Category: Press Releases

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

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, April 07, 2021, during the below given timings:

Results will be announced on the day of the auction.

Payment by successful bidders to be made on Thursday, April 08, 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: 2021-2022/01

The Reserve Bank of India vide directive DCBS.CO.BSD-1/D-4/12.22.141/2016-17 dated August 31, 2016 had placed the Maratha Sahakari Bank Ltd., Mumbai, Maharashtra under directions from the close of business on August 31, 2016 for a period of six months. The validity of the directions was extended from time-to-time, the last being up to March 31, 2021.

2. It is hereby notified for the information of the public that the Reserve Bank of India, in exercise of powers vested in it under sub-section (1) of Section 35 A read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, hereby directs that the aforesaid directions shall continue to apply to the bank till June 30, 2021 as per the directive DOR.MON/ D-68/12.22.140/2020-21 dated March 31, 2021, subject to review.

3. All other terms and conditions of the directive under reference shall remain unchanged. A copy of the directive dated March 31, 2021 notifying the above extension is displayed at the bank’s premises for the perusal of public.

4. The aforesaid extension and /or modification by the Reserve Bank of India should not per-se be construed to imply that Reserve Bank of India is satisfied with the financial position of the bank.

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2020-2021/1338

It has been decided, in consultation with the Government of India, that the limits for Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for the first half of the financial year 2021-22 (April 2021 to September 2021) will be ₹1,20,000 crore.

The Reserve Bank may trigger fresh floatation of market loans when the Government of India utilises 75 per cent of the WMA limit.

The Reserve Bank retains the flexibility to revise the limit at any time, in consultation with the Government of India, taking into consideration the prevailing circumstances.

The interest rate on WMA/overdraft will be:

1. WMA: Repo Rate

2. Overdraft: Two percent above the Repo Rate

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2020-2021/1337

(For the Quarter ending June 2021)

The Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has decided to notify the amounts for the issuance of Treasury Bills for the quarter ending June 2021 as under:

2. The Government of India, in consultation with Reserve Bank of India, will have the flexibility to modify the notified amount and timing for auction of Treasury Bills, depending upon the requirements of the Government of India, evolving market conditions and other relevant factors, after giving due notice to the market. Thus, the calendar is subject to change, if circumstances so warrant, including for reasons such as intervening holidays. Such changes, if any, will be communicated through regular Press Releases.

3. The auction of Treasury Bills will be subject to the terms and conditions specified in the General Notification No. F.4(2)-W&M/2018 dated March 27, 2018 issued by the Government of India, as amended from time to time.

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2020-2021/1336

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed, by an order dated March 26, 2021, a monetary penalty of ₹1.00 lakh (Rupees one lakh only) on The Citizens Co-operative Bank Ltd., Rajkot (Gujarat) (the bank) for contravention of directions issued by RBI on ‘Loans and advances to directors, relatives and firms /concerns in which they are interested’. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47 A (1) (c) read with Section 46 (4) (i) and Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account the failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by RBI.

This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers.

Background

The statutory inspection of the bank based on its financial position as on March 31, 2018, revealed, inter alia, contravention of/ non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on (i) ‘Board of Directors of Urban Co-operative Banks – Professionalisation and their Role – Do’s and Don’ts’, (ii) ‘Loans and advances to directors, relatives and firms /concerns in which they are interested’ and (iii) Reporting of ‘Advances Granted to Directors and their Relatives by the Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks’. Based on the same, a Notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed for non-compliance with the directions.

After considering the bank’s reply, oral submissions made during the personal hearing, RBI came to the conclusion that the charge regarding non-compliance with RBI directions on ‘Loans and advances to directors, relatives and firms /concerns in which they are interested’ was substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty.

(Yogesh Dayal)    
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2020-2021/1334

Data on sectoral deployment of bank credit collected from select 33 scheduled commercial banks, accounting for about 90 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed by all scheduled commercial banks for the month of February 2021, are set out in Statements I and II.

Highlights of the sectoral deployment of bank credit are given below:

• On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit growth stood at 6.5 per cent in February 2021 as compared to 7.3 per cent in February 2020.

• Continuing its uptrend, credit growth to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 10.2 per cent in February 2021 from 5.8 per cent in February 2020.

• Credit to industry contracted marginally by 0.2 per cent in February 2021 as compared to 0.7 per cent growth in February 2020 mainly due to contraction in credit to large industries by 1.5 per cent (0.7 per cent growth in February 2020). Credit to medium industries registered a robust growth of 21.0 per cent in February 2021 as compared to 3.9 per cent a year ago and credit to micro & small industries registered a growth of 1.5 per cent in February 2021 as compared to a contraction of 0.4 per cent a year ago.

• Within industry, credit to ‘food processing’, ‘beverages and tobacco’, ‘mining and quarrying’, ‘textiles’, ‘gems and jewellery’, ‘paper and paper products’, ‘glass and glassware’ and ‘vehicles, vehicles parts and transport equipment’ registered accelerated growth in February 2021 as compared to the growth in the corresponding month of the previous year.  However, credit growth to ‘petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels’, ‘cement and cement products’, ‘all engineering’, ‘chemicals and chemicals products’, ‘rubber, plastic and their products’, ‘basic metal and metal products’, ‘construction’ and ‘infrastructure’ decelerated/contracted.

• Credit growth to the services sector accelerated to 9.3 per cent in February 2021 from 6.9 per cent in February 2020 mainly due to good performance of credit to transport operators and trade.

• The slowdown in growth of personal loans continued, as it decelerated to 9.6 per cent in February 2021 from 17.0 per cent a year ago.

Ajit Prasad
Director   

Press Release: 2020-2021/1333

Today, the Reserve Bank released data relating to India’s International Investment Position at end-December 2020.

Key Features of India’s IIP in December 2020

• Net claims of non-residents on India increased by US$ 3.1 billion from their level at the end of the previous quarter (Table 1).

• Higher increase in foreign-owned assets in India (US$ 52.3 billion) vis-à-vis Indian residents’ overseas financial assets (US$ 49.2 billion) resulted in the rise in India’s net foreign liabilities during the quarter.

• Reserve assets accounted for over two-thirds of India’s international financial assets (Table 2).

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) and portfolio equity investment dominated the rise in India’s foreign liabilities; the share of non-debt liabilities in total external liabilities increased to 52.4 per cent (50.8 per cent at end-September 2020) (Table 3).

• The ratio of India’s international financial assets to international financial liabilities improved to 71.4 per cent in December 2020 from 62.1 per cent a year ago.

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2020-2021/1332

¹India’s quarterly IIP is disseminated with a quarter lag. The IIP for end-September 2020 was placed in the public domain on December 30, 2020.

Earlier today, the Reserve Bank of India released balance of payments (BoP) data for October-December 2020 on its website (www.rbi.org.in). On the basis of these data, the sources of variation in foreign exchange reserves during April-December 2020 are detailed below.

Sources of Variation in Foreign Exchange Reserves: April-December 2020

During April-December 2020, there was an increase in the foreign exchange reserves, the sources of which are set out in Table 1.

On a balance of payments basis (i.e., excluding valuation changes), foreign exchange reserves increased by US$ 83.9 billion during April-December 2020 as compared with US$ 40.7 billion during April-December 2019. Foreign exchange reserves in nominal terms (including valuation changes) increased by US$ 108.0 billion during April-December 2020 as compared with US$ 47.0 billion in the corresponding period of 2019-20 (Table 2).

The valuation gain, reflecting the depreciation of the US dollar against major currencies and increase in gold prices, amounted to US$ 24.1 billion during April-December 2020 as compared with US$ 6.3 billion during April-December 2019.

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2020-2021/1331