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  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will keep its key interest rate unchanged at 6.50% for a fifth consecutive meeting on Dec. 8 as inflation worries ebb, according to a Reuters poll of economists who unanimously expect the central bank's next move to be a cut. Despite inflation falling to a four-month low of 4.87% in October, it is expected to remain above the RBI's 4% medium-term target for at least another two years. That is likely to keep the RBI from changing its hawkish bias anytime soon. All 64 economists in the Nov. 17-30 Reuters poll expected the central bank to hold the repo rate at 6.50% at the conclusion of its Dec. 6-8 meeting. "We expect the Reserve Bank to stay put. We're not expecting a rate cut before Q3 2024," said Dhiraj Nim, economist at ANZ research. "If they are beginning to see inflation aligning with the 4% target... for one or two meetings, it will be sufficient evidence for the RBI to start pivoting."   While the poll medians stil...

  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 10,000 each on HDFC Bank and Bank of America, citing a violation of reporting requirements under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). RBI fined HDFC Bank, a leading private sector bank, for accepting deposits from non-residents and flouting RBI’s directions under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of FEMA, 1999. A similar fine of Rs 10,000 has been levied on Bank of America for violating FEMA regulations. "The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 10,000 (Rupees ten thousand only) on Bank of America, N.A. in exercise of powers vested in the Reserve Bank under the provisions of Section 11(3) of FEMA, 1999, for violation of the Reserve Bank of India’s instructions on reporting requirements under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of FEMA 1999," read the circular. The central bank had issued a Show Cause notice to the lenders and, based on...

  Bank credit to industry decelerated to 5.4 per cent in October compared to 13.5 per cent in the year-ago month, according to Reserve Bank data released on Thursday. The data also revealed that credit growth to agriculture and allied activities improved to 17.5 per cent (year-on-year) in October 2023 from 13.8 per cent a year ago. Among major industries, credit growth (year-on-year) to basic metal & metal products, food processing and textiles accelerated in October 2023, while that to all engineering, chemicals and chemical products and infrastructure decelerated. Advances to the services sector grew by 20.1 per cent (y-o-y) in October 2023 compared to 22.5 per cent a year ago, with non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and trade being the major contributors. Further, personal loan growth decelerated to 18 per cent annually in October 2023 against 20.5 per cent a year ago. On a year-on-year basis, non-food bank credit2 registered a growth of 15.3 per cent in October 2023 co...