Issue: 1191
· RBI is scrutinising banks
over $40 billion rupee arbitrage trades to check regulatory violations and
speculative exposure.
· RBI rejected Ujjivan Small
Finance Bank’s universal bank licence bid, citing insufficient loan book
diversification.
· Indian markets fell sharply:
Sensex fell 703 pts, Nifty below 23,850 amid global geopolitical tensions.
· Indian rupee depreciated to Rs.
93.38/USD, tracking global risk-off sentiment.
· Global markets declined as
oil prices surged above $100/barrel due to US-Iran tensions.
· India likely to face
below-normal monsoon (92% of LPA), posing risks to inflation and growth.
· Government still projects GDP
growth at ~6.8–7.2% for FY27 despite risks.
· India’s digital payments
ecosystem hits record scale with 21.7 billion transactions (Rs. 28.33 lakh
crore).
IMD forecast of
below-normal Indian monsoon poses risk to agriculture, economy: India’s South-West monsoon,
which makes up 75 per cent of the country’s annual rainfall of 116 cm, is
likely to be “below normal” this year. It will quantitatively be 92 per cent of
the Long Period Average (LPA) of 87 cm, said M Ravichandran, Secretary,
Ministry of Earth Sciences. The dominance of impact from a possible emergence
of El Niño scales higher as the other two influencers -- Indian Ocean Dipole
(IOD) and Eurasia snow cover -- are either neutral of positive for the Indian
monsoon. The below-normal monsoon forecast, which could impact the country’s
agriculture sector, comes at a time when input costs for the growers are on the
rise due to the Iran war.
(Business Line)
No immediate impact of US
blocking Iranian vessels on India’s crude cargoes: The latest directive by US
President Donald Trump to block vessels to and from Iranian ports is unlikely
to have an immediate impact on India’s crude oil and LNG supplies, though some
disruption to LPG shipments from the Persian Gulf nation is expected. Over the
past 45 days, India has reduced its dependence on crude oil imports routed
through the Strait of Hormuz to about 30 per cent of total imports, down from
over 50 per cent in January-February 2026.
(Business Line)
India retail inflation hits
13-month high at 3.4% in March on LPG, food prices: Driven by rising costs for LPG
and select vegetables, India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price
Index (CPI), climbed to a 13-month high of 3.4 per cent in March. This marks an
increase from the 3.2 per cent recorded in February, according to data released
by the Statistics Ministry on Monday. This headline figure reflects the impact
of the first full month of the ongoing conflict in West Asia. Experts
anticipate that while retail inflation may climb in the near term due to
volatile energy prices.
(Financial Express)
Bank stocks under pressure
as analysts trim earnings, targets on NIM concerns: Analysts have cut FY27
earnings forecasts and target prices for banks, citing sustained pressure on
net interest margins due to high funding costs and slowing deposit growth, even
as credit demand remains strong.
(Economic Times)
Jio, Bank of Baroda tie up
for enabling banking access from feature phones: State-run Bank of Baroda on
Monday announced a tie-up with Reliance Jio to help anyone access its mobile
banking application from the feature phones sold by the telco. Under
the partnership, 'bob World Lite', a comprehensive mobile banking app designed
specifically for feature phone users will be available on the JioPhone Prima 4G
device, according to a statement. Claiming it to be an industry
first, the statement said the tie-up is in line with the vision of the
Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India to promote inclusivity and
make digital payments accessible to feature phone users.
(Economic Times)
RBI scrutinises methods
banks use for unwinding rupee arbitrage trades: ndia's central bank is
scrutinising the methods large banks used to unwind their rupee arbitrage
positions, six sources said, on concerns the trades may have breached
regulations ?and impeded efforts to stabilise the currency. In late March and
early April, the Reserve ?Bank of India effectively forced nL4N40F171 banks to
unwind up to $40 billion in rupee arbitrage trades nL4N40K1C5 between the ?onshore
and non-deliverable forward markets as it sought to shore up a currency
nL1N40K0ZX that was teetering at record lows due to the Iran war and foreign
fund outflows. Following the central bank's measures, the rupee has recovered
from near 95.20 per US dollar to near 92.50, before paring its rally on Monday.
(Business Standard)
Ujjivan SFB
faces setback as RBI returns universal bank licence application: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank on Monday said
RBI has rejected its application to transition to a universal bank and advised
it to reapply after demonstrating a diversified loan portfolio.In a regulatory
filing, Ujjivan SFB said the Reserve Bank has taken note of the bank’s recent
efforts towards diversification of its loan portfolio. “However, they were of
the view that there is scope for progress in this area. Therefore, RBI has
returned the above-mentioned application and advised the bank to consider
applying again after demonstrating a diversified loan portfolio,” Ujjivan said.
(Business Line)
Credit
penetration among women rise 5-fold to Rs 76 lakh crore between 2017 and 2025: Credit penetration among women borrowers
increased five fold to Rs 76 lakh crore in the past eight years to 2025
accounting for 26% of the total system level credit, a TransUnion Cibil report
showed. About a quarter of the total Rs 76 lakh crore loans was availed off by
women for business purposes. The share of business purpose loans rose from 16%
in the past eight years, while the share of personal loans came down to 71%
from 77% between 2017 and 2025, the data showed. The number of women borrowers
availing credit in India has increased at a compounded annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 9% between 2017 to 2025. Credit access for women increased from 19%
in 2017 to 36% in 2025, a growth of 17 percentage points growing. In
comparison, the overall credit access grew 18 percentage points in the same
period.
(Economic Times)
Visa, HDFC Bank
launch FIFA World Cup 2026 card and rewards campaign: Visa and HDFC Bank on Monday unveiled a
limited-edition FIFA World Cup 2026 Pixel Credit Card and a nationwide Spend
& Win campaign, giving Indian consumers a shot at live match packages and
official merchandise through everyday card spending. The announcement was made
at a launch event in Mumbai, where former England striker Michael Owen was
present. The card — a variant of HDFC Bank’s existing Pixel Play digital credit
card — carries FIFA-themed branding and is available to existing Pixel Play
customers through the PayZapp app, as well as new applicants via the HDFC Bank
website.
(Business Line)
NSE gets MCA nod for coal
exchange entity name: The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has
received approval from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for the
reservation of the name “National Coal Exchange of India Limited” for its proposed
coal exchange venture. The approval is restricted to the company name and does
not amount to any operational or regulatory clearance, NSE said in a press
release on Monday. The move follows the exchange’s board approval in February
to set up a wholly owned subsidiary for the initiative. NSE plans to infuse up
to Rs. 100 crore as initial capital and hold a 60 per cent stake, with the balance
40 per cent to be offered to other shareholders.
(Business Line)
‘LIC board approves 1-for-1
bonus issue:
Life
Insurance Corporation of India on Monday approved a 1:1 bonus share issue, by
capitalising its reserves and surplus. In a filing to the exchanges, the
state-owned insurer said its board has cleared the issuance of one fully
paid-up share of Rs. 10 each for every existing share held by investors as of
the record date. The bonus issue will involve the creation of over 632 crore
shares, amounting to approximately Rs. 6,325 crore, through the capitalisation
of reserves and surplus available as of December 31, 2025
(Business Line)
Govt to launch low-interest
credit cards for micro units this month: The Centre will likely roll out
a low-cost credit card scheme for micro businesses later this month, in a move
aimed at sharply reducing borrowing costs and easing working capital stress
among smaller businesses. The proposed scheme will offer unsecured credit cards
with a limit of up to Rs 5 lakh for micro enterprises, particularly those
registered on the Udyam portal. Unlike conventional credit cards that typically
charge annualised interest rates of 36–42% on outstanding balances, the new
cards are expected to cap rates at nearly half that level, around 18%, sources
said. Effective borrowing costs could fall to below 18%, aided by a 30-day
interest-free period and flexible repayment options.
(Financial Express)
Government
notifies Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0 with Rs. 10,000 crore corpus to
mobilize capital for startups: The Government has notified the Startup
India Fund of Funds 2.0 with a total corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore for the purpose
of mobilizing venture and growth capital for the startup ecosystem of the
country. The Startup India FoF 2.0 builds upon the strong performance of the
Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS 1.0), which was launched in 2016 under the
Startup India Action Plan to address funding gaps and catalyse the domestic
capital for startups. Startup India FoF 2.0 will have a total corpus of Rs. 10,000
crore for commitments to eligible Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) spread
across the 16th and 17th Finance Commission cycles. Investments under Startup
India FoF 2.0 will focus on Alternative Investment Funds supporting priority
segments including deep tech startups, early growth stage startups supported by
smaller AIFs, technology-driven and innovative manufacturing startups, and
sector or stage agnostic startups.
(PiB)
e-SafeHER – a
Cyber Security Awareness Training Programme to enable one million Cyber Sakhis
across rural India: C-DAC, Hyderabad, under the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India and Reliance
Foundation, today announced the launch of e-SafeHER, a Cyber Security Awareness
Training programme to enable one million women across rural India, to safely
and confidently participate in the digital ecosystem. This initiative is anchored under MeitY’s
Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) programme through C-DAC
Hyderabad, enabling content and training material for dissemination. Reliance
Foundation will catalyse dissemination in rural communities across India,
working in particular through women’s SHGs.
(PiB)
JOINT
PROBABILITY
§ A
joint probability is the chance that two or more events will happen at the same
time. For a joint probability to work, both events must be independent of one
another. For instance, it's the likelihood of flipping a coin and getting heads
and rolling a die and getting a six.
§ Another
example is rolling two dice and both landing on a three. You can visualize
joint probabilities using Venn diagrams. Joint probabilities help statisticians,
data analysts, and financial professionals draft models, assess risk, and make
investment decisions.
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 : 93.3684
INR
/ 1 GBP : 125.2176
INR
/ 1 EUR : 109.1539
INR
/100 JPY: 58.4900
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex:
76847.57 (-702.68)
NIFTY:
23842.65 (-207.95)
Bnk NIFTY: 55605.05 (-307.70)
Ambedkar Jayanti: April 14 is
primarily celebrated as Ambedkar Jayanti (or Bhim Jayanti) in India, marking
the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the principal architect of the
Indian Constitution and a champion of social equality. It is a public holiday
celebrating his legacy as a jurist, economist, and civil rights activist.
Historical
events: April 14 marks the
1891 birth of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Indian
Constitution and a champion of social justice. Globally, it marks key events
including the 2014 abduction of Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram.
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