Banks submit bids worth Rs 3 trillion in RBI’s Rs 1.25 trillion repo auction
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) received bids worth Rs 3 trillion against the notified amount of Rs 1.25 trillion from cash-starved banks at the seven-day variable rate repo (VRR) auction on Friday, reflecting the extent of cash squeeze in the banking system.

RBI cancels licence of 2 co-operative banks
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled banking licence of The Botad Peoples Co-operative Bank with immediate effect and notified it as a non-banking institution. This makes it obligatory for The Botad Peoples Co-operative Bank to stop conducting the business of ‘banking’, including acceptance of deposits from non-members, RBI said.

RBI extends PIDF scheme by 2-years till Dec 2025
The RBI on Friday extended the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme by two years till December 2025, and also widened the scope to provide subsidy by including sound box instruments and Aadhaar-enabled biometric devices. The corpus of PIDF stands at Rs 1,026.37 crore as on November 30, 2023.

Banks capable of absorbing shocks: RBI
The central bank in its Financial Stability Report released on Thursday also showed that the Indian banking system is comfortably placed as far as asset quality is concerned. The report says under the baseline scenario, aggregate minimum capital requirement  ratio of 46 major banks likely to drop from 16.6% in September 2023 to 14.8% by September 2024.

Penal charges in loan accounts: RBI gives 3 more months to banks, NBFCs to implement modified norms
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank on Friday granted three more months up till April 1, 2024 to banks and NBFCs to implement the modified norms for levying penal charges in loan accounts, as part of fair lending practice. In August, the central bank issued a circular on 'Fair Lending Practice - Penal Charges in Loan Accounts' and it was to come into effect from January 1, 2024.

Not mandatory for banks, NBFCs to raise green funds: RBI FAQs
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday said it is not mandatory for banks and NBFCs to raise green funds, but in case they intend to do so they must follow the prescribed framework. The central bank has issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the 'Framework for Acceptance of Green Deposits'.

RBI conducts 7-day VRR auction
Mumbai: Liquidity tightness in the banking system forced banks to place bids aggregating over ₹3-lakh crore crore at the 7-day variable rate repo (VRR) auction conducted by the RBI on Friday against the notified amount of ₹1.25-lakh crore. The RBI conducted a VRR auction in view of likely outflows from the banking system on account of advance tax and GST payments.

Banks’ non-food credit increases 21% in November
Banks’ non-food credit grew by nearly 21% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 155.80 trillion as of November 17, higher than 20% last month, Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) sectoral deployment of credit data showed on Friday. Excluding the merger of HDFC twins, banks registered credit growth of 16%, the data showed.

Banks, NBFCs to stop compounding penalty charges from April 1, 2024 as RBI extends deadline

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the deadline for implementing charges levied on loan accounts. As per the circular issued by the RBI on December 29, 2023, the deadline has been extended by three months and new rules will be introduced from April 1, 2024, but not later than June 30, 2024.

India is transforming from a nation of savers to investors: Uday Kotak

In the early 80s, the Indian saver had low confidence in financial assets versus gold and land. Slowly the saver moved some part to bank deposits, UTI and LIC.

RBI fixes SGB redemption price at ₹6,331 a unit
 

Non-food bank credit growth moderates to 16.3% in November
 

RBI issues Master Direction on Internal Ombudsman mechanism
 

Banks must brace for climate related financial risks: RBI deputy-governor Swaminathan J.
 

Banks raise over Rs 1 trn through CDs in Dec amid liquidity crunch
This is the first time in the ongoing financial year that CD issuances have surpassed the Rs 1 trillion threshold in a month, according to data from the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL). 

SBI hikes fixed deposit rates by up to 50 basis points. Check latest FD rates of State Bank of India here
The State Bank of India (SBI) has hiked interest rates on fixed deposits (FDs). This interest rate is applicable on FDs below ₹2 crore. The new rate is effective from today, 27 December 2023. 

Banks’ 1-year MCLR at 8.75% in December
The one-year marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) of banks rose to 8.75% as of December, the highest since May 2019.

Growth in fresh personal loan disbursals falls in November
The growth in fresh personal loan disbursals declined to 18.6 per cent in November compared to 19.9 per cent in the year-ago period, mainly in the wake of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introducing punitive risk weighting for loans. The moderation in personal loan disbursals was also due to a downward trend in fresh credit growth in the housing segment, the RBI said on Friday in its report on the sectoral deployment of bank credit for November.

Punjab National Bank plans to raise capital up to ₹7,500 crore in 2024-25
Punjab National Bank (PNB) plans to raise about ₹7,500-crore equity capital in 2024-25 in one or more tranches. The PNB Board took this decision at its meeting on Thursday. The capital will be raised through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP)/Follow on Public Offer (FPO) or any other permitted mode or a combination of such modes, PNB said in a filing with the stock exchanges.

Uday Kotak wants India Inc. to move away from banks, keep Japan at the back of mind
Billionaire Uday Kotak, the founder and director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, wants corporate houses to move away from banks in a bid to help India achieve dream of 9% annual growth and becoming a $30 trillion GDP by 2047.

Indian banks shrug off multiple headwinds

Mumbai: Indian banks have shrugged off exceptional monetary tightening in advanced economies, domestic rate hikes, wars and volatile commodity prices. Their notional losses in a major portfolio of securities are at a level to comfortably ward off the kind of threats that sank a few US banks in March 2023.

Cooperatives should open accounts in co-op banks, says Amit Shah; asks GSC Bank to create system
Union Minister Amit Shah on Friday urged the Gujarat State Cooperative Bank to develop a system so that all cooperative entities in the state can open accounts in cooperative banks. He made the suggestion while virtually inaugurating a building of Surendranagar District Cooperative Bank.

Bank loans to NBFCs moderate in November

Credit growth in November was led by loan growth in services sector despite a slowdown in lending to NBFCs which comprised a significant portion of services loan portfolio.

NPCI to launch UPI for secondary market next week
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Friday said the ‘UPI for Secondary Market’ launch would take place next week. The launch of ‘UPI for Secondary Market’ is set to commence next week in its Beta phase for the equity cash segment, with the collaborative support of key stakeholders including clearing corporations, stock exchanges, depositories, stockbrokers, banks, and UPI app providers, NPCI said in a statement.

More fintech NBFCs tap debt markets for expansion
Mumbai : Fintech startups operating as non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are increasingly turning to the bond market to secure funds for expansions due to the rising costs of bank borrowing.

IDFC First doesn’t have room for upside; go for 2 stocks that can double in 2024: Sanjiv Bhasin
Sanjiv Bhasin, Director, IIFL Securities, says, “the CD norms are changing , where the credit deposit ratios have to be brought below 75. Some of these new-age banks, particularly IDFC Bank, will be very affected by this as NIMs are affected by at least 75 basis points plus there is a merger talk which can be negative in the short run. I do not think IDFC First has any room on the upside. I am not telling you to short it, but I am saying convert it into DCB Bank and SW Solar, which can double in 2024.”

NSE chief cautions investors on pitfalls of high risk derivatives
Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday asked the investors to avoid the pitfalls of high-risk derivatives or frequent trading in stock market.

Bitcoin falls below above $42,400; Cardano, Chainlink shed over 6%
The cryptocurrency markets were trading lower on Friday, dragged by Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Cardano, and Chainlink. Meanwhile, the global cryptocurrency market cap declined 0.75% to around $1.67 trillion in the last 24 hours.

India to block crypto exchange websites in widening crackdown
India clamped down on overseas crypto exchanges like Binance that it says are operating illegally there, moving to block local access to their websites. The Financial Intelligence Unit issued so-called compliance show-cause notices to several platforms including Binance, Kraken, KuCoin and Huobi. It also asked the information ministry to block the URLs of the nine entities, according to a statement late Thursday. 

Ten Indian cities account for 60 per cent of cryptocurrency investors, tier 2 cities warming up at rapid pace
 

RBI permits ICICI Pru Mutual Fund to acquire 9.95 per cent stake in Karur Vysya Bank
Karur Vysya Bank on Friday said the Reserve Bank of India has accorded approval to ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Ltd (ICICI AMC) for acquiring aggregate holding of up to 9.95 per cent of the paid-up share capital or voting rights of The Karur Vysya Bank Ltd.

Expect some consolidation over the first quarter of 2024: Karthik Kumar
Karthik Kumar, Fund Manager, Axis Quant Fund, says “I expect some kind of consolidation over the first quarter of next year. But having said that, as you rightly pointed out, we are trading at a valuation of around 20 times forward price to earnings and also globally we are trading at a premium. But given our growth differential, both at a GDP level or at a market level I expect those multiples to remain barring an external large disruption.”

How to pause your SIP investments
If you are beginning your investment journey, taking the SIP (systematic investment plan) route to buy mutual funds is a good starting point. You commit a certain sum based on your goals and risk appetite. But what if you fall short of the saving target? A job loss, wage cut, sudden cash outflow due to medical or any other emergency, etc, could mean that you would need to hold in your monthly SIP commitments. You can hit the pause button or stop SIPs. But doing so involves some steps. Here’s more on how you can stop or pause your SIPs.

Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund files draft documents for two ETFs

Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund has filed draft documents with Sebi for two ETFs: Motilal Oswal Nifty IT ETF and Motilal Oswal Nifty Bank ETF.

Investors favourite 10 equity funds in 2023

Investors were in love with some equity mutual funds in 2023. ETMutualFunds analysed the asset under management trend for 523 equity schemes and zeroed in on 10 schemes that have attracted maximum money in 2023. We looked at the assets managed by these schemes in January and November and calculated the change in AUM.

Power Grid board approves raising Rs 2,200 crore via bonds
State-owned Power Grid Corporation board on Friday approved raising of Rs 2,200 crore through bonds.