Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases

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Today, the Reserve Bank of India releases Volume 41, No.2, 2020 of its Occasional Papers, a research journal containing contributions from its staff. This issue contains four articles and two book reviews.

Articles:

1. Macroeconomic Implications of Bank Capital Regulations

Ranajoy Guha Neogi and Harendra Behera examine the role of regulatory bank capital in influencing credit flows and GDP growth. They find that higher capital tends to lower risk premium and overall cost of liabilities of banks, which in turn helps augment credit growth. Regulatory capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) is also found to work like a macro-prudential tool as a higher CRAR triggers loan portfolio reallocation in banks away from unsecured high-risk loan towards secured and low risk loans.

2. Education Loan NPAs in Tamil Nadu: Issues and Challenges

In this article, Shromona Ganguly and Deepa S. Raj study the determinants of default in education loans in Tamil Nadu. They use account level data of over two lakh borrowers from two public sector banks and one private sector bank in an attempt to identify significant predictors of default. Empirical analysis suggests that loan accounts with higher interest rate and of lower duration have higher default probability while loans extended to accounts with Aadhar information, collateral backing or some subsidy element have a lower risk of default.

3. An Alternative Measure of Economic Slack to Forecast Core Inflation

Saurabh Sharma and Ipsita Padhi propose an alternative indicator of economic slack using a variety of high frequency indicators. The authors find that the estimated index captures macroeconomic demand conditions efficiently and is also available at a higher frequency as compared to other conventional measures, which are generally calculated by applying statistical filters on the GDP data. In terms of forecasting performance, the estimated index emerges as a better predictor of core inflation than other measures.

4. Long Run Saving – Investment Relationship in India

Bichitrananda Seth, Kunal Priyadarshi and Avdhesh Kumar Shukla revisit the Feldstein-Horioka Puzzle, i.e. close association between domestic savings and investment rates notwithstanding growing openness to cross-border capital flows, which is still observed to hold across advanced economies and emerging markets. The study finds that the association between saving and investment rate weakened after 1991 in India following reforms but has strengthened since the global financial crisis of 2007-08. This may suggest a reduced contribution of foreign inflows in financing investment activity after the global financial crisis. Empirical results of the study indicate that in the event of short-run deviations from the steady-state relationship between domestic savings and investment, the equilibrium is restored in about two years.

Book Reviews:

This issue of the RBI Occasional Papers also contains two book reviews:

1. Rasmi Ranjan Behera reviews the book “Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and its Lessons” written by Ben S. Bernanke, Timothy F. Geithner and Henry M. Paulson, Jr. The book provides an excellent narration of the 2008 global financial crisis and the way it was managed. The authors warn on the certainty of financial crises occurring in the future and offer advice to prepare better by providing stronger emergency time policy tools to the regulators.

2. Priyanka Upreti reviews the book “Agricultural Growth and Rural Poverty Reduction in India” written by Seema Bathla, Pramod Kumar Joshi and Anjani Kumar. The book has measured the relationship between public and private investment in agriculture and assessed the impact on farm productivity, income and poverty alleviation.

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2021-2022/356

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Reserve Bank of India – Tenders

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Reserve Bank of India, Ahmedabad has placed e-tender for Design, Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning (DSITC) of Intelligent Addressable Analogue Fire Alarm System for Bank’s office premises at Riverfront House in Ahmedabad through E-tender No: RBI/Ahmedabad/Ahmedabad/28/20-21/ET/777 on the RBI Website / MSTC portal on May 31, 2021 and the last date for submission of the e-tender is scheduled on June 15, 2021 up to 15.00 hrs.

2. In this context, it is notified that

(A) minimum capacity of loop card has been revised from “150 addressable detectors & 150 addressable devices” to “a total of 250 addressable devices & detectors”. Accordingly, following revisions have been made:

Clause 9.3-B. Main Fire Alarm Control Panel (MFACP) on page no. 82 of the tender stands revised as “……. Fire Alarm panel shall be a multi-loop (exact number of loops as per schedule of quantity) panel and all the loop card should be of same size with a minimum capacity of 250 addressable detectors & devices. ……”.

This revision in minimum capacity of loop card (from 150 addressable detectors + 150 addressable devices to total 250 addressable detectors & devices) shall also be applicable to Item 5 of “Section X: Schedule of Technical Information” and Item 1 of “Bill of Quantities”.

(B) Item 7 of “Bill of Quantities” pertaining to Hooter cum Strobe light stands corrected as “Hooter cum Strobe Light (as per Section IX: Technical Specifications) Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of 80 dB Addressable Hooter cum Strobe Light with control light. The sounder should be wall & ceiling mountable and facilitate selection of one tone from minimum 8 available tone variants. (Rate inclusive of GST, as applicable)”

3. All other conditions of the tender stand unaltered.

4. This corrigendum shall form part of the tender and a duly signed & stamped copy of the same has to be submitted with the tender.

Regional Director
for Gujarat, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli

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This Bank Offers Upto Rs. 5 Lakh Personal Loan To Covid 19 Patients At 8.5%: Here Are The Details

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Personal Finance

oi-Roshni Agarwal

|

The public sector lender on its twitter handle State Bank of India @The Official SBI said today “it gives us immense pride to announce the launch of KAVACH Personal Loan by SBI. Avail at 8.50% p.a. only and take guard of your expenses towards COVID treatment”.

This Bank Offers Upto Rs. 5 Lakh Personal Loan To Covid 19 Patients At 8.5%

This Bank Offers Upto Rs. 5 Lakh Personal Loan To Covid 19 Patients At 8.5%: Here Are The Details

In a 12 seconds video that has been also attached in the tweet, the bank familiarizes on the product.

Features of SBI Kavach Personal Loan for Covid 19 patients

1. Lowest interest rate at 8.5% per annum
2. Further in the video clipping, the bank mentions # In This Together
• Loan amount- Maximum 5 lakhs (collateral free)
• Repayment in 60 months including 3 months moratorium period
• Covid positive report a pre-requisite to avail the loan

Launched by the bank’s chairman Dinesh Khara, Kavach Personal Loan by SBI will help customers to “avail loans up to Rs 5 lakh at an effective interest rate of 8.5 percent per annum for 60 months which is inclusive of three months moratorium”, said a statement issued by the bank.

Also the banker said the Kavach personal loan is being provided “under the collateral-free personal loan category and comes at the cheapest rate of interest under this segment.

The bank also made a clarification that all the expenses incurred towards the treatment of Covid 19 shall also reimbursed by the bank as per the scheme details.

GoodReturns.in

Story first published: Friday, June 11, 2021, 23:29 [IST]



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Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases

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Reserve Bank of India announces the auction of Government of India Treasury Bills as per the following details:

Sr. No Treasury Bill Notified Amount
(in ₹ crore)
Auction Date Settlement date
1 91 Days 15,000 June 16, 2021
(Wednesday)
June 17, 2021
(Thursday)
2 182 Days 15,000
3 364 Days 6,000
  Total 36,000    

The sale will be subject to the terms and conditions specified in the General Notification F.No.4(2)-W&M/2018 dated March 27, 2018 along with the Amendment Notification No.F.4(2)-W&M/2018 dated April 05, 2018, issued by Government of India, as amended from time to time. State Governments, eligible Provident Funds in India, designated Foreign Central Banks and any person or institution specified by the Bank in this regard, can participate on non-competitive basis, the allocation for which will be outside the notified amount. Individuals can also participate on non-competitive basis as retail investors. For retail investors, the allocation will be restricted to a maximum of 5 percent of the notified amount.

The auction will be Price based using multiple price method. Bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India’s Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, during the below given timings:

Category Timing
Competitive bids 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Non-Competitive bids 10:30 am – 11:00 am

Results will be announced on the day of the auction.

Payment by successful bidders to be made on Thursday, June 17, 2021.

Only in the event of system failure, physical bids would be accepted. Such physical bids should be submitted to the Public Debt Office (email; Phone no: 022-22632527, 022-22701299) in the prescribed form obtainable from RBI website (https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewForms.aspx) before the auction timing ends. In case of technical difficulties, Core Banking Operations Team should be contacted (email; Phone no: 022-27595666, 022-27595415, 022-27523516). For other auction related difficulties, IDMD auction team can be contacted (email; Phone no: 022-22702431, 022-22705125).

Ajit Prasad
Director   

Press Release: 2021-2022/355

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Home finance firms to comply with risk-based internal audit norms

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mandated Risk-Based Internal Audit (RBIA) framework for all deposit-taking Housing Finance Companies (HFCs), irrespective of their size, and for non-deposit taking HFCs with asset size of ₹5,000 crore and above.

The central bank said these entities have to put in place an RBIA framework by June 30, 2022.

The RBIA framework has been mandated in the backdrop of the troubles at Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd and Reliance Home Finance.

The RBI had mandated an RBIA framework for non-banking finance companies in February 2021. HFCs, which are also NBFCs, have now been brought under the ambit of this framework.

According to the RBI, an independent and effective internal audit function provides vital assurance to the financial entity’s board and its senior management regarding the quality and effectiveness of the entity’s internal control, risk management and governance framework.

The internal audit function is required to broadly assess and contribute to the overall improvement of the organisation’s governance, risk management, and control processes using a systematic and disciplined approach.

Third line ofdefence

The RBIA function is an integral part of sound corporate governance and is considered as the third line of defence, with the management, and risk management and compliance being the first two.

The essential requirements for a robust internal audit function include sufficient authority, proper stature, independence, adequate resources and professional competence.

On February 3, 2021, the RBI had mandated the RBIA framework for all deposit-taking NBFCs, irrespective of their size; all non-deposit taking NBFCs (including Core Investment Companies) with asset size of ₹5,000 crore and above; and all Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) having asset size of ₹500 crore and above.

The above-mentioned Supervised Entities have to implement the RBIA framework by March 31, 2022.

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Ravi Parthasarathy, ex-Chairman of IL&FS Group, held on cheating charge

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The Economic Offences Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police has arrested Ravi Parthasarathy, 69, former chairman of the IL&FS Group in connection with alleged cheating of a Chennai-based private limited company of ₹200 crore through IL&FS Transportation Networks India Ltd (ITNL), Mumbai.

Ravi Parthasarathy was arrested in Mumbai and brought to Chennai on Thursday. He was produced before the Special Court for cases under the TNPID Act and remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.

The Economic Offences Wing of the State police had last January arrested Ramchand Karunakaran, former managing director, and Hari Sankaran, former vice-chairman and director of ITNL, who were also cited as accused in this case.

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Forex reserves vault over $600-b mark

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India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves crossed the important milestone of $600 billion, aided by a whopping $6.842 billion jump in the reserves in the week ended June 4, 2021.

As on June 4, 2021, India’s reserves stood at $605 billion. The increase in reserves in the reporting week came mainly on the back of foreign currency assets (FCA) soaring by $7.362 billion.

FCA comprise multi-currency assets that are held in multi-asset portfolios (investment in securities, deposits with other central banks & BIS, and deposits with commercial banks overseas).

The other three components of the reserves, however, declined: Gold (by $502 million), Special Drawing Rights ($1 million) and Reserve Position in the IMF ($16 million).

During the calendar year so far, the reserves rose 32 per cent year-on-year (or by $103.305 billion vs. 78.149 billion in the year ago period).

In a recent press meet, Governor Shaktikanta Das said emerging market economies have to build up their own buffers and RBI is no exception to that.

Foreign investment inflows

State Bank of India’s Economic Research Department, in its report “Ecowrap”, said that India witnessed a record amount of foreign investment inflows into equity markets which supported the rupee. The report emphasised that due to the volatile nature of inflows, they increase the possibility of a currency getting hammered once sentiments start turning sour.

“This is especially true for developing market currencies. Sell-off pressures are only warded off when there are ample foreign reserves with the central bank of the said economy.

“Thus, the Reserve Bank intervened in the forex market through operations in the onshore/offshore OTC (over-the-counter) and exchange traded currency derivatives (ETCD) segments in order to maintain orderly market conditions by containing excessive volatility in the exchange rate and accumulating sizeable reserves as ammunition,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh Group Chief Economic Adviser.

Brickwork Ratings, in its report “Drishtikone”, attributed the record level of forex reserves to huge foreign portfolio investment inflows into domestic equity markets in FY21.

“A risk-off by foreign investors due to the prevailing uncertainty on domestic economic recovery already led to capital outflows in April and May.

Exchange rate volatility

“The exchange rate volatility demands more forex interventions by the RBI. Hence, the accumulation of forex reserves helps the RBI to maintain the exchange rate at a comfortable level and also deal with external spillovers,” the report said.

CRISIL Research, in a report, observed that record high forex reserves, and foreign investor inflows owing to interest rate differential between India and global economies, will also prop up the rupee.

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ED issues show cause notice to WazirX, directors under FEMA

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In a move that further raises concerns over the functioning of crypto-currency exchanges, the Enforcement Directorate has issued a show-cause notice to one of the largest domestic crypto-exchange, WazirX, and its Directors Nischal Shetty and Sameer Hanuman Mhatre for alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act on transactions involving crypto-currencies worth ₹2,790 crore.

WazirX was bought out by Chinese crypto-currency firm Binance in 2019.

WazirX launches NFT marketplace for Indian artists

In a statement on Friday, the ED said it has initiated a probe on the basis of its ongoing money-laundering investigation into Chinese-owned illegal betting applications. In September, the agency had searched 15 locations in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Pune and busted a worth ₹1,268-crore online betting racket involving Chinese companies. In December, the ED said a large amount of money was inexplicably transferred using crypto-currency.

On Friday, the ED said the investigations had revealed some Chinese nationals had laundered proceeds of crime amounting to about ₹57 crore, by converting Indian rupee deposits into crypto-currency Tether and then transferring it to Binance (the exchange is registered in Cayman Islands) Wallets on instructions from abroad.

Range of transactions

“WazirX allows wide range of transactions with crypto-currencies, including exchange into Indian rupees and vice-versa; exchange of crypto-currencies; and even transfer/receipt of crypto-currency held in its pool accounts to wallets of other exchanges which could be held by foreigners in foreign locations,” the ED said.

Crypto exchanges bet big on India

WazirX does not collect documents, in clear violation of the mandatory Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CFT) norms and FEMA guidelines, it said.

In the period under investigation, users of WazirX have, through its pool account, received crypto-currency worth ₹880 crore from Binance accounts and moved out crypto-currency worth ₹1,400 crore to Binance accounts.

No audit trail

The main concern for the investigative agency is that none of these transactions is available on blockchain for any audit/investigation. Also, It was found that WazirX customers could transfer ‘valuable’ crypto-currencies to any person irrespective of his/her location and nationality without any documentation, making it a safe haven for those looking to launder money or for other illegitimate activities.

Nischal Shetty, CEO and Founder, WazirX, however, said the company is yet to receive any show-cause notice from the ED.

“WazirX is in compliance with all applicable laws. We go beyond our legal obligations by following Know Your Customer (KYC) and AML processes and have always provided information to law enforcement authorities. We are able to trace all users on our platform with official identity information. Should we receive a formal communication or notice from the ED, we will fully cooperate in the investigation,” he said in a statement. The cryptocurrency exchange also tried to ease investor concerns. “Your funds are absolutely safe,” it said in a tweet. While last week, the RBI said it has major concerns around crypto-currencies, most crypto exchanges in the country say the concerns are unfounded as all transactions are based on proper AML and KYC processes.

 

 

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Covid-19: SC refuses to pass direction on plea to redress borrower hardship

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The Supreme Court on Friday refused to pass direction on a plea seeking measures to redress the financial hardship faced by borrowers during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, saying it is in the realm of policy decision.

“The government has many things to do. They have to spend money on vaccine, on migrant labourers,” the apex court said, adding that it is for the Centre and the RBI to consider the issue.

“These are issues having financial implications and we are not the experts,” a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah told advocate Vishal Tiwari, who has filed the petition.

The top court was hearing the plea which sought directions to the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take remedial measures to redress the financial stress faced by borrowers during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the hearing, Tiwari referred to the reports on how the second wave of the pandemic has affected the economy.

“The petitioner submits that the circular does not address the hardship of the borrowers. Be that as it may, the financial relief and other measures are in the domain of the government,” the bench said in its order.

“We are of the view that no direction be passed. We observe that all the issues which are raised are policy matters and it is for the Union of India and the Reserve Bank of India to take appropriate decision,” the apex court said.

The bench said it had dealt with similar aspects in a writ petition which was filed last year.

The plea had sought directions to the Centre and the RBI to permit the lending institutions to grant interest free moratorium period for term loan and defer the payment of loan instalments for a period of six months or till the situation from Covid-19 normalises.

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About 45% fintech lenders see no impact of Covid-19 second wave on loan disbursements: FACE Survey

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About 45 per cent of fintech and digital lenders did not witness any significant impact on business during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new survey.

In fact, they continued to disburse loans at the same or higher levels as they did in the fourth quarter of 2021, it revealed.

The survey by Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) of over 100 members revealed that 56.3 per cent of respondents continued to disburse loans in the second wave of the pandemic but did so cautiously and selectively.

Also read: Fintech start-up Boxop ties up with Mahindra Insurance for Covid treatment

About 31.3 per cent of the respondents disbursed loans at the same rate as that of pre- Covid levels while 12.5 per cent were disbursing loans at higher levels that the January-to-March 2021 quarter.

“Members with large customer-base have observed lesser impact on disbursement business continued to provide support,” the survey revealed, adding that members involved in lending to self-employed customers have seen some impact on lending linked to business closures for significant period.

Loan restructuring

“The study was conducted to understand the impact of Covid-19 second wave on digital lending business and fintech industry. The report highlights that how the Covid-19 outbreak and moratorium announcement by RBI has led to uncertainties in the lending business; however, the impact of pandemic on the digital lending business was less severe than compared to the last wave,” said a statement on Friday.

The survey also revealed that about 56 per cent of the members expect to provide loan restructuring to 10 per cent or less of the customers.

In terms of collections, about 69 per cent of the respondents said they see 10 per cent to 20 per cent less collections in the 31-60 day overdue bucket and 61-90 day overdue bucket.

The respondents had retrained their underwriting models after the initial wave of Covid-19 since these models continued to perform well during the second wave. The survey claims that 57.1 per cent of the respondents prefer using the underwriting model that was used during the first wave.

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