India’s fastest growing fintech and investments platform ETMONEY has crossed the milestone of Rs 500 crore of mutual fund sales in a month. The overall investments tracked and managed on the ETMONEY platform has grown to over Rs 20,000 crore with investors from over 1,400 cities across India.
ETMONEY has accomplished this growth on the back its customer-centric approach and multiple industry-first initiatives. ETMONEY was the first in the country to offer completely paperless video KYC for mutual fund investments and launched the country’s first Aadhaar-based SIP payment feature. The recent addition of a report card for every mutual fund scheme in India has been of immense help for investors.
On achieving this milestone, ETMONEY founder & CEO Mukesh Kalra said, “This is a major achievement for ETMONEY. Crossing the benchmark figure of Rs 500 crore of gross mutual fund sales in a month is a testament to ETMONEY’s commitment to simplifying personal finance for the masses. And with over 40% of our inflows coming via monthly SIPs and more investors joining the platform every month, we are well on track to cross Rs 10,000 crore of gross sales in FY22.”
“Along with that, we are also super excited about our new range of products and services lined up to solve the next set of challenges in the evolving fintech space” he added.
SREI Group promoters on Wednesday moved the Bombay High Court challenging Reserve Bank of India’s decision to supersede the board of two group companies, in preparation for sending them to bankruptcy courts.
Srei group promoters are seeking stay on any insolvency proceedings at group companies Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd, whose board the regulator sacked and appointed an administrator.
The promoters are also seeking stay on the appointment of the administrator. The Bombay high court is likely to hear the matter on Thursday.
On October 4, the banking regulator superseded the board of directors of Kolkata-based Srei Infrastructure Finance and Srei Equipment Finance and said that it will initiate insolvency proceedings with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The RBI move makes Srei the second non-bank lender to be referred to the bankruptcy courts after DHFL.
The RBI cited governance concerns and defaults by the company and appointed Rajneesh Sharma, former chief general manager, Bank of Baroda as an administrator of the company.
“In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 45-IE (1) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Reserve Bank has today superseded the Board of Directors of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL), owing to governance concerns and defaults by the aforesaid companies in meeting their various payment obligations,” the RBI had said.
A consortium of lenders led by UCO Bank had classifying exposure to Srei group as non-performing.
In June 2021, Srei companies reported to the exchanges that the RBI inspection had flagged loans worth Rs 8,576 crore as related party loans. These accounted for nearly 30% of the group’s consolidated debt of Rs 28,700 crore. Overall, the group has a debt of over Rs 35,000 crore.
The Banking sector showed a high discrepancy percentage at 17 percent, double the industry average of 8.7 percent in Q2-21 as per the Trends Report released by First Advantage – a leading background screening company in India.
Sectors like Banking, BPO, Engineering & Infra, Financial Services, FMCG, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Pharma, and Telecom display discrepancy percentages way above the industry average of 8.7 percent in Q2-21. Both Employment and Address Component (Check level) have contributed to the high discrepancy percentages in these industries.
Alternate modes of verification in the Address component, is a good example of how First Advantage- not only identified but moved swiftly from the standard modes of verification to alternate modes. In Q2-21, 44 out of every 100 Address verifications – were conducted through the alternate modes of verification.
“In the current digital workplace, significance of background verification of a candidate, a vendor or a partner has become crucial to safeguard from any potential risk. As companies compete for the best talent available in the marketplace, it is important to get insights that will help you ‘Onboard Faster. Hire Smarter’,” apprised Amit Singh, Head – Commercial, First Advantage India.
The case level inflow has shown a monumental and historic rise in the second quarter of 2021 – furthermore holding good the theory of recruitment and background screening trends coinciding with the pre-Covid cyclical trends of the job markets. The second quarter of 2021 has shown an increase of 25 percent in volumes as compared to the first quarter.
“With our digital initiatives driven by modern technology and alternate screening solutions, we have transformed our processes to adapt with the changing environmental and economic conditions. Our focus, as always, has been to enhance customer onboarding experiences, reduce delivery cycle timelines and provide improved quality performance,” adds Singh.
This story is provided by PRNewswire. will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
US Bancorp, the fifth largest banking institution in the US, announced in a press release on October 5 that its subsidiary US bank is launching cryptocurrency custody services that will be available for global service fund and service clients.
The first sub-custodian for supporting the new services of the bank will be New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG).
NYDIG is a leading technology and financial services company and an arm of Stone Ridge Asset Management, dedicated to Bitcoin. Other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum will be soon added in the new services.
The new offering was launched to meet the growing demand and interests of the institutional investors and fund service clients in cryptocurrency, CNBC quoted Gunjan Kedia, Vice Chairman of US Bank’s wealth management and investment services division.
Even the legal sanctions and extreme volatility of Bitcoin did not deter big investors from continually investing in cryptocurrencies.
The new custody services will benefit the institutional investors in the following ways:
* The service will help investment managers store private keys for bitcoin, bitcoin cash and litecoin with the help of sub-custodian NYDIG.
* The services would provide the institutional investment managers having private funds in the US or Cayman Islands, safe storage solutions for bitcoins. Additional coin support would be added over time.
US Bancorp, the parent company of US bank has currently $559 billion worth of assets and serves national and global customers. US Bank established its Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Practice in 2015.
The bank had announced the launch of three cryptocurrency offerings in April itself to address the ever expanding investment needs of the clients.
* The first service was the custody service which is live now.
* The second service is regarding investment in Securrency, a developer of institutional-grade blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology.
* The third service that allows the US Bank to administer NYDIG’s Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in 2021 awaits regulatory approvals.
Under RBI’s model, banks can co-lend with all registered NBFCs, including housing finance companies.
The co-lending model has been around in the BFSI sector for some time now, but after the Reserve Bank of India issued guidelines in November 2020, co-lending has become a response to ease the liquidity crisis in non-bank lenders. The method aims to enhance credit flow to productive sectors, and banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) have been increasingly exploring co-lending opportunities.
What is RBI‘s Co-Lending Model, and how will it work?
RBI’s CLM is one wherein two lender firms, in this case a bank and an NBFC, come together to disburse loans. Under RBI’s model, banks can co-lend with all registered NBFCs, including housing finance companies.
As per the guidelines, NBFCs and HFCs facilitate the origination and collection of housing loans while banks leverage their balance sheet strength to house the majority of the loan. This means that 80% of the loan will reflect in the bank’s balance sheet, while 20% in that of NBFCs or HFCs.
In simple terms, banks will lend to NBFCs, and NBFCs will pass it on to the priority sectors, since they have a greater reach.
NBFCs will be the single point of interface for the customers and enter into a loan agreement with the borrowers. The agreement should contain the features of the arrangement and the roles and responsibilities of NBFCs and banks.
The ultimate borrower would be charged an all-inclusive interest rate.
Considering the lower cost of funds from banks and greater reach of NBFCs, the primary focus is to improve credit flow to the unserved and underserved sectors of the economy, also known as priority sectors, and make funds available to the ultimate beneficiary at an affordable cost.
The agreement should contain the features of the arrangement and the roles and responsibilities of NBFCs and banks.
RBI has prescribed that a portion of bank lending should be used for developmental activities, for the priority sector, which includes agriculture, MSMEs, housing, and so on.
According to norms, both public and private sector banks have to lend 40% of their net bank credit (NBC) to the priority sector and foreign banks have to lend 32% of their NBC.
How is co-lending beneficial for lenders and borrowers?
The partnership allows banks to lend more funds to sectors and regions they do not have reach in. With the greater reach of NBFCs, the model allows banks to meet their total priority sector lending (PSL), while NBFCs get bigger and top rated borrowers on its books.
It also allows NBFCs to source clients, perform credit appraisals and disburse a small part of the loan amount, and enables banks to expand their lending business.
The end borrower gets accessibility to loans at very affordable and competitive rates, and is in turn included in the country’s financial ecosystem.
Customers can now directly participate in primary markets through the ASBA facility and avail the benefit of high savings account interest until the date of allotment of shares.
Equitas Small Finance Bank (Equitas SFB) on Wednesday announced the launch of the ASBA facility on its internet banking, mobile banking and UPI interface for its customers. ASBA — applications supported by blocked amount — is a process required by stock market regulator Sebi for applying for IPOs and FPOs.
Customers can now directly participate in primary markets through the ASBA facility and avail the benefit of high savings account interest until the date of allotment of shares. The facility is available at no cost and does not need one to submit any kind of physical documents to activate, the bank said in a release.
In association with Aditya Birla Money, the bank provides the facility of instant trading cum demat account that can be activated digitally in minutes.
Murali Vaidyanathan, senior president and country head, branch banking, Equitas Small Finance Bank , said: “The move will also significantly help retail and HNI investors. With contactless banking becoming the need of the hour and omnichannel delivery critical to future readiness, our continued investments towards building world-class digital assets have become a key differentiator.”
Globally, equities tanked lower as risk sentiment soured amid growing worries over increase in government bond yield, rising inflation and soaring energy prices to multi-year highs. The 10-year benchmark Treasury yield rose to 1.57%, highest in three-months, which might prompt US Fed to tighten monetary policy earlier than expected. Global cues had already weakened after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked its benchmark interest rate for the first time in seven years. The sentiments are also weak given uncertainty looming over US debt ceiling.
Here are 6 stocks to buy and sell for short term traders from reputed analysts and investment firms.
1) Dr. Ravi Singh, Head of Research & Vice President, ShareIndia
BPCL: Buy the stock at Rs 445, Target Rs 455, Stop Loss Rs 442
Bharti Airtel : Sell the stock at Rs 695, Target Rs 680, Stop Loss Rs 700.
2) Manoj Dalmia, Founder and Director, Proficient Equities Private Limited
Agarwal industries CIRP: Buy at Rs 386, Target Rs 403, Stop Loss Rs 379.
3) Ravi Singhal, Vice chairman, GCL Securities Limited
Reliance: Sell at Rs 2570, Stop loss Rs 2588, Target Rs 2,500
HDFC AMC: Buy at Rs 2900, Target Rs 3000-3100, Stop Loss Rs 2800.
Ashok Leyland: Buy the stock at Rs 130, target Rs 137, Stop Loss Rs 123.
Disclaimer
The above is prepared from the recommendations of analysts. Investing in equities poses a risk of financial losses. Investors must therefore exercise due caution. Greynium Information Technologies Pvt Ltd, the author, and the analysts are not liable for any losses caused as a result of decisions based on the article. The above article is for informational purposes only.
Globally, equities tanked lower as risk sentiment soured amid growing worries over increase in government bond yield, rising inflation and soaring energy prices to multi-year highs. The 10-year benchmark Treasury yield rose to 1.57%, highest in three-months, which might prompt US Fed to tighten monetary policy earlier than expected. Global cues had already weakened after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked its benchmark interest rate for the first time in seven years. The sentiments are also weak given uncertainty looming over US debt ceiling.
Here are 6 stocks to buy and sell for short term traders from reputed analysts and investment firms.
1) Dr. Ravi Singh, Head of Research & Vice President, ShareIndia
BPCL: Buy the stock at Rs 445, Target Rs 455, Stop Loss Rs 442
Bharti Airtel : Sell the stock at Rs 695, Target Rs 680, Stop Loss Rs 700.
2) Manoj Dalmia, Founder and Director, Proficient Equities Private Limited
Agarwal industries CIRP: Buy at Rs 386, Target Rs 403, Stop Loss Rs 379.
3) Ravi Singhal, Vice chairman, GCL Securities Limited
Reliance: Sell at Rs 2570, Stop loss Rs 2588, Target Rs 2,500
HDFC AMC: Buy at Rs 2900, Target Rs 3000-3100, Stop Loss Rs 2800.
Ashok Leyland: Buy the stock at Rs 130, target Rs 137, Stop Loss Rs 123.
Disclaimer
The above is prepared from the recommendations of analysts. Investing in equities poses a risk of financial losses. Investors must therefore exercise due caution. Greynium Information Technologies Pvt Ltd, the author, and the analysts are not liable for any losses caused as a result of decisions based on the article. The above article is for informational purposes only.
Sumit Bali, group executive & head – retail lending, Axis Bank
Retail lending has recovered well from the lows seen in April-May, but supply-side issues are hurting auto loan growth, Sumit Bali, group executive and head – retail lending, Axis Bank, tells Shritama Bose. The bank is avoiding aggressive risk-taking in home loans as margins are thin, he added.Excerpts:
How has the retail market recovered after the second Covid wave? Clearly, we had a very good Q4 as an industry and specifically for us, if you see the numbers, we grew almost 6% quarter-on-quarter. So we went into Q1 of this financial year with that kind of momentum, but post-April 20, the bottom just fell off. In the next two months the deterioration was extremely sharp. There was fear, people were delaying everything, they were sitting on cash, preserving cash. Even we couldn’t go out to collect or meet customers. But since July, we are also seeing a sharper uptick. Last month, home sales were back to almost 95% of March levels. When we see some other parameters, especially on the cards side, those also point to a sharp recovery. When you dice the spends on the cards, a lot of the discretionary spends which had vanished — travel, eating out, dining, hotels, etc — we are seeing a fair bit of pick-up in that from the base level. But overall, spends have been record-high for the industry. This means customer confidence is coming back. There’s a sharp improvement on the delinquency metrics across the industry, when we see the bureau data.
What about the auto loans segment? Interestingly, on the new cars side, demand is good, but the supply-side issues persist because of the chip shortage. That’s creating a different kind of problem for us. When we spoke to people in the manufacturing industry back in July, they had said production should be normal in October-November. It is not looking like that. There is some unexpected closure of a Bosch plant in Malaysia due to Covid, so that’s not fully back on steam. Given the long waiting periods, one sees the demand for cars also coming back. Used car prices are up. One of the unintended benefits of Covid is the demand for larger homes, so people can work from home and kids can study from home online. The second thing is the need for personal mobility. So when you put all this together, certainly we are getting into the festive season with a fair bit of tailwinds and very decent customer confidence. But for a third wave of Covid, things have started looking pretty good.
There’s a lot of competition in the home loan segment. You seem to have stayed away from rock-bottom pricing. How do you see that market? As a bank, we have very clearly defined our risk appetite and in retail lending, margins are thin. It makes no sense to take risk higher than your appetite. When you lose money, you lose a fair bit of the principal. So we’ve not diluted our standards.
Rates can only rise from current levels. Is there risk building up in the system? The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has done a very intelligent thing by setting the LTV (loan-to-value) on home loans at 75%. There is a very strong association of the customer with their home. Post-Covid, people want to have a home. You are seeing inflation inch up, so everyone expects that rates will firm up over a period of time. But, in home loans you also have this facility of extending the tenor while keeping the EMI the same. If rates go up, it would mean that demand is good. Therefore, we don’t see great risk in there, given the margin and that we can keep the monthly outflow the same.
We see an increase in repossession notices for small borrowers’ properties. Is repossession actually on the rise? So, for almost a year, there was no activity in terms of repossession or sale. Given the environment, courts were also holding on to giving permissions. Now, all that has started opening up. So there are permissions coming in, there is permission to sell out the inventory. In cases where customers have suffered large amounts of losses and can’t service (their loans), there are auctions happening. What you are seeing now, in a normal economic environment, you would have seen over a period of 15 months. It’s just that they have got bunched up together.
Do you continue to be cautious on unsecured loans, as you were up to the beginning of this year? We’ve always said that from an 80:20 kind of a split, which is what we have as of June, we would be comfortable moving a bit more towards unsecured. That may be, say, 22-23% over a period of time. That remains our stated ambition and we are working towards that mix. The Covid second wave put a brake on that, but our goal remains that.
Balance transfers have turned out to be a preferred option for foreign banks as they are easier to source. They are considered safer, too, as the lender gets a snapshot of the borrower’s repayment track record.
Taking advantage of record low interest rates and higher affordability of homes, foreign banks with presence in India are making an aggressive push into the home loan market. In the run-up to the festive season, some of these lenders have announced lending rates at par with the lowest in the business.
HSBC India reduced home loan interest rates by 10 basis points (bps) to 6.45% per annum. This rate will be applicable on balance transfers by existing customers of other lenders. Citi is offering home loans starting at 6.5% as is South Korea-headquartered Shinhan Bank.
Kunal Sodhani, AVP, global trading center, Shinhan Bank India, said the lender has been offering home loans starting at 6.5% for a maximum tenor of 30 years. The bank has been active in the retail loans segment for the last four years and currently has more than 4,500 customers across six branches in India. “The interest rate trajectory may be at its bottom and also due to festive season being underway, this remains the best time to avail housing loans at such attractive rates,” Sodhani said.
Balance transfers have turned out to be a preferred option for foreign banks as they are easier to source. They are considered safer, too, as the lender gets a snapshot of the borrower’s repayment track record.
Besides, the migration to an external benchmark-linked pricing regime has led to better transmission of lower rates through banks. Forced to link their home loan rates directly to the repo rate or to other external benchmarks, banks have turned more competitive in terms of pricing than their non-bank counterparts. This is another factor driving the rising trend in balance transfers.
Of course, muted credit demand in other segments is also playing a part. Prakash Agarwal, director and head – financial institutions, India Ratings and Research, said while some foreign banks were always active in the home loan market, their presence is increasing for two reasons. “One, there is a limited offtake in other segments. Secondly, this asset class has proven its resilience over time. The credit cost and delinquencies in this segment were among the lowest even during the pandemic. That is an added incentive for lenders to get into this segment.”
Financial Express is now on Telegram. 
