Page 4 - Credit

RBI to launch 'Public Tech Platform' pilot on Aug 17 to facilitate credit

The Reserve Bank will launch a pilot project for 'Public Tech Platform' that seeks to facilitate credit through seamless flow of required digital information to lenders. During the pilot, the platform would focus on products such as Kisan Credit Card loans of up to Rs 1.6 lakh per borrower, dairy loans, MSME loans (without collateral), personal loans and home loans through participating banks, the central bank said in a statement. The platform would enable linkage with services such as Aadhaar e-KYC, land records from onboarded state governments (Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra), satellite data, PAN validation, Aadhaar e-signing and house/property search data, among others. "Based on the learnings, the scope and coverage would be expanded to include more products, information providers and lenders during the pilot," the RBI said, and added the pilot of the platform would commence on August 17, 2023. RBI said with rapid progress in digitalisatio

Credit extended to Videocon caused loss of Rs 1,000 cr to ICICI Bank

The credit facilities sanctioned by the ICICI Bank to the Videocon group turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) of more than Rs 1,000 crore, the CBI has claimed in the charge sheet filed against the bank's former CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot. The over 10,000 pages-long charge sheet was filed recently before a special court for the Central Bureau of Investigation cases here. The Kochhars and Dhoot are now out on bail. After Chanda Kochhar became MD & CEO of ICICI Bank, from May 1, 2009, six 'Rupee Term Loans' (RTLs) were sanctioned to Videocon Group. Between June 2009 to October 2011, RTLs of a total of Rs 1,875 crore were sanctioned to the group by the bank, the charge sheet said. Chanda Kochhar was chairperson of the two-member Committee of Directors which sanctioned RTL of Rs 300 crore in August 2009 to Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL). Further, she was a member of the committee of senior managers ...

Aye Finance allocates Rs 100 cr for credit to women micro enterprises

Fintech lender Aye Finance on Wednesday said it has allocated Rs 100 crore for Shakti Loan in current financial year and targets to extend credit to 10,000 women engaged in micro enterprises. Aye said it has developed Shakti Loan in collaboration with CGAP, a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organisations, including the World Bank, UNDP, and Mastercard Foundation, which works to advance the lives of poor people, especially women, through financial inclusion. Incorporated in 2014, Aye is backed by CapitalG, Elevation Capital, Light Rock, Alpha Wave, A91 Partners and MAJ Invest. Since its inception, the lender said it has enabled the financial inclusion of over 6.5 lakh micro businesses having disbursed over Rs 7,000 crore to them. "We are very optimistic about Shakti Loan being the game changer for women micro enterprises and have allocated INR 100 crore to this product in the current financial year," said Niraj Kaushik, Deputy CEO, Aye Finance. Aye's Shakti L

Vedanta Resources needs to be proactive about refinancing $1 bn bond: S&P

In April this year, the rating agency said that a credible refinancing plan at least six months before maturity, due in Jan 24, would be important to maintain the current rating

India increases credit lending to Africa, in race to counter China

Forty two African nations received about $12 billion or 38% of all credit extended by India in the last decade

Debt-trapped Pakistan slashes trade deficit by 43 per cent in FY23

Cash-strapped Pakistan has slashed its trade deficit by a staggering 43 per cent to USD 27.55 billion in the fiscal year 2023, according to a media report on Wednesday. The government's stringent control over imports played a vital role in this significant reduction, as it aimed to stabilise the country's critically low foreign exchange reserves and mitigate the risk of default. In the previous fiscal year 2022, the trade deficit had widened to a daunting USD 48.35 billion, causing concern about the country's economic stability, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. However, the government's strict administrative measures on imports and the impact of floods in 2022 negatively affected the domestic economy, resulting in a provisional growth rate of only 0.3 per cent in FY23, compared to 6.1 per cent in FY22. Recent data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said that imports decreased by 31 per cent to USD 55.29 billion in FY2023. This is a significant drop from the record

SBI to raise up to Rs 50,000 crore in FY24 by issuing debt instruments

State Bank of India plans to raise up to 50,000 crore rupees ($6.06 billion) this financial year by issuing debt instruments, as lenders look to meet rising demand for credit

Rising risk appetite may affect some Banks' credit profiles: Fitch

Banks' loan growth over the financial year ended March 2023 (FY23) reached 15.4 per cent, the highest since FY12

Beyond the financial system: Will AA framework be a game-changer in India?

The Account Aggregator framework is being adopted across sectors, including in verifying the employment status of newly skilled workers

Shapoorji Pallonji Group taps private credit market to raise $1.6 bn

The group has been seeking ways to free up cash as rising interest rates bite

India extends $1 billion credit line to crisis-hit Sri Lanka by a year

The credit line, part of about $4 billion in emergency assistance extended by India during the peak of Sri Lanka's financial crisis early last year, was scheduled to end in March

Industrial credit growth slips to a 12-month low of 7% in February

The slowdown in industrial credit was much sharper than the slowdown in overall non-food credit, which continued to grow in double digits at 15.9 per cent YoY in February

China as a creditor

Sovereign debt restructuring has become tricky

A powerful tool for democratising credit access

Credit card growth does not conflict with real-time payment systems, but complements them and offers consumers more payment options

Pre-sanctioned credit lines at bank to come under UPI ambit, says RBI

The Reserve Bank on Thursday proposed to expand the scope of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) by including pre-sanctioned credit lines at banks within the ambit of the popular payment platform. UPI is a robust payment platform supporting an array of features. Presently it handles 75 per cent of the retail digital payments volume in India. The UPI system has been leveraged to develop products and features aligned to India's payments digitisation goals, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das while announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy. "It is now proposed to expand the scope of UPI by enabling transfer to / from pre-sanctioned credit lines at banks, in addition to deposit accounts," he said. In other words, UPI network will facilitate payments financed by credit from banks. This can reduce the cost of such offerings and help in the development of unique products for Indian markets. At present, UPI transactions are enabled between deposit accounts at banks, sometimes intermediated

RBI proposes expanding UPI payments to allow pre-sanctioned credit lines

According to Das, the UPI has transformed retail payments in India and its robustness has been leveraged to develop new products and features from time to time

Credit Information firms to compensate for delayed updations: RBI

According to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, the above measures will further enhance consumer protection

Now boarding: Is India on the cusp of a tectonic shift in retail credit?

First-time customers are emerging as a huge catchment area for retail finance, but dangers lurk in the nooks and crannies

Industry's share of non-food bank credit hits record low of 26.6%

Economists at India Ratings blamed the recent surge in interest rates

Adani Group fallout? NBFC loans against shares under RBI scanner

The central bank's Department of Supervision sought this information over the past week, and the deadline for submission of large exposure was on Monday, informed a source