Page 7 - Banks

Banks to clear cheques within few hours from October 4, says RBI

The RBI will introduce a new mechanism from October 4 for clearance of cheques within hours of being presented to banks, reducing the current time period of up to two working days. Cheques will be scanned, presented, and passed in a few hours and on a continuous basis during business hours. The clearing cycle will be reduced from the present T+1 days to a few hours. Cheque Truncation System (CTS) currently processes cheques with a clearing cycle of up to two working days. To improve the efficiency of cheque clearing and reduce settlement risk for participants, and to enhance customer experience, the RBI has decided to transition CTS from the current approach of batch processing to continuous clearing with 'on-realisation-settlement'. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a circular for introduction of Continuous Clearing and Settlement on Realisation in CTS. "It has been decided to transition CTS to continuous clearing and settlement on realisation in two phases. Phase 1 shal

Banks free to decide on minimum balance for savings accounts: RBI Guv

Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Monday said banks are free to decide the minimum balance for savings accounts and that it does not fall under the regulatory domain of the RBI. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function on 'Financial Inclusion Saturation Drive' organized at Gozaria village panchayat in Gujarat's Mehsana district. Asked about a private bank increasing the minimum balance required for savings accounts, Malhotra said, "The RBI has left it to individual banks to decide on what minimum balance they want to set. Some banks have kept it at Rs 10,000, some have kept Rs 2,000 and some have exempted (customers). It is not in the regulatory domain (of RBI)." In a recent decision, private lender ICICI Bank increased the minimum balance requirement for those opening new savings accounts from August 1. The minimum average monthly balance (MAB) has been increased by five times to Rs 50,000 from Rs 10,000 on savings bank account, as per the ...

VinFast Auto India, HDFC Bank partner for auto, inventory financing

VinFast Auto India on Monday said it has partnered with HDFC Bank to provide auto and inventory financing for its exclusive dealer network. The two partners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the same, the company, a subsidiary of Vietnam's EV maker VinFast, said in a statement. "The partnership, VinFast's first with a banking institution in India, aims to offer a seamless suite of credit solutions ahead of the company's highly anticipated launch," it added. VinFast Asia CEO Pham Sanh Chau said, "This MoU marks a significant milestone in our efforts to make electric mobility more inclusive, convenient, and future-ready for Indian consumers." HDFC Bank Group Head - Retail Assets Arvind Vohra said EV adoption is increasing and financing will play a large role in driving this. "The MoU with VinFast is a step in this direction and will enable customers to access VinFast's well known product line through financing options. This is part of the bank's larger effort to ..

IndusInd Bank to boost retail loans, MSME assets, and rural banking in FY26

Ramping up retail liabilities, scaling secured retail and MSME assets, and being selective in the corporate space are some of the focus areas for the current fiscal, as IndusInd Bank is making efforts to come out of the financial mess caused by past frauds, its chairman Sunil Mehta has said. Observing that FY25 was a watershed year for the bank, Mehta said, "This was also a year of internal reckoning. We faced certain challenges that required swift, transparent and decisive actions by the board and management. These events, while unfortunate, have catalysed a major transformation rooted in ethics, accountability, transparency and long-term sustainability". The Hinduja family-promoted bank, which is reeling under a slew of issues stemming from alleged irregularities at the top management in recognising bad loans and trading reverses, had reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2,329 crore for the March quarter of FY25. In March this year, the bank reported a Rs 1,979 crore accounting

RBI proposes standardised forms for claim settlement of deceased customers

The RBI plans to standardise forms to process claims on deceased customers' bank accounts and lockers within a 15-day timeframe and provide compensation to nominees for any settlement delays. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposes to come out with standard procedures for the settlement of claims in respect of bank accounts, and articles kept in safe custody or safe deposit lockers of deceased bank customers. The aim is to make the settlement more convenient and simpler. Towards this, the central bank has issued 'Draft Circular - Reserve Bank of India (Settlement of Claims in respect of Deceased Customers of Banks) Directions, 2025' and invited comments and feedback on it by August 27. "A bank shall use the standardised forms for receiving the claims and other documents...," said the draft. It also has provisions for compensation for delay in the settlement of claims. In case a nominee has been provided in deposit accounts or lockers, he or she would have to submit a claim form,

We have to play it right and convince people they can trust us: AU chief

I think the momentum will be huge in our favour be it in terms of deposits or loans. We just got the license last night and the kind of curiosity I am seeing around this is huge, said Agarwal

Banks roll over maturing VRRR amount; overnight WACR breaches repo rate

On Friday, the RBI conducted two VRRR auctions, one for six-day tenure and another for three-day tenure, to withdraw a total ₹3 trillion from the banking system

RBI to simplify claim process for deposits, lockers of deceased customers

The move is aimed at making settlement of claims or return of articles from a locker smooth for relatives after the death of a customer

Cleanup, derisking key challenges before new IndusInd MD & CEO Rajiv Anand

Consolidation of balance sheet likely to top Rajiv Anand's agenda at the bank

Mizuho Bank to hire Mashreqbank PSC's corporate banking India head

Devendra Sharma will be a Mumbai-based managing director at the Japanese lender and look after the bank's business in western India

Green regulators can seek bank guarantees from polluters: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled that Pollution Control Boards can impose environmental compensation and seek bank guarantees as preventive measures for potential environmental damage

Banks complete re-KYC of over 1.42 mn accounts in first month of campaign

In the first month of the nationwide re-KYC campaign, over 1.42 million bank accounts were re-verified, and thousands of new enrollments were made under various government schemes

Donald Trump tariff impact: Banks likely to tighten lending to MSMEs

Experts say 25% US tariff could render export-oriented firms uncompetitive

PSBs face FinMin heat over delay in release of customers' property docs

State Bank of India has 18,000 pending cases and Bank of Baroda has around 1,000 cases, said the official. The two companies had not responded to Business Standard's emails till Friday evening

RBI approves merger of New India Co-operative Bank with Saraswat Bank

Saraswat Bank will take over all assets and liabilities of New India Co-operative Bank, with its branches becoming part of Saraswat Bank from August 4, 2025.

Banks park ₹1.7 trn at 7-day VRRR auction as banks roll over matured amount

The Reserve Bank of India's 7-day VRRR auction saw robust participation, with banks parking Rs 1.7 trillion, rolling over maturing funds. The auction's cut-off rate was 5.49%.

Indian Bank gets board's approval to raise ₹5,000 crore: MD Kumar

Indian Bank plans to raise ₹5,000 crore in FY26, with a focus on enhancing capital adequacy and introducing its own UPI app, IND-UPI. Net profit rose by 23.69% in Q1 FY26

Savings deposit rates of some PSBs at historic low, says RBI bulletin

Savings deposit rates of some public sector banks (PSBs) are prevailing at a historical low, since their de-regulation in 2011, according to the latest bulletin of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The weighted average domestic term deposit rates for fresh deposits has declined significantly for both PSBs and private sector banks. "Currently, the savings deposit rates of some PSBs are prevailing at a historical low, since their de-regulation in 2011," said an article published in the the RBI's July bulletin. In October, 2011, the RBI had deregulated the savings bank deposit interest rate, and allowed banks to determine the interest rate at their own. The rates on small savings schemes were kept unchanged by the government during the ongoing September quarter. The prevailing rates on these instruments are higher than the formula-based rates by 33-118 bps, the article said. It further said in response to the 100-bps reduction in the policy repo rate since February 2025, banks have .

J&K Bank Q1 FY26 results: Net profit increases 17% to Rs 485 crore

Jammu and Kashmir Bank on Friday posted a 16.7 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 484.84 crore in the April-June quarter of FY26. The bank had reported a profit after tax (PAT) or net profit of Rs 415.49 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year, J&K Bank said in a statement. Net Interest Income (NII) during the reporting quarter grew 7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,465.43 crore, while the other income jumped 29 per cent to Rs 250.30 crore from Rs 194.10 crore recorded last year. Return on Assets (RoA) in the quarter improved to 1.17 per cent from 1.08 per cent a year ago, while Net Interest Margin (NIM) stood at 3.72 per cent as against 3.86 per cent recorded in Q4FY25. Bank's cost-to-income ratio also improved to 60.78 per cent YoY, it said. Operating profit witnessed a 13 per cent increase to Rs 672.84 crore from Rs 594.67 crore recorded in the corresponding period last year, the bank said. The bank's MD and CEO Amitava Chatterjee said that despite tough situation

New IRDAI chairman, private banks' retail loan growth, hiring at major commercial banks & more

The Centre has appointed Ajay Seth, recently retired finance secretary, as the new chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, 4 months after the position was left vacant.