Bandhan Bank tanks 20% as RBI bars it from opening new branches

Shares of Bandhan Bank are locked in lower circuit of 20% at Rs 451 per share on the BSE following Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI's) decision to stop the private sector lender from opening new branches and freezing the remuneration of its managing director & chief executive officer (MD & CEO) Chandra Shekhar Ghosh.
The stock was trading at its lowest level since its listing on March 27, 2018. It has fallen 39% from its all-time high level of Rs 741 touched on August 9, 2018, on the BSE in intra-day trade.

The trading volumes on the counter more than doubled with a combined 3.79 million shares changed hands on the NSE and BSE till 09:30 am. There were pending sell orders for 3.57 million shares on both the exchanges so far.

“The RBI has communicated to us that since the Bank was not able to bring down the shareholding of Non Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC) to 40% as required under the licensing condition, general permission to open new branches stands withdrawn and the Bank can open branches with prior approval of RBI,” Bandhan Bank on Friday said in a regulatory filing.

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Sensex, Nifty fall as RBI and govt measures fail to cheer investors

The benchmark indices fell on Thursday as concerns over the effects of a weaker local currency and crude oil prices on the economy outweighed steps by the government and the central bank to restore investor confidence.

Most global markets, too, were down as investors digested the likelihood of more Federal Reserve interest-rate increases stretching into next year.

The Sensex declined 0.6 per cent to 36,324.17, after falling as much as 0.8 per cent. The benchmark is now headed for its worst month in two and a half years, and volatility is back to levels seen in February. The index is down 5.9 per cent in September.

The Nifty declined 0.7 per cent to close at 10,977. The index has ended with losses in seven of eight past trading sessions. From its peak touched a month ago, the 50-share blue chip index is down 6.5 per cent.

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YES Bank gets a ratings cut after RBI order on Rana Kapoor

Brokerages including Citigroup and IDFC Securities have slashed their ratings on YES Bank, citing weak business outlook. This follows the Reserve Bank of India’s direction to CEO Rana Kapoor to step down after January 31, rejecting the lender’s request to extend his tenure by three years.

Kapoor’s departure might make raising fresh capital, as well as growing deposits and fee income, harder for the Mumbai-based lender, the brokerages said.

Citigroup, in a note, said the premium attached to YES Bank’s shares for Kapoor “can go away”. The bank’s senior management is competent, but Kapoor played a significant role in building the bank, it added. The note added that YES Bank might have to defer its capital raising plans, which could slow down growth. The brokerage downgraded the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘buy’. It cut its price target by 39 per cent to Rs 270.
Domestic brokerage IDFC said in a note that Kapoor’s departure will lead to a slowdown in loan and fee growth, which could “lead to a sharp fall in valuations”.

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Sensex falls as rupee slides, oil jumps; SBI, ICICI Bank stocks down

Stock prices tumbled on Tuesday as investors took money off amid rising macro-economic headwinds. The benchmark Sensex fell for a fifth day, while the broader markets clocked their worst single-day performance in nearly two months. Investors were spooked by the sliding rupee, surging bond yields, and oil prices. The rupee dropped to a record low of 71.56 against the dollar, the 10-year government bond yield ended at 8.06 per cent, and Brent crude prices neared $80 a barrel, a level last seen in May.

The Sensex fell 0.4 per cent to close at 38,157.92 points, while the Nifty declined 0.54 per cent to 11,520.3. Sharp gains in technology stocks helped the benchmark mitigate losses. The magnitude of the correction was witnessed in the broader market, with the Nifty Midcap 100 dropping 2.72 per cent — most since February 2 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index declining 2.6 per cent — most since July 16. On the BSE, there were nearly three declining stocks for every one advancing.

The spike in bond yields and weakness in the rupee took a toll on banking stocks, as investors speculated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maybe once again forced to raise interest rates. The Bank Nifty index fell 1.4 per cent, while the Nifty PSU Bank index declined 3.55 per cent, the most since August 10. Shares of State Bank of India fell 3.2 per cent, while ICICI Bank declined 1.72 per cent. Asian Paints fell 3.5 per cent amid rising oil prices, a key raw material.

RBI recruitment 2018: Registration for Grade B officer posts open!

RBI recruitment 2018 - The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has announced the opening of Grade B officers post- DR, DEPR and DSIM n common seniority group (CSG) streams

Interested candidates can start applying for this post in its official website www.rbi.org.in or click here

The last date for submission of application is July 23, 2018.
Selection for RBI Grade B officers will be done through a competitive examination in three phases: Preliminary, main examination followed by an interview.

RBI Grade B vacany Following are the steps to register for the post:

Step 1: Click on the 'Direct Recruitment for the posts of officers in Grade ‘B’ (General) - DR, DEPR and DSIM in Common Seniority Group (CSG) Streams – 2018' button from www.rbi.org.in or click here

Step 2: Follow the necessary steps given in the 'How to apply' page or click here to know more More information on the RBI Grade B officers posts:

Qualification: Any graduate, postgraduate, PGDBA
Vacancies: 166 Posts
Salary: Rs. 35,150 - Rs. 75,831/- per month
Experience: 3 - 5 years
Job Location: Mumbai
Age restriction: 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years on the 1st of July, 2018
Last Date to Apply: 23-07-2018

No of Posts available:
1. Officers in Grade ‘B’(DR)- General: 127
2. Officers in Grade ‘B’(DR)- DEPR: 22
3. Officers in Grade ‘B’(DR)- DSIM: 17
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RBI purchases bonds worth Rs 100 billion from the secondary market

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has bought Rs100 billion worth of bonds from the secondary market under its open market operations (OMO) programme. This was the second OMO purchase this year, and something that the market was widely expecting, considering the banking liquidity reducing to neutral levels.

OMOs infuse durable liquidity in the banking system. The RBI did not buy anything from the bonds maturing in 2026 and 2029, but bought some amount from a loner period bond maturing in 2032, at 8 per cent, five basis points lower than the market rate. Read Full Story

MARKETS LIVE: RBI hikes repo rate by 25 bps; indices remain higher

Markets continued trading higher after the RBI maintained neutral stance in the second policy decision of FY19. The central bank hiked repo rate by 25 bps to 6.25%. This is the first rate hike in over four years, reverse repo rate adjusts to 6%.

An increasing number of economists expected the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise interest rates on Wednesday, a Reuters poll found, but most still thought the central bank would stay on hold and use this week’s meeting to prepare for an August hike.

Globally,  Asian stocks edged up on Wednesday after tech sector strength lifted Wall Street shares, while concerns about Italy’s debt prompted investors to move into lower-risk government debt elsewhere, pushing US Treasury yields down from recent highs.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei edged down 0.1 per cent.

Demonetisation effect: Demand for cash rises 7%, says RBI

People’s demand for cash continues to head northwards compared to pre-demonetisation levels despite the frequency of digital transactions going up and a substantial increase in bank deposits since November 2016.

Currency with the public (CwP), or people’s demand for cash or currency, is 7 per cent higher at Rs 18.25 trillion at the end of April compared to Rs 17 trillion at the beginning of November 2016, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) data reveals.

Over the past four years, through its twin policies of Jan Dhan Yojana and demonetisation, the government has taken necessary steps to expand banking services substantially.
Today, around 80 per cent of Indians have a bank account, thanks to improvements in access to formal finance channels.

While account ownership has increased by 79 per cent since 2014, around 38 per cent of all bank accounts were inactive over the course of last year, the survey found. Similarly, the Jan Dhan Yojana, which was launched in 2014, has added around 310 million banking accounts with deposits totalling Rs 812 billion as of May 9.

ATM cash crunch: PMO takes stock; Madhya Pradesh hit for 3rd day; updates

A cash crunch at ATMs has hit a dozen states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, poll-bound Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Punjab. While the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said his state, too, was facing a cash crunch, with the crisis expected to pass shortly, bank authorities in Jammu & Kashmir and the government in Maharashtra said their respective states were not facing an ATM cash crunch. With automated teller machines (ATMs) drying up, the central government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stepped in to address the currency shortage.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley attributed the cash shortage to an unusual spurt in demand during the past three months and described it as "temporary", adding that the ATM cash crunch was being "tackled quickly" and that there was "more than adequate" currency in circulation. To fix the ATM cash crunch, the government said that the printing of Rs 500 denomination notes, about 5 billion of which are printed per day, would be increased by five times. Notes worth Rs 700-750 billion (Rs 70,000-75,000 crore) would be printed in a month.

However, what caused the cash crunch and ATMs running dry in the first place? The suspected hoarding of Rs 2,000 notes was cited as one reason by the government. The RBI, for its part, said that logistics and recalibration issues were limiting cash replenishment at ATMs. Further, Finance Minister Jaitley said that the "temporary shortage" was caused by a "sudden and unusual increase (in demand)" in some areas and that it was being "tackled quickly". With the RBI and banks blaming cash management companies for ATMs running dry, ATM industry representatives said that it was the banks that were unable to meet the demand for cash. They said banks had not been able to meet their indent, the daily calculation of cash required, for the past four-five days.

Long queues again? ATMs go dry as many states face cash crunch: Top updates

A cash crunch has been reported in several states of India -- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. People are facing a huge monetary crisis, with a majority of automated teller machines (ATMs) running out of cash. In Bihar's Patna several ATMs have gone 'out of service' causing inconvenience to the locals.
Taking stock of the situation, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: "We have reviewed the currency situation in the country; there is more than adequate currency circulation and it is available with the banks... a temporary shortage caused by the sudden and unusual increase in some areas is being tackled.

Here are the top developments in the crisis caused by a sudden shortage of cash across several states and what the government is saying:
1. Life gets miserable for many Indians, especially traders: Despite the currency flow in the economy going back to the pre-demonetisation level, ATMs are going dry making life miserable for many residents, especially traders. Many are running from one ATM to another in search of currency notes.

Cash still king as circulation at 99% of pre-demonetisation level: RBI data

Almost a year after the demonetisation drive, the currency in circulation, as on 16 February 2018, stood at Rs 17.78 trillion (Rs 17.78 lakh crore), according to a Live Mint report.
Before November 8, 2016, the total currency with the Indian public, according to RBI data, was Rs 17.97 trillion. The demonetisation drive sucked Rs 14.48 trillion out of the system.

This means that as of 16 February, 99.94 per cent of the currency is back in circulation.
During a short span from November 9 to December 31, 2016, the Reserve Bank pumped in 23.8 billion pieces of bank notes into circulation aggregating Rs 5,540 billion in value.
Nearly half the currency notes circulated by the Reserve Bank of India during the first nine months of 2017-18 were of smaller denomination, such as Rs 200, Rs 100 and below. This is in line with the government's move to push digitisation and encourage people to do digital banking for high-value transfers.
As on June 16, 2017, the currency in circulation stood at Rs 15.29 trillion (Rs 15.29 lakh crore), or 86.2 per cent of the pre-demonetisation level, according to a Business Standard report.

After Nirav Modi scam at PNB, fear of sweetheart deals at other banks too

These are early days in the Nirav Modi saga, but top financial sector officials are not ruling out more such sweetheart deals at other banks, given that the overseas bill discounting business that traders deal in is highly porous.

The present case has surfaced because an innocuous rule change by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in early January forced Punjab National Bank (PNB) to tap Nirav Modi and other importers for more margin money. Another trigger, it would seem, was an alleged query from RBI seeking the bank’s response over one of its officials allegedly demanding favours from Modi’s company in return for issuing the next Letter of Undertaking, or buyer’s credit.

The recent developments have also effectively nixed the bank’s plans to merge any other state-owned bank with itself until the scam fire is doused – and that will take quite some time.
Another associated issue is how two of the bank’s employees continued undisturbed in their perch for so many years.

Aadhaar could be a single target for cyber criminals: RBI researchers

The benefits of Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based unique national identity system–the world’s largest–are unclear and the impact of direct benefit transfers it will be used to deliver to the poor is not studied enough, a new study published by an arm of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has concluded.

The paper, ‘Biometric and Its Impact in India’, was a part of Staff Papers series published in its October 2017 edition. It is written by S Ananth, an adjunct faculty at the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), which was established by the RBI as an autonomous institute.

Aadhaar is becoming central to India’s public policy with increasing number of programmes being linked to it. And its scope is constantly increasing. In the seven years following its introduction, 1.12 billion Indians or 88.2% of the population have enrolled for Aadhaar, IndiaSpend reported in March, 2017.

Established by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, Aadhaar is now used for direct benefit transfers as well as distribution of foodgrains and essential commodities–under the public distribution system (PDS)–by the state. It includes various payments linked through Aadhaar-enabled payment system.

The Supreme Court has extended the deadline of linking of Aadhaar with various welfare schemes up to March 31, 2018.

The paper has flagged issues related to Aadhaar such as problems of access to the last mile, issues with the quality of authentication, unclear financial benefits and security concerns and said there needs to be caution in the manner in which the government is linking more economic programmes and activities with Aadhaar.

Ever since its inception, Aadhaar has been caught in various debates, especially over the issue of the citizen’s right to privacy and threat of information leak. The latest of these controversies is an investigative story reported in The Tribune on January 3, 2018. It alleged that unrestricted access to details of over one billion Aadhaar numbers can be purchased at as little as Rs 500.

By paying Rs 300 more, the details of any Aadhaar card can be printed, the report said. “..[It] is a major security breach,” the deputy director of UIDAI regional officer Chandigarh was quoted to have said.

RBI to stay on status quo for the rest of 2017: Here's what experts say

The Reserve bank of India (RBI) has determined to maintain the repo rate unchanged at 6 per cent. The six-member monetary policy Committee (MPC), headed by means of Reserve bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel, announced hobby rate selection on Wednesday at the same time as providing its fourth bi-annual monetary coverage.

Analysts in large part predicted the significant bank to hold the fame quo, but delivered there could be a price reduce later within the monetary year.
next coverage assembly has been scheduled for December 5.
right here's what professionals have to mention:

Tushar Arora, Senior Economist of HDFC financial institution to Sify.com

"No surprises as such. Going strictly with the aid of the optics of headline inflation is unlikely to result in rate cuts. Room to maneuver will simplest come if the MPC chooses to make use of the +/-2 percent bandwidth and indeed looks through a marginal upward push in inflation above the four percentage stage. I trust this may occur later all through the yr as increase numbers hold to marvel on the downside."
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Is Modi winning fake currency war? A data you shouldn't miss

A discussion on fake Indian currency notes (FICN) has been doing the rounds, especially since demonetisation. While the quantum of fake notes in circulation remains difficult to ascertain, data on the detection of fake notes by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) throws some light on the possible range. The RBI put the figures of fake notes in FY17 at Rs 43.47 crore in its annual report released on August 30. This amount includes all denominations.

On the other hand, an analysis of the data released by the RBI on the detection rate of fake notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination scrapped notes in a nationwide sample survey, also published in the annual report, suggests it was Rs 18.97 crore between November 8, 2016 and March 31, 2017. The third data point comes from a query answered in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of State for Finance on February 3, 2017, which put the value of fake notes detected after demonetisation at Rs 19.53 crore. This data point is for banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

Apart from these, the National Crime Records Bureau detected Rs 11.23 crore worth of fake currency notes across all denominations after demonetisation till July 14, 2017, according to a Parliament query.

SEE DOCUMENT HERE

Counterfeit Currency: Detection and Estimates

FICN estimates from RBI sample survey

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Demonetisation hit RBI's seigniorage, increased printing cost: SBI Research

Demonetisation has caused a net loss to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) seigniorage -- the profit accruing from currency issuances and liquidity operations -- besides increasing the cost of printing notes, says an SBI Research report.

On November 8 last year, the government had banned old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in an attempt to weed out black money in the country. The old notes were allowed to be deposited in banks, with unusual deposits coming under income tax scrutiny.

"The demonetisation exercise has resulted in net loss of seigniorage to the RBI," SBI's research report Ecowrap said.

"In the current case, there is a seigniorage loss, as the face value of Rs 15.28 lakh crore (15.28 trillion) of Rs 17.10 lakh crore (17.1 trillion) has been printed," it said.

The report further said that "the cost of printing notes and coins has increased during this year".

In its Annual Report for 2016-17, RBI has said that post demonetisation, it has spent Rs 7,965 crore on printing new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 and other denomination notes, more than double the Rs 3,421 crore spent in the previous year.

RBI to introduce Rs 200 note tomorrow, check out its key features

The new Rs 200 currency note will be introduced in the market tomorrow, Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday.

The new denomination has Motif of Sanchi Stupa on the reverse, with bright yellow being the base colour of the note, RBI said in a statement.

Along with the new Rs 200 note, the government has also confirmed a new Rs 50 note. The earlier Rs 50 notes will continue to remain legal tender.

"The Reserve Bank of India will issue on August 25, 2017 Rs 200 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, bearing the signature of Urjit R Patel, Governor, RBI from select RBI offices, and some banks," it said.

Here are its salient features
Obverse (Front)
1. See through register with denominational numeral 200
2. Latent image with denominational numeral 200
3. Denominational numeral २०० in Devnagari
4. Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre
5. Micro letters ‘RBI’, ‘भारत’, ‘India’ and ‘200’
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RBI likely to cut rates again by 2017-end: Chris Wood of CLSA

STOCK MARKET - There is more room for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut rates even after the recent 25 basis point (bps) cut earlier this week, and it is likely that the central bank will do so one more time before the end of calendar year 2017 (CY17) given the high real interest rates in India, writes Christopher Wood, managing director and equity strategist at CLSA in his weekly note, GREED & fear.

The real interest rate in India (difference between the yield on risk-free sovereign treasury-bill and the headline CPI) stands at around 4.7%, is also the reason why the rupee has remained strong, Wood notes.

Recently, the largest state-owned bank, State Bank of India (SBI) cut interest rates on savings bank deposits by a 50 bps citing high real interest rates. It introduced a two-tier interest rate structure on savings bank deposits. With effect from July 2017, a savings bank balance of over Rs 1 crore will earn an interest rate of 4% per annum (p.a.), while the ones with Rs 1 crore or less will earn an interest rate of Rs 3.5% p.a.

Markets, especially the banking stocks, gave a thumbs down to the RBI’s move to cut the repo rate by just 25 bps earlier this week – the first cut since October 2016 – making it the first Asian central bank to do so thus far in calendar year 2017 (CY17).

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RBI expected to be less hawkish, may leave interest rates unchanged

MARKET NEWS- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will likely strike a less hawkish tone while leaving interest rates unchanged at a policy meeting on Wednesday, according to analysts, as inflation is running well below forecasts, and the economy has slowed more than expected.

A Reuters poll showed 56 of 60 analysts expected the RBI's monetary policy committee to keep its repo rate unchanged at a 6-1/2 year low of 6.25 per cent for the fourth meeting in a row. They also expected the reverse repo rate to be left at 6.00 per cent.

What analysts and investors are looking for this time is a less hawkish policy statement to reflect reduced fears of inflationary pressures.

Until a few weeks ago, bond market investors were on guard for possible future increases in interest rates after the RBI warned of "upside risks" to inflation at its last policy meeting in April.

"We don't expect any change in the official neutral stance in June but we do expect RBI to tone down its hawkishness compared to the April and February policy statements," said Siddhartha Sanyal, chief India economist at Barclays.

Investors have begun pricing in a softer tone from the RBI, with benchmark 10-year bond yields down about 35 basis points since hitting an over 7-month high on May 2. Some bolder investors are even betting on possible future rate cuts.

Consumer price inflation data for May will be released next week, but going by the April figures inflation is trending well below the RBI's target of 4.5 per cent in the six months to September, and 5.0 per cent for the six months through to March next year.

Notching its lowest annual rate in at least five years, consumer price inflation slowed to 2.99 per cent in April from 3.89 percent in March, just below the RBI's target of 4.0 per cent.

Meantime, the economy suffered a sharper setback than many economists had expected from the government's shock move last November to take high denomination currency bills out of circulation in a bid to curb tax avoidance.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.1 per cent in January-March, down from 7 per cent the previous quarter, to post it slowest growth rate in more than two years.

Investors' uncertainty over the RBI's stance was heightened by the release of minutes from the April meeting of the monetary policy committee which showed two of its six members had proposed rate hikes, before the committee ultimately voted 6-0 to leave rates unchanged.

Note ban: You can withdraw Rs 50,000 from your savings accounts from today

Breaking news - The weekly limit on withdrawal of cash from savings bank accounts will be increased to Rs 50,000, from the current Rs 24,000, from Monday, and the limit will be removed from March 13.

"Effective February 20, 2017, the limits from cash withdrawal from savings bank accounts will be enhanced to Rs 50,000 per week from the current limit of Rs 24,000 per week (and) effective March 13, 2017, there will be no limits prescribed by RBI on cash withdrawal from savings bank accounts."

The Government and RBI had imposed limits on withdrawal of money from ATMs and bank branches in view of the currency shortage following demonetisation.

These limits, however, are being gradually eased, with RBI pumping in new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000. (Read More)