Shyam Srinivasan, MD & CEO of Federal Bank, talks about how long can the retail banking keep growing

How the Finance Ministry and the RBI can avert an economic disaster

India's banking engine is still to stabilise after RBI's drive to clean up balance sheets and the government's consolidation move even as new pockets of risk build up

For the 2018-19 fiscal, Federal Bank reported highest ever standalone net profit of Rs 1,243.89 crore, up 41.5 per cent from Rs 878.85 crore in 2017-18

According to Kochi-based Federal Bank, there are signs of a spurt in remittances already, with the banks remittance handling go up to Rs 1,000 crore per week last fortnight, as against the usual average of Rs 700-800 crore.

It has not given bankers the realisations they had hoped for. Now the government has unveiled a new approach even while they are modifying the act.

Yeoh Keat Chuan, managing director of state-owned Economic Development Board, said Singapore is looking at participating in retrofitting of Indian cities and plans to upgrade its transportation sector, increasing its focus on Smart Cities.

Top lender State Bank of India (SBI), and two big private sector peers - ICICI Bank and Axis Bank - say demand for credit from smaller centres in the country is helping grow their overall home-loans books.

The credit cards will be chip-based cards providing a high level of security to the cardholders.

The Kochi-headquartered bank had posted a post tax profit of Rs 225.81 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The Reserve Bank is likely to keep interest rate unchanged in the upcoming annual monetary policy on April 1 as the retail inflation is yet to show definite signs of moderation.

\"So far we have recovered Rs 10 crore from Kingfisher Airlines. We had an exposure of Rs 85 crore in the company,\" Federal Bank Managing Director Shyam Srinivasan told PTI.

Although most market experts do not expect banks to raise their home loans rates immediately in response, the plethora of uncertainties around this hike will have a bearing on the consumer mindset.

Lenders to Kingfisher Airlines, whose combined exposure of nearly Rs 7,500 crore is at risk, have said they will go in for recovery measures only as the last resort and expressed hope that its promoters will be able to find an investor and resume operations.

The central bank is expected to enhance liquidity in the sluggish economy by cutting Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points and repo rate by 25 basis points in its annual credit policy to be announced on Tuesday.

Performance-linked compensation is a significant step for an old private sector bank to achieve - not because it is rocket science but because it calls for reorienting employee mindsets to the new realities of the marketplace. Some of India's oldest banks are thus beefing up their top brass with MNC talent in a bid to stay competitive.

The leitmotif of the banking story this year has been that there are no free lunches. The onus of protecting your interest lies squarely on you.