RBI removes pricing cap on microfinance loans

Top of the Morning

In this episode, find out why Indian markets are likely to open lower in trade today, also find out about Reliance New Energy’s plan to acquire Lithium Werks
Business Term of the Day: Wholesale inflation
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has removed caps on the pricing of small loans given by non-banking financial company-microfinance institutions (NBFC-MFIs), bringing them to the same level as other such lenders, including banks. With this, the underwriting of loans will be done on a risk-based analysis, and a risk premium will be charged based on the borrower. India’s retail inflation hit its fastest pace in eight months in February, led by higher prices of food and manufactured goods. Retail inflation rose to 6.07 percent in February as compared to 5.03 percent reported in the year-ago period. Wholesale inflation also quickened in February, staying in double digits for the 11th straight month Reliance New Energy acquired assets of Lithium Werks for $61 million. Assets include entire patent portfolio of Lithium Werks, manufacturing facility in China, key business contracts and hiring of existing employees. Tata group has appointed Natarajan Chandrasekaran as the chairman of Air India Ltd, as the conglomerate continued steps to bolster the loss-making airline’s management just months after taking control from the government. Chandrasekaran’s appointment was approved in a board meeting of Air India. Bank of Baroda: Baroda Asset Management is merging with BNP Paribas Asset Management India to form Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management. The lender holds 50.1% stake in the new firm while BNP Paribas owns the rest. Adani Group has partnered with energy transitions company Greenko Group to utilise standalone long-duration hydro energy storage capacity to provide round-the-clock energy to the former’s facilities in India. Vodafone Idea Ltd today announced its foray into gaming industry through Vi Games on the Vi app in partnership with diversified gaming company Nazara Technologies. Crisis-ridden fintech player BharatPe has entered the gold loan segment for its merchant partners, marking its entry into the secured credit category. For launching gold loans, BharatPe has partnered with a few NBFCs, and will be offering loans of up to Rs 20 lakh against gold pledge. The service is already available to its merchant customers in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and it will be scaling this to 20 cities by the end of this year when it hopes to disburse Rs 500 crore. Persistent Systems may be in focus as the company through its wholly owned subsidiaries has agreed to acquire MediaAgility Inc. and its subsidiaries in India, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Singapore for a total of $71.71 million. Moving on to markets The Indian indices may witness a flat to negative start on Tuesday. The indices are likely to react to inflation numbers for February released on Monday – CPI inflation rose to 6.07% and WPI was up 13.11%. The crude prices have remained calm for the past few sessions as investors continue to monitor peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. However, the monetary policy committee of the US Federal Reserve will begin its 2-day meet today to decide the rate policy. The outcome will be closely looked at by the investors. On Monday, the US market closed mostly lower expecting a hike in the rates. In Asia, shares in Japan, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Shanghai were all down. Business Term of the day Wholesale inflation – The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) reflects changes in the average prices of goods at the wholesale level — that is, commodities sold in bulk and traded between businesses or entities rather than goods bought by consumers. There are certain limitations in using WPI as a measure for inflation, as WPI does not consider the price of services, and it does not reflect the consumer price situation in the country. he index basket of WPI categorises commodities under three groups — primary articles, fuel and power & manufactured products.