Moneycontrol Selects: Top stories this afternoon

A round-up of the big stories

Here is a collection of the most important stories this afternoon:

1. Tight liquidity forces banks, corporates to raise short-term funds

Tight liquidity in the banking system has forced many banks and companies to tap the short-term debt market for raising funds, according to a Moneycontrol analysis. Outstanding certificates of deposit (CDs) and commercial papers (CPs) rose sharply on a yearly basis in November 2023 due to tight liquidity conditions, and the lack of bank funding for a few non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased risk weights on unsecured lending, and cash demand during the festive season, experts said. Read more.

Fintech major Paytm has laid off over 1000 employees from its operations, sales and engineering team after the firm implemented a slew of AI technology to improve efficiency. Read more.

Despite repeated reminders from the Reserve Bank, customer service continued to be a grey area for most Indian banks, and loan pricing looks hazy in this unclear zone. Read more.

MC Selects

Telanagana-based Azad Engineering closed its Rs 740-crore public issue with robust subscription numbers on December 22 as investors rushed to bag a slice of the company that caters to original equipment manufacturers in the energy, aerospace, defence and oil & gas industries. Read more.

The primary market is going to remain busy even in the last week of year 2023 when the trading volumes in the secondary markets are generally lower due to holiday season. There would not be any new IPOs lined up in the mainboard segment, but all the action will be seen in the SME segment, while a total of 14 companies from both the segments will be making their debut on the bourses. Read more.