Saudi's Islamic Development Bank to offer $500 mn loan for TAPI project

Saudi's Islamic Development Bank to offer $500 mn loan for TAPI project NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank had agreed to provide USD 500 million loan to part-finance the USD 15 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project. "An agreement to provide for the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) extending a loan of USD 500 million to

RBI releases Third Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2016-17

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 9 August 2016 released the Third Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2016-17.One of the key announcements under the policy was that the RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan kept the Repo Rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.5 percent. Based on the assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the following changes were

RBI launches Sachet portal to check illegal money collection

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, Raghuram Rajan, on 4 August 2016 launched Sachet portal, sachet.rbi.org.in, to check illegal money collection. The portal will help anyone can obtain information regarding entities that are allowed to accept deposits, lodge complaints and share information regarding illegal acceptance of deposits by unscrupulous entities.

Mahatma Gandhi’s photo on currency notes won’t be replaced: Govt

Government has no proposal to replace Mahatma Gandhi’s photograph or add another leader’s photo on currency notes as the matter has already been decided by a high-level committee during the UPA rule, Rajya Sabha was informed today. Replying to a question on whether the government intends to replace or add photos of other leaders on currency notes, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said, “a

RBI ushers in on-tap bank licence

In what could be Raghuram Rajan’s last banking reform before he bows out in the first week of September, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday released the final guidelines for on-tap licensing of universal banks in the private sector, under which it ring-fenced the banking system from large industrial houses, excluding them from floating banks in the future. But conglomerates have been allowed to hold up to 10 per

RBI slaps penalty on BoB, HDFC Bank PNB

The Reserve Bank of India  slapped penalties ranging from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore on Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, and Punjab National Bank over the issue of advance import remittances. On Bank of Baroda , the RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on it. This follows the banking regulator finding weaknesses and failures in internal control mechanisms in respect of certain anti-money laundering provisions. Punjab National

ICICI, Axis bank join Swift’s global payments initiative

SWIFT announced  that ICICI Bank and AXIS Bank are the first Indian banks to sign up for its global payments innovation initiative. Both banks will be joining forces with more than 70 other leading banks globally. The initiative aims to enhance cross-border payments by leveraging SWIFT’s proven messaging platform and global reach. In its first phase, the initiative will focus on business-to-business payments.

NSE revamps board;appoints Mohandas Pai, 2 others as directors

Top stock exchange NSE has revamped its board, appointing three new public interest directors including chairman of Manipal Global Education Services and Infosys former director Mohandas Pai. Besides, former Secretary at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs Naved Masood and KPMG India’s former Deputy Chief Executive Dinesh Kanabar have been included on NSE’s board as public interest directors. Pai, who was

IRCTC, SBI sign MoU on promotion of rail ticketing activities

The country’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI) and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to hammer out a detailed plan for promotion of rail ticketing activities, including internet ticketing and unreserved ticketing system. Under the MoU, the signatories “will jointly explore areas of cooperation and draw up a detailed

SEBI’s first phase of new enterprise portal goes live

MUMBAI, JUL 31:  Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated the first phase of its new enterprise portal to facilitate accurate and timely dissemination of information to the watchdog’s internal and external stakeholders. The new portal, which would replace the regulator’s existing portal in a phased manner, went live on July 29 and is being developed by IT major Tech Mahindra. The first

Submit plans for fund raising: Govt to PSU banks

Having announced capital infusion of Rs 22,915 crore in PSU banks, the Finance Ministry has asked them to submit plans for raising resources through markets, including public offers and sale of non-core assets. "With the infusion, the financial strength of the banks will get a boost. This can be then leveraged by the banks to raise funds from the markets which is looking up," sources said. Banks were advised to submit funds raising

SBI use IOC kisan seva centres to serve farmers

SBI has engaged Indian Oil Corporation’s Kisan Seva Kendras as banking correspondents to extend banking facilities to farmers across the country. The MoU was signed by K M Trivedi, CGM-Rural Business, SBI and Sivasis Dey, GM – Retail Sales, IOC. State Bank of India (SBI) has signed an MoU with IOC as part of its financial inclusion programme that will help the lender further its services to the farming

ADB raises Rs 500 cr in rupee-linked bonds

NEW DELHI, July 28:  Multilateral funding agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised Rs 5 billion, or around Rs 500 crore, by issuing five-year offshore Indian rupee-linked bonds. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised Rs 5 billion (about USD 74 million) from its issuance of 5-year offshore Indian rupee (INR) linked bonds, ” it said in a release today. This was, ADB said, its third bond issue in the offshore

Banks roll out voice recognition to facilitate authentication process for phone banking

A new measure introduced by some private banks makes the process of authentication adopted for phone banking much easier for users. In what will come as a major relief for users who frequently use phone banking, banks have now introduced a voice recognition process which acts as a quicker way of authentication. The development could come in handy for customers in an emergency to report loss or theft

RBI allows retail bond traders access to NDS-OM

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday allowed demat account-holders with depositories to bid for trades in the online anonymous bond trading platform of the central bank.The platform so far was available only for institutional investors, but the central bank had announced in the first bi-monthly monetary policy in April that it would allow individual investors to use the platform too in order to increase retail participation in