Payment Bank Rush

Reliance, Birla join the payment bank rush

 Some of India’s top business houses such as Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Aditya Birla Group are among about 100 entities that have applied for payment and small bank licences, the application deadline for which ended on Monday.

Many in the fray are not so well known

A number of relatively unknown companies have thrown in their hats for taking the niche banking licence. Most of these players already have some presence in the microfinance segment or service distribution.

Profits up, but asset quality still a concern for private banks

 While the October-December period was good for private banks in terms of profitability, asset quality issues plagued the sector severely, with many of them reporting a rise in NPAs. India’s largest private lender, ICICI Bank, for instance, reported gross NPAs of Rs. 13,083 crore (3.40%) in Q3FY15, up 25.8% y-o-y.

India to run current account deficit for foreseeable future: RBI Governor

An article by Reserve Bank of India Governor, released on Monday, says that he sees India running a current account deficit in the foreseeable future, needing net foreign financing. Governor's forecast comes a day before the central bank's bi-monthly monetary policy review, due on Tuesday.

December core output at 3-month low of 2.4%

Annual growth in production of the eight key infrastructure industries declined to a three-month low of 2.4 per cent in December, compared with 6.7 per cent the previous month and four per cent in December 2013. RBI might consider the slow rate of output growth ahead of its monetary policy review on Tuesday.

Jan Dhan costs banks capex of Rs 2,000 cr

Banks have so far made capital expenditure (capex) of around Rs 2,000 crore for opening accounts under PMJDY, Mr. T M Bhasin, chairman, IBA, said. He, also MD of Indian Bank, added: "Opening one account incurs a cost of Rs 140, against the estimation of Rs 80 per account."

India can achieve target of 90% of citizens having access to banking services by 2034, says PwC

Branchless banking solutions could be a smarter choice for enabling scale, said a report —The Future of India: The Winning Leap — by PwC. As a result, India could expand the percentage of citizens who have access to formal banking services (and actively using those services) from 35% in 2012-2013 to 70% in 2024 and 90% in 2034 through investments of $28 billion, much lower than what needs to be spent using traditional methods.

Bank of Maharashtra to reduce exposure to corporate loans

 BOM is planning to scale down the share of corporate loans to 60% of the total credit portfolio during the current financial year from the 70% level. The bank wants to lower its exposure because these loans are less profitable as the corporate sector has a bargaining capacity to negotiate the interest rates to its advantage, according to bank executive director Mr. R Athmaram.