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Indian Banks to post larger increase in margins: Moody’s

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Credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service on Monday said banks in India, Saudi Arabia and South Africa would post larger increases in margins in FY23.

Moody’s said the hike in policy rates in many G-20 emerging markets to curb inflation will improve the margins of the banks.

The rating agency also said a more rapid acceleration of inflation would necessitate higher loan-loss provisions, erasing margin gains.

“Orderly, gradual increases in interest rates will improve banking profits in most emerging market banking systems. As a result, Moody’s expects banks in India, Saudi Arabia and South Africa to post comparatively larger increases in margins in 2022-2023,” Moody’s said.

The rating agency’s focus is on banks in the ten G-20 emerging markets: Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.

“Now that most central banks have tightened monetary policy to curb inflation, we expect inflation to abate in all ten emerging markets countries in 2023, helping contain asset risks for banks,” said Eugene Tarzimanov, Vice President, Senior Credit Officer at Moody’s.

“If inflation rates spike steeply and result in sharp increases in debt-servicing costs for borrowers, banks would have to increase their loan-loss provisions to levels that outweigh gains in margins, which would be credit negative,” Tarzimanov added.

Among the ten G-20 emerging markets, Turkey has been facing the steepest inflation, which hit 73 per cent in May 2022, followed by 61 per cent for Argentina

Rising inflation rates are mainly because of supply constraints, increases in the prices of commodities and currency pressures.

Banks’ credit costs also increase when inflation accelerates. An acceleration of inflation has also historically led to increases in credit costs in seven of the 10 systems.

Moody’s expects banks in Russia and Turkey to post larger increases in credit costs in 2022-2023. In a scenario where inflation accelerates materially and leads to significant rate hikes, credit costs will also rise in Argentina, South Africa and Brazil.

Asset risks for banks would outweigh margin benefits if inflation rises more sharply. An acceleration in inflation beyond Moody’s expectation would lead to higher credit costs that will outweigh the benefits of gains in margins. In this scenario, the profitability of Brazilian and Turkish banks will likely deteriorate more significantly than in other markets.

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First India-manufactured 2025 Range Rover Sport adds to India growth story

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New Delhi, Dec 19: Global automaker Range Rover on Thursday announced the start of sales for the 2025 ‘Made in India’ Range Rover Sport in the country.

The ‘2025 Range Rover Sport’ – the first made-in-India vehicle exclusively for the country– is now available in smooth and powerful 3.0l Petrol Dynamic HSE and 3.0l Diesel Dynamic HSE variants, the Tata Motors Group company said in a statement.

The pricing of the New Range Rover Sport now starts at Rs 1.45 crore, ex-showroom, and is available in five colour options – Fuji White, Santorini Black, Giola Green, Varesine Blue and Charente Grey.

Available in 3.0l Petrol Dynamic HSE and 3.0l Diesel Dynamic HSE variants, the Range Rover Sport is built on the state-of-the-art MLA-Flex platform, offering next-level capability, performance and handling, as well as greater efficiency.

“With the introduction of new features such as perforated semi-aniline leather seats, massage front seats and head-up display, our discerning clients will get an elevated experience of comfort and technology in Range Rover Sport,” said Rajan Amba, Managing Director, JLR India.

The 13.1‑inch curved touchscreen for Pivi Pro infotainment is complemented by intuitive 13.7‑inch Interactive Driver Display, with ‘Software Over The Air’ as well as ‘Head-Up Display.’

The 2025 Range Rover Sport offers semi-aniline leather seats, renowned for their exceptional quality and tactility.

In September, Tata Motors held the groundbreaking ceremony of its new Rs 9,000 crore facility in Tamil Nadu that will manufacture and export next-gen vehicles for Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

Situated at Panapakkam in Ranipet district, the plant will cater to both domestic and international markets, while creating over 5,000 jobs. Tata Motors Group intends to invest Rs 9,000 crore in this greenfield manufacturing facility, which has been designed for an annual production capacity of over 250,000 vehicles.

Production will begin in a phased manner and progressively increase to reach this capacity over the next 5-7 years.

In May this year, Tata Motors-owned JLR said it plans to start assembling the flagship Range Rover model, along with Range Rover Sport, in India for the first time, significantly bringing down the prices.

The company’s Pune plant currently assembles the Range Rover Velar, Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar F-PACE, and Discovery Sport models.

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FM Nirmala Sitharaman Lauds ED After ‘Returning’ Assets Worth ₹22,000 Crore From Fraudsters, Including Mehul Choksi & Vijay Mallya

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated in a parliamentry debate on Tuesday, December 17, that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had given victims and legitimate claimants access to assets valued at Rs 22,280 crore.

During the discussion of the first set of Supplementary Demands for Grants in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman gave an overview of the ED’s initiatives to retrieve ill-gotten wealth and return it to defrauded investors and public sector banks.

Major recoveries by ED (Enforcement Directorate)

In one of the most significant cases, the ED retrieved properties from fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya valued at Rs 14,131.6 crore, which were then turned over to public sector banks.

In the Nirav Modi case, properties valued at Rs 1,052.58 crore were also given back to both public and private banks.

Properties worth Rs 2,565.90 crore that the ED attached in the Mehul Choksi case are now scheduled for auction. In addition, legitimate investors were given back assets from the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) scam valued at Rs 17.47 crore.

FM emphasised the effectiveness of ‘Black Money Act’

The Finance Minister also emphasized how well the 2015 Black Money Act has worked to reduce unreported foreign assets. Between 2021–2022 and 2024–2025, the number of taxpayers declaring foreign assets increased dramatically from 60,467 to over 2 lakh.

As of June 2024, 163 prosecutions had been started and 697 cases under the Black Money Act had demands totaling Rs 17,520 crore from the government.

Government’s multi agency group

In 582 cases, investigations into international leaks, such as the Panama Papers and Pandora Papers, have uncovered undisclosed income totaling Rs 33,393 crore.

The government has formed a Multi-Agency Group (MAG) for coordinated action against unaccounted foreign assets in order to speed up these efforts. ‘We are after them,’ Sitharaman reaffirmed. We will see to it that funds that are due to banks and investors are reimbursed.

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‘If They Tax Us We Tax Them’: Donald Trump Gives Fresh Warning To India

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US President-Elect Donald Trump has issued a fresh warning to India saying that if it taxes American products, the US will do the same. Trump’s words came during his interaction with journalists at his Mar-a-Lago resort Since his first term, Trump has been hawkish about taxing foreign products but has not fully implemented what he has said. However, Trump’s warnings are taken seriously as markets move according to what a US president says.

“If they tax us, we tax them the same amount,” Trump told reporters.

Other than about India, Trump has been vocal about taxes imposed on American products by Brazil, Mexico and China.

“The word reciprocal is important because if somebody charges us – India, we don’t have to talk about our own – if India charges us 100 per cent, do we charge them nothing for the same? You know, they send in a bicycle, and we send them a bicycle. They charge us 100 and 200. India charges a lot,” said Trump.

“India charges a lot. Brazil charges a lot. If they want to charge us, that’s fine, but we’re going to charge them the same thing,” he added.

The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden has sounded upbeat about India-US ties. On Tuesday, Biden administration said that it was leaving India-US relations “in a very strong place”

“We continue to be very ambitious about the US-India relationship. We’ve had very high-level engagement over the course of the last several months with the QUAD summit in Delaware, and we are anticipating a high-level engagement in the last few weeks of the Biden administration,” said US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Tuesday.

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