Mcpro Opinion

The RBI has been a player on both sides of the market and intervening as a seller and buyer depending on the situation. That said, the bias has been to soak up inflows into domestic markets, preventing an appreciation of the rupee.

Consumer king Bajaj Finance must face toughest business test this year

The ban on two lending products could affect customer acquisition. The risk weight increases would gobble up much of the recently raised capital for growth purposes.

Chart of the Day: Profits of life insurers have a persistency problem

Insurers have tweaked their product mix, chased simpler term policies, launched products customised for different consumer segments but persistency ratios haven’t improved significantly. For some, it has declined.

Chart of the Day: High rates are breaking government balance sheets

Governments with already existing fiscal imbalances are the ones hurt the most and finding themselves at the brink of default amid a secular rise in interest rates across geographies

India’s bond market finally has a product tailored to investor demand

To access the growing demand from insurers and pension funds is the prime motivation behind the Reserve Bank of India’s move to auction a 50-year government bond on November 3.

Merger of two small finance banks reveals struggle to scale

Organic growth takes time and may increase the operating expenses of small finance banks. In a scramble for deposits and intensive competition in lending, SFBs have to look for inorganic growth.

A foreign banker chief shows Kotak’s growth ambitions

New chief Ashok Vaswani would have to grow Kotak Mahindra Bank's balance sheet fast but continue to maintain the bank’s conservative approach towards risks.

Chart of the Day: Degrees don’t fetch jobs for Indians

The high unemployment among graduates could only mean that there is a big gap between what skills individuals have amassed through education and what the industries want.

Inflation: How expectations shape realities and vice versa

A one percentage point rise in near-term expectations is associated with about a 0.4 percentage point rise in current inflation. Lagged inflation and other factors together have a bigger impact

Chart of the Day: Why the US bond market is unravelling

US Treasury yields have come off a bit but there is a high probability that they will continue to rise. This would be transmitted to other markets and the cost of capital for other borrowers would go up

Chart of the Day | India’s balance of payments has a current solution for a future problem

Barclays estimates the CAD to be about $40 billion for FY24 and any increase due to oil prices would be offset by flows expected into the local debt market.

Chart of the Day: India’s growth differential with the world improving sharply

What’s more, the differential is back to the period of high growth seen in 2005-09 where both consumption and investment were galloping.

India’s growth outlook through the lens of bank credit

There has been a slowdown in headline credit growth in recent months but retail loans and credit to services have held up. Analysts believe that loan growth is broad-based which augurs well for India’s economic health.

India’s bad bank is up to no good

The twin structure of state-owned NARCL and its private sector resolution agent IDRCL is not cohesive. Difference between the two, including a power tussle, mars the overall recovery process

NBFCs risk profitability if they binge on unsecured loans

The share of unsecured lending could rise to 18 percent of NBFCs’ loan book by FY24 from 12 percent two years ago, according to ICRA

Chart of the Day: HDFC’s exit leaves corporate bonds immune to liquidity pressure

At a time when fund houses are seeing increasing inflows into their schemes and even foreign investors have turned net buyers of debt, the supply of good paper in certain tenures is wanting.

It is time for RBI to do nothing but say a lot on inflation

Many times, the threat of action is more potent than the action itself. For inflation expectations to be under control, markets need to believe that the central bank won’t rest until 4 percent inflation is achieved

Is RBI’s CRR twist a one-time operational tool or a sign of more?

At the press meet following the release of the policy statement, Das said that the RBI has tools beyond the policy rate to respond to inflation and the incremental CRR is one of them.

How long RBI pauses would depend on how strong growth is

While the outlook on inflation is uncertain, what will really move the needle for RBI is how strong the economy remains

IDFC First Bank needs an opex fix to remain in good books of investors

IDFC First Bank has made hefty investments in tech and personnel as it grew its business. While most of the positives have been baked into market valuations, elevated operating expenses are a dampener

Chart of the Day: CASA deposits to make banks sweat

Small banks showed a steep fall in CASA ratio while large lenders such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank showed a modest reduction

Bajaj Finance’s near perfect Q1 is ironically a worry for investors

For consistent performers like Bajaj Finance, the margin of error is extremely low as their performance is taken for granted.

Once destroyed by it, Yes Bank must do corporate lending right this time

In its second innings, Yes Bank needs to learn all the lessons it can from the misdeeds of its past chief that decimated its balance sheet.

Chart of the Day: Forex loans signal a revival in the capex cycle

The chart reproduced from RBI’s bulletin shows that Indian firms are using more than 60 percent of borrowings to fund expansion, acquisition or investing in capital goods

Three banks' earnings reinforce some cliches, break others

While public sector banks, including Central Bank of India, have reported improved performance consistently for several quarters now, their strength relative to private sector lenders is still wanting