India’s digital payment ecosystem has grown exponentially. Such massive scale inevitably invites fraudsters, and many gullible customers have fallen victim to their tricks. The Reserve Bank of India has earlier issued master directions specifying customer liability in the event of a digital/online fraud. The RBI has gone further and proposed amendments to the Master Directions… Continue Reading
RBI allows gold loans against gold jewellery, ornaments and even gold coins (up to 50 grams). However, RBI does NOT allow loans against gold ETFs, gold mutual funds, digital gold, or any other form of financial assets backed by primary gold. And this is very crisply mentioned in the RBI Master Circular on gold loans.… Continue Reading
Mis-selling by banks is a well-known problem. There are umpteen examples of customers visiting bank branches for one-time bank fixed deposits and walking out with ill-suited insurance policies. Insurance policies that many of them could hardly afford. They went to the bank to grow their wealth or save for their retirement but only ended up… Continue Reading
Can you borrow from banks to subscribe to an Initial Public Offering (IPOs), Follow-on public offering (FPO), and even for exercising ESOPs? Yes, you can and the regulations permit such loans. Further, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), through its two recent circulars, has provided clarity and consolidated applicable rules at one place. Master Directions… Continue Reading
The Reserve Bank of India has cut the repo rate thrice this year, totalling 100 bps. While it held the repo rate unchanged in its monetary policy meeting in early August, SBI recently hiked the home loan interest rate for new borrowers. Note that the increase in home loan interest rates affect only new borrowers.… Continue Reading
You own a few credit cards, but you have favourites too. You use only a couple of specific credit cards for any expense. The remaining credit cards just lie in your wallet. You use those cards rarely. In that case, how long can you keep your credit card active without any usage? What do the… Continue Reading
Gold loans are a quick way to access secured credit. Moreover, given propensity of Indian households towards gold, this is also an asset. RBI has released a draft circular (Lending against Gold Collateral-Directions, 2025) for gold loans and has made important changes to how gold loans shall be doled out in the future. Of course,… Continue Reading
With the proliferation of lending apps, you may be able to borrow money with a few taps. However, the problem is separating genuine loan apps from fake apps. Borrowing through a fake app can subject you to hidden charges, high interest rates, data theft, and possibly blackmail, harassment, and extortion. To safeguard borrower interest and… Continue Reading
The Reserve Bank of India recently cut Repo rate by 0.25% from 6.25% p.a. to 6.0% p.a. You have heard that the rate cut by the Reserve Bank will lead to lower EMI. However, despite this rate cut, let’s say, your loan EMI has not gone down. What could be the reasons and what can… Continue Reading
The Reserve Bank has revised the priority sector lending eligibility for housing loans vide its Master Directions on Priority Sector Lending, 2025. As a prospective home loan borrower, how does it affect you? What is Priority Sector Lending? Priority Sector Lending (PSL) is an RBI policy to encourage banks to lend to certain key sections… Continue Reading