Finance Sector

2024, a rear view: Mint Road balances continuity and change in governance

Mint Road saw a new incumbent at the helm, followed through on its regulatory and governance initiatives even as the wait continues on a few fronts

NBFCs top growth rate in micro-finance at 27.6% Y-o-Y by Sept-end FY25

The portfolio-at-risk 31-180 days-past-due has shown a deterioration across all entity types

Packing and labelling imported goods don't confer Indian-origin status

The balances in the RVAs are built through inward remittances in freely convertible currencies

Aadhar Housing Finance aims AUM of over Rs 25,000 crore by March '25

Aadhar Housing Finance, which caters to the affordable segment, expects its asset under management (AUM) to cross Rs 25,000 crore by the end of the current financial year. "We closed the first half with the AUM of Rs 22,817 crore (from Rs 18,885 crore as of September 30, 2023). Going by the growth rate of 23-24 per cent, AUM should increase to Rs 25,000-26,000 crore by the end of March 2025," Aadhar Housing Finance, MD and CEO Rishi Anand told PTI. Focused on the low-income housing segment, he said, "Our average ticket size stands at Rs 10 lakh with an average loan-to-value ratio at 59 per cent, catering to the salaried customer segment at 56 per cent of our portfolio.. Profit grew by 24 per cent to Rs 428 crore in the first half as against Rs 344 crore reported in the same period a year ago. "We have successfully maintained the quality of the book at a Gross NPA drop of 6 basis points at 1.29 per cent with a healthy collection efficiency at 99 per cent," he said. To fund business

Annapurna Finance raises $109.5 mn via multilateral ECB transactions

Micro and SME lender Annapurna Finance has raised USD 109.5 million (around Rs 927 crore) through a multilateral syndicated social loan facility under the external commercial borrowing framework, a statement said on Saturday. The funds have been raised from 10 known financial institutions from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, the Odisha-based SME lender said in the statement. The facility involves a green-show option to raise an additional USD 40 million (around Rs 338 crore), it added. The funds will be used for on-lending to microfinance borrowers with a focus on rural women and underserved populations, the company said. The initiative aims to expand access to financial services, enhance economic participation, and contribute to development in underbanked regions of India. Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) arranged the loan facility. Annapurna Finance, an NBFC-MFI, serves over 2.9 million borrowers across 21 states through over 1,500 branches in 424 districts.

RBI policy: CRR cut to improve lenders' margins, may lift credit growth

Deposit rates may start easing

RBI asks banks to collaborate with MuleHunter.AI to find mule accounts

The RBI on Friday asked banks to collaborate with its initiative MuleHunter.AI to weed out mule accounts which are used to commit financial fraud. A mule account is a bank account used by criminals to launder illicit funds, often set up by unsuspecting individuals lured by promises of easy money or coerced into participation. The transfer of funds through these highly interconnected accounts makes it difficult to trace and recover the funds. "Use of money mule accounts is a common method adopted by fraudsters to channel proceeds of frauds," Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said. Unveiling the December 2024 monetary policy, he said the RBI is currently running a hackathon on the theme 'Zero Financial Frauds' which includes a specific problem statement on mule accounts, to encourage development of innovative solutions to contain the use of mule accounts. Another initiative in this direction is the AI/ ML-based model called MuleHunter.AI, piloted by Reserve Bank ..

Want to grow loans cautiously: Yes Bank MD & CEO Prashant Kumar

Prashant Kumar discussed the bank's deposit strategy, loan growth trajectory, the status of stake sale, and other key developments

PNB HF aims to close FY25 with loan book of Rs 5k cr in affordable segment

With focus on the affordable segment, PNB Housing Finance aims to expand its loan book size to Rs 5,000 crore by the end of the current financial year. The mortgage lender closed the loan book under the affordable segment called 'Roshini' at Rs 3,000 crore at the end of the second quarter of FY'25. "We hope to expand our loan look under the affordable housing segment to Rs 5,000 crore by this year-end to touch Rs 15,000 crore by March 2027," PNB Housing Finance MD and CEO Girish Kousgi told reporters here. The loan growth will be helped by implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban 2.0 (PMAY 2) and branch expansion. He also said the housing finance company plans to set up a new vertical for 'Loan Against Property' beginning next financial year. To fund loan growth of 17 per cent, he said, the housing finance company plans to raise USD 100-125 million through External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) this fiscal. The board has already given approval for raising USD 125 million

B2B supply chain financing platform Mintifi raises $80 million from Prosus

The investment firm acquired a 10.65 per cent effective interest in the Mumbai-based fintech with the latest round of fund infusion

SBI planning to open 500 new branches across India in FY25: MoS Finance

The State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to open 500 new branches across India during the current financial year, Parliament was informed on Monday. Of this, 135 new branches have already been opened till October 31, 2024, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. Currently, the endeavour of the government is to ensure availability of a banking outlet (bank branch/business correspondent/ India Post Payments Bank) within 5 kilometres of all inhabited villages in the country, he said. Availability of banking outlets is monitored by a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based app, namely, Jan Dhan Darshak (JDD) app, he said. To another question regarding shortage of staff in SBI, Chaudhary said, public sector banks (PSBs) including SBI are board governed commercial entities. The requirement of manpower in each PSB is determined by the respective PSB keeping in view various factors which include, inter-alia, business requirement, spread

Governance premium to rise sharply, banks to be put through the wringer

In European banks, you have a supervisory board for governance, another for management of business

Sensible trade policy key to tackling climate change on a global scale

A key agreement at Baku was on establishing high integrity carbon markets, following a breakthrough on establishing standards for a centralised international carbon market

Growth in bank credit to NBFCs declines sharply to 6.4%: RBI data

Non-food credit increased at slower clip of 12.8% in October compared to 15.5% a year ago, says RBI

Italian companies invested $6.5 bn in India: European House Ambrosetti

The European House Ambrosetti group's senior partner Lorenzo Tavazzi on Friday said Italian companies have invested USD 6.5 billion in India, which speaks of the importance accorded to the world's fastest growing major economy, and stressed that there are a lot of opportunities for growth. Tavazzi, who heads TEHA's Scenarios and Intelligence Areas, was speaking in Mumbai after the inauguration of the Villaggio Italia exposition, being held to coincide with the port of call of Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian Navy ship used for training and supporting national diplomacy. Speaking at a panel discussion curated by top Italian news agency ANSA in connection with the ship's arrival in Mumbai, Tavazzi said Italy can help India's aspirations on the energy transition and transport fronts with its expertise in sustainable technologies and also high-speed rail. Alessandro Giuliani of SDA Bocconi Asia Center, a Mumbai-based management education institute, said that given the commonality on the ...

Eurasian Group identified over 600 terror financiers this year: EAG chief

The Eurasian Group (EAG) has identified more than 600 people linked to international networks involved in terror financing this year, its top official said here on Friday. Identifying ways of financing international terrorists and their financiers has emerged as the biggest challenge at present and this issue was discussed at length during the 41st plenary meeting of the EAG comprising nine countries, EAG chairman Yuri Chikhanchin said. He was addressing a press conference after the conclusion of the five-day meet that began on November 25. Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are the nine member countries of the EAG. "This is the biggest challenge that we are facing - identifying channels of financing, financiers and sustainment of international terrorists because we all are international these days," Chikhanchin said. "This year itself, over 600 people have been identified in our region via the analysis of financial ...

Regulation-first approach to drive success for fintechs: Paytm founder, CEO

He added that it is the responsibility of entities in the financial services domain to ensure the safety of users through measures involving customer education

Closer coordination among regulators key to NBFC stability: RBI DG

The RBI has implemented a scale-based regulatory framework for the NBFC sector, categorising them based on their scale of operations and potential interconnectedness

BCFI to push for SRO status; explores solo, strategic partnership options

BCs have of late been sounding off to the Ministry of Finance, warning that the channel is becoming increasingly unviable

Loan book of Axis Bank's GIFT City unit doubles to $4 billion in 5 years

Private lender Axis Bank on Wednesday said the asset book of its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) in Gandhinagar has doubled to USD 4 billion from USD 2 billion in 2019. The bank unveiled a spacious IBU office at GIFT City here that spans nearly 8,000 square feet and is nearly three times bigger than the previous facility located here. "In terms of size, today our asset book here is a little over USD 4 billion, which is among the largest in GIFT City. Similarly, on the liability side, we have a USD 1 billion deposit, which once again makes us among the highest in terms of deposits as well...from USD 2 billion in 2019, we have doubled our asset book," its Deputy Managing Director Rajiv Anand told mediapersons. "The office is an expression of our ambition aligned with the ambition for GIFT City to serve our customers. We continue to show very solid growth on multiple fronts," said Axis Bank's President and Head of Wholesale Banking Products