Key Rates used by RBI Repo Rate, MSF Rate & Bank Rate

Key Rates used by RBI

The Bank has various Key Rates at its disposal to influence the money supply in the market through its monetary policy.

What is Liquidity Adjustment Facility?

Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) helps banks adjust their daily liquidity mismatches by pledging government securities over and above the SLR requirement. Repo Rates and Reverse Repo Rates form a part of the Liquidity Adjustment Facility.

What is RBI Repo Rate?

• RBI Repo Rate is the rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends money to commercial banks. By controlling the Repo Rate, and the lending rates to commercial banks, the RBI also indirectly affects the lending rates granted by commercial banks to end consumers.
• When there is low inflation along with low-capacity utilisation and the market demands more supply of money, the RBI decreases the RBI Repo Rate. By decreasing the Repo Rate, the RBI encourages commercial banks to borrow more money from it.
• Increasing RBI Repo Rate means that commercial banks don’t borrow money liberally from the RBI, and avoid doing so. This slows down the economic progress, reduces the liquidity in the market, and the reduction in money supply reduces the inflation. This is an important measure in curbing inflation.

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What is RBI Reverse Repo Rate?

• Reverse Repo Rate is the rate at which the Reserve Bank of India borrows money from commercial banks within the country. It is one of the monetary policy instrument which can be used to control the money supply in the country.
• Other things remaining constant, an increase in the reverse repo rate will result in decrease in the money supply and vice-versa.
• An increase in reverse repo rate implies a situation where commercial banks get more incentives if they park their funds with the RBI, thereby decreasing the supply of money in the market.

What is Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate?

• Another one of the Key Rates used by RBI is the Marginal Standing Facility Rate.
• Marginal Standing Facility is a new window of Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) created by Reserve Bank of India
• It was created in RBI’s credit policy of May 2011.
• At this rate, the banks are able to borrow overnight funds from RBI against the approved government securities.
• Marginal standing facility (MSF) acts as a support plan for banks, letting them borrow funds from the Reserve Bank of India in an emergency situation wherein the inter-bank liquidity dries up completely.
• Banks borrow from RBI by pledging government securities at a rate comparatively higher than the Repo Rate under liquidity adjustment facility (LAF).
• Under MSF, banks can borrow funds approximately around one percentage of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL).

What is Bank Rate?

• Bank rate is the rate of interest at which a central bank charges its loans and advances to a commercial bank.
• In case of shortage of funds, banks can borrow from the central bank based on the monetary policy of the country.
• The borrowing is commonly done via repo rate, it is more applicable when there is a liquidity crunch situation in the market.
• The Reserve Bank of India determines the bank rate at which it provides loans to commercial banks with no collateral. This rate is revised periodically, reactively depending on the economy.

What is Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)?

• CRR is the basic percentage of a bank’s net demand and time liabilities (deposits) that banks ought to maintain as cash balance with the RBI.
• A high CRR percentage means banks have less funds to lend, a low CRR does the opposite.
• This in turn impacts liquidity in the economy.
• CRR is used by RBI to tighten or ease liquidity by increasing or decreasing it as per the situation demands.

What is Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)?

• Statutory Liquidity Ratio is the percentage of net demand and time liabilities (deposits) that banks ought to maintain in safe and liquid assets approved by the RBI.
• The assets can be in the form of government securities, cash and gold.
• Any fluctuations in SLR often tend to influence the availability of resources in the banking system for lending to the private sector.

Important Key Rates used by RBI Updated as of June 2019

Important RBI Policy Rates and Ratio – April, 2019
Current Cash Reserve Ratio	4%
Current Reverse Repo rate	5.5%
Current Repo Rate	5.75%
Current Marginal Standing Facility Rate	6%
Current Bank Rate	6%
Current Statutory Liquidity Ratio	19%

You can visit the RBI Official Site

Know Your Banks - Detailed Explanation About Distressed Banking Sector and NPAs!

What are NPAs?

NPA stands for Non-Performing Assets of the banks. It simply means:

Bank gives a loan to a person.

The concerned person fails to pay loan installment for 3 months. (Even after repeated notices from the bank).

Banks declare such loans as ‘bad loans’ or NPA.

Reasons for NPAs

Dynamic policy changes.

Deadlock in Infrastructure sector.

Sluggish economic conditions deterring overseas investors from investing in India.

Reviving US economy is taking the invested money back from India.

Political uncertainty prevalent in India.

Strict priority sector lending norms.

To overcome the problems of NPA various steps have been taken by different bodies.

Steps taken by the Government

Earlier on the recovery of bad loans from the borrowers, the borrowers filed trivial cases in civil courts.

These made recovery procedure prolonged and hardly any bad loans could be recovered.

Firstly, the Government established Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRT) to deal exclusively with NPA matters. But DRT got clogged with too many pending cases.

Secondly, the Govt. came up with SARFAESI Act 2002, the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Act.

Under this act, the government gives banks the following powers to recover bad loans-

Taking possession of assets without any order of the court.

Auction or sale of the assets.

Amending the management or administration of the assets.

If the assets are sold to a third party, banks can order debtors to pay the bank.

Note: Here the Bank can take away only those assets which were mortgaged or secured to take the loan. But if the bad loan belongs to a company, the banks cannot take away any other personal asset (belonging to individuals in the company as opposed to the company itself) to offset the bad loan. An example is Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher. Though the company declared itself bankrupt and unable to pay back loans, banks cannot seize personal assets belonging to him.

Thirdly, came the idea of Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC).

ARCs buy bad loans from the banks and try to extract maximum profit out of these bad loans. But a problem arises here as not many invest in ARCs and so their capacity to buy NPAs is very low.

Lastly, the newly introduced Banks Board Bureau (BBB) formed to govern all the PSBs will take care of the supervision of the banks. BBBs will also look into strategic planning, risk management and business performance of the PSBs.

Steps taken by the RBI

RBI implemented Basel-I norms in 1992. Banks had to attain 8% Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) aka Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR).

RBI has now fixed the deadline of 31^st March 2019 to implement BASEL-III norms.

In BASEL–III, banks have to maintain a Minimum Total Capital (MTC) of 9% of Total Risk Weighted Assets (RWA).

To promote more investment in asset reconstruction in India, RBI has increased FDI cap on asset reconstruction companies (ARCs).

RBI has also introduced Strategic Debt Restructuring Scheme (SDR).

This step was introduced to ensure that the shareholders of the company bear the first loss of the bad assets rather than the debt holders (banks).

RBI suggests that equity shares of the Company should be transferred by promoters to lenders to compensate for their sacrifices.

SDR also includes Framework for Distressed Assets.

It concentrates on early recognition of stressed assets. Banks are required to route the assets through 3 classes of Special Mention Accounts (SMA- 0, 1, and 2) before classifying it as an NPA.

Moreover, the SMA-2 classified leaders of banks need to form a Joint Lenders Forum (JLF). They have to formulate a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) in order to de-stress the asset.

RBI has also set up Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC).

CRILC is a registry to keep records of large borrowers and those assets which are under stress.

Steps Taken by Banks

The slowdown in the economy in the last few years (due to recession) has led to a rise in bad loans or NPAs.

Banks have been given more flexibility and powers to deal with these NPAs.

Not only the NPAs but also the rising percentage of restructured assets is a point of contention.

Restructured assets – when a borrower is unable to pay back the loan, the bank makes the loan more flexible. It allows the loan to be paid back over a longer period of time.

The NPAs and Restructured Assets together put pressure on a bank’s profitability.

The banks will be left with less capital to lend extensively to other sectors.

The funding for various important developmental projects will be left dry for too long.

 Vicious Cycle of NPA in an Economy

The cycle of NPAs in an Economy starts with Rising NPA in Banks, followed by Bank’s Profitability and Capital Reduction, Reduction in Bank’s lending to various sectors, No investment & installation of Developmental Projects ultimately leading to Slow Economic Growth.

 

What are new Governance Reforms or Recapitalisation of Banks?

The NPAs of all PSBs (Public Sector Banks) was almost Rs. 4 lakh crore at the end of December 2015.

Also the banks have a deadline of March 2019 to comply with Basel-III norms.

The government has launched a seven-point agenda to revive the PSBs – Indradhanush.

It includes 70,000 crore capital infusion over the next four years. This number may go up after Budget 2016-17.

The remaining amount have to be raised by PSBs through domestic and foreign investments by tapping equity markets.

Banks have to sell their shares to public directly, though the govt. will continue to remain the majority shareholder.

Conclusion

The amount that has been set aside by the govt. for recapitalisation of the PSBs is not enough to root out the issue of Non-Performing Assets and distressed banking sector completely. Need of the hour is a comprehensive bailout package which will enable banks to rekindle the spirit of lending. In return, our economy can come out of the vicious cycle of NPA and aid the urgently needed economic growth path set out by the govt. However, this will mean a heavier toll on the pocket of taxpayers and consumers alike, as the govt. will need fund this bailout from collected revenues.

Negotiable Instruments - Know In Detail About Meaning, Types & Differences

What are Negotiable Instruments?

Negotiable instruments in India are governed under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. Under this act, the instruments are defined and their usage is governed. With reference to Section 13(A) of the Act, a negotiable instrument means ‘a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque payable either to order or to bearer, whether the word “order” or “bearer” appears on the instrument or not.’  To explain things further, a negotiable instrument is a document that guarantees the payment of a specified sum of money either on demand or after a stipulated period of time.

There are many Negotiable Instruments. However, the Act takes into consideration only three.

The Act does not include demand drafts and hundis which are also popular negotiable instruments. Negotiable instruments can be categorized into two main types:

Order to pay– Drafts and cheques

Promise to pay– bills of exchange and promissory notes.

Negotiable Instruments Criteria

The instrument must be in written form;

Promise or order to pay must be unconditional;

The payment must be of a specified sum of money to which interest may be added;

The payment must either be made after a set time or on demand;

The instrument must be payable to bearer or to order;

The instrument must not require the person promising payment to perform any other action other than payment.

Types of Negotiable Instruments

Bill of Exchange

An instrument containing an unconditional order and signed by the maker, directing a certain party to pay a certain sum of money to the bearer of the instrument. They are issued by banks, thus making this a three-party affair.

The payee is the party receiving the payment (the creditor)

Drawee is the party making the payment (the debtor)

Drawer obliges the drawee to pay the payee (bank)

Banks can choose to perform the function of discounting the bill of exchange. Banks provide short term credit to the holder of the bill based on these bills of exchange. This discount rate includes the interest rate and other nominal charges. The interest rate increases in proportion to the maturity period of the bill. The earnings of the bank are termed as proceeds which is the difference between the face value and the discount value. At maturity, the bank receives the original face value as reimbursement and the payee receives the discounted value.

Promissory Note

Promissory notes are legal instruments in which one party promises to pay in writing a specific sum of money to the other party, either after a stipulated time period or on demand under specific terms.

Promissory notes are sometimes signed as part of a student loan process.

The bank holds on to that promissory note until the loan is paid back in full.

Promissory notes transform into financial instrumentswhen the creditors have enough payments pending to be made, leading them to a situation where their own liquidity is questionable, approach banks for short term credit where they encash the promissory note at a discounted value and make their due payments.

At the time of maturity, the issuer of the promissory note pays the bank directly in full. The difference is the profit of the bank for rendering their services.

Cheque

Cheques are negotiable instruments used to make payments as part of the day to day business transactions. It is the most popular one and used by businesses and individuals to make and receive payments on a daily basis. Three parties are involved in a cheque transaction.

Drawer– The party issuing the cheque and holding an account with the bank;

Drawee– The party which is directed to make the payment ie. bank;

Payee– The party which receives the payment made by the drawee. If the drawer has drawn the cheque in favor of self then the drawer becomes the payee.

The cheque acts as a written order made by the drawer to the drawee to pay the payee the amount of money specified on the cheque. The drawer’s account will be debited by the amount mentioned on the cheque. The bank earns the nominal feecharged to the customers for granting them checkbooks. Different types of cheques issued are Bearer Cheque, Order Cheque, Crossed Cheque, Stale Cheque, Anti Dated Cheque and Post Dated Cheque.

Features of Negotiable Instruments

A negotiable instrument can be transferred in a hassle-free manner through delivery or endorsement. Formalities such as preparing a transfer deed, payment of stamp duty, etc are absent. Transfer does not even mandate notifying the previous holder of the instrument.

The instrument is in written form. It can be handwritten, typed, engraved or printed.

The time period after which payment is made is certain and unambiguous. Also, the holder anticipates prompt payment because dishonor would imply the ruin of credit of all parties involved. Every instrument contains an unconditional promise or order of payment.

The payee is specified in the instrument. There may be situations where there is more than one payee. The payee can be an institution or organization too.

For a negotiable instrument to be considered valid, the signature of the maker or the drawer needs to be present on the document.

A person or party receiving the negotiable instrument has indisputable ownership.

A negotiable instrument is not complete until and unless it has been delivered to the payee.

Negotiable Instruments Utility

Negotiable instruments are of utmost importance in the commercial world. It has consistently increased in tandem with development in international trade.

The right of property which implies complete ownership accompanies the promissory right.

The transferability from one person to another happens with ease and without much formality which facilitates its heavy use in the business world.

The transfer can be done through endorsement or delivery, which is a common occurrence in business transactions.

Payments made through instruments are immediate, thus minimizing loss of time.

Even after an electronic revolution in the banking sphere, negotiable instruments are still used widely. They may face obsolescence once people develop their banking habits and overcome the problems faced due to the digitization of banks.

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