Monday, September 28
Mumbai: Axis Bank has committed to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that the lender will not infuse any new capital into its wholly-owned finance company Axis Finance, Amitabh Chaudhry, CEO of the private bank, told ET. The NBFC is working on plans to raise ₹3,000 crore through an initial public offering (IPO), he said.The commitment to the RBI comes in the backdrop of the central bank's draft guidelines issued last October on 'Forms of Business and Prudential Regulation for Investments.' The guidelines say that core lending business should be undertaken by the bank while restricting lenders and their NBFC units from duplicating similar revenue streams.Products which are offered by Axis Bank such as gold loans, loans against property and two-wheeler loans are also offered by its subsidiar
U.S. consumer spending unexpectedly fell in May as the boost from the pre-emptive buying of goods like motor vehicles ahead of tariffs faded, while monthly inflation increases remained moderate. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, dropped 0.1% last month after an unrevised 0.2% gain in April, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending would edge up 0.1%. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, which have led businesses and households to front-run imports and goods purchases to avoid higher prices from duties, have muddled the economic picture. Economists warned it could take time for the tariff-related distortions to wash out of the data. A record goods tra
Mumbai : Several life insurers have approached the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) seeking approval to invest in gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to people familiar with the matter. The move comes amid increasing gold prices, growing global demand and a need for diversification as traditional asset classes deliver subdued returns.Gold ETFs have delivered returns of more than 30% over the past 12 months. In comparison, liquid debt funds, equity indices like the Nifty and traditional bank fixed deposits have offered modest returns in the 5-8% range.“The sharp contrast in performance is pushing us to explore gold ETFs under unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs) to improve portfolio returns and add a hedge against market uncertainty,” an insurance
Mumbai : India’s equity benchmarks surged to a nine-month high on Thursday, led by bank stocks, as easing tensions in the West Asia revived investor sentiment, triggering liquidation of bearish bets amid expiry of June derivative contracts. The NSE Nifty rose 304.25 points or 1.2% to close at 25,549 while the BSE Sensex rose 1,000.36 points or 1.2% to end the day at 83,755.87. It marked the highest closing levels of both indices since last October when the equity markets had made a sharp run-up.The rally later started to reverse on worries about pressure on corporate profits and frothy share valuations.“The Nifty’s breakout from a 30-day consolidation signals strong momentum driven by easing geopolitical tensions, falling crude prices, and sustained domestic institutional buying,”
India has agreed to a proposal of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to appoint an observer for the ongoing investigation into the crash of an Air India Boeing 787 aircraft in Ahmedabad that killed 275 people. However, the government will not allow the United Nations agency to join the probe, said a person aware of the developments.ICAO’s move is unprecedented since it had thus far taken such steps in cases where a crash site was located in a conflict zone or a civilian aircraft was shot down by military forces. ICAO is the UN aviation watchdog and counts 190 countries as its members.Spokespeople for ICAO and the Indian government did not respond to ET’s queries.On 20 June, Juan Carlos Salazar Gómez, secretary general of ICAO wrote to India’s civil aviation secreta
