RBI workshop urges stronger governance and tech use to fight cyber frauds
The Reserve Bank of India conducted a two-day workshop on cyber frauds with officials from 60 major banks where it was emphasised that strong governance, better internal controls, clear processes and advanced technology are needed to tackle cyber-enabled frauds.

Listed pvt non-financial firms see first double-digit sales growth in 3 yrs
Listed private non-financial companies posted a double-digit rise in sales for the first time in nearly three years, driven by a rebound in manufacturing activity, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday.

IIRIS launches IntelliTracker to strengthen police case monitoring & RBI reporting for banks
Gurugram: IIRIS Consulting Pvt Ltd today announced the official launch of IntelliTracker, a purpose-built monitoring platform designed to help banks and financial institutions manage fraud-related and law enforcement case lifecycles with structured visibility and RBI FMR 1-4-aligned reporting readiness. The product was recently showcased at the India AI Impact Expo 2026, drawing strong interest from industry stakeholders.

Forged signatures used to make IDFC fund transfers
Panchkula : A local court remanded four suspects arrested in the Rs 590-crore bank fraud case involving 18 state govt departments in ACB custody for seven days Wednesday. ACB director general Ashinder Singh Chawla said investigations revealed the account of ‘Swastik Desh Project’ received Rs 300 crore of the swindled money. The wife of Abhay, former relationship manager at Panchkula’s Sector 32 IDFC First Bank, holds 75% stake in this firm and his brother-in-law owns the remainder. Such transactions were made in the bank accounts of Chandigarh administration as well. ACB said the arrests followed an inquiry conducted by a three-member committee constituted by the development and panchayats department.
 

IDFC First Bank affirms trust with INR 583 Crore Government Payment
Haryana Government Department thanks IDFC FIRST Bank for Principle-Based approach Mumbai, February 25, 2026: IDFC FIRST Bank refers to its recent disclosures regarding an incident at one of its branches in Chandigarh involving certain accounts of departments of the Government of Haryana.

Uday Kotak on AI & US-India ties, markets – ‘Future belongs to those willing to take uncomfortable bets’
Celebrated market guru and Founder and Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak believes that India’s focus should be on protecting future sovereignty, building strategic leverage and choosing the right technological battlegrounds. He stated that India’s recent engagement with AI at a national level was a ‘positive signal of intent, despite logistical challenges.’ He believes the future belongs to those ready to take uncomfortable bets. 

Bank account suddenly blocked? Why it happens and what's the solution
 

Haryana authorities arrest 4 people in ₹590 cr IDFC First Bank fraud case
 

NaBFID's debut CD raises ₹5,000 crore at 6.95% amid strong demand
NaBFID raised Rs 5,000 crore through its debut one-year certificate of deposit (CD) issuance at 6.95 per cent on Wednesday. The paper was priced 5–7 basis points finer than comparable issuances by other all-India financial institutions (AIFIs) such as the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

India's AI and rare earths push to attract global funds, signalling new investment era for nation: ADB's Chatterton
Source Credit: Gireesh Chandra Prasad, mint

Yes Bank forex cards hit by $280,000 fraud; 5,000 customers impacted
Around 5,000 customers of Yes Bank’s multi-currency prepaid forex card, issued in partnership with BookMyForex, were hit by a spate of fraudulent transactions in the early hours of February 24, 2026, and transactions worth $280,000 were approved during the incident, the bank said on Wednesday.

Credit card spends dip slightly in January; issuances rise to 116.6 mn
 

Meet on NBFC reform index today; sector stability in focus
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) will meet today to discuss the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) recommendations on the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) sector. A key item on the agenda is the introduction of a comprehensive reform index for NBFCs.

Infra recovery could accelerate NBFC growth after strong Q3 trends
Non banking financial companies saw positive trends in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 (Q3FY26). Apart from improved portfolio quality, there is margin expansion in this stage of the cycle, as lower rates are translating into lower bond yields and hence, into lower cost of financing.

How rising gold prices benefit gold loan customers
New Delhi: Imagine you are a small business owner in Ludhiana or a parent in Chennai planning for your child's higher education. You've held onto your family gold for years--not just as an heirloom, but as a silent financial guardian. Suddenly, you wake up to news of a gold price rising to historic levels. While the world sees a "luxury metal" getting more expensive, a seasoned borrower sees an opening.

HSBC India pre-tax profit increases 10.5% to nearly $1.9 billion
HSBC India recorded a 10.54 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in profit before tax (PBT) in calendar year 2025 (CY25) to nearly $1.9 billion, up from about $1.7 billion in CY24. India emerged as the second-largest contributor to the London-headquartered bank’s profit from Asia during the year, after Hong Kong, which reported a PBT of $13 billion.

Gold loans pip personal loans in retail segment in Q3FY26, shows data
 

The new gold standard? Motilal Oswal explains the rise to $5,000 per ounce
 

PhonePe IPO: Emkay Global flags 4 risks that investors should watch out
Below are the key risks that investors should be cautious ahead of PhonePe IPO:

India’s legacy brokers bank on leveraged trading to claw back lost ground
India’s traditional brokers are banking on a business they dominate to claw back the ground they ceded to digital rivals over the past decade: lending clients money for leveraged trading.

Called the margin trading facility (MTF) in market parlance, it allows investors to buy shares by paying only a part of the total value upfront, with the broker funding the rest at an interest cost.

MTF book surged 42.9% in the year through January 2026 to ₹1.20 lakh crore even as the markets turned volatile, according to a February Care Edge report.

The top two in the category are bank-backed brokers: ICICI Securities Ltd and Kotak Securities Ltd. The initial two put together make up 31.7% of the total MTF market share as of December, according to ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank’s investor presentation.

“In MTF, bank-based brokerages have a larger share when compared to the discount brokers. We lost on derivatives as discount brokers took that opportunity. On the MTF side, we took the opportunity,” said Dhiraj Relli, managing director and chief executive officer at HDFC Securities Ltd.

Legacy brokers see long-term headroom in the category.

At about ₹1.2 trillion (around $13.2 billion), MTF accounts for about 0.25% of the Indian equity market’s $5 trillion market capitalization, according to Ashish Nanda, chief business digital officer at Kotak Securities. “Compared to China and the US, which are in the range of 1.5% to 3% when it comes to the leverage book, we are significantly smaller. MTF book in my view will continue to grow.”

Discount brokers leap ahead on derivatives
The focus on MFT comes as discount brokers have taken over the market on the back of derivative trading. Groww, the country’s largest broker, has a market share of 28% in the overall broking segment and a total active client base of 12.5 million as of January, followed by Zerodha and Angel One at 15.45% and 15.2% respectively, according to data by the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

By comparison, HDFC Securities has 1.43 million clients and a 3.22% market share as of January, a marginal uptick from 2.8% in March 2023, according to NSE data. Kotak Securities at 3.1% and ICICI Securities at 4.6% have largely remained stagnant.

Digital brokers cornered a dominant share of the derivatives market by charging flat fees in high-frequency trading segments. A boom in derivatives volumes helped them earn enough revenue to keep fees at zero for long-term products like cash equities and mutual funds.

This was supported by the earlier practice of stock exchanges rewarding brokers for generating high trading volumes on their platform. The regulator discontinued this in 2024 to ensure equal and fair access for all market participants.

Under the traditional model, brokerage is calculated as a percentage of trade value. For instance, if an investor buys shares worth ₹1,00,000 and the brokerage is 0.30%, the fee is ₹300 on the buy side and another ₹300 on the sell side. As trade value rises, so does the fee. In contrast, discount brokers typically charge a flat fee per order, say ₹20 per side, whether the trade value is ₹1,00,000 or ₹5,00,000.

The model disrupted the traditional percentage-based brokerage that bank-owned firms charged. Many first-time investors joined the digital platforms, driving scale even as active traders benefited from low trading costs.

“The difference has primarily been around digital leverage and operating structure,” said Amit Majumdar, group chief strategy officer at Angel One. “When you build a digital platform, the cost is taken only once, and the operating leverage allows you to provide flat brokerage because whether it is one customer or 100 customers, the cost of the platform does not go up.”

Many traditional brokers were running profitable branch-led models with high fixed costs, according to Majumdar. “Moving fully to digital would have required disrupting their existing business, which is not an easy call to take.”

Eyeing MTF edge
Bank-backed brokers say that MTF plays directly to their balance sheet strength. The biggest edge, they say, is the cost of capital. A lower borrowing cost allows them to lend to clients at more competitive rates, making the product more attractive.

“The biggest thing in MTF is the cost at which the customer borrows. The lower the cost of borrowing, the better the returns. So, if you borrow cheaper, your chances of making a return are higher,” said Nanda of Kotak Securities.

Interest rates on MTF typically range from 2% and 18% across brokers. Kotak offers 9.69%, according to Nanda, and, in some cases, compounds interest monthly rather than daily, reducing the burden on clients.

“I believe most bank-based brokers offer better rates on MTFs, and that is why they continue to grow faster than the rest of the market (in this category). This is surely a reason for the higher market share,” he said.

‘Retail investors can expect more innovative products to invest in global markets’: V Balasubramaniam, MD & CEO, NSE IX
NSE IX has built a platform that will allow retail investors to buy and sell global stocks. V Balasubramaniam, MD & CEO, NSE IX (NSE International Exchange) tells Kushan Shah that investors will also be allowed to buy stocks in fractionalised form like in case of mutual funds.

Excerpts:

NSE IX launches ‘Global Access’ platform; allows easy access to overseas markets for Indian retail investors
Ahmedabad: Marking a significant step in India’s effort to connect domestic investors with international capital markets, the NSE International Exchange (NSE IX) on Wednesday said it has soft launched a Global Access platform, enabling Indian investors to directly trade in equities, debt and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Bitcoin correction calls for decisions based on risk, allocation, horizon
New Delhi: Bitcoin has fallen from its peak of $1,26,251.3 on October 6, 2025, to $65,405.5, a decline of 48.2 per cent. Investors must recognise that sharp volatility is inherent to Bitcoin and avoid kneejerk reactions.

Crypto markets await clearer macro catalysts, says Bitget's CEO Gracy Chen
 

Radhika Gupta's advice on which investment strategy to avoid: ‘The most expensive fund is…’
Radhika Gupta, MD and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Funds, is popular among Indian investors, especially Gen Z, for her prolific online social media presence and easily understood investment tips and advice.

LIC loses ₹38,000 crore, MFs 63,000 crore in Feb so far as IT stocks crash on AI fear
IT stocks witnessed a breather on Wednesday, February 25, in an otherwise tumultuous month for the tech stocks, which have been rocked by the fears of artificial intelligence weighing on the labour-intensive Indian IT software industry.

NPS Vatsalya allows data sharing, full equity option: Impact explained
 

Govt to conduct ₹25K cr bond switch auction on Monday to ease redemptions
The Government of India plans to conduct a ₹25,000-crore switch auction of dated securities to smoothen its redemption profile and ease near-term repayment pressures, the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) said in a release on Wednesday.

JP Morgan raises long-term gold price forecast 15% to $4,500 an ounce
JP Morgan raised its long-term forecast for gold prices on Wednesday by 15 per cent to $4,500 an ounce, while ​keeping its 2026 year-end forecast at $6,300.