Issue: 1174
· Kotak Mahindra Bank to absorb
Kotak Mahindra Investment Ltd business from April 2026 to align with RBI norms.
· NBFCs request government and
RBI to ease Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) norms and allow graded bond
haircuts.
· RBI developing digital
payments intelligence platforms using AI and APIs to strengthen digital
payments ecosystem.
· HDFC Bank appoints external
law firms to investigate former chairman’s resignation amid governance
concerns.
· Rupee weakens near ?93.7 per
dollar impacting IT sector and export companies.
· Goldman Sachs cuts India GDP
forecast to 5.9% citing oil prices and rupee weakness.
· US temporarily lifts Iran oil
sanctions to ease global oil price surge.
Rupee’s continuing decline
takes real effective exchange rate to 12-year low: The Indian rupee, which has
been on a weak wicket since last year is taking a further hit due to the
ongoing West Asia crisis, losing almost 9 per cent over the past 12 months.
This decline, along with the cooling inflation in India has taken the rupee’s
broad-based real effective exchange rate (REER), at the end of February 2026,
to its lowest since July 2014. The broad-based REER, as given
by the Bank of International Settlement, adjusts for inflation and compares the
rupee against a basket of 64 currencies from India’s key trading partners. It
is indexed to 100 for the year 2020.
(Business Line)
Goldman Sachs slashes
India’s growth forecast for CY26 by 60 bps to 5.9%: Goldman Sachs on Tuesday cut
India’s growth forecast by 60 basis points for calendar year 2026. This is the
first forecast revision by any agency post beginning of war. In its report, ‘A
Tighter Squeeze on Asia’s Energy Supply’, the agency said: “New cuts to our
growth forecasts are negligible in Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan, but more
than 0.5pp in India, Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore.” The pre-Iran war,
the forecast was 7 per cent, which was lowered to 6.5 per cent on March 13 and
now it has been further slashed to 5.9 per cent.
(Business Line)
West Asia conflict: Private
sector growth at 3-year low as demand falls: India’s private sector in
March is expected to have grown at its slowest pace in more than three years as
market disruptions and energy shocks due to the Iran war dampened domestic
demand and pushed up costs, a private survey said on Tuesday. HSBC’s flash
India Composite Purchasing Managers’ Output Index (PMI), compiled by S&P
Global, plunged to 56.5 in March, down from the final reading of 58.9 in
February. The March reading was the lowest since October 2022, when it was
55.5. The index was above 50, a mark that separates growth from contraction, for
56 months straight.
(Business Standard)
JP Morgan taps HSBC veteran
Rahul Badhwar as India country officer: JP Morgan has appointed Rahul
Badhwar as its senior country officer for India. Badhwar joins from HSBC, where
he held global sales roles. He will drive JP Morgan's growth strategy in India.
Badhwar will be based in Mumbai and report to Sjoerd Leenart. He replaces
Kaustubh Kulkarni. This appointment signals a strategic focus on the Indian
market.
(Economic Times)
Unclaimed amount
transferred by PSBs to RBI fund at Rs 60,518 crore: MoS Finance: Unclaimed funds in public
sector banks, insurance companies, and mutual funds have reached significant
levels. Banks hold Rs 60,518 crore, insurers Rs 8,973.89 crore, and mutual
funds Rs 3,749.34 crore. Meanwhile, Sovereign Green Bonds are attracting
investors. The bid-cover ratio for these bonds remains strong, indicating
continued investor confidence in climate finance options.
(Economic Times)
RBI website hit by 61
million cyberattack attempts in a single quarter, all blocked: The Reserve Bank of India
thwarted over 61 million cyberattack attempts in late 2025. This number shows a
rapid increase in threats. The RBI is now using artificial intelligence to
detect and block attacks. The central bank also encouraged the payments
industry to adopt new regulations. Innovations like standing instructions and
card tokenisation have seen significant success.
(Economic Times)
Digital personal
loan book tops Rs 1.39 lakh crore; sanctions jump 53%: Digital personal loans are growing rapidly
in India. Sanction values increased by 53% in Q3 FY25-26. Digital lenders
disbursed 9.9 crore loans worth Rs 1.53 lakh crore in Q1-Q3 FY25-26. Asset
quality has improved, with the 90-day past due ratio falling to 1.9%.
(Economic Times)
Bank of Baroda system error
inflates EMIs, hits borrower scores: Bank of Baroda, said multiple
people ET spoke with, charged a higher interest rate by mistake, leading to the
deduction of an amount exceeding the scheduled EMI. Alternatively, the bank
charged less interest in some cases than it ought to have, its spokesperson
said.
(Economic Times)
Nitin Gadkari launches NHAI-backed Raajmarg Infra Investment
Trust:
Union
Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday launched the
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)-sponsored Raajmarg Infra Investment
Trust (RIIT), which was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The maiden
public issue of the RIIT received a strong response from investors, marking its
debut on the BSE. Officials described the listing as an important step in
attracting investment into India's highway infrastructure sector.
(Business Line)
Unincorporated sector units
grew by 8% in 2025: Unincorporated non-agricultural sector showed an
impressive performance in 2025 as the number of establishments grew by around 8
per cent, to 7.92 crore, a survey results released by the Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. Results are based on
data collected from over 6.7 lakh establishments. The number of such
enterprises was 7.34 crore during previous Annual Survey of Unincorporated
Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2023–24. Unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises
comprise small manufacturers, service providers, and trading unit.
(Business Line)
SBI Card's share in credit
card spends rises to 17.6% in Apr-Feb 2026: SBI Cards & Payment Services (SBI Card) a
subsidiary of SBI, saw its share in credit card spending rise to 17.57 per cent
during the April–February period of FY26, up from 15.61 per cent in the
corresponding period of FY25, according to data from the RBI. Higher card
issuances and increased customer usage supported the growth.
(Business Standard)
Govt mulls cutting social
media takedown time from 2 to 3 hours to 1 hour: Report: The Centre is examining whether to compress
the already stringent deadline for removing online content from 2–3 hours to
just one hour, signalling a deeper push toward faster digital enforcement,
according to a report. A senior government official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told The Indian Express, “What would play a crucial role in
determining whether the timeline should be further shortened to an hour is the
compliance track record of social media companies with the recently implemented
2-3 hour time window.” The tighter deadlines stem
from amendments introduced in February to the Information Technology
(Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. These
changes significantly reduced the earlier response window of 24–36 hours,
mandating platforms to act within a maximum of three hours for most unlawful
content and two hours for non-consensual intimate imagery.
(Moneycontrol)
Sebi mulls allowing gift
cards, prepaid instruments to invest in MFs: Markets regulator Sebi on
Tuesday proposed introducing gift cards or gift prepaid payment instruments
(PPIs) for investments in mutual funds to improve financial inclusion through
onboarding of new investors in the space. Under the proposal, the purchaser of
Gift PPI can gift the prepaid payment instrument to a recipient, who can then
use the instrument to subscribe to mutual fund units, Sebi said in its
consultation paper. These PPIs will be funded only through electronic bank
transfer or UPI from an Indian bank account with a validity period of one year
from date of issuance. Sebi suggested a cap of Rs 50,000 per investor per
financial year for investments made through gift PPIs.
(Business Standard)
Pakistan world's most
polluted country, followed by Bangladesh: Report: Pakistan is the most polluted
country in the world, followed by Bangladesh and Tajikistan while India is at
the sixth spot, according to the 8th World Air Quality report. The 2025 edition
of the report published by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, is
based on analysis of data from monitoring stations across 9,446 cities in 143
countries, regions and territories. While China is at the 20th
position amongst the most polluted countries in the world, the USA is at the
120th spot and the UK is at the 110th spot.
(Business Standard)
SOCIAL LOAFING
§ Social
loafing is the psychological tendency for individuals to put forth less effort
when working in a group compared to working alone.
§ It
often occurs due to a diffusion of responsibility, lack of motivation, or the
belief that others will pick up the slack. This phenomenon reduces team
efficiency, often leading to lower productivity and frustration among
harder-working members.
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 : 93.8792
INR
/ 1 GBP : 125.8263
INR
/ 1 EUR : 108.7403
INR
/100 JPY: 59.1600
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex:
74068.45 (+1372.03)
NIFTY:
22912.40 (+399.75)
Bnk NIFTY: 52605.65 (+1167.90)
Historical
events: March 25th holds
significant historical events, marking the start of the Bangladesh Genocide
(1971), the Greek War of Independence (1821), and the abolition of the slave
trade in the British Empire (1807). In India, it marks the 1931 martyrdom of
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi and the 1954 arrival of the first IAF helicopter.
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