Issue: 1186
· Banking system liquidity
surplus ~ Rs.4 lakh crore; RBI policy expected to remain neutral.
· Government confident on FY27
fiscal deficit target of 4.3% of GDP seen achievable despite global oil shock.
· Record FPI outflows hit
banking & financial stocks with Rs. 606 billion outflows from financial
sector in March.
· HDFC Bank reduces MCLR by up
to 5 bps.
· India needs $145 billion
annual debt funding by 2035 for energy transition.
· International Monetary Fund
flags vulnerability due to dependence on volatile capital flows.
Morgan Stanley cuts India
growth forecast to 6.2%: Morgan Stanley has cut India’s
growth forecast to 6.2% from 6.5% for FY27 and increased the inflation forecast
to 5.1% from 4% citing the ongoing war in West Asia might lead to elevated
energy prices and supply-side constraints. It had previously tracked upside
risks, forecasting real GDP growth at 7.4% for Q4FY26 and approximately 7% for
FY27. The brokerage said in its latest note that the country’s current account
deficit is likely to widen to 2.5% of GDP from the 1% projected earlier. These
projections are based on crude prices at $95 per barrel in FY27. However,
if oil prices spike to $150 a barrel for a quarter, the brokerage projects GDP
growth at 5.7%, retail inflation breaching 6% and the current account deficit
widening to 3% of GDP.
(Financial Express)
Trump announces two-week
ceasefire if Iran opens Strait of Hormuz: US President Donald Trump,
minutes before his Tuesday deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz,
shared a statement from Tehran, saying Iran has agreed to allow safe passage
through the strait if attacks on its power infrastructure are ceased. In a post
on Truth Social, he shared Iran's official statement in the name of Foreign
Minister Abbas Araghchi. “If attacks against Iran are halted, our Armed Forces
will cease their operations,”. It also said that safe passage through the
Strait of Hormuz would be permitted for a limited period.
(Business Standard)
Mutual fund AUM logs over
20% growth for the third consecutive year: The mutual fund (MF) industry
recorded over 20 per cent growth in assets under management (AUM) for the third
consecutive financial year, even as equity markets delivered their weakest
performance in six years. Average industry AUM stood at Rs.81.5 trillion in the
March 2026 quarter (Q4FY26), up 21 per cent from Rs.67 trillion in the same
period last year.
(Business Standard)
Govt likely to invite fresh
bids from two potential buyers for IDBI Bank: Report: The government may seek
revised financial bids from two potential buyers of IDBI Bank after their
original offers fell short of the reserve price set for the lender’s strategic
sale, news agency PTI reported citing sources. "The IDBI Bank strategic
sale is in the technical evaluation stage," a senior official told PTI.
Amid the West Asia crisis, the government is relying on disinvestment and asset
monetisation to raise resources and create fiscal space to shield the economy
from global uncertainty, officials told PTI.
(Moneycontrol)
‘bob SAMVAD’, an AI-powered
multilingual conversational platform of Bank of Baroda to transform in-branch
customer interactions launched: Bank of Baroda unveiled its
bob SAMVAD, which was formally launched by Shri M. Nagaraju, Secretary, DFS, in
Mumbai on March 28th 2026. The platform is an industry-first AI-powered
multilingual conversational platform aimed at transforming customer
interactions at its branches. Designed to eliminate language barriers, the
platform enables customers and branch staff to communicate seamlessly with each
other in their preferred language.
(PiB)
Kotak Bank unveils instant
corporate loan disbursal: Kotak Mahindra Bank has
introduced instant, one-click disbursals of working capital demand loans (WCDL)
for corporate clients. It makes Kotak Bank the first in the wholesale banking
space to disburse funds at the click of a button. “We have brought the disbursement
time down from 24 hours to four hours to just a few seconds,” said Anu Agarwal,
president and head of corporate banking at Kotak Mahindra Bank. Built
on Kotak’s corporate digital platform, fyn (for your needs), the new journey
simplifies a manual, multi-layered process into a seamless digital flow.
Clients now enter just three fields — amount, tenure and account — following
which pricing is auto-picked, validations run digitally and funds are released
instantly. “Once the client presses ‘yes’, the money hits the account.
(Financial Express)
Banks should
shift exposures from vulnerable MSMEs, lay-off-exposed retail borrowers: EY: Amid the ongoing West Asia war, a
consultancy firm on Tuesday asked banks to shift exposures away from vulnerable
small businesses and retail borrowers who may face the impact of lay-offs. There
is a need for banks to convert early risk signals into decisive action, EY said
in a report. "This can mean shifting exposures
away from vulnerable MSME segments, import-intensive borrowers, and
lay-off-exposed retail cohorts, while scaling structurally stronger sectors and
resilient secured portfolios," the report said.
(Economic Times)
Private banks
outpace PSBs in Q4 deposit growth amid deposit mobilisation pressures: Private sector banks reported stronger
deposit growth in the January-March quarter compared with their public sector
peers, even as the broader banking system continued to face persistent
challenges in mobilising deposits. Data compiled by PTI from banks'
provisional numbers disclosures showed that private sector lenders recorded
deposit growth in the range of 12-17 per cent in Q4FY26, compared with 2-14 per
cent growth among PSU banks. Banks have increasingly relied on
mobilising funds through certificates of deposit (CDs) in recent quarters amid
sustained pressure on low-cost deposits. Among private lenders, IDFC First Bank
reported the highest growth, with deposits rising 17.2 per cent to Rs 2.43 lakh
crore in Q4FY26, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank with 14.7 per cent growth and
HDFC Bank with 14.4 per cent growth, according to provisional data.
(Economic Times)
Adani seeks dismissal of US
SEC fraud case, cites lack of jurisdiction: Gautam Adani says that the US Securities and
Exchange Commission fraud case against him should be dismissed, with his
lawyers arguing that the Wall Street regulator’s case “fails” for multiple
reasons. Lawyers for the Indian billionaire and his nephew Sagar said in a
letter to a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday that they will
formally seek to dismiss the case by the end of the month. The SEC, the
attorneys said, lacked necessary jurisdiction over the two men and that the
alleged misstatements underpinning the case weren’t actionable.
(Business Standard)
Govt bars Chinese cameras
at highway tolls on data security concerns: India is shunning cheaper China-made
high-speed cameras at highway tolls, citing security concerns around these
devices and opting instead for American, German and Taiwanese suppliers,
according to people familiar with the matter. Officials have been directed to
avoid importing sensitive technology from China and are also replacing existing
Chinese cameras, the people said, asking not to be identified as the
deliberations are private. India is undertaking an ambitious project to replace
toll gates with cameras that don’t require vehicles to slow down, keeping
traffic flows smoother and faster.
(Business Standard)
MSME, retail demand to
drive bank credit growth by 13% in FY27: Crisil: Bank credit is set to grow at 13 per cent in
FY27, driven by healthy growth in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME)
and retail sectors, as well as the continued preference of corporates for bank
credit rather than issuance of bonds amid the prevailing interest rate
differential, Crisil Ratings said in its report. Overall, credit growth is
expected to be a tad slower than the estimate of 14 per cent for FY26.
(Business Standard)
Sebi grants one-time
relaxation for IPO validity, minimum public shareholding: Amid the weakness in securities markets, the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has provided one-time relaxation
for initial public offering (IPO) validity as well as minimum public shareholdings
(MPS) on Tuesday. The regulator has given a temporary relaxation for companies
whose initial public offering (IPO) validity are set to expire between April 1
and September 30. The markets regulator has granted a one-time extension of
validity till September 30 for such companies, as per a circular issued on Tuesday.
Currently, a public issue must be opened within 12-18 months of getting
observation letters from the regulator, as per Sebi’s Issue of Capital and
Disclosure Requirements (ICDR) Regulations, 2018.
(Financial Express)
IBBI bats for
reforms under IBC to improve the outcomes for MSMEs: To strengthen the insolvency framework
for medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs), a latest Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) study suggests that the government should
permit clubbing of the claims by operational creditors (OCs) up to a limit of
10 claims. This proposal is aimed at improving the recovery of marginal
suppliers/vendors during the insolvency process. “Individually, many MSMEs do
not hold claims large enough to justify the cost of initiating proceedings,
even when non-payment is persistent and economically damaging. Aggregation
would allow similarly placed OCs to collectively initiate proceedings, thereby
improving access to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) without lowering
thresholds across the board,” the study said.
(Financial Express)
Irdai sets up
panel to review private health insurers, signalling major overhaul: The Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority of India (Irdai) has set up a sub-committee to review private health
insurers, in what could be a precursor to major overhaul across health
insurance claims experience to product design and grievance redressal. The
health insurance sub-committee, to be formed under the Insurance Advisory
Committee (IAC), is part of ongoing efforts to improve policyholder experience
and expand coverage, the regulator said on Tuesday. “IRDAI has constituted a
sub-committee of the Insurance Advisory Committee to review the current
landscape of private health insurance in India, including coverage,
penetration, claims experience, product design, grievance redressal and
consumer experience,” it said.
(Financial Express)
J-CURVE
·
A J Curve describes a scenario where an initial
decline is followed by a significant rise.
·
Depreciating a currency can initially worsen a trade
deficit before eventual improvement.
·
J Curves appear in economics, private equity,
medicine, and political science.
·
In private equity, early losses often precede
eventual gains, forming a J shape on graphs.
·
Japan in 2013 is a real-world example of the J Curve
in action related to currency depreciation.
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 : 92.9625
INR
/ 1 GBP : 123.0780
INR
/ 1 EUR : 107.2632
INR
/100 JPY: 58.1800
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex:
74616.58 (+509.73)
NIFTY:
23123.65 (+155.40)
Bnk NIFTY: 52716.25 (+107.15)
Historical
events: April 8th marks
significant moments in history, including the 1857 execution of Mangal Pandey,
a catalyst for the Indian rebellion, and the 1929 protest by Bhagat Singh and
Batukeshwar Dutt in the Delhi Central Assembly. Key global events include
Margaret Thatcher's death in 2013, the 1904 Entente Cordiale, and the 2024
total solar eclipse.
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