Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases
[ad_1]
Read More/Less
|
|
[ad_2]
Get Bank IFSC & MICR codes here.
[ad_1]
|
|
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
The Reserve Bank of India’s strategy to shift some of its currency intervention to the forwards market is adding to its problems.
Its balancing act to keep the rupee stable amid heavy foreign inflows while also keeping excess liquidity in check is flooding the market with more foreign funds, prompting a vicious cycle of interventions.
The RBI’s outstanding forwards book grew to $28.3 billion as of November from a negative $4.9 billion in the fiscal year 2019-20, highlighting the extent of its operations. That’s pushed the 12-month implied yields, which typically reflect the interest rate differential between India and US, to the highest in more than four years, fuelling further inflows.
The RBI’s currency intervention works like this — it buys dollars in the spot market to prevent sharp gains in the rupee. It then sells these dollars in the forwards market to offset the liquidity impact. However, banks need to deliver these dollars to the RBI at a later date, which drives up forward premiums.
“The forwards curve has become a casualty of the RBI handling multiple objectives,” said Abhishek Goenka, chief executive at India Forex Advisors Pvt. “Elevated forward premia continues to attract carry-seeking inflows and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he said.
Selling market stabilisation scheme bonds or term reverse repos could be another way of mopping up liquidity, though the RBI may be averse to selling such bonds as it could lead to a spike in shorter rates, which the RBI may want to avoid, according to Goenka.
The central bank will act on forward premiums when necessary, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said last week. “We are very watchful of the forward premia rates” he said. The one-year annualised dollar/rupee forward premium rose two basis points to 5.1948 per cent on Thursday.
The rise in forward premium is also deterring importers to hedge their currency exposure while also impacting stable inflows into the bond market, according to Kotak Securities Ltd.
“Speculators are gravitating to short the US dollar and buy rupee due to the high forward premium,” said Anindya Banerjee, currency strategist at Kotak Securities said. “In order to prevent speculators from taking the rupee higher, the RBI is being forced to buy more dollars in the forwards market, which is pushing premia higher. This is a vicious cycle.”
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Investment
oi-Vipul Das
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has rendered partial withdrawals from the National Pension System (NPS) account available by an online mechanism as well apart from offline procedure. With different rules applied in the event of different forms of withdrawals, you can withdraw your NPS contributions both prematurely and after maturity. That being said, unless there is an emergency, it is recommended that one must not make withdrawal of his or her corpus from the retirement fund. And since partial withdrawal is also open, depositors can only withdraw partially from their NPS fund after 3 years of account issuance. There is also, in fact, a withdrawal cap which is up to 25 per cent. Prior NPS does not authorize partial withdrawals, but now partial withdrawals should only be made for personal purposes, such as marriage or schooling of children, serious illness or disability, property acquisition, etc. And, note that there are restrictions to the number of times it is possible to make partial withdrawals. Currently, 3 partial withdrawals can be rendered in an account’s overall duration. In addition, there must be a break of 5 years between the two withdrawals. If, though, the withdrawal is rendered for the cure of a stated disease, then that gap requirement will not exist.
There are no limitations on NPS Tier 2 withdrawals under the existing regulations of the National Pension System, but the guidelines on NPS withdrawals and withdrawal thresholds currently apply only to withdrawal from Tier I account only. Though this may appear to be an assumption in favor of contributing more in the Tier 2 NPS account relative to the Tier 1 account, bear in mind that there are no tax incentives under Section 80C or any of its sections for voluntary NPS Tier 2 contributions.
In comparison to the NPS Tier 2 account, a range of guidelines on withdrawal limits are applicable for the NPS Tier 1 account. The form of withdrawal is rendered and therefore the amount being withdrawn from the NPS Tier 1 account is mainly determined by these withdrawal restrictions for the NPS. In the situations of withdrawal before maturity, partial withdrawal, and withdrawal after maturity, the following are some withdrawal guidelines that you must take into your consideration.
After the subscriber turns 60 years old, the NPS Tier 1 account matures. Only after expiration of three years from the date of opening of the NPS account one can make withdrawal from NPS Tier I before maturity. Only 20% of the corpus can be withdrawn at the time of premature withdrawal. To purchase an annuity, the remaining 80 percent must be used. The 20 percent withdrawal as well as the annuity are subject to taxation.
For defined purposes, you can make partial withdrawals from the NPS corpus. Under current NPS withdrawal laws, up to 25 percent of your overall contribution is the highest limit you can withdraw. That being said, at the time of withdrawal, you have to be an NPS account subscriber for at least 10 years to take advantage of the NPS partial withdrawal option. Up to three times throughout your NPS account’s entire tenure one can make partial withdrawal. These partial withdrawals are fully tax-free under the current laws of the national pension system.
After the subscriber hits the age of 60, the NPS Tier 1 account matures, but you can pause the withdrawal of these contributions until the age of 70. You can withdraw up to 60 percent of your corpus non-taxable under current NPS withdrawal regulations for withdrawal after maturity. You are authorized to use the remaining 40 percent of the corpus to obtain an annuity. In order to seek monthly pension benefit after retirement the annuity is used. A monthly pension earned is taxable at the individual’s slab rate. This levy will not, therefore, take effect at the time of withdrawal, but in compliance with the slab rate in the fiscal year during which pension payments generally take place.
The account holder does not need to submit a request to the nodal office or point of presence in order to make a withdrawal, with documents supporting the grounds for the partial withdrawal. The account holder can easily make a self-declaration in the online application however, and on the 5th day the capital will be credited to their bank account. If you exit from NPS via the online way, to trigger an exit application, you must log in to your NPS account using your PRAN and password. Although there are some withdrawal constraints from the Tier 1 account, there are no NPS Tier 2 withdrawal limits that you can trigger a withdrawal process on any working day.
NPS withdrawals are taxable in most situations, unlike certain other section 80C tax saving contributions. Based on the mode of withdrawal/exit from NPS, the taxation rules of NPS withdrawal vary. Only partial withdrawal from an NPS account is tax-free. This is permitted only for stated purposes and after a subscription duration of at least 10 years. The restrictions comprise the provision that only 25 percent of the cumulative contribution of the subscriber can be withdrawn as a lump sum and that only 3 times during the duration of the NPS account can such partial withdrawals be rendered. In the instance of a withdrawal owing to the maturity of the account, the existing NPS tax laws ensure that 60% of the corpus can be withdrawn as a tax-free amount. The remaining 40 percent of the NPS withdrawal must be used to buy annuities on a mandatory basis. That being said, in the fiscal year of payout, the annuity payments are taxable according to the account-holder’s tax slab rate. In the occurrence of a premature withdrawal from NPS by a subscriber, the lump sum withdrawal of 20% shall be taxable in that fiscal year in compliance with the relevant slab rate. In the year of pay out, the remaining 80% of the corpus must be compulsorily made to buy annuities and is taxable as per the individual’s tax slab rate.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
The agreement under the LoC is effective from January 28, 2021. The terminal utilisation period is 60 months after the scheduled completion date of the project, it added.
The 6.7 km Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) will be the largest civilian infrastructure project in Maldives, connecting Male with three neighbouring islands – Villingili, Gulhifahu and Thilafushi.
India will fund the implementation of a major connectivity project in Maldives through a USD 400 million line of credit and USD 100 million grant, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had earlier said in August 2020. KPM BAL
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
The case involves siphoning off of funds to the tune of Rs 91.63 crores (through companies/firm namely Jhelum Infra Projects India Private Limited- Rs 39.70 crore, M/s Jhelum Industries – Rs 33.83 crores and I. D SoodIspat Private Limited- Rs 18.10 crores).
“The loan accounts were classified as non-performing assets (NPA) on December 31, 2014,” stated the press release by ED on Thursday.
ED initiated an investigation on the basis of FIRs registered by Central Bureau of Investigation, Jammu under section 120-B read with section 420 and 409 of Ranbir Penal Code, 1989 (pari-materia sections under IPC).
The investigation so far has revealed that huge amount of cash of Rs 20.87 crore was withdrawn from the loan accounts and accounts of various sister concerns. Further, funds to the tune of Rs 18.47 crores were siphoned off through accounts owned and controlled by Raj Kumar Gupta and his family members and through bogus accounts in the name of his employees opened specifically for the purpose of siphoning off of funds of loan accounts. The remaining funds were utilised for making payments to different individuals for a non-business purpose.
The attached properties include land admeasuring 44 kanals 10 marlas at village Kartholi, district Samba of worth Rs 7.59 crores and land admeasuring 491 kanals 16 marlas in tehsil Pampore, district Pulwama of worth Rs 12.66 crores.
Further investigation, in this case, is under progress. (ANI)
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Expressing concern over increasing numbers of bank frauds and scams coming to fore, a division bench comprising justices Sunil Shukre and Avinash Gharote further asked the apex bank to take penal action against erring officials, in whichever position they are, for not complying with its guidelines.
The directives came while hearing a suo moto criminal PIL (No. 614/2017) regarding Rs25 crore losses caused to the UCO Bank due to alleged embezzlement of funds by its own officers. The HC had appointed Rajnish Vyas as amicus curiae to plead the PIL.
While adjourning the hearing by three weeks, the bench told the top bank that its earlier affidavit was “unsatisfactory” and asked it to file a detailed reply on action it has taken or proposed to take against the UCO bank officials concerned.
“The RBI is required to play the role of a real sentinel. Therefore, we expect that its reply would reflect its concern about prevention of such frauds and scams and taking punitive action against those responsible for it,” the bench said.
The judges noted that the RBI doesn’t have any independent machinery to carry out the investigation into any fraud, but it can certainly take penal action under the powers conferred upon it in Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and the RBI Act, 1934, against the erring banks and also the officials concerned.
“On going through various provisions made in Banking Regulation Act, 1949, one would not require any time to grasp the fact that the powers of RBI in controlling the affairs of the banks are enormous. That’s the reason why it is called the central bank having the supervision and control over all the banks and financial institutions engaged in the business of banking in India,” the judges said.
Way paved way for confiscating MSCB assets
The Nagpur bench of the High Court on Thursday vacated the stay on confiscation of movable assets of Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) in Mahal. The orders came while hearing a bank’s petition for staying the confiscation orders in a case filed by Bhandara’s Wainganga Cooperative Sugar Mill workers alleging Rs13.89 crore misappropriation by its officials.
The case was listed before a division bench comprising justices Nitin Jamdar and Anil Kilor, which rejected the bank’s contention.
Earlier, the Supreme Court on December 4, 2019, had ordered recovering the amount from the bank within six months.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Harjot Singh, 34, a resident of Phase III-A, Mohali, was nabbed near his house on Wednesday night following a tip-off.
“Armed with a toy pistol, he had robbed Rs 8.65 lakh from Chandigarh State Co-operative Bank. The B Pharma degree holder drove there in his white car, which he parked at the rear of the bank. After executing the heist, he escaped in it. We have recovered the amount, the toy pistol and the car from his house,” said UT SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal at a presser in Sector 36 police station.
After checking the footage of the CCTV cameras installed in the area, a team led by the ASP (south division) identified and traced the accused.
During lockdown, Harjot had lost his job in marketing sector and started doing drugs. “As he ran out of money, he committed the robbery to fund his drug needs. He thought the robbed cash bag would have about Rs 1 lakh, but panicked on finding Rs 8.65 lakh in it and hid it in his house,” said police.
Harjot would frequent Sector 61 and knew the area. “He is being questioned if anyone else is involved in the robbery. He does not have a criminal background. He lives in Mohali with his wife and two children,” they added.
He was produced before a local court that sent him in two-day police remand.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Personal Finance
oi-Sneha Kulkarni
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a payment platform introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India to allow the instant transfer of funds between two bank accounts without disclosing account information or adding a beneficiary.
It is a platform that combines several bank accounts into a single mobile application, merges many financial services, streamlined fund routing & merchant payments into singlehood.
Major banks have either created a new UPI app or merged the UPI into their current mobile apps. Banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis, SBI, and PNB come into this group and run their mobile banking applications.
As of now, 155 banks in India are live UPI members. All these banks allow inter-bank fund transfers using UPI.
Using UPI/ Bhim application individuals can do use the following features and more:
How do I pay an online merchant through UPI?
With this latest facility launched under UPI 2.0, consumers can now allow recurring e-mandates using any UPI recurring payment applications such as mobile bills, electricity bills, EMI payments, entertainment/OTT subscriptions, insurance, mutual funds, and others.
Customized payment options like monthly, quarterly and different amounts for each and every customer is available in UPI recurring mandates.
Bank Name | Application Name | Handle |
---|---|---|
State Bank of India | SBI Pay | @Sbi |
ICICI Bank | iMobile | @imobile, @pockets, @ezeepay, @eazypay, @icici, @okicici |
HDFC Bank | HDFC Bank MobileBanking | @hdfcbank, @payzapp, @okhdfcbank, @rajgovhdfcbank |
Bank of Maharashtra | BHIM Maha UPI | @mahb |
Kotak Mahindra Bank | BHIM Kotak Pay | @kotak, @kaypay, @kmb, @kmbl |
Yes Bank | BHIM Yes Pay | @Yesbank, @yesbankltd |
United Bank of India | BHIM United UPI Pay | @Ubi, @united, @utbi |
IDBI Bank | BHIM PAyWIZ by IDBI Bank | @Idbi, @idbibank |
HSBC | HSBC Simple Pay | @hsbc |
Punjab National Bank | BHIM PNB | @pnb |
Central Bank of India | BHIM Cent UPI | @centralbank, @cbin, @cboi |
Canara Bank | BHIM Canara – eMPower | @cnrb |
Bank of Baroda | BHIM Baroda Pay | @barodampay |
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Personal Finance
oi-Sneha Kulkarni
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a payment platform introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India to allow the instant transfer of funds between two bank accounts without disclosing account information or adding a beneficiary.
It is a platform that combines several bank accounts into a single mobile application, merges many financial services, streamlined fund routing & merchant payments into singlehood.
Major banks have either created a new UPI app or merged the UPI into their current mobile apps. Banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis, SBI, and PNB come into this group and run their mobile banking applications.
As of now, 155 banks in India are live UPI members. All these banks allow inter-bank fund transfers using UPI.
Using UPI/ Bhim application individuals can do use the following features and more:
How do I pay an online merchant through UPI?
With this latest facility launched under UPI 2.0, consumers can now allow recurring e-mandates using any UPI recurring payment applications such as mobile bills, electricity bills, EMI payments, entertainment/OTT subscriptions, insurance, mutual funds, and others.
Customized payment options like monthly, quarterly and different amounts for each and every customer is available in UPI recurring mandates.
Bank Name | Application Name | Handle |
---|---|---|
State Bank of India | SBI Pay | @Sbi |
ICICI Bank | iMobile | @imobile, @pockets, @ezeepay, @eazypay, @icici, @okicici |
HDFC Bank | HDFC Bank MobileBanking | @hdfcbank, @payzapp, @okhdfcbank, @rajgovhdfcbank |
Bank of Maharashtra | BHIM Maha UPI | @mahb |
Kotak Mahindra Bank | BHIM Kotak Pay | @kotak, @kaypay, @kmb, @kmbl |
Yes Bank | BHIM Yes Pay | @Yesbank, @yesbankltd |
United Bank of India | BHIM United UPI Pay | @Ubi, @united, @utbi |
IDBI Bank | BHIM PAyWIZ by IDBI Bank | @Idbi, @idbibank |
HSBC | HSBC Simple Pay | @hsbc |
Punjab National Bank | BHIM PNB | @pnb |
Central Bank of India | BHIM Cent UPI | @centralbank, @cbin, @cboi |
Canara Bank | BHIM Canara – eMPower | @cnrb |
Bank of Baroda | BHIM Baroda Pay | @barodampay |
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Investment
oi-Sunil Fernandes
What are the options that immediately strike your mind when you think about the safe instruments in terms of savings and yielding better returns? Generally speaking, gold and real estate are two of the most preferred options. Investment in property is a proper goal-based investment and requires a lot of planning and research but gold is something that every Indian wants to make a part of his or her investment portfolio. Especially for ladies, gold is always one of the top choices for investment.
It goes without saying that gold has a significant role in Indian celebrations, especially in marriages wherein gold keeps weightage of at least 20-40% of the entire budget. And, that’s what makes India the 2nd largest consumer of gold across the globe.
As far reaping profits are concerned, gold gave a return of almost 28% in the year 2020 on Year-On-Year basis, beating all odds of Covid-19 pandemic, whereas Sensex witnessed a growth of 16% and FD returns stood at almost 6%.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, most of the economies across the world were hit badly. Further, the uncertainty on economic recovery drove investors to move towards safe havens of investments, which supported gold prices additionally. Moreover, the production cost of gold at international level has witnessed a jump amid Covid-19 spread, which eventually gave a boost to gold prices.
Now, we are in the year 2021, and pretty well optimistic on gold because of multiple domestic and international reasons. If we pay attention to global economic scenarios, in its first press conference of 2021, the US Fed has predicted slower growth this year. Fed has kept its asset purchase budget intact at $120 billion per month. Fed chairman Jerome Powell agreed that road to recovery will be much slower and longer than what it was originally estimated by top economists. Powell made it clear that the Fed intends to maintain its current monetary policy of low-interest rates, a massive accumulation of treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.
Interestingly, the Fed has kept interest rates at near to 0 and has promised to keep it unchanged for at least 3 more years, which makes the opportunity cost of gold 0 for US investors. US government has authorised stimulus package of $900 billion, which is creating excess liquidity in the market and leading to higher inflation which will be supportive of gold prices.
Now, taking Indian scenarios into account is also important because India is the second-largest importer of gold. Last year, we witnessed a downfall in gold import because marriages and other celebratory functions were postponed due to government guidelines on lockdown in the view of COVID-19 pandemic.
Keeping the current Covid-19 situation in mind (when the vaccine has been given approval), celebratory functions which were postponed last year are most likely going to happen this year and this will create a huge demand for gold in India.
Secondly, Covid-19 has given a boost to usage of digital payments apps like Paytm, PhonePe and others. And, now most of the people in India are familiar with these digital payment apps. Noteworthy, these apps are offering a hassle-free mode of gold purchase and accumulation, which is now attracting a number of digital investors.
Further, the sovereign gold bond has also got acceptance and becoming part of the portfolio of many long term investors. Now, if we compare gold with FD, risk-taking appetite of investor should always be considered and taken into account. Gold has given almost 100% absolute returns in the last 10 years, 15% in the last 5 years, 20% in the past 3 years and 28% in the year 2020 despite Covid-19 pandemic.
Gold return in the last 10 years
Year | Gold Return |
2020 | 28% |
2019 | 24.1% |
2018 | 7.5% |
2017 | 5.2% |
2016 | 11.5% |
2015 | -6.2% |
2014 | -8.2% |
2013 | -4.9% |
2012 | 12.1% |
2011 | 31.7% |
FD interest rate is almost 5-6% in almost all the leading banks in India, and 7% in some of the comparatively smaller banks, which is just above the inflation rate, which was 4.95% in 2020, and 3.75% currently in 2021, and much lower than gold returns of the past 10 years. Also, as the government is enhancing liquidity through stimulus packages, we expected a higher inflation rate in 2021. So, for long term investment, one should go for gold investment which always gives security against inflation in long term.
Further, I think Sovereign Gold Bonds are the best investment tool for investing in gold.
1. It gives you a fixed return of 2.5%* on yearly basis, irrespective of gold actual performance.
2. Sovereign gold bond is issued in accordance with the Government Security Act of 2006 by the Reserve Bank of India, on behalf of the central government. Such immense government backing makes sovereign gold bonds one of the safest forms of investments available in India. Whereas FDs are backed by banks only.
3. The sovereign gold bond can be traded in the secondary market. It means you can exit at any point of time without any penalty. On the other hand, if you break your FD or want money in between, you have to compromise the returns.
4. The capital gains tax arising on the redemption of SGB to an individual has been exempted. The indexation benefits will be provided to long term capital gains arising to any person on transfer of bond.
*These interest rate is notified by RBI at the time of the release of bonds, and it may vary in future
Overall, we can say, as we have seen in the past that the performance of gold is very good as compared to FD, hence, we expect the same in future as well. Due to high liquidity and expectations of higher inflation, gold will continue to give good returns as compared to FD due to low-interest rates.
Authored by – Mr. Ravi Singhal, Vice Chairman, GCL Securities Limited
[ad_2]