Page 39 - Finance Sector

Major UPI Apps enabled to receive remittances from Singapore, says NPCI

Additionally, banks such as Axis Bank, DBS Bank India, ICICI Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, and State Bank of India provide this functionality through their respective apps

SMFG India Credit raises Rs 600 crore via maiden rupee debt issuance

Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation has raised Rs 600 crore through its maiden rupee-denominated perpetual debt issuance and the money will be infused into the group entity SMFG India Credit Co. The amount mopped up through the external commercial borrowing route would help to bolster the tier-I capital base of SMFG India Credit Co, formerly known as Fullerton India Credit, according to a statement on Wednesday. Pankaj Malik, the chief financial officer of SMFG India, said with capital infusion, the company's capital adequacy ratio improved 160 bps. Since these bonds are perpetual, the issuance also strengthens asset liability profile. Though perpetual bonds means debt issued with no maturity dates, in practice perpetual debt has a tenor of 100 years, or marginally less. The only other issuer from the lending space that has issued perpetual debt in the country is State Bank of India and among other corporate, it is only Reliance Industries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

States lag Centre in capex push so far in FY24: CAG-Bank of Baroda data

Centre had allotted Rs 1.3 trillion for FY24 under the interest-free loans scheme for capital investment by states

PFC gets RBI nod to set up wholly-owned finance company in GIFT City

Power Finance Corporation (PFC) on Tuesday received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a wholly-owned finance company. The company is planning to set up a subsidiary at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in GIFT City, Gujarat. PFC is in receipt of the no objection letter dated January 9, 2024, from the RBI for setting up a finance company (as a wholly-owned subsidiary) at IFSC in GIFT City, Gujarat. "PFC's entry into the IFSC is expected to open up new business opportunities and establish PFC's global presence," PFC said in a BSE filing. Under the Ministry of Power, PFC is an infrastructure finance company.

India's services PMI touches a three-month high at 59 in December

Owing to lower readings in October and November, however, the latest quarterly average was the lowest since the fourth quarter of the financial year 2022-2023

Higher fund flows into India, other EMs likely to boost asset prices

Stick to asset allocation linked to financial goals, avoid wholesale portfolio changes

Coffee Day Enterprises' total default rises to Rs 434 cr in Dec quarter

Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd has reported a total default of Rs 433.91 crore on payments of interest and repayment of principal amount on loans from banks, financial institutions, and unlisted debt securities for the December quarter. Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL), which is paring its debts through asset resolution, in a regulatory update said "the delay in debt servicing is due to liquidity crisis". CDEL reported a default of Rs 183.36 crore on the payment of the principal amount on loans or revolving facilities like cash credit from banks or financial institutions as on December 31, 2023. Besides, it has also defaulted on the repayment of interest of Rs 5.78 crore on the above. For unlisted debt securities such as Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) and Non-Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares (NCRPS), the default amount was Rs 200 crore as on December 31, along with a default in payment of interest of Rs 44.77 crore. "Due to default in repayment of interest and principal...

Customers' complaints against credit information companies increasing: RBI

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said there has been a rise in customer complaints against credit information companies (CICs). The central bank has also found "some concerns" on the conduct of CICs in its supervisory assessment, an official statement said without specifying the concerns. The statement, released after a meeting between Deputy Governor Swaminathan J and managing directors and chief executives of CICs earlier in the day, also mentioned the specific areas where CICs need to focus on. "He (Swaminathan) pointed out that, of late, there is a rise in customer complaints related to credit information and some concerns have emerged during Reserve Bank's supervisory assessment," the statement said. The CICs need to redress customer complaints timely, strengthen the internal ombudsman framework, streamline the process for handling data correction requests, strengthen cybersecurity and data privacy through a robust information security governance framework, improve data quality an

State-owned PNB, BoM record double-digit loan growth during Oct-Dec quarter

State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday said it has posted a 13.5 per cent growth in advances to Rs 9.72 lakh crore for the December quarter. Total advances stood at Rs 8.56 lakh crore at the end of the third quarter of the last financial year, PNB said in a regulatory filing. Another public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) in a separate filing said it saw a 20.28 per cent increase in loan growth to Rs 1.88 lakh crore as against Rs 1.56 lakh crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal. The Pune-based lender recorded a 17.90 per cent improvement in deposit growth at Rs 2.45 lakh crore as compared to Rs 2.08 lakh crore at the end of December 2022. At the same time PNB's deposits rose a tad lower at 9.4 per cent to Rs 13.23 lakh crore during the quarter from Rs 12.10 lakh crore in the year-ago period, it said. As a result, the total business of the bank increased 11.1 per cent to Rs 22.95 lakh crore at the end of December 31, 2023, it added.

RBI proposes banks with less than 6% net NPAs to declare dividends

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday proposed allowing banks having net non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio of less than 6 per cent to declare dividends. As per the prevailing norms last updated in 2005, banks need to have a NNPA ratio of up to 7 per cent to become eligible for declaration of dividends. "The net NPA ratio, for the financial year for which the dividend is proposed, shall be less than six per cent," the Reserve Bank said in the draft guidelines on dividend declaration. The guidelines have been reviewed in the light of implementation of Basel III standards, the revision of the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework, and the introduction of differentiated banks, the RBI said. The central bank has proposed that the new guidelines should come into effect from FY25 onwards. The draft lays down directions need to be followed by banks' boards while considering proposals of dividend payouts, which include consideration on divergence in classification and provisioning for NPAs as ..

Israel delivers first interest rate cut since pandemic as war rages

The monetary committee on Monday lowered its key rate to 4.5% from 4.75%, ending a pause in place since July

Supporting regulatory framework needed to harness benefits of AI: RBI DG

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao has made a case for a supportive regulatory framework to harness benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) while remaining mindful of its potential adverse impacts on the financial system. Speaking at the 106th Annual Conference of Indian Economic Association in Delhi on December 22, Rao said the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is also being cited as being in the same league and proponents of AI sound convinced that it is going to transform the future. In the financial sector, he said, "We are seeing several banks and non-banks experimenting with AI. Global experience, so far, however, suggests that such deployment is mostly limited to back-office work and optimisation of business processes to deliver efficiency gains." Some of the banks have also deployed AI solution to manage compliance requirements, which are routine, for identification of patterns in transactions or payments to detect money laundering attempts or

RBI tweaks D-SIB designation methodology, inserts digital payments aspect

The value of securities reported under 'Total Marketable Securities issued by bank' would be based on their market value

Banking for growth

Financing of NBFCs must be monitored

Time for private sector to think big & bold for investment cycle: DFS secy

Banks need to do stress testing for cyber risks

RBI implements govt securities lending directions with immediate effect

In February of the same year, the central bank had released draft norms for lending and borrowing of government securities aimed at expanding participation in the securities lending market

The future of finance

Strategic sense about the forces reshaping banking

NaBFID MD bats for re-introduction of S4A-like debt recast scheme

National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development's (NaBFID) managing director Rajkiran Rai G has said there is a need to re-introduce the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A) scheme to help infrastructure finance in the future. Rai said at present, there is not a single asset calling out for such help but it is essential to get a facility which will enable "rightsizing of debt" and make it more sustainable. He also said that given the present system, no entity can exploit the S4A scheme by indulging in things like the evergreening of loans. The RBI had introduced the S4A scheme in 2016 and ended in February 2018. Debt was split into sustainable and unsustainable based on cash flows under the scheme, which was focused on corporate loans and also had a threshold above which an account could qualify. "We need to see the context in which it was brought and how it was used. And now, we are talking in a totally different context," Rai told PTI, pushing for

RBI imposes Rs 2 lakh penalty on TDCC Bank for sanctioning loan to director

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said it has imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on the Thane District Central Co-operative (TDCC) Bank for alleged violation of banking regulations by sanctioning loan to one of the directors of the bank. The RBI gave this information in a release issued by its Chief General Manager Yogesh Dayal on Friday. In an order issued on November 28, the RBI imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on the TDCC Bank for the violation of sections 20 and 56 of the Banking Regulation (BR) Act, 1949, it said. The penalty was imposed under the powers conferred on the RBI under sections of the BR Act. The statutory inspection of the bank conducted by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2022, and examination of the inspection report and all the related correspondence, revealed that the TDCC Bank had sanctioned a loan to one of its directors, the release said. A show-cause notice was then issue

FPIs lap up finance, healthcare, auto stocks in first half of Dec

FPIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 42,731 crore in the first fortnight of December