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RBI imposes penalty on Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Indian Bank

The Reserve Bank has imposed a penalty of Rs 6.77 crore on Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd, Mumbai, for non-compliance with norms related to disclosure of interest rates to borrowers at the time of sanction of loans, a release said on Thursday. In another release, the RBI said a Rs 55 lakh penalty has been imposed on Indian Bank for contravention of certain Know Your Customer (KYC)) norms. A penalty of Rs 10.50 lakh on Muthoot Money Limited, Ernakulam for non-compliance with certain provisions of the Monitoring of Frauds in NBFCs (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2016', has also been imposed. The RBI said the penalties are based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and are not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by them with customers. The RBI said the statutory inspection of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services was conducted with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2019, and March 31, 2020. RBI said it

Portal for unclaimed deposits across banks to be ready in 3-4 months: RBI

Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said a centralised portal would be ready in three to four months wherein depositors and beneficiaries can access details of unclaimed deposits across various banks. As of February this year, about Rs 35,000 crore of unclaimed deposits were transferred to RBI by public sector banks in respect of deposits which were not operated for 10 years or more. "In order to improve and widen the access of depositors/beneficiaries to such data, RBI has decided to develop a web portal to enable search across multiple banks for possible unclaimed deposits based on user inputs," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current financial year. The search results will be enhanced by use of certain AI tools, he said. RBI Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao said, "we expect the portal to be ready in 3-4 months". State Bank of India (SBI) tops the chart of unclaimed deposits worth Rs 8,086 crore followed by Punjab Nati

RBI to come out with centralised web portal to search unclaimed deposits

"We expect the portal to be ready in 3-4 months," said M Rajeshwar Rao, deputy governor, RBI

Mkts see optimism in RBI's status quo, gain for 5th day after initial fall

Gains in index majors HDFC twins and Reli­a­nce Industries helped offset los­ses in IT, Power and FMCG stocks amid weak global trends

Necessary to assess cumulative impact of action taken so far: RBI

"It is now necessary to assess the cumulative impact of our action taken so far"

RBI monetary policy review: What led to the interest rate pause?

Real GDP growth for FY23 is expected at 7%, indicating resilient economic activity

Bankers welcome surprise pause in hikes, feel RBI now focusing on growth

Bankers welcomed the status quo in rates from RBI on Thursday, calling it as an attempt to support growth. The RBI move on the regulatory front announced along with the first policy review of FY2023-24 also found support from the banker community. Industry lobby Indian Banks Association chairman A K Goel, who is also the chief executive of Punjab National Bank, said it is a welcome pause which could surprise the market. "Focus of RBI in this policy is to support growth as it wants to evaluate the effects of the previous rate actions to fully get transmitted into the economy," he said. SBI chairman Dinesh Khara termed it a "pleasant surprise" given the market talks of one more final rate hike. "With uncertainty looming large, this decision was perfectly timed. Simultaneously, the bouquet of regulatory initiatives like linking UPI to credit and developing the onshore market will spur innovations in product offerings," Khara said. Zarn Daruwala of foreign lender Standard Chartered B

Nothing innovative solution presented by NUE applicants, says RBI

Six New Umbrella Entity (NUE) hopefuls, including Facebook, Google and Amazon, have failed to present any innovative solution due to which efforts to build an alternative to the NPCI have not moved ahead, the RBI said on Thursday. A total of six consortiums which had the global tech majors teaming up with local entities including Axis Bank and ICICI Bank had applied in 2021 for the NUE licence. "Of the proposals that we have received, we did not quite see any innovative or infrastructural solution that had come up," Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar told reporters when asked about progress on the front. He said the RBI has had a look at the applications, and reminded that the central bank's objective was to get some innovations into the digital payments system which is already functioning well with efforts like Unified Payments Interface. "We wanted to bring in new ideas. We did not want something which is either incremental or a substitute of existing ideas or technologies," Sankar ..

Pre-sanctioned credit lines at bank to come under UPI ambit, says RBI

The Reserve Bank on Thursday proposed to expand the scope of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) by including pre-sanctioned credit lines at banks within the ambit of the popular payment platform. UPI is a robust payment platform supporting an array of features. Presently it handles 75 per cent of the retail digital payments volume in India. The UPI system has been leveraged to develop products and features aligned to India's payments digitisation goals, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das while announcing the bi-monthly monetary policy. "It is now proposed to expand the scope of UPI by enabling transfer to / from pre-sanctioned credit lines at banks, in addition to deposit accounts," he said. In other words, UPI network will facilitate payments financed by credit from banks. This can reduce the cost of such offerings and help in the development of unique products for Indian markets. At present, UPI transactions are enabled between deposit accounts at banks, sometimes intermediated

RBI's decision of not changing repo rate in line with expectations: Experts

The Reserve Bank of India's decision to keep key benchmark policy rate at 6.5 per cent is in line with expectations of the market, experts said on Thursday. The repo rate hike has been paused after six consecutive rate increases aggregating to 250 basis points since May 2022. Bandhan Bank Chief Economist Siddhartha Sanyal said, "RBI's pause on the repo rate is completely in line with our expectations." In fact, "the 6-0 voting in favour of a pause reflects that," he said. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee comprises three RBI officials and three external members appointed by the central government. With the likely softening of Consumer Price Index to low-to-mid five levels in the coming months, the real policy rate will hover around one per cent during the 2023-24 financial year, he said. Retail inflation in February stood at 6.44 per cent as compared to 6.52 per cent in the previous month. MPC takes into account retail inflation numbers for setting the interest rates. How

RBI allows rupee non-deliverable forex derivative contracts to residents

Step will help develop onshore Indian rupee NDDC and provide residents with the flexibility to design hedging programmes

You make the tea or the tea makes you?

Move over Reserve Bank of India. It's the commercial banks, which are creating money and moving the economy

Rupee falls below 82 against US dollar after RBI hits pause on rate hikes

The rupee declined to an intraday low of at 82.06 per U.S. dollar versus 81.88 before the RBI policy announcement

This is a pause, not a pivot, says RBI guv on surprise hold in key rates

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday made it clear that the decision to hold rates should be seen as a pause, and not as a pivot. The rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will act on the rates as and when necessary, Das said. "If I have to characterise today's monetary policy in just one line...it's a pause, not a pivot," Das told reporters in the customary interaction with reporters after the announcement of the policy review. Earlier in the day, the six-member MPC voted unanimously to keep the repurchase or repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent, surprising analysts who were expecting the central bank to make a final 25 basis points hike before opting to pause. Das said RBI is keen to assess the cumulative impact of the rate actions done till now. There has been a cumulative hike of 250 basis points since May 2022. Deputy Governor Michael Patra said RBI has marginally upped its FY24 growth estimate to 6.5 per cent primarily on assumption of a decline in the ..

MPC lowers projection for inflation, raises growth outlook a bit in FY24

Volatility in global financial market has potential upsides for imported inflation, says committee

RBI proposes expanding UPI payments to allow pre-sanctioned credit lines

According to Das, the UPI has transformed retail payments in India and its robustness has been leveraged to develop new products and features from time to time

LIVE: We will work towards inflation target of 4%, says RBI Governor

Catch all the updates of the live address by Reserve Bank of India's Governor Shaktikanta Das on the decision by the Monetary Policy Committee on repo rate

Fight against inflation far from over: RBI projects FY24 inflation at 5.2%

The Reserve Bank on Thursday projected marginal easing in retail inflation to 5.2 per cent in the current fiscal, but cautioned that the fight against inflation is far from over. Although the Reserve Bank pared its inflation estimate from its February projection of 5.3 per cent, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the inflation outlook remains dynamic amid the recent jump in crude oil prices on account of OPEC decision to cut output. Taking into account a crude oil price of USD 80 per barrel and a normal monsoon, the retail inflation in the current fiscal is projected to be 5.2 per cent with risks evenly balanced, Das said. For the June quarter, the retail inflation is expected to average 5.1 per cent, and rise to 5.4 per cent each in the September and December quarter. It is expected to decline to 5.2 per cent in the March 2024 quarter. Das said the Central bank's war against inflation will continue until the inflation is brought down to target level. "The fight against inflation

RBI expansion of NDF access to help manage rupee volatility: Analysts

They were earlier permitted to transact in rupee NDF forex derivatives contracts with non-residents and with other eligible banks