MUMBAI: Reserve Bank of India on Monday warned non-banking financial companies in Mumbai to tighten underwriting and monitor risks closely, marking the third caution in eight days.The RBI met managing directors and CEOs of select NBFCs, including govt NBFCs, housing finance companies and microfinance institutions. The governor said while NBFCs play a key role in credit transmission, they must maintain sound underwriting standards, closely track asset quality, follow customer-centric and ethical practices, lend responsibly, and ensure prompt grievance redressal to preserve confidence and support orderly growth.The meeting underlined risks flagged earlier in the Trend and Progress of Banking report and the Financial Stability Report. The Financial Stability Report released on Dec 31, had warned that funding dependence remains a core vulnerability. “NBFCs remain heavily dependent on bank borrowings, creating contagion risks between the two sectors,” the report said. Concentration risk has also risen, with banks acquiring nearly 80% of securitised assets from a limited set of NBFCs, creating “correlated risk,” where stress at a few large originators could affect multiple banks.Asset quality indicators show mixed signals with segments like microfinance still showing signs of stress. Rapid growth in fintech-led unsecured lending has also drawn scrutiny. “Fintech firms have seen rapid growth in unsecured personal loans. There is higher impairment observed in small-ticket loans (up to Rs 50,000) and among borrowers with loans from multiple lenders,” the report said. It added that impairments were relatively higher in small-ticket loans and among borrowers with unsecured loans from five or more lenders.

MUMBAI: London-based private equity (PE) firm Apax Partners has picked up an over 35% minority stake in iD Fresh Food in a deal pegged at more than Rs 1,500 crore, said people aware of the matter. As part of the transaction, Apax Partners has acquired some stakes from the company’s existing shareholders Premji Invest and TPG NewQuest, giving them partial exits. ID Fresh Food and Apax Partners did not disclose the financial specifics and contour of the deal. PE investors are betting on the local food and beverages space amid a growing consumer market. Helped by higher disposable incomes and a wider exposure to global trends, Indians are experimenting with new formats, brands and seeking better choices. A young population and rising digital adoption have also changed the way people consume things. Last month, US-based L Catterton bought a minority stake in Haldiram Snacks Food while General Atlantic is set to take a bite of Balaji Wafers. Bengaluru-based iD Fresh Food makes idli, dosa batter and a range of other items such as Indian flatbreads and value-added dairy products, operating in the convenient foods space, a category that has been finding traction among consumers. With Apax Partners on board, the company will step up growth in India and Gulf markets, besides foraying into new regions. “iD Fresh sits at the intersection of several powerful, long-term trends in India—rising incomes, rapid urbanisation, and consumers’ desire for convenient yet fresh, clean label food at home. The company has delivered strong, consistent growth while scaling profitability,” said Rohan Haldea, partner at Apax in a statement on Monday.

Copper touched $13,000 a ton for the first time, extending last year’s scorching rally as mine outages and trade dislocations fuel concerns over supplies of the key industrial metal. Benchmark futures rallied as much as 4.3% in London. A strike at the Mantoverde mine in Chile was just the latest supply disruption at a time of expanding global demand for the metal used in everything from data centres to car batteries. At the same time, the threat of US import tariffs on the metal has led traders to ramp up shipments to American shores in recent weeks, reducing supplies elsewhere.

Copper, a metal that’s vital for energy transition, surged 42% in 2025, its best annual gain since 2009. A deadly accident at the world’s second-largest copper mine in Indonesia and an underground flood in the Democratic Republic of Congo were some of the supply disruptions that propelled prices to successive records. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s plan to revisit the question of tariffs on primary copper in 2026 has revived the arbitrage trade that rocked the market earlier last year. The US holds roughly half of global inventories, but only accounts for less than 10% of global demand, according to UBS. That means there is a risk of lower supplies elsewhere. “Overall supply shortfalls, coupled with regional dislocation caused by US tariffs, are propelling copper,” China Securities Co. analysts, led by Wang Jiechao wrote in a note. The global copper market will see a shortage of more than 100,000 tons in 2026,” they forecasted.Three-month copper rose 4% to $12,963.50 a ton on the London Metal Exchange on Monday afternoon local time. This is a BLOOMBERG story

MUMBAI: Large banks show a continued trend of credit growth outpacing deposit mobilisation in the quarter ended Dec 31, 2025, with most lenders reporting advances rising faster than liabilities, and shifting deposit mix in favour of term deposits over current and savings accounts (CASA).India’s largest private bank HDFC Bank reported gross advances of around Rs 28.5 lakh crore at the end of Q3 FY26, up 11.9% from the year-ago period, and period-end deposits of about Rs 28.6 lakh crore, up 11.5% year-on-year, despite the bank’s stated objective of reducing its credit to deposits ratio.

Of the total deposits, current and savings account deposits stood near Rs 9.6 lakh crore, growing 10.1% while time deposits (Rs 19 lakh crore) grew 12.3% highlighting the continuing shift from low cost to high cost products. The higher share of term deposits reduces margins for banks because of the higher costs plus the fact that in a falling rate regime term deposits take 2-3 years to reprice.Bank of Baroda’s provisional update showed global advances at Rs 13.4 lakh crore, a rise of 14.6% from Dec 31, 2024, and global deposits at Rs 15.5 lakh crore, up 10.3% year-on-year. Domestic advances were near Rs 10.7 lakh crore (up 13.5%) and domestic deposits about Rs. 13.1 lakh crore up 11.1%.For Punjab National Bank Global advances rose 10.2% to Rs 11.9 lakh crore while global deposits rose 8.3% to Rs 16 lakh crore. The credit to deposit ratio increased to 74.2% from 72.6% a year ago. At Union Bank of India, global gross advances reached Rs. 10.2 lakh crore in Q3 FY26, up 7.1% from the year-ago quarter, while global deposits stood at Rs 12.2 lakh crore, up 3.4% y-o-y but down about 1% sequentially from the Sept 2025 quarter.

India is planning to shift to net domestic product (NDP) as its main measure of economic activity, moving away from gross domestic product (GDP), in line with the United Nations’ System of National Accounts (SNA) 2025 guidelines. The change is expected to be implemented from 2029–30, according to official sources quoted by Economic Times.The statistics ministry reportedly established a sub-committee under the advisory Committee to look a a possible transition process along with data and methodological changes that would be required in the framework. Unlike the GDP, the NDP takes into account the depreciation of assets and the depletion of natural resources, providing a better representation of the real cost of production.At present, GDP remains India’s primary economic indicator, though annual NDP estimates are published. Quarterly NDP data is not yet released. Officials, quoted by ET, say the shift will make economic measurement more comprehensive and realistic.Separately, India is also updating its GDP calculations by changing the base year to 2022–23 from the current 2011–12. The revised series is scheduled to be released on February 27 and will continue to follow the SNA 2008 framework.The new accounting system will also change how the central bank’s activities are treated. The Reserve Bank of India’s output will be classified as non-market activity, and payments made by banks for regulatory services will be treated as transfers rather than service fees. Officials said this will not affect national savings or net worth.Recent data shows strong economic performance, with GDP growth rising to 8.2 per cent in the second quarter of FY26, the fastest pace in six quarters. Both GDP and NDP grew by 6.5 per cent in FY25 as compared to its preceding year.

ONGC will take a 50 per cent stake in two joint ventures with Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) to enter specialised ethane shipping.The joint ventures will each own a very large ethane carrier (VLEC), with ONGC and MOL holding equal equity. The vessels, with a combined cost of about $370 million, will transport ethane from the US to ONGC’s petrochemical arm, ONGC Petro Additions Ltd (OPaL), starting mid-2028, as reported by PTI.The entities, Bharat Ethane One IFSC and Bharat Ethane Two IFSC, will be based in Gujarat’s GIFT City. ONGC will subscribe to 2,00,000 equity shares of Rs 100 each in both companies, while MOL will operate the Indian-flagged vessels.The move will help ONGC secure ethane supplies as Qatar is expected to shift to supplying ‘lean’ gas that lacks ethane and propane. From 2028, ONGC plans to import around 800,000 tonnes of ethane annually to meet OPaL’s feedstock needs.MOL brings significant shipping experience, currently operating LNG vessels for Petronet LNG and ethane carriers for Reliance Industries. The new ships will be built at South Korean shipyards.OPaL operates India’s largest dual-feed cracker, using both naphtha and gaseous feedstocks such as ethane, propane and butane. ONGC had earlier invested Rs1,500 crore in a gas extraction plant at Dahej with a processing capacity of 4.9 million tonnes of LNG per year.The venture is expected to strengthen ONGC’s petrochemical supply chain by combining MOL’s shipping expertise with ONGC’s sourcing capabilities.

Photo credit/Anurag Dwivedi Instagram account

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday said it carried out fresh searches at several premises linked to social media influencer Anurag Dwivedi from Uttar Pradesh in a money laundering case linked to “illegal” online betting. Dwivedi describes himself as the ‘Face of Fantasy Cricket’ on his Instagram profile.In a statement, the federal agency said it searched nine locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Lucknow and Varanasi on December 31 and January 1. During the searches, officials seized a Land Rover Defender and a BMW Z4 belonging to Dwivedi.The ED said it had conducted the first round of searches in the case in the third week of December. At that time, it seized four vehicles — a Lamborghini Urus, Mercedes, Ford Endeavour and Thar — along with Rs 20 lakh in cash.According to the agency, Dwivedi is currently living in Dubai and has “failed” to appear before it despite multiple summons being issued.The case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is based on an FIR filed by the West Bengal Police for cheating, forgery and illegal betting. The ED alleged that Dwivedi promoted illegal betting platforms operated from Siliguri in West Bengal and received “proceeds of crime” through hawala channels and mule accounts. It also alleged that he bought immovable properties in Dubai using such proceeds.The agency said material seized during the searches showed real estate investments in Dubai through hawala channels. It also seized fixed deposits, insurance policies and bank deposits worth Rs 3 crore.Three people have been arrested in the case so far, and a chargesheet was filed before a special PMLA court in Kolkata in August 2025. The ED said it had earlier frozen or attached assets worth Rs 27 crore.