Banking Sector

The MPC's off-cycle meeting has been convened as the central bank has failed to curb inflation, which has remained beyond its tolerance limit of 2 to 6 per cent for the past nine months. Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation rose to 7.41 percent in September. Retail inflation has remained beyond RBI's tolerance limit for the last three quarters.

According to The Wall Street Journal, nearly 400 people will lose their jobs, primarily clinical staff and care counselors. A memo from its CEO, David Mou said the cuts would affect employees across the company, including at headquarters and among clinical care staff and support workers.

"DBU is a big step in the direction of Ease of Living for the common citizens", he said. The Prime Minister informed that in such a banking setup, the government aims to provide maximum services with minimum infrastructure, and all of this will happen digitally without involving any paperwork.

In a regulatory filing Federal Bank said that its gross advances grew by 19.4 per cent to Rs.163,956 crore from Rs.137,313 crore as of September 30, 2021.The retail credit book grew by 18.7 per cent and wholesale credit book grew by 20.2 per cent. Retail to wholesale ratio at 54:46.

The second Swiss bank and one of the largest banks in the world is in deep trouble and is currently fighting for its survival. A negative outcome is likely to cause a shock similar to that caused by the bankruptcy of the US bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008. This event triggered one of the most serious financial and economic crises since the Great Depression.

"The current 50 BPS repo rate hike by RBI now makes it higher than the pre-pandemic levels. At one level it reflects the confidence in the economy and future growth outlook, at another level it was necessitated by the recent global developments such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including aggressive monetary policies pursued by global central banks.

They also said the MPC's future rate actions will be determined by the domestic inflation situation. For a third consecutive time, the MPC has hiked the policy rate by 50 bps, taking the cumulative hike to 190 bps. "The frontloading of the repo rate hike was expected, particularly in the light of a sharper rate hike path stated by the United States Fed and continued rate hikes by other major central banks," said credit rating agency Crisil Ltd.

He also said the aspect of adequacy of forex reserves is always kept in mind while RBI intervenes in the forex market. The umbrella continues to be strong. Announcing the Monetary Policy statement on Friday Das said during the current financial year (up to September 28), the US dollar has appreciated by 14.5 per cent against a basket of major currencies.

The amount raised is 32 per cent lower than the Rs 51,979 crore raised through 25 IPOs in the corresponding period of 2021-22. Rs 20,557 crore or 58 per cent of the amount was raised just in the IPO of LIC, according to Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, PRIME Database Group. Overall public equity fundraising also dropped by 55 per cent to Rs 41,919 crore from Rs 92,191 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

It will make a full assessment at its next scheduled meeting of the impact on demand and inflation from the government's announcements, and the fall in sterling, and act accordingly, the central bank said in a statement on Monday while dampening the prospects of an emergency rate rise to shore up the pound.