Bank credit growth shows strong agriculture and NBFC lending, while industry and services credit exhibit relative deceleration.
Non food bank credit rose 17.6 per cent y o y in November 2012, noting a differing fortnight count for the comparison year; agriculture credit increased 24.4 per cent, industry credit grew 17.7 per cent with broad deceleration across sub sectors except specified ones, services credit rose 15.3 per cent, NBFC lending grew 30.3 per cent, and personal loans increased 16.3 per cent. Data derive from monthly returns of 47 selected scheduled commercial banks and are published in the central bank's statistical handbook.

NG-RTGS ISO 20022 adoption requires RTGS participants to implement ISO 20022 message formats by March 31, 2013.
Adoption of the ISO 20022 messaging standard is mandated for NG RTGS; participants must implement the ISO 20022 Business Application Header and specified message types (e.g., pacs.008, pacs.009, camt.054, pacs.004, pacs.002) with the prescribed field conventions, validation rules and mapping to legacy RTGS/NEFT functions, and confirm commencement of implementation actions as instructed.

Priority sector lending sub targets revised: micro enterprise investment bands adjusted and banks must implement new allocation bands immediately.
Revision of priority sector sub targets adjusts the 40:20 proportion within MSE lending by reclassifying micro enterprise investment bands: the lower band investment ceilings for micro manufacturing and micro services are raised and the upper band boundaries correspondingly adjusted, while the overall micro enterprise ceiling under the MSMED Act remains unchanged. Banks must implement the revised sub targets immediately and issue instructions to branches for meticulous compliance.

Foreign exchange reserve variation: capital inflows offset current account deficit, producing minimal accretion to reserves.
Sources of variation in foreign exchange reserves for April-September 2012 show a small net accretion: a current account deficit was largely offset by net capital account inflows-notably foreign investment (FDI and portfolio), banking capital including NRI deposits, and short term trade credit-resulting in a marginal increase in reserves on a BoP basis, while modest valuation gains from exchange rate movements contributed slightly to the aggregate change.

Enhanced AML/CFT due diligence required for transactions with FATF identified high risk jurisdictions to mitigate cross border ML/TF risks.
NBFCs/RNBCs are advised to consider the FATF public statement identifying jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies or subject to calls for counter measures and to apply enhanced scrutiny and proportionate risk mitigation in business relationships and transactions with those jurisdictions; this guidance does not preclude legitimate trade. The FATF highlights deficiencies including criminalisation of terrorist financing, suspicious transaction reporting, FIU functionality, frameworks to identify and freeze terrorist assets, supervisory regimes, customer due diligence, and international cooperation, and monitors progress under agreed action plans, reserving escalation where insufficient progress is made.

Basel III implementation alignment: start date shifted to April to match the financial year and monitor global roll out.
The Reserve Bank of India moved the Basel III implementation start date from January 1, 2013 to April 1, 2013 to align with the Indian financial year while maintaining the phased transition leading to full implementation by March 31, 2018; the Bank will monitor international progress as some jurisdictions have finalised rules and others remain at draft stage under a global transitional timetable spanning 2013-2019.

Monetary policy review announced to guide banking-sector discussions and set central bank policy signals to major commercial banks.
The Governor will deliver the Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2012-13 to chief executives of major scheduled commercial banks in a meeting at the Reserve Bank's central office in Mumbai, constituting a formal policy communication and consultation with the banking sector.

Credit guarantee for low income housing expands access to housing loans through government backed guarantees and regulatory reforms announced.
A Credit Risk Guarantee Fund Trust was established to guarantee urban housing loans for EWS and LIG beneficiaries without third party collateral, covering specified eligible lenders and operating as a demand driven scheme across urban areas. Income eligibility ceilings for EWS and LIG were revised upwards to broaden access. Complementary measures include extension and strengthened monitoring of urban renewal missions, funding for PMUs/PIUs, third party inspection frameworks, online project tracking, land reservation policies for EWS/LIG, pilot slum titling projects, and a proposed Real Estate Regulatory Authority and Tribunal framework.

Technology driven banking transformation: prioritise IT-business alignment, data integrity and cyber security for customer centric services.
The address frames technology as central to banking transformation, stressing customer centric product and channel innovation, scalable ICT for financial inclusion, and the need for robust data integrity and automated reporting such as the Automated Data Flow initiative. It highlights rising cyber security threats and the imperative for governance, vendor due diligence, enforceable SLAs, and organisational culture for security. Recommendations focus on IT-business alignment, structured IT governance, analytics for real time insights, cautious cloud adoption, application security prioritisation, mobile channel management, technology based KYC and interoperability among banks.

Indicative state market borrowings announced; issuance via SDL auctions calibrated and subject to statutory approval.
Indicative market borrowings by State Governments and the Union Territory of Puducherry for January-March 2013 are to be raised through State Development Loan auctions generally on alternate Tuesdays; RBI will conduct auctions in a calibrated manner and distribute borrowings evenly, while actual amounts will be intimated two to three days before each auction and depend on State requirements, statutory approval under Article 293(3) and market conditions.

National Telecom Policy reforms prioritize affordable nationwide broadband and domestic manufacturing, shaping procurement and spectrum allocation.
The National Telecom Policy 2012 prioritises affordable, reliable and secure nationwide telecom and broadband services, promotes indigenous telecom equipment manufacturing with R&D support and procurement preference for domestically produced items with security implications, and guides balancing consumer, provider and revenue interests. Complementary measures include spectrum auctions, implementation of the National Optical Fiber Network via Centre State partnerships, USOF funded rural connectivity schemes, and sectoral policies for electronics manufacturing, IT workforce development, cybersecurity frameworks, and infrastructure and service modernization including Department of Posts reforms.

Government securities auction rules: electronic E-Kuber bidding, non-competitive quota at weighted average allotment, and ready forward eligibility.
Announcement of auctions for three Central Government dated securities to be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India using uniform price methods; bids must be submitted electronically via E-Kuber within prescribed windows, with non-competitive allotment capped at five percent allotted at the weighted average auction rate. Multiple competitive bids are permitted subject to an aggregate cap equal to the notified amount, and the RBI may accept or reject bids at its discretion. Successful bidders will receive credit to SGL accounts or stock certificates; interest paid half-yearly and issues qualify for ready forward and when-issued trading.

Government securities issuance: auctions with uniform pricing, non competitive allotment, primary dealer underwriting and bank SLR eligibility.
The Government announced issuance of three dated Government securities via uniform price auctions on the specified auction date, combining competitive and non competitive bids submitted electronically on the Reserve Bank's E Kuber system with up to five percent reserved for eligible non competitive bidders. Auction results and payment dates are set; the stocks qualify for the ready forward facility and for when issued trading under RBI guidelines. Primary Dealer underwriting will follow the Revised Scheme including ACU submissions on E Kuber. The new long term stock is eligible as bank investment for Statutory Liquidity Ratio under Section 24 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Interest rate transmission reduces aggregate demand, hitting investment and imports hardest while consumption and government spending are less affected.
Using a structural VAR for 2000Q1-2011Q1, the paper finds that interest rate hikes significantly reduce aggregate demand, with largest impacts on investment and imports; private consumption and exports respond less, government consumption shows negligible cumulative effect; interest rate transmission predominates over exchange rate effects, though exchange rate matters for investment and imports.

Principal Business Criteria: NBFCs must meet revised asset and income thresholds or obtain RBI registration
NBFCs are reclassified into Exempted and Registered categories; all deposit-taking companies must be registered and fall under RBI regulation. New non-deposit NBFCs must meet minimum capitalization and asset-size entry norms and satisfy a redefined Principal Business Criteria requiring substantially higher proportions of financial assets and financial income. Large financial entities meeting alternate thresholds must also register. Groups with multiple NBFCs will have assets aggregated for systemic threshold assessment, and captive NBFCs are subject to higher Tier I capital requirements with phased compliance.

Companies Bill 2012 modernises corporate law, strengthening governance, reporting, tribunal adjudication and director duties.
The Companies Bill, 2012 consolidates and modernises company law by revising incorporation rules, governance and disclosure obligations, director duties and liabilities, audit and financial reporting regimes, procedures for inspections and investigations, remedies for oppression and mismanagement, and by creating a National Company Law Tribunal and Appellate Tribunal to govern corporate adjudication.

Multiple price auction method for 364 day Treasury Bills with non competitive allocations outside the notified amount.
The Reserve Bank announced a 364-day Treasury Bill auction using the Multiple Price Auction method, with non-competitive allocations outside the notified amount at the Bank's discretion, subject to General Notification No. F.2 (12)-W & M/97. Competitive bids must be submitted electronically via the E-Kuber system within the prescribed window, non-competitive bids within an earlier window, results announced the same day, and payments scheduled the following day.

Uniform interest rate on savings accounts challenged after banking deregulation; competition authority declined investigation for lack of information.
The Competition Commission of India reviewed the persistence of a uniform interest rate on savings bank deposits among public sector banks following the Reserve Bank of India's move to an unregulated regime, and decided not to pursue the matter because it found the available information and material insufficient to justify further action.

Multi-level marketing regulation: group to draft model rules and guidelines to curb disguised money circulation schemes.
An inter-ministerial group will draft model rules for Multi-Level Marketing companies and identify schemes prohibited under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, and will prepare clarificatory guidelines to distinguish genuine direct selling from disguised money circulation schemes.

Cartelization absence confirmed: steel prices tracked input cost and market fluctuations, with no cartel cases reported.
The Ministry reports that domestic steel prices varied with market conditions and rising input costs; tables for HR Coil and TMT retail prices and for coking coal and iron ore spot prices from December 2009 to November 2012 are provided, and, based on available information, no case of cartelization in the steel sector has been reported during the last three years.