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Amundi said it has warned the State Bank of India it will evict one of the lender’s green bonds from a flagship fund if it helps finance a coal mine in Australia that has met fierce opposition from environmental groups. Amundi, which holds the bond in its Amundi Planet Emerging Green One fund, said it had learnt this week that the State Bank of India was considering financing the Carmichael thermal coal mine in Australia. Carmichael has drawn strong opposition from climate campaigners because of the potential carbon emissions that would be produced by the mine, at a time when many countries are exiting coal to help fight global warming. Under pressure from investors, a string of banks and insurers have already cut ties to the project, with the most recent being Lloyd’s insurer Apollo. Amundi’s Jean Jacques Barberis, Director of the Institutional and Corporate Clients division & ESG, said the asset manager had contacted the bank to voice its concern and followed up with a letter to

Union Bank of India shares gained nearly 2 per cent on the BSE in mid-morning trading after the state-owned lender proposed to raise up to ₹ 6,800 crore in the ongoing fiscal to fund its business growth. An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) will be held on December 30, 2020, to seek approval from the shareholders, Union Bank of India said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges. At 11:10 am, the shares of Union Bank were trading at ₹ 27.50, up 1.7 per cent on the BSE. “The EGM is being convened to obtain shareholders’ approval for raising of equity capital upto Rs.6,800 crore (including premium, if any) during the FY 2020-21 by way of various modes such as public issue (i.e. follow-on public offer) and/or rights issue and/or private placements,” Union Bank of India said.

The cabinet on Wednesday approved the merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with DBS India, which is the wholly-owned subsidiary of DBS Bank. “The speedy amalgamation and resolution of the stress in LVB is in line with Government’s commitment to a clean banking system, while protecting the interests of depositors, public and financial system,” the union minister Prakash Javadekar said in a media briefing at the end of the cabinet meeting. With the merger, there will no further restrictions on the depositors regarding the withdrawal of their deposit, the minister added. As part of the amalgamation plan, DBS India will infuse fresh capital of ₹ 2,500 crore into LVB and the entire share capital and reserves and surplus will be written off. The Reserve Bank of India had, on November 17, proposed the merger of the 94-year-old beleaguered lender with DBS India. On the same day, it had placed LVB under a moratorium for one month and capped withdrawals from its customers’ accounts at ₹ 25,000 a m

In a bid to provide relief to its retail borrowers amid the COVID-19 crisis, the State Bank of India (SBI) had launched an online portal where customers can check eligibility and apply for restructuring their loans online. According to the directives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s largest public lender came out with the loan restructuring policy to tackle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide some relief to customers. Education loans, auto loans, personal loans, housing, and other related loans are covered under the restructuring scheme, which can be availed subject to eligibility. Customers can apply for loan restructuring online by following some easy steps.

S&P Global Ratings said on Monday a recommendation from the Reserve Bank of India committee to allow industrial conglomerates to set up banks as part of proposed changes to the banking sector, is fraught with risk. A working group at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recommended a series of changes, details of which were made public last week, that include allowing industrial houses to act as so-called bank promoters, meaning they could take a major stake in a lender. “The working group’s concerns regarding conflict of interest, concentration of economic power, and financial stability in allowing corporates to own banks are potential risks,” S&P Global Ratings said in a note. Corporate ownership of banks raises the risk of inter-group lending, diversion of funds and reputational exposure, S&P said, adding that contagion risk from corporate defaults would also rise significantly if industrial houses were at the helm of a bank. Last week, government placed a private lender unde

The Reserve Bank of India’s working group has recommended that large industrial houses be allowed to be bank promoters, meaning they can take significant stakes, something the central bank has strongly objected to in the past. The working group committee, which was formed in June to review ownership guidelines and the corporate structure of Indian private sector banks, released its report on Friday, November 20. “Large corporate/industrial houses may be allowed as promoters of banks only after necessary amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949,” the committee suggested.

Banks’ loans rose 5.7 per cent in the two weeks to November 6 from a year earlier, while deposits rose 10.6 per cent, the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly statistical supplement showed on Friday. Outstanding loans rose ₹ 66,082 crore to ₹ 104.05 lakh crore in the two weeks to November 6. Non-food credit rose ₹ 49,110 crore to ₹ 103.21 lakh crore, while food credit rose ₹ 16,972 crore to ₹ 83,631 crore

State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSe). The MoU will help SBI and LuxSE set up a long-term cooperation mechanism, and promote ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) and green finance. Through this MoU, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange would work towards creating a sustainable environment for issuers, asset managers, and investors in terms of ESG focused funds and bonds, according to an official release.

Domestic stock markets rose to record highs for a second straight session on Tuesday, led by gains in banking and financial services shares. The Sensex rose as much as 523 points to trade above the 44,000 mark for the first time ever, and the Nifty 50 touched an all-time high of 12,934.05. Investor sentiment was bolstered by news that US drug maker Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine was 94.5 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 infection. The Sensex rose 315 points or 0.72 per cent to close at 43,953 and the Nifty 50 index went up 94 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 12,874 – both record closing highs. The markets had clocked modest gains in a special one-hour “muhurat” trading session for Diwali on Saturday, and were closed on Monday. Moderna Inc became the second drug maker after Pfizer Inc to announce promising trial data in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, pushing global markets higher. “There is comfort in the fact that the temperature requirements for (Moderna’s) vaccine

The CBI has booked Madhya Pradesh-based company Narayan Niryat and its director, Kailash Chand Garg, for allegedly cheating a UCO Bank-led consortium to the tune of over ₹ 105 crore, officials said on Monday. The agency has alleged that from 2011 to 2013, the company availed credit facilities to the tune of over ₹ 110 crore from a consortium of banks consisting of UCO Bank, Corporation Bank (now merged with Union Bank of India) and Punjab National Bank, they said. The CBI has also named another director of the company, Suresh Chand Garg (who died), as accused in the FIR. To allegedly cheat the banks, Narayan Niryat and its directors resorted to various mala fide activities such as diversion of bank funds through its associate and sister concerns without transacting any goods, improper reporting in financial statements and balance sheets, the officials said.

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes rallied for a fifth session in a row on Friday led by strong gains in Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank. The benchmarks opened higher and extended gains in noon deals on the back of strong buying interest in banking and financial services shares. The Sensex rose as much as 615 points and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 11,250 for the first time in nine months to trade above pre-Covid-19 levels. The Sensex ended 553 points or 1.34 per cent higher qt 41,893 and Nifty 50 index climbed 1.18 per cent or 143 points to close at 12,264. For the week, Nifty rallied 5.33 per cent, Sensex advanced 5.75 per cent and the gauge of banking shares Nifty Bank index surged 10 per cent. During the session, fifteen off 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE ended higher led by S&P BSE Energy index’s 3.2 per cent gain, Banking, real estate, financial services, information techno

Indian banks are loosening their purse strings and lending more as pent-up demand surfaces in the Indian festive season, though growth is still nearly half that seen last year. Several lenders including State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender and HDFC Bank, India’s most valuable bank by market capitalisation saw demand for housing and vehicle loans return to near pre-pandemic levels in the quarter ended September. “Now that the loan moratorium is over and we have a clearer view about repayments, we’re feeling more comfortable about lending both on unsecured as well as secured retail loans,” said the head of retail banking at a public sector bank, who asked not to be identified as the lender has yet to report its results. Hamstrung by the pandemic, banks had been more risk averse in lending, with credit growth slumping to around 5 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year. The uptick spells good news for the Indian economy that had contracted by 23.9 per cent in Apri

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes advanced for second session in a row led by strong buying interest in banking and financial services shares. The benchmarks opened higher and extended gains in afternoon trading led by index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and ITC. The Sensex rose as much as 597 points and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 11,800. The Sensex ended 504 points or 1.27 per cent higher at 40,261 and Nifty 50 index climbed 144 points or 1.24 per cent to close at 11,814. Banking shares witnessed strong buying interest for second session in a row. In the last two sessions the gauge of banking shares on the National Stock Exchange – Nifty Bank index – has surged 1,782 points or 7.45 per cent. In today’s session, eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Bank index’s 3.15 per cent gain. Nifty Financial Services, Auto, Metal, PSU and Private Bank i

The country’s largest banks by market value currently pay annual returns to the tune of 2.5-5.5 per cent on retail fixed deposits. State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank offer a variety of maturity options of retail fixed deposits to customers. Retail FDs – or FDs up to ₹ 2 crore – today are available in maturities – or lock-in periods – ranging from seven days to 10 years. The interest rates are revised from time to time, to align them with benchmark interest rates set by the Reserve Bank of India. Most lenders provide slightly higher interest rates to senior citizens compared to other customers. This year, the RBI has reduced the repo rate – or the key interest rate at which it lends money to banks – by a total of 115 basis points since February, on top of 135 basis points last year. This has also forced banks to lower their FD rates. 

ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a net profit of ₹ 4,251.33 crore for the July-September period, marking a more than six-fold increase compared to the corresponding period a year ago. A pickup in credit growth on account of easing coronavirus-related restrictions along with reduction in bad assets boosted the private sector lender’s profitability. ICICI Bank had posted a net profit of ₹ 654.96 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2019. ICICI Bank’s net interest income (NII) – or the difference between interest earned and interest paid – increased 16.24 per cent to Rs 9,366.09 crore in the quarter ended September 30, from ₹ 8,057.43 crore in the year-ago period. Its net interest margin – a key measure profitability – stood at 3.57 per cent in the three months to September 30, lower than 3.69 per cent in the previous quarter and 3.64 per cent in the second quarter of financial year 2019-20. ICICI Bank’s core operating profit – or profit before provisions and taxes – grew 18 per cent y

Axis Bank shares rose more than 1 per cent in early trading after the bank, in a regulatory filing after market hours hours on Wednesday, reported return to profitability in the July-September quarter on the back of improvement in asset quality. The shares of Axis Bank rose 1.5 per cent to touch an intra-day high of ₹ 512.45 in early trading, and at 9:35 am, the shares were at ₹ 512, up 1.35 per cent. The country’s third largest private sector lender by market value got back into the black, reporting a net profit of ₹ 1,682.67 crore in the quarter ended September 2020 as against a net loss of ₹ 112.08 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, due to improvement in asset quality improved. Mumbai-based Axis Bank’s asset quality saw a slight improvement, with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage of total advances at 4.18 per cent in the three-month period ended September 30, as against 4.72 per cent in the previous quarter. Axis Bank said its net interest income – the d

Axis Bank on Wednesday reported a net profit of ₹ 1,682.67 crore in the July-September period, as its asset quality improved. The profit came despite higher provisioning for contingencies. Axis Bank – the country’s third largest private sector lender by market value – had posted a net loss of Rs 112.08 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. In a regulatory filing after market hours, Axis Bank said its net interest income – or the difference between interest earned and interest expended – increased 20 per cent to ₹ 7,326.07 crore. Its net interest margin – a key measure of profitability – improved to 3.58 per cent in the second quarter of current financial year, from 3.51 per cent in the year-ago period. Mumbai-based Axis Bank’s asset quality saw a slight improvement with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) as a percentage of total advances at 4.18 per cent in the three-month period ended September 30, as against 4.72 per cent in the previous quarter. Total gross NPAs – or bad loa

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank surged as much as 11.38 per cent, its biggest single day gain since March 25, 2020, to hit an intraday high of ₹ 1,576.85 on the BSE a day after it reported September quarter earnings. The Uday Kotak-promoted bank on Monday said that its annual net profit in July-September period rose 27 per cent to ₹ 2,184.48 crore compared with ₹ 1,724.48 crore during the corresponding period a year ago. The jump in the private sector bank’s profit came on account of lower provisioning for non-performing assets – or bad loans – during the quarter. Kotak Mahindra Bank’s provisions came down to ₹ 368.59 crore in the three-month period ended September 30, from ₹ 962 crore in the previous quarter. Net interest income – the difference between interest earned and interest expended – rose 17 per cent to ₹ 3,913.21 crore, from ₹ 3,349.59 crore in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing by Mumbai-based Kotak Mahindra Bank. Asset quality of the country’s third larges

The country’s lenders were set a November 5 deadline on Saturday to waive interest payments on coronavirus support loans in a move that could give relief to millions of people ahead of one of the country’s biggest festivals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was forced to rethink the loan moratorium scheme which allowed borrowers to not pay loan instalments between March and August, but allowed lenders to accrue additional interest on the unpaid sum. An optician from Agra was among the first to challenge the scheme for making borrowers pay additional “interest-on-interest”. Earlier this month, the government told the Supreme Court it will waive certain interest levies on loans below ₹ 2 crore ($272,888) under a health support plan. The top court had asked the government to implement the scheme, which will bring relief to millions of borrowers, at the earliest. The government has said lenders have to credit borrowers on or before November 5. Lenders will have to claim reimbursem

A second wave of COVID-19 remains a threat to the country’s economy and the central bank believes monetary policy needs to remain accommodative despite inflationary pressures, according to the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest meeting, released on Friday. The Reserve Bank of India left interest rates unchanged at that meeting two weeks ago, as expected. Almost all members of the MPC said they see room for further easing, but a recent rise in price pressures would need to abate for them to use that space. “This space needs to be used judiciously to support recovery in growth,” Governor Shaktikanta Das wrote in his minutes. Structural reforms to unlock growth are needed but may lack support with growth and employment depressed, Deputy Governor Michael Patra said. “In the absence of intrinsic drivers, the recovery may last only until pent-up demand has been satiated and replenishment of inventories has been completed,” Mr Patra said. “Empirical evidence suggests that consu