Issue: 1168
· RBI announced a ?1.5 lakh
crore Variable Rate Repo (VRR) auction under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility.
· RBI imposed a ?3.1 lakh
penalty on Cashfree Payments India Pvt Ltd for regulatory non-compliance.
· The Centre is likely to scrap
bids for the strategic sale of IDBI Bank after offers fell below the expected
valuation.
· Bandhan Bank shares plunge
amid promoter stake-sale discussions.
· ED may probe gaming
transactions routed through Fino Payments Bank.
· Banks write off ?9.75 lakh
crore loans in 11 years.
· Rising crude oil prices
pressure emerging-market currencies.
· A report indicates 85% of
banking clients are willing to work with non-bank lenders, reflecting growing
competition from fintech and shadow banking.
Russian oil price in India
hits record as demand for Urals grows: Prices for Russia’s key export
blend delivered to India hit a record high after the US widened its permit
allowing countries to buy the nation’s crude. Urals crude on India’s west
coast reached $98.93 a barrel on Friday, according to data from Argus Media.
The price, which includes shipping costs, is the highest since Russia
redirected crude exports to India following its invasion of Ukraine in early
2022. The spike follows higher global oil prices amid the ongoing war in the
Middle East. The discount on Russia’s crude shipped to Indian ports narrowed to
$4.80 a barrel versus the global benchmark Dated Brent on Friday, the lowest in
more than four months, the data showed.
(Moneycontrol)
Wholesale inflation rose to
2.13% in February: With rise in
non-vegetable-food prices, wholesale inflation, based on Wholesale Price Index
(WPI) rose to 2.13 per cent in February. WPI was 1.81 per cent in January. Positive
rate of inflation in February 2026 is primarily due to an increase in prices of
other manufacturing, manufacture of basic metals, non-food articles, food
articles and textiles, etc
(Business Line)
Sensex jumps 939 points,
Nifty reclaims 23,400: Indian equity benchmarks
staged a sharp rebound on Monday, pausing a steep three-session slide. The
30-share BSE Sensex surged 938.93 points or 1.26 per cent to close at
75,502.85, while the NSE Nifty50 climbed 257.70 points or 1.11 per cent to
settle at 23,408.80. The broader market, however, underperformed the
benchmarks. The Nifty Midcap 100 declined 0.27 per cent, while the Nifty
Smallcap 100 slipped 0.53 per cent.
(Business Today)
India’s trade deficit
narrows to $27.1 billion in February; exports inch up, imports fall: India’s merchandise trade
deficit narrowed to $27.1 billion in February from $34.68 billion in January,
as per a report by PTI. Merchandise exports marginally rose ?to $36.61 billion from $36.56
billion in January, while imports fell to $63.71 billion from $71.24 ?billion. India’s
exports during April-February this fiscal rise 1.8% to $402.93 billion, as per
a report by PTI.
(Financial Express)
No clear
evidence linking medical inflation to insurance premium hikes: IRDAI: Double-digit medical inflation has long
been cited by insurance companies as the primary justification for hiking
health insurance premiums, but the Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority of India (IRDAI) has maintained that there is insufficient evidence
to establish a direct correlation between the two. “IRDAI has informed that no
specific study has been conducted by it on the rate of medical inflation and
its correlation with health insurance premium,” Minister of State in the
Ministry of Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, said.
(Business Line)
PSBs’ valuation gap with
pvt banks shrinks: The valuation gap between public sector banks
(PSBs) and private lenders has been narrowing in recent months as the
state-owned lenders continue to report stronger balance sheets and sustained
profitability. Data from the NSE show that the trailing twelve-month
price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio gap between the Nifty PSU Bank Index and the
Nifty Private Bank Index moderated to about 9.41 as of March 13, compared with
11.85 in December. However, the interesting part is that this happened because
the P/E of private banks declined while it was steady for PSBs.
(Financial Express)
RBI slaps Rs 3.1 lakh
penalty on Cashfree for non-compliance: The Reserve Bank on Monday
slapped a Rs 3.1 lakh penalty on the payment aggregator Cashfree Payments India
Private Ltd for non-compliance with its directions. The RBI found that Cashfree
made certain "impermissible debit" from an escrow account, an
official statement said.
(Economic Times)
Top 10 wilful defaulters
owe Rs 40,635 crore to banks, ABG Shipyard leads:
In a troubling financial forecast, top wilful
defaulters are on track to owe banks over Rs 40,000 crore by March 2025, with
ABG Shipyard at the forefront. Conversely, the digital payments sector is
experiencing explosive growth, having reached an astronomical Rs 849.12 lakh
crore in retail transactions by FY25. ABG Shipyard
Ltd tops the list with Rs 6,695 crore due to banks followed by Gitanjali Gems
Rs 6,236 crore, Beta Napthol Rs 5,268 crore and Rakeshkumar Kuldipsingh
Wadhawan Rs 4,291 crore, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written
reply to the Lok Sabha.
(Economic Times)
London Metal Exchange halts
electronic trading across metals markets:
Electronic trading has been halted in all contracts
on the London Metal Exchange, with dealers unable to place orders in markets
ranging from aluminum to zinc as they awaited further information on the cause
of the outage.The failure came at a critical moment in the metals calendar, as
the market approaches the third Wednesday of the month — the main focus of
liquidity in the LME’s contracts — just as commodity prices are being rocked by
the war in Iran. The LME is planning to restart trading at 5.30 p.m. London
time, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Business Standard)
Flipkart-backed PhonePe delays
IPO plans amid geopolitical tensions, market volatility: Flipkart-backed PhonePe has temporarily
postponed its public market listing, citing current geopolitical uncertainties
and heightened market volatility. The company has announced that its IPO process
will resume once global capital markets stabilise, reflecting a cautious
approach amid unpredictable external conditions. "We sincerely hope for a
swift return to peace in all the affected regions. We remain committed to a
public listing in India," said Sameer Nigam, Chief Executive Officer of
PhonePe. This underscores the company's ongoing intent to bring its shares to
Indian capital markets when the environment is more favourable.
(Business Today)
India eases FDI rules,
allows firms with up to 10% Chinese shareholding under automatic route: Department for Promotion of Industry and
Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Monday notified changes in the FDI policy to permit
overseas companies with Chinese shareholding of up to 10 per cent to invest in
India under the automatic route. These investments will be subject to sectoral
FDI (foreign direct investment) limits and conditions. However, the relaxed FDI
norms will not apply to entities registered in China/Hong Kong or other
countries sharing land borders with India.
(Business Line)
RIL signs $3 bn, 15-year
green ammonia supply/purchase agreement with Samsung: Reliance Industries said it has signed a
binding 15-year supply and purchase agreement, valued at over $3 billion, with
Samsung C&T Corporation to supply green ammonia, marking one of the largest
global offtake deals for the clean fuel, signalling India’s growing ambitions as
an exporter of green energy. Under the agreement, Reliance will supply green
ammonia to Samsung C&T beginning in the second half of FY2029. The SPA is
among the largest binding long-term green ammonia offtake contracts globally,
it said.
(Business Line)
India jobless rate dips to
4.9% in February as urban employment improves: Jobless rate in India dropped a tad to 4.9 per
cent in February from 5 per cent in January, data released by the National
Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday. This reflects some improvement in the job
market. The rate is based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), including
nearly 3.75 lakh persons. The PLFS conducted by NSO is the primary source of
data on population activity participation and employment and unemployment
conditions.
(Business Line)
NFRA suggests stronger
internal control operations for audit companies: Strengthening its network-wide
control of non-audit activities is one of the observations by the National
Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) on the Big Four of the audit universe. The
others include improving documentation and a better assessment of keeping arm’s
length in giving loans to subsidiaries. These observations were made in four separate
inspection reports of the four big audit firms, and were released on Monday.
(Business Standard)
Financial fraud siphoned
$442 bn from global economy in 2025: Interpol: Over $442 billion has been
siphoned off from the global economy in 2025 through financial fraud, Interpol
said in its global financial fraud threat assessment for 2026, released on
Monday. The report kept the overall global risk related to financial fraud at
"high". Scamsters are leveraging agentic artificial intelligence
(AI), which can "autonomously plan and execute complete fraud campaigns --
from reconnaissance to ransom demands", the Lyon-based global police
cooperation body said.
(Business Standard)
TAKEOUT FINANCING
Takeout financing is a long-term financing arrangement where another
lender agrees to take over the loan after a specified period.
Purpose
Example: Bank finances a highway
project initially; another institution takes over after 5 years.
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 : 92.3966
INR
/ 1 GBP : 122.3707
INR
/ 1 EUR : 105.5896
INR
/100 JPY: 57.9900
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex:
75502.85 (+938.93)
NIFTY:
23408.80 (+257.70)
Bnk NIFTY: 54413.40 (+655.55)
Historical
events: March 17 marks
significant events, including the birth of astronaut Kalpana Chawla and
badminton star Saina Nehwal in India, and globally, the celebration of St.
Patrick's Day. Key historical events include the 1769 British suppression of
Bengal silk weavers, the 1996 Sri Lanka cricket World Cup win, and the 1957
death of Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay.
****Have a nice Day****
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