Wednesday, August 26
Mumbai: Investor interest in shares is the most subdued in nearly two years as heightened uncertainty over returns from small-cap and mid-cap stocks has prompted participants to scale back trading. In December so far, the average daily turnover of equity market trades on the NSE was at ₹90,076 crore - the lowest since November 2023 - compared with ₹1,04,576 crore in November and ₹98,740 crore in October. In November 2023, the turnover stood at ₹70,615 crore. The decline in trading activity came even as the Sensex and Nifty hit an all-time high on December 1. Since those peaks, both the Nifty and the Sensex are down around 2% each. "Despite benchmark indices hitting record highs, many investors aren't making money as mid and small-cap stocks have significantly underperformed this ye
Kolkata: The finance ministry is preparing a credit guarantee scheme to support the stressed microfinance sector, two people in the know said. The sector is longing for government backing amid the ongoing asset quality stress. The scheme would encourage banks to lend to microfinance institutions (MFIs), especially the smaller ones, which are facing liquidity crunch amid limited access to bank funding. An announcement to this end is likely in the 2026 budget, people cited above said. The likely size of the guarantee programme is not known. This will be similar to the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Microfinance Institutions (CGSMFI) rolled out during the pandemic in 2021. At that time, the government had set up a ₹7,500 crore guarantee fund to encourage bank lending to micro-lenders. The sche
