Sunday, August 09
New Delhi: Banks want more deliberations on the expected credit loss (ECL) framework applicable to crop loans.Lenders have argued that the Stage 2 classification of crop loans should be linked to the crop season and pitched a classification similar to that of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans, which are linked to the agricultural crop cycle. "We have discussed this with other lenders, including private banks, and will make a representation to the Reserve Bank of India," said a bank executive aware of the developments. Under the proposed framework applicable from April 2027, a loan account will come under Stage 2 after it is 30-90 days past due.Banks had earlier argued that under existing norms, both SMA 1 and SMA 2 category assets require a 0.4% provision, but under the proposed ECL norms, the
Kolkata: Results of large microfinance lenders in the third quarter suggest normalisation of business in a sector that has been through a bad loan cycle for the past nearly two years.Leaders in the three different microlending segments - Bandhan Bank that also lends to large enterprises, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, and pure-play microfinance company CreditAccess Grameen - reported steady non-performing assets and improved margins, supported by business recovery and a decline in cost of funds.The share of secured loans rose to 57% for Bandhan Bank and 48% for Ujjivan as of December 31, from 48% and 39%, respectively, a year earlier, cutting risk in their asset mix.The third quarter performance indicates the sector - that offers formal credit to people whom traditional government banks don't
New Delhi: Two weeks ago, a mid-level operations specialist in Mumbai walked out of a hospital with a stage-three breast cancer diagnosis. Shock gave way to fear and resignation. In a counselling session soon after, she voiced her darkest anxieties: what if the disease was terminal, what if life unravelled overnight? Instead of reassurance, she said her counsellor offered an unexpected nudge—confront impermanence head-on.Days later, over the Republic Day weekend, she is in Bhuj, revisiting the scars of the 2001 earthquake to understand how fate can compress lifetimes into seconds. She is not alone.A growing number of Indians are engaging in what travel experts describe as dark tourism—travel to sites associated with death, tragedy, conflict or human suffering, undertaken not for specta
As India heads into the 2026 Union Budget amid a slowing global economy and persistent geopolitical risks, a new survey of over 5,000 respondents offers a snapshot of how business leaders, professionals and informed readers assess the country’s economic strengths, vulnerabilities and fiscal priorities.The findings point to a nuanced mood: broad confidence in India’s underlying growth drivers and political stability, tempered by deep anxieties over jobs, inequality and external shocks and a clear preference for fiscal flexibility rather than dogmatic consolidation.Consumption remains India’s biggest economic anchorAsked to identify the Indian economy’s biggest positive at the moment, respondents overwhelmingly pointed to robust domestic consumption, which garnered the largest share
