Mumbai Mar 31 PTI Indias current account deficit widened to USD 23 billion or 27 per cent of the GDP in the December quarter the Reserve Bank said on Thursday The health of current account which is a key indicator of a countrys external strength has deteriorated when compared to the preceding September quarter as well as the year-ago period The deficit was at USD 99 billion or 13 per cent of the GDP in the second quarter of this fiscal while the same stood at USD 22 billion or 03 per cent of the GDP in the year-ago period the data on Balance of Payments showed The widening of the current account deficit for the December quarter was attributed by the central bank to pressures on the trade deficit front with the gap on that front increasing to USD 604 billion due to rising imports Net services receipts increased both sequentially and on a year-on-year y-o-y basis on the back of robust performance of net exports of computer and business services For the first nine months of the current fiscal the current account deficit came at 12 per cent of the GDP as against a surplus of 17 per cent in the April-December 2020 period as per the data PTI AA RAM

Mumbai Mar 30 PTI Axis Bank on Wednesday said it will acquire US-based Citis consumer business in India for Rs 12325 crore in one of the largest deals in the Indian financial services space which will help it close the gap with larger peers like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank The two lenders signed a definitive agreement for the sale which will involve the third largest private lender taking over Citis credit cards personal loans and wealth management businesses that are focused on the affluent segment Regulatory approvals are expected in nine months after which the payment will be made and a complex integration process will begin Axis Bank has grown organically all these years and has scaled well But our aspirations are bigger This deal gives us that strategic thrust to close the gap between us and some of our peers its chief executive and managing director Amitabh Chaudhry told reporters Apart from a consideration of Rs 12325 crore or USD 16 billion which will be paid using the balance sheet strength the deal also involves an equity requirement of Rs 3450 crore for the loan book of over Rs 27400 crore which will get transferred and also a payout of up to Rs 1500 crore in integration cost which will be paid by Axis to Citi for servicing the business till the merger gets complete The domestic lenders core capital will be impacted by 180 per cent and it will raise capital a few months down the line Chaudhry said Axis Bank is keen to absorb nearly all the 3600 employees working for the consumer banking business of Citi and will be eventually making offers to them at par with their current emoluments and also raise the payouts to its existing employees for parity Chaudhry said The deal which is estimated to get over by September 2024 once the integration is complete will help the domestic lender gain access to 30 lakh new customers which include 25 lakh high-spending credit cards and also up the assets under management of its wealth management offering Burgundy by adding Rs 11 lakh crore of money Citis retail book is nearly Rs 68000 crore of which retail loans account for Rs 28000 crore Axis Bank said its card business will become one of the top three in the country after the integration of Citi Citi has been in India since 1902 and started its consumer banking activities in 1985 From a customers perspective all the privileges loyalty points and services will remain the same provided they consent to be serviced by Axis Bank Chaudhry said that all the 21 branches in prime locations will be retained The American lender is exiting the business which delivered a post-tax profit of Rs 842 crore in 2020 as part of a move to exit retail businesses in 13 markets globally and release capital It will continue to operate the wholesale and institutional businesses in the country and also use it as a back-office to support global business which currently operates from five centres Ashu Khullar the India chief executive for Citi assured that even after the sale of the consumer-facing business it will deepen its presence through institutional business and community initiatives The move which comes in line with many peers in the foreign lenders space either exiting or part-exiting Indian operations will also help Axis with access to long-standing relationships of Citis that include 1600 tie-ups with corporates to offer salary accounts and also deposits of over Rs 50200 crore of which 81 per cent are the low-cost current and savings account balances Chaudhry termed the deal a once in a lifetime opportunity which it went in for because of the advantages it offers to grow the business A senior official said teams from the two banks were in touch for over six months before the signing of the agreement on Wednesday Others in the fray included Kotak Mahindra Bank and Singapores DBS Bank Approvals for the deal will have to come from Axis Banks shareholders Reserve Bank Competition Commission of India and others The deal was termed as margin-accretive by Axis Banks chief financial officer Puneet Sharma who said it will contribute over 6 per cent to the banks net interest income Sharma however also hinted that more than the interest income it is possibilities on the fees and non-interest income front which were a big draw for Axis Bank Acknowledging the concerns around attrition of customers which is believed to have started ever since Citi announced an exit over nine months ago Chaudhry said there are clauses in the agreement wherein the consideration amount will go down if the size of the business shrinks below a threshold which was undisclosed by him There are also exit clauses where either of the parties can walk away from the deal he added The last deal of this size was the Rs 12500-crore merger between Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Vysya Bank or the RBI-backed merger between DBS Bank India and Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ahead of the press conference to announce the deal Axis Bank scrip gained 172 per cent to close at Rs 75020 apiece on BSE on Wednesday PTI AA DP MR MR

Mumbai Dec 31 PTI Indias current account slipped into a deficit of USD 96 billion or 13 per cent of GDP in the September quarter the Reserve Bank said on Friday The current account which records the value of exports and imports of both goods and services along with international transfers of capital was in a surplus mode both in the quarter-ago and year-ago periods Indias current account surplus had stood at USD 66 billion or 09 per cent of GDP in the April-June 2021 quarter while in the year-ago period Q2FY22 the surplus had stood at USD 153 billion or 24 per cent of the GDP the data said For the reporting quarter the deficit was mainly due to widening of trade deficit to USD 444 billion from USD 307 billion in the preceding quarter and an increase in net outgo of investment income the RBI said Net services receipts decreased marginally over the preceding quarter but increased on a year-on-year basis on the back of robust performance of the exports of computer and business services it added PTI AA MKJ

Mumbai Nov 24 PTI The Unique Identification Authority of India UIDAI is looking at using smartphones as universal authenticator to establish a residents identity a top official said on Wednesday At present finger prints iris and one-time password OTP are used for authentication and efforts are on to increase the scope of the same its chief executive Saurabh Garg said addressing the ETBFSI Converge summit We are looking at how the smartphone can develop as a universal authenticator That is an area of work that is ongoing and we hope we will be able to proceed rapidly in that direction It will help people to do authentication right from where they are living staying etc Garg said He said at present of the overall 120 crore mobile connections 80 crore are smartphones which could be used for the authentication However no additional details were shared on how the process of identification can get complete using the smartphone Garg said privacy and data security are important for the authority and added that the Aadhar number is on its way to becoming a single identity which is universally available and authenticable Aadhar and the direct benefit transfers done using the number have helped the government save Rs 2 lakh crore by plugging leakages and duplication he said The banking and the telecom industry have rapidly adopted the Aadhar number for fulfilling the know-your-customer norms he said adding that 70 crore or half of the overall bank accounts are seeded with Aadhar However the number of pension accounts 3 crore and mutual fund holders around 10 crore is very less and those industries should make use of the facilities offered by Aadhar to rapidly expand coverage Garg said He said the UIDAI has now decreased charges for full KYC to Rs 3 per authentication and 50 paise for a simple yes or no authentication in order to drive up the usage At present there are 130 crore Aadhar cards covering 995 per cent of the countrys population he said adding that efforts are on to get the remaining 05 per cent of the residents into the fold PTI AA DRR DRR

Mumbai Sep 26 PTI Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said many districts in the country lack banking presence despite high level of economic activity taking place in those areas Addressing banking industry lobby grouping Indian Banks Association IBA Sitharaman asked lenders to augment efforts of deepening presence Giving the lenders the option to decide which place requires banking presence through a brick-and-mortar model and where a step-down presence would help Sitharaman made it clear that she is not against digitalisation and efforts She said the banks books are much cleaner now and this will help the government as the recapitalisation requirements go down The finance minister also said the upcoming National Asset Reconstruction Company should not be called a bad bank as it is called in the US Banks need to be nimble and understand every units need to achieve the USD 400 billion exports target she said PTI AA MKJ

Mumbai Aug 31 PTI Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said India will make it mandatory for auto manufacturers to offer vehicles running 100 per cent on bio-fuels in the next six months Such a move will be cost-effective for consumers who are hassled by the high petrol prices the minister said pointing out that a litre of bioethanol costs Rs 65 as against Rs 110 paid for petrol The alternative fuel is also less polluting and saves forex We are committed to delivering vehicles with flex engine norms We have taken a decision we will make it mandatory by which there will be a flex-engine Gadkari said at an event hosted by domestic brokerage Elara Capital Within six months we will give orders for making flex engines mandatory he said adding that state-run oil marketing companies have already been ordered to offer bio-fuels at the same facilities as the one selling petrol and diesel The minister said consumers will have a choice between petrol and bioethanol and a switch to the alternative is also essential for the country because of the surplus production of crops like rice maize corn and sugar from which bioethanol is made He added that in many of the crops the minimum support price offered to the farmers is higher than the commercial price or the one in international prices making it essential for diverting the harvest for the overall betterment of the country Gadkari said manufacturing of electronic vehicles is also on at a fast pace across categories and estimated that there will be a flood of such automobiles on the roads in a year He also said that in the next five years he wants India to be the leading auto manufacturing hub in the world offering vehicles with all the fuels for the world The recently launched vehicle scrappage policy will help in sourcing of raw materials he said Efforts are also underway on using hydrogen as a fuel and to tap the gas from sea water and sewage water Gadkari said without sharing specifics Meanwhile Gadkari said the National Highways Authority of India has already been undertaking monetisation efforts through which it has raised over Rs 40000 crore and sounded confident about achieving the incremental target of raising Rs 160 lakh crore from the roads sector included in the national monetization plan announced earlier this month He said NHAI will raise the money either through the toll-operate-transfer model that has been used previously or also through the infrastructure investment trust InvITs which is to be floated soon by the NHAI The minister asked long-term money managers like pension and insurance funds to come forward and invest in the issues floated by NHAI for better returns pointing out that the overall toll collections are likely to shoot up to Rs 140 lakh crore per year in five years from the present Rs 40000 crore per year NHAI is giving smaller bundles for monetization which will entail commitments of around Rs 500 crore as against Rs 5000 crore earlier Gadkari said reasoning that such smaller bundles attract smaller investors and also increase the returns for the authority He said regular monetization efforts through diverse instruments will also help the NHAI continue with its ambitious plans on road building which includes constructing 26 express highways across the country Gadkari assured that in the next three years Indian roads will be at par with the ones seen in the US or Europe from a quality perspective The government is also targeting to lower fatalities through a variety of interventions over time and take the number to zero deaths on highways by 2030 Gadkari said adding that engineering enforcement education and emergency care services can be of help PTI AA MR MR

Mumbai Aug 25 PTI Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said she has requested banks to work with all state governments to push the one district one product agenda Banks have also been requested to have interaction with export promotion agencies chambers of commerce and industry to understand and address the requirement of exporters on a timely manner Sitharaman said while addressing media here on Wednesday The Finance Minister who is on a two-day visit to the financial capital said between public sector banks there should be some kind of a simple approach so that exporters are not made to run between one bank to another scouting for a better offer During the day she met heads of public sector banks PSBs to review their financial performance PTI AA ANS ANS