Banking current affairs

 🙏 Good Morning All.... 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧💐🌻🙏

☕ 24.05.2023 : Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance 

🍒    HC reserves order on plea against notification for Rs 2000 notes exchange : The Delhi High Court reserved on Tuesday its order on a plea challenging a part of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and State Bank of India (SBI) notification for exchanging Rs 2000 currency notes without identity proof. Parag Tripathi, a senior advocate representing RBI, said that the notification was a statutory exercise and not demonetisation. Ashwini Upadhyay, a lawyer and BJP leader, said he filed the plea to challenge the provision allowing exchange of notes without identity proof. He "Petitioner is filing this PIL under Article 226 seeking a declaration that RBI Notification dated 19.05.2023 (Annexure-1) and SBI Notification dated 20.05.2023 (Annexure-2), which permits exchange of Rs. 2000 banknotes without obtaining any requisition slip and identity proof, is arbitrary, irrational and offends Articles 14, hence, inoperative. - Business Standard

🍒    ‘Focus will be on recovery, reduction in NPAs to improve profitability’ : Punjab National Bank is confident of maintaining its profitability and further improving it in coming quarters after posting a standalone net profit of Rs 1,158.61 crore in the fourth quarter of 2023-23. In an interview with Surabhi, Atul Kumar Goel, managing director and CEO of PNB, speaks about the bank’s strategy and said the lender has taken steps to improve underwriting and collection efficiency. Post-Covid, demand from companies for credit is also improving, he said.  - financial express

🍒    Banks set for a profit boost as RBI calls for withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes : A key metric of profitability for Indian banks, lending margins, is set to get a boost as the nation’s decision to withdraw its highest-value currency note bolsters bank deposits.  The Reserve Bank of India’s move to withdraw the 2,000 rupees ($24) notes will lead to growth in deposits at banks and lower their cost of funds, according to a note from Axis Mutual Fund. The step could boost deposits by as much as 2 trillion rupees through the end-September deadline to exchange the notes, the asset manager said. Net interest margin, the difference between the banks’ lending rate and the amount it pays for deposits, will narrow in the year to March 31, as demand for loans outstrips the deposit growth, Fitch Ratings had warned earlier this year. Banks held 18.4 trillion rupees in deposits as of May, according to RBI. - Business Standard

🍒    Post offices barred from exchanging Rs 2,000 notes, can accept deposits : Though banks started accepting Rs 2,000 notes on Tuesday, post offices across the country are not being allowed to exchange such notes, but will only be able to accept deposits as of now, a top banking industry source has said. “The exchange facility is available only at banks. Customers can make deposits since the Rs 2,000 note is legal tender,” said a top banking industry source, to a question on whether the notes can be exchanged at post offices. According to the media reports, non-banking financial companies can also accept deposits in this denomination. At present, financial services are being offered across 155,000 post offices across the country. When the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes were pulled out in November 2016, post offices were allowed to handle them. - Business Standard

🍒    Dhanlaxmi Bank registers 62% increase in Q4 net profit at ₹38.17 crore : Dhanlaxmi Bank has registered a net profit of ₹38.17 crore during Q4 of the FY 23 as against net profit of ₹23.42 crore of the corresponding quarter of FY22. Standalone operating profit for Q4 was ₹38.56 crore. The bank also registered a net profit of ₹49.36 crore for the whole FY23 against net profit of ₹35.90 crore for FY 22. Operating profit for the whole financial year ended March 31, 2023 was ₹123.20 crore. Total business reached to ₹23,206 crore from ₹20,847 crore as on March 31, 2022, registering growth of 11.32 per cent. Deposits recorded a 7.65 per cent growth to reach ₹13,352 crore from ₹12,403 crore. As of March 31, 2023, the CASA share stood at 31.91 per cent of total deposits. - Business Line

🍒    UPI effect: Average ATM visits halve to 8 times a year : Every ₹1 increase in value of UPI (unified payments interface) transactions is leading to 18 paisa decline in debit card transactions, indicating a person is now making a visit to ATM on an average 8 times a year, down from 16 visits earlier, according to State Bank of India’s economic research report “Ecowrap”. The aforementioned observation is on the basis of monthly time series data analysis for the period of April 2016 to April 2023. - Business Line

🍒    ₹2,000 withdrawal will have favourable impact on liquidity, bank deposits and interest rates: SBI Ecowrap : Even though the impact of ₹2,000 rupee note withdrawal is a non-event, there will be a favorable impact on liquidity, bank deposits and interest rates, according to State Bank of India’s economic research report, “Ecowrap”. “Decoding exchange/deposit dynamics, we understand, banks will already be holding some of these notes in their currency chests, thus the impact on deposits will be limited. “ “We believe that almost the entire amount of ₹3.6-lakh crore (of ₹2,000 banknotes in circulation) will come back (about ₹3 lakh crore excluding the amount in currency chests) to the banking system,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, SBI. - Business Line

🍒    Banks prepare for note mobilization but see no rush at branches : Bank branches have geared up for mobilization of ₹2,000 currency notes, following the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s directive on Friday. However, they are yet to see any significant footfall for depositing or exchange of the notes . Branch heads of some large banks told businessline that unlike the demonetization exercise of 2016, there has been no rush to return the currency so far, likely owing to the extended timeline and the fact that ₹2,000 notes will continue to be operational even beyond September 30. “We have not seen any rush or queues at our branches for depositing/ exchanging ₹2,000 bank notes. Awareness that these notes can be deposited/ exchanged over 130 days and that they continue to be legal tender seems to have alleviated any anxiety customers may have had regarding them,” a senior public sector bank official said. - Business Line

🍒    PAN is mandatory to deposit Rs 2000 notes above this amount in bank account : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has withdrawn Rs 2000 notes from circulation. Individuals holding Rs 2000 notes can now either exchange them for other denomination notes from a bank or deposit the same into their bank accounts. However, if you deposit more than Rs 50,000 in a single transaction, then you have to mandatorily quote your PAN as per income tax rules.- Economic Times

🍒    DBS to complete retail offerings with super premium credit cards : Singapore's DBS Bank will look to complete its retail product offering by adding a super-premium credit card as soon as this week as it seeks to consolidate its position two-and-a-half years after acquiring Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB). Prashant Joshi, head of consumer banking at DBS said credit cards will be added to the bank's mortgage, personal loan and gold loan portfolios even as it runs down the legacy education and vehicle loan portfolios from LVB. -Econmic Times

🍒    Paytm launches UPI SDK to enable customers pay directly within the merchant app : Paytm owner One97 Communications Limited today announced it has launched Paytm UPI SDK, which will allow customers of online merchants to make UPI payments directly and in-line from the merchant's mobile app without getting redirected during checkout. The new feature will allow customers to pay directly from their bank accounts by entering their UPI PIN without leaving the merchant app, the company said. - Economic Times

🍒    ATMs stop dispensing Rs 2,000 notes, CRMs can still accept deposits : ATMs have stopped dispensing `2,000 notes but cash recycling machines will continue to accept the deposit of these currency notes. According to industry experts, withdrawals of other denominations of currency from ATMs will not be impacted due to the pulling back of `2,000 notes from circulation.  Sumil Vikamsey, Managing Director and CEO – Cash Business, Hitachi Payment Services, said about 10% of the ATMs and cash recycling machines (CRMs) managed by Hitachi Payments have been impacted due to the withdrawal of `2,000 currency notes from circulation. - financial express

🍒    April credit card spends fall 3.3% : Credit card spends fell 3.3% on a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis to Rs 1.33 trillion during April, data released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. On a year-on-year basis (y-o-y), however, aggregate credit card spends increased nearly 26%. During the month of March, overall credit card spending had touched a record high of Rs 1.37 trillion and for FY23, it rose 47% y-o-y  to `14 trillion, driven by a rise in e-commerce and point-of-sale transactions.  - financial express

🍒    LIC Housing extending loan term to ease borrower burden : LIC Housing Finance (LIC Housing) is offering borrowers extension on loan term to ease the burden of high interest rates, managing director and chief executive officer Y Viswanatha Gowd said. “Interest rates have increased by almost 200 bps and EMI has definitely gone up. So, we have accommodated borrowers by extending their term. We are also providing relaxations on processing fee in selected categories,” he said.The non-bank lender is offering these concessions to both existing as well as new borrowers. - financial express

🍒    Flows into NRIs deposits in India top $8-billion mark in 2022-23 : The bank accounts of non-resident Indians (NRIs) held in the country received $ 7.99 billion during April 2022-March 2023 (FY23), more than twice the $3.23 billion in FY22. The outstanding amounts in NRI deposits rose sequentially from $ 135.54 billion in February 2023 to $137.88 billion at the end of March 2023, according to the Reserve Bank of India data. However, the outstanding NRI deposits fell from $139.02 billion at the end of March 2022 to $137.88 in March 2023. - Business Standard

🍒    Rupee settles on flat note at 82.82 against US dollar : The rupee traded in a narrow range and settled for the day 2 paise higher at 82.82 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, amid a muted trend in domestic equities. Forex traders said the strength of the American currency capped sharp gains for the local unit. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.82 against the US currency and witnessed a high of 82.76 and a low of 82.84 during intra-day trade. The local unit settled at 82.82 (provisional), registering a gain of 2 paise over its previous close. - Business Line

🍒    Indian shares gain momentum : The blue-chip Nifty 50 index closed 0.18 per cent higher at 18,348., while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.03 per cent to 61,981.79.Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with metals jumping 2.59 per cent. Adani Enterprises, which has a 17 per cent weightage in the metals index, jumped over 13 per cent and was the top Nifty 50 gainer. - Business Line

🙏 “All the Best…Have a Good Day "..🌻💐👨‍👩‍👧‍👧🙏