Good Morning All....🌻👩👩👧👦
☕ 11.05.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance
🍒 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharama to meet PSU bank chiefs Today ; to review credit flow : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a review meeting with CEOs of public sector banks (PSBs) on Monday to discuss various issues, including credit offtake, as part of efforts to prop up the economy hit by the COVID-19 crisis. The meeting, to be held via video-conferencing, will also take stock of interest rate transmission to borrowers by banks and progress on moratorium on loan repayments, sources said. The RBI had on March 27 slashed the benchmark interest rate by a massive 75 basis points and also announced a three-month moratorium to be given by banks to provide relief to borrowers whose income has been hit due to the lockdown. Earlier this month, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das held a meeting with heads of both public and private sector banks to take stock of the economic situation and review implementation of various measures announced by the central bank. The deployment of excessive funds by banks under the reverse repo route may also come up for discussion on Monday, sources said. Besides, progress under the targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) for the NBFC sector and micro finance institutions (MFIs), and sanctions under the COVID-19 emergency credit line will also be reviewed. Under the emergency credit line, borrowers can avail a maximum of 10 per cent of the existing fund based working capital limits, subject to a cap of Rs 200 crore. Public sector banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs 42,000 crore to the MSME sector and corporates since the start of the lockdown. - economic times
🍒 Working capital loan sanctions doubled, banks contacted 95% eligible firms for credit: FM Sitharaman : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday indicated that banks are ensuring businesses to have required liquidity to cope up with Covid-19 crisis. The FM’s office tweeted that banks have reached out to almost all eligible borrowers to provide emergency funds even as the amount sanctioned has been also enhanced. “PSBs (public sector banks) contacted more than 95% of borrowers eligible for emergency credit lines & working capital enhancements between March 20 – May 6. The amount sanctioned jumped to Rs 54,544 crore, more than double the amount 2 days ago. Number of cases covered more than tripled,” the tweet said. Nirmala Sitharaman’s office on Thursday had tweeted that PSBs sanctioned loans worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore for over 41.81 lakh accounts in MSME, retail, agriculture and corporate sectors during March-April 2020. The disbursal will be made “soon after lockdown lifts. Economy is poised to recover!” the office tweeted. For non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and housing finance companies (HFC), PSBs have sanctioned Rs 77,383 crore in loans between March 1 and March 4 while additional funding of Rs 1.08 lakh crore have been sanctioned to NBFCs and HFCs “ensuring business stability & continuity going forward.” - financial express
🍒 Not offering emergency loans through YONO platform: SBI : State Bank of India (SBI) on Sunday clarified that it is not offering any kind of emergency loans to customers through its YONO platform. Media reports have stated that the public sector lender is offering emergency loans of up to Rs 5 lakh within '45 minutes'. The loans will be given at an interest rate of 10.5 per cent and EMIs will start after a period of six months, the reports said. "There is a news being widely reported about 'SBI Emergency Loan scheme via YONO'. We would like to clarify that SBI is not offering any such loan at present. We also urge our customers not to believe on these rumours," the bank said in a statement. SBI, however, said it is in the process of introducing a pre-approved personal loan offering through YONO to provide relief to its salaried customers who are facing cash-flow problems due to the COVID-19 crisis. YONO, or 'You Only Need One', is a digital service platform of SBI which provides its customers all-in-one solutions for banking, shopping, lifestyle and investment needs. - economic times
🍒 SBI to launch pre-approved personal kits for its employees : State Bank of India (SBI) on Sunday said it is planning to introduce a pre-approved personal loan offering through its digital banking solution YONO. The proposed loan offering is aimed at providing relief to the salaried customers of SBI who are facing cash-flow problems due to Covid-19, said SBI in a statement. YONO has four broad offerings — products (personal loans, home loans, car loans, YONO Krishi, and fixed deposits); services (account opening, YONO cash, funds transfer, bill pay, recharge, and tax payment); financial superstore (life and general insurance, cards, mutual funds, and other investments); and online marketplace (book tickets, shop, etc). - Business Line
🍒 RBI may step in to keep G-Sec yields from rising : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may announce an open market operation (OMO) to purchase government securities (G-Secs) or reduce the reverse repo rate further to keep the G-Sec yields from possibly spiking on Monday due the extra borrowing announced by the Government on Friday, say market experts. They expect G-Sec yields to jump as the government, in an after market hours announcement on Friday, said it will borrow Rs 4.20 lakh crore more in FY21 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. This will take the total government borrowing in FY21 to Rs 12 lakh crore.- Business Line
🍒 COVID-19: Irdai again extends grace period for life insurance policies : Irdai has further extended the grace period for renewal of life insurance policies whose premium was due in March till May 31 in wake of the extension of lockdown to fight spread of coronavirus. On March 23 and April 4, Irdai had announced additional grace period of 30 days for policies where premium fell due in the months of March and April.This was done to provide "relief" to life insurance policyholders in wake of the unprecedented lockdown situation as a result of global pandemic COVID-19, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) had said.Now as the lockdown has been further extended up to May 17, 2020, the regulator has allowed extended grace period up to May 31 for all life insurance policies whose premium was due in March keeping in view the difficulty faced by some policyholders to renew the policies in time. "On a review of the recent situation of lockdown resulting from global pandemic of COVID-19 across the country and representations received, it has been decided that, for all life insurance policies where the premium falls due in the month of March 2020, the grace period shall be allowed till May 31, 2020," it said in a release. - economic times
🍒 Lockdown leads to resurgence of cash as digital payments decline : The use of cash seems to be becoming more prevalent during the ongoing lockdown as smaller retail outlets, the only category of retailers open for business at present, seek payments in cash from customers. Many of these retailers, usually the neighbourhood kirana stores, have been accepting digital modes of payments since the sudden withdrawal of high-value currency notes by the government in November 2016. Referred to as demonetisation, the event led to these shops and others joining the digital payment ecosystem. “In my area in Powai (a Mumbai suburb), several shops do not accept digital payments citing the demand for cash from their suppliers. During the lockdown, getting cash has also become difficult as people do not want to use automated teller machines (ATMs) for want of sanitisation after each use," said Anand Kumar Bajaj, chief executive of PayNearby, a fintech that provides AePS services, among other digital banking services. - Live Mint
🍒 Banks find new ways to amuse and inform during lockdown : At a time when the spread of COVID-19 has made social distancing a buzzword, banks have increased their reliance on social media to engage with their customers — may it be for disseminating information or for dispelling their boredom. The government imposed a 21-day countrywide lockdown beginning March 25 to check the spread of coronavirus, and extended it twice, prompting business entities including banks to get innovative on social media. Among the noteworthy initiatives by banks during the lockdown, HDFC Bank came out with a scheme to help its customers find their hidden artistic talent.
🍒 “Tired of staying home and having nothing to do? HDFC Bank Fingage presents The Art Project, to give you a #BreakFromBoredom! Unlock your creativity during the lockdown & stand a chance to win exciting prizes!,” tweeted the bank, trying to engage its customers during the lockdown. Punjab National Bank (PNB) has come up with a contest on the Mother’s Day with a catchy slogan, “For her, you will always remain a child.”Since the lockdown has made online banking more vulnerable to fraudsters, several banks are regularly warning their customers against possible frauds.“Beware of fraudsters who pose as bank officials and scam people by gaining remote access to their mobile phone screens through an app. Inform us when you identify a scamster through e-mail: epg.cms@sbi.co.in & report.phishing@sbi.co.in,” tweeted SBI.Similar warnings were issued by a few other lenders.“Fraudsters find new ways to target innocent people. And this time, they are targeting through banking and other payments apps to steal your hard-earned money. Be careful and keep following the #PNBKaFunda to learn the ways to avoid them,” PNB tweeted. - financial express
🍒 Ongoing first quarter is challenging, says SBI Card CEO Hardayal Prasad : SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd (SBI Card), the second largest credit card issuer in the country, remains quite upbeat about the company’s financial performance this fiscal even while seeing the ongoing April quarter as a “challenging” one due to the impact of lockdown, a top official said. “April has definitely not been business as usual for us. That said, things have improved in last 10 days with several of our operations in green zones back.From a level of overall business of over ₹ 300 crore per day during pre-Covid-19, the company is now doing about ₹ 180 crore per day, which is about 60 per cent”, Hardayal Prasad, MD & Chief Executive Officer, SBI Card told BusinessLine. - Business Line
🍒 HDFC Bank's arm, HDB Financial Services, sacks several staff during lockdown : HDB Financial Services Ltd, the non-banking financial company (NBFC) arm of private sector lender HDFC Bank has asked several employees across the country to quit during the ongoing covid-19 lockdown, according to employees who were told to leave. A spokesperson for HDB Financial Services Ltd said in a statement on Sunday that it “involves a minuscule number of employees out of the total over 1 lakh and has nothing to do with the ongoing lockdown or the resulting economic situation". “This is to clarify and set the record straight with respect to certain posts pertaining to our subsidiary HDB Financial Services in social media and a section of the press," the statement said. It added that this was an “attempt by handful of disgruntled employees to take advantage of the current situation," and the group takes “pride in being responsible employer and will do nothing to let that pride diminish". - Live Mint
🍒 Yes Bank case: Wadhawans’ bail plea rejected, sent to judicial custody : Yes Bank case: Wadhawans’ bail plea rejected, sent to judicial custody : The Wadhawan brothers have been named accused in the CBI FIR pertaining to alleged swindling of money by Kapoor and others. As the CBI custody of the Wadhawan brothers ended on Sunday, they were presented before the court, which sent them to judicial custody. A special court here on Sunday rejected the interim bail plea filed by DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj, arrested in connection with the Yes Bank scam, and sent them to judicial custody. As the CBI custody of the Wadhawan brothers ended on Sunday, they were presented before the court, which sent them to judicial custody. After that they applied for a temporary bail citing the coronavirus oubreak and the risk it posed to jail inmates. However, the court rejected their plea. The Wadhawans’ lawyer argued that they are susceptible
to contracting coronavirus infection due to their health issues. - financial express
🍒 Centre's financial stimulus not sufficient; fiscal deficit may jump to 14%: Former RBI Governor Subbarao : Maintaining that the combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and states may go up to 13-14 per cent this fiscal, former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on Sunday said the financial stimulus announced by the Centre on March 26 on account of lockdown to contain spread of COVID-19, is "not sufficient". Speaking at a webinar titled "The Challenge of the Corona Crisis - Economic Dimensions", organised by the city-based Manthan Foundation, Subbarao said the Centre needs to cap its borrowings as the open ended borrowings will have negative consequences such as pushing interest rates high. "The government announced the fiscal support package of 0.8 per cent of the GDP. - economic times
🍒 AP asks LIC to settle pending claims of unorganised workers : The Andhra Pradesh Government has asked Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India to settle the large number of pending claims pertaining to unorganised sector workers. At present, 42,060 claims are pending with LIC for settlement.Andhra Pradesh is implementing the convergence scheme under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyothi Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Aam Admi Bima Yojana (AABY).The Centre and the State government have already released ₹190 crore and ₹126 crore respectively to LIC towards the premium for these schemes, In a letter to MR Kumar, Chairman, LIC Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said: “Firstly, there is inordinate delay in extension of convergence insurance scheme and now there is delay in settling the claims.’’ - BusinessLine
🍒 Covid-19 demands an adaptive response, says ICICI Pru Life Insurance : Though Covid-19 continues to raise a number of unique challenges, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is among companies to have adopted agile working to drive digital transformation and speed up decision-making. The company finds decentralisation delivering additional benefits. Judhajit Das, Chief-Human Resources, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, says employees are key stakeholders for the company’s growth and as a general philosophy, the company will invest in boosting people productivity through digital adoption and virtual learning. Appraisals have been conducted as per schedule in a WFH mode and the emphasis now will be on development planning and feedback conversations,” Das told BusinessLine. While frontline employees and managers are to be rewarded with moderate increments, based on principles of meritocracy and fairness, senior management pay has been frozen for the year. - BusinessLine3
🍒 Bond yields expected to jump 15-20 bps on govt's extra borrowing : Bond yields are expected to jump 15-20 basis points when the market opens on Monday, in case the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decides not to announce any open market operation (OMO) support, to help manage the huge spike in the government's borrowing programme. On Friday, after markets closed, the government said it would be borrowing Rs 12 trillion for the full fiscal, instead of the originally planned Rs 7.88 trillion, due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Incidentally, earlier on the same day, the 10-year bond yields fell below 6 per cent for the first time since February 2009. The government had also introduced a new 10-year paper with a cut-off of 5.79 per cent. The borrowing of Rs 12 trillion was “above anything that the market expected,” according to Harihar Krishnamurthy, head of treasury of First Rand Bank. "This move, in all likelihood, push the yields on the new 10 years paper to just about 6 per cent or more," he said. - Business Standard
🍒 India increases forex investment in securities, deposits with central banks : Uncertainties induced by the pandemic have forced the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reshuffle the weightages of its foreign currency assets. RBI's deposits with other central banks and the Bank for International Settlement accounted for 33.37% of foreign currency assets at March-end, against 28.83% at end of September 2019. This re-balancing is at the cost of RBI's investment in securities, which is down to 59.57% from 63.72% during the same period. Foreign currency assets (FCA), gold, special drawing rights issued by the International Monetary Fund and reserve tranches maintained with it, make up total foreign exchange reserves. RBI's FCAs are typically divided between investment in AAA-rated sovereign securities, deposits with other central banks and BIS, and, deposits with commercial banks overseas. - Live Mint
🍒 RIL fixes May 14 as record date for rights issue : Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has fixed May 14 as the record date to determine the shareholders eligible to apply for its upcoming rights issue. Reliance Industries rights issue to bolster its re-positioning as a consumer, tech company The company also had received in-principle approvals from BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd for the proposed rights issue. It has obtained International Securities Identification Number (ISIN), RIL said in a regulatory filing. On April 30, RIL’s board had approved a rights issue of ₹53,125 crore in the ratio of 1:15 priced at ₹1,257 per share. - Business Line
🍒 FPIs invest Rs 15,958 crore in first week of May : Reversing their two-month selling streak, overseas investors pumped in a net Rs 15,958 crore in the Indian capital markets in the first week of May. As per latest depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) infused a net Rs 18,637 crore in equities, but pulled out a net Rs 2,679 crore from the debt segment between May 1-8, taking the cumulative inflow to Rs 15,958 crore. The latest inflow comes after two consecutive months of huge withdrawls. - Business Line
🍒 Eight of top-10 firms lose Rs 2.50 lakh crore in m-cap : Eight of the 10 most valued Indian companies lost Rs 2,50,825.28 crore in market valuation last week, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HDFC twins taking the biggest hit. In the top-10 list, only Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Bharti Airtel managed to close the trading week with gains.TCS took the sharpest knock, with its valuation plunging Rs 45,535.19 crore to Rs 7,10,514.04 crore. The market capitalisation (m-cap) of HDFC Bank tanked Rs 39,923.11 crore to Rs 5,09,430.95 crore, while that of HDFC declined Rs 39,386.76 crore to Rs 2,92,664.08 crore. - Business Line..
… Have a Good day.
☕ 11.05.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance
🍒 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharama to meet PSU bank chiefs Today ; to review credit flow : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a review meeting with CEOs of public sector banks (PSBs) on Monday to discuss various issues, including credit offtake, as part of efforts to prop up the economy hit by the COVID-19 crisis. The meeting, to be held via video-conferencing, will also take stock of interest rate transmission to borrowers by banks and progress on moratorium on loan repayments, sources said. The RBI had on March 27 slashed the benchmark interest rate by a massive 75 basis points and also announced a three-month moratorium to be given by banks to provide relief to borrowers whose income has been hit due to the lockdown. Earlier this month, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das held a meeting with heads of both public and private sector banks to take stock of the economic situation and review implementation of various measures announced by the central bank. The deployment of excessive funds by banks under the reverse repo route may also come up for discussion on Monday, sources said. Besides, progress under the targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) for the NBFC sector and micro finance institutions (MFIs), and sanctions under the COVID-19 emergency credit line will also be reviewed. Under the emergency credit line, borrowers can avail a maximum of 10 per cent of the existing fund based working capital limits, subject to a cap of Rs 200 crore. Public sector banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs 42,000 crore to the MSME sector and corporates since the start of the lockdown. - economic times
🍒 Working capital loan sanctions doubled, banks contacted 95% eligible firms for credit: FM Sitharaman : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday indicated that banks are ensuring businesses to have required liquidity to cope up with Covid-19 crisis. The FM’s office tweeted that banks have reached out to almost all eligible borrowers to provide emergency funds even as the amount sanctioned has been also enhanced. “PSBs (public sector banks) contacted more than 95% of borrowers eligible for emergency credit lines & working capital enhancements between March 20 – May 6. The amount sanctioned jumped to Rs 54,544 crore, more than double the amount 2 days ago. Number of cases covered more than tripled,” the tweet said. Nirmala Sitharaman’s office on Thursday had tweeted that PSBs sanctioned loans worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore for over 41.81 lakh accounts in MSME, retail, agriculture and corporate sectors during March-April 2020. The disbursal will be made “soon after lockdown lifts. Economy is poised to recover!” the office tweeted. For non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and housing finance companies (HFC), PSBs have sanctioned Rs 77,383 crore in loans between March 1 and March 4 while additional funding of Rs 1.08 lakh crore have been sanctioned to NBFCs and HFCs “ensuring business stability & continuity going forward.” - financial express
🍒 Not offering emergency loans through YONO platform: SBI : State Bank of India (SBI) on Sunday clarified that it is not offering any kind of emergency loans to customers through its YONO platform. Media reports have stated that the public sector lender is offering emergency loans of up to Rs 5 lakh within '45 minutes'. The loans will be given at an interest rate of 10.5 per cent and EMIs will start after a period of six months, the reports said. "There is a news being widely reported about 'SBI Emergency Loan scheme via YONO'. We would like to clarify that SBI is not offering any such loan at present. We also urge our customers not to believe on these rumours," the bank said in a statement. SBI, however, said it is in the process of introducing a pre-approved personal loan offering through YONO to provide relief to its salaried customers who are facing cash-flow problems due to the COVID-19 crisis. YONO, or 'You Only Need One', is a digital service platform of SBI which provides its customers all-in-one solutions for banking, shopping, lifestyle and investment needs. - economic times
🍒 SBI to launch pre-approved personal kits for its employees : State Bank of India (SBI) on Sunday said it is planning to introduce a pre-approved personal loan offering through its digital banking solution YONO. The proposed loan offering is aimed at providing relief to the salaried customers of SBI who are facing cash-flow problems due to Covid-19, said SBI in a statement. YONO has four broad offerings — products (personal loans, home loans, car loans, YONO Krishi, and fixed deposits); services (account opening, YONO cash, funds transfer, bill pay, recharge, and tax payment); financial superstore (life and general insurance, cards, mutual funds, and other investments); and online marketplace (book tickets, shop, etc). - Business Line
🍒 RBI may step in to keep G-Sec yields from rising : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may announce an open market operation (OMO) to purchase government securities (G-Secs) or reduce the reverse repo rate further to keep the G-Sec yields from possibly spiking on Monday due the extra borrowing announced by the Government on Friday, say market experts. They expect G-Sec yields to jump as the government, in an after market hours announcement on Friday, said it will borrow Rs 4.20 lakh crore more in FY21 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. This will take the total government borrowing in FY21 to Rs 12 lakh crore.- Business Line
🍒 COVID-19: Irdai again extends grace period for life insurance policies : Irdai has further extended the grace period for renewal of life insurance policies whose premium was due in March till May 31 in wake of the extension of lockdown to fight spread of coronavirus. On March 23 and April 4, Irdai had announced additional grace period of 30 days for policies where premium fell due in the months of March and April.This was done to provide "relief" to life insurance policyholders in wake of the unprecedented lockdown situation as a result of global pandemic COVID-19, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) had said.Now as the lockdown has been further extended up to May 17, 2020, the regulator has allowed extended grace period up to May 31 for all life insurance policies whose premium was due in March keeping in view the difficulty faced by some policyholders to renew the policies in time. "On a review of the recent situation of lockdown resulting from global pandemic of COVID-19 across the country and representations received, it has been decided that, for all life insurance policies where the premium falls due in the month of March 2020, the grace period shall be allowed till May 31, 2020," it said in a release. - economic times
🍒 Lockdown leads to resurgence of cash as digital payments decline : The use of cash seems to be becoming more prevalent during the ongoing lockdown as smaller retail outlets, the only category of retailers open for business at present, seek payments in cash from customers. Many of these retailers, usually the neighbourhood kirana stores, have been accepting digital modes of payments since the sudden withdrawal of high-value currency notes by the government in November 2016. Referred to as demonetisation, the event led to these shops and others joining the digital payment ecosystem. “In my area in Powai (a Mumbai suburb), several shops do not accept digital payments citing the demand for cash from their suppliers. During the lockdown, getting cash has also become difficult as people do not want to use automated teller machines (ATMs) for want of sanitisation after each use," said Anand Kumar Bajaj, chief executive of PayNearby, a fintech that provides AePS services, among other digital banking services. - Live Mint
🍒 Banks find new ways to amuse and inform during lockdown : At a time when the spread of COVID-19 has made social distancing a buzzword, banks have increased their reliance on social media to engage with their customers — may it be for disseminating information or for dispelling their boredom. The government imposed a 21-day countrywide lockdown beginning March 25 to check the spread of coronavirus, and extended it twice, prompting business entities including banks to get innovative on social media. Among the noteworthy initiatives by banks during the lockdown, HDFC Bank came out with a scheme to help its customers find their hidden artistic talent.
🍒 “Tired of staying home and having nothing to do? HDFC Bank Fingage presents The Art Project, to give you a #BreakFromBoredom! Unlock your creativity during the lockdown & stand a chance to win exciting prizes!,” tweeted the bank, trying to engage its customers during the lockdown. Punjab National Bank (PNB) has come up with a contest on the Mother’s Day with a catchy slogan, “For her, you will always remain a child.”Since the lockdown has made online banking more vulnerable to fraudsters, several banks are regularly warning their customers against possible frauds.“Beware of fraudsters who pose as bank officials and scam people by gaining remote access to their mobile phone screens through an app. Inform us when you identify a scamster through e-mail: epg.cms@sbi.co.in & report.phishing@sbi.co.in,” tweeted SBI.Similar warnings were issued by a few other lenders.“Fraudsters find new ways to target innocent people. And this time, they are targeting through banking and other payments apps to steal your hard-earned money. Be careful and keep following the #PNBKaFunda to learn the ways to avoid them,” PNB tweeted. - financial express
🍒 Ongoing first quarter is challenging, says SBI Card CEO Hardayal Prasad : SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd (SBI Card), the second largest credit card issuer in the country, remains quite upbeat about the company’s financial performance this fiscal even while seeing the ongoing April quarter as a “challenging” one due to the impact of lockdown, a top official said. “April has definitely not been business as usual for us. That said, things have improved in last 10 days with several of our operations in green zones back.From a level of overall business of over ₹ 300 crore per day during pre-Covid-19, the company is now doing about ₹ 180 crore per day, which is about 60 per cent”, Hardayal Prasad, MD & Chief Executive Officer, SBI Card told BusinessLine. - Business Line
🍒 HDFC Bank's arm, HDB Financial Services, sacks several staff during lockdown : HDB Financial Services Ltd, the non-banking financial company (NBFC) arm of private sector lender HDFC Bank has asked several employees across the country to quit during the ongoing covid-19 lockdown, according to employees who were told to leave. A spokesperson for HDB Financial Services Ltd said in a statement on Sunday that it “involves a minuscule number of employees out of the total over 1 lakh and has nothing to do with the ongoing lockdown or the resulting economic situation". “This is to clarify and set the record straight with respect to certain posts pertaining to our subsidiary HDB Financial Services in social media and a section of the press," the statement said. It added that this was an “attempt by handful of disgruntled employees to take advantage of the current situation," and the group takes “pride in being responsible employer and will do nothing to let that pride diminish". - Live Mint
🍒 Yes Bank case: Wadhawans’ bail plea rejected, sent to judicial custody : Yes Bank case: Wadhawans’ bail plea rejected, sent to judicial custody : The Wadhawan brothers have been named accused in the CBI FIR pertaining to alleged swindling of money by Kapoor and others. As the CBI custody of the Wadhawan brothers ended on Sunday, they were presented before the court, which sent them to judicial custody. A special court here on Sunday rejected the interim bail plea filed by DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj, arrested in connection with the Yes Bank scam, and sent them to judicial custody. As the CBI custody of the Wadhawan brothers ended on Sunday, they were presented before the court, which sent them to judicial custody. After that they applied for a temporary bail citing the coronavirus oubreak and the risk it posed to jail inmates. However, the court rejected their plea. The Wadhawans’ lawyer argued that they are susceptible
to contracting coronavirus infection due to their health issues. - financial express
🍒 Centre's financial stimulus not sufficient; fiscal deficit may jump to 14%: Former RBI Governor Subbarao : Maintaining that the combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and states may go up to 13-14 per cent this fiscal, former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on Sunday said the financial stimulus announced by the Centre on March 26 on account of lockdown to contain spread of COVID-19, is "not sufficient". Speaking at a webinar titled "The Challenge of the Corona Crisis - Economic Dimensions", organised by the city-based Manthan Foundation, Subbarao said the Centre needs to cap its borrowings as the open ended borrowings will have negative consequences such as pushing interest rates high. "The government announced the fiscal support package of 0.8 per cent of the GDP. - economic times
🍒 AP asks LIC to settle pending claims of unorganised workers : The Andhra Pradesh Government has asked Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India to settle the large number of pending claims pertaining to unorganised sector workers. At present, 42,060 claims are pending with LIC for settlement.Andhra Pradesh is implementing the convergence scheme under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyothi Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Aam Admi Bima Yojana (AABY).The Centre and the State government have already released ₹190 crore and ₹126 crore respectively to LIC towards the premium for these schemes, In a letter to MR Kumar, Chairman, LIC Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said: “Firstly, there is inordinate delay in extension of convergence insurance scheme and now there is delay in settling the claims.’’ - BusinessLine
🍒 Covid-19 demands an adaptive response, says ICICI Pru Life Insurance : Though Covid-19 continues to raise a number of unique challenges, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is among companies to have adopted agile working to drive digital transformation and speed up decision-making. The company finds decentralisation delivering additional benefits. Judhajit Das, Chief-Human Resources, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, says employees are key stakeholders for the company’s growth and as a general philosophy, the company will invest in boosting people productivity through digital adoption and virtual learning. Appraisals have been conducted as per schedule in a WFH mode and the emphasis now will be on development planning and feedback conversations,” Das told BusinessLine. While frontline employees and managers are to be rewarded with moderate increments, based on principles of meritocracy and fairness, senior management pay has been frozen for the year. - BusinessLine3
🍒 Bond yields expected to jump 15-20 bps on govt's extra borrowing : Bond yields are expected to jump 15-20 basis points when the market opens on Monday, in case the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decides not to announce any open market operation (OMO) support, to help manage the huge spike in the government's borrowing programme. On Friday, after markets closed, the government said it would be borrowing Rs 12 trillion for the full fiscal, instead of the originally planned Rs 7.88 trillion, due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Incidentally, earlier on the same day, the 10-year bond yields fell below 6 per cent for the first time since February 2009. The government had also introduced a new 10-year paper with a cut-off of 5.79 per cent. The borrowing of Rs 12 trillion was “above anything that the market expected,” according to Harihar Krishnamurthy, head of treasury of First Rand Bank. "This move, in all likelihood, push the yields on the new 10 years paper to just about 6 per cent or more," he said. - Business Standard
🍒 India increases forex investment in securities, deposits with central banks : Uncertainties induced by the pandemic have forced the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reshuffle the weightages of its foreign currency assets. RBI's deposits with other central banks and the Bank for International Settlement accounted for 33.37% of foreign currency assets at March-end, against 28.83% at end of September 2019. This re-balancing is at the cost of RBI's investment in securities, which is down to 59.57% from 63.72% during the same period. Foreign currency assets (FCA), gold, special drawing rights issued by the International Monetary Fund and reserve tranches maintained with it, make up total foreign exchange reserves. RBI's FCAs are typically divided between investment in AAA-rated sovereign securities, deposits with other central banks and BIS, and, deposits with commercial banks overseas. - Live Mint
🍒 RIL fixes May 14 as record date for rights issue : Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has fixed May 14 as the record date to determine the shareholders eligible to apply for its upcoming rights issue. Reliance Industries rights issue to bolster its re-positioning as a consumer, tech company The company also had received in-principle approvals from BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd for the proposed rights issue. It has obtained International Securities Identification Number (ISIN), RIL said in a regulatory filing. On April 30, RIL’s board had approved a rights issue of ₹53,125 crore in the ratio of 1:15 priced at ₹1,257 per share. - Business Line
🍒 FPIs invest Rs 15,958 crore in first week of May : Reversing their two-month selling streak, overseas investors pumped in a net Rs 15,958 crore in the Indian capital markets in the first week of May. As per latest depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) infused a net Rs 18,637 crore in equities, but pulled out a net Rs 2,679 crore from the debt segment between May 1-8, taking the cumulative inflow to Rs 15,958 crore. The latest inflow comes after two consecutive months of huge withdrawls. - Business Line
🍒 Eight of top-10 firms lose Rs 2.50 lakh crore in m-cap : Eight of the 10 most valued Indian companies lost Rs 2,50,825.28 crore in market valuation last week, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HDFC twins taking the biggest hit. In the top-10 list, only Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Bharti Airtel managed to close the trading week with gains.TCS took the sharpest knock, with its valuation plunging Rs 45,535.19 crore to Rs 7,10,514.04 crore. The market capitalisation (m-cap) of HDFC Bank tanked Rs 39,923.11 crore to Rs 5,09,430.95 crore, while that of HDFC declined Rs 39,386.76 crore to Rs 2,92,664.08 crore. - Business Line..
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