Month: August 2020

Mumbai: The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has, for the third consecutive month, clocked record volume in August, processing over 1.5 billion transactions for the first time. The latest Reserve Bank of India data showed that 1.56 billion transactions worth Rs 2.85 lakh crore were recorded on NPCI’s popular digital channel, as on August 30, smashing the previous record of 1.49 billion transactions worth Rs 2.90 lakh crore for the month of July. At the same time, cash withdrawals in August through ATMs and micro-ATMs at Rs 1.36 lakh crore is less than half of payments through UPI, the preliminary central bank data showed. Industry experts said that while the surge in UPI-based micro-transactions could help India achieve its stated objective of transforming into a cashless economy, ban

(This story originally appeared in on Aug 31, 2020)LIC’s headquarters at Yogakshema in Mumbai has been the nerve centre of the insurance giant’s operations. Chairman M R Kumar speaks of how the corporate broke barriers overnight and razed rigid structures to not only cope but grow during the pandemic… What challenges does the new normal due to the pandemic pose to your organisation? It calls for a new work environment. Life insurance in India is still driven by individual agents.To overcome fear and maintain social distancing,there was a need to complete sales with minimum physical interaction and without paper. You need a strong digital infrastructure, flexible workforce, and strategies that pivot to changing situations. We are enabling email applications for maturity and surrender cl

Banks have been cautioned against imposing charges such as MDR or merchant discount rate on electronic transactions including Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Finance ministry may take action against banks not adhering to the direction. Central Board of Direct Taxes has also directed banks to refund charges since January 1, 2020, collected on transactions carried out using electronic modes including UPI by businesses having turnover of over Rs 50 crore. “There have been some representations that some banks are imposing and collecting charges on transactions carried out through UPI… Such a practice on part of the banks is a breach of Section 10A of Payments and Settlements Systems Act,” the Board said in a note on Sunday. Any charge including MDR or merchant discount rate, shall not be ap

The Banks Board Bureau on Friday recommended Dinesh Khara the senior most Managing Director at State Bank of India for the position of the next chairman. Khara’s nomination will now be put up before the appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) which is chaired by the Prime Minister. The present chairman Rajnish Kumar is slated to superannuate in the first week of October. The bureau also recommended CS Setty another MD at the government owned lender as the reserve candidate. “Keeping in view their performance in the interface and their overall experience, the Bureau recommends Dinesh Kumar Khara for the vacancy of Chairman in State Bank of India and Challa Sreenivasulu Setty as the candidate on the Reserve List for the said vacancy,” the bureau said in a release on its website. The

KOLKATA: State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have benefited the most as the outstanding balance in the Jan Dhan accounts held by banks surged 10% since April, even as the government celebrated the sixth year of the implementation of one of the largest financial inclusion schemes in the world. SBI has seen a 12.2% rise in outstanding Jan Dhan balance in the first four-and-a-half months, while BoB’s outstanding rose 12.9% in the same period in such accounts, more than the industry average. SBI’s total deposits growth was a muted 5.5% in the April-June period, while BoB witnessed a 1.2% fall. To put things into perspective, Jan Dhan outstanding grew much faster in the first quarter, then fell from its peak which was seen on June 10, by when the government’s fund transfer under Covid assis

MUMBAI: Economists at SBI on Friday proposed three options for states to raise resources to bridge the shortfall in GST revenue from the Centre. This can be done by the Reserve Bank monetising the state governments' debts, enlargement of Ways and Means Advances (WMA), or taking recourse to the National Small Savings Fund, they said. The Centre on Thursday had placed before the GST Council two options for borrowing by states to meet the shortfall in Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues, pegged at Rs 2.35 lakh crore in the current fiscal. The Centre said a special window can be provided to the states, in consultation with the RBI, for borrowing at a reasonable interest rate. The SBI economists said even though the Centre has given the states the option to borrow as much as Rs 2.35 lakh cro...