The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rejected requests for standstill in asset classification from banks, dashing the hopes of lenders as well as companies seeking to avoid the defaulter tag.
Investors looking for higher returns post the sharp cut of interest rates in small savings products and bank deposits by up to 140 basis points could turn to banking and PSU debt funds.
The merger of United Bank of India (UBI) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) with Punjab National Bank has made it the second-largest state-owned bank.
States’ short-term borrowing limits have been increased by as much as 30% as they face pressure on revenues with economic activity coming to a halt and the transfers from the Central government also getting crushed due to lower Goods and Services Tax collection.
The Department of Posts is also moving ventilators, COVID-19 Test Kits and other medical equipments as per requests of various organisations from selected locations to destinations across the country by using cargo airlines and its own mail motor network. The routes of these mobile post offices are decided depending upon requirements, the statement said.
Savings bank accounts with deposits up to Rs 50 lakh will earn 3.25 per cent interest as against existing 3.5 per cent, ICICI said. At the same time, it said, savings bank account with deposit over Rs 50 lakh but less than Rs 2 crore will fetch 3.75 per cent, from the current rate of 4 per cent.
These lenders -- both banks and non-banks -- with sizeable loan exposure to NBFC-MFIs have also deducted the installments ignoring the request for moratorium. They said the policy on moratorium is still a work under progress.
The amalgamation will also strengthen the bank's footprint in southern India with considerable market share in this region, the Mumbai-headquartered lender said. It is also expected to generate cost and revenue synergies to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore over the next three years.
RBI has offered this option to mitigate the burden of debt servicing brought about by disruptions on account of COVID 19 pandemic. The bank's managing director and CEO Sanjiv Chadha said there are some cases where instalments have already been deducted because the RBI instructions came in over the last few days while the applicable period is from March 1, 2020.
Nearly all digital channels operated by NPCI such as UPI, IMPS, Fastag and Aadhar Enabled Payment System (AePS) recorded reduced traffic in March; only BBPS bucks the trend and posts higher volumes.
The RBI had announced a 3-month moratorium on loan repayments in the wake of COVID-19 crisis for dues to be paid between March-May 2020 and left it to the bank to implement the same. A slew of state-run banks have gone for an "opt-out" option where the repayments automatically get deferred unless a customer informs of her willingness to pay.
Tha RBI notification had said "the repayment schedule for such loans as also the residual tenor, will be shifted across the board by three months after the moratorium period. Interest shall continue to accrue on the outstanding portion of the term loans during the moratorium period".
State-owned Punjab National bank on Wednesday said all nation-wide branches of United Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce has started functioning as PNB branches.