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Hinudstan Times Date 03.12.2020 By Mallika Soni Private sector lender HDFC Bank on Thursday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked it temporarily stop all launches of its upcoming digital business-generating activities and sourcing of new credit card customers after outage at its data centre which impacted operations last month. “RBI has issued an order dated December 2, 2020, to HDFC Bank Ltd with regard to certain incidents of outages in the internet banking/ mobile banking/ payment utilities of the bank over the past two years, including the recent outages in the bank’s internet banking and payment system on November 21, 2020, due to a power failure in the primary data centre,” HDFC Bank said in a regulatory filing. HDFC Bank said the RBI order “has advised the bank to temporarily stop all launches of the digital business-generating activities planned under its program Digital 2.0 and other proposed business generating IT applications and sourcing of new credit card customer...

 The Print Dated 03.12.2020 By Anirban Nag India’s central bank will likely keep interest rates unchanged for a third straight meeting as inflation stays stubbornly high and signs appear of growth beginning to return to Asia’s third-largest economy. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee is forecast to hold the benchmark repurchase rate at 4% Friday, according to all 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg as of Thursday afternoon. A spike in consumer prices forced the panel to pause after cutting rates by 115 basis points this year, although it’s expected to conserve some ammunition to support growth by retaining an accommodative stance for the near future. “The RBI will be well served by not making changes to the repo rate or its accommodative stance,” said Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Mumbai. She expects the central bank to update its forecasts on inflation and growth, besides sharing its views on developments including a liquidity glut in the mo...

 The Economic Times Amit Mudgil NEW DELHI: Domestic stocks advanced last week on strong foreign inflows amid the beginning of transition to Biden administration in the US. The gains were, however, capped due to weak economic data globally, including a rise in jobless claims in the US, and doubts over AstraZeneca's vaccine efficacy. For the week, the Sensex rose 267.47 points or 0.60 per cent, while the Nifty added 109.90 points or 0.85 per cent. This truncated week will see the release of auto sales data and PMI readings, the kick start of Burger King IPO, RBI's policy review, OPEC's virtual meet and investors' reaction to India slipping into recession. Investors would also keep an eye on vaccine development. The market would be shut on Monday on account of Gurunanak Jayanti. Here's what investors would watch out for next week: Reaction to GDP numbers:  Tuesday would see investors reacting to GDP numbers, which showed that the economy shrank 7.5 per cent in the Sept...

Mint  Gopika Gopakumar 26.11.2020 Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said the Indian economy has seen stronger-than-expected pickup in recovery after the sharp contraction in the first quarter. Das, however, said the downside risks to growth continue due to the recent surge in covid-19 cases. “After witnessing a sharp contraction in GDP by 23.9% in Q1:2020- 21 and a multi-speed normalisation of activity in Q2, the Indian economy has exhibited stronger than expected pick up in momentum of recovery. Even as the growth outlook has improved, downside risks to growth continue due to recent surge in infections in advanced economies and parts of India," the governor said while speaking at a foreign exchange dealers’ conference. Das also warned about the sustainability of demand after festivals and a possible reassessment of market expectations surrounding the vaccine. He also reiterated that the central bank’s monetary policy guidance remains accommodative...

By: Raghuram Rajan,  Viral Acharaya The RBI recently released a report of an Internal orking Group (IWG) to review bank ownership guidelines. RBI reviews its regulations periodically, and by and large this working group has done the usual thorough job. Yet its most important recommendation, couched amidst a number of largely technical regulatory rationalisations, is a bombshell: it proposes to allow Indian corporate houses into banking. The proposal raises an important question: Why now? Have we learnt something that allows us to override all the prior cautions on allowing industrial houses into banking? We would argue no. Indeed, to the contrary, it’s even more important today to stick to the tried and tested limits on corporate involvement in banking. As in many parts of the world, banks in India are rarely allowed to fail – the recent rescue of Yes Bank NSE -3.74 % and of Lakshmi Vilas Bank NSE 4.79 % are examples. For this reason, depositors in scheduled banks know their money ...

Hindustan Times July 22, 2020 RBI may extend relief on repayment of loans The loan moratorium may be allowed beyond August for some sectors based on an impact assessment study. Nearly 29% of loans from banks were under moratorium between April and June. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may allow lenders to offer companies in stressed sectors such as aviation, automobiles and hospitality the option to pause loan repayments even after the six-month moratorium ends on August 31, two people directly aware of the discussions said. The banking regulator has been conducting an impact assessment of sectors and borrower segments by collating data on repayments and cash flows of borrowers since the lockdown was announced in March to get a better understanding of the challenges faced by borrowers, the people aware of the talks between RBI and the banks said on condition of anonymity. “While it’s a foregone conclusion that the moratorium will be extended for certain segme...

The Telegraph June 18, 2020 Th e RBI has defined the businesses or qualifying assets that can be financed by housing finance companies as it invited public comments for a new set of rules governing HFCs which were brought under its control in August 2019 from the purview of the National Housing Bank. The RBI has proposed 11 activities or qualifying assets that come under housing finance: these include loans to individuals or group of individuals including co-operative societies for the construction or purchase of new dwelling units; loans to individuals for the purchase of old dwelling units; loans to individuals for the purchase of old or new dwelling units by mortgaging existing dwelling units; and loans to individuals for renovation or reconstruction of existing dwelling units. It also covers lending to builders for the construction of residential dwelling units and loans given for slum improvement schemes. At least 50 per cent of the net assets — total assets excludi...

The Indian Express June 4, 2020 The extension of the lockdown and the rising number of  COVID-19  infections seem to have pushed the country towards a more cash-driven economy. Even though state governments have started relaxing retail trade restrictions, the relentless rise in currency with the public is continuing with people taking out cash worth another Rs 39,028 crore during the fortnight ended May 22. Currency with the public has now risen by Rs 1,63,135 crore from April 1 this year to Rs 25.12 lakh crore as of May 22. According to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday, currency with public has gone up by 18.7 per cent, or Rs 3,95,484 crore, on a year-on-year basis as against Rs 2.63,573 crore, or 14.2 per cent, in the previous year. With the lockdown continuing, people’s reliance on cash is expected to rise further in the next one or two months. However, the pace of the growth has come down from the March and April levels. As per the RBI...

Indian Express Dated: May 02, 2020 After rising for the past few weeks, the country’s foreign exchange reserves declined $113 million to $479.45 billion in the week to April 24, due to a fall in foreign currency assets, according to the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India. In the previous week, the reserves had increased by $3.09 billion to $479.57 billion. The reserves had touched a lifetime high of $487.23 billion in the week to March 6, after it rose by $5.69 billion. During 2019-20, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by almost $62 billion. In the reporting week ended April 24, the foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves, decreased by $321 million to $441.56 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold reserves rose by $221 million to $32.901 billion in the reporting week, the RB...

Business Line March 23, 2020 Fiscal 2019-20 will end on June 30, 2020 while fiscal year 2020-21 will begin on July 1, 2020 but ends on March 31, 2021 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to align its financial year with the Government. The central board of the RBI, in its meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, decided that the fiscal year 2021-22 for the central bank will begin from April 1. Fiscal 2019-20 will end on June 30, 2020 while fiscal year 2020-21 will begin on July 1, 2020 but ends on March 31, 2021. Thereafter, all fiscal year will start on April 01 every year. As of now, both - the RBI and the Government - follow the 'T plus one' system. This means the financial year spreads over two successive years. But still, there is one fundamental difference. The fiscal year for the Government starts on April 1 in 'T' (first year) and ends on March 31 in 'T+1' (second year). The fiscal year for the RBI, however, begins on July 1 in the first ye...

liveMint February 27, 2020 RBI flags risks to banks, inflation in telecom crisis Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is concerned about the fallout of the Supreme Court order on telecom dues and is watching developments in the industry closely, a senior official aware of the matter said. The central bank is worried that further tariff hikes, as sought by telecom operators, could be inflationary, a concern it raised in December too when telcos upped tariffs for the first time in over a decade. Another concern is the impact of the court order on banks, which have substantial exposure to telecom companies. A collapse of an operator will add to lenders’ bad loan pile. “The government is working on a potential rescue plan for the sector and is likely to consider RBI’s request," the person said. To ease the burden on telcos, RBI requested the government to allow telecom companies to stagger their payment of dues to the government over the next two-three ye...

Dailyhunt February 27, 2020 Sitharaman Says This About Rs. 2000 Currency Notes  With buzz around Rs. 2000 currency notes that its circulation shall be gradually shelved, the finance minister cleared the air and as per the IANS report said at a meeting with PSU bank heads said that "As far as I know, no such instruction has been given to the banks (on stopping issue of Rs 2000 notes)". She said that there has been given no instruction to banks to stop issuing Rs. 2000 notes in their ATMs. The clarification comes amid news that ATMs are being recalibrated and Rs. 2000 notes are being replaced with Rs. 500 notes, while the currency shall continue to be legal tender and shall be taken off public circulation gradually. In an earlier case, Indian Bank decided to load more of Rs. 200 currency notes in its ATM while deciding to stop loading as well as dispensation of Rs. 2000 notes in its ATMs. Also, for transacting in Rs. 2000 i.e. their deposit and withdr...