Category: Business

PTI

Mumbai: The rupee on Tuesday declined by 11 paise to close at 74.35 (provisional) against the US currency due to a stronger dollar in the overseas markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened flat at 74.23 against the American currency but later slipped to close at 74.35.

During the session, the local unit touched an intra-day high of 74.21 and a low of 74.36 against the US currency. On Friday, the rupee had settled at 74.24 against the US dollar.

The forex market was closed on Monday on account of ‘Parsi New Year’.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.06 per cent higher at 92.68.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.37 per cent to USD 69.25 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 209.69 points or 0.38 per cent higher at 55,792.27, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 51.55 points or 0.31 per cent to 16,614.60.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,088.32 crore, according to the exchange data.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s official mobile banking application, Mpay would likely function normally within half an hour, officials said on Tuesday evening.

An official in the J&K Bank told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the work to restore the normal functioning of application was almost finalized. “It will start functioning normally within half an hour,” he said.

Earlier, KNO received a number of complaints with regard to the non-functioning of the mobile banking application, saying that they are unable to make transactions through the online application—(KNO)

PTI

Mumbai: The rupee pared its initial gains to close down by 12 paise at 73.42 against the US currency on Tuesday amid concerns that rising COVID-19 cases and subsequent lockdowns in some states may hurt the economic recovery.

Investors were also cautious ahead of the RBI policy statement to be released on Wednesday. Besides, gains in crude prices and a stronger dollar overseas weighed on the rupee sentiment.

“Rupee continued to trade in a narrow range for the third successive session despite volatility in domestic equities. Market participants remain cautious ahead of the important RBI policy statement that will be released on Wednesday,” Gaurang Somaiyaa, Forex & Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said.

The expectation is that the central bank could keep rates unchanged but commentary will be keenly watched that could trigger volatility for the currency, Somaiyaa said.

“We expect the USDINR (Spot) to trade sideways with a positive bias and quote in the range of 73.20 and 73.80,” he added.

“Indian rupee gave up early gains as markets started positioning ahead of the RBI policy decision on Wednesday. The central bank is poised to hold interest rates as the economy faces a renewed threat from the pandemic, with new cases hitting a record, and high frequency indicators are now coming off,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections in India remained above 90,000 for the third consecutive day taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally of cases to 1,26,86,049, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 73.22 against the greenback and traded in the range of 73.20 to 73.42 during the day. The rupee finally ended at 73.42 against the American currency, registering a fall of 12 paise over its previous closing of 73.30.

According to Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, the Indian Rupee weakened for the second consecutive session against the U.S. Dollar, weighed down by dollar demand from importers.

In the international markets, the U.S. dollar rebounded from a near two-week low but still remained on the weaker side of things on Tuesday’s afternoon trade as investors await the Fed monetary policy meeting minutes on Wednesday, Iyer said.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.13 per cent to 92.71. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading 2.37 per cent up at USD 63.62 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 42.07 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 49,201.39, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced by 45.70 points or 0.31 per cent to 14,683.50.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 931.66 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Officials say technical glitch is with two telecom service operators

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Bank customers are facing problems in accessing Mpay.

Customers informed KNS said that they are not able to access the app and is giving them tough time in logging into their accounts.

” When I tried to access the application for transaction. I was directed to update the App and then choose the number registered with J&K Bank. However it didn’t open despite many attempts,” a customer said.

However J&K Bank on its official social media pages and accounts clarified that the technical glitch with mPay is with only two telecom service providers. “It is for the information of our esteemed customers that more than 2 lakh users have successfully used mobile banking app, mPay, successfully.”

“However, some of our users are facing inconvenience due to technical glitch with two telecom service providers. The bank is vigorously following up the issue with the telecom service providers for speedy resolution of the same. Inconvenience is regretted,” the picture post added.

The customers have urged the bank to resolve the issue immediately (KNS).

Indian economy will be among the top economies in the world in the next few years using science, technology, and innovation in all sectors, bouncing back soon from the after effects of COVID 19, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar said at a webinar organized to celebrate 50 years of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) recently.

“Steps and reforms have been taken by the Government in all the sectors, like agriculture, modern medicine, traditional medicine, New Education Policy, Small & Medium Enterprises, labour sector and so on, to target being among the world’s top three economies,” he said at the webinar on DST Golden Jubilee Discourse Series – On the other side of the Pandemic – organised by National Council for Science & Technology Communication and Vigyan Prasar.

Dr. Kumar added that the economy post-COVID has been in the recovery mode after the first quarter and hoped that Indian economy will bounce back in next few quarters from the effects of COVID-19 disruptions, will grow by average 7-8 percent in next 20-30 years and become the third-largest economy by 2047. (PTK)

Srinagar: The role of J&K Bank was appreciated by various senior government functionaries during the two-day ‘My Town, My Pride’ programheld across all the towns of the Union Territory. The officials lauded J&K Bank for its role in empowering people on economic and social front.

J&K Bank had set up its stalls across the UT towns in its bid to make people aware about various government sponsored, social security and financially uplifting schemes.

Chief Secretary B. V. R. Subrahmanyam visited the J&K Bank stall set up at Sher-i-Kashmir Park, Srinagar. Sanction letters were handed over to the beneficiaries of PM Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme by Joint Commissioner Planning Srinagar Municipal Committee Ghulam Hassan Mir. LDM Srinagar Abdul Majeed Bhat, Cluster Head Shabir Ahmad and various officials from the Bank were also present.

At Jammu, under supervision of its Zonal Head Sunit Kumar, J&K Bank had set up stalls across the zone. Advisor to Lieutenant Governor KK Sharma inspected one such stall at Parade Ground, Jammu. Appreciating J&K Bank’s role in supporting people in realizing their economic pursuits, Sharma handed over sanction letters to various beneficiaries under KCC, PM Svanidhi, NULM, and Transport loan schemes.

The J&K Bank stalls proved to be an instant attraction among the masses who put up enquiries about various social security, government sponsored and allied schemes.
J&K Bank’s stall in Magam was visited by Advisor to Lieutenant Governor (LG) R R Bhatnagar, DDC Budgam Shahbaz Mirza, Director Handicrafts Hashmat Ali, SSP Budgam Amod Nagpuri and various officials of the district.

The officials handed over sanction letters among the beneficiaries and hailed J&K Bank for its role in providing employment avenues to the youth of J&K. They said that youth look upto the J&K Bank for the support in their endeavour to establish employment generating units.
The program in Budgam town was graced by Secretary to Government for Rural Development Department and Panchayat Raj Sheetal Nanda. She distributed sanction letters to beneficiaries of various schemes during the program.

J&K Bank stall at mini-Secretariat Ganderbal also had government functionaries visiting it including Principal Secretary to Housing and Urban Development Deeraj Gupta, DDC Ganderbal Shafqat Iqbal and SSP Ganderbal Muhammad Khalil Poswal. Senior officials of the Bank including LDM Ganderbal was also present at the program. The sanction letters were handed over to beneficiaries at the stall.

Dr. Pawan Kotwal (IAS) Principal Secretary /Financial Commissioner Revenue, UT of J&K visited J&K Bank’s Cama Housing Colony business unit under the government’s outreach programme. He distributed sanction letters under Central Govt. Sponsored scheme like NULM, Street vendors and KCC schemes to the beneficiaries. Zonal Head, Jammu North-2, Udhampur Sushil Gupta was also present. He was all praise for J&K Bank- Cama Housing Colony business unit in particular- for providing banking and allied services to the public.

A team of top government functionaries led by Principal Secretary Shaleen Kabra, DDC Srinagar Shahid Iqbal Choudary and SMC Commissioner Gazanfer Ali made a visit to J&K Bank stall set up at SMC’s headquarter at Karannagar. The officials appreciated J&K Bank for its services across the country and hoped that UT’s premier bank would continue to bring positive changes in the peoples’ lives.(KINS)

Bangladesh is set to beat India in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) this calendar year, thanks to a sharp contraction in the Indian economy due to Covid-19 and the economic lockdown.

According to International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Economic Outlook (WEO), Bangladesh’s per capita GDP in dollar terms is expected to grow 4 per cent in 2020 to $1,888. India’s per capita GDP, on the other hand, is expected to decline 10.5 per cent to $1,877 – the lowest in the last four years. The GDP figure for both countries is at current prices.

This makes India the third poorest country in South Asia, with only Pakistan and Nepal reporting lower per capita GDP, while Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Maldives would be ahead of India.

The WEO database suggests that the Indian economy will be the worst hit from the pandemic in South Asia after Sri Lanka, whose per capita GDP is expected to shrink 4 per cent in the current calendar year. 

In comparison, Nepal and Bhutan are expected to grow their economies this year, while the IMF has not divulged Pakistan’s data for 2020 and beyond.

IMF predicts a sharp economic recovery in India next year, which is likely to push per capita GDP ahead of Bangladesh in 2021 by a small margin.

India’s per capita GDP in dollar terms is expected to grow 8.2 per cent in 2021, against an expected 5.4 per cent growth for Bangladesh. This will grow India’s per capita GDP to $2,030 next year, against Bangladesh’s $1,990.

Till five years ago, India’s per capita GDP was nearly 40 per cent higher than Bangladesh’s. In the last five years, Bangladesh’s per capita GDP has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 per cent, against 3.2 per cent growth reported by India during the period.

This has allowed Bangladesh to close the economy gap with its giant neighbour. According to economists, Bangladesh’s economic growth has been underpinned by its fast-growing export sector and a steady rise in rate of savings and investment in the country. In contrast, India’s exports have stagnated in recent years, while savings and investment have declined.  

According to the WEO database, India’s economic contraction in 2020 will be its worst since the 1990-91 economic crisis when the per capita GDP had contracted 17.5 per cent in 1991. India’s GDP per capita in dollar terms had last contracted 1 per cent year-on-year in 2012 due to currency depreciation. In all, India’s per capita GDP in dollar terms contracted on eight occasions in 40 years, five of which occurred prior to 2000.

With inputs from the Business Standard

Mumbai: The rupee depreciated 13 paise to 73.73 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday tracking muted domestic equities and strengthening American currency.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened on a weak note at 73.67, then fell further to 73.73, registering a fall of 13 paise over its last close.

The rupee had settled at 73.60 against the US dollar on Tuesday.

Forex traders said strong dollar, muted domestic equities and sustained foreign fund outflows weighed on investor sentiment. Further, tension at Indo-China border too dampened investor sentiment.

India on Tuesday said Chinese troops attempted to close in on its position in eastern Ladakh a day earlier and fired shots in the air, in a rapid escalation of tensions where firearms were used along the line of actual control (LAC) after 45 years.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.02 per cent to 93.46.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 329.26 points lower at 38,036.09 and broader NSE Nifty fell 89.05 points to 11,228.30.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,056.52 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.45 per cent to USD 39.60 per barrel.

PTI

New Delhi: Gold prices on Thursday plunged Rs 774 to Rs 51,755 per 10 gram in the national capital following decline in global prices, according to HDFC Securities.

The yellow metal had closed at Rs 52,529 per 10 gram here in the previous trade.

Silver prices also tumbled Rs 1,908 to Rs 69,176 per kilogram from Rs 71,084 per kilogram in the previous trade.

“Spot gold prices for 24 carat in Delhi plunged Rs 774 with fall in international prices,” HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said.

In the international market, gold was trading lower at USD 1,934 per ounce, while silver was quoting flat at USD 27.24 per ounce.

“Gold prices continued downtrend on strong dollar recovery against major currencies,” Patel said.

He added that positive US economic data also boosted investors’ appetite for riskier assets.

Navneet Damani, VP Commodities Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said, “Gold fell marginally after the dollar rose against its major crosses and a strong rebound in the US manufacturing sector fuelled hopes of recovery in the coronavirus-hit economy.

PTI

Mumbai: The rupee slumped 44 paise to close at 73.47 against the US dollar on Thursday as rise in demand for the American currency from oil importers weighed on forex market sentiment.

Besides, stronger greenback against its key rival currencies and subdued domestic equities exerted pressure on the domestic unit.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened on a weak note at 73.23, lost further ground during the session and finally settled for the day at 73.47 against the greenback, registering a fall of 44 paise over its last close.

During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.23 and a low of 73.48 against the American currency.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.18 per cent to 93.01.

“Rupee ended lower Thursday tracking a strong greenback amid oil importers dollar demand. A strong dollar index pushed USD/INR spot pair higher today,” Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities, said.

The greenback rose against major peers after investors trimmed bets against the greenback and sold the euro on concerns that the European Central Bank was worried about its rise, he added.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.06 per cent to USD 43.96 per barrel.

Traders said markets will be eyeing weekly US jobless claims data for further cues.

Forex traders said the Indian rupee in line with other Asian currencies traded lower following recovery in dollar against major currencies.

This was the second consecutive day of decline for the rupee, during which it has depreciated by 60 paise.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 95.09 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 38,990.94; and the NSE Nifty closed 7.55 points or 0.07 per cent down at 11,527.45.