PPF, post office interest rates unchanged
Govt on Monday said interest rates on small savings schemes, including public provident fund and National Savings Certificate, will remain unchanged for the sixth straight quarter.
During the July-Sept quarter, PPF balances will attract 7.1% interest, while deposits under the Sukanya Samriddhi scheme will fetch 8.2% annually. The rates have been kept unchanged despite RBI lowering key policy rates.
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Business Standard
37 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Manufacturing PMI at 14-month high of 58.4 in June driven by strong demand
India's manufacturing activity rose to 58.4 in June 2025, up from 57.6 in May, marking a 14-month high, the HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed, according to data compiled by S&P Global on Tuesday. Manufacturing PMI from Dec 2024 to June 2025 Export orders drive manufacturing growth in June New export orders saw their third-highest growth rate since the survey's inception in 2005, with more orders from the US in June, the report said. Export order growth was seen across all product categories, including consumer, intermediate, and capital goods. Meanwhile, output volumes also rose at the quickest pace since April 2024, but growth was not evenly distributed across sectors. Intermediate goods producers led growth in terms of volume, while the consumer and capital goods sectors saw moderate growth. The upswing in new orders was driven by marketing initiatives and increased export sales, the survey showed. Manufacturers benefited from the lowest input cost inflation since February, despite rising prices for iron and steel. Commenting on the growth, Chief India Economist at HSBC Pranjul Bhandari said, "Robust end-demand fuelled expansions in output, new orders, and job creation. To keep up with strong demand — particularly from international markets, as evidenced by the substantial rise in new export orders — Indian manufacturing firms had to tap deeper into their inventories, causing the stock of finished goods to continue shrinking. Finally, input prices moderated while average selling prices rose as some manufacturers passed on additional cost burdens to clients." Employment jumps amid short-term hiring Employment levels also surged in June. The survey noted that the month marked the highest pace of hiring in its history. This rise, however, was largely attributed to short-term hiring to meet rising workloads, as backlogs returned to growth after stagnating in May. Industrial production falls to nine-month low in April Meanwhile, India's industrial output grew by just 1.2 per cent in May, marking the slowest pace in nine months, government data showed on Monday. Electricity generation fell sharply by 5.8 per cent, dragged down by an early monsoon. This was the first contraction in nine months and the steepest since June 2020. Mining output also declined by 0.1 per cent, recording its second straight monthly fall. RBI cuts rate by 100 bps Between February and June, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut the policy repo rate by 100 basis points, bringing it down to 5.5 per cent, as inflation softened within the central bank's comfort zone. The rate cut came as a relief for borrowers, with expectations of lower EMIs on long-term loans, particularly benefiting homebuyers. The RBI has revised its retail inflation forecast for the current financial year to 3.7 per cent, down from its earlier projection of 4 per cent in April. Meanwhile, the central bank has retained its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast at 6.5 per cent for 2025-26. The quarterly growth projections stand at 2.9 per cent for April–June, 3.4 per cent for July–September, 3.9 per cent for October–December, and 4.4 per cent for January–March. What is PMI? The PMI is an economic indicator of business activity within a sector. It tracks production levels, new orders, employment, supplier performance, and inventory, based on responses from purchasing managers. A reading over 50 shows expansion in the sector, while a reading below this mark indicates a contraction in the sector. A reading of 50 suggests no change in activity.
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
June Manufacturing PMI rises to 14-month high of 58.4 on strong demand
India's manufacturing activity rose to 58.4 in June 2025, up from 57.6 in May, marking a 14-month high, the HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed, according to data compiled by S&P Global on Tuesday. Commenting on the growth, Chief India Economist at HSBC Pranjul Bhandari said, "Robust end-demand fuelled expansions in output, new orders, and job creation. To keep up with strong demand — particularly from international markets, as evidenced by the substantial rise in new export orders — Indian manufacturing firms had to tap deeper into their inventories, causing the stock of finished goods to continue shrinking. Finally, input prices moderated while average selling prices rose as some manufacturers passed on additional cost burdens to clients." Industrial production falls to nine-month low in April Meanwhile, India's industrial output grew by just 1.2 per cent in May, marking the slowest pace in nine months, government data showed on Monday. Electricity generation fell sharply by 5.8 per cent, dragged down by an early monsoon. This was the first contraction in nine months and the steepest since June 2020. Mining output also declined by 0.1 per cent, recording its second straight monthly fall. RBI cuts rate by 100 bps Between February and June, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut the policy repo rate by 100 basis points, bringing it down to 5.5 per cent, as inflation softened within the central bank's comfort zone. The rate cut came as a relief for borrowers, with expectations of lower EMIs on long-term loans, particularly benefiting homebuyers. The RBI has revised its retail inflation forecast for the current financial year to 3.7 per cent, down from its earlier projection of 4 per cent in April. Meanwhile, the central bank has retained its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast at 6.5 per cent for 2025-26. The quarterly growth projections stand at 2.9 per cent for April–June, 3.4 per cent for July–September, 3.9 per cent for October–December, and 4.4 per cent for January–March. What is PMI? The PMI is an economic indicator of business activity within a sector. It tracks production levels, new orders, employment, supplier performance, and inventory, based on responses from purchasing managers. A reading over 50 shows expansion in the sector, while a reading below this mark indicates a contraction in the sector. A reading of 50 suggests no change in activity.
The Print
an hour ago
- The Print
CBI to question bank officials under scanner in 8.5 lakh mule accounts case
The bank officials also failed to do Customer Due Diligence (CDD) during account opening, a paramount process for initial risk assessment and accurate customer identification indicating that the fundamental oversight meant the financial crime risks posed by customers were inadequately assessed, according to a CBI FIR registered recently. One crucial laxity detected by the CBI during its two-month-long inquiry was the systemic failure to generate Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) despite countless mule accounts exhibiting transactions that rapidly exceeded prescribed monetary thresholds, a clear indicator of suspicious activity, they said. New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) The CBI will start questioning bank officials under scanner for allegedly facilitating the operations of 8.5 lakh mule accounts in a 'pan India conspiracy' with cyber crime syndicates to launder crime proceeds, agency officials said. The CBI has registered the FIR after a preliminary inquiry that showed cyber crime syndicates operating with impunity with the alleged connivance of unidentified bank officials to deliberately facilitate a clandestine network of mule accounts used to launder illicit proceeds from digital frauds. The probe has found 8.50 lakh such accounts in 743 branches of various banks across the country that sent the alarm bells ringing about the extent of the menace. The inquiry was coverted into the FIR and raids were conducted last week during which 10 individuals were arrested. The CBI has named 37 individuals in the FIR as accused. The agency detected that there were two kinds of mule accounts — cyber and money. While cyber mule accounts were small accounts, money mule accounts were exhibiting multiple transactions in a span of few days and aggregate amount was crossing the threshold to red flag them. Existing Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines unequivocally mandate the generation of an STR if an account is identified as a money mule. In case no STR is filed, it is considered a non-compliance of the RBI circular. The pernicious fraud allegedly involved cyber criminals employing deceptive means, including impersonation, misrepresentation, and the use of forged documents to defraud and extort money from victims, the CBI officials said. The CBI has alleged that banks also failed to do 'enhanced due diligence' in violation of the RBI circulars that stress for EDD and rigorous risk categorisation based on customer identity and business activity. 'High-risk accounts have to be subjected to more intense monitoring. However, despite certain areas having high concentration of mule accounts, it has emerged that bank officers were not adopting enhanced due diligence on the suspicious bank accounts,' the CBI FIR said. The inquiry showed that bank officials frequently neglected to procure vital information regarding the customer's source of funds, the explicit purpose of the business relationship, or other details imperative for vigilant account monitoring. The inquiry starkly revealed instances where bank accounts were opened using forged documents, and in some cases, without the knowledge or consent of the purported account holder. Several accounts belonging to illiterate persons were systematically exploited in the cyber fraud. These accounts were often opened through banking correspondents, circumventing traditional branch oversight, thereby granting unfettered access to UPI and online transactions, the FIR said. The agency also found that branches displayed a significant lapse in security by not despatching acknowledgement or 'Thank You' letters post-account opening, an indirect yet critical failure in effective address verification as stipulated by certain internal banking circulars. The role of middleman has also emerged who facilitated the opening of mule accounts into which the proceeds of cyber crime was routed from the account of a cyber fraud victim. 'The middlemen connived with the banking correspondents and bank officials for the purpose of opening of mule accounts and their operation,' the agency alleged. PTI ABS KVK RUK RUK This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
