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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 compar

  As RBI has now allowed retail investors to apply for floating rate savings bonds via its Retail Direct Portal, there is a recent addition to the number of fixed income instruments one can opt for. For the uninitiated, subscription to these bonds is done in the form of cash (up to ?20,000 only). The bonds may be held by a person resident in India in their individual capacity or joint basis or on any or survivor basis or on behalf of a minor as father/ mother or legal guardian. Applications for these bonds are received in the designated branches of State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.   What are floating rate savings bonds? The floating rate bonds are fixed income instruments that can be held by an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) with interest payable at half yearly intervals on Jan 1st and July 1st every year. On these bonds, there is no option to pay interest on a cumulative basis.The coupon rate will be linked/ pegged with prevailing Nati

  Economic growth in India in the second quarter this financial year is likely to surprise on the upside, said Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday. Speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit, Das said: “Looking at the momentum of economic activity, looking at a few early indicators, I can say that the second-quarter GDP number, as and when it is released, at the end of November, in all probability will surprise everyone on the upside.” The RBI has projected a GDP growth rate of 6.5 per cent for July-September while growth for 2023-24 too is seen at 6.5 per cent. Das said for the central bank inflation had priority over growth. “We look at inflation-growth dynamics. The first priority is inflation at the moment, and based on that we decide policy,” he said. After raising the repo rate by 250 bps between May 2022 and February 2023, the six-member Monetary Policy Committee has maintained its status in the next four policies. The next policy review is

  As the Centre prepares to enforce a 28% GST on online gaming beginning Sunday, several search, recruitment and staffing firms have noted a surge in the resumes of employees from this sector entering the job market. The increasing number of job seekers reflects their concerns about the GST's potential effects on their future. Experts from over half-a-dozen hiring firms told ET that this trend has become particularly pronounced in recent weeks. "In the face of headwinds resulting from frequent regulatory changes and reports of scams, there are layoffs and a surge of talent actively seeking new opportunities in other sectors," said Manu Saigal, director - general staffing at Adecco. Job search by talent in Indian gaming bellwethers such as Dream11, Games24x7, MPL, Junglee, Baazi, Winzo and Moonfrog, among others, has nearly tripled over the last six weeks, according to data put together for ET by specialist staffing firm Xpheno. This comes as professionals face the prospec

  The Income Tax Department's e-filing portal received more than 30 lakh audit reports (TAR) up till September 30, the tax authority of India reported on Monday. In a release, the Income-tax Department expressed its gratitude to taxpayers and tax experts for timely compliance. The tax audit report had to be submitted by September 30 of the applicable assessment year by those who had their books audited. "More than 30.75 lakh audit reports, including about 29.5 lakh Tax Audit Reports have been filed for AY 2023-24 on the e-filing portal till the end of the due date (September 30)," the release added. There were substantial outreach programmes carried out to help the taxpayers. "Around 55.4 lakh outreaches were done through e-mails, SMSs, social media, along with information messages on Income Tax portal to create awareness among the taxpayers to file the Tax Audit Reports and other audit forms within the due date," it said.   "Various user awareness videos w