George Mathew

While State Bank of India, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank slashed housing loan rates to the lowest level in nearly 15 years, other lenders are gearing up to join the race.

“Owing to the stressed assets in large industries, there was a general reluctance on the part of bankers to lend to these industries, with the problem getting compounded by the pandemic,” the RBI said.

A rise in the yields generally tends to affect the NAV of debt funds negatively depending on the type of fund and maturity profile of the securities, says Waqar Naqvi.

Led by banking and finance stocks, the benchmark Sensex plunged 1,939 points to 49,099.99 and the NSE Nifty Index fell 568 points at 14,529.15 as investors sold off stocks across the board.

The sudden rise in domestic and global bond yields recently moderated the enthusiasm of equity market participants around the world.

The NSE Nifty Index plunged 306 points at 14,675.70 as rising Covid cases in states like Maharashtra and Kerala added to the bearish mood.

The RBI will have its task cut out and ensure a stable yield — 6 per cent — as the government is expected to raise Rs 12 lakh crore from the market in 2021-22.

MSMEs had a tough time when the pandemic surfaced last March, with hundreds of units closing down in the wake of lockdown and demand slowdown.

LIC IPO: Govt and SEBI are laying the ground for smooth listing of India's largest financial institution. Govt has announced that up to 10% of the IPO issue size would be reserved for policyholders.

With the system flush with liquidity, the Sensex has risen 11.36 per cent, or 5,258 points, to 51,544.30 since the presentation of the Budget earlier this month.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment is likely to complete the process to finalise the rules for four labour codes soon.

The Budget proposes to privatise two PSU banks this financial year. Why was the need felt, 51 years after nationalisation of govt-owned banks? A look at the banking sector’s concerns, and moves to address them.

The life insurance sector saw a new business premium income of Rs 1.91 lakh crore in 2020.

In another “structural reform” intended to improve retail participation in the government securities market and to keep the cost of funds down for the central government, the RBI has proposed to allow small investors direct access to its platform.

On the other hand, yields on 10-year benchmark bonds, which rose 14 basis points on Monday, rose by another 7 basis points to 6.13 per cent amid worries over higher government borrowings.

Even as the markets kept up the momentum gained from the Union budget presented on Monday, the most spectacular movement has been witnessed in the bank index which rallied by almost 3.50 per cent in Tuesday's session compared to a 2.5 per cent rise in Sensex and Nifty.

Sitharaman also proposed a development financial institution (DFI) to enable long term funding worth Rs 5 lakh crore in 3 years for infrastructure projects.

The government slapped a freshly introduced levy called the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development cess of 2.5 per cent. The net effect will be lesser than the 5 per cent reduction that the headline number suggests.

Led by finance and banking shares, the Sensex shot up by 2,315 points, or 5 per cent, to 48,600.61 and the NSE Nifty Index soared 647 points, or 4.74 per cent, to 14,281.20 in the buying euphoria.

Banking sources say that smaller and middle level banks are likely to be privatised by the government. It’s unlikely to change the structure of big banks like State Bank of India and PNB.

Insurance firms have so far settled 6.77 lakh claims worth Rs 6,595 crore as on January 22, according to figures compiled by the General Insurance Council.

With this, the Sensex has fallen 2,600 points after it hit the 50,000 mark last week. Post 50K, why is there selling pressure?

Cyber insurance product is in a development phase, and standardisation of the cyber policy wordings for individuals may hamper the developments of this product in Indian market.

There is a broader sense that with the global liquidity continuing and an additional US stimulus on its way, the markets are likely to continue with their upward movement for now.