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<div type="image" title="The RBI has cracked the regulatory whip on NBFCs and banks, who&amp;#39;ve been pushing microfinance and unsecured loans aggressively to grow their loan books." agency="ANI" msid="114778648" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The RBI has cracked the regulatory whip on NBFCs and banks, who&amp;#39;ve been pushing microfinance and unsecured loans aggressively to grow their loan books.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Imagine this. You have a younger sibling you’re mighty envious of. And why not? Unlike you, they seem to enjoy all the freedom and money in the world. They party like there’s no tomorrow, and here you are, stuck in a boring, ultra-disciplined but responsible routine that feels completely devoid of any independence, and mostly, funds. But of late, things are changing. This sibling is in massive trouble and just cannot escape the parent’s wrath anymore. Long story short, the party is over, and it is time to go back home. The rising defaults on this sibling’s part have now begun pulling the entire house down, thereby attracting the regulator’s ire. <h2>The Wild West of <keyword id="113684" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="microfinance" source="Orion">microfinance</keyword> and unsecured loans</h2>It's hard to ignore the issues with microfinance and unsecured loans in India. Many saw them as a small gamble and ignored the rising defaults much like the younger siblings’ tantrums, and now they find themselves in hot waters. The skyrocketing instances of non-payments aren't a micro-issue anymore and are threatening the stability of the entire banking system. In the quarter ended September 30, 2024, 5 of India’s 8 largest private sector <keyword id="19934118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="banks" source="keywords">banks</keyword> reported a steep rise in their bad loan book, mostly thanks to microfinance loans. Some banks, in a bid to strengthen their fortress against these <keyword id="142154" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bad-loans" source="Orion">bad loans</keyword>, have significantly upped their provisions. For instance, IndusInd Bank set aside Rs 525 crore during July and September 2024 to battle the menace of defaults on microfinance loans, which make up about 9% of its total loan book. See, banks rely heavily on their interest income, which they earn from advancing loans. Any loan where the borrower has not paid interest to the bank or defaulted for 90 days or more becomes bad, i.e. an NPA, or non-performing asset for the bank. And who likes things going bad? Simply put, there has been a steep rise in three areas, much to the dislike of banks and MFIs (micro-finance institutions). But hey, it's mostly their doing! <ol><li>GNPA ratio (gross net performing assets): The quantum of non-performing assets a bank has in proportion to its total assets.</li><li>Provision: The amount banks set aside to take care of such NPAs.</li><li>Slippage ratio: The rate at which good girls go bad, or the speed at which good loans turn into NPAs</li></ol>But how are these plaguing the Indian banking sector? And what does the road ahead look like? We decode it for you. <h2> Microfinance: A not-so-micro-menace</h2>Microfinance loans were initially brought forth for low-income households and individuals i.e. for those who might not generally have access to traditional ways of credit, like bank loans and more. They don’t require collateral or an asset to be pledged in lieu of the loan, making it a tad bit easier for borrowers. As of June 2024, the amount of outstanding loans in the microfinance industry stood at a staggering Rs 4,20,256 crore. Of this, NBFC-MFIs accounted for 40% and banks made for 33% of these. In 2022, RBI, in a bid to inspire some competition in this space, did something radical-they did away with the ceiling on how much interest MFIs could charge their customers. Previously, MFIs could add up to 12% to their cost of acquiring funds to determine the final interest rate chargeable to the consumer. So, assuming that Bank A incurs a 5% cost to acquire funds for further loaning, A could charge up to 17% interest from the end consumer. So, interest rates were in the hands of MFIs, and boy, did they have a gala time with it. Instead of spurring some healthy competition, as RBI expected, MFIs and banks went rogue and all guns blazing, competing for the title of “Who will charge the highest interest?” Recently, RBI banned 4 microfinance institutions (MFIs), namely Asirvad Micro Finance Limited, Arohan Financial Services Limited, DMI Finance Private Limited, and <keyword id="20117932" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="navi-finserv" source="keywords">Navi Finserv</keyword> from disbursing loans effective October 21, 2024. Why? Because they were charging 14% extra interest over their original cost of funds. To maintain their loan books (and pockets), banks and NBFCs resorted to shady practices like netting off loans, which RBI has now advised MFIs against. Here, lenders allow borrowers to settle a previous outstanding loan by issuing them a new loan! As crazy as it sounds, it helped banks to report less of their total assets as NPAs, since the new credit would cover pending instalments of the borrower’s previous loan. Then there was the issue of borrowers overleveraging, i.e. taking multiple loans using different IDs from various lenders and then failing to honour any of them. The consequence? Banks and NBFCs end up with massive NPAs. Data from credit bureaus suggests that over the last quarter, there was a 17.2% rise in the number of borrowers who had 5 or more active loans at the same time. <h2>Growth &gt; Caution</h2>It's an age-old tale unfolding yet again in India’s banking sector- Icarus flew too close to the sun and eventually, fell to its death. Between April and June 2024, NBFCs microfinance portfolio jumped by 2.7%. If you see this in terms of loan sources, microfinance loans issued by banks grew by 11.2% in Q1FY25. But the same portfolio in NBFCs swelled by almost double-23.9%. While most of these loans had an average ticket size between Rs 30,000-50,000, there was a sharp spike in the number of loans that had a ticket size of Rs 80,000 or more. Data suggests that as of March 2024, more than 12% of all microfinance borrowers had over 4 or more active loans. In dating parlance, this is a classic case of borrowers going polyamorous, minus the honesty and transparency. Not the best of situations, you'd agree! <h2>Will banks and NBFCs stand up to this stress?</h2>If their results for Q2FY25 are to be believed, NBFCs are not handling the pressure all that well. Or even slightly well. Only a few banks like Bank of Baroda (BoB), ICICI, and Indian Bank were up for the battle, even witnessing a decline in their loan delinquencies. Some others, like IndusInd Bank, saw their stock dip by a massive 16.2% over the last 5 days. Its slippages in the previous quarter burgeoned from Rs 15.3 billion in Q1FY25 to Rs 17.9 billion in Q2. As a result, the bank pushed a staggeringly high amount of money to create an NPA cushion for itself. While its management has highlighted its preference for secured lending, that was hardly reflected in its actions during the quarter, where growth in unsecured personal loans remained exceptionally high at over 7% on a QoQ basis. Turns out, only 44% of customers in IndusInd Banks’ microfinance loan portfolio were exclusive to it. The rest 47% were, you guessed it right-polyamorous! 27% had borrowed from another lender as well, apart from IndusInd Bank, while 20% were those who had outstanding loans with two other lenders, apart from IndusInd Bank. IndusInd Bank’s credit card segment did not miss the NPA bus and accounted for 7-8% of its GNPAs. Canara Bank’s total slippages during the previous quarter jumped to Rs 11.1 billion, up by 24.7% QoQ, and making up for 3.6% of its total loans. As for Bandhan Bank, its gross NPA for Q2FY25 inched up on a QoQ basis, up from 4.23% in Q1, to 4.68% in the second quarter. IDFC Bank’s heavy provisioning for its NPAs marred its profits significantly, causing its PAT (profit after tax) to dip by 73% on a YoY basis. Data from ICRA Analytics suggest that the AUM (asset under management) growth in microfinance loans and unsecured (personal and business) loans by the NBFCs will moderate to 10-12% and 19-21%, respectively, in FY2025 compared to 30% and 38%, in FY2024. Says A M Karthik, Senior Vice President &amp; Co-Group Head, Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA, “As bank funds constitute a larger share in the overall funding of NBFCs, a slower credit flow from banks to the NBFCs will compress their AUM growth. The NBFCs in unsecured and digital lending businesses shall face a higher squeeze in funding compared to others, and the unsecured lending space will continue to be a source of stress in the near term.” There has been uninhibited growth in <keyword id="6051027" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Unsecured-loan" source="Orion">unsecured loan</keyword>s, apart from just the microfinance segment. For instance, Axis Bank’s gross slippages jumped by Rs 4,443 crore, largely thanks to its unsecured business. The same is the case with Yes Bank, which saw 35–40% of its retail slippages emerging from the unsecured loan portfolio. <keyword id="6376194" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kotak-mahindra" source="Orion">Kotak Mahindra</keyword> Bank was also quick to follow Yes Bank’s suit, with around 35%-40% of its slippages coming from credit cards. <h2>How is the road ahead?</h2>While RBI has just cracked its whip and served a warning at the moment, experts at Morgan Stanley believe that more changes (read regulatory lashes) are underway. Moreover, with both festive and wedding seasons underway in our country, unsecured lending might pick up momentum, much to the disdain of the calibrated approach banks have been taking towards it so far. But if the situation doesn't improve, RBI will not waste any time in becoming the typical tyrannical <keyword id="19897820" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bollywood" source="keywords">Bollywood</keyword> headmaster who runs his dominion with an iron fist. However, that's a story for another day. Do you have a topic in mind you'd want a simpler explanation for, or insights or personal experience to share on personal finance and more? Contact us at businessinsider@timesinternet.in.

Simply Put: Is the lending party over? The dangerous tango of Indian banks with microfinance and unsecured loans

<ul><li>The <keyword id="19899810" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reserve-Bank-of-India" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Reserve Bank of India" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Reserve Bank of India">Reserve Bank of India</keyword> has increased the <keyword id="21970492" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="UPI-Lite-wallet" source="keywords">UPI Lite wallet</keyword> limit to ₹5,000.</li><li>The per-transaction limit has also been increased to ₹1,000 from the current ₹500.</li><li>The central bank has announced a beneficiary account name look-up facility for RTGS and NEFT.</li></ul>The Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced the increase of the <keyword id="19900911" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="upi" source="keywords">UPI</keyword> Lite wallet limit to ₹5,000 and per-transaction limit to ₹1,000, to encourage wider adoption of <keyword id="19989657" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-payments" source="keywords">digital payments</keyword> A limit of ₹500 per transaction and an overall limit of ₹2,000 per UPI Lite wallet is applicable currently. With this, the per <keyword id="22340760" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="transaction-limit" source="keywords">transaction limit</keyword> has been doubled and the overall limit has been increased 2.5 times. At the bi-monthly monetary policy meeting, the central bank Governor <keyword id="19913110" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shaktikanta-Das" source="keywords">Shaktikanta Das</keyword> also said the per-transaction limit in <keyword id="23485380" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="UPI123Pay" source="keywords">UPI123Pay</keyword> will be increased to ₹10,000 from the existing ₹5,000. For those unaware, UPI123 was launched in March 2022, to enable feature-phone users to use UPI. This facility is now available in 12 languages. The governor also announced a beneficiary account name look-up facility for Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) systems. Payment Systems like UPI and IMPS provide a facility for the remitter to verify the name of the receiver (beneficiary) before initiating a payment transaction. There have been requests to introduce such a facility for RTGS and NEFT systems, the Governor said. "Accordingly, to enable remitters in RTGS and NEFT to verify the name of the beneficiary account holder before initiating funds transfer, it is now proposed to introduce a 'beneficiary account name look-up facility'," he said. As part of this, remitters can input the account number and the branch IFSC code of the beneficiary, following which the name of the beneficiary will be displayed. This facility is aimed at increasing customer confidence and reducing the possibility of wrong credits and fraud. The Central Bank will also create a 'Reserve Bank Climate Risk Information System (RB-CRIS)' amid climate change emerging as one of the significant risks to the financial system. Das said it is crucial for regulated entities to undertake climate risk assessments to ensure the stability of their balance sheets and that of the financial system. Such an assessment requires, among other things, high-quality data relating to local climate scenarios, climate forecasts, and emissions, he said. The available climate-related data is characterised by various gaps such as fragmented and varied sources, differing formats, frequencies and units. To bridge these gaps, Das said the Reserve Bank proposes to create a data repository – RB-CRIS, comprising two parts. The first part will be a web-based directory, listing various data sources, (meteorological, geospatial, etc.) which will be publicly accessible on the RBI website. The second part will be a data portal consisting of datasets (processed data in standardised formats). With inputs from agencies. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/byd-emax-7-electric-mpv-launched-in-india-starting-at-26-9-lakh/slidelist/114046121.cms">BYD eMax 7 electric MPV launched in India starting at ₹26.9 lakh</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/heres-how-a-reddit-user-was-able-to-get-an-iphone-16-at-under-27000/articleshow/114035179.cms">Here’s how a Reddit user was able to get an iPhone 16 at under ₹27,000</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/hyundai-swiggy-ather-upcoming-large-ipos-in-india/slidelist/114014140.cms">Hyundai To Swiggy: Everyone wants to cash in on the IPO bonanza</a>

UPI Lite wallet limit and transaction limits for feature phone users increased

“Ye le beta, humare khaandani sone ke gehne. Ise girvi rakhva de, shayad kuch paise aa jaye ghar main.” How many times have we seen similar dialogues repeat itself in Bollywood films of the 70s and 80s—abject poverty and a frail-looking old mother pleading to her son to pawn the family’s heirloom gold ornaments to a jeweller, all to get a few bucks? Well, if you’d ask that son in 2024, he’d rather hit the loan button on his <keyword id="105386" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Demat-account" source="Orion">Demat account</keyword> than pawn his mother’s gold jewellery. Given how Indians are rapidly resorting to taking loans against their investments in shares and mutual funds, these might as well be a cherished family heirloom in today’s time. Fair warning though; it's not as if gold and loans against it are going down in India’s lending scene. It's very much the opposite, shining brighter than ever! The secured loan category is having its time in the spotlight, and people are certainly looking beyond land and property to get their hands on some extra monies! But what is funding the steep rise behind these loans? And are they as failsafe and secure as they’re made out to be? We decode for you in this week’s Simply Put. <h2 style="margin-bottom: 0.7em; line-height: 1.3; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 24px; background: 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">The great Indian pawning party</h2>Pawning one’s gold has been, by far, the OG Indian financial move to get a loan. That continues well into 2024, and apparently, more so when India decides to wed and celebrate! Data from <keyword id="30067" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RBI" source="Orion">RBI</keyword> suggests that the outstanding amount on gold loans has swelled from Rs 85,009 crore in September 2022 to Rs 1,47,081 crore in September 2024. It looks like Gold took the motto of rise and shine too seriously! Table 1: Growth in gold loans <table class="redcator-table-advance" style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6em; box-shadow: none; width: 468pt; font-family: Merriweather; table-layout: fixed; padding-bottom: 10px !important; background-image: inherit !important; background-position: inherit !important; background-size: inherit !important; background-repeat: inherit !important; background-attachment: inherit !important; background-origin: inherit !important; background-clip: inherit !important;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Year </td><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Amount (In Rs crore) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">September 2022 </td><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">85,009 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">March 2023 </td><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">89,370 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">September 2023 </td><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">97,426 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">March 2024 </td><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">1,02,562 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">September 2024 </td><td style="border-width: 1pt; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5pt; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: top; overflow: hidden; overflow-wrap: break-word;">1,47,081 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table> Source: RBI data While the world continues to be riled up in multiple geopolitical crises in 2024, gold has been making merry of these tough times. Thus far this year, <keyword id="3886593" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="domestic-gold" source="Orion">domestic gold</keyword> prices have grown by 23%, outperforming benchmark indices like Nifty and Sensex by a mile, which have gone up by 9.85% and 8.86%, respectively. The growth in gold loan disbursal rates month on month this year could also put Nifty and Sensex’s growth to shame. In just September 2024, gold loans grew an astounding 51%, up from 40.9% in August, 30.5% in June, and just 14.8% in March. <h2 style="margin-bottom: 0.7em; line-height: 1.3; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 24px; background: 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Hey, wait up for me, says LAS</h2>In lockstep with the elder, gold loan sibling, advances against shares and bonds have also been inching up since 2022. Data from RBI (Reserve Bank of India) notes that as of September 2022, the outstanding quantum of loans that were taken against shares (LAS) and bonds stood at Rs 7,397.94 crores. This inched up to Rs 7,764 crore in September 2023. Come 2024, and it looked like this was LAS’ time to shine. Loans swiftly skyrocketed, with outstanding loans in this category going up from Rs 8,492 crore in March 2022 to a staggering Rs 9,546 crore at the end of September 2024. Naturally, the smoke of LAS has its fire in the record inflows that Indians are pouring into the stock market and mutual funds month on month. Per AMFI (<keyword id="134904" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Association-of-Mutual-Funds-in-India" source="Orion">Association of Mutual Funds in India</keyword>), the net AUM (assets under management) of India’s mutual fund industry grew to Rs 67,25,614.61 crores in October 2024, up from Rs 67,09,259.24 crores in September 2024. Even the number of retail mutual fund folios, which include equity, hybrid, and solution-oriented mutual funds, burgeoned to 17,23,52,296 in October, as compared to 16,81,61,366 in September. The same goes for stock investments in India, where the number of new demat accounts that are added every month just simply refuses to climb down. As of last month, total demat accounts in the country stood at 17.9 crore, which is more than the entire population of full-fledged nations like Japan (12.45 crore), Russia (14.38 crore), and Bangladesh (17.3 crore). In fact, since February this year, the monthly growth of LAS has been hitting double digits. From 11.3% in March to 21.6% in May to 26.8% in August, growth in LAS has been exceptional, hitting 22.9% in September this year. For context, monthly growth in the LAS segment was at a mere 5% in September 2023. <h2 style="margin-bottom: 0.7em; line-height: 1.3; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 24px; background: 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">What's driving the growth?</h2>It's a win-win for both the bank and the customer. Customers love them because LAS is available at a lower interest rate compared to unsecured personal loans. You can get a loan at an interest rate of anywhere between 9 and 12% by pledging your gold, MF units, or shares. Compare this to over 10-28% rates, which is the range where unsecured personal loans charge interest. Banks love <keyword id="827883" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Secured-Loans" source="Orion">secured loans</keyword> since they are well-secured. In case you default on paying back, the bank can sell off your gold, shares, or mutual fund units to recover the amount. This takes a lot of stress off the banks, which are already dealing with secured loans’ riskier sibling-<keyword id="947940" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="unsecured-lending" source="Orion">unsecured lending</keyword>. High NPAs (non-performing assets) and non-payments in the unsecured borrowing space have already put RBI on red alert, which is why the apex bank is tightening the screws on unsecured lending, which was well on its way to becoming a ticking time bomb. As a result, credit growth has moderated to 12.8% YoY in October, as against the 19.3% rise recorded in the year-ago period. Yet it's not like the banks won't feel the heat. Analysts at Nomura note that <keyword id="23954457" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="personal-loan-delinquencies" source="Orion">personal loan delinquencies</keyword> in India that have been overdue by over 90 days rose to 5.1% in the last financial year, as opposed to just 3.9% in the year prior. <h2 style="margin-bottom: 0.7em; line-height: 1.3; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 24px; background: 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">How does it work?</h2>Both these loans work on a similar principle: Your <keyword id="857141" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="loan-amount" source="Orion">loan amount</keyword> is equal to a certain percentage of the actual market value of your asset. This is known as the LTV (loan-to-value ratio). In the case of gold and debt mutual funds, RBI mandates that this LTV be about 75-80%. So, for every Rs 100 of gold or debt mutual fund unit you pledge, your maximum loan amount cannot exceed Rs 80. If you pledge gold, which has a market value of Rs 10 lakh, you can take a loan of up to Rs 8,00,000. In the case of shares and mutual fund units, this limit is set at 50%. So, your shares worth Rs 5,00,000 can only get you a loan worth Rs 2,50,000. But the bright side? You can continue earning returns on your investments and pay interest only on the amount you use, since this loan works as an overdraft facility. <h2 style="margin-bottom: 0.7em; line-height: 1.3; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 24px; background: 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Super safe, you say?</h2>Interest rates on both of these loans are very much dependent on the market value of the asset, which wildly fluctuates on a day-to-day basis. So, in case the value of your asset falls, you’ll have to keep a margin or more of the same asset in order to continue with the loan and maintain the LTV balance. Failure to do so could mean the bank can even sell off your asset. Says financial planner Nema Chaya Buch. “Yes, LAS offers easy availability of funds since these loans come with a lower interest rate as compared to personal loans. Also, you continue to earn average returns of 10–13% on your equity investments. But the downside is, in case of emergency, those pledged securities cannot be sold. Also, if the equity market goes down, then the bank may ask for additional collateral. Raghvendra Nath, MD, Ladderup Wealth Management notes that taking a LAS is best when the value of your securities has appreciated significantly. “This allows you to maximize the loan amount based on your collateral while also addressing financial needs without having to liquidate your investment portfolio. However, there are notable disadvantages to consider. The market risk is significant; a substantial decline in market value could lead to margin calls, which may incur fees and charges if there are delays or prepayments, ultimately increasing the effective cost of borrowing. Furthermore, failure to make timely payments could result in the loss of your assets.”. Umesh Mohanan, ED &amp; CEO, of Indel Money, cautions that one should have a sufficient quantity of gold to get the loan amount one wants. "According to the current RBI rules, the loan applicant/borrower can draw up to 75% of the total market value of the collateral/gold jewellery. So, always carry a sufficient quantity of gold based on one’s loan requirement. “The most important thing is that the valuation of the gold depends on the purity of the gold. If the borrower pledges gold with higher purity, such as 24 carats or 22 carats, he will get the maximum loan amount," he adds.

Secured Loans 2.0 — why more and more Indians are turning to gold, shares and mutual funds to get loans

If you have a <keyword id="19930665" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="PPF" source="keywords">PPF</keyword> account, you might want to pay attention to this! Starting October 1st, 2024, your PPF account is set to undergo massive changes, thanks to the new regulations, which were notified by the government in August this year, taking effect. If you don't know about them, here's a ready reckoner for you to get up to speed. 1. If you have opened a PPF account in your child's name i.e. a minor (who's under 18 years of age), their account would earn interest equivalent to a POSA (<keyword id="20076819" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="post-office-savings-account" source="keywords">Post Office Savings Account</keyword>), which currently stands at 4% p.a. Once your child turns 18 and attains majority, the standard PPF <keyword id="20071327" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="interest-rate" source="keywords">interest rate</keyword>, which is presently at 7.1%, will kick in. Remember that in a post office savings account, no interest is credited for a particular month, if the balance in this account falls below Rs 500, between the tenth and last day of the month. The maturity period for all such accounts will be calculated from the day the child turns 18 i.e. attains majority. Normally, the general maturity period of a PPF account is 15 years, with the possibility of extending it multiple times, but only in blocks of 5 years. 2. Have multiple PPF accounts? Well, you will not be earning any interest on any of your other PPF accounts, except for your primary one. As it is, PPF rules mandate that an individual can only have 1 PPF account. Inadvertently, many people end up opening 2 PPF accounts, sometimes with different banks, or one with a bank and post office each. Also, note that if you have opened a second PPF account on or after December 12, 2019, you are not eligible for merger of both your PPF accounts. In this case, your second account would be closed, without bearing you any interest. But if you have opened a second PPF account before this date, you can request for merger. However, in case you have not requested for such a merger, only your primary PPF account will continue earning interest at the rate of 7.1% p.a. While you will be able to transfer and send funds across from your second account, interest will only accrue on your primary PPF account, so better regularize your PPF account in the next 4 days with the post office or agency bank, lest you lose out on interest income. In case the balance in your primary PPF account is below the maximum annual investment limit of Rs 1,50,000, any balances you have in your second account will be added to the same, in order to calculate interest. And thereafter, any remaining balances in your second PPF account will be rendered ineligible for further interest. Lets understand this with an example. Suppose you hold 2 PPF accounts-A and B. The balance in account A is Rs 1,00,000, and that of B is Rs 70,000. In this case, you will only earn interest on Rs 50,000 from account B, while the remaining Rs 20,000 will not be considered while calculating interest. If the primary account stays below the applicable investment limit each year, the balance in the second account will be added to it. The primary account will continue to earn the prevailing scheme rate of interest after the merger. The second account's i.e. B excess balance will be returned without interest. 3. If you are an NRI who currently holds an active PPF account, where your residency status in Form H, which is needed to extend the tenure of your PPF account by 5 years was not asked for, your account will continue to earn interest at the same rate as a POSA (4%). Starting October 1st, such accounts will accrue no interest at all. Notably, while NRIs cannot open new PPF accounts, they can continue investing in their existing PPF account, which they had opened whilst they were still Indian resident. But once their account matures i.e. 15 years are over, they will not be able to extend their account's tenure.

Attention! Here's what's changing with your PPF accounts starting 1st October, 2024

The death of 26-year-old <keyword id="20468023" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="EY" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="EY" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="EY">EY</keyword> employee, Anna Sebastian Perayil, shook the nation last week and people have been talking about the incident on social media. Her mother, in a letter to EY, had blamed “work stress” and said that she hopes no other family has to go through what they faced. Ever since the letter has gone viral, people are reacting to it. While many are saying how having a sense of <keyword id="19901232" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-life-balance" source="keywords">work-life balance</keyword> is important, others are lashing out at big companies for overworking their employees. Some experts have also weighed in on the debate, saying that the incident is unfortunate and people need to have compassion. <h2>Experts talk about work-life balance </h2> In a conversation with ANI, Corporate Outbound Expert, Tanmay Pendse, urged the government to introduce clear regulations aimed at managing workplace stress more effectively. “We are training people for the last 15-16 years and through the management activities, we make sure that such sessions are included which helps in reducing the stress. After employees reach home they should spend good time with their family and stay away from mobile phones. I appeal to the government to come up with a specific policy so that these kind of situations can be tackled,” Pendse said. He also recommended the introduction of wellness activities like yoga in companies to help employees unwind and manage pressure. Nikhil Badgujar, an Associate Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), reflected on how stress is an unavoidable part of corporate life and has to be managed. He also said that what happened with the EY employee was very unfortunate. “Whatever happened is very unfortunate. People need to understand how to react to stress. Stress is relative, as the stress I am feeling is not the same for the other person. People (need) to understand how to react. I can easily understand this as these things are very common nowadays. We need to think about how we can reduce the impact. This is the only thing we can manage. Stress cannot be avoided but it can be managed. In the corporate world stress is a part of our life. We need to understand how to react to that. We are the solution makers itself." Badgujar said. Anand Kulkarni, a Process Specialist at Infosys, agreed that while stress is prevalent in many workplaces, it can be handled with the right mindset. "Being in the corporate for more than ten years, I have been experiencing and observing a lot of work stress. I handle stress by enjoying the work. Stress does exist in the corporate world but it is all about how you handle it.” Pushkar Aurangabadkar, an educator and author, took a more philosophical approach to the issue, noting that societal pressures often drive people into high-stress environments. "The incident is very painful and it has a lot to do with the kind of aspirations that we have these days. The majority of which comes from the compulsive obsession for owning a lot of things. It is not just the trap of corporate but we also need to consider what makes people get into these traps in the first place.” Aurangabadkar added that fostering compassion and promoting spiritual wisdom could help reduce feelings of isolation and pressure in the corporate world. "But there are means and ways in which this can be handled in a better way and as a society, we should be taking care of it. It depends on corporate culture and as everyone might be aware every company has a different culture. It depends from company to company what kind of culture they have that defines how much pressure is getting instituted in that organisation. But beyond that what I believe is compassion and the longing for spiritual wisdom need to be promoted in society because it can reduce the possibility of such incident. The reason is that beyond the pressure people are facing in corporate, it drills down the compulsion and loneliness that we are facing and the answers to which may lie in the compassion." <h2>EY employee's death shocks nation</h2> Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old Chartered Accountant, passed away in July 2024, just four months after joining EY in her first job. Her mother, in a heartfelt letter to the company, attributed Anna's death to extreme work pressure. The letter went viral on LinkedIn last week. Anna’s mother said in the letter that her daughter worked tirelessly, even on her convocation day despite experiencing chest pains. Though doctors found no immediate cause for concern, Anna continued to feel unwell. Her mother added how Anna’s manager would reschedule meetings during cricket matches and assign tasks at the end of the day, dismissing Anna’s concerns about the late-night workload. The letter added that despite her struggles, Anna chose to stay, eager to learn and gain experience, but the pressure proved too much. In her letter, Anna’s mother expressed her deep sorrow, not only at losing her daughter but also at EY's failure to provide support. She also said that none of Anna's colleagues or managers attended her funeral. (With ANI inputs)

Unfortunate incident, compassion needs to be promoted: Experts react to EY employee’s death

Imagine this. You have a younger sibling you’re mighty envious of. And why not? Unlike you, they seem to enjoy all the freedom and money in the world. They party like there’s no tomorrow, and here you are, stuck in a boring, ultra-disciplined but responsible routine that feels completely devoid of any independence, and mostly, funds. But of late, things are changing. This sibling is in massive trouble and just cannot escape the parent’s wrath anymore. Long story short, the party is over, and it is time to go back home. The rising defaults on this sibling’s part have now begun pulling the entire house down, thereby attracting the regulator’s ire. <h2>The Wild West of microfinance and unsecured loans</h2>It's hard to ignore the issues with microfinance and unsecured loans in India. Many saw them as a small gamble and ignored the rising defaults much like the younger siblings’ tantrums, and now they find themselves in hot waters. The skyrocketing instances of non-payments aren't a micro-issue anymore and are threatening the stability of the entire banking system. In the quarter ended September 30, 2024, 5 of India’s 8 largest private sector <keyword id="19934118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="banks" source="keywords">banks</keyword> reported a steep rise in their bad loan book, mostly thanks to microfinance loans. Some banks, in a bid to strengthen their fortress against these <keyword id="142154" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bad-loans" source="Orion">bad loans</keyword>, have significantly upped their provisions. For instance, <keyword id="46717" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="IndusInd-bank" source="Orion">IndusInd Bank</keyword> set aside Rs 525 crore during July and September 2024 to battle the menace of defaults on microfinance loans, which make up about 9% of its total loan book. See, banks rely heavily on their interest income, which they earn from advancing loans. Any loan where the borrower has not paid interest to the bank or defaulted for 90 days or more becomes bad, i.e., an <keyword id="79363" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="npa" source="Orion">NPA</keyword>, or non-performing asset for the bank. And who likes things going bad? Simply put, there has been a steep rise in three areas, much to the dislike of banks and MFIs (micro-finance institutions). But hey, it's mostly their doing! <ol><li>GNPA ratio (gross net performing assets): The quantum of non-performing assets a bank has in proportion to its total assets.</li><li>Provision: The amount banks set aside to take care of such NPAs.</li><li>Slippage ratio: The rate at which good girls go bad, or the speed at which good loans turn into NPAs</li></ol>But how are these plaguing the Indian banking sector? And what does the road ahead look like? We decode it for you. <h2> Microfinance: A not-so-micro-menace</h2>Microfinance loans were initially brought forth for low-income households and individuals, i.e. for those who might not generally have access to traditional ways of credit, like bank loans and more. They don’t require collateral or an asset to be pledged in lieu of the loan, making it a tad bit easier for borrowers. As of June 2024, the amount of outstanding loans in the microfinance industry stood at a staggering Rs 4,20,256 crore. Of this, NBFC-MFIs accounted for 40% and banks made for 33% of these. In 2022, <keyword id="30067" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RBI" source="Orion">RBI</keyword>, in a bid to inspire some competition in this space, did something radical-they did away with the ceiling on how much interest MFIs could charge their customers. Previously, MFIs could add up to 12% to their cost of acquiring funds to determine the final interest rate chargeable to the consumer. So, assuming that Bank A incurs a 5% cost to acquire funds for further loaning, A could charge up to 17% interest from the end consumer. So, interest rates were in the hands of MFIs, and boy, did they have a gala time with it. Instead of spurring some healthy competition, as RBI expected, MFIs and banks went rogue and all guns blazing, competing for the title of “Who will charge the highest interest?” Recently, RBI banned 4 microfinance institutions (MFIs), namely Asirvad Micro Finance Limited, Arohan Financial Services Limited, DMI Finance Private Limited, and Navi Finserv, from disbursing loans effective October 21, 2024. Why? Because they were charging 14% extra interest over their original cost of funds. To maintain their loan books (and pockets), banks and NBFCs resorted to shady practices like netting off loans, which RBI has now advised MFIs against. Here, lenders allow borrowers to settle a previous outstanding loan by issuing them a new loan! As crazy as it sounds, it helped banks to report less of their total assets as NPAs, since the new credit would cover pending installments of the borrower’s previous loan. Then there was the issue of borrowers overleveraging, i.e. taking multiple loans using different IDs from various lenders and then failing to honor any of them. The consequence? Banks and NBFCs end up with massive NPAs. Data from credit bureaus suggests that over the last quarter, there was a 17.2% rise in the number of borrowers who had 5 or more active loans at the same time. <h2>Growth &gt; Caution</h2>It's an age-old tale unfolding yet again in India’s banking sector- Icarus flew too close to the sun and eventually, fell to its death. Between April and June 2024, NBFCs microfinance portfolio jumped by 2.7%. If you see this in terms of loan sources, microfinance loans issued by banks grew by 11.2% in Q1FY25. But the same portfolio in NBFCs swelled by almost double-23.9%. While most of these loans had an average ticket size between Rs 30,000-50,000, there was a sharp spike in the number of loans that had a ticket size of Rs 80,000 or more. Data suggests that as of March 2024, more than 12% of all microfinance borrowers had over 4 or more active loans. In dating parlance, this is a classic case of borrowers going polyamorous, minus the honesty and transparency. Not the best of situations, you'd agree! <h2>Will banks and NBFCs stand up to this stress?</h2>If their results for Q2FY25 are to be believed, NBFCs are not handling the pressure all that well. Or even slightly well. Only a few banks like Bank of Baroda (BoB), ICICI, and Indian Bank were up for the battle, even witnessing a decline in their loan delinquencies. Some others, like IndusInd Bank, saw their stock dip by a massive 16.2% over the last 5 days. Its slippages in the previous quarter burgeoned from Rs 15.3 billion in Q1FY25 to Rs 17.9 billion in Q2. As a result, the bank pushed a staggeringly high amount of money to create an NPA cushion for itself. While its management has highlighted its preference for secured lending, that was hardly reflected in its actions during the quarter, where growth in unsecured personal loans remained exceptionally high at over 7% on a QoQ basis. Turns out, only 44% of customers in IndusInd Banks’ microfinance loan portfolio were exclusive to it. The rest 47% were, you guessed it right-polyamorous! 27% had borrowed from another lender as well, apart from IndusInd Bank, while 20% were those who had outstanding loans with two other lenders, apart from IndusInd Bank. IndusInd Bank’s credit card segment did not miss the NPA bus and accounted for 7-8% of its GNPAs. Canara Bank’s total slippages during the previous quarter jumped to Rs 11.1 billion, up by 24.7% QoQ, and making up for 3.6% of its total loans. As for Bandhan Bank, its <keyword id="763994" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gross-NPA" source="Orion">gross NPA</keyword> for Q2FY25 inched up on a QoQ basis, up from 4.23% in Q1, to 4.68% in the second quarter. <keyword id="62152" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="IDFC-bank" source="Orion">IDFC Bank</keyword>’s heavy provisioning for its NPAs marred its profits significantly, causing its PAT (profit after tax) to dip by 73% on a YoY basis. Data from ICRA Analytics suggest that the AUM (asset under management) growth in microfinance loans and unsecured (personal and business) loans by the NBFCs will moderate to 10-12% and 19-21%, respectively, in FY2025 compared to 30% and 38%, in FY2024. Says A M Karthik, Senior Vice President &amp; Co-Group Head, Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA, “As bank funds constitute a larger share in the overall funding of NBFCs, a slower credit flow from banks to the NBFCs will compress their AUM growth. The NBFCs in unsecured and digital lending businesses shall face a higher squeeze in funding compared to others, and the unsecured lending space will continue to be a source of stress in the near term.” There has been uninhibited growth in unsecured loans, apart from just the microfinance segment. For instance, Axis Bank’s gross slippages jumped by Rs 4,443 crore, largely thanks to its unsecured business. The same is the case with Yes Bank, which saw 35–40% of its retail slippages emerging from the unsecured loan portfolio. Kotak Mahindra Bank was also quick to follow Yes Bank’s suit, with around 35%-40% of its slippages coming from credit cards. <h2>How is the road ahead?</h2>While RBI has just cracked its whip and served a warning at the moment, experts at Morgan Stanley believe that more changes (read regulatory lashes) are underway. Moreover, with both festive and wedding seasons underway in our country, unsecured lending might pick up momentum, much to the disdain of the calibrated approach banks have been taking towards it so far. But if the situation doesn't improve, RBI will not waste any time in becoming the typical tyrannical Bollywood headmaster who runs his dominion with an iron fist and takes things (and ceiling rates) into their own hands. However, that's a story for another day.

Is the lending party over? The dangerous tango of Indian banks with microfinance and unsecured loans

<div type="image" title="For the unversed, trading in futures and options can be akin to setting their hard-earned money on fire" height="900" width="1200" msid="114064202" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;For the unversed, trading in futures and options can be akin to setting their hard-earned money on fire&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Once upon a time, there thrived a wild, wild land. Here, it was all about super high monetary stakes, lightning-fast trade deals, and bucketloads of money shifting hands every single second. This wilderness lured millions of individuals with the promise of super duper high returns. But, at what cost? Welcome to the unforgiving, ultra-risky wild west of <keyword id="19991165" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-equity-markets" source="keywords">Indian equity markets</keyword> called the <keyword id="145718" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Futures-and-Options" source="Orion">futures and options</keyword>. Here, everyone seems to just fly right through the bright red-flagged warnings of financial risks to earn even a fraction of these promised returns. Most burn themselves in the process, but carry on nevertheless, as if nothing ever happened. <h2>Chasing the cloudy profits</h2>The data conclusively proves that every 9 out of 10 individuals only lost their hard-earned money in this land. But hey, what do the numbers know? Some hide their losses out of shame, some out of fear. The proponents, meanwhile, proudly boast unusually high returns on their investments, some open social media channels while others encourage their friends and family to take the plunge. Naturally, news of this unstoppable and humongous en-masse migration to the F&amp;O (futures and options) town has reached sheriff <keyword id="19901201" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SEBI" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="SEBI" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="SEBI">SEBI</keyword>, galvanising them into action. After all, it was time to put a leash on this madness and save the common man. The inhabitants of this town doubled in the last 2 years, from 51 lakh in FY22 to 96 lakh in FY24—99.8% of whom were small and mid-income traders. But profits? Well, that's a different, rather completely absent story. <h2>Que Sera Sera, much?</h2>A recent report by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) that studied profits and losses made by traders in the equity derivatives segment between FY22-24 exposed the mad mania of futures and options trading in India, especially since the pandemic. Per the report, 91.1% of individual traders, or about 73 lakh traders had only lost money trading in futures and options in FY24. Between FY 22-24, over 1 crore traders, or about 92.8% of individual traders, had lost Rs 2 lakh each. But once bitten, twice shy? Well, not in this case. More than 75% of individuals, who had only made losses trading in F&amp;O in FY22 and FY23, continued to trade vigorously in FY24 as well, without any changes in the bottom line, which remained deep in red and negative. So, then all these traders must be uber-rich, with tons of cash and not much care to spare? Nope. 76% of traders in the F&amp;O space in FY24 had an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh. 2 years ago, their share stood at 71%. And their choice of poison? Options! In FY24, 60% of traders made losses trading in futures, but a whopping 91.5% burnt their funds trading in options. Mind you, futures are riskier than options. With futures, which require significant capital investment, the buyer and seller both are contractually bound to adhere to the pre-determined strike price of the futures or options contract, irrespective of whether the prevailing prices are higher or lower (and thus, resulting in losses for either the buyer or seller). With options, since this adherence ain't necessary, individuals end up taking debt to take highly leveraged positions while trading here. <h2>Scale of the explosion</h2>Anyone who trades even infrequently will tell you that a demat account is the mitochondria or powerhouse of the trading cell. As of August 2024, India had over 17.1 crore <keyword id="20957284" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="demat-accounts" source="keywords">demat accounts</keyword>, which are a prerequisite for trading in the markets. India is the 9th biggest country in the world, in terms of total demat accounts. Did you know that our demat accounts are at par with the entire population of Bangladesh? Talk about scale! Just 4 years ago, in March 2020, this number was a mere 4 crore. Naturally, the total F&amp;O turnover on both <keyword id="20004725" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NSE" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NSE" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NSE">NSE</keyword> and BSE has hit the roof, and also broken it. As of October 4, 2024, the total futures and options turnover on NSE stood at a massive Rs 4,78,27,27,750.30 crore. Good luck counting the thousands! <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Year </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Total Turnover (Both Futures and Options) (In Rs Crore) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2020-21 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">64,36,03,951.51 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2021-22 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">1,69,52,33,134.47 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2022-23 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">3,82,23,26,468.06 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2023-24 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">7,99,27,67,152.43 </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table>Source : NSE Another metric that underlines the meteoric growth of trading in India is the collection of STT or <keyword id="20930760" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Securities-Transaction-Tax" source="keywords">Securities Transaction Tax</keyword>. As of September 2024, India's STT mop-up had gone past Rs 26,000 crore. Traders have to pay STT whenever they buy or sell any security in the market. So, more trading brings in more STT, and hence, more revenue for the government, so they're not really complaining. After all, this is certainly what they'd call enviable growth. As of August 2023, our STT collection stood at about Rs 21,599 crores. And in FY20-21, India's STT collection had been Rs 16,000 crore. If only our salaries also managed to grow at this rate! <h2>So, what's happening?</h2>Two things. One, it's the big bulls who are raking in all the moolah. And it's the younger lot (those aged under 30) who are propping them up for this. In FY24, 43% of individual traders in the market were less than 30 years of age. In just one year, this number has swelled by 12 percentage points from just 31% of individual traders. But who says ageing is bad? Wrinkles and silver hair seemingly have a propensity of incurring lesser losses in the market. In FY24, only 79% of traders aged above 60 years made losses, as compared to 93% of those aged below 30. Small and mid-income traders, which make up 98% of the total trader base, witnessed average losses per person of Rs 65,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh in FY24 in futures and options, respectively. The winner here? Clearly, the big bulls, who declared an annual income of over Rs 1 crore, ended up with average profits of Rs 96,000 per person this year. <h2>What’s the sheriff up to?</h2>The government has finally swung into action, hiking the STT rate for F&amp;O during this year’s budget. Effective October 1, 2024, the STT on futures stands at 0.02%, up from 0.0125%. For options, it was upped to 0.1% versus 0.0625% previously. Small margins, but huge impact oncoming. Says Puneet Sharma- CEO and Fund Manager at Whitespace Alpha, “SEBI aims to enhance market stability while safeguarding investor interests, reflecting the regulator's intent to balance risk management with market participation”. But this might come with its own share of challenges, too. “Stricter norms around leverage, transparency, and capital adequacy could limit the ability of investors to determine their own risk appetite, thereby stifling innovation in trading strategies. Over-regulation in an environment that thrives on strategic flexibility and creativity could dampen the market’s dynamism, affecting India's competitiveness in the global derivatives landscape”, he observes. SEBI recently came out with a set of guidelines that aim to thwart <keyword id="19972907" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="retail-investors" source="keywords">retail investors</keyword>' participation in futures and options and hinder them from taking undue risks. Here's a quick recap of what's to come for the residents of the F&amp;O town Margin Requirements: To battle the high volatility and chaos which is generally seen on expiry days(i.e the last mandated date, post which an option becomes invalid), SEBI will put in place an extreme loss margin (ELM) of 2% for all open short options on the day of expiry. Translation? Traders will need to pony up more cash upfront, leaving them with fewer funds to take on risky bets. It ain't a choice: No more of one expiry every single day! Going ahead, an exchange like BSE or NSE will just be able to offer weekly expiries, that too, only on one benchmark index, as opposed to an entire buffet it currently offers. At present, NSE offers weekly options contracts for its financial index, bank and midcap indices. But say goodbye to this, and hello to derivatives on only 1 index per exchange. Raising the bar: Effective November 30, 2024, the minimum contract value for index derivatives will be upped to Rs 15 lakh, from the present Rs 5-10 lakh. The hope is that by making it ultra-expensive to enter these trades, investors will be dissuaded from taking on risky trades. Pay upfront: Starting February 2025, those trading in options will have to pay the entire options premium upfront, even before their trades are executed. This is because options generally carry very high leverage, and paying a significant sum upfront can force traders to think twice. Invigilation Pro Max: Starting April 1 2025, to make sure that the number of positions for equity index derivatives does not slyly slip over the mandated limit, especially on expiry days when trade volumes are huge, the exchanges will have to take a minimum of 4 position snapshots randomly. The question is, will these injections of sobriety be enough to calm down the steroid-fed bull of the futures and options market in India? Well, only time and market turnover will tell! For more insights into the financial markets and business news, stay tuned to our site and social media handles. And don’t forget to subscribe to Business Insider India’s newsletters for your weekly dose of Simply Put! Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. We recommend readers consult certified, qualified and registered advisors for professional and personalised financial advice.

SIMPLY PUT: SEBI is on a mission to take on the wild, wild west of futures and options in India. Here’s why, what, and how

<keyword id="19991358" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-markets" source="keywords">Indian markets</keyword> are navigating choppy waters as global economic shifts, from rate cuts to evolving political climates, create new pressure points across the financial landscape, according to a recent report by ANI attributed originally to the Union Bank of India. The domestic stock and bond markets showed signs of strain, with <keyword id="19910363" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bond-yields" source="keywords">bond yields</keyword> witnessing slight adjustments. India’s 10-year government bond yield dipped to 6.82%, a decrease from the previous session, reflecting cautious investor sentiment as the markets react to shifting global indicators. Meanwhile, the 5-year bond yield remained steady at 6.76%, a signal of lingering hesitation amid economic unpredictability. In the currency market, the rupee faced a notable decline, ending the day at ₹84.3725 against the US dollar, slipping from its prior close of ₹84.2800. Market analysts point to significant capital outflows as a key factor, with investors moving funds to perceived safer assets overseas. This migration has weighed heavily on the rupee, underlining the currency’s vulnerability in an environment of global economic flux. India’s stock market bore the brunt of this volatility, with key indices falling over 1%, effectively erasing the gains of a previous rally. This abrupt drop reportedly reflects renewed investor anxiety, largely triggered by the recent <keyword id="20189882" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="US-presidential-election" source="keywords">US presidential election</keyword> results. Experts suggest that the election has introduced a fresh layer of uncertainty, not only for the US economy but for global markets, impacting everything from policy decisions to investor sentiment. Analysts are also keeping a close eye on upcoming decisions by central banks, which will likely shape the path forward for the Indian equities market. Commodities showed contrasting trends, with Brent crude prices falling on lower demand expectations, as economic indicators point toward cautious spending globally. Gold, on the other hand, experienced a modest rise as investors sought refuge in safe-haven assets, highlighting a shift towards risk aversion among market participants. Globally, major central banks made coordinated efforts to sustain economic growth, with the Bank of England (BoE) announcing a 25 basis-point cut, lowering its benchmark rate to 4.75%. The BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) largely backed this move to counter inflation, which has been declining, albeit gradually. Across the Atlantic, the US Federal Reserve mirrored this action with its own 25 basis-point cut, a sign of confidence in the ongoing economic recovery. Both rate cuts, though modest, signal a global trend towards caution as economies work to balance growth with stability. In Asia, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) maintained its supportive stance. Governor Pan Gongsheng sought to reassure foreign investors by reaffirming the PBoC’s commitment to growth-oriented policies. Pan emphasized enhanced communication and pledged to open China’s financial services sector further, aiming to attract more international participants. Europe, meanwhile, faced mixed economic signals. Germany reported a steep 2.5% drop in industrial production in September, signalling a slowdown in manufacturing, while the Eurozone saw a mild 0.5% rise in retail sales, reflecting cautious consumer optimism in the region. Adding another layer to the global economic landscape, the European Union’s Climate Change Service warned that 2024 could be the hottest year on record, underscoring urgent climate challenges just as the UN COP29 climate summit approaches. The summit, set to take place in Azerbaijan, aims to rally increased funding for climate action, though tempered expectations linger in light of recent US political shifts. On the domestic front, Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam spoke about India’s potential role in pivotal global trade agreements, specifically the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). These partnerships, Subrahmanyam suggested, could bolster India’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, which currently accounts for 40% of India’s exports, offering a strategic advantage for Indian trade in an interconnected world. As the Indian markets digest these developments, experts believe continued volatility could be the theme for the coming months. (with ANI inputs)

Indian markets under pressure as global rate cuts stir uncertainty, new report says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Trump has said he plans to bring down gas prices by boosting US oil production.</li><li>ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods doesn't see a US oil boom in the near future.</li></ul>President-elect Donald Trump's promise to unleash a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-expensive-goods-price-impact-presidential-election-scenarios-trump-harris-2024-10">big oil boom</a> in the US and lower gas prices is running up against a market reality: The world is already awash in fossil fuels. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.semafor.com/article/11/12/2024/exxon-ceo-darren-woods-donald-trump-shouldnt-scrap-methane-regulations">Semafor</a> on November 12 that while he wants to maintain US oil production at its current highs, the market is already well supplied. "I don't think today that production in the US is constrained," he said. "I don't know that there's an opportunity to unleash a lot of production in the near term." During the presidential campaign, Trump said that he planned to lower energy prices — including the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/us/politics/trump-economics-gas-tariffs-inflation.html">cost of gas</a> — by increasing US oil production. "We will frack, frack, frack and drill, baby, drill," Trump <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.factcheck.org/2024/10/the-issues-trumps-proposal-to-lower-prices-by-increasing-energy-production/">said</a> in October. "I will cut your energy prices in half within 12 months." In September, Trump <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/us/politics/trump-economics-gas-tariffs-inflation.html">said</a> he would reduce gas prices to below $2 a gallon. Energy analysts told Business Insider that big oil companies are more focused on returning money to shareholders than investing in projects that boost production, especially because China isn't importing as much oil due to its economic downturn. Their comments underscore how little control a US president has over the oil and gas market, including prices at the pump. "It's a global market," Ben Cahill, director of energy markets and policy at the University of Texas at Austin, told BI. "There's very little any president can do to change the direction of oil or gasoline prices." Cahill added that he expects the US to increase oil production, but it will happen gradually. The US is already producing record amounts of oil, at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61545">12.9 million barrels of crude a day in 2023</a> compared with about 11 million barrels per day in 2020, when Trump was in office. Last year, the US also became the world's biggest exporter of natural gas. In October, the US Energy Information Administration <a target="_blank" href="https://www.enerdata.net/publications/daily-energy-news/us-eia-expects-domestic-crude-oil-production-reach-135-mbd-2025.html#:~:text=At%20a%20global%20scale%2C%20the,13.5%20mb%2Fd%20in%202025.">projected</a> that the US would produce 13.5million barrels a day in 2025, hitting another record. And there is room for the industry to expand. Woods <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/01/exxon-ceo-says-us-election-wont-affect-oil-production.html">told</a> CNBC earlier this month that there are areas in the Gulf of Mexico — where federal leasing hasn't allowed companies to drill — that could be a source of additional oil production in the long term. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told BI that Trump could take some steps to try to boost US oil production, including easing regulations to open up additional places for companies to drill and working with OPEC. However, he said boosting oil production while keeping prices at a desired level is a "delicate balance" for the industry. "If oil prices drop, you're likely to see a natural decline in US oil production over the long run," he said, adding, "Oil companies have shareholders to be accountable to." In recent years, the US has increased oil production even as President Joe Biden imposed stricter limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, oil and gas infrastructure, and gas-powered vehicles to help slow the climate crisis. In a separate interview with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/exxon-says-trump-should-keep-u-s-in-paris-climate-pact-3d8de471">The Wall Street Journal</a>, Woods added that the US shouldn't drop out of the Paris Agreement as Trump did in his first term and has promised to do again. The nearly 200 countries signed onto that agreement <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-strike-historic-climate-dealfossil-fuels-dubai-2023-12">struck a deal last year at the UN climate summit </a>to move away from fossil fuels this decade and the triple renewable energy by 2030. Woods told Semafor that he supports Biden's limits on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Exxon and other US oil majors have goals to reduce emissions, but climate scientists warn<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-chevron-investors-reject-climate-change-proposals-2023-6">they aren't aggressive enough</a> to avert catastrophic levels of global warming.

Trump said he'll unleash an oil boom. Exxon Mobil CEO says not so fast.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>American consumers and businesses are having a hard time paying off credit card, auto, and commercial real estate debt.</li><li>US banks have increased their reserves in part to prepare for potential loan losses.</li></ul>US banks are having a harder time <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/credit-score/what-is-debt-collection">collecting debts</a>, so they're taking precautions.According to Federal Reserve data, the past-due debt share for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/paid-off-credit-card-debt-solid-plan-2024-6">credit card</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/consumer-credit-card-debt-auto-loans-delinquency-economic-outlook-bofa-2024-9">auto</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/commercial-real-estate-debt-property-losses-mortgage-interest-rates-prices-2024-7">commercial real estate</a> has recently risen to above pre-pandemic levels. The share of debt banks have written off as a loss because they couldn't collect it has also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/chargeoff/chgallsa.htm">ticked up</a>, with the charge-off rate for two of these three loan types the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CORCCACBS">highest</a> they've been in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CORCREXFACBS">more than a decade</a>.Business Insider spoke to industry insiders who said this has prompted a response from big banks anticipating a continued increase in bad loans. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-banks-us-list">US banks</a> have increased their reserves in recent years, effectively setting aside cash to cover potential loan losses.While it's commonplace for banks to increase their reserves as loan levels rise over time, reserves have started gradually making up a bigger share of total loans at firms like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wellsfargo.com/assets/pdf/about/investor-relations/earnings/third-quarter-2024-earnings.pdf">Wells Fargo</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/_9d388ee07cccbcc3c8dc5bafe2ea4aff/bankofamerica/db/775/10116/webcast_transcript/2024-10-15+BAC+3Q+Earnings+Call_ADA.pdf">Bank of America</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jpmorganchase.com/content/dam/jpmc/jpmorgan-chase-and-co/investor-relations/documents/quarterly-earnings/2024/3rd-quarter/6bca0e4a-703c-4fff-8e70-f026f015fee5.pdf">JPMorgan</a>, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.citigroup.com/rcs/citigpa/storage/public/Earnings/Q32024/3Q24-SUPP-ForWeb.pdf">Citigroup</a>. Since June 2022, Wells Fargo's and Bank of America's reserves have risen by about $1.8 billion and $2.4 billion respectively. Still, for context, these firms' cash coffers are still considerably lighter than they were during the Great Recession.<h2 id="3bd35426-2903-4a17-860b-981ba0e86427">America's 3 debt pain points</h2>Each month, the New York Fed <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/sce#/debtexp-1">asks</a> roughly 1,300 Americans to estimate the chance they'll be unable to make a minimum debt payment over the next three months. Aside from the pandemic, Americans haven't been this pessimistic since 2017.Consumers' struggles to repay credit card and auto debt suggest that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-september-cpi-consumer-price-index-federal-reserve-interest-rates-2024-10">inflation</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-cuts-interest-rates-how-much-september-fomc-powell-inflation-2024-9">interest rates</a>, while moderating in recent months, are still taking a toll on their finances. Additionally, businesses' struggles to pack back commercial real estate debt show that factors like elevated interest rates and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/office-market-interest-rates-commercial-real-estate-federal-reserve-pandemic-2024-9">remote work revolution</a> are still having lingering effects.Here's a closer look at each of the three debt categories:<h3 id="df61242d-618b-4bfb-824d-874b5a53ce4d">Credit card debt</h3>As of the second quarter of this year, more than <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DRCCLACBS">3%</a> of all credit card accounts in the US had past-due balances — up from less than 2% in 2021.The steady uptick in past-due credit card debt over such a short period of time provides some cause for concern, Bruce McClary, a nonprofit credit counselor and senior vice president at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, told BI."What we are seeing is that people are struggling to repay debt while continuing to use up what is left of their available credit — forcing more people to start falling behind on their payments and into the hands of debt collectors," he said.David Schiff, senior managing director at FTI, told BI that prolonged debt-repayment problems will eventually present a bigger risk to the economy.The increase in reserves raises "real concerns about the softness of certain assets classes — specifically ongoing uncertainty around the commercial real estate market, and increasing worry about the number of revolving credit card customers and their rapidly growing balances," Schiff told BI.<h3 id="2c271636-eeeb-43a1-a28b-b69f0c808b83">Auto debt</h3>A Federal Reserve <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/rising-auto-loan-delinquencies-and-high-monthly-payments-20240926.html">report</a> published on September 26 found that auto loan delinquency rates rose "substantially" above pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2023, driven in large part by growth in monthly debt payments.In fact, a growing number of Americans owe more than their cars are worth, according to a <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=76e351eb917843c15c21c91acd7d8e92304c81583e3e5bb129c38093d6e7aff2&amp;postID=67114ad8434c477c23344eb6&amp;postSlug=big-banks-preparing-loan-loss-credit-card-auto-debt-cre-2024-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.edmunds.com%2Findustry%2Fpress%2Fnegative-equity-on-the-rise-the-average-amount-owed-on-upside-down-car-loans-hit-an-all-time-high-in-q3-2024-according-to-edmunds.html%3Futm_source%3Dsubstack%26utm_medium%3Demail">report</a> published on October 15 by the automotive website Edmunds. Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research, told Business Insider that if a bank is forced to repossess such a vehicle, the car's value wouldn't even cover the loan, resulting in losses to the bank. He said that the uptick in auto delinquencies is "not a spike, but is kind of a concern about what goes on from here."<h3 id="108a8464-8ec8-4eb3-8b19-f2eb7af18b2d">Commercial real estate</h3>Another problem for banks is that some businesses with commercial real estate loans are struggling to repay them. Biggar said some of this is tied to high vacancy rates among offices. While many companies have called employees back to the office since the height of the pandemic, office vacancy rates still <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/07/09/office-vacancy-rate-record-high">rose</a> to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-outlook-office-buildings-vacancies-commerical-markets-investors-remote-2024-1">record highs</a> over the past year.Elevated interest rates have also made it difficult for businesses to pay back debt on commercial real estate loans related to offices, retail, hotel, and apartment building properties, among others. That's because some loans are coming due — forcing businesses to refinance at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/commercial-real-estate-big-trouble-crash-bank-crisis-2024-2">much higher interest rates</a>.To be sure, we're still far from a debt crisis: The share of past-due and charged-off debt generally remains in line with historical levels after rising from pandemic-era lows. Additionally, some banks are simply restoring reserves that were depleted during the pandemic. However, if the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-economy-layoffs-inflation-spending-job-market-tariffs-morgan-stanley-2024-10">economy slows</a> and the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-market-recession-unemployment-rate-september-payrolls-report-fed-cuts-2024-10">unemployment rate</a> rises further, the uptick in delinquencies could become a larger concern, Biggar said.<h2 id="3723386c-1711-4911-97f5-b3d9337f3327">Wall Street acknowledgement</h2>While <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-banks-earnings-calls-interest-rates-fed-cuts-debt-2024-10">banking executives</a> this earnings season generally spoke highly of the economy, they did acknowledge that elevated prices and interest rates continue to weigh on American consumers."Our customers are healthy, but more discerning in their spend with signs of stress isolated," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2024/10/15/citigroup-c-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcript/">said</a> Jane Fraser, Citi's CEO, referring to consumers with lower credit scores.Brian Moynihan, Bank of America's CEO, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2024/10/15/bank-of-america-bac-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcri/">said</a> that overall consumer spending remains strong but that "consumers are worried of the cost of living, worried about higher rates, and other matters."Charles Scharf, Wells Fargo's CEO, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2024/10/11/wells-fargo-wfc-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcript/">said</a> the bank hasn't seen "meaningful changes" in delinquency rates across its credit portfolio, but that there is evidence of financial strain among some Americans."We continue to see more pronounced stress in certain customer segments with lower deposit and asset levels where inflation has partially offset strong employment and wage growth," he said.Jeremy Barnum, JPMorgan's CFO, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2024/10/11/jpmorgan-chase-jpm-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcrip/">said</a> that consumers' discretionary spending has "normalized" following particularly strong levels in recent years.The financial roller coaster of pandemic payments, whipsawing inflation, and high interest rates are especially affecting lower-income Americans."We know consumers at a certain income level and below are strapped," Biggar said, adding, "There's been a lot of concern, particularly at the lower income category, that people are unable to make ends meet."Going forward, Biggar said that many banks could continue adding to their reserves, particularly if the unemployment rate rises further. That might not ultimately be necessary, since the jobless rate has <a target="_blank" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE">stabilized</a> over the past two months after a surprise increase."I'm not expecting any big spike from here unless the unemployment rate moves materially higher," Biggar said of further reserve reinforcements.

Big banks are bracing for losses as Americans struggle to pay off debt

In March 2023, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser anointed Anand Selva, as the bank's chief operating officer. His mandate: oversee a deeply unsexy yet crucial initiative to regain compliance with regulators. At the time, she praised his "long track record of delivering results."So far, Selva's tenure has been rocky.In July, two regulators <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citi-jane-fraser-regulatory-citigroup-transformation-2024-7">fined Citi $135.6 million</a> for failing to make enough progress in fixing its data-management issues. The bank had agreed in 2020 to work on this problem and others, including poor risk controls, after <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/citigroup-slammed-400-mln-fine-longstanding-deficiencies-regulation-occ-fed-2020-10-1029660295">paying $400 million</a> in fines to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC said in July that the bank had made "meaningful progress overall" but that the agency wanted to ensure Citi allocated enough resources to address the "persistent weaknesses" regarding data.These new fines are despite Citi dedicating massive resources to a firmwide initiative to overhaul the bank's technology. This program, called the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citi-transformation-citigroup-regulatory-fine-anand-selvakesari-2024-7">"Transformation"</a> and overseen by Selva, has about 13,000 employees. Citi spent $7.4 billion on the endeavor from 2021 through 2023. This year's budget has been increased by $250 million, to more than $3 billion.The pressure is on, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren urging the OCC to "impose growth restrictions" on Citi, arguing that it has grown "too big to manage." The regulator and Citi declined to comment."We've always said that progress wouldn't be linear," Fraser said after the latest fines, "and we have no doubt that we will be successful in getting our firm where it needs to be in terms of our Transformation."For Selva, leading the Transformation is unlike any test he has faced in his three-decade career at Citi. Selva, who goes by the shortened version of his last name, Selvakesari, joined Citi as an assistant operations manager in Chennai, India, in 1991. He rose through the ranks in Asia before taking over the US consumer bank in 2019. When Fraser was made CEO in 2021, she chose Selva, who's now 57, to replace her as the global head of consumer banking.In his current role, his mandate is to make the bank safer, not to turn a profit. To do so, he has to solve for Citi's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-real-reasons-behind-citi-mike-corbat-early-retirement-2020-9">decades of underinvestment</a> in its infrastructure, which affects every business line of the bank.Business Insider talked to 14 current and former Citi employees who have worked under Selva to get a picture of the challenge facing him and why he was put in charge of the bank's No. 1 priority. All but two spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal or the sensitivity of regulatory matters. Three senior executives pointed to his experience navigating regulation and working with technology from running Citi's consumer bank. Gonzalo Luchetti, Selva's successor as the head of the US consumer business, told BI that serving 70 million customers required handling tremendous operational risk."If we mess it up, usually you don't mess it up for one; you mess it up for hundreds of thousands, if not millions," he said. "You have to be super good at process orientation and making sure that there's high discipline and rigor."Luchetti also emphasized Selva's longevity at Citi and experience across regions."He knows the fabric of the firm very well," Luchetti said. "The Transformation is about really repiping the machine. He's touched a lot of the machine himself."But touching the machine isn't the same as fixing it. Eight employees told BI that they were surprised that Selva was made the head of the Transformation given that he had never held a leadership role in technology or compliance. They described Citi's culture as a cliquey environment that rewards managing up over results, noting that the COO promotion followed dismal performance for the wealth unit he oversaw."The biggest job was given to a guy who with 1 ½ years in wealth wasn't able to do anything," a former managing director said.Selva has also come under scrutiny for a lawsuit filed against him and the bank by an ex-Transformation executive in May. Kathleen Martin, a former interim data chair, alleged that Selva pressured her to hide information from the OCC that would make Citi "look bad" and that she was fired in September 2023 after multiple refusals. Citi denied the accusations and filed a counterclaim in late August, alleging that Martin was fired for underperformance. Citi has recently made leadership changes to Selva's unit. The bank tapped its new tech head, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citi-data-tim-ryan-anand-selva-memo-transformation-regulators-2024-9">Tim Ryan</a>, to lead the data effort alongside Selva and take over management of the 800-employee data team. The work on data, along with risks and controls, is paramount to the Transformation.Splitting the burden may expedite the massive task, which requires coordinating work from employees across the entire bank. Citi declined to specify a timeline, citing the confidential nature of regulatory matters. A managing director in the Transformation estimated that the work required would take about two decades.Mike Mayo, a Wells Fargo analyst, said that until Citi meets the requirements of the OCC and the Federal Reserve, the bank is in "regulatory purgatory.""Citi has thrown over 10,000 people and $3 billion and more at this problem," Mayo told BI in July. "They just have to get it done."Selva does have a long track record at Citi. Born in Madurai, a large city in southern India, he studied engineering and played basketball at the Coimbatore Institute of Technology. He earned his master's in business administration at Madurai Kamaraj University before joining Citi in 1991.Selva made his name at Citi by shaping its consumer-bank businesses across Asia. He led retail banking in China and India before taking over the Asia Pacific market in 2015. His approach was digital-first, eschewing branches for banking apps. Despite closing 60% of bank branches in Asia from 2016 through 2018, Selva grew deposits by 10%.<div type="image" title="Citi's Anand Selva speaking at a panel, seated and wearing a pinstripe suit and a red tie." height="3307" width="4960" msid="114093573" hostid="261" sizebytes="2310830"></div>"He's very tech and digital-oriented," Luchetti said. "We've been to China together to look at startups and firms that were disrupting the world. He was always very connected with learning more about technology, had that curiosity, and then the execution chops to get it done here."In 2019, Selva moved from Singapore to New York, where he now lives with his family, to run the US consumer bank. He assumed the global consumer-banking business from Fraser in 2021. Selva leaned on credit-card and lending offerings, launching products like Citi Custom Cash which allowed customers to pick their reward categories, and Flex Pay, a buy-now, pay-later service. Under Selva, Citi was the No. 2 issuer of credit cards in the US, and deposits grew by more than a third, to about $220 billion.In 2021, Citi started divesting itself of more than a dozen consumer-bank markets across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Selva was an important player on both sides of the table, according to Adora Tidalgo, the head of operational risk management at Citi. She said he helped find Asian acquirers that maximized value for Citi while keeping the businesses running smoothly with low attrition."That skill of balancing how much you want to bring in terms of revenue and the credit loss you want to take is really a skill that very much needs to be honed in the consumer space," she said. "That balancing, to me, I have seen Anand over the year been very successful in doing that."There have been some bumps in the road. As part of Fraser's reorganization of the bank in 2021, Selva gained oversight of a newly formed wealth unit and its new leader, Jim O'Donnell. Six current and former managing directors told BI that Selva's approach focused more on scale and digital offerings than high-touch client service. For instance, he didn't approve loans that failed to meet a certain threshold of return, even if it meant losing an important client, two former managing directors said."The way that every private banker on earth thinks about relationships is you need to invest in relationships, and then as you start to do more business with clients, you start getting more and more valuable opportunities with them," one of the former managing directors said. "You have to look at the relationship. You can't just look at every single transaction."Employees argued that Selva's playbook may have worked to build scale in Asia but not to satisfy well-heeled — and much more sought-after — US clients."I think Anand's decisions were comparing everything to what he knew from his time in Asia, and they are completely different markets," another former managing director said. "In Asia, Citi has a very recognizable brand, and people actually want to bank with Citi. You don't have to sell it that hard."<div type="image" title="Citi CEO Jane Fraser testifying at Congress" height="3828" width="5846" msid="114093582" hostid="261" sizebytes="314760"></div>The wealth business' revenue dropped by 6% year over year at the end of 2022. Fraser called the division's performance "disappointing." O'Donnell's reign over wealth was cut short in January 2023, and it was later placed under <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-sieg-citi-wealth-management-ceo-2024-6">Andy Sieg</a>, the former head of Merrill Wealth Management. With Citi on a campaign to divest itself of 14 international consumer-bank markets, Selva's remit shrank.His appointment as COO thrust him into the spotlight. Tidalgo told BI that he was no stranger to the task of dealing with regulators."When you are the head of a country, you are the face of Citi to the regulators. Good, bad, or indifferent, you have to face them," she said. "That's part of the job."Citi's Transformation and its challenges predate Selva's appointment as COO. It existed as a firmwide initiative before the October 2020 fines but was kicked into overdrive after Citi entered consent orders with the OCC and the Federal Reserve.It can be viewed as two parts. The most visible is the strategy to simplify and modernize the bank, such as divesting Asian consumer businesses, removing five layers of management, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-reorganization-layoffs-management-overhaul-reorganization-jane-fraser-stock-price-2023-9">reorganizing</a> so that the five business lines report directly to Fraser.The second part is meant to address the 2020 consent orders. The initiative is separated into seven programs, including finance, compliance, and risk and controls. While some 13,000 employees are dedicated to the Transformation, much of this work is carried out by employees across the bank. Selva sits at the center, coordinating these efforts. He's in a tough position, as much of the Transformation's work is executed by employees in other divisions."The challenge with the Transformation role is you are accountable yet not responsible," the managing director in the Transformation said. "The role is really coordinating and getting others to do what they need to do, which is very different from running a business where the entire team follows your lead, you own it, you have the ability to actually get them to do this stuff."When everyone is accountable, effectively no one is, a former senior vice president in the Transformation said. Matters got stuck in bureaucracy, bouncing from one department to another and being debated in committee for months.A senior executive in the Transformation acknowledged that the programs often rely on each other's work. For example, a delay in data work can lead to one for a finance project."When we are asked sometimes why it is challenging to execute on the Transformation, one of the challenges is the interconnectivity of those seven works," she said.The senior executive said the Transformation's successes had been overlooked, partly because the bank is limited in what it can say on regulatory matters. For instance, Citi has retired or replaced a quarter of its applications, halfway to its overall goal. The bank declined to specify the number of existing or terminated applications, but as of July, it had retired nearly 300 applications this year. The senior executive also touted the bank's streamlining its risk-management workflow.But the Transformation has earned a middling grade from Citi itself. The bank evaluates the initiative's success for the purposes of a bonus program applicable to about 200 senior employees, including Selva. In 2022, an internal committee gave it a score of 94%, citing targets it met, such as submitting remediation plans to regulators.For 2023, the score sank to 80%, calculated by measuring the timeliness of executing scheduled work, the percentage of work deemed complete by the bank's internal auditors, and a "qualitative consideration of Citi's cultural change" derived from the bank's employee surveys.<div type="image" title="Headshot of Citi's new tech head Tim Ryan, smiling and wearing a black suit jacket with a light blue shirt" height="739" width="985" msid="114093578" hostid="261" sizebytes="32120"></div>Bringing in Ryan, the bank's head of technology and business enablement, to help the bank catch up makes sense. The recruiter Phil Waxelbaum argued that a more traditional candidate to help lead the Transformation would be a seasoned, high-ranking person from a regulatory agency. But someone with a nonbanking background such as consulting or technology can work, too, according to recruiter Jeffrey Warren. Ryan joined Citi in June after seven years leading the US business of PricewaterhouseCoopers."In situations like this when you are looking to drive transformation, you need someone who can work at the intersection of people, processes, and technology," said Warren, managing director at Russell Reynolds Associates. "That includes working from within and likely driving some change with new people who have experience in new technologies or new ways of doing things."Ryan is now sharing data, a significant component of the Transformation, with Selva. Another PwC alum, Citi's head of enterprise risk management, Ashutosh Nawani, will take over the chief data office from one of Selva's lieutenants, Japan Mehta, and report to Ryan. Mehta will move to another role that the bank declined to specify.Employees told BI that they thought bringing in Ryan and Nawani would help."Sure, there might be some reservation that more consultants are coming in to run Citi, but there is a positive vibe of changing senior leadership," the former senior vice president in the Transformation said. "Legacy Citi culture is what got us into this spot in the first place."While the July fines did not meaningfully move Citi's stock, they have placed the bank and the Transformation under greater scrutiny. The OCC has ordered Citi to provide a resource-review plan each quarter to ensure the bank is providing enough resources for the effort. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also required the bank to address the Transformation's progress in future filings.The outstanding issues have also impeded Citi from expanding in China. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-23/citigroup-s-china-expansion-plan-put-on-hold-by-us-regulators">Bloomberg</a>, the bank is still waiting on a clearance letter from the Federal Reserve to set up a securities office. The bank declined to comment on the process but said it was "fully committed to supporting clients" in China.<div type="image" title="Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at a hearing on Capitol Hill on January 11, 2024." height="1333" width="2000" msid="114093583" hostid="261" sizebytes="96482"></div>Regulators placing an asset cap on Citi, as Senator Warren has requested, isn't out of the realm of possibility, said Timothy Coffey, an analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott."At what point do the regulators just get fed up with Citi's inability to adequately resolve these issues or stick to the timeline that they've laid out?" he said. "That's an open-ended question."But the consent orders and the lack of progress are distractions in themselves. When Fraser took over Citi nearly four years ago, she said the Transformation was her No. 1 priority and asked for patience. Now her requests for time are wearing thin. Regardless of who leads the Transformation, Fraser is still accountable."This stays out here in terms of headline risk, and I think it puts a cap on the valuation that Citi can achieve," said Stephen Biggar, an Argus Research analyst. "It's an overhang on the stock. It's an overhang on the reputation of Fraser."Do you work for Citi? Have a tip or story to share? Reach out to Hayley Cuccinello at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:hcuccinello@businessinsider.com">hcuccinello@businessinsider.com</a> or 917 740 5340, which works for calls, text, and the encrypted messaging app Signal.

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