Finance Minister Sitharaman meets ADB vice president; urge ADB to become partner in development agenda
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday met Asian Development Bank’s new Vice-President (market solutions) Bhargav Dasgupta and discussed ways to further the development agenda.

RBI alerts banks on heightened cyber security threats, gives action plan to address vulnerabilities, says report
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned some banks, urging them to fortify their defences against potential cyber attacks, as per a Moneycontrol report citing industry sources.

Axis Bank to support Tata Memorial-supported National Cancer Grid with ₹100 crore contribution
A national tumour biobank and cancer teleconsultation network are among the projects that will be supported by a ₹100 crore contribution towards the National Cancer Grid (NCG), from Axis Bank. As part of the five year partnership, Axis Bank will support NCG, a network of 300-plus cancer centres across the country, coordinated by the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), under the Tata Memorial Centre. The aim is to improve cancer care and research, in terms of access and digital adoption, a note from Axis Bank said, on formalising a Memorandum of Understanding with Tata Memorial.

Robust domestic fundamentals and global macro landscape supportive of a stronger rupee: BoB report

She opined that further tailwinds for the rupee will come from benign oil prices. “Despite the war in eastern Europe as well as Middle East, oil prices have not increased materially. Though there has been some upward momentum lately, it is highly unlikely that international crude prices could rise to the levels seen during the Russia-Ukraine war. Further, at $636 billion, RBI’s foreign exchange reserves will provide the necessary cushion to cover against any adverse external shock,” Gupta said.

YES Bank partners with Indian Olympic Association for Paris Olympics 2024

As part of the collaboration, the bank launched the campaign 'Milkar Jitayengey' and introduced the 'YES Glory Debit Card,' specially designed for India’s Olympic athletes.

HDFC Bank’s Arvind Kapil to join Poonawalla Fincorp as MD and CEO
 

Barclays eyes SWFs in push for investment banking
Barclays Plc is seeking to expand its relationships with sovereign wealth funds, or SWFs) and private equity giants as it broadens its footprint in advisory and equity underwriting.

Canada-based firm Fairfax offers all-cash deal to acquire IDBI Bank

Fairfax has not only put forth a new offer structured around an all-cash payment scheme for the acquisition of IDBI Bank, but Watsa has also committed to preserving the bank's identity following the completion of the acquisition.

NABARD to launch ₹1000-crore blended fund for agri-startups: chairman Shaji KV
New Delhi: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will launch a ₹1,000-crore fund to bolster technology-driven agri-startups and rural enterprises, said chairman Shaji K.V. on Monday.

How RBI is shaping the credit cards market, explained
Through a series of moves, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has intensified its scrutiny of the credit card industry. Recently, it asked Federal Bank and South Indian Bank to stop issuing new co-branded credit cards, reportedly concerned about the access their fintech partner, OneCard, had to customer data. Earlier this year, the central bank came down heavily on Paytm for not complying with its rules related to KYC and data sharing with non-regulated entities, effectively shutting down its payments bank. This also highlighted RBI's concerns about digital lending. Its recent move on co-branded cards showed that credit cards are also on its radar.

RuPay’s made it to Singapore, the UAE. In Sri Lanka, it faces a hurdle
 

A former Delhi top cop is named Religare director. Burmans say rules broken.
Mumbai : The billionaire Burman family has questioned the process of appointing former Delhi Police commissioner Rakesh Asthana as a director on the board of Religare Enterprises Ltd, calling it a breach of listing rules.

How to identify fake lending apps and avoid financial fraud
India is hailed as the third largest fintech ecosystem in the world with over 10000 FinTech firms in the country. The fintech adoption rate in India is 87% which is way above the global average of 64%. On top of that, the value of India’s Financial Inclusion Index is 60.1 as against 56.4 in the previous year. Yet, India is severely credit underpenetrated. The credit card penetration is estimated at around merely 5.5% of the population and even India’s domestic credit to the private sector at 55% of GDP in 2020 is remarkably below the world average (148%), and lowest among its Asian peers — China (182%), South Korea (165%), and Vietnam (148%).

Credit on UPI stuck due to fee structure, low adoption
A lack of clarity on the interchange fee structure, and lower adoption among smaller merchants has weighed on credit through unified payments interface volumes (UPI), say experts.

Pepe Coin (PEPE), Bonk (BONK), Retik Finance (RETIK) to crush Shiba Inu (SHIB) in the 2024 bull market
As the crypto market develops and grows, new competitors appear to upend the current quo and become industry leaders.Three projects, Pepe Coin (PEPE), Retik Finance (RETIK), and Bonk (BONK) are set to threaten Shiba Inu’s (SHIB) dominance in the 2024 bull market that has already begun and emerge as strong competitors in the cryptocurrency space. These initiatives have the potential to demolish Shiba Inu, return gigantic returns, and draw interest from investors across the globe thanks to their distinctive value propositions, cutting-edge features, and robust community support. Here’s a deep look at these emerging cryptocurrencies and their 2024 potential.

Retail investors garner a lion’s share of the Indian mutual fund industry in just over a decade!
The Indian mutual fund industry has seen its AUM (assets under management) more than double in the last four years to Rs 54.54 lakh crore in February 2024, as compared with Rs 23.16 lakh crore in February 2019. While there are several interesting factors that have contributed to this steady and exponential growth, one of the most significant of them is the story of retail participation. As on January 2024, retail or individual investors accounted for over 60 per cent of the industry’s AUM at Rs 31.79 lakh crore, this is in stark contrast to the scenario in 2013 when the industry barely had any retail footprint. 

No major concern in small-cap stress test, says Birla MF chief
Mumbai: Mutual fund investors should not read too much into the outcome of just concluded stress test conducted on small- and mid-cap schemes of the industry and stay invested for over 5-10 years to reap the full benefit of investment in the sector.

Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC promoters to sell up to 11.47% stake via OFS
Aditya Birla Capital and Sun Life (India) AMC Investments have granted approval today, March 18, for the sale of a maximum of 2.01 crore shares of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC. This sale represents 7 percent of the company's issued and paid-up equity share capital. 

Smallcap funds sit on over Rs 15,000 crore dry powder, shows data

Stress data shows that nearly half of the schemes in the smallcap space are holding cash of 5 per cent or more at the end of February 2024.

AB Sun Life AMC launches AI-based search engine for investors

As an alternative to navigating through vast information, MyMutualFundGPT empowers the investor to take informed decisions with clear explanations from respective product or service brochures available on its website. Besides, MyMutualFundGPT acts as an innovative solution-oriented providing a conversational interface. A Balasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC said the launch of new facility emphasises the fund house commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to provide a more intuitive and engaging experience for investors.

Investor should rebalance portfolio after surge in value fund returns
Over the last year, value funds have delivered a category average return of 46.8 per cent to investors, outperforming most diversified equity categories, barring midcap and smallcap funds. Investors must temper their return expectations from these funds after their stellar performance.

Mutual Funds: 10 hidden tips for your 10-year investment plan
Mutual funds are a commonly chosen investment option for long-term wealth growth. However, creating a solid investment plan is crucial to maximise your returns and achieve your financial goals. Here are top 10 tips to help you build a 10-year mutual fund investment plan:

ASK Hedge launches long-short fund
Blackstone-backed ASK Asset and Wealth Management’s subsidiary, ASK Hedge Solutions, has launched its first long-short fund, ASK Absolute Return Fund. The fund will have a corpus of ₹3,000 crore, of which ₹1,000 crore will be raised over the next six months.

Surge in PE/VC Investments to propel India’s start-up ecosystem this year: Peak XV
Indian start-ups are well on track to get $10-12 billion of funding this year and global private equity and venture capital (VC) funds are now sitting on about $20 billion of “dry powder” that remains uninvested and committed to India, Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Peak XV, a VC firm, said on Monday.

India benchmark bond yield at more than two-week high as US peers jump
Indian government bond yields extended gains at the start of the week, with the benchmark yield at a more than two-week high, tracking the rise in U.S. Treasury yields.

Increasing demand for G-secs amidst falling supply will push yields down
In this episode of the State of the Economy Podcast, businessline’s Lokeshwarri speaks with Sandeep Yadav, Senior Vice President of Fixed Income at DSP Mutual Fund, on the current state and future trajectory of interest rates, with a focus on both US and Indian bond yields.  

Adani bonds and stocks plunge on news of US bribery probe
Mumbai : Adani Group’s dollar bonds and stocks plummeted on Monday, on news that US prosecutors have widened their probe of the conglomerate to focus on whether it engaged in bribery.