Issue: 1044
Gold and silver plunge: Largest one-day drops in years amid
market selloff: Spot
gold experienced a notable fall on Tuesday, declining by as much as 6.3% to
reach $4,082.03 an ounce. This represented the metal's largest single-day
percentage drop since mid-April 2013. At the same time, spot silver registered
a steep fall, dropping 8.7% to $47.89 an ounce—its largest decline since
February 2021, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. The pronounced price
movements occurred amid a broad market selloff affecting precious metals, with
both commodities marking multi-year lows on the day.
(Business Today)
Core sector growth slowed to 3% in Sept: The government said on Tuesday that core
sector growth rate, based on performance of eight key infrastructure, was 3 per
cent in September against 6.5 per cent of August. “The production of steel,
cement, electricity and fertilizer recorded positive growth in September 2025,”
said the Commerce & Industry Ministry. Output growth of core sectors was
2.4 per cent in September last year. The growth rate has implications for the
country’s IIP as these industries account for 40.27 per cent of the weight of
items included in the index. In
September this year, these eight sectors recorded the lowest growth in the last
three months due to a fall in the output of coal, crude oil, refinery products
and natural gas. The growth rate in the production of fertiliser and cement
slowed to 1.6 per cent and 5.3 per cent during the month under review against
1.9 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively, in September 2024.
(Business Line)
Indian economy resilient but not immune to global challenges,
RBI report: Flux in the global economy presents considerable
challenges to the global macroeconomic outlook and the Indian economy is not
immune, the central bank said in its monthly bulletin. But the domestic economy
has so far exhibited resilience, it said, adding that low inflation, strong
corporate and banking balance sheets are contributing to this. RBI earlier this month raised its forecast for growth in the Indian
economy to 6.8% for the current year. "The growth outlook remains
resilient, supported by domestic drivers, despite uncertainties on the external
front," it said.
(Business Line)
DBS’ goal is to be a universal bank with SME & retail focus:
CEO Rajat Verma: Five
years after taking over the troubled Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Singapore’s banking
major DBS has built a strong base for steady growth in India, CEO Rajat Verma
said. The bank’s net profit increased 81% year on year to Rs 684 crore in FY25.
Verma told Joel Rebello and Sangita Mehta that DBS would step up its retail and
SME banking over the next few years, as these two segments would ultimately
dominate its loan book. Rajat Verma outlines plans to significantly boost
retail and SME banking, aiming for these segments to eventually comprise over
50% of its loan book. The bank is focusing on growth in gold loans and
mortgages, alongside expanding its corporate and wealth management offerings,
leveraging its global expertise.
(Economic Times)
Banks getting it right, net interest margins on the mend: Eight of the 24 banks
reporting Q2 earnings have seen sequential improvements in net interest margins
(NIMs), signaling a potential bottoming out of this key profitability metric.
Indian Overseas Bank led the pack, with its NIM rising 21 basis points to 3.21%
following a business re-engineering initiative that increased MCLR-linked loans.
Federal Bank also reported strong growth, with NIM up 12 basis points to 3.06%.
(Economic Times)
Banks’ interest in loan against shares set to rise:
With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announcing an enhanced limit on loan
against shares to Rs 1 crore from Rs 20 lakh, banks are expected to become more
aggressive in this segment, said both bankers and analysts. Currently,
non-banking financial companies and brokerages are more open to lending to
retail customers against their equity holdings.The year-on-year growth in bank
credit to individuals against shares and bonds was at a 19-month low in August,
according to the RBI data. Loans to shares and bonds grew merely 0.9% on year
to Rs 9,807 crore in August compared to 26.8% in the year-ago period. However,
experts believe that growth will pick up going ahead followed by the RBI’s
announcements.
(Financial Express)
Large pvt banks see green shoots, expect credit demand revival
in H2FY26: Big private banks are noticing green shoots of
rising economic activities, evidenced by increasing credit, on the strength of
fiscal measures of the central government. They expect fiscal and monetary
measures to support stronger loan growth in the second half of FY26 (H2FY26). According
to the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), credit growth picked
up during the festival season, reaching 11.4 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in
the fortnight ended October 3, while deposit growth stood at 9.9 per cent.
(Business Standard)
Venu Srinivasan reappointed lifetime trustee at Tata Trusts,
Mehli Mistry renewal under review: Tata
Trusts has reappointed Venu Srinivasan as a trustee for life, following the
completion of his term this week. The development arrives as the Trusts prepare
for another key decision: the potential renewal of Mehli Mistry’s trusteeship,
which is set to expire on 28 October. These decisions come as Tata Trusts,
which holds a 66 per cent stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata
Group, navigates reports of internal divisions. The Trusts, comprising major
charitable foundations such as the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan
Tata Trust, directly influence the governance and direction of the 156-year-old
conglomerate.
(Business Today)
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas browser for Mac, to rival Google
Chrome soon: OpenAI on Tuesday launched ChatGPT Atlas, an
AI-powered web browser built around its chatbot. The browser is now available
globally on Apple’s macOS. It will soon be made available on Windows, iOS and
Android. Reuters had in July reported the AI startup, backed by Microsoft, was
close to releasing an AI-powered web browser that will challenge Alphabet’s
market-dominating Google Chrome.
(Business Line)
India, US edge closer to trade deal as tariff tensions ease:
India said
it’s making solid progress in trade negotiations with the US as it looks to
clinch a trade deal and bring down punitive tariffs. The two sides have
narrowed their differences on trade-related matters, an Indian official told
reporters in New Delhi on Saturday, asking not to be identified as the
discussions are private. There are no major differences between India and the
US on trade issues, the person said. A team of negotiators from India had
positive meetings with officials in Washington last week, the person said.
(Business Standard)
Insolvency law for urban bodies in the works:
After the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board (ISB) amendments under the consideration of
Parliament come into force, the government may look at drafting a separate
legislation for handling insolvency of urban local bodies (ULBs) and municipal
corporations (MCs), official sources told FE. The move is intended to inspire
confidence among lenders to these entities, which play a critical and rising
role in city infrastructure creation, besides being responsible for provision
of public services relating to water supply, sanitation etc.
(Financial Express)
Higher small savings rates hamper monetary transmission: RBI
bulletin: With
the interest rates on most small savings instruments being higher than their
formula-based rates, transmission of policy rates to bank deposit rates is
getting limited, especially in an easing cycle, because of the potential
substitution effect, the Reserve Bank of India’s October bulletin noted. “A
large interest rate differential in favour of small savings could lead to a
migration of deposits away from banks,” it added.
(Financial Express)
LETTER OF COMFORT
·
A
letter of comfort is a non-legally binding document issued by one party (often
a parent company) to provide assurance to another party (like a lender) that a
borrower will meet its obligations.
· It's used in transactions to show support without a formal guarantee, though its legal standing can depend on specific wording. Letters of comfort are different from guarantees, which are legally enforceable contracts that hold the issuer responsible for a borrower's debt.
RBI KEY RATES
Repo
Rate: 5.50%
SDF:
5.25%
MSF
/Bank Rate: 5.75%
CRR:
3.50%
SLR:
18.00%
FOREX RATES (RBI
REF. RATE)
INR /
1 USD : 87.7861
INR /
1 GBP : 117.8499
INR /
1 EUR : 102.3972
INR
/100 JPY: 58.3000
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex: 84426.34 (+62.97)
NIFTY: 25868.60 (+25.45)
Bnk NIFTY: 58007.20 (-26.00)
International Stuttering Awareness Day: International
Stuttering Awareness Day is a global healthcare event celebrated on the 22nd of
October every year to spread awareness about the speech disorder characterised
by disruptions in fluency known as stuttering or stammering.
Historical events: On October 22,
2008, India launched its first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, which later found
evidence of water on the moon. In 1962, India's largest multi-purpose river
valley project, the Bhakra Nangal Dam, was dedicated to the nation. World
history events include Jean-Paul Sartre declining the Nobel Prize in Literature
in 1964 and the end of the Long March in China in 1935.
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