1. NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS MAY HIT BANKS’ LENDING TO INFRA/REALTY FIRMS: The adoption of new Indian Accounting Standards (IndAS) might compel banks to cut down on the quantum of loans they normally sanction to firms involved in Real estate and Infra Sectors. IndAS will result in a change in Debt-to Equity ratios of such firms as capital structures and financial instruments get reclassified. This will in turn increase the debts of the companies thus compelling banks’ to reassess the way they lend to these companies.

2. SBI URGES THE GOVERNMENT TO EASE PROVISIONING NORMS: State Bank of India has written to the finance Ministry raising concerns over stringent provisioning norms for companies under the Bankruptcy code, which will eat into its profit margins. Banks are reluctant to meet these norms and hence SBI has sought the ministry’s intervention on the matter.

3. AXIS BANK LAUNCHES “SUPER BIKE LOANS” : As the Higher Engine Displacement- High End models in bikes is catching the fancy of Indian consumer, AXIS Bank has introduced a special loan product – “ Super Bike Loan” which offers  funding of 95% of the bike cost. This includes the cost of the bike and the accessories also. The rate of interest will be between 10 to 11% per annum. These bikes come with a price tag of Rs. 5 to Rs 50 Lakh. The segment had witnessed a sale of over 3,000 units last year.

4. SBI HAS STARTED TO OFFER GST-READY SOLUTIONS TO ITS CUSTOMERS:State Bank of India has announced its Goods &Services Tax ready solutions, including the introduction of online payment through internet banking and debit cards. SBI customers can deposit GST upto Rs.10,000/- in cash, cheque or draft from  any of the SBI branches across the country.

5. GOOGLE COMPLETES UPI TESTING, AWAITS RBI NOD TO LAUNCH SERVICE: Technology giant Google has completed the testing of its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment service and is awaiting RBI’s approval. The National Payments Corporation of India ( NPCI), the umbrella organization for all retail payments system in India also said that Facebook and Whatsapp too were in discussion with it regarding rolling out their own UPI  payment services. Very soon these three big technology giants will start their UPI operations.

6. DIRECT SELLING AGENTS UNDER WATCH IN HOME LOAN TRANSFER CASES: To check possible instances of mis-selling, the housing finance regulator- NHB is examining data on home loan transfers from one bank to the other and may issue guidelines for Direct Selling Agents ( DSAs) in the interest of the borrowers. NHB wants to check whether the balance transfers are genuine transactions or the agents are playing a game on it. The ultimate goal of NHB is to bring in a very well trained set of Agents in the interest of the borrowers.

7. CURRENCY BAN IS NOT A GROUND FOR BANKING OMBURDSMAN TO HANDLE COMPLAINTS: The Reserve Bank of India has clarified that customer complaints regarding the problems like cash withdrawal and exchange of notes faced during demonetization period cannot be entertained under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme. Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 specifies 27 grounds of complaints under which complaints can be lodged and complaints related to demonetization is not a ground of complaint specified under the scheme.