Page 56 - Banking Sector

Ind-Ra upgrades issuer rating for Bank of India, cites capital position

State-owned lender has since FY21 reported consistent profitability, says agency

Cabinet clears Rs 2,600 cr scheme to promote RuPay debit card: Officials

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 2,600 crore scheme for promoting RuPay debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions. Under the scheme, banks would be provided financial incentives for promoting Point of Sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions using RuPay and UPI in the current financial year. It would help in building a robust digital payment ecosystem. The scheme would also promote UPI Lite and UPI123PAY as economical and user-friendly digital payments. "Cabinet approves the incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (Person-to-Merchant)," said an official tweet.

Axis Bank complies with IRDAI order; to buy more 7% stake in Max Fin

Axis Bank on Tuesday said it has entered into a revised agreement with Max Financial Services to acquire an additional 7 per cent stake in Max Life Insurance at fair market value using discounted cash flow method. The revision in agreement follows the guidance issued by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) in October last year. Axis Bank and its subsidiaries -- Axis Securities and Axis Capital -- had in 2021 entered into definitive agreements with Max Financial Services Ltd for acquiring 20 per cent stake in its subsidiary Max Life Insurance Co Ltd. Following this, Axis Entities had collectively acquired 12.99 per cent of the equity share capital of Max Life. In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Axis Bank said Axis Entities have entered into revised agreements with Max Financial on January 9, 2023. As per the revised agreement, "...the valuation for the right to acquire the balance 7 per cent equity stake of Max Life would be at fair market value using discounte

ICICI-Videocon case: Bombay HC grants CBI 3 days to reply on Dhoot's plea

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation 3 days time till Friday to file its reply in a plea filed by Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal N. Dhoot

Bank customers scramble to renew agreement as new locker rules kick in

People have also complained about the divergence in the value of the stamp paper required for agreement renewal

Kerala becomes country's first fully digital banking service: CM Vijayan

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday declared Kerala as the first state in the country to go fully digital in its banking service and said this recognition would boost the state economy. In an event held here, Vijayan said this achievement was possible due to social interventions through local self-government institutions along with infrastructure development and technological advances in the banking sector. "I would like to congratulate everyone who worked behind this and declare Kerala as the first fully digital banking state in the country," Vijayan said. "In order to make the digital services universally accessible, we need to ensure that the digital divide is completely eliminated," he added. The Chief Minister also said the ambitious Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) project of the state government, which was almost 90 per cent completed, will reduce the digital divide. "The K-FON will ensure internet facility to everyone in the state and 17,155 km-long optic fibre c

Employee strength of banks in pvt space almost equals PSBs': RBI data

The headcount in small finance banks was 14,179 in 2016-17, when they arrived on the scene

HDFC Bank's loan book expands by 19.5%, domestic retail loans grow 21.5%

IndusInd sees 19% credit growth in Q3; deposit growth outpaces loans for HDFC Bank, YES Bank

Turnaround of PSBs: From Rs 85K-cr loss in 2017 to nearing Rs 1-trn profit

Public sector Banks have travelled a long distance since 2017 when they posted a net loss of Rs 85,390 crore to a profit of Rs 66,539 crore in FY22 and are estimated to touch a milestone of Rs 1 lakh crore by the end of the current fiscal. There was a time when 11 out of 21 PSBs were placed under the prompt corrective framework of the Reserve Bank due to deteriorating financial health on account of mounting bad loans to alarming levels of 14.58 per cent of the total credit. PSBs suffered from a host of problems, including a dismally low capital base, unprofessional management, demoralised staff and huge inefficiencies. Many of them were on the brink of default posing a threat to the financial security of the country. Their share prices were hitting a rock bottom. PSBs booked collective losses to the tune of Rs 2,07,329 crore for five straight years -- from 2015-16 to 2019-20. The highest amount of net loss was registered in 2017-18 at Rs 85,370 crore, followed by Rs 66,636 crore in

Pvt banks to report healthy earnings in Q3, aided by robust credit growth

Credit growth in the banking system is touching decadal highs but deposit growth has lagged

IndusInd Bank slips 5% in a weak market despite strong Q3 update

While the deposit growth came in healthy at 3 per cent QoQ (up 14.3 per cent YoY to Rs 3.25 trillion), the CASA mix declined 40bp QoQ to 42 per cent

Indian banks going through a purple patch: NPAs trending downwards

Banks have been slow to pass the rate hikes on the liabilities while the assets side saw immediate revision

PNB hikes fixed deposit rates by 50 basis points across various tenures

Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday increased the interest rate of fixed deposits across various tenures by 50 basis points or 0.5 per cent in a bid to attract deposits. Interest rates on term deposits below Rs 2 crore between one year and three years have been raised by 50 basis points to 6.75 per cent from earlier rate of 6.25 per cent, PNB said in a statement. The bank said that new rates of FDs are effective from January 1, 2023. It has also said that senior citizens will be getting an additional 50 basis points hike in interest rate of fixed deposits on any domestic deposit maturities which is worth less than Rs 2 crore. On PNB Uttam Scheme with no premature withdrawal option, the rate has been revised to 6.80 per cent from 6.30 per cent, it said. Apart from the revised interest rates, it said, the bank will continue to offer attractive interest rates 8.1 per annum for fixed deposit of 666 days.

Federal Bank's loan grows 19.1% YoY in Q3; deposits cross Rs 2 trn mark

Pace of customer liabilities expands at slower pace of 12.8 per cent YoY

SBI, ICICI, HDFC Bank continue to be systemically important banks

Lenders regarded as too big to fail; classification based on data they gave in March 2022

Interest rates nearly peaked, may go up by another 25 bps: UCO Bank CEO

Soma Sankara Prasad, managing director and chief executive officer of the Kolkata-based lender in an interview that he expects strong interest for the rupee trade from several nations

Statsguru: Six charts explain banking sector revival amid rising rates

In March 2021, the GNPAs for SCBs were at 7.5 per cent of the total outstanding loans

Is it time for state-run banks to end industry-wide wage pacts?

While there is still a large talent pool in state-run banks, the reality is that it may not walk in as in the past

J&K Bank raises Rs 1,000 cr capital as Tier-II Bonds to strengthen capital

Jammu and Kashmir Bank on Saturday said it has raised Rs 1,021 crore as Tier-II bonds from the market as part of its efforts to strengthen its capital position. The issue was oversubscribed by more than 100 per cent, J K Bank MD & CEO Baldev Prakash said. It will not only help boost our expansion plans as envisaged in our strategy for business growth especially in the rest of the country by improving our risk bearing capacity substantially but will also go a long way in maintaining adequate capital buffers over and above the regulatory BASEL - III compliance requirement, he added. Bank CFO P D Punjabi said the bank has accomplished the task well and it will be reckoned in the capital adequacy for the quarter ending December 2022. The capital issuance Committee of the bank's board has approved the allotment of these bonds, a spokesman of the bank said.

Canara Bank looks to grow business to Rs 30 trillion in five years

As of March 2020, that is before amalgamation - Canara Bank business was over Rs 10 trillion