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The new charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from today Some banks, including HDFC Bank, have begun charging a minimum amount of Rs 150 per transaction for cash deposits and   withdrawals   beyond four free transactions in a month. The new charges would apply to savings as well as salary accounts effective from today, leading private sector player HDFC Bank said in a circular. The bank would also cap the third party cash transactions at Rs 25,000 per day, while cash handling charges would be withdrawn effective today, the circular added. In the case of several banks, including ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, these charges came into effect early in January and are same as they were before the demonetisation move announced on November 8, while there is an increase in such fees in case of some others, including HDFC Bank, today onwards. These charges are for cash transactions in the branches, and not through ATMs. The move was seen in some...

The move is likely to curtail imports by the world's second-biggest gold consumer this month and could weigh on global prices already near their lowest level in ten months. ( Axis Bank branch closed during a raid by Income Tax officials in the Chandni Chowk in New Delhi ) Axis Bank , India's top importer of gold, has suspended the bank accounts of some bullion dealers and jewellers after two of its executives at a branch were arrested over alleged money laundering. The move is likely to curtail imports by the world's second-biggest gold consumer this month and could weigh on global prices already near their lowest level in ten months. "We have temporarily suspended transactions in a few current accounts as a part of a larger enhanced due diligence exercise being conducted on transactions post-demonetisation," the bank said in an e-mailed reply to questions from Reuters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee banknotes on Nov....

Only once the ATMs are recalibrated and enough Rs 500 notes are printed, the chaos will be under control, say bankers. Ten days on, the banking sector is yet to recover from the government's  demonetisation move. There are two main reasons for this. One, there is just not enough new notes being supplied by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), even after running its printing presses over time. And the second, there are not enough technicians to recaliberate automated teller machines in the countries. Only once the  ATMs  are recalibrated and enough Rs 500 notes are printed, the chaos will be under control, say bankers. Even as top bankers are assuring public that the situation will normalise in a week, bankers behind the counters think otherwsie. The new 500 notes have not been released in rural areas. Most of the branches just 20-30 kilometers from metros have not seen the new 500 rupee note as the currency chests are currently available only in cities. Even in me...

Your money will remain yours. You need have no worry on this point My dear citizens I hope you ended the festive season of Diwali with joy and new hope. Today, I will be speaking to you about some critical issues and important decisions. Today I want to make a special request to all of you. You may recall the economic situation in May 2014  Narendra Modi when you entrusted us with an onerous responsibility. In the context of BRICS, it was being said that the “I” in BRICS was shaky. Since then, we had two years of severe drought. Yet, in the last two and a half years with the support of 125 crore Indians, India has become the “bright spot” in the global economy. It is not just we who are saying this; it is being stated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In this effort for development, our motto has been ‘Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas’: We are with all citizens and for development of all citizens. This Government is dedicated to the poor. It will remain dedi...

United payments system to make mobile wallets redundant: Report The report, by city-based Centrum Broking, stated that   mobile wallet   services like SBI's Buddy, ICICI Bank's Pockets, HDFC Bank's Chillr and standalone operator Paytm will be redundant with the massive adoption of the UPI. "Mobile banking has taken the country by storm, growing by 212% growth in value terms in February 2016 over the same period in 2015 and by 131% in volume. "If the UPI adoption continues mobile wallets like SBI's Buddy, ICICI Bank's Pockets, HDFC Bank's Chillr and Paytm will be redundant," a Centrum Broking said in a report titled- 'Banking Transactions - Technological Disruption'. The report attributed the RBI push to adopt UPI as an effort to lower the cash economy. Quoting RBI data, the report said the cash floating in the system is about 18% of the GDP, making the country one of the most cash-dependent economies in the world. "T...

SBI launches card-less payment solution for offline transactions     State Bank of India, the country's largest public sector bank, has launched a mobile payment solution that will enable customers to make digital payments at offline stores by scanning a QR (quick response) code on their smartphones. The service has been launched in Bengaluru with a sizable number of merchants and will soon expand into other cities. Dubbed   mVisa , the solution is a card-less way for customers to pay for goods at offline stores, and will be available to all SBI credit card, debit card and net banking users. The solution which is bank agnostic will be accessible to customers through the company's SBI Anywhere app. "This cost effective digital offering will not only provide our large base of consumers with an easy, convenient and secure payment product but will also facilitate small merchants with any-time payment, thereby changing the way businesses transact and customers pay,...

Industrialist Vijay Mallya today came out in defence of his decision to go abroad, stating that he had not fled from India.  Rubbishing claims that he had absconded from India, Mallya said that as an international businessman, he travels a lot to and fro from India. ALSO READ:  Mallya showed zero debt in Rajya Sabha affidavit   Show full Article  Tweets by Vijay Mallya

ICICI Bank has launched iWork@home, an initiative that allows women employees to work from home for up to a year. Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer, ICICI Bank, explained this could be extended for more than one year based on the requirements of the employee. This initiative allows women employees to have access to their required operating systems in a safe and secure manner, creating a seamless office-like environment. Show full article

Moody's Investors Service today said the Budget for 2016-17 is "credit negative" for  PSU banks  as the capital infusion road map falls short of the required Rs 1.45 lakh crore. "The Budget is  credit negative  for public sector banks because the government has stuck to its capital infusion road map announced in 2015, budgeting Rs 25,000 crore in injection," says Srikanth Vadlamani, Moody's Vice-President and Senior Credit Officer. Show full article

Banks must not wait for growth to clean their balance sheets. Rather, growth will come once the books are cleaned, said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday. He did so while rapping the lenders for abusing the tools offered by the central bank to fight bad debt, to instead hide the extent of bad loans. The recent clean-up operation has the central government’s blessings, he noted. Central bank officials had a series of meeting with the government, including at the “highest,” before coming up with its asset quality review (AQR) that is now causing havoc in banks’ quarterly numbers, throwing up heavy NPAs in the books, revealed the governor. Read Full Article Over Here :  Business Standard News

Bankers and economists expect the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to maintain status quo in its sixth monetary policy on Tuesday even as room for more rate cuts could open once the  Union Budget  is through on February 29. ALSO READ:  NITI Aayog To FinMin: Stay On Fiscal Consolidation Road Map Govt Calls All Party Meeting To Seek Views On Rescheduling Budget Session   In a pre-policy poll done by Business Standard of 10 institutions, all but one expect RBI to keep its policy repo rate unchanged at 6.75 per cent. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch economist Indranil Sen Gupta, though, expected there were compelling reasons for the central bank to execute a 25 basis point (bps) cut on February 2 and pause thereafter.  Read Full Article Over Here :  Business Standard News  

All public sector and private banks have been asked by the Reserve Bank of India to conduct a “thorough internal audit” and put the report before their respective audit committees, as part of the central bank’s efforts to check fraudulent foreign exchange transactions. The move comes in the wake of irregularities that came to light last year in Rs 6,100-crore import remittances effected by Bank of Baroda’s Ashok Vihar branch in New Delhi. A circular has been issued to all scheduled commercial banks, advising them to conduct a thorough internal audit and place the report before audit committee of the board of the respective banks and to forward the summary of findings to RBI, the central bank said in reply to an RTI query filed by PTI. The RBI was asked to provide details of action being taken by it to check fraudulent forex transactions by banks. “We are in the process of receiving the internal audit report from various banks,”it said.  Read Full Article Over Here :  B...

Banks and financial institutions pitched for a delay in the fiscal deficit road map and for more focus on greater public spending to ensure economic revival, at a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday. The institutions also wanted incentives to encourage cashless transactions through debit/credit cards and rationalisation of interest rate of small savings schemes.  Read Articles   Read our full coverage on Union Budget