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Saturday, June 6, 2020

Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance 07.06.2020

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☕ 07.06.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 PSBs luring MSMEs with pre-approved loans : Messages of pre-approved loans at attractive rates which banks often sent to prime retail customers have now become the template of public-sector lenders to reach out to their micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) clients. A top government official told ET that public sector banks are trying to reach out to MSMEs, which are their existing customers, for loans under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ package that promised ₹3 lakh crore in collateral free loan. "They are sending out pre-approved sanction letters...even emails and SMSes (text messages) to all their existing customers," the official said, adding that the initial response has been good. As per the data available till Wednesday evening, total sanctions touched ₹13,000 crore while disbursements stood at ₹6,000 crore. The government is keeping a close tab on disbursements under the scheme and the finance ministry will soon create a dashboard for live reporting of sanctions and disbursements under it. Officials expect credit to pick up as the government has eased lockdown measures further with ‘Unlock 1’. - economic times

🍒 Banking correspondent channel was a big support during Covid-19 lockdown: SBI Chief  : The banking correspondent channel of State Bank of India was a big support during the Covid-19 lockdown periods said Managing Director, Rajnish Kumar. "Transactions through the banking correspondent network exceeded about 3.5 million a day on some days during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Whereas in the branch, it is normally we handle about 2 million transactions, but during Covid-19 period it came down to 1.2 million. That way the banking correspondents were a big support," Kumar said while addressing a webinar organised by NITI Aayog and MicroSave Consulting. The webinar was focused on how countries can build a robust digital infrastructure amid the Covid-19 crisis. As part of the₹1,70,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, the government is providing free foodgrains and cash assistance to people to fight against the Covid-19 crisis. - Business Line

🍒 Canara Bank reduces RLLR by 40 bps; MCLR rate by 20 bps  : Canara Bank has decided to reduce its Repo-Linked Lending Rate (RLLR) and Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) by 40 basis points and 20 basis points, respectively, with effect from June 7, 2020.The Bengaluru-headquartered public sector bank, in a regulatory filing, said the new RLLR will be 6.90 per cent against 7.30 per cent now.Following a regulatory directive, Banks are linking all new floating rate personal or retail loans (housing, auto, etc.) and floating rate loans to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises since October 01, 2019 to an external benchmark.Majority of the banks are using the repo rate as the external benchmark. Repo rate is the interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India provides funds to banks to help them overcome temporary liquidity mismatches. Canara Bank has also reduced its MCLR. The MCLR has been reduced by 20 basis points across the board. The revised one-year benchmark MCLR will be 7.65 per cent against 7.85 per cent now. - Business Line

🍒 Karnataka Bank Q4 net down 55.76 per cent : Karnataka Bank Ltd registered a net profit of ₹27.31 crore in the fourth quarter of 2019-20 as against a net profit of ₹61.73 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, recording a decline of 55.76 per cent. The board of directors of the bank met on Saturday to consider the audited financial result for 2019-20. The gross NPA of the bank stood at 4.82 per cent during the Q4 of 2019-20 as against 4.41 per cent in the corresponding period of 2018-19. The net NPA was at 3.08 per cent (2.95 per cent) during the period. - Business Standard

🍒 Govt wants credit flow at lower interest rate: Anurag Thakur : The government is negotiating with banks to give loans to small businesses at a lower interest rate of around 7.5-8 per cent, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur said on Friday. He was interacting with the MCCI members on a webinar where he heard the concerns of the members about overcoming the COVID-19 induced crisis on the economy and human lives. Adequate and cheaper credit is the mainline demand of the industry in these difficult times.Regarding schemes of the government where it provides 100 per cent guarantee, Thakur expects that banks should not delay in disbursing funds.He said that his "ministry is negotiating with the banks to give loans at lower interest rate of around 7.5 to 8 per cent of interest", according to an MCCI release. Speaking about the inverted duty structure in textiles, the minister said the issue is under consideration at both the Ministry of Finance and GST Council. The textiles industry has complained that the absence of refund on input tax credit on the domestic sale of synthetic fabrics has blocked its working capital, while an inverted duty structure makes the rate on inputs higher than that on the output. - Economic Times

🍒 Bank credit grows 6.25%, deposits rise 10.64%: RBI : Bank credit and deposits grew 6.25 percent and 10.64 percent YoY to Rs 102.23 lakh crore and Rs 138.30 lakh crore, respectively, in the fortnight ended May 22, according to the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India. In the fortnight ended May 24, 2019, bank loans had stood at Rs 96.21 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 124.99 lakh crore, the RBI data showed.On a fortnightly basis, bank advances de-grew by 0.3 percent or Rs 28,683.47 crore to Rs 102.23 lakh crore in the reporting period from Rs 102.51 lakh crore as on fortnight ended May 24, 2020. Deposits' growth remained stable on a fortnight basis.In April, the outstanding incremental non-food credit growth contracted by 1.2 percent to Rs 91 lakh crore from Rs 92.12 lakh crore in March, the RBI data had showed. - moneycontrol.com

🍒 82% customers have paid two or more EMIs: SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar : Despite the economic stress triggered by the lockdown, only 21.8% State Bank of India’s (SBI’s) customers have availed of the moratorium. In a post-earnings call with media, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said that 82% customers had paid two or more instalments during lockdown. He also mentioned that SBI has around Rs 1 lakh crore for taking care of all possible elevated slippages and the bank did not intend to go to market for raising capital. He further said "we extended the moratorium to everyone, despite that, 82% customers have paid two or more instalments. Around 92% people have paid one or more instalments. In the corporate book, only 13% people have not paid any instalments. The repayments which are happening, shows quality of our book. On the question of how many more people will opt for moratorium after extension, we are yet to know because it has just started. But my sense is that numbers will not be significantly different from first three months, or rather it may improve as we exit the lockdown. We have not made any contingency provision, as our provision coverage ratio (PCR) is already high. We have provided at 15% for Rs 6,250 crore worth accounts which were standard as on February 29,2020, but would have become non-performing assets (NPA) on March 31, 2020. This is a floating provision, not account specific provision. It is not included in PCR. - Financial Express

🍒 Non-food credit shrinks Rs 1.76 lakh crore despite credit push, lower repayments :  Outstanding non-food credit in the banking system fell 1.7%, or by `1.76 lakh crore, between March 27 and May 22 to Rs 101.44 lakh crore, shows data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). While there had been a Rs 1.68-lakh crore fall in loans outstanding even in the comparable period a year ago, the drop this year stands out in the light of the credit overdrive launched by the government and the loan moratorium which has resulted in a fall in repayments. The ministry of finance said earlier this week that state-owned banks alone have sanctioned loans worth Rs 10,361.75 crore under the 100% emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) to small enterprises. Bankers say that while credit is being sanctioned to businesses, their utilisation remains limited at a time when restrictions on movement are only just beginning to ease and there is existing inventory to be cleared. In other words, there is little demand for credit even as banks are flooded with liquidity.  - Financial Express

🍒 Monetary policy committee must frontload action in view of deteriorating outlook: RBI governor Shaktikanta Das : The monetary policy committee (MPC) must frontload rate actions in view of the rapidly deteriorating economic outlook, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das wrote in the minutes of the policy meeting held on May 20-22, explaining the reason behind advancing the meeting scheduled for June 3-5. Das wrote that since the last off-cycle MPC meeting on March 27, macro-financial conditions had deteriorated rapidly. “The benign inflation outlook that is expected for the second half of 2020-21, coupled with the rising probability of a sharper loss of growth momentum in the near-term, has provided us with more policy space to ease financial conditions further and stimulate growth. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the MPC has voted for front-loading its actions. In view of the deteriorating outlook, it is critical to reinforce these actions in sync with the space provided by the underlying conditions,” he said. - Financial Express

🍒 Why the IBC ordinance to suspend insolvency pleas for six months, spells trouble : For corporates caught in the Covid led crisis, the recent amendment to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) promulgated through an ordinance offers respite. Essentially the amendment has suspended fresh insolvency proceedings against a debtor for a default occurring on or after March 25, for a period of six months (can be extended upto one year). While the move may offer relief to stressed companies, certain provisions in the amendment can spring unwarranted consequences and open up the possibility of gross misuse of the leeway by wilful defaulters and fraudulent promoters. By exempting Covid related defaults from insolvency under IBC permanently, not addressing the issues faced by operational creditors or financial creditors other than banks and financial institutions (not coming under the purview of the RBI moratorium) and closing the door on corporate debtor to voluntarily file for insolvency, the IBC ordinance spells some trouble. - Business Line

🍒 CEA Krishnamurthy Subramanian sees FY21 fiscal deficit at over 5% : The Centre’s fiscal deficit in 2020-21, as things stand now, could be 1.7-1.8 percentage points higher than the 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, which was targeted in the Budget, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian has told Business Standard. He also said there would a contraction in GDP in the April-June quarter. Such an increase would take the fiscal deficit for the year to 5.2-5.3 per cent of GDP if the underlying assumption of 10 per cent nominal GDP growth stays constant. “Given the 50 per cent or thereabouts increase in borrowing that has been announced, it is a reasonable estimate to say that at this time, an increase in the budgeted fiscal deficit target is being anticipated,” Subramanian said in an interaction with this paper. - Business Standard

🍒 Reverse migration may open fresh business opportunities to micro lenders: Muhammad Yunus : The reverse migration of workers in India may throw fresh business opportunities to micro lenders as a significant chunk of these workers vow not to return to their outside workplaces and would look to set up own ventures for sustenance in their native villages, father of microfinance Muhammad Yunus said. Microfinance lenders need to revisit their strategy and built products suitable for this emerging borrowers, he told industry leaders on Saturday. "Building the rural economy is the essence of microfinance. Rural economy should not be left as appendix of urban economy but have a identity of its own. It;'s a shame that people are forced migrate outside in search of jobs and livelihood," the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner said, in a webinar on “Financial Inclusion in a post Covid Era". It was organised by Sa-Dhan, an industry body of micro lenders. "We have to rethink, redesign. Coronavirus has given us a great opportunity to reinvent," he said, underscoring the importance of reinforcing the social focus back in microfinance business. - economic times

🍒 Postman in talks to raise $150 million : Software as a Service (SaaS) company Postman is in advanced talks with New York-based investment fund Insight Partners to raise around $150 million at a valuation of $2 billion, two people in the know of the deal details said. Postman is a collaboration platform for managing, developing and testing application programme interfaces (APIs).APIs are a set of tools for building applications used by software developers. Postman, among the buzziest Indian SaaS companies, was valued at $350 million just a year ago, and if the deal goes through it will be one of the biggest jumps in valuation for an Indian startup, catapulting the company into the growing Indian SaaS unicorn club comprising Freshworks, Druva and Icertis. ‘The company is in final talks to close new financing which is going to take its valuation to $2 billion, that is a massive bump up from its previous round..,” said a person in the know on condition of anonymity as the talks are private. - economic times

🍒 Paytm reaches out to state govts on contactless food ordering at restaurants : Digital payments major Paytm on Saturday said it has approached 10 state governments to promote contactless food ordering and payments, and to make these a part of the standard operating procedures for re-opening dine-in restaurants and takeaway joints. In April, Paytm had said it has developed a 'contactless in-store ordering' solution - 'Scan to Order' - to help restaurants and eateries minimise physical contacts for menu, billing and cash transactions after these businesses open after the lockdown."With the government further easing lockdown norms and opening malls, restaurants in non-contaminated zones, the company is having advanced discussions with multiple state governments urging them to make contactless QR-based food ordering part of the standard operating procedure for opening food establishments," Paytm said in a statement. It added that it has reached out to 10 state governments and plans to approach all states over the next few days.- economic times

🍒 KLM Axiva Finvest to raise ₹125 crore via NCD issue : KLM Axiva Finvest, an NBFC in Kerala, has come out with an NCD issue to raise ₹125 crore. The face value of the issue is Rs1000, which will be open till June 25. The company has limited the minimum payment at Rs5000 for the convenience of small investors. The amount deposited will be doubled in 75 months, the company said in a release. The two previous NCD issues was a success and the amount generated through the new issue would be used for expanding gold loan business, J. Alexander, Chairman KLM group, which has successfully completed 21 years of service in the State. - Business Line.

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