources for funds, Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) has chalked out a strategy wherein the state&rsquo;s banks will provide them comprehensive financial services.

Nabard strategy to boost  rural credit in Punjab

Microfinance companies in the country finally have something to cheer about. Banks have started offering loans to micro-lenders. Lending has been picking up in the last one month, according to industry players and bankers.

Small MFIs back in favour with banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday said it will allow non-banking institutions to set up, own and operate ATMs.

RBI mulls ATMs by non-banking entities

Rating agency Moody&rsquo;s warned it may cut the triple-A ratings of France, Britain and Austria and it downgraded six other European nations including Italy, Spain and Portugal, citing growing risks from Europe&rsquo;s debt crisis.

Moody's threatens to cut AAA rating of UK, France

Reuters 

The Union finance ministry is considering a proposal to relax the tax structure for Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs).

Govt to improve new foreign investor regime

Yields on government bonds eased on Tuesday as a fall in headline inflation to a 26-month low in January raised hopes for an interest rate cut by the central bank in its March policy. Yields on the 10-year benchmark government bond eased two basis points to close at 8.18 per cent.

Bond yields ease as inflation rate falls to a 26-month low

Sending a strong signal for urgent fiscal consolidation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday said it would look for strong and credible steps in the 2012-13 budget to check the deficit and a huge subsidy bill.

Get fiscal house in order on priority basis, says Reserve Bank

With agriculture emerging as the most stressed segment for State Bank of India, SBI chief financial officer Diwakar Gupta today said the country's largest lender needs to do a &quot;better job&quot; of collecting dues from the farm sector.

Agri NPAs: SBI says it should do a better job at recovery

The apex bank made this observation while reviewing the FIP's during the State Level Bankers&rsquo; Committee (SLBC) meeting for Punjab and Haryana held here.

Stir up passion for financial inclusion: RBI to bankers

One out of every four people do not think that life insurance is important, reveals an Irda sponsored study, which also made a case for effective marketing to increase penetration.

25% don't think life insurance is important: Irda study

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today clarified that Non-Resident Indians (NRI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) are not required to report to the central bank the details of transactions while purchasing immovable property in India, an announcement which is likely to encourage Indian diaspora to invest in the country.

NRIs, PIOs not required to report property deals in India: RBI

France's biggest listed bank, BNP Paribas, is expected to report a 63 per cent slump in quarterly profit on Wednesday, hit by Greek sovereign debt writedowns, euro-related market stress and a bid to slim down its balance sheet.

BNP Paribas slumps 63% in Q4 

If everything goes well, there will be no unbanked village in Punjab and Haryana by next month-end. The mission is to provide banking services to every village in both states -- under a financial inclusion plan by the end of the ongoing financial year.

Plan to bring banks to Punjab, Haryana villages by March

With a billion-dollar deal by Reliance Industries (RIL), India Inc&rsquo;s desire to tap foreign funds received a new spark. While India&rsquo;s largest firm by enterprise value could successfully negotiate with US investors, owing to the enormous deal size and strong market standing, relatively smaller firms would mostly rely on non-US investors for their funding.

Non-dollar bonds to dominate fund raising season

Greece said that Europe&rsquo;s wealthier countries are &ldquo;playing with fire&rdquo; by toying with the idea of expelling it from the 17-nation euro area as talks over a second aid program ran into new obstacles.

Greece warns euro partners on threat of expulsion after bailout hits snag

The clamour for rate cuts became louder after January&rsquo;s headline inflation stood at 6.5 per cent. However, what makes January&rsquo;s print more relevant is for the first time in 12 months, &lsquo;core&rsquo; inflation, or non-food manufactured inflation, has fallen below the seven per cent level. So far, the fall in inflation has been driven by lower food prices. But now, even core inflation seems to be easing.

Despite easing inflation, it is not yet time to bet on rate cuts

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