Inflation still remains a key risk to growth: FinMin
Inflationary pressures in the Indian economy have moderated but price rise remains a key risk to growth along with external financial flows that could affect the rupee’s value and the balance of payments situation, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday. 

Banks’ borrowing from MSF highest in Nov as liquidity tightens
Banks’ borrowing from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rose sharply in November, reflecting the tight liquidity situation in the banking system. Lenders borrowed Rs 1.5 trillion on November 20, the highest amount borrowed so far in this month, according to the RBI’ latest data.

Govt cancels bid for appointing asset valuer for IDBI Bank, fresh RFP to be issued
 

SBI, Bajaj Fin, Axis Bank face the heat of unsecured lending norms. What should investors do next?
The Reserve Bank of India’s move to make margin-accretive unsecured lending costlier has thrown a spanner in the growth prospects of banks and finance companies. Retail loans (home, personal, car loans, etc) and bank loans to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), are estimated to account for around half of the incremental credit over the last one year.

Is SBI losing interest in Jio Payments Bank?
State Bank of India’s (SBI) shareholding in Jio Payments Bank fell to 23% in FY23 from the 30% that it has maintained since inception, indicating its disinterest in the payments bank business model. The fall below 25% also means SBI will no longer be able to block special resolutions at its seven-year-old joint venture (JV).

Kotak Bank's new CEO choice reflects priorities over next decade: Santanu Chakrabarti
One of the biggest reasons for the underperformance of Kotak Mahindra Bank stock in the ongoing bull market has been the news flow around founder-MD Uday Kotak and the subsequent leadership transition. BNP Paribas' banking analyst Santanu Chakrabarti says investors have now made peace with reality. The appointment of Ashok Vaswani as the new Managing Director & CEO of the private sector lender reflects what they are prioritising over the next decade, he says.

Govt cancels bid for appointing asset valuer for IDBI Bank, fresh RFP to be issued
New Delhi, The government on Tuesday cancelled the bid process for the appointment of an asset valuer for strategic sale-bound IDBI Bank on low bidder interest. A fresh Request For Proposal (RFP) would be invited soon after a review of some of the bid criteria to enable better interest from bidders.

Canara Bank introduces WhatsApp banking channel
Canara Bank released new products and services on its 118th Founder’s Day on November 20. These include Corporate ai1, an application that offers a 360 view of dashboard, forex transactions, trade finance-LCs, BGs, and so on, and bulk payment option.

Canara Bank introduces new products and services
Bengaluru: Public sector undertaking Canara Bank launched several new products and services on the occasion of 118 Founder’s Day. The latest launch includes corporate ai1 to cater to the diverse needs of the corporate customers of the bank. This will allow them to perform banking transactions through corporate internet banking and on the ‘Canara ai1 Corporate’ app interchangeably, a Whatsapp banking channel, to provide 18 services, such as balance enquiries and mini statements, via a Hi/Hello message on 9076030001.

No additional share pledge by IIHL and subsidiary in IndusInd Bank
Source Credit: Business Standard

IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL) has said that the company and its subsidiary, IndusInd Limited, are the promoters of IndusInd Bank, according to a clarification sent by the bank to exchanges on Tuesday.

Yes Bank premature withdrawal penalty on FDs hiked to up to 1%; Check details

Yes Bank has increased the penalty for early withdrawal from fixed deposits for value less than Rs 5 crore. According to the Yes Bank website, the increased penalty rate came into effect on November 3, 2023.

SBI appoints Tonse as fourth MD, reshuffles its top deck

State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara has reshuffled the top management of the nation's largest lender after the government notified the appointment of Vinay Tonse as the fourth managing director (MD) of the bank early Tuesday morning.

Banks seek ITR access via NSDL to vet borrower info

Lenders have asked the government for access to income tax returns through National Securities Depository (NSDL) to help validate declarations made during loan applications, people familiar with the development told ET. Banks speak of multiple instances when applicants have declared inflated or fake income details with forged documents. That has led to fraud, or financing disproportionate to actual income.

HC provides relief to taxpayer in foreign bank account matter with different beneficiary
Mumbai: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal that ruled in favour of the assessee having unexplained deposits in a foreign bank account.

Travel credit card startup Scapia raises $23 mn to expand business
Source Credit: Ajinkya Kawale, Business Standard

Mumbai: Scapia, a travel credit card startup, has raised $23 million in a funding round led by Elevation Capital and 3STATE Ventures, an investment firm of former Flipkart chief executive Binny Bansal.

Bank loans to grow at 13-13.5% in FY24, says CareEdge Ratings
Bank credit offtake is expected to grow at 13-13.5% in 2023-24 (April-March), aided by an expansion in the overall economy and a strong demand for loans, says CareEdge Ratings.

NBFCs may see NIM compression as cost of funds inch up
Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are likely to see a compression in their net interest margins as RBI move to increase risk weights for consumer loans will lead to a rise in cost of funds.

Evaluating new biz opportunities, to step up ops in vehicle & home finance: Manappuram Finance MD
Gold loan major Manappuram Finance says it is constantly evaluating new opportunities and will take a call on new business verticals at the appropriate time. The company will continue with the strategy of diversification while not letting its guard down on the gold loan vertical, VP Nandakumar, MD & CEO tells Sajan C Kumar, in an exclusive interaction. According to him, the demand for gold is steady, despite price volatilities and this augurs well for the gold loan industry. Excerpts:

TruCap Finance aims to achieve gold loan AUM of Rs 700 crore in current financial year

Listed RBI-registered non-banking finance company TruCap Finance is aiming to achieve a gold loan AUM (asset under management) of Rs 700 crore in the current financial year through expanding its business in tier 3 and tier 4 cities, which are largely underserved by the formal credit channels.

Godrej Capital expects Rs 1,500 cr capital to be infused for 2 years: CEO

Further, the Non-Banking Financial Company, which focuses on MSME and home loans, intends to expand its branches from the existing 30 locations to 60 locations by March 30, of the financial year 2025, and around 100 locations in the next few years.

Paytm is most profitable among new-age peers; inclusion in MSCI Global Standard Index shows investors’ positive sentiment
Paytm, India’s leading payments and financial services company and the pioneer of QR, soundbox and mobile payments, has been steadfastly surging ahead on its path of accelerated growth. The fintech giant has reported an operating profit for the fourth straight quarter with EBITDA before ESOP nearly doubling to Rs 153 crore in Q2FY24, becoming the most profitable among internet companies of India.

Top three apps continue to dominate UPI trade, despite plans to curb their share
Mumbai: Third party application providers (TPAPs) have sought incentives in the form of leeway or discounts from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to help boost their share of UPI volumes. The request has been made keeping in mind that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and NPCI have been looking at ways to cap UPI transaction volumes on each payments platform so as to avoid over-reliance on any one single platform.

Scapia raises USD 23 mn in a funding round led by Elevation Capital, 3STATE Ventures
Fintech company Scapia has raised USD 23 million in a funding round, led by Elevation Capital and Binny Bansal’s 3STATE Ventures.

Fintech firm Kiwi raises Rs 108 cr in funding round led by Omidyar Network India
Fintech company Kiwi has raised USD 13 million (about Rs 108 crore) in a funding round led by Omidyar Network India.

Bitcoin holds above $37,300; Solana, Avalanche decline over 6%

Major crypto tokens were trading mixed on Tuesday. Bitcoin (0.6%), Ethereum (0.5%), BNB (6.8%), and Cardano (0.6%) were trading in the green, while XRP (-1.7%), Solana (-6.7%), Dogecoin (-3.8%), Chainlink (-4.4), and Avalanche (-7.5%) were trading in the red.

CoinSwitch launches EARN, enabling users to accrue passive income on crypto

Key features

MFs set aside ₹3,000 crore for debt fund backstop facility
Mumbai: Mutual funds have set aside ₹3,100 crore as part of the Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF) created by the capital market regulator SEBI as a backstop arrangement to bailout specified debt schemes in times of crisis in the market.

Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund files draft document for multi asset allocation fund
Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund has filed a draft document for a multi asset allocation fund. Mahindra Manulife Multi Asset Allocation Fund is an open-ended scheme investing in equity, debt, gold/silver/ Commodity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Commodity Derivatives.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund files draft documents for two target maturity funds
Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has filed draft documents for two new target maturity schemes: Aditya Birla Sun Life Crisil IBX Gilt June 2027 Index Fund and Aditya Birla Sun Life Crisil IBX Gilt April 2033 Index Fund.

Kotak Healthcare Fund, two other NFOs open for subscription this week; should you invest?

Three mutual fund NFOs or new fund offers are open for subscription this week. Kotak Healthcare Fund, DSP Banking & Financial Services Fund are open for subscription. Bajaj Finserv Balanced Advantage Fund will open for subscription later this week.

Valuations of largecap stocks reasonable and returns to be in line with earnings growth: TRUST MF

"Valuations in India large-caps are reasonable and we expect 15% or more earnings growth in the next couple of years,” says Mihir Vora, Chief Investment Officer, TRUST Mutual Fund. Vora, therefore, expects largecap index returns to be in line with the earnings growth, but added that global economic slowdown can temper these returns. Edited excerpts from an interview with ETMarkets:

Sundaram Alternates raises ₹1,100 crore to provide debt finance to SMEs
Sundaram Alternates Assets Ltd has just completed raising ₹1,100 crore for its Emerging Corporate Credit Opportunities fund. The fund is meant to provide debt finance to small and medium enterprises, of ₹200 crore-1,000 crore turnover.  Sundaram Alternates is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sundaram Assets Management Company Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Sundaram Finance Ltd, a leading non-banking finance company.

PE/VC investments decline to USD 3.4 billion in Oct: Report
Mumbai: Investments by Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC)funds have declined to USD 3.4 billion for October, a report said on Tuesday. By value, the bets were 3 per cent lower than USD 3.5 billion in the year-ago period, and 19 per cent lower than USD 4.2 billion in September, the report by industry lobby grouping IVCA and EY, a consultancy, said.

Indian bonds may see $25-billion in foreign inflows if included in Bloomberg indexes: DBS' Karyatt
Mumbai - Indian government bonds could see foreign inflows of close to $25 billion if they get included in key Bloomberg bond indexes, a treasury official with DBS Bank India said.

Banks, CCIL in talks to build 3rd-party clearing process, unlock trade

Mumbai: Domestic and European banks have started regular talks with the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL) to build structures needed for third-party clearing of government bonds and derivatives, paving the way for starting trades worth billions of dollars that may otherwise have stalled due to a stand-off between the regulators home and away.

Julius Baer promotes Kunal Sumaya as Market Head Global NRI
Mumbai: Julius Baer, a global wealth management and financial services company, has promoted Kunal Sumaya to Market Head Global NRI (Non-Resident Indians), with effect from January. He will continue to be based in Singapore. In his new role, he will cover NRI markets across Singapore, Dubai and Zurich. He will report to Rahul Malhotra who will assume the role as Member of the Executive Board, Julius Baer Group and Head Emerging Markets from January.