Issue: 1145
India Eyes $200 Billion in
AI investment over two years: India expects to attract more
than $200 billion in artificial intelligence-driven investments over the course
of two years, a top federal minister said, underscoring the world’s most
populous nation’s surging ambitions in the new technology. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s administration has designed a five-layer framework comprising
applications, AI models, compute capacity, data centers and network
infrastructure as well as energy to democratize and deploy the technology at
scale.
(Bloomberg)
21 MoUs across critical
minerals, defence and Everest-climbing H125 helicopters: India-France talks: India and France on Tuesday elevated their
relations to a “special global strategic partnership” and vowed to boost
cooperation in key sectors of defence, trade and critical minerals with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macon describing the
bilateral ties as a “force for global stability” in the face of increasing
geopolitical turbulence. The pacts included one on defence cooperation and
another on a joint venture between Bharat Electronics Ltd and French defence
giant Safran to produce Hammer missiles in India. “With the launch of the India-France Year of
Innovation, we are now going to transform our strategic partnership into a
partnership of the people. Because innovation happens not in isolation, but
through collaboration,” Modi said. In his remarks, Macron said India is one of
France’s most trusted partners.”
(Financial Express)
Govt plans to switch
?25,000 crore bonds through auction on Monday: The government plans to conduct a ?25,000 crore
switch auction of dated securities to smoothen its redemption profile and ease
supply pressure in the bond market, the Reserve Bank of India said in a release
on Tuesday. Last week, a ?75,500 crore switch was conducted. The aim of these
operations is to bring down the gross borrowing number for FY27, which stands
at ?17.2 trillion as announced in the Union Budget. The auction, scheduled for
February 23, will convert a basket of government bonds maturing in 2026-27 into
longer-tenor papers ranging from 2032 to 2062.
(Business Standard)
Panel may pitch
for sweeping banking reforms: The
government may constitute the proposed High-Level Committee on Banking for
Viksit Bharat by the first quarter of FY27, with broad terms of reference (ToR)
aimed at undertaking comprehensive reforms in the banking sector. Although the
finer details are still being worked out, Financial Services Secretary M.
Nagaraju, who is set to superannuate in May, may head the committee, sources
said. Former State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Khara could be a member of the
panel. Parallel to finalising the ToR, efforts are underway to identify panel
members, sources said.
(Financial Express)
NBFCs seek cap on gold
loans for businesses: Non-banking financial
companies (NBFCs) have approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider
capping the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of gold loans being offered to
businesses. From April 1, under the new
gold loan guidelines, there will be no regulatory cap on these loans. This
implies that NBFCs could advance up to 100% or even more against the pledged
gold for loans taken for business purposes. Big lenders fear that this will
lead to over aggression by some players wanting to capture market share and
lead to systemic problems. According to sources, the Finance Industry
Development Council (FIDC), the self-regulatory organisation (SRO) of NBFCs,
recently made a representation to the central bank to consider retaining the
cap at 75% for gold loans being extended for business purposes or income-generating
lending.
(Financial Express)
RBI eases ECB rules, lifts
borrowing limits to $1 bn from $750 mn earlier: The Reserve Bank of India has
updated its External Commercial Borrowings rules. Borrowing limits have been
raised, and maturity requirements are now more flexible. These changes aim to
support the growing trend of Indian companies raising funds through ECBs. The
new norms offer greater ease for businesses seeking foreign capital.
(Economic Times)
Lenders seek reset of
compensation rules on ATM fraud: Banks are flagging a new ATM
fraud to the Reserve Bank of India. This power-off fraud tricks systems into
dispensing cash during withdrawals. Banks want clearer rules to avoid paying
for these fraudulent transactions. Existing compensation guidelines are being
exploited. This issue is causing significant disputes and financial losses for
banks across India.
(Business Standard)
Airtel Money, Bharti Airtel
arm gets RBI nod to operate as non-deposit NBFC: Airtel Money, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, has
received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a Type II
non-banking financial company (NBFC). The company said it has been granted a
Certificate of Registration allowing it to commence the business of nonbanking
financial institution without accepting public deposits. “The Company is having
a valid Certificate of Registration dated 13/02/2026 issued by Reserve Bank of
India under section 45 IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934,” the company
said in its regulatory filing.
(Financial Express)
Adani announces $100
billion AI infrastructure investment: The Adani Group on Tuesday announced a $100
billion investment to build renewable-energy-powered, AI-ready data centre
infrastructure by 2035, in a move aimed at positioning India as a global hub in
the emerging artificial intelligence economy. The group said the investment,
described as one of the world’s largest integrated energy-compute commitments,
is expected to catalyse an additional $150 billion across server manufacturing,
sovereign cloud platforms, electrical infrastructure and related industries
over the next decade. Together, this could create a $250 billion AI
infrastructure ecosystem in India, the group said in a statement.
(Financial Express)
Infosys announces partnership
with Anthropic to build and deploy AI agents across sectors: Indian IT giant Infosys has
today announced a strategic collaboration with AI firm Anthropic to build and
deliver advanced enterprise AI solutions to enterprises across industries including
telecom, financial services, manufacturing and software development. The
partnership will start with the telecom segment, with a dedicated Anthropic
Center of Excellence being launched to build and deploy specialised AI agents.
The tie-up intends to refresh the evolving enterprise operating models for
clients by combining deep industry expertise, frontier AI and engineering scale
in a single approach. The main focus will be on agentic AI which can handle
tasks like processing claims, generating and testing code and managing
compliance reviews.
(Financial Express)
IBBI moots changes in
insolvency rules to plug procedural gaps; disputes on delayed claims to be
handled solely by NCLT: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy
Board of India (IBBI) has proposed a series of changes in the insolvency rules
that will plug gaps in insolvency costs and the treatment of delayed claims in
addition to bringing in more transparency in the approval of resolution plans
by the committee of creditors (CoC). Through a discussion paper, the insolvency
board said that even though the commercial wisdom of the CoC remains supreme in
the approval of resolution plans, however, certain factors – such as expected
recovery vis-à-vis liquidation value, fair market value, credibility and track
record of resolution applicants – must be formally in CoC’s meeting while
evaluating resolution plans. The enhanced documentation is expected to make the
CoC’s decision-making more transparent, and provide evidentiary support in the
event of judicial scrutiny.
(Financial Express)
RBI proposes to ease
foreign exchange norms, permits banks to trade on global platforms: The Reserve Bank of India has proposed changes
to foreign exchange rules that seek to offer authorised market participants
greater flexibility to trade across electronic platforms while retaining key
risk management limits. A Reserve Bank notification shows the proposed rules
allow banks to trade on ?electronic ?trading platforms
outside India. They would also allow banks to utilise surplus foreign currency
balances for investments in long-term overseas debt instruments issued by ?a
?foreign state. Reserve Bank notification
stated that wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures of authorised dealers
incorporated in India would ?be ?permitted to undertake
non-deliverable FX derivative transactions, provided that the subsidiary or
joint ?venture is a banking entity.
(Financial Express)
DFS secy urges stronger BC
ecosystem, better services and process upgrades: Emphasising the critical role played by
Business Correspondents (BCs) in deepening financial inclusion across the
country, Department of Financial Services (DFS) Secretary M Nagaraju on Tuesday
called for continuous improvement in processes and expansion of services at BC
points to meet evolving customer needs. Chairing the tenth meeting of the
Monitoring Committee on Business Correspondents in New Delhi, Nagaraju
underscored the importance of strengthening the BC ecosystem to ensure
last-mile delivery of banking services, particularly in remote and underserved
regions.
(Business Standard)
BASKET SNEAKING
§ A
type of Dark pattern relevant to Banks, in which, Inclusion of additional items
such as products / services, payments to charity or donation at the time of
checkout from a platform, without the consent of the user, such that the total
amount payable by the user is more than the amount payable for the product / service
chosen by the user. Provided that addition of necessary fees disclosed at the
time of purchase or providing
complimentary services shall not be considered as basket sneaking.
§ Illustration:
Selecting additional products / services by default, on behalf of the customer,
e.g., adding protection against online fraud / loan protection insurance by
default during the loan application process.
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 : 90.7744
INR
/ 1 GBP : 123.5706
INR
/ 1 EUR : 107.5205
INR
/100 JPY: 59.3800
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex: 83450.96 (+173.81)
NIFTY: 25725.40 (+42.65)
Bnk NIFTY: 61174.00 (+224.90)
Historical events: February 18 marks
significant milestones in history, featuring the 1946 Royal Indian Navy revolt
in Bombay, the 1911 first official airmail flight in India, and the 1930
discovery of Pluto. Key events include the 1979 Sahara desert snowfall, the
2007 Samjhauta Express bombing, and the 1905 founding of the India Home Rule
Society.
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