RBI Guv Shaktikanta Das signals no policy change despite dip in inflation
Reserve Bank of India’s governor Shaktikanta Das signalled he’s in no hurry to cut interest rates despite the recent softening in inflation in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.  “Inflation has been brought within the target band of 2-6 per cent, but our target is 4 per cent,” Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday at a forum organized by The Bretton Woods Committee in Singapore. “And over the last several monetary policy meetings, we have been reiterating the importance to stay the course and not get carried away by some dips in inflation.” 

MPC cannot afford to look the other way despite moderating inflation: RBI Guv Das
Mumbai: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cannot afford to look the other way despite retail inflation moderating into the tolerance band of +/- 2 per cent around the 4 per cent target, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.

RBI Guv warns against stretched valuations, says sudden shocks can spread stress across markets
Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday cautioned that to the extent that valuations are currently stretched, sudden shocks could precipitate stress that spreads contagiously across financial market segments through sell-offs and band-wagon effects. “Global financial markets have displayed resilience in recent months, with equity and bond yields rallying, volatility remaining low for the most part, and narrowing of corporate bond spreads; but there has been a sharp increase in prices of relatively riskier assets,” Das said at the third annual conference of the Bretton Woods Committee’s Future of Finance Forum in Singapore.

Short-sellers may target banks with large CRE exposure: RBI governor Das

“Banks exhibit high sensitivity to expected and unexpected CRE losses, due to the relatively high CRE coverage ratios in their loan books. Further, liquidity squeezes can materialise for banks with large CRE exposures, as short sellers may target them and investor confidence may slip further,” the RBI governor said while commenting on global financial stability risks.

‘Rate cuts expected as retail inflation remains below RBI forecast’
 

Inflation moderated but we still have distance to cover: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das
 

FD interest rates: Union Bank’s 333-day fixed deposit offers up to 8.15%; check details here
When you are looking for bank fixed deposits (FD), one factor to consider is the highest rate of interest offered by different banks.

Market ends marginally low; realty, PSU banks shine
The Indian equity indices ended marginally lower on Friday. At close, the Sensex was down 71.77 points or 0.09% at 82,890.94, and the Nifty was down 32.40 points or 0.13% at 25,356.50.

HDFC Bank Fixed Deposit interest rates 2024 – Check latest FD rates
Term deposits, commonly referred to as fixed deposits, are a favored investment choice for numerous investors. This investment vehicle involves depositing a predetermined sum of money for a specified duration, which can range from several months to multiple years.

BoB to launch 7 phygital branches as a pilot project

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Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank has revolutionised financial landscape for rural women
New Delhi: “This year we are celebrating one million women entrepreneurs, so please join our celebration, the celebration of women power in rural India,” said Chetna Sinha, founder of Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank, after receiving the BL Changemaker Award for Financial Transformation, 2024. “I never thought of setting up a banking institution. I was inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan and moved to Mhaswad village in Satara. A woman came to me wanting to save ₹3 every day. She had no surplus. Banks refused to open accounts for her, saying she was not an affordable clients, so we thought, why not have our own bank? That’s how it started,” she explained.

PNB Housing’s affordable loans drive pushes it to revive commercial mortgage biz
Mumbai: PNB Housing Finance Ltd is looking to re-grow its commercial mortgage portfolio after having substantially improved the asset quality of its corporate loan book, even as it restructures its retail business to focus on the higher yielding affordable loans segments.

Credit Cards: Banks offer these latest offers and deals; check details here
If you own a credit card, you can explore a number of offers given by banks. These include the offers at eateries and restaurants in your city and beyond. It is recommended to check these offers before they expire. These offers are given by the cards issued by almost all top banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank. 

Higher credit costs may impact growth of SBI Cards and Payment Services
The RBI’s moves against unsecured credit have contributed to a slowdown in credit cards. Card issuers have suffered higher delinquencies. Personal loan growth dropped to 6.8 per cent (December 2023-July 2024) versus 20.1 per cent (December 2022-July 2023). For the past six months, credit card receivables growth, which was at 23 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in Q1FY25, has trailed unsecured loans at 26 per cent Y-o-Y in Q1FY25.

SBI Card to consider ₹5,000-crore fund raise
The board of SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd (SBI Card), the country’s largest pure play credit card issuer, will meet on September 18 to discuss and approve a proposal for fund raise of ₹5,000 crore.  The company wants to raise funds via Non Convertible Debentures (NCDs) through the private placement route.  “A meeting of the Board of Directors is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, inter alia, to consider and approve the proposal for raising of funds through issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) aggregating to ₹5,000 crore through private placement, in one or more tranches over a period of time,” SBI Card said in a stock exchange filing. 

SBI's cost to income ratio to dip to 54-55% in two years, says S&P

The bank, in its analyst interaction, has maintained that it would lower the cost to income ratio by focusing on the income side. It made a total provision of Rs 15,877.09 crore towards arrears of wages due for revision, which came into effect from November 2022, according to SBI's annual report for FY24.

Paytm shifts aim to PAT level profitability with renewed push in core payments business
One97 Communications Ltd (OCL), which owns the brand Paytm, on Thursday, said that it was changing tack to commit itself to focus on achieving Profit After Tax (PAT) profitability and moving away from its earlier focus of EBITDA before ESOP as a benchmark.  “My board members advised me to shift the focus from EBITDA before ESOP as a benchmark to PAT (Profit After Tax). We recognise that EBITDA before ESOP, due to its large ESOP charge, offers only a partial picture of our financial health. Our commitment is now to prioritise PAT, reflecting our drive towards true profitability,” Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO said at the 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM). 

Sebi closes co-location case against NSE due to insufficient evidence
India’s markets regulator has closed proceedings in the co-location case against the National Stock Exchange and its officials, citing a lack of evidence.

Mutual funds betting big on recently listed and new-age companies
Fund managers placed big bets on new-age companies and recently listed firms in August with three such stocks featuring in the top five most bought stock list of mutual funds (MFs) last month. Ola Electric, which listed on August 9, was the second most bought stock as fund managers lapped up over Rs 2,740 crore worth of shares. Newly listed FirstCry saw MFs buying 40 million shares worth Rs 2,550 crore. Zomato ranked fourth in the list as MFs deployed Rs 2,500 crore in the stock.

Axis Bank led the top buy list as MFs bought Rs 3,120 worth of stocks. However, its larger peer HDFC Bank saw MFs pulling out as much as Rs 8,370 crore. The stock, which has struggled to perform in recent years, saw several fund houses cutting allocation after making significant buying for six successive months. Quant MF completely exited the stock in August months after betting big.  Other stocks in the most sold list included Bharti Airtel, Zydus Lifesciences, Indus Towers, Coal India and Dixon Technologies. 

Missed market turning points in our mid-cap fund: DSP MF’s Kalpen Parekh
bl.portfolio caught up with Kalpen Parekh, MD and CEO, DSP Mutual Fund, recently.  In this conversation, he elaborates on his investment philosophy as well as the fund house’s. He believes mean reversion to be the iron law of markets and a counter cyclical approach to investing, followed by the fund house, would help use this principle in their favour, he reasons.

Excerpts:

NPS Top Performing Fund Managers: Equity funds with up to 39% returns under Tier 1 scheme in one year
The National Pension System (NPS), initially started for employees in the government sector in 2004, was opened for the private sector in 2009. Since then it has been the most popular saving-cum-pension scheme in the country. The best feature of the NPS investment is that it meets both key objectives of conservative investors – lower risks due to regulated equity exposure and moderate returns compared to fixed-return instruments.

10-year bond yield falls to 6.79% on US Fed rate-cut expectations

Yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond settled at 6.79 per cent, lowest since March 30, 2022. On Thursday, it settled at 6.81 per cent.   The benchmark yield fell to 6.78 per cent during the day; it gave up some gains by the end of the day as some traders wound up their positions ahead of the weekend, said dealers.

SBI may raise up to Rs 7,500 crore via 2nd tranche of Tier-II bonds
State Bank of India plans to raise up to Rs 7,500 crore through the issuance of a second tranche of Tier-II bonds on September 18, sources said. The bonds have a maturity of 15 years. The issuance has a base size of Rs 4,000 crore and an additional greenshoe option of Rs 3,500 crore. Last month, the bank has raised Rs 7,500 crore at a coupon rate of 7.42 per cent through its first Basel III-compliant Tier-II bond issuance. The bonds are rated "AAA" by ICRA and India Ratings and Research.