Issue: 1300
·
PM CARES fund rises to Rs.8,453 cr in 2024-25, 175% up in 5
years.
·
NITI Aayog outlines $81 billion export target for chemical
sector by 2030.
·
IBC resolution plans jump 92% in Q1, but ticket size falls.
·
NHAI Extends Digital FASTag Local Pass Facility to 121 Toll
Plazas Across the Country.
·
Ind-Ra lifts India's FY27 economic growth forecast by 10 bps
to 6.8%.
·
Rising bond yields weigh on equities; Nifty 50 falls for 6th
day.
·
India's crude import bill rises 41% to $13.7 bn in July.
India, Israel set to
exchange market access offers for FTA: India-Israel free trade agreement (FTA)
negotiations, revived last year after years of intermittent discussions, are
gathering momentum as both sides prepare to enter the crucial market-access
phase, sources said. Following the second round of talks in July, New Delhi is
consulting domestic industry to finalise its offer ahead of the third round,
when the two countries are expected to exchange market-access proposals.
(Business Line)
Rupee fall may reduce
effective incentives for semiconductor projects: The effective incentive
available to eligible companies under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)
could decline because of the sharp depreciation of the rupee against the
dollar, a senior official in the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (Meity) said. The impact could be significant because nearly 65 per
cent of the cost of a semiconductor project is spent on machinery, most of
which has to be imported and paid for in dollars. A large part of this
investment typically takes place in the third and fourth years of a project,
when equipment starts getting installed. The rupee has depreciated by more than
26 per cent against the dollar since the ISM scheme was announced in December
2021. It has fallen by more than 9 per cent in the past year.
(Business Standard)
Five-year bond yield
hardens as FCNR(B) position unwinding weighs on trade: Shorter-tenor bonds,
particularly the five-year paper that had outperformed after the FCNR (B) swap
scheme was announced, have come under significant pressure following the
Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) decision to close the swap window early. The
five-year bond yield has hardened by around 10 basis points (bps) over the past
two trading sessions. The benchmark 10-year
government bond yield settled higher at 6.83 per cent against its previous
close of 6.81 per cent, while the five-year yield rose to 6.46 per cent from
6.44 per cent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond yield could
rise further and trade closer to 6.85 per cent by end-August, said dealers.
(Business Standard)
Indian banks race to raise
$1.85 billion as RBI shuts dollar swap window early: Four Indian private lenders
have fast-tracked plans to raise dollar bonds before the end of August, seeking
to take advantage of a central bank swap facility before its early closure,
after larger peers ICICI Bank and Axis Bank raised more than $1 billion. Lenders
are rushing to raise funds after the Reserve Bank of India last week said it
would close a swap facility for FX deposits from non-resident Indians on August
31, a month earlier than planned.
(Moneycontrol)
‘Banking for Youth’:
Sitharaman asks PSBs to launch month-long campaign for Indians above 16: Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on Tuesday asked public sector banks (PSBs) to consider launching a
focused, month-long 'Banking for Youth' campaign from October 2, 2026, as she
called on state-owned lenders to build stronger and longer-term relationships
with young Indians. "I would like Public Sector
Banks to consider launching a focused, month-long 'Banking for Youth' campaign
commencing 2nd October 2026 (Gandhi Jayanti), with particular outreach to young
citizens above 16 years of age," Sitharaman said in her closing remarks on
the second day of the PSB Confluence 2026. She said the campaign could be
coordinated through the Department of Financial Services (DFS) and the Indian
Banks' Association (IBA). The Finance Minister said the
campaign should reach young people at the beginning of their financial journey,
bring them into the formal banking system and establish an early connection
with them.
(Moneycontrol)
PSB Confluence 2026
concludes with actionable strategies across seven themes for Public Sector
Banks and Public Financial Institutions: The two-day PSB Confluence
2026, organised by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of
Finance, concluded after extensive deliberations among the leadership of Public
Sector Banks (PSBs) and Public Financial Institutions (PFIs). The
Day 2 deliberations identified opportunities to strengthen financing across
agriculture and horticulture value chains, including FPOs, storage, processing,
logistics and market linkages. Discussions on Reimagining the Credit Card
Business explored strategies around digital onboarding, greater cross-sell to
the existing customer base and leveraging opportunities arising from RuPay-UPI
integration. The deliberations were also enriched by real-world experiences
shared by CA Arvind Agarwal, Director, VNR Group, on Agriculture and
Horticulture Value Chain Infrastructure, and Shri Sanjay Mehndiratta, Director,
Toy Zone, on Priority Sector Lending, bringing practical perspectives from
their respective entrepreneurial journeys.
(PiB)
Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)
Record Strong Growth in Credit Delivery during FY 2025–26: During FY 2025–26, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)
have continued to strengthen their role in promoting rural economic development
and financial inclusion by expanding credit delivery and maintaining a strong
focus on Priority Sector Lending (PSL). While gross loans outstanding of RRBs
increased by 10.3%, from Rs.5,24,163 crore in FY 2024–25 to Rs.5,78,349 crore
in FY 2025–26, the performance of RRBs under the Reserve Bank of India's
Priority Sector Lending framework remained strong during the year. The average
achievement against the overall PSL prescribed target of 75% reached 91.7% of
Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC). Almost all RRBs achieved the overall PSL
target, reflecting the RRBs' robust focus on supporting priority sectors and
advancing financial inclusion.
(PiB)
Banking sector in strongest
position to undertake reforms, high-level panel coming soon: FM Sitharaman: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday
said India’s banking sector is in its strongest position to undertake the next
phase of reforms, aided by historically low non-performing assets. She said the
High-Level Committee on Banking for Viksit Bharat will be announced soon to
align the sector with India’s growth ambitions.
(Economic Times)
Swiggy gets shareholder nod
for key changes to secure IOCC status: Swiggy has secured shareholder approval for key
changes aimed at helping it qualify as an Indian-owned and controlled company
(IOCC), clearing a major hurdle after a similar proposal was rejected by
investors in May. At its August 18 annual general meeting (AGM),
shareholders approved a special resolution to alter the company’s Articles of
Association (AoA) with 93.97 percent of votes in favour. The same proposal had
received only 72.36 percent support in May, falling short of the 75 percent
threshold required for a special resolution.
(Moneycontrol)
Prudential gets CCI nod to
acquire 75% stake in Bharti Life Insurance: Fair trade regulator CCI on Tuesday cleared
the proposal of Prudential Corporation Holdings, an arm of UK-based financial
giant Prudential plc, to acquire a stake in Bharti Life Insurance Company Ltd. "The proposed
combination envisages the acquisition of certain equity shareholding in Bharti
Life Insurance Company Ltd (Target) by Prudential Corporation Holdings Ltd
(Acquirer)," the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said in a release. Prudential
Corporation Holdings acts as the holding company of the acquirer Group's
insurance and asset management operations in Asia and provides management and
support to its Asia and Africa business operations, while Bharti Life Insurance
is an IRDAI-licensed insurer.
(Business Standard)
Razorpay builds proprietary
AI model Vulcan to boost payment success rates: Payments technology company Razorpay on
Tuesday rolled out an artificial intelligence (AI) model Vulcan trained across
four billion transactions to improve payment success rates and detect frauds. The Bengaluru-based
company said the model was proprietary to the company with the architecture and
training data belonging to the fintech firm.
It claims to have been trained across 3 trillion data points with the
model’s ability to understand nearly 3,000 signals from each transaction. What
is different in this model is that instead of a specialised model each for
routing, risk, fraud and checkout, a single model like this understands all
data points at one point.
(Business Standard)
UIDAI Special Drive
Completes over 2 Cr Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBU) in Aadhaar for School
Children:
The Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has achieved a significant milestone
in its nationwide mission-mode drive for Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBU),
completing over 20 million (over 2 crore) MBUs for school children across the
country. The initiative was enabled by UIDAI’s technological
integration with the Unified District Information System for Education Plus
(UDISE+), which provides visibility of the MBU status of children at schools. The
special drive, initiated in September 2025, has by now covered over 1.56 lakh
schools, enabling school children to complete their Aadhaar biometric updates
conveniently through dedicated school-level camps and coordinated outreach by
UIDAI and State/UT education departments. Aadhaar enrolment for children below
five years captures demographic information and photograph, while fingerprints
and iris biometrics are not captured at that age as these biometrics are still
developing. MBU helps ensure that the child’s Aadhaar continues to have updated
biometric information. MBU is required when a child attains the age of 5 years
and again at 15 years.
(PiB)
Saudi Arabia tightens
anti-crime oversight on UAE-bound bank transfers: Saudi Arabia has placed ?financial transfers
to the United Arab Emirates under extra layers of regulatory oversight reserved
for countries considered high-risk for illicit money flows, according to three
people with direct knowledge of the matter, the latest sign of a widening rift
between the wealthy Gulf monarchies. The measures, which were not announced publicly,
could help explain why a number of companies ?? say they have had difficulties
transferring funds from accounts in Saudi Arabia to the UAE in recent months,
an issue first reported by Bloomberg and the Financial Times in July. The
enhanced oversight measures have not previously been reported.
(Business Standard)
FINANCIAL
REPRESSION
·
Financial repression refers to government policies
that keep interest rates artificially low or channel financial resources toward
government borrowing, often through regulations on banks and financial
institutions. It can help the government finance fiscal deficits at relatively
low cost, but prolonged repression may reduce returns to savers, distort
capital allocation, and weaken financial-sector efficiency.
·
Mandatory holdings of government securities,
administered interest rates, or restrictions that encourage banks to finance
government borrowing can be associated with financial repression.
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 : 95.6772
INR
/ 1 GBP : 129.4471
INR
/ 1 EUR : 110.6969
INR
/100 JPY: 59.8900
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex:
77235.46 (-492.70)
NIFTY:
24154.90 (-132.75)
Bnk NIFTY: 57262.40 (-235.40)
World Photography
Day: Honors the art, craft, science, and history of
photography, marking the date the French government purchased the patent for
the daguerreotype photographic process in 1839.
Historical
events: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj escaping
Aurangzeb’s imprisonment in Agra (1666), the East India Company minting its
first rupee coin in Calcutta (1757), Afghanistan declaring independence from
Britain (1919), and the global observance of World Humanitarian Day and World
Photography Day.
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