Bank Holidays in July 2025: A complete state-wise list; check here
According to the RBI's calendar for the fiscal year 2025, a total of 13 bank holidays have been designated for July 2025. These holidays will include the mandatory weekly days off on the second and fourth Saturdays and Sundays, and notable festivals such as Guru Hargobind Ji's birth anniversary and more.
Customers should be aware that, notwithstanding the holidays, internet banking services will continue to operate normally. This implies that consumers may continue to do online banking, mobile banking, and UPI transactions without interruption.
Customers are encouraged to plan any in-branch visits around the holiday and make use of online options for uninterrupted banking.
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India.com
38 minutes ago
- India.com
RBI's big order on CIBIL score! asked credit information companies to update…, will this benefit or harm you?
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a major directive regarding CIBIL scores, which are crucial for availing loans. The RBI has mandated that CIBIL scores must now be updated in real-time. It stated that this move will make the loan disbursal process more transparent and efficient, ultimately benefiting customers. RBI Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao has asked credit information companies like TransUnion Cibil to switch to real-time data reporting from fortnightly at present. RBI On CIBIL Score Speaking at a conference organised by Cibil here on Tuesday, Rao said quicker relaying of data from the CICs will help in deepening trust, efficiency and transparency in the system for everybody. 'We must aspire to more frequent updates. Real-time or near-real-time credit reporting will improve underwriting precision, enable timely reflection of borrower actions like loan closures or repayments and deliver a superior consumer experience,' Rao said. Admitting that this entails costs because of investments in technology, process reengineering, and change management, Rao underlined that the benefits will far outweigh the costs. Whom Will It Benefit? This is a significant relief for those seeking home loans, personal loans, or auto loans. In its latest order, the RBI said that information related to CIBIL scores must now be provided in real-time, as opposed to the earlier practice where companies updated it once every 15 days. This decision is expected to offer considerable benefits to loan applicants. Rao also asked the CICs and other companies competing with Cibil, including Experian and CRIF High Mark, to move towards having a 'unique borrower identifier', which is uniform across the system. 'Another key challenge is identity standardisation. CICs rely on credit institutions to provide accurate and validated IDs. Without this, duplication and misreporting remain risks,' he said, explaining the rationale for having such a system. Rao also exhorted the industry to ensure that innovation is 'responsible and accountable', and not at the cost of an individual's rights to data privacy. (With Inputs From PTI)
New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
The worrying rise of personal, credit card and gold loans in India
Indian households are running into debt like never before. Alarmingly, household debt as a percentage of GDP has doubled in the past one decade. According to the RBI's latest Financial Stability Report released Monday, the household debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 41.9% (at current market prices) as on December 2024, as against 26% in June 2015. The good news, though, is that the debt burden has reduced from 42.9% in June 2024 to 41.9% as of December 2024. Moreover, Indian households' debt-to-GDP ratio is relatively low compared to other emerging market economies, which stood at 46.6%. But what's more concerning is the fact that households are loading up on destructive debt such as personal, credit card and gold loans, than constructive credit, which includes housing loans. On last count, non-housing retail loans—mostly used for consumption—accounted for a lion's share of 54.9% of total household debt as on March 2025 and 25.7% of disposable income as on March 2024. 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Analysts also warn against the explosion of the riskiest slice of the credit market comprising sub-prime and near-prime personal loans, particularly amid rising living costs, stagnant wages and inflation. While non-housing retail loans are seeing an unprecedented increase in the recent past, the component of housing loans to overall household debt, on the other hand, has reduced from about 36%-37% in FY19 to 29% as on December 2024. Perhaps driven by the rush of non-housing retail loans, consumer segment loans grew at a CAGR of 20.4% between March 2021 and March 2025, as against 14.6% growth seen in overall bank credit. Disaggregated data shows that incremental growth has been mainly driven by existing borrowers availing additional loans, and their share has increased to more than a third of the housing loans sanctioned in March, 2025. Moreover, as RBI's latest report noted, the share of borrower accounts with loan-to-value (LTV) ratios greater than 70% is also rising, and delinquency levels are greater for lower-rated and highly leveraged borrowers. However, these have declined significantly from the levels seen during COVID-19. Sensing danger, the RBI has repeatedly flagged heightened risks in the unsecured lending segment and cautioned lenders to remain vigilant, while offering personal loans for consumption purposes. In fact, in November 2023, fearing a rise in bad loans, the central bank raised capital to risk-weighted asset ratios for both banks and NBFCs to 125%. Consequently, retail loan disbursements have slowed following the implementation of regulatory measures across lender types, product types and credit-active consumers. At an aggregate level, the per capita debt of individual borrowers has grown from Rs 3.9 lakh in March 2023 to Rs 4.8 lakh in March 2025. The rise in per capita debt has mainly been led by the higher-rated borrowers. The share of better-rated customers among total borrowers is growing, both in terms of the outstanding amount and the number of borrowers. This is important from a debt serviceability and financial stability perspective, as it indicates that household balance sheets at an aggregate level are resilient, the RBI noted. Higher debt may help boost consumption, but it could be detrimental to economic growth. As a 2017 BIS study (which used data on 54 economies over 1990-2015) revealed, household debt boosts consumption and GDP growth in the short run but mostly within one year. In the longer run, however, a one percentage point increase in the household debt-to-GDP ratio tends to lower growth by 0.1%. The negative long-run effects on consumption intensify as the household debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 60%. 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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
RBI calls for real-time reporting, alternate data for credit access
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