Issue: 1303
·
Bitcoin nears $80,000 amid biggest weekly rally in three
years.
·
JPMorgan retains Nifty target at 27,000, sees India earnings
growth picking up.
·
ICICI Bank doubles overseas borrowing limit to $5 billion.
·
Banks ride RBI swap wave to raise $12 billion via overseas
debt.
·
India and Brazil sign MoU to Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation
in Telecommunications and ICTs.
·
Easing of 10% rule on Chinese stake attracts FDI worth Rs.4,896
crore.
1.1 billion barrels gone:
IMF warns that global oil market is running out of safety cushions: The global oil market faced a disruption that could
have sent crude prices soaring. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz
cut off around 20 million barrels a day of crude and refined products — roughly
one-fifth of global consumption. Yet after an initial spike, oil prices settled
around $90-$100 a barrel. The reason, according to an International Monetary
Fund (IMF) analysis published on July 15, 2026, is that the global energy
system had several shock absorbers. But those buffers have now been significantly
depleted.
(Business Today)
India composite PMI rises
to 54.6 in August from July's 52-month low: HSBC: India's private sector
activity expanded at a slightly faster pace in August, with the HSBC Flash
India Composite PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) Output index rising to 54.6
from 54.3 in July, which was a 52-month low, according to the HSBC Flash India
PMI report. The latest reading showed a faster expansion in overall private
sector activity. However, it remained the second-weakest since March 2022,
indicating that growth continued to be relatively subdued. HSBC said,
"India PMI Composite Output Index.... rose to 54.6 in August from July's
52-month low of 54.3".
(Business Line)
India rules out sugar
import from Pakistan despite duty-free window: India will not allow sugar
imports from Pakistan despite its decision to permit duty-free imports of raw
sugar to augment domestic supplies, with the government signalling that the
existing trade restrictions with Islamabad will continue to apply. “India’s
position and policy related to Pakistan is well known,” External Affairs
Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing on Friday,
responding to a question on reports that Pakistani sugar producers were keen to
supply the Indian market.
(Business Line)
India to give Canada's
Fairfax two years to consolidate holdings for IDBI Bank deal: Canada's Fairfax Financial, a
frontrunner to acquire the government's stake in IDBI Bank, is set to be
allowed up to two years to consolidate its India bank holdings to smooth the
acquisition, two sources familiar with the matter said. A long-delayed sale of
a majority stake in IDBI Bank, held by the federal government and state insurer
Life Insurance Corp of India, is in its final stages. The transaction, valued
at more than $5 ?billion, would be ?the largest ?foreign investment in an
Indian bank. It is also important for the government at a time when the Middle
East war ?has strained finances and weaker foreign inflows have pressured the
rupee.
(Economic Times)
Punjab National Bank inks
pact with Indian Army to offer curated credit cards to army personne: Punjab National Bank on Friday
said it has entered into an exclusive memorandum of understanding with the
Indian Army to offer two credit cards with curated benefits for serving Army
personnel. Under the partnership, PNB will offer the PNB LUXURA Metal Credit
Card for Army officers and the PNB Parakram Credit Card for Junior Commissioned
Officers (JCOs) and other ranks personnel. The cards will offer a range of
lifestyle and financial benefits, including 3 per cent cashback on purchases at
Canteen Stores Department (CSD) outlets, complimentary domestic and
international airport lounge access, zero forex markup, and Buy One Get One
movie ticket offers.
(Economic Times)
Ebix and NSDL Payments Bank
cross one crore registrations Under MSRTC NCMC Programmes: As digital payments and
transit systems become increasingly integrated, the adoption of interoperable,
contactless payment instruments is gaining momentum across India. The RuPay
National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) ecosystem, in particular, is enabling
users to access multiple mobility and payment services through a single
smartcard. Against this backdrop, Ebix
and its distribution arm Ebix Payment Services, along with National Securities
Depository Limited (NDSL) payment banks*, have registered more than a crore
NCMC RuPay smartcards in five months, a pace of roughly 66,000 cards a day, or
about 46 every minute, sustained without a break. The run ranks among the
fastest issuance runs recorded by a financial institution on the RuPay network
in India.
(Economic Times)
RBI swap window boosts
deposits, but may trim bank NIMs by 3-15 bps: Although the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
announced it will prematurely close the concessional swap window for FCNR(B)
deposits by a month, with the facility now ending on August 31, 2026, Indian
banks have mobilised substantial flows so far and are expected to mobilise over
$60 billion by the end of the month.
While this has boosted deposit growth and is likely to soften deposit
rates going ahead, it will also be margin-dilutive for banks, with net interest
margins (NIMs) likely to be diluted by 3-15 basis points (bps). One basis point
is a hundredth of a percentage point.
(Business Standard)
DFS Concludes Two-Day
Workshop on Enhancing Accessibility of Financial Services for Divyangjans: The Department of Financial Services (DFS),
Ministry of Finance, Government of India, convened a two-day workshop on 20–21
August 2026, in association with Union Bank of India at its Staff College in
Bengaluru. On Day 2, the discussions focused on measures to enhance the
accessibility of financial services for Divyangjans (Persons with Disabilities)
in Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Public Sector Insurance Companies (PSICs),
Sectoral Regulators, and Public Financial Institutions (PFIs).
(PiB)
HDFC, PNB lead banks lining
up for the next wave of dollar bonds: Indian banks are flooding the overseas market
with dollar bond issuances, with lenders such as ICICI Bank, Punjab National
Bank (PNB), and Union Bank of India planning to tap the market to take
advantage of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) concessional swap window. HDFC
Bank — the country’s largest private-sector lender — on Thursday raised $1.75
billion through twin dollar bonds with three-year and five-year maturities,
marking one of the largest dollar bond raises by an Indian bank since the
global financial crisis (GFC). On Friday, ICICI Bank’s board raised its
overseas borrowing mandate to $5 billion from $2.5 billion earlier.
(Business Standard)
Govt notifies Rs
62,500-crore mobile manufacturing scheme, offers extra incentives for local
sourcing: The government on August
21 notified the Rs 62,500-crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS),
bringing into effect a five-year incentive programme aimed at expanding handset
production while pushing manufacturers to source more components and
sub-assemblies locally. The scheme will operate from the current financial
year, with effect from April 1, 2026, Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology Secretary S Krishnan said. It will run through FY31. Under the
scheme, manufacturers will receive incentives ranging from 2.25 percent to 5
percent on eligible sales of mobile phones made in India. Companies can earn an
additional incentive of up to 1.5 percent for sourcing specified components and
sub-assemblies domestically.
(Moneycontrol)
Govt eyes up to 45%
domestic value addition in medical devices under next PLI: India's domestic medical device manufacturing
grew 43%, but DCGI and Department of Pharmaceuticals cite weak innovation and
push for higher domestic value addition. Though the government is looking at deepening the
domestic value addition through incentives. Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP)
secretary Manoj Joshi stated that the future production linked incentive (PLI)
scheme for medical devices could favour component manufacturers over simple
assembly operations. For companies entering second-round benefits with low
initial local value addition, the government wants to push them toward 40-45%
domestic value addition. “We would like to incentivise component makers in
large way,” Joshi said.
(Financial Express)
Gold loans' share of system
credit could reach 10% in 5 years: JP Morgan: Gold loans’ share of system credit could rise
to around 10 per cent over the next five years, from 2 per cent in FY24 and 5
per cent in FY26, as a multi-year cultural shift turns gold from a family
heirloom into a monetisable asset, JP Morgan said in a report. The shift is driving
borrowers towards gold loans and away from unsecured and small business loans,
aided by rising financial literacy among borrowers and lenders’ lower risk
appetite. Borrowers benefit from a 300-600 basis point rate arbitrage, while
lenders get a low-risk secured asset. Despite the recent surge, gold loan
penetration remains low, with only around 11 per cent of the gold held by the
bottom 60 per cent of households currently being used as collateral.
(Business Standard)
SEBI plans mutual
fund-style distributor network for bonds, proposes tighter rules for ‘fixed returns’
ads:
Market
regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed tighter
advertising rules for online bond platforms and a new distributor network to
expand retail participation in corporate bonds beyond major cities. In two consultation
papers issued on Friday, SEBI proposed replacing the existing Online Bond
Platform Provider (OBPP) advertisement code with stricter guidelines and
introducing Fixed Income Channel Partners (FICPs), an intermediary category
modelled on the lines of mutual fund distributors. Public comments on both
proposals are invited until September 11. The proposals come as India's corporate bond market
has expanded rapidly. Outstanding corporate bonds have increased from around Rs
17.5 trillion at the end of FY15 to more than Rs 60 trillion as of July 31,
2026. Debt issuances during FY26 stood at Rs 9.1 trillion, nearly twice the
amount raised through equity.
(Moneycontrol)
India and ADB sign $230
million loan to modernise water supply and sanitation in Chennai: The Government of India and the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) today signed a $230 million loan to modernise and expand Chennai’s
water supply and sanitation infrastructure. The Chennai Climate-Resilient Water
Security and Sewerage Project will improve access to safe and reliable water
supply and better sanitation services across Chennai. It will also help
strengthen the city’s resilience to climate change, improve public health and
quality of life, and support a more efficient and financially sustainable urban
water system.
(PiB)
INDEX OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION (IIP)
· The
Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is a composite indicator that measures the
short-term changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial
products during a given period with respect to that in a chosen base period. In
India, the first official attempt to compute the IIP was made much earlier than
the first recommendation on the subject came at the international level. With
the inception of the Central Statistical Organization (now known as National
Statistics Office (NSO)) in 1951, the responsibility for compilation and
publication of IIP was vested with it.
· In
India, the eight core industries account for 40.27 per cent of the weighting of
items included in the IIP. The 8 core industries includes; Electricity, Steel,
Refinery products, Crude oil, Coal, Cement, Natural gas and Fertilizers.
·
The Index is used by
government agencies and departments such as the Finance Ministry and the RBI
for policymaking.
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 : 95.7467
INR
/ 1 GBP : 130.6588
INR
/ 1 EUR : 111.9700
INR
/100 JPY: 60.2400
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex:
77540.83 (+3.11)
NIFTY:
24252.00 (+20.15)
Bnk NIFTY: 57761.95 (+266.05)
Madras Day: Madras Day to
commemorate the founding of the city of Chennai (formerly Madras) in 1639. It
is also recognized internationally as the International Day Commemorating the
Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief by the United Nations.
Historic events: August 22 holds
profound historical significance, marked by the founding of Madras (now
Chennai) by the British East India Company in 1639, Mahatma Gandhi's formation
of the Natal Indian Congress in South Africa in 1894 to fight racial
discrimination, Madam Cama hoisting the early Indian flag abroad in 1907, and
the historic launch of the first America's Cup yacht race globally in 1851.
****WISHING A NCE DAY****
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