-The Hindu Business Line To target farmer customers in the hinterland looking for adoption of farm mechanisation State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a master agreement with Adani Capital for co-lending to farmers for purchase of tractor and farm implements, to increase efficiency in farm operations and productivity of crops. Adani Capital is the non-banking finance company (NBFC) arm of Adani Group. Please click here to read more.  ...

-Frontline.thehindu.com The RBI’s proposal to loosen regulations for private lenders in the microfinance space will have disastrous consequences for the poor, especially women in rural areas. Microfinance, a category of financial services aimed at serving people from low-income households who lack access to conventional banking credit and services, was originally designed by international finance capital institutions such as the World Bank as an alternative to providing direct concessional credit to the poor—which...

-The Hindu RBI said it regulates banks and non-banking finance companies and it does not regulate online lending platform The Delhi High Court on Tuesday observed that online lending platforms, offering short-term personal loans through mobile apps, cannot be allowed to charge exorbitant interest and processing fees. “Rate of interest should not be exorbitant. Just look at the difficulties. An expert body is required. If you people are so slow in taking action,...

-TheNewsMinute.com There have been cases of people saying that their KYC details, which were shared with the Chinese loan apps, were used to open bank and crypto exchange accounts in their names, without consent. Shonali*, a 48-year-old lecturer from West Bengal was laid off from a private university in March 2020. The lecturer, facing financial stress, turned to Chinese-owned instant loan applications that provide microloans without collateral, but at high-interest rates. Shonali...

In order to understand why the Union Budget 2021-22 is being termed as ‘transparent’, it has to be read simultaneously with the 15th Finance Commission Main Report for 2021-26. But first, let us discuss 'fertilizer subsidy'. The budget documents for Union Budget 2021-22 show that the spending on ‘fertilizer subsidy’ was slashed from Rs. 1,33,947 crore in 2020-21 (revised estimate) to Rs. 79,530 crore in 2021-22 (budget estimate). However, the budgetary...