BUSINESS
Regulation on steroids skips crucial links, misses some grey areas
In credit cards, the regulatory solution, thus, would be either to create disincentives for random sales or to create an integrated framework for acquisition and recovery
BUSINESS
Silly season arrives early for RBI
Cutting interest rates may become a bit imprudent if the economy grows 7.1%, as projected, alongside volatile inflation. This is despite some of the monetary policy committee members pressing for immediate rate cuts
BUSINESS
Politics re-asserts the old adage: In Cash We Trust
There have been multiple attempts by economists, central bankers and government officials to wean the public off currency and nudge them towards using digital payment platforms but cash tends to bounce back
BUSINESS
Capacity boost needs a rethink as RBI seeks to close gaps in climate-risk frameworks
The RBI has a two-fold regulatory burden: to develop knowledge transformation pathways for not only its regulated entities but also all the central bank officers engaged in regulation and supervision
BUSINESS
The regulatory landscape for NBFCs is still a work-in-progress
The RBI has overhauled NBFC regulations by segregating them based on size and interconnectedness. The final guardrail of self-regulating organisations still remains to be implemented
BUSINESS
Colder-for-Longer: Fintechs must realise that the time for reckoning is nigh
Many fintechs are struggling to bring down costs and, in the absence of fresh capital infusion, some of them may even have to shut shop. This consolidation is not yet evident but is likely to play out during 2024
BUSINESS
The first half of 2024 will be crucial for the financial sector
A slowing down of all credit engines – regulation-forced retail borrowing on top of stagnant wholesale credit growth – represents a risk for not only the financial sector’s balance-sheet but also its stability. Why and what decisions await institutions and regulators?
BUSINESS
Should a central bank let its emotions show?
The RBI has departed from its usual sober approach in its response to the IMF's annual consultation, responding with unprecedented indignation
BUSINESS
RBI’s disinflationary curve has three distressing wrinkles
The monetary policy's focus remains on keeping inflation in check but how its sanguine outlook in three crucial areas plays out bears watching
BUSINESS
RBI sees risks in how banks treat deposits or retail customers
RBI officials have been warning about rising reliance of banks on high-cost short term deposits when loans are getting elongated. In addition, customer service seems to have also gone on the back burner
BUSINESS
RBI’s credit deployment data add to existing anxiety pangs
Recent spurt in personal loans certainly bears close watching, but trends in industry too are sending confusing, if not worrying, signals
BUSINESS
Ashok Vaswani and a high-wire act known as Kotak Mahindra Bank
One of the many challenges the new CEO will face is to find ways of widening access to liabilities while reducing costs
BUSINESS
The RBI has a new regulatory mantra: SROs are the future
The emergent SRO framework clearly seems to be fintech-plus; its categorical mention of “various Regulated Entities” and the pointed omission of specific categories seems to suggest that regulation via SROs could well be the new regulatory mode for the Indian financial sector
BUSINESS
October blues bring monetary policy dilemmas in their wake
The RBI cannot be seen raising rates and tamping down on demand during the festival season, especially on the eve of a critical general election that is likely to be held in the next 6-8 months
BUSINESS
There is a new monster in town, and it's called a Bear
It will be foolhardy to bet that markets will always be north bound, especially as global instability intensifies due to accelerating interactions between an increasing number of variables and imponderables, something that economic historian Adam Tooze calls a “polycrisis”
BUSINESS
Film stars can become missing MPs, but never NPAs
Bank of Baroda’s notice to actor-cum-politician Sunny Deol to pay up his dues and the subsequent withdrawal of the notice give rise to many questions about the bank’s approach to the insolvency process
ASSEMBLY-ELECTIONS
Every RBI governor has a pet interest rate theory
Typically, banks tend to be prompt in raising rates during a tightening phase but fail to display the same alacrity when interest rates are moving south
BUSINESS
It walks like a duck but quacks like an NPA
When banks write off bad loans, the loan leaves the asset side of the balance-sheet but it actually never fully exits the bank. It stays somewhere in the dark recesses pending loan recovery, whether full or partial
BUSINESS
How to catch a rogue finfluencer? SEBI needs a hand from social media platforms
Social media platforms must ensure that finfluencers follow advertising standards and must also work with SEBI for stemming the larger malaise of finfluencers providing spurious stock tips
BUSINESS
The last frontier for financial sector reforms: Cooperative Banks
The cooperative bank share in credit flow to agriculture has dropped from 16.7% in 2015-16 to 13% in 2021-22. Stress tests show urban cooperative banks face severe stress of credit defaults and capital erosion
BUSINESS
MPC caught in tri-junction of rates, liquidity and electoral politics
Dissent within the MPC, elections, inflation, liquidity and stress in a critical but vulnerable part of the credit market are some of the main challenges confronting policymakers
BUSINESS
The SVB collapse holds out lessons for NPS hard-liners
From the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in the US to champions of new pension scheme in India, risk is being ignored by many stakeholders
BUSINESS
Digital Lending: The Achilles’ heel of India’s fintech space
FinTech without data cannot be regulated or monitored effectively; and, without regulation FinTech is a clear and present threat to systemic financial stability
BUSINESS
RBI’s fine dance between monetary apostasy and decoupled myth-making
It is strange that the RBI Bulletin’s state of the economy report talks of decoupling when history has proved it to be a chimera and when another article in the same bulletin shows that monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve Bank is proved to have a strong impact on India’s business cycle
