The Week That Was

Surprising the market once again, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan cut the SLR requirements for banks by 50bps to 22.5% of NDTL. The consequent liquidity release will not only provide commercial banks headroom for lending but also improve their profitability marginally. While the repo rate and CRR were left unchanged at 8% and 4% respectively, the policy commentary on inflation seemed less perturbed as compared to April. According to the central bank, the upside risks to its forecast of 8% CPI by January 2015 have been balanced by the possibility of stronger Government action on food supply, better fiscal consolidation and recent rupee appreciation.

Liquidity conditions could ease further

RBI also remains committed towards maintaining adequate liquidity in the banking system. So while reducing the liquidity provided under the export credit refinance (ECR) facility from 50% to 32% of eligible export credit outstanding, the central bank introduced a special term repo facility of 0.25% of NDTL of the banking system which would fully compensate the ECR reduction. It will also continue to provide liquidity under 7-day and 14-day term repos of up to 0.75% of NDTL. Liquidity conditions improved in April and May which was manifested in 25-50bps decline in short-term rates. The 10-yr bond yield has also cooled-off to 8.7% after touching 9.1% in early April. With banking system deposits growing faster than advances, further decline in bulk funding rates and likely gradual moderation in core inflation, we expect commercial banks to cut deposit rates in the next 3-6 months...Read More

RBI cuts SLR by 50 bps

Prospects of exports should improve further: RBI

RBI: What are the Monetary and Liquidity Measures?

Foreigners can participate in domestic fx derivatives market: RBI

What is RBI Policy Stance and Rationale?

RBI cuts SLR…but what is SLR?

RBI will continue to actively manage liquidity

CPI inflation still elevated: RBI

Conducive environment for policy action likely: RBI

Global activity evolving at different speeds: RBI

RBI raises foreign exchange remittance to $125,000 from $75,000

Reactions on RBI Monetary Policy:

RBI hikes CRR for non-scheduled urban co-operative banks

RBI monetary policy in line with expectation: SARE Home

RBI policy indicates a more ‘neutral’ tone: FTI

RBI still continues to be worried on tackling inflation: HDIL

We may see rate cut in upcoming RBI policy: CapitalVia Global

FICCI comments on RBI's Monetary Policy Review

Interest rate cycle seems to have peaked out: Future Generali

RBI is consistent with its stance: Federal Bank

RBI policy on expected line: Parsvnath Developers

Brescon Corporate Advisors comments on RBI policy

RBI is keen to control inflation: Nahar

No real surprises in the credit policy: Kotak Mahindra Bank

RBI policy: Hint of dovishness on Mint Road, Crisil says

Govt, RBI need to develop special approach to housing: KUL

RBI policy: Stable & steady stance, ING Vysya Bank says

SLR cut sooner than anticipated: DBS

RBI relaxes additional provisioning rules on UFCE

CREDAI demands reduction in home loan rates

RBI to maintain balance between growth & inflation: FM

Reacting to the RBI monetary policy announced on Tuesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, the RBI has also chosen to maintain a balance between growth and inflation while keeping the policy rates unchanged.

Following is the FM's reaction:

"The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the SLR by 50 basic points while maintaining the repo rate as unchanged. It is a priority for the Government to maintain a balance between growth and inflation. The Government is also concerned with restarting the investment cycle and moving towards higher growth and employment generation. We would like to address the problem of inflation through supply side measures particularly in relation to food inflation. Fiscal consolidation is a priority for the Government. The RBI has also chosen to maintain a balance between growth and inflation while keeping the policy rates unchanged. It has allowed banks to lend more to the private sector since they will be required to subscribe less to government securities than earlier. It has followed a caliberated approach aimed in the direction of balancing between growth and inflation."

RBI committed to keep economy on disinflationary course

RBI surprises with SLR reduction

RBI has embarked on an important structural reform: Capital First Group

RBI effort to improve liquidity in the system: IMC

CII welcomes RBI move to cut SLR

PHD Chamber welcomes cut in SLR Rates

RBI on an extended pause mode

Sumitra Mahajan second woman Speaker of Lok Sabha

Senior BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh Sumitra Mahajan is the next Lok Sabha speaker, according to a media report.

Mahajan was sworn-in as the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari was on Wednesday given additional charge of rural development, panchayati raj and drinking water and sanitation, the portfolios held by Gopinath Munde, who died in a car crash in the city on Tuesday.

Modi, Advani, Sonia take oath as Lok Sabha members

Arun Jaitley to meet India Inc on Friday

Amrinder Singh is Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha

Modi, Obama may hold bilateral meet in US

Budget 2014: FM starts pre-budget meet

K Chandrasekhar Rao sworn in as Telangana's first Chief Minister

Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao was on Monday sworn in as Chief Minister of newly-carved out state of Telangana.

Eleven others were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers by Governor ESL Narasimhan, who administered them oath of office and secrecy at Raj Bhavan.

The Cabinet included Rao's son K T Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao.

Nine other Cabinet Ministers are Mohammed Mahmood Ali, T Rajaiah, Nayani Narasimha Reddy, Eatela Rajender, Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy, T Padma Rao, P Mahender Reddy, Jogu Ramanna and G Jagadish Reddy.

Kamal Nath is Protem Speaker

PM greets the people of Telangana

Road tragedy: Union Minister Gopinath Munde passes away

In a tragic incident, Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde was on Tuesday injured in an accident, while on his way to the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. He was scheduled to take a flight to Mumbai. The accident occurred at around 6:30 am near Moti Bagh area of South Delhi, which is near the airport. He was admitted at AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he passed away. As per TV reports Munde's car collided head on with another car and in the accident. The driver of the car has been taken into custody as per reports. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "Extremely saddened & shocked by the demise of my friend & colleague Gopinath Munde ji. His demise is a major loss for the Nation & the Govt. "Gopinath Munde ji was a true mass leader. Hailing from backward sections of society, he rose to great heights & tirelessly served people," Modi added...Read More

Gopinath Munde was a true mass leader: PM

Nation has lost an able administrator in Gopinath Munde: Vijay Kalantri

Wearing seat belt could have saved Gopinath Munde: Health Minister

Auto sales: Two wheelers shine, Passenger cars dull but for Maruti

Two wheeler players continued to report a robust set of volume performance in the month of May 2014. Market leader Hero Motocorp reported a 8% yoy growth in volumes. TVS Motors reported a strong 25% yoy surge in its domestic volumes led by a 59.8% yoy jump in its total scooter sales. HMSI too reported another strong month with a jump of 55.2% yoy, this time led by motorcycles which saw a jump of 75.6% yoy. Scooters with 41.8% yoy jump were also strong. For Bajaj Auto its total motorcycle (domestic + exports) saw a modest 2.7% yoy growth clearly indicating a continued loss in market share in the domestic market. Eicher Motors continued to see robust growth in its sales of motorcycles under the Royal Enfield brand with a surge of 86% in total volumes.

Passenger cars: Strong show by Maruti but pain persists for others

In the passenger car segment macro headwinds such as high interest rates, poor income growth and high fuel prices continue to hurt the consumer sentiment. However, market leader Maruti reported a healthy set of volumes with a 16.4% yoy jump in domestic market...Read More

Maruti Suzuki May sales up 19.2%

Nissan sales at 5,021 vehicles in May

Ashok Leyland sales dip 8.73% in May 2014

Yamaha Motor India may sales up 40%

Mahindra’s Auto Sector sells 37,869 units during May 2014

Tata Motors May sales at 37,525 nos

Suzuki Motorcycle records 13% increase in sales during May 2014

Escorts Agri Machinery sells 5,794 tractors in May

Hyundai domestic sales up by 12.8%

Mahindra Two Wheelers sales zoom 131% in May

Hero MotoCorp sales up 6% in May

Bajaj Auto total sales rises 4% in May

Toyota Kirloskar Motor registers a 6% growth in May

ECB cuts interest rate by 10%

At today's meeting, the Governing Council of the ECB took the following monetary policy decisions:

The interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem will be decreased by 10 basis points to 0.15%, starting from the operation to be settled on 11 June 2014.

The interest rate on the marginal lending facility will bedecreased by 35 basis points to 0.40%, with effect from 11 June 2014.

The interest rate on the deposit facility will be decreased by 10 basis points to -0.10%, with effect from 11 June 2014. 

News Infocus

Article 370: Test for Modi govt

Dr Jitendra Singh, who is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), today said that the government is in the process of repealing the Article 370, which guarantees a special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Dr Singh is a Lok Sabha member from Udhampur in J&K. The process of repealing Article 370 has started and we are already in discussion with all stakeholders, Dr Singh said. Article 370 of the Indian constitution is a law that grants special autonomous status to J&K. This Article specifies that except for Defence, Foreign Affairs, Communications and ancilliary matters, the Indian Parliament needs the J&K Government's concurrence for applying all other laws. The BJP has been opposing the special status for J&K for a long time, Dr Singh further said. With regard to Article 370 in the J&K chapter, the BJP manifesto said, "The BJP reiterates its stand on the Constitution provision and will discuss this with all stakeholders and remains committed to the abrogation of this article."...Read More

Over 90% Delhiites feel climate change is for real: TERI survey

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has released the findings of its Environmental Survey 2014, which was initiated to gauge the perception, awareness, opinion and behaviour of people towards environment in India. This year, the survey covered eight cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Indore, Jamshedpur, Kanpur and Pune. The focus of the survey was on the general environment, and in particular, water and waste related issues. In his video message on the occasion, Dr R K Pachauri, Director General, TERI, said: "This time, we have focused on cities which normally don’t get the kind of attention they deserve. If we want to bring about improvement in environmental quality, then the foundation on which any such effort would rest, would be on the awareness of the public. I hope through this survey we are able to bring about the level of awareness that really lays the foundation for action in the right direction. If we don’t, then we would all be taken over by urban blight."...Read More

Five lessons for business leaders from the Latest Fraud Statistics

Organizations around the world lose an estimated 5% of their annual revenues to occupational fraud, according to a survey of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) who investigated cases between January 2012 and December 2013. Applied to the estimated 2013 Gross World Product, this figure translates to a potential total fraud loss of more than $3.5 trillion (U.S.).The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) published the results of the survey in its highly anticipated 2014 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud & Abuse. The report includes data compiled from 1,483 cases of fraud submitted by CFEs globally.

Based upon the findings in the Report, the ACFE presents five of the top lessons business owners, directors and managers should heed to be better protected from the risk of fraud:

Implement a Fraud Hotline. Occupational fraud is far more likely to be detected by a tip than by any other method. More than 40% of all cases were detected by a tip – with the majority of them coming from employees of the victim organization. There are several providers of hotline services that can help implement an anonymous tip reporting system for businesses of all sizes and industries...Read More

Grape enriched diet supports eye health

New research presented recently at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference in Orlando, Florida suggests that regular grape consumption may play a role in eye health by protecting the retina from deterioration. Specifically, a grape-enriched diet resulted in a protective effect on retinal structure and function. The retina is the part of the eye that contains the cells that respond to light, known as photoreceptors. There are two types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. Retinal degenerative diseases affect over 5 million people in the U.S., and can cause blindness due to photoreceptor cell death. The study was conducted by a research team at the University of Miami, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and investigated whether a diet supplemented with grapes could protect the photoreceptors in mice that have retinal degeneration. Mice were either fed a grape-supplemented diet corresponding to 3 servings of grapes per day for humans or one of two control diets. The results showed that retinal function was significantly protected in the mice consuming the grape-enriched diet. The grape-consuming group had three-fold higher rod and cone photoreceptor responses compared with those on the control diets. They also exhibited thicker retinas. Grape consumption also protected retinal function in an oxidative stress model of macular degeneration. Further analysis revealed that the grape diet resulted in lower levels of inflammatory proteins and higher amounts of protective proteins in the retinas...Read More

How to follow the World Cup on Twitter

With just 8 days to go, the countdown is well under way to the 2014 @FIFAWorldCup in Brazil, and the conversation is building on Twitter. In fact, there have already been more World Cup-related Tweets this year than during the entire 2010 tournament.

The #WorldCup will happen on the pitch, but also on Twitter, giving people the chance to get closer to the action than ever before. Fans can get real-time updates on Twitter from their favourite teams, players, coaches, journalists, celebrities and fellow fans. It is the global viewing party where fans can experience every second of the World Cup, on and off the pitch. This how-to-follow guide gives you everything you will need to all the action as it unfolds:

Twitter XI Dream Team

If Twitter users were picking their starting lineup, the eleven players below would be a good place to start. This team is made up of the most-mentioned player Twitter @handles in the past three months, forming an XI that would surely be the envy of any manager in football...Read More

Second language helps you stay sharp in later life, study shows

People who speak more than one language are more likely to stay sharp in old age, according to a study. Tests carried out in a group of native English speakers suggest that speaking an additional language slows down the decline of thinking skills in later life. Researchers examined the results of standardised intelligence tests taken by the group at age 11, and compared them with results of thinking tests taken when group members were 73. Individuals have been tested on a number of physical and mental functions as they grow older, including changes in reasoning, memory, speed of thinking, many aspects of fitness and health, eyesight and blood composition. The 853 people tested were part of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, a group of individuals who were born in 1936 and took part in the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh who studied the test results found that those who spoke two or more languages had significantly better thinking skills in later life compared with what would be predicted from their IQ results in childhood. This was the case even if the second language was acquired in adulthood...Read More

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