-The Telegraph 'Wish there were announcements on government spending' Kolkata: Like many Indians, a young businessman keenly awaiting the fine print of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-reliant India Mission) placed himself before a television screen around 4pm on Wednesday. The businessman did not have to brush up his language skills to understand finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman but he came away with a sense of déjà vu. “I heard that I will...

-The Hindu For effective cash relief in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the government must think beyond the Jan Dhan Yojana For some years now, the so-called JAM trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) has been propounded as a dream cash-transfer infrastructure for India. The term “trinity” itself gives a sense of the faith and fervour this project sought to inspire (why not “trio”?). It was born in chapter 3 of the Economic Survey 2015,...

-The Indian Express The usage of cash and other cash-based services, however, dipped during the period, the data showed. New Delhi: The month of March, in which the national lockdown began, saw a sharp rise in digital financial transactions countrywide, according to data accessed by The Indian Express. According to the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, the total value of Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) transactions — the biggest online payment...

-The Hindu In a communication to State-run banks, the government said the move is aimed at ensuring credit flow for economic activities and the guidelines come into effect from Monday when the business activities resume. Mumbai: As business activities resumed on Monday after a nationwide lockdown, the Finance Ministry has swung into action to ensure credit flow to companies and prescribed a specific time frame for banks within which a loan needs...

-The Hindu RBI told banks that they could shift the repayment schedule for loans and the residual tenor across the board by three months after the moratorium period. Banks which give borrowers a three-month moratorium on repayment of loans will continue to charge interest on the outstanding portion of the loans during this window period, the Reserve Bank of India clarified on Friday evening. The 3-month moratorium on repayment of loans - including...