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Reserve Babk of -India raises key rates
MUMBAI July 27, 2010 (Reuters) - India's central bank on Tuesday raised
interest rates more forcefully than expected in the face of inflation
that has held stubbornly above 10 percent for the past five months.
The RBI lifted the repo rate, at which it lends to banks, by 25 basis
points to 5.75 percent, in line with expectations, but raised the
reverse repo rate, at which it absorbs excess cash from the system, by
50 basis points to 4.50 percent. Economists and investors had expected a 25 bps increase in the reverse
repo rate.
Bank of Rajasthan to merge with ICICI Bank
MUMBAI, 18 May 2010 : Promoters of Bank of Rajasthan have decided to merge the bank with the country’s largest private sector bank- ICICI
BoR informed the stock exchange that it received a communication from Sanjay Kumar Tayal, director and one of the promoters to convene a board meeting on May 18 as they have entered into an agreement with ICICI Bank for proposing an amalgamation. ICICI Bank board is also meeting today evening.
ICICI Bank is learnt to have indicated that it’s willing to pay more than BoR’s present market
valuation. ICICI Bank scrip today closed at Rs 889.35in the Bombay Stock Exchange, down by 1.45% while the BoR scrip rose sharply by 19.95% to Rs 99.5. According to banking circles, the Tayals, who acquired BoR a decade ago, have been under pressure to sell the old private bank which is
grappling with directives from Sebi and RBI. In March, Sebi banned 100 entities allegedly holding BoR shares on behalf of the promoters from all stock market activities.
A little earlier, RBI had slapped a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on the bank for a string of violations like deletion of records in the bank’s IT system, irregular property deals and lapses in the accounts of a corporate group. Source: The Economic Times
RBI hikes repo, reverse repo rates & CRR by 25 bps
MUMBAI, April 20, 2010 (PTI): Aiming to tackle near double-digit inflation, the Reserve Bank today hiked key lending and borrowing rates, as also the mandatory cashTop gainers,
losers & recos reserves banks park with it, by 0.25 per cent. But lenders said the move would not lead to any immediate increase in commercial and personal loan rates.
The RBI increased repo and reverse repo, the rates at which it lends to and borrows short-term money from banks, by 25 basis points.
It also hiked CRR, the portion of money that commercial banks deposit with the central bank, by an identical percentage -- a move that would suck out Rs 12,500 crore from the system. The increase would come into effect on April 24.
Commenting on RBI's annual monetary policy for 2010-11, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, these measures "should have a gentle impact on tightening money in the economy and should dampen further inflationary pressure."
While the RBI sees inflation easing to 5.5 per cent by the end of the current fiscal from 9.9 per cent in March, Mukherjee asserted that it would be lower than RBI's estimate.
Top executives of banks, including Oriental Bank of India and IDBI Bank, said that the RBI move would not translate into any immediate hike in interest rates. Industry chamber FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra said the RBI
move would put pressure on interest rates, but lending rates would not go up immediately.
Hike in repo and reverse repo, the rates at which RBI lends and borrows from banks, to 5.25 and 3.75 per cent respectively, will raise the cost of fund for the lenders and would temper the demand
for loans and, in turn, consumer spending.
Govt to raise fuel prices in major cities
NEW DELHI, March 31, 2010 (Reuters) : Government will raise the prices of petrol
by 1.1 percent from Thursday in major cities that will migrate to Euro
IV-compliant fuel, a government official said, to help oil firms recover
investment made for plant upgrade. "The hike will be effective from midnight tonight," said Sudhir
Bhargava, additional secretary in the federal oil ministry, adding petrol prices would be
raised by 0.50 rupees (about 1 U.S. cent) a litre.
Diesel price in leading cities including Mumbai would be hiked by 0.26 rupees a
litre, while in Delhi it will rise by more than 2 rupees because of taxes.
"Delhi government has raised VAT (value added tax) on diesel, which will be
implemented from tomorrow. Due to this, diesel prices will go up by 2.35-2.37
rupees a litre in Delhi," Bhargava said, in addition to the rise across major
cities. India is keen to cut emissions as Asia's third largest economy expands rapidly
and aims to catch up with fuel quality in Europe, which now follows Euro V standards.
While 13 big cities will migrate to Euro IV-compliant fuel from Thursday, the
rest of the country will switch over to Euro III-compliant fuel by October.
Bhargava said the increase in fuel prices is aimed at helping the oil firms,
which sell fuel at government-fixed low rates, to recover the investment of
about 320 billion rupees made on plant upgrades to produce cleaner fuels.In Delhi, petrol will cost 47.93 rupees and diesel will be priced at 38.10
rupees a litre, he said.
RBI to go with rate rise plan, exit stimulus
Mumbai, March 25, 2010 Rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will continue as part of its
plan to 'exit' from the low interest rate policy followed since September 2008, in a bid to check
inflationary pressures. "It is better to take rate action now and continue the exit strategy. We
may have to sacrifice on growth in the near term," D. Subbarao, governor of RBI said after participating in the convocation function of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research
(IGIDR). "India could not have sustained strong economic growth with high inflation rate. In the medium- term, high
inflation would threaten sustained economic growth," Subbarao added.
RBI has raised the repo rate (at which RBI lends to banks) and reverse repo rate (at which it pays on bank deposits with it) by 0.25 per cent to five per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively in the wake inflation
measured through wholesale price index (WPI), which touched 9.9 per cent in February.The unexpected move surprised the markets, which were not expecting a hike in rates before the April 20 credit policy. Source: Mail Today
Bank frauds are on the rise
NEW DELHI, February 01, 2010: The best banks for investors authority than the Reserve Bank of India says that bank frauds are on the rise. What's more, public sector banks, perceived to be safer
bets than private banks, beat the latter in the swindling game. Crores of rupees are disappearing from bank accounts or are being used deceitfully everyday. Recently, a bank branch manager
recklessly sanctioned housing loans for the purpose of flats. On spot verification by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on the behest of the bank's chief vigilance officer, it transpired that the three storeyed building was constructed as a hotel.
Further investigation revealed that the branch manager had sanctioned many other housing loans against fabricated agreements of sale in fictitious names. By the time, the investigation was
completed the bank had been duped of Rs 25 cr. Information collated by the CBI which Sunday ET is in possession of, bank frauds—the central investigation body tracks frauds valuing only a crore or above—amount doubled in 2008-09 from Rs 659 cr in
2007-08 to Rs 1,404 cr. The number of such frauds also rose from 177 to 212. "The focus is on expeditious completion of investigation, close follow up of under-trial cases to conclude them without delay," says a CBI
spokesperson. The CBI conducts its investigations through
differ-ent wings--the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Bank Securities & Fraud Cell and the Economic Offences Wing.
The rising number of frauds has also got the central bank concerned. "It's high time banks
strengthen their fraud management practices. In their bid to quickly expand and grow, they are losing focus on risk control," a senior official of the bank, who did not want to be named, says.
Not that the RBI isn't aware of the rising trend. In September last year, it had blamed senior management at banks for their failure to have proper risk management mechanism. It had then advised the banks
to form a special committee chaired by their CEOs, who could oversee fraud investigation and make monitoring centralised rather than
leaving it to the regional centres.
Source: The Economic Times
RBI hikes CRR by 75 bps to 5.75 pct
January 29, 2010: Reserve Bank of India increased mandatory cash reserve of banks held by it by 75
basis points in a bid to suck excess liquidity to combat rising inflation.
However, short-term lending and borrowing rates between RBI and banks were kept
unchanged, leading to speculation that banks' commercial lending rates may not change.
The apex bank also upped its economic growth projection to 7.5 per cent from its
earlier estimate of 6 per cent for the current fiscal. The 75-basis point increase in cash reserve ratio to 5.75 per cent is expected
to suck out at least Rs 36,000 crore from the system. The move is to check food
inflation spreading to other sectors.
According to RBI estimate, inflation is likely to touch 8.5 per cent by this
fiscal-end from over 7 per cent in December. Earlier in October, the apex had
projected the rate of price rise to be at 6.5 per cent by March-end.
Central Bank of India Executive Director Arun Kaul said CRR hike is more than
market expectation, definitely liquidity would go down and may have some impact on interest rate.
Source: Yahoo! India News |
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