- Monday, May 06, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
HERE are news in brief on Indian economy and business for Wednesday, April 24, 2024:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday barred the country’s Kotak Mahindra Bank from onboarding new customers through its online and mobile banking channels and issuing fresh credit cards with immediate effect after the regulator found serious deficiencies in the lender’s IT risk management. These actions, the RBI said, are necessitated based on significant concerns arising out of the central bank’s IT examination of the bank for the years 2022 and 2023 and the continued failure on part of the bank to address these concerns in a comprehensive and timely manner. “Serious deficiencies and non-compliances were observed in the areas of IT inventory management, patch and change management, user access management, vendor risk management, data security and data leak prevention strategy, business continuity and disaster recovery rigour and drill, etc,” the RBI’s statement said.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is doing an “unbelievable job” in India by pursuing reforms and taking 400 million people out of poverty through inclusive financial programmes, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has said. He made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking at an event hosted by the Economic Club of New York. He praised Modi for the performance of his government. “Modi has done an unbelievable job in India… He’s taken 400 million people out of poverty,” Dimon said. “They’ve got an unbelievable education system, unbelievable infrastructure, they’re lifting up that whole country, because this one man is just as tough. Nobody. I think you have to be tough to break that down, you know, and he’s breaking down some of the bureaucracy…,” he said. He also praised reforms undertaken by Modi in the recent past.
Investment in infrastructure suffered setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic years, and the recent rebound has been highly unequal, with developing countries falling behind, P K Mishra, the principal secretary to the Indian prime minister, said on Wednesday. Addressing the inaugural session of the sixth International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure in New Delhi, Mishra said disaster and climate risks are increasing and countries will be forced to divert more funding to recovery and rebuilding if they do not build resilience in the infrastructure systems. “During the pandemic years, investment in infrastructure suffered setbacks, and lately, we observe sustained revival. However, this rebound is highly unequal, with developing countries lagging. We must ask ourselves why?” he said.
To counter a slump in attendance in cinema halls, leading multiplex chain PVR Inox has introduced a new offering: ad-free movies, akin to streaming platforms, Moneycontrol reported. The downturn in box office earnings, including underperformance from major Bollywood releases over the past three months, has impacted the theater industry. The company has reduced pre-movie advertisement slots from 35 minutes to 10 minutes, allowing for additional screenings. Renaud Palliere, chief of The Luxury Collection and Innovation at PVR INOX Limited, stated that the time saved per screening would facilitate the addition of extra shows throughout the day, resulting in increased foot traffic. He also noted that this uptick in admissions would likely lead to higher revenue from food and beverage sales.
Gold and silver prices rebounded on Wednesday after falling in the past two sessions, with the yellow metal rising Rs 410 (£4) to Rs 72,610 (£700) per 10 grams in the local market due to strong trends in the global markets. Silver prices also jumped Rs 250 (£2.41) to Rs 83,750 (£807) per kg. According to HDFC Securities, gold prices bounced Rs 410 to Rs 72,610 per 10 grams in Delhi. The precious metal had closed at Rs 72,200 (£696) per 10 grams on Tuesday. Silver prices also rose Rs 250 to Rs 83,750 per kg. In the previous close, it had settled at Rs 83,500 (£805) per kg. “Spot gold prices in the Delhi markets are trading at Rs 72,610 per 10 grams, up by Rs 410 against the previous close,” Saumil Gandhi, senior analyst of Commodities at HDFC Securities, said.
(With agencies)
