Issue: 1207
· Public sector banks in India
hired over 50,000 employees in FY26, marking a 33% YoY increase to support
expansion and operations.
· A High-Level Committee on
Banking (Viksit Bharat) to be set up to review PSB balance sheet constraints
and improve credit flow.
· RBI’s proposed Expected
Credit Loss (ECL) norms may cause up to 120 bps one-time impact on banks’
capital ratios, though overall stability remains intact.
· India’s 10-year G-Sec yield
crossed 7%, reflecting inflationary pressures due to rising oil prices.
· Government to retain Rs.12.22
lakh crore capex plan despite fiscal pressures, to sustain growth momentum.
· Strong earnings reported by
global banks like DBS highlight resilience despite geopolitical uncertainty.
GST collections hit record
high in April, rise 8.7% to Rs.2.43 lakh crore: Gross Goods and Services Tax
(GST) collection rose 8.7 per cent in April to a record of about Rs.2.43 lakh
crore, government data showed on Friday. The growth was driven by a significant
rise in import-related taxes, which outdid domestic collections during the
start of the new fiscal year. The latest collection was
higher than the previous all-time high of over Rs.2.23 lakh crore recorded in
April last year. After adjusting for refunds, net GST mop-up rose 7.3 per cent
to about Rs.2.11 lakh crore. Gross revenues from domestic transactions rose 4.3
per cent to over Rs.1.85 lakh crore, while GST mop-up from imports increased 25.8
per cent to Rs.57,580 crore in April 2026. Refunds during April were up 19.3
per cent to Rs.31,793 crore.
(Moneycontrol)
Steep hike in commercial
LPG prices; diesel, petrol, domestic LPG & jet fuel rates unchanged: The government on Friday tried
to balance its energy import arithmetic by steeply raising prices of
commodities used by industries such as commercial LPG and bulk diesel, while
keeping retail prices of petrol, diesel and household LPG unchanged. Rates of
jet fuel used in domestic scheduled flights have not been raised. Effective
May 1, 2026, the price of LPG for commercial users was raised by Rs.993 per
19-kg cylinder or roughly 47.8 per cent m-o-m, which is a record. Similarly,
rates for 5-kg FTL cylinders were hiked by Rs.261.50 per unit. Before this,
commercial LPG rates were increased by Rs.195.50 per 19-kg cylinder in April
2026 and by Rs.114.50 in March.The price of bulk diesel used by hotels, telecom
towers, restaurants and industries was raised from about Rs.137 per litre to
over Rs.149. Similarly, State-owned oil firms hiked jet fuel prices for
international airlines by $76.55 per kilolitre (KL) from $1435.31 per KL
(Delhi).
(Business Line)
India's forex reserves fall
$4.82 billion to $698 billion, shows RBI data: India’s foreign exchange
reserves decreased by $4.82 billion to $698 billion during the week ended April
24 on the back of a fall in foreign currency assets, the latest data by the
Reserve Bank of India showed. Foreign currency assets decreased by $2.84
billion during the reported week. Meanwhile, gold reserves fell by $1.89
billion to $120 billion during the same period. The Special Drawing Rights were
down by $67 million at $18.8 billion during the reported week. India’s reserve
position with the International Monetary Fund was also down by $15 million to
$4.86 billion..
(Business Standard)
Banking panel to tackle
PSUs' balance sheet constraints, boost capital use: DFS Secretary M Nagaraju: Financial Services Secretary M
Nagaraju on Friday said the High-Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat
announced in this year's Budget will look into public sector banks' balance
sheet constraints, so that they can leverage their capital. The government is
expected to announce the terms of reference for the panel. "This
committee is expected to review the banking sector with a focus on making it
more effective, more inclusive, and better aligned with India's growth needs,
while maintaining financial stability,"
(Economic Times)
NFRA sets up 4 separate
functional divisions: The National Financial
Reporting Authority (NFRA) is stepping up its game with the launch of four
specialized divisions that will focus on monitoring, oversight, investigation,
and disciplinary actions. Prompted by a recent Delhi High Court judgment
regarding its authority, this strategic reorganization emphasizes independence
among its units.
(Economic Times)
RBI's ECL norms may cause
up to 120 bps one-time hit for banks: Crisil: Reserve Bank of India's (RBI)
proposed shift to an expected credit loss (ECL) framework could lead to a
one-time net impact of up to 120 basis points (bps) on banks' Common Equity
Tier-1 (CET-1) ratios, though the overall credit profiles of lenders are
expected to remain stable says Crisil Ratings. In a press release, Crisil said
banks would be allowed to spread the impact over four financial years, while
additional provisioning buffers could further mitigate the hit. Given the
sector's strong capitalisation, the transition is unlikely to materially affect
banks' credit strength.
(Economic Times)
Public-sector
banks prepare to shore up capital before ECL shift: Several public-sector banks, including
Bank of India, Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank, are preparing to raise
capital through equity issuances and bond sales to bolster common equity tier-1
(CET1) buffers ahead of the introduction of the expected credit loss (ECL)
framework for loan-loss provisioning, scheduled to take effect in April 2027. The
fundraising exercises are also expected to support efforts to dilute government
ownership, which remains above 90 per cent for some of these lenders. Mumbai-based
Bank of India’s board on Thursday had approved plans to raise Rs.7,500 crore in
FY27, comprising Rs.2,500 crore through additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds and Rs.5,000
crore through tier-II bonds. The lender’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.09
per cent at the end of December 2025, including a CET1 ratio of 13.76 per cent.
AT1 issuances would strengthen the bank’s CET1 capital base.
(Business Standard)
Trump says 25% tariff on EU
cars, trucks imports to kick in next week amid trade rift: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that
he plans to raise tariffs on cars and trucks imported from the European Union
to 25% as early as next week, accusing the bloc of failing to honour a
previously agreed trade arrangement. Vehicles assembled at American plants, he said,
would be exempt from the higher duties. In a post on Truth Social, Trump framed the move as
both a corrective measure and an incentive for manufacturers to expand
production in the United States.
(Economic Times)
EV sales jump nearly 70% in
Jan-Apr; momentum sustains beyond March spike: India’s passenger-vehicle market in the
electric segment carried forward its March momentum into April with only a
marginal dip even as volumes for January-April rose 69.5 per cent year-on-year
(Y-o-Y) to 79,063 units, according to the retail sales data from Vahan. The
Vahan data, compiled by the industry, showed that sales of passenger electric
vehicles (EVs) stood at about 23,097 units in March and remained elevated at
around 22,677 units in April, indicating that the spike at the end of the
financial year has translated into a sustained demand trend rather than it
being a one-off surge.
(Business Standard)
NPS charges changing from
July 1: PFRDA clarifies AMC, Tier II fees; relief for dormant accounts: PFRDA)has issued a fresh
circular clarifying how charges will apply to subscribers under the National
Pension System (NPS) and related schemes. The new clarifications will come into
effect from July 1, 2026. PFRDA said that AMC for Tier
II accounts will now be aligned with Tier I accounts under the same sector
(government or private). However, there is relief for small investors. “No AMC
shall be levied… where the corpus in such [Tier II] account is up to Rs.1,000,
as at the end of a quarter.” The circular also makes it
clear that even if you have a single PRAN, each scheme will be treated as a
separate account. In respect of dormant account,
the AMC shall be levied at 10% of the applicable AMC. An account where no
contribution is received for four consecutive quarters will be marked dormant
in the first week of the next quarter. PRAN opening charge will apply
only once, at the time of initial creation. No AMC will be charged for
zero-balance accounts under: Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and NPS-Lite
(Financial Express)
First
barrier-less toll plaza of India launched in Gujarat: The first national highway stretch with
barrier-less tolling was launched by Minister of Road Transport and Highways
Nitin Gadkari in Gujarat on Friday. The first Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF)
barrier-less tolling system is at the Chorayasi Toll Plaza on the Surat–Bharuch
section of NH-48 in Gujarat. The state-of-the-art system enables seamless toll
collection without requiring vehicles to stop, using advanced technologies such
as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and FASTag, a statement by the
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said. It allows vehicles to pass
through tolling points at highway speeds without having to slow down, stop, or
navigate into specific lanes. This reduces congestion at toll plazas reducing
travel time and fuel consumption,
(Financial Express)
Bharat Khera
Assumes Charge as Secretary, Ministry of MSME: Shri Bharat Khera has assumed charge as
Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Government of India. A 1995-batch Indian Administrative
Service (IAS) officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, Shri Khera brings with him
more than three decades of administrative experience across key assignments in
both the Central and State Governments. Prior to assuming his present role, he
served as Additional Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs.
(PiB)
FROTH
·
Froth refers to a market
condition where an asset's price begins to increase beyond its intrinsic value.
·
Froth refers to market
conditions preceding an actual market bubble, where asset prices become
detached from their underlying intrinsic values as demand for those assets
drives their prices to unsustainable levels.
·
A frothy market is
characterized by overconfident investors that ignore market fundamentals and
bid up an asset's price beyond the asset's quantitative worth.
·
Two examples of burst bubbles
include the dot-com bust of 2001 and the housing crash of 2007-08.
RBI KEY RATES
Repo
Rate: 5.25%
SDF:
5.00%
MSF
/Bank Rate: 5.50%
CRR:
3.00%
SLR:
18.00%
FOREX RATES (RBI REF. RATE)
INR
/ 1 USD : 95.2417
INR
/ 1 GBP : 128.1953
INR
/ 1 EUR : 111.0683
INR
/100 JPY: 59.2800
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex:
76913.50 (-582.86)
NIFTY:
23997.55 (-180.10)
Bnk NIFTY: 54863.35 (-540.25)
Historical
events: May 2nd marks
major historical events including the birth of filmmaker Satyajit Ray (1921),
the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden, and the 2008 Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. In
India, it notably marks the 1950 return of Chandannagar from French rule and
the 1999 start of the Kargil War conflict.
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