Poor people rely more on post-offices for their savings: SBI report

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Post-Office savings deposits are negatively correlated to per capita income while bank deposits are positively correlated with per capita income, according to State Bank of India’s (SBI) economic research report “Ecowrap”.

This indicate that poor people are more reliant on post-offices for their savings and when the income increase they shift to bank deposits first and not to financial products,as per the report put together by SBI’s Economic Research Department.

“That’s why the proportion of post-office deposits in Maharashtra & Delhi, where per capita income is very high is only 60 per cent.

“In states with low per capita income like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, the elderly population of 60 plus has a clear preference to invest in post office saving deposits,”Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, SBI, said.

Referring to the trend of last 20 years data on gross small savings collections, the report noted that there is a structural break in 2008-09. In particular, the share of different states in gross small saving collections were declining till the global financial crisis.

However, post the financial crisis in 2008, there has been a significant jump in preference for post office savings. This jump is maximum in low income states like West Bengal and even in high income states like Maharashtra, the report added.

India Post Payments Bank app: The good, the bad and the ugly

Lack of financial literacy

Ghosh observed that the huge post-office collections in states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and the preponderance of Kisan Vikas Patras indicate the lack of financial literacy for the products such as mutual funds.

“Particularly in West Bengal, sometimes, the left of political ideology that everything that market does is bad in fact results in asymmetric results with poor people investing more in chit funds, the live example of this is the ₹20,000-30,000 crore Saradha scam.

“Most of the times these types of scams are also the product of political dispensation,” Ghosh said.

He emphasised that the Government has taken the best decision of not changing the rates on small saving schemes as the country is currently going through an unprecedented pandemic crisis.

Lock into the Post-Office Senior Citizens Savings Scheme

Protecting seniors interest

To further improve the economic condition of senior citizens, the report recommended giving full tax rebate on the interest amount up to a threshold level on the Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (SCSS). This will have nominal impact on the exchequer.

Under SCSS, a senior citizen can deposit ₹15 lakh and the current interest rate is 7.4 per cent. However, the interest on SCSS is fully taxable (the interest amount for ₹1 lakh deposit for 5 years is around ₹51,000 which is taxable). The February 2020 outstanding under SCSS was ₹73,725 crore.

The report suggested that an age-wise interest rate structure should be ushered in, with rates linked to long-term bank deposit rates till a certain age group, and offering a higher than market rate over that age group.

“This could, in one go, serve the multiple purposes of ensuring a lower lending rate structure, adequate returns for senior citizens, lower interest expenditure and an alternative to floating rate deposits,” Ghosh said.

As Small Savings Scheme (SSS) rates are adjusted in every quarter, the report said the Government should ideally remove the 15-year lock-in period for Public Provident Fund (PPF) and give the investors the option to withdraw their money within a stipulated time with some sort of disincentive

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Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases

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The Reserve Bank of India, in the public interest, had issued directions to Bhagyodaya Friends Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Warud, Distt. Amravati, Maharashtra in exercise of powers vested in it under sub-section (1) of Section 35A read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (AACS) from the close of business on January 17, 2019. These directions were modified from time to time, the validity of which was last extended upto April 17, 2021. These shall continue to apply to the bank for a further period of one month from April 18, 2021 to May 17, 2021, subject to review. The Directions stipulate certain restrictions and / or ceiling on withdrawal / acceptance of deposits.

The detailed Directions are displayed on the bank’s premises for interested members of public to peruse. The Reserve Bank of India may consider modifications of the Directions depending upon the circumstances. The issue of Directions should not per se be construed as cancellation of banking license by the Reserve Bank of India. The bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves.

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2021-2022/70

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HDFC Bank Q4 net profit up 18.2%

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Private sector lender HDFC Bank reported an 18.2 per cent increase in its standalone net profit to Rs 8,186.51 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 led by robust growth in its net interest income.

Its net profit was Rs 6,927.69 crore in the fourth quarter of 2019-20.

The bank’s net profit for 2020-21 rose by a similar 18.5 per cent to ₹ 31,116.5 crore from Rs 26,257.32 crore a year ago.

However, on a sequential basis, HDFC Bank’s net profit fell by 6.5 per cent from Rs 8,758.29 crore in the October to December 2020 quarter.

The bank’s net revenue increased by 16.4 per cent to ₹ 24,714.1 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 from ₹ 21,236.6 crore a year ago.

Net interest income grew by 12.6 per cent to Rs 17,120.2 crore for the fourth quarter of the fiscal from ₹ 15,204.1 crore in the corresponding period in 2019-20. This was driven by advances growth of 14 per cent, and a core net interest margin of 4.2 per cent.

Other income grew by 25.9 per cent to ₹ 7,593.9 crore in the fourth quarter of 2020-21 from ₹ 6,032.6 crore in the corresponding quarter ended March 31, 2020.

Provisions and contingencies

Provisions and contingencies for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 increased by 24 per cent to ₹ 4,693.7 crore in the fourth quarter of the fiscal as against ₹ 3,784.5 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

“The bank also continues to hold provisions as on March 31, 2021 against the potential impact of Covid-19 based on the information available at this point in time and the same are in excess of the RBI prescribed norms,” HDFC Bank said in a statement on Saturday.

It held floating provisions of ₹ 1,451 crore and contingent provisions of ₹ 5,861 crore as on March 31, 2021. Total provisions (comprising specific, floating, contingent and general provisions) were 153 per cent of the gross non-performing loans as on March 31, 2021.

NPA

Gross non-performing assets were at Rs 15,086 crore or 1.32 per cent of gross advances as on March 31, 2021, as against 1.38 per cent (proforma approach) as on December 31, 2020 and 1.26 per cent as on March 31, 2020. Net non-performing assets were at 0.4 per cent of net advances as on March 31, 2021 versus 0.36 per cent a year ago.

The bank’s total Capital Adequacy Ratio was at 18.8 per cent as on March 31, 2021.

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Should you opt for family floater plan to lower premium?

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A health insurance policy is a must-have even before you plan your investments. But before you buy one, give a thought to whether you want to buy an individual or a family floater insurance policy. In case of the latter, a single policy takes care of the medical expenses of the entire family. While both variants of the policy help ease your financial burden at the time of a medical emergency, a family floater policy is not always recommended. So, when does it make sense to take a family floater policy and when not? Here are a few points to keep in mind while deciding.

Make a choice

While the coverage, benefits including restore and no-claim bonus, and features such as waiting period, deductible remain the same between individual plans and family floater plans, the premiums can be different.

The age of the oldest member in a family is an important factor to keep in mind while considering a family floater policy. This is because the premium is calculated based on that. That is, higher the age, higher will be the premium, as the chances of medical complication go up as you age. So if you are aged 30 years, and you include your father and mother in a floater plan, then then premium will be calculated based on your father’s age (being the oldest), say, 50 or 60 years.

If you do have dependent parents or in-laws, who are say over 50, it is better to take separate health policies for them instead of adding them to yours.

However, a young family which includes husband, wife (with or without children), can consider a floater plan.

Do note that children beyond certain age (usually 21 or 25 years, the maximum entry age varies across insurers) are treated as adults and are not covered under floater plans. So it is better to have them moved to a separate individual health policy. However, they will be provided the continuity benefit, that is, there will be no separate waiting period for them when they move to an individual policy.

While the premium may go up in case one of the family members has a pre-existing medical condition, the waiting period, deductibles and other exclusions will be applicable only to that member.

For instance, if the husband has a pre-existing medical condition then only he has to undergo about 2-4 years of waiting period, while the wife will be covered after 30 days.

Benefits

Before you decide to go for a floater policy, understand how it works. Family floater insurance covers the entire family under a single premium. The sum insured (SI) covers the entire family and can be used in case of multiple hospitalizations in the family during the policy term. Family here includes spouse, maximum two children (up to the age of 21 or 25 years, depending on the maximum age of entry as per the insurer).

Let’s consider an example. Joe and his wife have a family floater health insurance for ₹25 lakh. His wife gets hospitalised and the claim amount comes to ₹25 lakh. Here, the entire cover can be utilised for Joe’s wife. This is the single most important advantage of a floater plan. That is, one SI is available to everyone in the family. Though on the downside, the SI available for the family as a whole reduces. However, most policies in the market offer to restore the SI used.

According to Amit Chhabra, Head, Health Insurance, Policybazaar.com “It is always better to go for floater policy for a family. Even if the sum insured is exhausted, most policies in the market offer restore or refill of sum insured in case of partial or full exhaustion of the cover during the policy term.”

On the other hand, if both had a separate insurance cover for say ₹10 lakh each, then ₹15 lakh would have to come out of Joe’s pocket.

Also, a floater policy that covers all the family members, may result in a lower premium outgo than 2-3 individual policies would. Let’s consider HDFC Ergo’s Health Suraksha plan. For a 30-year old married individual, the premium works out to be ₹15,802 per year. On the other hand, for two individual policies with ₹7.5 lakh cover each, the premium works out to be ₹8,025 per year (totals to ₹16,050 per year).

However, keep in mind that the premium difference between individual and floater plans varies with insurers and taking a floater policy may not always reduce your premium outgo.

In case of Max Bupa’s ReAssure plan – Family floater, for a 30-year old married individual, the premium works out to ₹16,896 per year (including GST) for a ₹20 lakh cover.

Now, if the individuals opt for a separate cover of ₹10 lakh each then the premium works out to be lower at ₹15,510 (including GST).

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List of Banks Providing Higher Interest Rates On Savings Accounts

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Investment

oi-Vipul Das

|

Savings accounts are the most popular banking instrument in our country due to their safety, usability, and liquidity. These lay the groundwork for all of our financial priorities, including retirement strategies, spending goals, and so on. Based on your predicted returns, risk tolerance and wealth creation objectives savings accounts are a must bet for your personal finance. Interest rates on savings bank accounts are typically lower than those on fixed deposits. In comparison to major private banks, some private and small finance banks pay higher interest rates on savings accounts. It’s crucial to consider how much interest banks offer for keeping the money in a savings account. Following a rigorous risk analysis, investors should always consider parking their money in a savings account. If you’re seeking to open a savings account, below are some of the banks that are currently providing the best rates.

 List of Banks Providing Higher Interest Rates On Savings Accounts

Savings Account Interest Rates

Currently, some private banks and small finance banks are promising higher interest rates in savings accounts. Bandhan Bank, RBL Bank and IndusInd Bank are for instance currently providing interest rates up to 7.15%, 6.5% and 6% respectively across the list of private sector banks. On the other hand there are some small finance banks such as Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank which are currently providing interest rates up to 7.25 and 7% respectively. In comparison to major private and large public sector banks, small finance banks pay higher interest rates on savings accounts. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, for example, pay 3 percent to 3.5 percent interest. Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are now providing interest rates of up to 4%. On their savings accounts, the State Bank of India (SBI) is paying 2.70 percent interest and the Bank of Baroda is promising up to 3.20 percent interest. Here’s the list of banks that are currently providing higher interest rates on savings accounts.

How Interest Earned From A Savings Account Is Taxed?

Sr No. Banks Interest Rates In % p.a.
1 Utkarsh Small Finance Bank 5 to 7.25
2 Equitas Small Finance Bank 3.5 to 7.25
3 Bandhan Bank 3 to 7.15
4 Ujjivan Small Finance Bank 4 to 7
5 AU Small Finance Bank 3.5 to 7
6 Fincare Small Finance Bank 3 to 7
7 ESAF Small Finance Bank 4 to 6.5
8 RBL Bank 4.75 to 6.5
9 Suryoday Small Finance Bank 4 to 6.25
10 IndusInd Bank 4 to 6
11 IDFC First Bank 3.5 to 6
12 Yes Bank 4 to 5.5
13 DCB Bank 3.25 to 5.5
14 City Union Bank 3.5 to 4
15 Kotak Mahindra Bank 3.5 to 4
16 DBS Bank 3 to 4
17 Union Bank of India 3 to 4
18 Dhanlaxmi Bank 3 to 4
19 Punjab National Bank 3 to 3.5
20 Axis Bank 3 to 3.5
21 HDFC Bank 3 to 3.5
22 ICICI Bank 3 to 3.5
23 Punjab & Sind Bank 3.1
24 Indian Overseas Bank 3.05
Source: Bank Websites



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HDFC Bank Q4 net profit jumps 18% on-yr; board decides against declaring dividend in Mar 2021 amid COVID surge

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HDFC Bank reported an 18.2 per cent on-year jump in standalone net profit to Rs 8,186.51 crore for the January-March quarter of FY21. The company had posted a profit of Rs 6,927.6 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Amid the second COVID-19 wave, the company informed that its board has considered it prudent to currently not propose a dividend for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. India’s largest private sector lender’s Net Interest Income (NII), the difference between interest earned through lending and interest paid to depositors, witnessed a 12.6 per cent on-year rise to Rs 17,120 crore in the quarter under review, as compared to Rs 15,204 crore in the same period last year. The Bank’s net revenues (net interest income plus other income) rose to Rs 24,713 crore in the fourth quarter of FY21 from Rs 21,236 crore in the previous year.

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Post Office Savings Account: Check New Penalty Rules For Non-Maintenance of Minimum Balance

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Investment

oi-Vipul Das

|

The penalty for failing to maintain the required minimum balance in a post office savings account has been cut by half. According to a notification released by the Ministry of Finance on April 9, 2021, the account maintenance fee for failing to maintain a minimum balance in a post office savings account has been lowered from Rs 100 to Rs 50 including GST. This was done due to a modification in the Post Office Savings Account Scheme 2019 regulations. The account holder must keep a minimum balance of 500 rupees in post office savings accounts, according to the current guidelines. The account holder is fined if the minimum balance slips below 500 rupees by the end of the fiscal year. This fine was formerly set at Rs 100, but it has now been lowered to Rs 50. (inclusive of GST). Furthermore, if the deposit balance becomes zero due to the deduction of account maintenance fees, the post office savings account will be automatically closed.

Post Office Savings Account: Penalty Fee For Non-Maintenance of Minimum Balance

In addition, if the required balance in the post office savings account is not maintained, interest will not be charged. Silent accounts are therefore subject to the minimum balance clause. Silent accounts are those in which no transactions have occurred for three consecutive financial years, i.e., no money has been deposited or withdrawn. Other types of penalties are imposed in addition to the non-maintenance of the minimum balance. An individual can withdraw funds from a savings account for free up to four times per month. After that, each withdrawal incurs a fee of 0.50 percent of the total amount, or Rs 25. This fee is only applied to withdrawals; no fee is applied to deposits. If you have a savings or current account in addition to the basic savings account, you can withdraw up to Rs 25,000 per month without incurring any fees. And after that, you will be fined a fee of 0.50 percent of the total amount withdrawn, or a minimum of 25 rupees, each time you withdraw funds. There is no fee if you make a cash deposit of up to Rs 10,000 in a month. After the cash deposit limit is reached a fee of Rs 20 is charged on every deposit. You must also pay a minimum of Rs 1 and a maximum of Rs 20 to issue a mini statement.



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Citi Credit Card business can be a lucrative package, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Citi will shut its India retail banking business, which includes credit cards, savings bank accounts and personal loans, as part of a global decision to exit 13 markets as the US-based lender focuses on a few wealthy regions around the world.

However, the most lucrative is the bank’s credit card business, which may draw multiple bidders, according to experts.

“Private Banks and credit card companies like SBI Cards can be key beneficiaries of market share gains in the credit card segment. Some smaller private banks might be interested buyers of India portfolio as they are looking to scale-up in the segment. Foreign banks might also look to expand their presence,” a Jefferies note said.

DBS India, which want to expand in India, may be among the aggressive bidders for Citi’s credit card portfolio.

Citi credit cards

Citi started retail operations in India in 1985 and was among the pioneers of credit cards in the country. However, its share of credit cards has dropped from 13% to 6% now. Despite being the fifth-largest player in the space, Citi has the highest average spend on its card touching close to 2 lakh per card. The average spends per card for Citi is 1.4 times higher than the industry average, making it a profitable business for the bank in India. The other four major players have had nearly the same steady growth in spend per card at 11-12%.

Citibank‘s outstanding credit cards as of February stood at 2.65 million, the largest among foreign banks in India, ahead of 1.46 million by Standard Chartered and 1.56 million by Amex. Citi India had 2.9 million retail customers with 1.2 million bank accounts as of March 2020.

At the end of March 2020, Citibank served 2.9 million retail customers with 1.2 million bank accounts and 2.2 million credit card accounts.

The market

The total number of cards in circulation in India, as per a Worldline India Digital Payment report for 2020, stood at 946.81 million as of December 2020. As of December 2020, the average ticket size of credit cards was Rs 3,653, while that of debit cards was Rs 2,568, Worldline said. However, according to a 2019 report, despite being the fifth-largest player in the space, Citi boosts the highest average

spend on its card touching close to 2 lakh per card. The Indian credit card market is a fairly crowded place with 74 players operating. The top 5 players, however, have a comfortable 78% share by the number of cards and 75% share by credit card spend. HDFC bank is the leader at close to 31% share followed by SBI cards at 19%, which is trailed by ICICI, Axis, and Citi.



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Can Sachin Bansal do a Flipkart in the banking space?, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Sachin Bansal, a co-founder of Flipkart, who has emerged as a major player in digital lending, is ready to shake up the banking space.

Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt Ltd (CIFCPL), the microfinance arm of Bansal‘s Navi Technologies has applied for a banking licence. The lender has made an application to the RBI for a universal banking licence under the RBI’s On-Tap Banking Licence Guidelines, 2016.

Navi Technologies is also hiring top talent from tech and B-schools as digitalisation unfolds and was looking to ramp up hiring ten-fold in 2021, according to reports.

Navi Technologies

After moving out of Flipkart, Bansal, along with Ankit Agarwal, founded Navi in 2018 to build technology-driven businesses in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) space.

Navi offers unsecured loans of up to Rs 5 lakh for a 12-24 month period and underwrites them digitally.

Bansal has committed to deploy most of his capital resources coming from his earlier investments in Ola and Ather Energy into this venture. “I’m putting almost all of mine, that is going to happen in the next few days or weeks, whatever is left after Ola investment. All eggs in one basket,” Bansal had said.

He later invested about Rs 3,000 crore in Navi Technologies, alongside a few other investors.

Banking ambitions

With an eye on a banking licence, Bansal had roped in former ICICI Bank executive Nachiket Mor and Paresh Sukthankar. In earlier media interactions this year, Bansal had hinted at investing $400 million in banking foray. Along with Bansal, who has invested Rs 2,928 crore, others including former HDFC Bank deputy managing director Paresh Sukthankar and bankers from JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and Bank of Sharjah have also invested in the venture. In January 2020, Navi Technologies had announced the acquisition of DHFL General Insurance, now renamed Navi General Insurance and had bought up Essel Mutual Funds from Zee Group.

Bet on BFSI

Even before Covid, the e-commerce pioneer had expressed his strong commitment towards a digital form rather than traditional banking and believed that smartphones will be the centre of consumer experience for them.

“Our mission is to be able to simplify financial services for a billion users and make it accessible and affordable…we believe that currently, financial services are not simple enough, are not affordable and are not accessible,” he said

“Our focus has been on the middle income (group), those are underserved. The top-50 million or so users are well served by the banks and insurance companies and even NBFCs (non-banking financial companies) and other lenders,” he said.

Bansal had said it is the next 100 million or so users who have the means to the attention of the big banks and insurance companies.

Talking about the microfinance sector, Bansal had said as more people digitally connected, microfinance will become more mainstream.

“As of now, we have a digital lending product out in the market…we have health insurance product out in the market and we have a motor insurance product, these two products are very early… And, of course, we have a microfinance company that is very large and we are looking to expand that as well,” he added.

Currently, Navi has around 200 employees, including technology and non-technology personnel.



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TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Mindtree: How These IT Giants Performed In Q4FY21?

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Planning

oi-Sneha Kulkarni

|

The majority of these companies released their earnings after market hours, hoping that it will mitigate the effect of their Q4 results on the output of their stocks. For nearly two decades, Indian tech firms have been the most favoured partners for global businesses. These are some of the best Software companies based on their job experience, customer feedback and ratings, employee strength, and presence in the tech industry. TCS, Infosys, and Wipro, three global technology companies, have released their financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021 (Q1FY21). For these firms, margins, big deals, and market patterns appeared to be optimistic during Covid-19.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Mindtree: How These IT Giants Performed In Q4FY21?

Here is curated Q4 results of some of the best Indian IT companies:

TCS Q4 Results

TCS stands for Tata Consultancy Services. TCS was established in 1968, with headquarters in Mumbai, and now has 149 offices in 46 countries. TCS’ net profit increased 15% year over year to Rs 9,246 crore in the January-March period. TCS’ board of directors has also approved a Rs 15 per share final dividend. Interim dividends of Rs 5 per share, Rs 12 per share, and Rs 6 per share were paid by the company. TCS has declared a total dividend of Rs 38 per share for FY21. TCS announced that it would employ 40,000 freshers in FY 22, bringing its total headcount to over 5 lakh. Attrition of TCS was at 7.2% for the fourth quarter.

Infosys Q4 Results

Infosys headquarters are in Bangalore, and it is one of the most sought-after companies in terms of jobs. For the quarter ended March 2021, the IT services business announced a 2.3% sequential decline in consolidated profit at Rs 5,076 crore. The company’s board of directors has approved a Rs 9,200 crore open market buyback of equity shares at a price not exceeding Rs 1,750 per share, subject to shareholder approval. For the fiscal year 2021, the board also proposed a final dividend of Rs 15 per equity share. Infosys said that they will hire 26,000 freshers this fiscal. Infosys attrition rate stood at 15%.

Wipro Q4 Results

Wipro is a Bengaluru-based Indian IT international cooperation that was established in 1945. Wipro’s professional next-generation innovations now represent clients on six continents. Wipro announced on April 15 that its consolidated profit for the quarter ended March 2020 increased by 0.1% sequentially to Rs 2,972.3 crore. For the year, the company’s IT services division brought in Rs 16,334 crore in revenue. Wipro did not reveal exact figures of hiring, Chief Human Resources Officer, Saurabh Govil said that the company would recruit more freshers in FY22 compared to the previous year. In FY21, the company hired almost 9,000 new employees. The attrition rate of the company was at 12%.

MindTree Q4 Results

For the quarter ended March 2021, Mindtree, a midcap IT services firm, recorded a 2.8% sequential decline in consolidated profit at Rs 317.3 crore. Consolidated revenue increased by 4.2% from the previous quarter to Rs 2,109.3 crore, with dollar revenue up 5.2% to $288.2 million. At 12.1% at the end of the March quarter of 2021, the attrition rate had decreased from 12.5%in December 2020. For the fiscal year ending March 2021, Mindtree proposed a final dividend of 175% (Rs 17.50 per share).



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