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  Repo Rate Review Oct’ 25:  Pause in rate, but change in stance likely The bi-monthly review meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is underway (Sep 29 to Oct 1, 2025) and the RBI Governor is expected to announce the decisions of MPC on 1st Oct’ 25. I predict that the MPC may continue the  'pause' in the policy rate, but might change the stance from 'neutral' to 'accommodative'.  Rationale:   While (i) inflation for August (2.07%, still at the lower end of the inflation target band),  (ii) the GDP growth for Q1FY26 is impressive (7.8% against 6.4% in the corresponding period the previous year),  (iii) the forex reserves crossed and remain at USD700 billion plus levels, (iv) the reforms implemented in GST, with two slabs of 5% and 18%, promising increase in GDP on account of reduced price across consumer and capital goods, (inducing more production and more sales) are positive factors,  (a) the additional tar...

   KP Krishnan Kutty Nair: True Comrade among Trade Union Leaders It was July/August 1994. I got a phone call from Com. KP Krishnan Kutty Nair, (popularly known as KPK or Krishnan Kutty) two days prior to filing of nomination papers for the election of office bearers and committee members for ABOA: Unit SBT for the period 1994-97. He requested me to contest as an executive member from Chennai, as Com.N.S. Muraleedharan Nair (NSM) desired me to join their panel of candidates.  I filed the nomination and won, partly due to my ‘popularity’ and mainly due to the popularity of NSM, KPK and other established leaders in our panel. A zonal office, outside Kerala, for the branches in Tamil Nadu and branches located in other states of India was formed in 1995. Again Com. Krishnan Kutty was the man behind in the executive committee’s decision to select me as the assistant secretary of ABOA: Unit SBT, for Chennai Zone. When I completed my term and moved to Thiruvananthapuram in 1997,...

SBT's Sadhabishegam on 12th Sep' 2025  Whenever I think about SBI and its erstwhile associate banks, I could not help, but recollect the story of King Shantanu’s marriage with the River Ganges and their seven babies, born prior to Bhishma (their eighth son). Like the first seven babies thrown into the river and got merged with their mother River Ganges, the seven associate banks (AB) were merged into their parent SBI on 31st March 2017. The comparison ends there. A hesitant parent had to merge its seven unwilling ABs with itself, due to an arrangement fixed by SBI’s major shareholder viz. the Government of India. Unlike the seven babies, who were submerged in their mother river on day one, the seven ABs were allowed to grow for nearly 58 years before their merger with their parent. Again SBI was an adopted mother for the seven ABs, which were in existence, prior to them being sworn in as subsidiaries of SBI. So, when the merger took place, thousands of the stake holders of ABs ...

Repo Rate Review Aug 25: My take: Status quo The bi-monthly review meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is underway (Aug 4-6) and the RBI Governor is expected to announce the decisions of MPC on 6th August 2025. I predict the MPC may call a 'pause' in the repo rate and also maintain the status quo in the policy stance (neutral). I do not expect any new liquidity easing measures in the short term. Positive factors: There cannot be a more favourable domestic condition than now to expect the 'repo reduction rate series' to continue for the fourth time in a row. Inflation for June (2.1%) is at the lower band of the inflation target rate of 4%(+or-2%). The monsoon is good so far and apparently there are no worries of any shortage in the agriculture produce to induce a supply side inflation. Crude oil prices are still around USD 65 per barrel with no indications that the price will rise due to war and 'Trump effects'. The forex...

  Karnataka Bank: Safe and Resilient The Challenge is to carry on “transformation”   1. The Bank is safe and sound: Karnataka Bank Ltd. (the bank), with a history of 101 years and having an existing customer base of 13.7 million, is safe and sound, if one look at its continuous profit record from the beginning and the latest financials. The key financial parameters for the financial year ended 31 st 2025 were as under:                                                                                                                                             ...

  The woes of an Indian Urban Senior Citizen (Below created characters and conversations are purely imaginary; might or might not reflect reality; Intention is not to hurt anyone, but to generate a debate. If it hurts anyone, my sincere apologies to him/her) After the imaginary interview with me on RBI Policy* in April 2025, the late Mr. Art Buchwald (AB) was restless in the heaven.  He  called me over phone (in my dream) yesterday, to convey that he would like to interview an Indian consumer to confirm the 'rosy' picture of the Indian Economy, as certified by the government, RBI, economic experts,  through their statements and opinions. I agreed to his request. Unfortunately, he bumped into an Indian urban senior citizen(USC), known for his (arm chair) expert views on the stock market, mutual funds and economy, but placed his savings, only with the scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) and post office savings schemes.  Excerpts of the (imaginary) interview are as u...