Issue: 1148
US Supreme Court strikes
down President Trump’s emergency tariffs in 6–3 ruling, citing overreach: The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday
struck down President Donald Trump’s broad-based tariffs imposed under a law
intended for national emergencies, delivering a major setback to one of the
most expansive assertions of executive authority in recent years. In a 6–3
ruling, the justices upheld a lower court decision that found Trump had
exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
(IEEPA), a 1977 statute that allows a president to regulate commerce during a
declared national emergency, Reuters reported on Friday. The case was brought
by a group of businesses affected by the tariffs along with 12 U.S. states,
most of them led by Democratic governors, who challenged Trump’s unilateral use
of the law to impose import taxes. The US Constitution assigns
the power to levy taxes and tariffs to Congress, not the president. Rather than
seeking congressional approval, Trump invoked IEEPA to impose tariffs on nearly
all U.S. trading partners.
(Business Today)
Trump vows alternatives
after tariff ruling, announces new 10% global tariff; says nothing changes on
India trade deal: US President Donald Trump on Friday sharply
criticised the Supreme Court ruling that struck down his tariffs, vowing that
all the fallback options will be used to replace them. He stated that the court
didn't overrule tariffs, and only overruled a particular use of IEEPA. He
further announced that he was imposing an extra global tariff of 10 percent on
US trade partners. "The Supreme Court's decision today made a president's
ability to both regulate trade and impose tariffs more powerful and more
crystal clear, rather than less," he said.
(Moneycontrol)
US GDP cools to 1.4%, well
below forecasts; Fed rate cuts back in focus: The US economy lost momentum near the end of
2025, with growth slowing more than expected as a record-length government
shutdown hit spending and investment, even as inflation stayed stubbornly above
the Federal Reserve’s target. GDP rose at an annualised rate of 1.4 percent in
the fourth quarter. Economists surveyed had expected a 2.5 percent gain.
(Moneycontrol)
India's core sector eases
to 4% in Jan; steel, cement remain bright spots: Growth in output of India’s eight core sectors
exhibited broadbased slow down in January to 4 per cent from an upgraded 4.7
per cent uptick in December 2025, according to the Index of Core Industries
(ICI) released by the commerce and industry ministry on Friday. All but the
refinery products sector showed sequential deceleration in January, with crude
oil (-5.8 per cent) and natural gas production (-5 per cent) remaining in
negative territory for the fifth and 19th straight months, respectively. For the first 10 months
of FY26 (April- January), the core sectors have now reported a modest 2.8 per
cent growth, compared to 4.5 per cent in the same period in the preceding year.
(Business Standard)
Axis Bank files
complaint against ex-RCFL Director: The
Mumbai Police is conducting a preliminary enquiry (PE) into a complaint filed
by Axis Bank against Devang Mody, a former whole-time director of Reliance
Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), alleging deliberate diversion of funds disbursed
under various credit facilities. The bank has quantified the amount
involved at ?38.95 crore, representing the principal sacrifice under the
resolution plan implemented for RCFL, people privy to the complaint details
told ET.
(Economic Times)
SBI in talks with Japanese
lenders for M&A financing: State Bank of India is
exploring partnerships with Japanese lenders for merger and acquisition
financing following new regulatory guidelines. SBI chairman CS Setty indicated
the bank has a lending ceiling of Rs 94,000 crore under these norms. Initially,
SBI plans to approach these deals cautiously with smaller ticket sizes and
simpler structures.
(Economic Times)
Banks should look at lower
rates for small borrowers, says DFS Secy: DFS Secretary M. Nagaraju
urged banks to lower lending rates for small borrowers and businesses to 6-7%,
aiming to boost credit penetration without incurring losses. He highlighted the
need to bridge the significant gap in India's bank credit to GDP ratio, which
stands at 57% compared to global benchmarks, to achieve the Vikshit Bharat 2047
vision.
(Economic Times)
PhonePe rolls out
AI-powered feature to pay via voice or text: PhonePe has
introduced a new AI feature. Users can now use voice or text commands to
complete tasks within the app. This simplifies payments and navigation. The
feature uses Microsoft Foundry technology. It understands user intent for
payments, purchases, and support. This launch coincides with India hosting the
AI Impact Summit 2026. Big AI investments are also being announced.
(Economic Times)
Nabfid withdraws 3-year
bond sale as bid yields exceed expectations: National Bank
for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) on Friday withdrew its
three-year bond issue after bids were higher than the issuer was willing to accept,
said market participants. Market participants said that on the base size of Rs
1,000 crore, bids were received at a yield of around 7.15 per cent. “The bids
were at around 7.15 per cent, the level they were unwilling to accept. This was
because of hardening of G-sec yields as sentiment has dampened in the market
because of geo-political tensions,” said a dealer at a state-owned bank.
(Business Standard)
SEBI pursues fund diversion
allegations against Zee: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
has issued a show-cause notice to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. and its
leadership, reviving allegations of fund diversion and governance lapses that
derailed its planned merger Sony Pictures Networks India. “The company has
received a show-cause notice from SEBI pertaining to certain allegations made
in 2019 by vested interests,” a Zee spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“SEBI initiated an investigation which was unduly prolonged.”
(Business Line)
India joins US-led ‘Pax
Silica’ coalition: India on Friday joined a US-led strategic alliance,
known as ‘Pax Silica’, which is aimed at building a resilient supply chain for
critical minerals and artificial intelligence. The agreement was signed by IT
Secretary S Krishnan on behalf of India and US under secretary for economic
affairs Jacob Helberg.
(Business Line)
Nearly 80 countries to sign
New Delhi Declaration on AI: Seeking to position India at
the centre of a more inclusive global artificial intelligence (AI) order, 80
countries are set to adopt a declaration on Saturday at the AI Impact Summit in
the capital. The Declaration strongly favours voluntary, collaborative
frameworks over binding global regulation, while stressing access, skilling and
energy efficiency as core pillars of AI governance. Overall, the New Delhi
Declaration signals India’s attempt to shape the global AI discourse around
inclusion, affordability and sovereignty, favouring multistakeholder
collaboration and soft-law instruments over prescriptive global rulebooks.
(Business Line)
Cash payments at highway
tolls may end from April 1, 2026; Govt pushes full digital collection: The government is planning to
discontinue cash payments at National Highway toll plazas nationwide from April
1, 2026, in a major push to create a fully digital tolling ecosystem. According
to an official statement issued Friday, all toll transactions would be
processed exclusively through electronic modes such as FASTag and UPI, if the
proposal is implemented.
(Business Today)
NITI Aayog calls for
unified apprenticeship framework: Top government think tank NITI Aayog has
recommended the creation of a unified National Apprenticeship Mission–National
Apprenticeship Promotion (NAM–NAP) framework and consolidation of existing
portals to scale, standardise and modernise India’s apprenticeship ecosystem
rapidly. Describing the reform as critical to converting the country’s
demographic advantage into sustained economic growth, Niti Aayog in a policy
report said that with youth aged 15–29 accounting for 27.2% of the population
in 2021 and projected to remain about 345 million by 2036, India must urgently
align skilling systems with labour-market demand.
(Financial Express)
Govt publishes handbook on
employer compliance under Labour Codes: The Labour and Employment Ministry has
released a compliance handbook for employers to understand norms of labour
codes and comply with them in a new regime. “Compliance Handbook for Employers
Under the Four Labour Codes (Central Government Sphere)” lists 23 actions that
employers must fulfil regularly under the Code on Wages, the Industrial
Relations Code, the Code on Social Security, and the Occupational Safety,
Health, and Working Conditions Code.
(Business Standard)
SUBSCRIPTION TRAP (In marketing)
§ The
process of - (i) making cancellation of a paid subscription impossible or a
complex and lengthy process; or (ii) hiding the cancellation option of a
subscription; or (iii) forcing a user to
provide payment details or authorization for auto debits for availing a free subscription; or (iv)
making the instructions related to cancellation of subscription ambiguous,
latent, confusing, cumbersome..
§ For
example: Making it easy for customers to sign up for a product / service (e.g.,
credit card, insurance product, etc.) but making the procedure for cancelling
the same significantly cumbersome like not providing a direct link for
cancellation, keeping the cancellation option in complex navigation requiring
multiple confirmation steps.
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 : 90.9518
INR
/ 1 GBP : 122.2938
INR
/ 1 EUR : 106.9060
INR
/100 JPY: 58.6000
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex: 82814.71 (+316.57)
NIFTY: 25571.25 (+116.90)
Bnk NIFTY: 61172.00 (+432.45)
International Mother Language Day: February 21 is
internationally recognized as International Mother Language Day, a
UNESCO-proclaimed observance to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and
multilingualism. It commemorates the 1952 Bengali Language Movement martyrs in
Bangladesh.
Historical events: In India, notable
events include the 1896 birth of poet Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, the 1959
establishment of the Press Club of India, and the 2013 Hyderabad bombings.
****Have a nice Day****
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