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State-owned Punjab National Bank has raised its asset quality guidance and seeks to lower net non-performing assets (NPA) to 3.5 per cent by March 2023-end from 4.28 per cent on June 30, 2022.

The Delhi-based lender had earlier projected lowering net NPA to sub-4 per cent level by end of the current fiscal.

“...On account of actions taken by the bank, net NPA is going to be reduced to 3.5 per cent definitely by March 2023. I’m confident of achieving this number," PNB managing director Atul Kumar Goel said at the post-earnings press conference.

In April-June, PNB’s net NPAs declined to 4.28 per cent from 5.84 per cent a year ago and 4.8 per cent in January-March 2022. In absolute terms, the net NPA of the banks stood at Rs 31,744 crore on June 2022, versus Rs 38,581 crore in June 2021.

The lender’s gross NPAs reduced to 11.27 per cent in April-June from 14.33 per cent a year ago. Gross NPAs, in absolute terms, stood at Rs 90,167 crore on June 2022 as compared to Rs 1.04 trillion in June 2021. PNB seeks to bring down gross NPAs to single digits by the end of the current financial year, Goel said.

The bank has formed a team of about 300 officials who monitor all NPA accounts, Goel said. It is attempting to improve recoveries from bad loans and is monitoring all accounts including those on which Sarfaesi or NCLT proceedings are underway, he added.

Goel said the bank has made recoveries of over Rs 7,000 crore in April-June, and it expects to recover Rs 8,000-9,000 crore every quarter. It wants to ensure that its recoveries are higher than slippages, he added.

The lender has identified eight accounts worth Rs 2,486 crore that will be transferred to the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL). All banks collectively are expected to transfer bad loans of Rs 50,000 crore to NARCL, Goel said, who is also chairman of Indian Banks Association, and is spearheading the rollout of the government-backed asset reconstruction company.

On Friday, the bank reported a 70 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 308.4 crore in April-June. Goel said the dip was caused by a fall in treasury profit due to a rise in interest rates and mark-to-market losses. Treasury profit dropped from Rs 1,118 crore in June 2021 quarter to Rs 573 crore in April-June 2022, Goel said.

In April-June 2022, PNB took a hit of Rs 1,409 crore in MTM losses while in the June 2021 quarter, there was a reversal of MTM of about Rs 301 crore, he added.

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India has received its highest ever FDI inflow of Rs 6,31,050 crores in financial year 2021-22," an official release noted.

Further, FDI equity inflow in manufacturing sectors has increased to Rs 1,58,332 crore in FY22 from Rs 89,766 crore in FY21, marking an increase of 76 percent.

In 2020-21, the inflow stood at USD 81.97 billion, it added.

“India is rapidly emerging as a preferred country for foreign investments in the manufacturing sector,” the ministry said.

“India has recorded highest ever annual FDI inflow of USD 83.57 billion in the Financial Year 2021-22,” it noted.

FDI equity inflow in manufacturing sectors has increased by 76 per cent in 2021-22 (USD 21.34 billion) compared to 2020-21 (USD 12.09 billion).

In terms of top investor countries, Singapore is at the top with 27 per cent followed by the US (18 per cent) and Mauritius (16 per cent) during the last fiscal.

Among sectors, computer software and hardware attracted maximum inflows. It was followed by the services sector and automobile industry, the ministry said.

To further liberalise and simplify FDI policy for providing ease of doing business and attract investments, reforms have been undertaken recently across sectors, such as coal mining, contract manufacturing, digital media, single-brand retail trading, civil aviation, defence, insurance and telecom.

India is set to get more channels to buy cheap Russian oil, with a new wave of smaller, international traders muscling into its vast market by offering barrels shunned by rivals after the invasion of Ukraine.

State-run refiners such as Indian Oil Corp. are warming to the idea of buying from the lesser-known traders. Refinery officials said they’ve found it easier to work with them, rather than directly with Russian producers, as there’s less bureaucracy that slows negotiations with firms such as Rosneft PJSC.

Nobody replied to emails sent to IOC, Wellbred and Montfort, and Rosneft did not respond to a request for comment. Traders and shipbrokers said they didn’t know much about the firms, except they handled fuels from time to time.

Trading houses often serve the function of middlemen by bridging differences between sellers and buyers. In theory, some companies can continue to work with Russian entities that’ve been sanctioned under certain jurisdictions, help with financing and logistics, and even offer different payment terms to assist in the movement of funds. Sri Lanka received Russian crude onboard a vessel chartered by Coral Energy in May and has since bought more from the trader.

“Indian refiners are willing to take the risk of dealing with these new, little-known traders because the discounts must be too good to pass up,” said Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights. “We know the Indian refiners want the Russian cargoes on a delivered basis. So as long as the new traders are fulfilling that need, it works,” she added.

The new crop of merchants was recently offering supplies of Russian Urals crude at discounts of about $8 a barrel, according to officials. They are also beefing up staffing, they said. Wellbred’s employees include former individuals from larger companies such as Glencore Plc and Gunvor Group.

Some traders are offering payment options in alternative currencies such as United Arab Emirates dirhams, according to officials. Separately, India’s central bank has announced a plan to settle international trade in the local currency.

As the shift plays out, Indian Oil, the nation’s biggest processor, has been importing Russian oil at a record-breaking pace and overtaking its private peers, according to analytics firm Kpler. Inflows have averaged 450,000 barrels a day in July -- up 44% from last month -- while India’s overall purchases of Russian barrels rose 3% to about 1 million barrels a day, Kpler data show.

India’s traditionally more agile private oil processors, such as Reliance Industries Ltd. and Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy Ltd., had already doubled down on purchases from the smaller firms even before the world’s largest oil traders scaled back handling Russian crude exports in May.

Click Here:- Twitter warns against governments ramping up demands for user details

Twitter warned that governments around the globe are asking the company to remove content or snoop on private details of user accounts at an alarming rate.

The social media company revealed in a new report that it fielded a record number of legal demands nearly 60,000 during a six-month period last year - from local, state or national governments that wanted Twitter to remove content from accounts or reveal confidential information such as direct messages or user locations.

We're seeing governments become more aggressive in how they try to use legal tactics to unmask the people using our service, collect information about account owners and also using legal demands as a way to try and silence people, Yoel Roth, the head of Twitter's safety and integrity, said in a conversation broadcast on the site Thursday.

The US makes up the majority of demands for account information, accounting for 20% of the requests. India follows closely behind. Twitter says it complied fully with roughly 40% of all asks for information on user accounts.

Japan, which is also a frequent requestor for account information, makes the most requests of Twitter to take down content from accounts. Japan made more than 23,000 requests half of all requests for content to be removed. Russia followed closely behind on its takedown asks.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, also reported an increase in government asks for private user data during the same timeframe.

Twitter also reported a huge spike in requests from governments that targeted verified journalists and news outlets during the last half of 2021.

Governments also made a record number of legal demands on 349 accounts of verified journalists or news outlets around the globe between July and December of last

Twitter did not provide a breakdown of which countries made those requests on journalists' accounts or how many of the asks they complied with.

Governments are using the social media companies to silence critics and censor journalists, Rob Mahoney, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.

This surge in government demands for content takedowns and information on journalists is part of a global trend of increasing censorship and manipulation of information," Mahoney said. Social media platforms are vital for reporters and they must do more to resist government attempts to silence critical voices.

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There has been no progress made on resuming trade ties between India and Pakistan over the last three years, the Centre has informed the Parliament.

"In August 2019, Pakistan announced the suspension of bilateral trade with India. Pakistan partially relaxed its ban on trade with India in September 2019 by permitting trade in certain pharmaceutical products," V Muraleedharan, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, said in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha on July 28.

"There has not been any progress regarding resumption of trade with Pakistan since then," Muraleedharan added.

Pakistan suspended trade with India on August 7 2019, days after New Delhi abrogated Article 370 and removed Jammu and Kashmir's special status.

The move saw trade between India and Pakistan slump to $329.26 million in FY21 from $2.56 billion in FY19.

India's exports to Pakistan amounted to $2.07 billion in FY19 - 0.63 percent of all its exports - while imports stood at $494.87 million. In FY22, India exported $513.82 million worth of goods to its neighbour - just 0.12 percent of all its exports - and imported a mere $2.54 million worth of merchandise.

Indian government bonds and the rupee strengthened on Thursday despite a 75-basis-point (bp) rate hike by the US Federal Reserve as key aspects of the central bank’s commentary were perceived as indicating that future policy tightening may occur at a slower pace in the world’s largest economy.

At 9.30 am IST, the rupee was trading at 79.78 per US dollar, stronger than 79.90 to a dollar at previous close. A sharp rise in domestic stocks also boosted the rupee, with the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty both trading 1 per cent higher.

Yield on the 10-year benchmark 6.54 per cent, the 2032 government bond was at 7.31 per cent, three bps lower than Wednesday’s close. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

Also Read: Indian diaspora, global bankers may profit from New Delhi's dollar crunch

Late Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve announced a 75-bp rate hike, taking its benchmark policy rates to 2.25-2.50 per cent. The latest move takes the total tally of rate hikes announced by the US central bank so far in 2022 to 225 bps.

While the US central bank reiterated its commitment to reining in 40-year high inflation in the US, markets took comfort from US Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s assessment that as the stance of monetary policy tightens further, “it may become appropriate to slow the pace of (rate) increases.”

The aggressive pace at which the US Fed has raised interest rates thus far in 2022 has been a key reason behind the large-scale exodus of foreign funds from Indian equities as investors have preferred improved returns in the US. FPIs have net sold $28.6 billion worth of Indian stocks so far in 2022, the largest outflow so far on record, NSDL data showed.

As a result, the rupee has faced considerable pressure versus the dollar this month, weakening to a lifetime low of 80.06 per dollar on July 19.

“The markets consequently cheered the indication that the biggest rate hikes of this cycle were over,” economists from ICICI Securities wrote.

US bond yields fell sharply after the Fed’s statement, with the 10-year yield declining 5 bps to a three-and-a-half-month low of 2.73 per cent, while the five-year yield dropped 7 bps to 2.97 per cent.

The US dollar index, which earlier this month had climbed to a 20-year high of 108.54, declined as well. The index was last at 106.31 as against 107 around 5 pm on Wednesday.

Lower US bond yields make Indian debt more attractive for foreign investors.

“Domestic government bonds have rallied in line with the OIS (overnight indexed swap) market. The swap curve has steepened as short-term swaps have fallen sharply on view that the Federal Reserve will now be data dependent instead of providing clear forward guidance of rate hikes,” ICICI Securities Primary Dealership’s Head of Trading Naveen Singh said.

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said to have been strongly defending the rupee whenever it approaches 80 per dollar, currency traders said the domestic currency would likely stabilise after the recent bout of volatility.

“So far, RBI has kept a strong hold on USD/INR above 80 levels and curbed rupee depreciation. Also, the unwinding of the open interest position yesterday didn’t move the rupee much as the RBI might have intervened heavily to avoid a sharp move as seen in the June expiry,” wrote Amit Pabari, managing director of CR Forex Advisors.

Also read:- As credit demand grows in India, banks may soon be scrambling for deposits

Loan growth in India is at a three-year high and seen inching up further as economic activity gains traction but a much slower growth in deposits could send banks scurrying for funds and prompt deposit rate increases, say analysts and bankers.

Deposit growth has floundered as high inflation has resulted in less savings, as would be depositors are choosing to put money into shares and mutual funds in search of better returns, said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at state-owned lender Bank of Baroda.

In order to bulk up its deposit growth, country's largest private lender, HDFC Bank has started a short-term drive to beef up its deposits by offering a higher rate of interest on non-resident accounts held by Indians living abroad. Analysts believe that other lenders may also follow suit with similar moves.

As surplus funds in the system get slowly pulled out by the central bank measures, banks' margins and their profitability could come under pressure, forcing them to not just raise deposit rates, but also possibly go to the more expensive capital markets to raise funds needed to meet credit demand.

That could worry investors, already in retreat due to global factors, and send banks' stock prices further down.

Rating agency ICRA said in a note last week that it expected banks "to aggressively start chasing deposits, which will also lead to higher deposit rates."

Indian banks' deposit growth, currently at 9.8%, has stayed in single-digits for a large part of the last 14 months, while credit growth - having touched a record low of 5.6% in FY21 - has nearly tripled to 14.4% in the fortnight to July 1st.

Retail loan growth which includes personal loans, mortgages, auto loans has steadily been growing at a faster clip and continues to outpace corporate credit.

"Personal loans have been the main growth driver for the Indian banking sector during the past few years, as corporate lending has stalled due to NPAs (non-performing assets) and deleveraging," CARE Ratings said in a report earlier this week.

Going ahead, while the prospects for credit growth appear promising, high inflation and rate hikes may cast a shadow, CARE said.

Banks' credit-deposit ratio - currently 73% of banks total deposits are being lent out - has been steadily rising, indicating that their earning capacity is also improving.

But as credit demand picks up, there could be pressure on funding unless deposit growth matches up

In the next few months if the trend continues then we will have no other option but to raise deposit rates because the market conditions are also not very favourable for us to go to the market to raise growth capital," said a senior executive at a state-owned bank.

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