SBI issues Electoral Bonds worth Rs 16,518 cr in 30 tranches

     SBI issues Electoral Bonds worth Rs 16,518 cr in 30 tranches : State Bank of India (SBI) has issued Electoral Bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018, Parliament was informed on Monday. The objective of the Electoral Bond Scheme is to ensure clean tax-paid money is coming into the system of political funding through proper banking channels, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. "The total value of Electoral Bonds purchased (Phase-I to Phase-XXX) from State Bank of India is about Rs 16,518 crore. No GST or any other taxes/cess are charged from the purchaser on the purchase of Electoral Bonds," he said. - moneycontrol.

🍒         SBI shares fall as Q3 earnings miss estimates : Shares of State Bank of India (SBI) traded lower on February 5 after the public sector bank's third-quarter earnings fell short of Street estimates, dragged by a high wage and pension bill. The country’s largest lender’s net profit fell 35 percent on-year to Rs 9,163 crore, hit by Rs 7,100 crore pension liabilities.Adjusted for this one-time impact, the overall earnings remained healthy, driven by lower credit cost despite weak core operating performance, analysts.The net interest income (NII), the difference between interest earned and paid, came in at Rs 39,815 crore, missing estimates of Rs 40,304 crore. Its interest margin (NIM) stood at 3.22 percent, the bank told exchanges February 2. At 9:20 am, SBI shares were trading 1 percent lower at Rs 642.75 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). - moneycontrol.

🍒         IOB Puts MSME Bad Loans on the Block, Eyes 60% Debt Recovery :  Banks are selling bad loans in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) deciding to sell loans in the segment comprising 41 accounts worth ₹208 crore. The bank is looking to recover 60% of the debt. It has invited potential buyers to submit offers, with 20% in cash and 80% in security receipts (SR). The last date for submitting expressions of interest is February 9 and e-bidding will take place on February 21. Bidders are expected to offer 5% mark-up on 20% cash and 80% SR base bid, with preference to bids with a higher cash portion. The cash component is ₹26.40, while the SR portion is ₹105.60 and the total recovery expectation is ₹125 crore, which is 60% of the outstanding book value. The initial amount for a counter bid is set at ₹132.00 crore, a 5.34% mark-up from the binding bid amount of ₹125.3 crore. This is on a basis of 20% cash and 80% SR. - economic times.

🍒         Need more 'SBI-sized' banks: Nirmala Sitharaman on India's economic push : Days after Budget 2024, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stressed the need to create more "SBI-sized" banks in India. In an interview with Livemint, Sitharaman said, "...Maybe three times the size of SBI (State Bank of India). Because SBI is also not in the top 10 (globally)."  Her statement followed after the February 1 interim budget presentation, where she had reiterated the Narendra Modi government's pledge to make India the world's third-largest economy during what would be the BJP-led NDA government's third tenure after the impending Lok Sabha elections. - Business Standard

🍒         Paytm shares crash over 42% in 3 days; investors lose Rs 20,500 crore : Shares of troubled fintech One 97 Communications or Paytm fell another 10% on Monday to its lower circuit limit at Rs 438.35 on BSE as the regulatory crisis deepened with fresh allegations of money laundering and investigation by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) coming to the fore. In the last 3 trading sessions, including today, the stock has lost 42.4% of its value or Rs 20,500 crore in market capitalisation. Following two successive days of 20% losses in Paytm, stock exchanges have reduced the lower circuit limit to 10%. "One should avoid bottom fishing at this juncture because the news flow is still not digested by the market at this moment. Those who are still stuck in the stock are willing to exit," said Rajesh Palviya of Axis Securities. - economic times.

🍒         LICHFL aims to double affordable housing share in loan baook in 2 years : LIC Housing Finance is aiming to more than double the share of affordable housing loans in its loan book to 20-25 per cent in the next two years, a top official said on Monday. The home finance arm of the insurance behemoth has witnessed a slower loan growth at 5 per cent in the December quarter due to internal restructuring and management changes, its chief executive and managing director T Adhikari, who assumed charge in August, told reporters. He said the company has been focused on the salaried and the high credit scores segment till now, which has led to a lower focus on affordable housing finance till now. "At present, affordable housing is 8-10 per cent of the portfolio, and we are targeting to take it to 20-25 per cent of the loanbook in two years," Adhikari said. - economic times.

🍒         Paytm denies reports of being investigated or violation of forex rules by co or Payments Bank : One97 Communications Ltd, the parent company of Paytm, on Monday denied reports of company or its arm Paytm Payments Bank being investigated for involvement in violations of foreign exchange rules. "To address recent misinformation, factual inaccuracies, and speculation, One97 Communications Limited (OCL / Paytm / Company) would like to set out the Company’s position and directly address rumors in the recent misleading media reports about the Company," Paytm said in an exchange filing. The report which cited sources said that they did not indicate what specific provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which covers individual and corporate transfers overseas, were the subject of the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate. - economci times.

🍒         Indian Bank credit growth could moderate in FY25 on tighter liquidity: S&P : S&P Global Ratings on Monday said strong credit growth of Indian banks could moderate to 12-14 per cent in the next fiscal if deposit growth remains tepid. "Deposit growth continues to lag credit for the Indian banks we rate, leading to tight liquidity conditions," S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Nikita Anand said. Banks may be compelled to look for wholesale funding, S&P said, adding that higher costs of such funding could further strain margins and hurt profitability. Rising cost of funds and potential rate cuts in fiscal 2025 will squeeze net interest margins, it added. "Liquidity is tightening for Indian banks. The sector's strong credit growth could moderate to 12-14 per cent in fiscal 2025 if deposit growth remains tepid, compounded by higher deposit costs and competition for funds," S&P said in a report titled 'Tight liquidity shackles Indian banks' robust credit growth'. S&P expects the share of unsecured personal loans in the banks' total loan book to continue to rise. - economic times.

🍒         ED probing Paytm and bank unit over currency transactions : India's financial crime-fighting agency is investigating if platforms run by One 97 Communications, also known as Paytm, were involved in violations of foreign exchange rules, two senior government sources said. The sources did not indicate what specific provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which covers individual and corporate transfers overseas, were the subject of the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate. One of the sources added that the investigators were not yet in contact with Paytm. The sources declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media. - economic times.

🍒         Customers, competitors redraw plans with Paytm : As Paytm Payments Bank stares into an abyss, customers and competitors are redrawing their plans with the fintech group, amid expectations that the regulator may have to weigh in to untangle the knot as banks looking to take over the accounts are for the RBI to indemnify them on the KYC and money laundering issues, said people familiar with the matter. Its parent company, One 97 Communications, which has a loan sourcing business with seven non-banking financial companies, will also be impacted, they said. Shriram Finance vice chairman Umesh Revankar, whose company has one such relationship, said it will revisit the partnership, which was forged in July 2023. - economic times.

🍒         Unity SFB reports 79% jump in Q3FY24 net profit at ₹110 crore : Unity Small Finance Bank reported a 79 per cent year-on-year (yoy) jump in third quarter net profit at ₹110 crore against ₹61 crore in the year ago quarter on the back of a strong increase in net interest income (NII). NII, which is the difference between interest earned and interest expended, was up 71 per cent y-o-y at ₹257 crore (₹151 crore), per a bank statement. Pre-provisioning operating profit shot up 180 per cent y-o-y to ₹133 crore (₹47 crore). Total deposits and net advances rose 163 per cent (to ₹5,004 crore as of December-end 2023) and 80 per cent (ṭ6,601 crore), respectively. - Busiess Line.

🍒         PFRDA invites bids to engage system integrator for TRACE : The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is seeking bids from prospective bidders to be appointed as System Integrator (SI) for PFRDA-TRACE as part of Technology Architecture (TARCH) project. PFRDA-TRACE (Tracking Reporting Analytics & Compliance e-platform) will serve as a comprehensive tool for submitting regulatory and supervisory compliance reports by intermediaries, sharing reports and data with PFRDA, monitoring functions, facilitating a workflow for PFRDA departments to review and track submissions, enabling communication of observations and remarks and incorporating a validation process for reports and data submitted by intermediaries. The PFRDA-TRACE is the second phase of the TARCH project and PFRDA is selecting an SI vendor specifically for this module.  - Business Line.

🍒         Sundaram Finance posts 24% rise in Q3 net profit : Sundaram Finance Ltd. (SFL) has reported a 24 per cent increase in its standalone net profit of ₹300 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2023, when compared with a net profit of ₹243 crore in the year-ago quarter, aided by strong growth in income. The board of the company has declared an interim dividend of ₹14 per share (140%) for 2023-24. The Chennai-headquartered NBFC’s interest income grew by 33 per cent to ₹1,195 crore in the December 2023 quarter (₹897 crore in the year-ago quarter), while total income grew by 34 per cent to ₹1,352 crore when compared with ₹1,011 crore. - Business Line.

🍒         Banking system liquidity deficit shrinks to ₹1.40 lakh crore : The liquidity deficit in the banking system shrank to about ₹1.40-lakh crore on February 4 from the recent peak of ₹3.46-lakh crore (on January 24th) in view of the government stepping up spending, per RBI data. The declining liquidity deficit also had a salubrious effect on the overnight money market rates, with the weighted average rate easing to 6.33 per cent from around 6.50 per cent to 6.75 per cent last month. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been keeping liquidity tight in the banking system in tune with the “withdrawal of accommodation” monetary policy stance to ensure that inflation progressively aligns with the target while supporting growth. - Business Line.

🍒         Paytm Payments Bank: Continued regulatory lapses drew stringent RBI action  : As more details surface around the reasons for Reserve Bank of India taking stringent action against Paytm Payments Bank, doubts thicken around the possibilities of the bank fudging its user base details and acting in a manner non-complaint to its licensing requirements. According to highly placed sources aware of the matter, while Paytm Payments Bank boasts of 330 million wallet users only 20 million may be active wallet users of the payments bank, while 310 million may have been redundant accounts. Some of the case documents perused by businessline, which detail the irregularities noted by the regulator, reveal the absence of KYC (know your customer) for very large number of customers, permanent account number (PAN) validation failures in several accounts running into millions, single PAN used for onboarding multiple customers and an unusually high number of dormant accounts. - Business Line.

🍒         Banks provide few liquidation options in AIFs in the hope of easing norms : Amid few options for existing investments and the hope of some easing in guidelines by the regulator, most private banks made provisions against their investments in alternative investment funds (AIFs) during the quarter ended December 2023. In October-December, five private banks made provisions of ₹2,334 crore against their AIF portfolios, leading with HDFC Bank, which had the maximum provisions of ₹1,220 crore, and ICICI Bank, with provisions of ₹627 crore. In the earnings call, HDFC Bank CFO Srinivasan Vaidyanathan said that the fair value of the investments was about ₹500 crore higher, which reflects that there is good value in the assets, but the bank has chosen to make 100 per cent provisioning on a prudent basis. He added that if the RBI makes any concessions in the future, the bank will accordingly take a call.  - Business Line.

🍒         More than 11 crore PAN still not linked with Aadhaar : More than 11 crore Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) have yet to be linked with their respective Aadhaar numbers, the Ministry of Finance has informed the Parliament.  In a written response to the Lok Sabha on February 5, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that as of January 29, the number of PANs not linked with Aadhaar, excluding exempted categories, stood at 11.48 For people who were allotted a PAN on or before July 1, 2017, it was mandatory to link it with their Aadhaar by June 30, 2023, failing which the PAN became inoperative. However, the PAN can be made operative again after paying a penalty of Rs 1,000. - moneycontrol.

🍒         LIC jumps 7%, tops Rs 1,000 mark for the first time on government's value push : Life Insurance Corporation of India’s share price rose 7 percent to Rs 1,011 on February 5, surpassing the IPO price of Rs 949 yet again, pushing the market capitalisation of the insurer above the Rs 6-lakh crore mark. In mid-January, LIC overtook the State Bank of India and became the most valued public sector undertaking. The SBI share price on Monday fell 1.11 percent to Rs 643.2 and its market cap stood at Rs 5.77 lakh crore. The LIC stock has surged more than 55 percent in the past three months. - moneycontrol.

🍒          Sensex falls 354 pts; Nifty settles above 21,750 pts; Tata Motors gains 5.8%, UPL slumps over 10% :  Sensex, Nifty updates on February 5, 2024: BSE Sensex fell 0.49% to close at 71,731.42 points and NSE Nifty declined by 0.35% to settle at 21,777.25 points. Nifty Pharma surged by 2.07% to 18,343.80, with Pfizer, Natco Pharma, Sun Pharma, and Cipla leading. Nifty Oil & Gas (11,400.85) and Nifty Auto (19,700.95) gained 2.60% and 1.65%, respectively. Tata Motors, Coal India, BPCL, Power Grid, and ONGC were top NSE gainers, while UPL, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti, and Bajaj Finance lagged. On BSE, 2,112 stocks advanced, 1,743 declined, and 165 were unchanged. 514 stocks hit a 52-week high, while LIC reached a lifetime high at ₹1,028, currently trading at ₹1,002.50, up 6.03% as of 12.35 pm. - Business Line.

🍒         Rupee falls 8 paise to settle at 83.06 against US dollar : The rupee depreciated 8 paise to settle at 83.06 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday, as strengthening American currency overseas and negative sentiment in the domestic equity markets weighed on the local unit. However, the downward trend in the global crude oil prices supported the domestic unit and restricted its decline, forex traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.03 against the dollar and traded in the narrow range of 83.00 to 83.07. The local unit finally settled at 83.06 (provisional) against the greenback, down 8 paise over its previous close. - Business Line..

.

🙏“All the Best…Have a Good Day "👨‍👩‍👧‍👧🌻💐🙏