Reading Time: 8 mins The Central government has extended the Rs.45,0000 crore Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme 2.0 by another three months and has allowed the banks to invest more in better-rated NBFCs. The scheme was announced as a part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ Package to provide liquidity support to weaker NBFCs, housing finance companies and microfinance institutions.
Reading Time: 10 mins The RBI has cleared a new loan restructuring scheme to help out borrowers in these COVID-19 stricken times. Earlier, the …
Reading Time: 9 mins On 5th March 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had imposed a 30-day moratorium on the YES Bank, superseded the bank’s board and appointed Prashant Kumar, who was serving as chief financial officer and deputy managing director at the State Bank of India (SBI) as an administrator. Under the moratorium, deposit withdrawals were capped at Rs.50,000 per person. The apex bank had also proposed a reconstruction plan under which the SBI shall take a maximum of 49% stake in the restructured capital of the bank. The YES Bank crisis is not unique or unprecedented as it came due to the growing number of bad loans caused by the issues faced by the country’s economy, which ranges from real estate to power and NBFCs. Thus, ensuring necessary reforms in the governance, policies, etc., to safeguard the country’s financial sector are a need of the hour.
Reading Time: 9 mins The Supreme Court, on March 2020, had struck down RBI’s controversial circular that prohibited any central bank regulated entities from providing banking services to anyone dealing with virtual or cryptocurrencies. This ruling allows banks to handle cryptocurrency transactions. Though this may threaten the country’s financial system, it does provide an opportunity for the government and the central bank to form regulatory frameworks and laws that, while allowing the use of cryptocurrencies, can ensure preventive measures that can counter private cryptocurrencies.
Reading Time: 5 mins Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 3rd March 2020 to improve cooperative banks’ management and regulation so as to protect the interests of the depositors. It also proposed to strengthen the cooperative banks by increasing professionalism, enabling access to capital, improving governance and ensuring sound banking through the RBI. This bill seeks to ensure that PMC-like frauds are not repeated in the future.
Reading Time: 8 mins The Reserve Bank of India on 6th February 2020, had released the 6th Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2020. After looking into the current macroeconomic situation, RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee had decided not to change the policy repo rate, which is at 5.15%, in accordance with its plan to maintain the accommodative stance until the economic growth is revived, and the inflation rate is within the target. Apart from this, several other steps were taken by the MPC to boost economic growth and demand. The accommodative stance taken by the RBI is a step in the right direction as it can support economic growth and reduce inflation exponentially.
Reading Time: 6 mins The government has set a disinvestment target for 2020-2021 to Rs.2.10 lakh crore, having failed to achieve the current fiscal year’s target of Rs.1.05 lakh crore. It hopes to achieve the unmet target of this fiscal year in the next fiscal year. A large part is likely to come from the sale of stakes in Life Insurance Corporation and IDBI bank. However, the strategy of how this target is going to be achieved is absent. Nevertheless, selling off stakes from high return public enterprises like LIC can ensure the achievement of targets set by the government. Achieving this alone is not enough. The government must use these earnings not to pay off its loans or achieve its fiscal deficit target but to reinvest in aspects that ensure improvement in economic growth and sustainable returns.
Reading Time: 4 mins Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is a flagship financial inclusion scheme that was launched in August 2014 for four years. …
Reading Time: 7 mins July 19 of this year marks the 50th anniversary of bank nationalisation. Nationalisation of banks is arguably the biggest structural …
