Issue: 1046
Indian refiners to cut down
on Russian crude as US intensifies pressure: Fresh sanctions by the US on
Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil have forced Indian refiners like Reliance
Industries (RIL) to “recalibrate” import strategies, with others confirming
that they too are “evaluating” supplies from Moscow. The US Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday imposed sanctions on the two Russian oil
companies. The sanctions are to kick in from November 21. Besides, foreign
financial institutions that engage with these sanctioned entities also face
secondary sanctions. In India, these sanctions are expected to trigger panic
buying among refiners to stock Russian crude oil before the November 21
deadline.
(Business Line)
After years of defending
food reserves at WTO, India inspires Germany, Brazil to emulate its model: India’s much-derided foodgrain
stocking model is now attracting countries like Germany and Brazil which want
to emulate it. While India has been facing opposition from the US and other
countries at WTO on food stocking issue, the utility of creating food reserves
is simultaneously evincing much interest among G-20. “We must ensure that food
reserves, when used in exceptional circumstances, are designed to be targeted,
effective, and non-distorting. Furthermore, we must promote policy coherence
across sectors, recognising that agriculture, trade, climate, health, and
finance must work hand-in-hand to achieve real results,” South Africa’s
agriculture minister John Steenhuisen told the G-20 Food Security Task Force
recently.
(Business Line)
Food subsidy bill for FY26
may exceed BE by 15%:
The
government’s food subsidy budget in FY26 is set to rise by 10-15% over the
budget estimates (BE) of Rs 2.03 lakh crore with rising grain stocks inflating
economic costs of grains distributed free of cost to 810 million people under
the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Sources told FE the Food
Corporation of India (FCI), through which over 70% subsidies are routed, has
revised upward the projected expenditure from Rs 1.4 lakh crore (budget
estimate) to Rs 1.7 lakh crore for 2025-26.
(Financial Express)
New banking
reforms from Nov 1: Four nominees, better governance, stronger depositor rights: The
Ministry of Finance on October 23 announced a significant reform in the banking
sector — allowing customers to nominate up to four individuals in their bank
accounts starting November 1, 2025. The
move, the ministry said, is aimed at ensuring “uniformity, transparency, and
efficiency in claim settlement across the banking system.” The change comes as
part of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025, which was notified on April 15,
2025, and introduces 19 amendments across key financial legislations, including
the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, and the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. For
lockers and articles kept in safe custody, banks will permit only successive
nominations. The law also:
Enables public sector banks (PSBs) to transfer
unclaimed shares, interest, and bond redemption amounts to the Investor
Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) — in line with company law practices.
Empowers PSBs to determine remuneration for
statutory auditors, ensuring higher audit quality.
Raises the ‘substantial interest’ threshold from ?5
lakh to ?2 crore — the first such revision since 1968.
Aligns the tenure of directors in cooperative banks
with the 97th Constitutional Amendment, extending the maximum term (excluding
chairpersons and whole-time directors) from 8 to 10 years.
(Business Today)
SBI receives 'World's Best
Consumer Bank 2025' award from Global Finance: SBI has received two prestigious awards from New
York-based Global Finance at an event held during the World Bank/IMF annual
meetings. The country's largest lender bagged two titles - World's Best
Consumer Bank 2025 and Best Bank in India 2025. This dual recognition
reinforces SBI's position as a global banking leader committed to innovation,
financial inclusion, and customer excellence, SBI said in a statement on
Thursday.
(Economic Times)
FSIB invites application
for Canara MD & CEO a week after notification: Just few weeks after
notifying the entry of private sector professionals for public sector Managing
Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) positions, the Financial
Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) on Thursday re-invited applications for the
post of Canara Bank. On October 9, in a major overhaul of the way leadership is
chosen in India’s public financial institutions, the government for the first
time opened up one MD position in the SBI and other public sector banks for private
sector bankers .
(Economic Times)
Size Matters: What will it
take for India PSBs to break into Global Top 20?: At a two-day 'Manthan'
(meaning 'churn') event of public sector banks (PSBs) last month - the first
such summit hosted by the department of financial services (DFS) in the
ministry of finance since April 2022 - the government set an ambitious target
to see at least two to three state-owned banks break into the world’s top 20 by
2047. During the event, DFS Secretary M Nagaraju said PSBs have moved beyond
the phase of survival and stability and are now positioned to play a larger
role as champions of growth, innovation and leadership in India’s march towards
Viksit Bharat.
(Business Standard)
Government to issue
commemorative coin on 200th Anniversary of Rani Channamma’s Victory at Kittur: The government will issue a
commemorative coin of ?200 denomination on the occasion of the 200th
Anniversary of Rani Channamma’s Victory at Kittur. This victory is considered
one of the earlier armed battles against the British East India Company,
earlier than mutiny of 1857. Though commemorative coins are considered legal
tender, they are not released for general circulation. One can source them from
the specified agencies.
(Business Line)
Donald Trump pardons
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao after money-laundering conviction: President Donald Trump has
pardoned Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to
enabling money laundering during his tenure as head of the world’s largest
cryptocurrency exchange, the White House announced Thursday. The decision marks a dramatic turn in one of
the most high-profile cryptocurrency prosecutions in US history and signals a
sharp break from the Biden administration’s aggressive regulatory stance toward
the crypto industry. White House Press Secretary
Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the president “exercised his
constitutional authority” to pardon Zhao, describing him as a casualty of what
she called “the Biden Administration’s war on cryptocurrency.”
(Business Today)
Hero MotoCorp rides into UK
with MotoGB alliance:
Hero
MotoCorp on Thursday said that it has entered the United Kingdom market through
a partnership with MotoGB, marking its 51st international presence. The move
strengthens the company’s growing European footprint, following its earlier
forays into Italy and Spain. At the centre of this launch is the Hunk 440, a
motorcycle designed for UK riders who want a mix of power, reliability, and
style at an accessible price. Priced at £3,499 plus £200 on-road charges, the
Hunk 440 will be available in Twilight Blue, Phantom Black, and Titanium Grey.
Each motorcycle will come with a two-year warranty.
(Financial Express)
US sanctions on Russian oil
majors may hurt Reliance Industries, Nayara: The Donald Trump administration in the US has
imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia’s largest oil producers — Rosneft and
Lukoil — in a fresh bid to end the war in Ukraine. The move is expected to hit
oil purchases by India’s private refiners, including Reliance Industries (RIL)
and Nayara Energy, while state-run refiners, which largely buy Russian crude
through traders, are likely to remain insulated for now. The sanctions,
according to experts, are likely to push up India’s annual oil import bill by
$2.7 billion (?23,490 crore). While Russia accounts for 35-40 per cent of
India’s crude oil imports.
(Business Standard)
Some teething issues persist in new cheque clearing system: NPCI:
NPCI on
Thursday said that some teething issues persist in the continuous cheque
clearing system. On October 4, 2025, the Reserve Bank of India introduced a
continuous cheque clearing system with the objective of clearing cheques in a
few hours rather than in batches. This transition has replaced the cheque
clearing cycle of up to two working days with a new and faster process, wherein
cheques will be cleared within a few hours of presentation.
(Economic Times)
RBI to mandate Unique Transaction Identifier for OTC derivatives
from April 2026: The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to mandate Unique Transaction
Identifier (UTI) for all over-the-counter (OTC) derivative transactions of
market participants with effect from April 1, 2026. UTI will be implemented for
all transactions in OTC markets for Rupee interest rate derivatives, forward
contracts in Government securities, foreign currency derivatives, foreign
currency interest rate derivatives, and credit derivatives in India, per RBI’s
Draft circular on UTI for OTC Derivative Transactions in India. The central bank has invited comments on the
draft Circular from banks, market participants and other interested parties by
November 14, 2025. UTI is one of the key data elements identified globally for
reporting of OTC derivative transactions, along with the Legal Entity
Identifier (LEI). While the LEI uniquely identifies the counterparties to an
OTC derivative transaction, the UTI serves as a single unique reference number
for a transaction.
(Business Line)
SEBI proposes tighter KYC norms for mutual fund folios: The Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) has proposed an overhaul of the Know Your Client (KYC) verification
process for new mutual fund investors to reduce instances of delays in
accessing their funds due to compliance mismatches. Under the draft norms,
investors will be allowed to make their first investments in newly formed MF
folios only once the KRA provides explicit approval, ensuring that the KYC
status is verified and active. Asset management companies (AMCs) will be
required to update internal systems and align workflows to ensure investors
receive notifications at every stage of the KYC process via email and mobile
alerts.
(Business Line)
ACTIVIST INVESTOR
v An
activist investor, typically a specialized hedge fund, buys a significant
minority stake in a publicly traded company in order to change how it is run.
v The
activist investor's goals may be as modest as advising company management or as
ambitious as forcing the sale of the company, divestitures or restructuring, or
replacing the board of directors.
v Unlike
private equity firms that buy and restructure companies in order to profit when
they are resold, activist investors seldom acquire full or majority stakes.
Instead, they use public communications and private discussions to win over
other shareholders and company insiders. When such efforts fail, an activist
investor may pursue a proxy contest to elect new directors in order to force
the company to meet their demands.
v Activist investors are sometimes called shareholder activists, a term also used to describe those lobbying companies to improve working conditions for the overseas employees of their contractors, or backers of a dissident board slate elected to fight climate change.
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 : 87.9474
INR /
1 GBP : 117.3934
INR /
1 EUR : 101.9797
INR
/100 JPY: 57.6500
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex: 84556.40 (+130.06)
NIFTY: 25891.40 (+22.80)
Bnk NIFTY: 58078.05 (+70.85)
World Development Information Day: Instituted by the
UN, this day was established in 1972 to improve the dissemination of
information and public mobilization for development..
Historical events: In Indian
history, it's the Raising Day of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) since
its establishment in 1962 following the Sino-Indian war. Other significant
events include the ratification of the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360 and the
independence of Zambia in 1964.
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