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🍒   SBI Q4 Results: Net profit zooms 83% YoY to Rs 16,695 crore, beats estimates : India's largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) reported an 83% growth in standalone net profit at Rs 16,695 crore for the quarter ended March. It was Rs 9,113 crore in the same quarter last year. The Board declared a dividend of Rs 11.30 per equity share (1130%) for the financial year ended March 2023. The date of payment is fixed on June 14. Net interest income for the fourth quarter rose 29% to Rs 40,393 crore, compared with Rs 31,198 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. Both net profit and NII were above ET Now poll estimates. The poll saw profit around Rs 15,000 crore and NII at Rs 40,000 crore. Provisions (other than tax) and contingencies fell sharply by 54% to Rs 3,316 crore for the quarter under review against Rs 7,237 crore a year ago. - economic times

🍒   There could be some moderation in credit growth in FY24: SBI Chief Khara : State Bank of India Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said there could be some moderation in credit growth in FY24. However, he is hopeful the bank will achieve overall credit growth of 12–14 per cent. “About ₹1.75 lakh crore worth of corporate loan proposals are already in the pipeline. When we look at the proposals that we have already sanctioned and are also awaiting disbursements, even that amount is somewhere around ₹1.78 lakh crore,” he said at a press conference to announce the bank’s fourth quarter results. As of March-end 2023, gross advances increased by 16 per cent yoy to ₹32,69,242 crore, with domestic retail advances and domestic corporate advances growing 17.64 per cent and 12.52 per cent, respectively. Global deposits rose 9 per cent yoy to ₹44,23,778 crore. - Business Line

🍒   Airtel Payments Bank net up 141% to ₹21.7 crore in FY23 : Airtel Payments Bank (APB), a fintech, has recorded a 141 per cent increase in net profit for the fiscal year 2022–23 at ₹21.7 crore (₹9.2 crore). This is the second straight fiscal year that APB has recorded profits. For fiscal 2022–23, APB reported a 37 percent increase in revenues at ₹1,291 crore. In 2022–23, customer deposits grew by 59 percent Y-o-Y to ₹1,865 crore, fuelled by a healthy addition of new users. - Business Line

🍒   SBI Funds Management gets RBI nod to raise upto 9.99% stake in HDFC Bank : SBI Funds Management has received RBI approval to increase stake in HDFC Bank to 9.99 per cent in six months. The investment will be made as part of the mutual fund schemes managed by SBI Funds Management. The approval was granted on an application made by SBI Funds Management to RBI, according to the HDFC Bank statement, which added that the approval is subject to a few conditions. The fund house was advised by RBI to acquire the major shareholding in the bank by November 15. Further, SBIFML must ensure that the aggregate holding in the Bank remains below 10 per cent of the paid-up share capital or voting rights of the Bank at all times, it said. - Business Line

🍒   CCI gives nod for UBS Group’s buy of Credit Suisse : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its approval for the multi-billion dollar deal that recently saw Swiss investment bank UBS Group AG agreeing to buy its crisis ridden rival Credit Suisse AG for $ 3.2 billion (Swiss franc 3 billion). “CCI approves the proposed merger of Credit Suisse AG with UBS Group AG”, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) tweeted on Thursday. It maybe recalled that the Swiss National Bank had on March 19 announced UBS would buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss Francs in stock and assume a loss of 5 billion Swiss francs arising from the winding down part of business. The all-stock deal was brokered by the Swiss Government and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.  - Business Line

🍒   25% of new credit card issues happen on RuPay network: NPCI Rai : About 25 per cent of all new credit card issuances are happening on the RuPay network, according to Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India). “Cards in force are growing fast, driven by the innovative product suite. Volume growth is multiplying; it’s more than doubling,” Rai said on the sidelines of the launch of the SBI Paytm credit card on the RuPay network. Even though 52 per cent of customers on the UPI network are credit active, only 3–10 per cent use credit cards. The NPCI said that of the over 30 crore UPI users, 2.5–3.0 crore are credit card holders. - Business Line

🍒   Changes in FEMA rules: Debit, credit cards to have parity; business visits of employees exempted from LRS : The finance ministry on Thursday said the changes in FEMA rules, which brings overseas international credit card spending under RBI's liberalised remittance scheme (LRS), are intended to bring in parity in tax treatment of remittances using debit and credit cards. The ministry said since credit card spending overseas has now been brought under LRS, such remittances would be liable to tax collected at source (TCS) at applicable rates. If the TCS payee is a taxpayer, he or she can claim credit and adjust it against his/her I-T or advance tax liability. - Economic Times

🍒   Go First insolvency 'not a great thing' for aviation sector; govt ready to help airlines: Jyotiraditya Scindia : Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said Go First going into insolvency proceedings is not a "great thing" for the country's civil aviation sector and added that the ministry wants the resumption of flights as early as possible. While replying to a query on the Go First crisis on the sidelines of an event here, Scindia said it is "certainly something that is not a great thing for civil aviation". Each company has to manage its own issues. "As far as the ministry is concerned, we are quite steadfast in our resolve in helping airlines...," he said. - Economic Times

🍒   CMS Info Systems forays into ATM manufacturing with a new plant in Chennai : CMS Info Systems Ltd. has begun commercial production and manufacturing of banking automation products in its newly opened plant in Chennai. The new facility marks the cash management and payment services company’s foray into manufacture of banking automation products such as ATMs, cash recycler machines, and self-service kiosks. CMS is India’s largest cash management company based on a number of ATM points and retail pick-up points. It has three business segments — cash management services including end-to-end ATM replenishment services, cash pick-up and delivery, and cash-in-transit services for banks; managed services,including sales, deployment, and maintenance of ATMs, brown label ATM deployment, managed services for bank-owned ATM networks; and tech solutions business including AI-based remote monitoring.  - Business Line

🍒   Banks look to take acquisition route to build MFI book : Banks are looking to acquire microfinanciers to get their lucrative high-yielding loan book and tap into the under-banked customer segment. While Yes Bank and Federal Bank have expressed interest in acquiring microfinanciers, Kotak already has Bengaluru-based BSS Microfinance, and has announced plans to acquire Lucknow-based Sonata Finance for Rs 537 crore. The latter is awaiting approval from the Reserve Bank of India. “The microfinance space is of interest to us because the segment offers an opportunity for the bank to get into the large segment of customers who are under-served today,” says Tapobrat Chaudhuri, president and business head – microfinance, Kotak Mahindra Bank.- financial express