🍒 Central Bank of India launches Rupay Select Debit Card : Central Bank of India on Monday launched a variant of contactless Debit Card – ‘RuPay Select’. Launched in association with the National Payments Corporation of India on the occasion of the bank’s 110th foundation day, the RuPay Debit Select Card will focus on customers’ lifestyle, fitness, rejuvenation, nutrition and personal care, the public sector bank said in a statement. Pallav Mohapatra, MD and CEO, Central Bank of India, said: “Customers with select card will enjoy benefits such as complimentary health check-ups, and lounge access at selected centres besides accidental cover of ₹10 lakh at no extra cost.” They would also be entitled for discounted health check-ups with the this National Common Mobility Debit Card (NCMC) which also facilitates offline transactions in both transit and as well as retail purchases. The Bank also launched FASTAG (for electronic toll collection) in association with OSTA. “Customers using the bBank’s FASTAG will not lose any interest by transmitting the funds into FASTAG account, instead, the customer will cross the tToll pPlaza with Central Bank of India FASTAG based on recharge amount blocked in his Ssavings account and the account will be debited on next day of transaction unlike other players having such product where the fund is transferred to a wallet by debiting account of the customer,” Mohapatra said. - Business Line
🍒 Canara Bank has exposure of ₹678 crore to Transstroy : Canara Bank has clarified that it has an exposure of ₹678.28 crore to Transstroy India Ltd which allegedly committed a bank fraud and is under liquidation. In a notice to the BSE, Canara Bank said that it has already made 100 per cent provision for the account in its books. Transstroy, a construction company, and its directors were booked by the CBI last week for an alleged fraud of ₹7,926 crore affecting a consortium of banks led by Canara Bank. The company was declared as willful defaulter by Canara Bank in December 2018. Canara Bank’s exchange notification said that Transstroy was enjoying limits from various Banks under Multiple Banking Arrangement from 2001. Subsequently, a consortium with Canara Bank as leader with 13 other banks was formed in 2013 and the total limit sanctioned was ₹4,765.70 crore and the share of Canara Bank is ₹678.28 crore. The account was declared as fraud and reported to RBI on February 10 this year. - Business Line
🍒 HDFC, ICICI, and SBI top three banks of 2020, says report : The BFSI Movers and Shakers 2020 Report by Wizikey, a PR- SAAS start-up, highlighted the top 100 banks in India and emerging BFSI models such as Wallets and UPI, Neobanks, NBFCs, Small Finance Bank, Payments Banks, among others, that have found acceptance and their respective sectoral leaders this year. Beyond the banking counterparts, one of the most muted sectors – insurance – also saw a massive shift in gears this year, considering their rise in popularity due to the after-effects of the pandemic, the report noted. According to the report, HDFC, ICICI, and SBI were the top three banks of 2020 (mentioned according to rank). The three banks that transformed themselves almost overnight to serve the Indian consumers and have also trumped their newer counterparts including Axis and Kotak Mahindra in both quantity and quality of news are ICICI, HDFC, and SBI. - Business Line
🍒 SC stay on loan accounts: FinMin says tough to assess recap of banks : The Finance Ministry has said it is finding it difficult to finalise the recapitalisation programme for public sector banks due to the Supreme Court stay on classification of loan accounts as non-performing assets. “Any amount can be thought of, if there is estimation of NPA. On account of the Supreme Court’s interim order, it is not possible as of now,” a senior government official told BusinessLine. In its order dated September 3, the apex court had said that the accounts that were not declared NPA till August 31, 2020 shall not be declared NPA till further orders. The six months loan moratorium period ended on August 31, under which borrowers were given the option to defer their EMI (equated monthly instalment). - Business Line
🍒 Banks ramp up cross-selling, aim to gain bigger share of customer's wallet : What you sell matters; how you do it matters even more. More than 80 per cent of Axis Bank’s retail assets are sourced from existing customers. And yet, last year, the bank made a fresh start with “Aarambh”, to enhance product personalisation and cross-selling. “It’s a first-of-its-kind initiative that provides both existing and potential customers with customised products using in-house proprietary algorithms involving multiple data sources,” explains Praveen Bhatt, executive vice-president and head (retail liabilities and direct banking channel) at Axis Bank. The focus at State Bank of India (SBI), too, is to ensure that the products being sold are aligned with the appetites of customers. SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara explains: “The income from cross-selling has grown 30 per cent year-on-year for the last three years. There is a separate customer value enhancement unit for this activity. The potential is huge and the ramp-up is significant.” - Business Standard
🍒 Insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC) suspension extended till March 31 : Suspension of the insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC) is being extended till March 31, 2021, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce virtual conference Monday. “Even the suspension of the IBC has been postponed even further from 25th of December… we've moved to say that it can be up to 31st March 2021,” she said.Sitharaman backed the suspension of IBC for nearly the full year since every industry had gone through major stress because of the pandemic. “So the entire year has had the IBC suspended, and rightly so, because every industry has gone through major stress because of the pandemic and nobody could be drawn the words insolvency which may have occurred during the pandemic,” Sitharaman said at the session with the industry in the preparations to the Union Budget. - economic times
🍒 Paytm Payments Bank has best tech for UPI payments, confirms NPCI report : Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has once again outperformed all major banks in India in terms of the success rate of UPI transactions. According to the latest report by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), PPBL has the lowest technical decline rate at 0.02 per cent among all UPI remitter banks and 0.04 per cent among all UPI beneficiary banks. All other major banks have a way higher technical decline rate of around 1 per cent. This confirms the superiority of the in-house technology-infrastructure at Paytm Payments Bank and has been the key reason for its success. - Business Line
🍒 Domestic money transfer: BCFI wants govt to do away with GST : The Business Correspondent Federation of India (BCFI) wants the government to do away with the Goods and Service Tax (GST) imposed on senders, predominantly migrant workers, when they make a domestic money transfer to a rural area through Business Correspondents (BCs). Currently, BCs charge the senders 1 per cent of the money to be transferred as transaction charge. This includes 18 per cent GST. Sunil Kulkarni, CEO & Head, BCFI, said on the one hand one segment of the population is fully banked, with the tech-savvy among them accessing online funds transfer services such as the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) free of charge, but on the other hand, migrant labour in cities/ urban areas have to pay GST for sending money through BCs to their families in rural areas. - Business Line
🍒 RIL, PFC are top overseas borrowers: RBI data : Lured by higher liquidity and lower rates, and with the RBI relaxing the norms, Indian corporates have increasingly turned to overseas borrowings. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its arms been at the forefront in raising external commercial borrowings (ECBs) over the past few years. According to RBI data, the oils-to-telecom group collectively raised about $23.48 billion through ECBs between FY17 and September FY21. Based on the RBI’s monthly USD-INR exchange rate at the end of the respective financial years, the total borrowing in rupee terms comes to about ₹1.65-lakh crore. Of the total borrowing by the group, the share of holding company RIL alone stood at $17.27 billion, followed by Reliance Jio Infocomm ($5.25 billion), Reliance Sibur ($669 million) and Reliance Utilities & Power ($300 million). - Business Line
🍒 Kapil Wadhwan tells DHFL administrator his offer is higher than revised bids : Kapil Wadhawan, the former promoter of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL), has sent a fresh missive to the administrator of the troubled mortgage financier, underlining that his proposal to fully repay all creditors is the best compared to the revised bids submitted for the resolution, and that it should be considered. “My settlement proposal dated December 13, 2020 provides for repayment of ₹91,158 crore to all the lenders as opposed to the next highest bid of only a sum of ₹36,646 crore,” he has written in a December 19 letter to DHFL administrator R Subramaniakumar, pointing out that the objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is maximisation of value for all stakeholders. - Business Line
🍒 ICICI Pru MF to launch Business Cycle Fund NFO : ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a open-ended equity scheme Business Cycle Fund, which will invest in equity and equity-related securities, with a focus on riding business cycles through dynamic allocation across sectors and stocks. The New Fund Offer opens on December 29 and closes on January 12. The fund will follow a top down approach right from monitoring macro indicators (global and domestic), identifying business cycle followed by determining suitable sectors, and selecting the stocks within these sectors. An ongoing business cycle may extend or shorten depending on the macroeconomic conditions and the fiscal and monetary policy response by the government and central banks during a business cycle. Such times can often provide appropriate opportunities for investment. - Business Line
🍒 Fundraising via bonds hits a peak at ₹7.45-lakh crore : Riding on low-interest rates and policy reforms by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Indian corporates have raised the highest-ever sum of 7.45-lakh crore through rupee bonds this year. This is 8.3 per cent higher than ₹6.87-lakh crore raised in 2019. A total of 5.12 lakh crore raised in 2018. With another 10 days for the year to end, companies are expected to raise another ₹20,000-25,000 crore. “Covid-19 had an impact in March and April, when the companies had restrained from raising funds through bonds, but then there was a sharp recovery in May. The reasons included an ample liquidity in the system, lower interest rates and RBI’s introduction of Targeted Long-Term Repo Operations (TLTRO), which helped a lot in terms of corporates to issue more bonds,” said Ajay Manglunia, Managing Director and head institutional fixed income at JM Financial. - Business Line
🍒 ADB, Northern Arc sign $40-million loan pact : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday announced that it has signed a $40-million loan (in Indian rupee equivalent) with Northern Arc Capital (NACL) to support the livelihoods of microfinance borrowers and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India. In a press release, the Manila-headquartered multilateral funding agency said that the loan is disbursed to Northern Arc as part of its ongoing Covid-19 response. The Chennai-based NBFC will use the loan proceeds to on-lend and provide guarantees to financial institutions and individual borrowers. It will also on-lend to affordable housing finance companies, the statement said. - Business Line
🍒 Centrum-BharatPe, Liberty group in race for beleaguered PMC Bank : Steel baron Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Group of the UK, the Jaspal Singh Bindra-led Centrum group and BharatPe combine, and two business families from Mumbai and Hyderabad have expressed interest for beleaguered Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC Bank). This is the first time that corporates, non-banking financial companies, and high-net-worth individuals have shown eagerness in taking over an urban-cooperative bank (UCB). The development comes a month after a Reserve Bank of India’s Internal Working Group report made a case for corporate ownership of banks. The winner for PMC Bank will continue to run it as an UCB. Automatic conversion of the UCB licence to that of an universal bank is ruled out,” said a source. Suitors for the bank comes as a relief for its depositors. - Business Standard
🍒 The pandemic bill for banks: Severe credit losses, operation turbulence : The 10th edition of McKinsey’s Global Banking Annual Review says the pandemic will present a two-stage problem for banks — first, severe credit losses, likely through late 2021, which almost all banks and banking systems are expected to survive; then, amid a muted global recovery, banks will face a profound challenge to ongoing operations that may persist beyond 2024. Depending on the scenario, $1.5 trillion to $4.7 trillion in cumulative revenue could be forgone between 2020 and 2024. - Business Standard
🍒 CMS Info Systems plans to invest upto Rs 1,300 crore on ATM ramp-up : Baring Private Equity-backed CMS Info Systems (CMS), plans invest upto Rs 1,300 crore to scale up its managed ATM business and cash management business in India. Rajiv Kaul, vice-chairman and wholetime director, CMS Info System, said that starting with a capital expenditure of Rs 180-200 crore, the company expects to create 2,000 jobs. Out of them, 70 per cent of will be blue-collar job opportunities, and the balance 30 per cent white-collar ones. The investment will be funded through internal accrual and debt. The span for investment would be over seven years, Kaul said. For the time being, the firm does not envisage specific investment from its owner Baring for these plans, he added. Sion Investment Holdings, an affiliate of Baring Private Equity Asia, holds 100 per cent in the company. - Business Standard
🍒 Gold prices edge higher for fifth day to Rs 50,308 per 10 gm; silver jumps Rs 673 a kg : Gold prices continued their northward march for the fifth straight day by Rs 200 to Rs 50,308 per 10 gram in the Mumbai retail market on rupee depreciation and volatile global cues. The precious metal price pared earlier gains tracking rebounding dollar on safe-haven appeal as a new coronavirus strain in Britain led to sell-off in most assets class. The rate of 10 gram 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 46,082 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram was Rs 50,308 plus GST. The 18-carat gold quoted at Rs 37,731 plus GST in the retail market. Silver prices climbed by Rs 673 to Rs 67,192 per kg from its closing on December 18.
🍒 Markets crash on mutant virus fears : News reports of a fast-spreading virus strain in the UK stopped the bulls in their tracks on Monday. In the last hour of the trading session, the Sensex fell by 1,406 points or 3 per cent to close at 45,553. The Nifty index declined by 432 points to close at 13,328. It was the worst crash in the indices in seven months. Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC were the biggest drags on the Sensex that led the index to fall over 500 points. The Bank Nifty index fell by 1,258 points or 4.1 per cent at 29,456.
🍒 Rupee slips 17 paise to 73.73 against US dollar : The rupee declined 17 paise to 73.73 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday amid weak domestic equities and strengthening American currency in the overseas market. However, unabated foreign fund inflows and lower crude prices supported the rupee and restricted the fall, forex traders said. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened sharply lower at 73.74 against the greenback. It was trading 17 paise down at 73.73 in early deals. In the previous session, the rupee strengthened by 3 paise to close at 73.56 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading up 0.46 per cent at 90.37.
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