Industry members are expecting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut its key lending rates during its upcoming review meeting on 19 March, 2013 in order to revive the Indian economy.

The CEOs of various firms are expecting the central bank of the country to loose tis monetary policy and boost liquidity in the third largest economy in Asia. They believe that the lower interest rates will be able to boost investments in the country and help revive the economic growth.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may announce a cut in key rates later this month but banks will likely continue to offer higher rates, thanks to tight liquidity and decline in deposit growth.

The finance ministry has long been calling for lowering of interest rates to provide a boost to economic activity, but the central bank has so far been reluctant in making any considerable cut in rate due to high inflation. But the central bank is now expected to announce a cut in key rates on March 19.

India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it will release the final rules for obtaining new bank licenses within this financial year before 31 March, 2013.

The new rules are expected to allow firms in other sectors to enter the tightly regulated banking sector of Asia's third largest economy. The banking sector in the country has been traditionally dominated by the state-run banks with private banks like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank Ltd as well as some foreign banks making in roads and consolidating their positions in the market.

Headline inflation, wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation, slipped to a 38-month low of 6.62 per cent in January, raising hopes the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with bring key interest rate down.

The level of WPI-based inflation, the most widely used measure of prices, recorded in January was the lowest since November 2009. In addition, January was the fourth consecutive month to record decline in the rate of inflation.

Bank unions should work together with managements so that banking services could be made available to everyone, RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty said.

Speaking at a seminar on `Banking as fundamental right of people' yesterday, Mr. Chakrabarty stressed on the need of strong and responsible trade unions that in cooperation with managements could fight market forces and assist in making banking services available to everyone.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can soon announce the rules for giving new bank licenses as its consultations with the union finance ministry on the guidelines for the same are in the final stage, Deputy Governor Anand Sinha said.

Mr. Sinha said that the central bank would likely soon arrive at a consensus with the finance ministry on whether to let real-estate developers and brokerage firms to open banks or not.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should refrain from making any cut in interest rates until inflation is curbed even as the government wants the central bank to cut rates to boost economic activity, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

In a statement released yesterday, the IMF said that the Indian economy was suffering high fiscal deficit and elevated inflation and it was in a weaker position than before the global financial crisis.

India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has indicated that it might take some steps to restrict the import of gold into the country as the government struggles to manage the high current account deficit.

India is the largest consumer of gold in the world and it imports about 900 tonnes of gold each year from different countries around the world. About 60 per cent of the total imports are through banks in the country. The government had hiked the import duty on gold from 4 per cent to 6 per cent.

If the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) implements its draft guidelines on loan restructuring in the current form it would hike the banking sector's provisioning requirement by around Rs 15,000 crore between April 2013 and March 2015, Crisil Ratings said.

Crisil Ratings, India's leading credit rating agency, also warned that the central bank's draft guidelines would hit banks' profitability by 7 per cent to 8 per cent, as well as discourage them from large-scale restructuring.

A discussion paper floated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has suggested that banks should charge fees for processing cash withdrawals and deposits made via cheques.

The paper on `Disincentivising Issuance & Usage of Cheques' also suggested that processing fees should be charged from institutions that keep on issuing warrants rather than crediting amounts straight to investors' accounts.

The paper also suggested that government agencies should remove convenience charges for payment of utility bills via internet.

Mumbai, Jan 31 : A benchmark index for Indian equities markets was trading flat in the afternoon trade Thursday, even as several banks announced cuts in their lending rates.

Several banks, including the State Bank of India (SBI), cut the rates following the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to lower key lending rates in its third quarterly review of monetary policy.

There was heavy buying in the interest rate sensitive consumer durables and banking stocks.

However, metal, oil and gas and information technology (IT) stocks came under selling pressure.

Mumbai, Jan 30 : A benchmark index for Indian equities markets was trading flat in the late afternoon trade Wednesday, a day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut key lending rates in its third quarterly review of monetary policy.

However, the most awaited event that has kept markets choppy is the extent to which a interest rate cut by banks will come to consumers. The decision on the cut will be discussed in the asset liability committee (ALCO) meeting of bankers Wednesday.

Mumbai, Jan 29 : India's central bank Tuesday cut key policy rates to infuse more money into the banking system and also trigger lower interest rates on loans taken by the commercial and household sectors.

The repurchase rate, the interest charged by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on short-term borrowings by commercial banks, has been cut by 25 basis points to 7.75 percent. This has the potential to lower the cost of borrowings for banks.

Mumbai/New Delhi, Jan 28 : The Reserve Bank of India Monday said fiscal and current account deficits and inflation are major constraints in easing monetary policy.

"Monetary policy needs to continue to be calibrated in addressing growth risks as inflation remains above the Reserve Bank's comfort level and macro economic risks from twin deficits persist," the central bank said in its quarterly report on the economy a day before the credit and monetary policy review.

RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao on Thursday held a meeting with Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to discuss the macro-economic situation ahead of the central bank's January 29 monetary policy review.

Speaking to reporters, outside the union finance minister's North Block office, Subbarao said that it was a standard practice to meet the finance minister ahead of a monetary policy review.

Newly appointed Deputy Governor Urjit Patel will oversee the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy department and communication, statistics & information management departments among other functions, the central bank announced.

Renowned economist Mr. Patel, 49, took charge as deputy governor of the RBI on Monday, just around two weeks prior to a crucial monetary policy review.

Mumbai, Jan 12 : India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves decreased by $1.58 million to $294.99 billion for the week ended Jan 4, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.

The reserves had increased by $39.6 million to $296.57 billion for the week ended Dec 28, 2012.

The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - went down by $951.7 million at $261.06 billion, according to the weekly statistical supplement released by the RBI.

The FCA went up by $63.9 million at $262.01 billion in the previous week.

G Padmanabhan, executive director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has defended the bank's stance on investing in gold, saying it is entirely different from private agents.

The RBI has long been preaching against investment in gold as high investment in gold is one of the main reasons for high Current Account Deficit (CAD) is gold imports. But the central bank has diversified its own assets into gold.

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz has cautioned the government that granting banking licences to corporate entities would be a move laden with risks.

Speaking at the 15th CD Deshmukh Memorial Lecture, organized by the RBI, Stiglitz allowing corporates to have their own banks would lead to corporate conflicts of interest.

The shares of Muthoot Finance Ltd increased today after the country's central bank released raft guidelines on gold linked guidelines.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released draft guidelines based on the recommendations of the KUB Rao Committee. The KUB Rao Committee has reportedly said that there is no risk to the financial system because of gold loan NBFCs. George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance noted that the recommendations from the committee will remove negative sentiment from in the market.