Some rating agencies and brokerages reduced the economic growth forecast for 2013-14 owing to the liquidity tightening steps taken by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). For instance, rating agency ICRA lowered its growth forecast to the range of 5.4-5.6 percent from 5.8-6 percent

The Indian economy may grow 0.40 percentage points lower at 5.4-5.6 per cent during 2013-14 compared to the earlier forecast, ratings agency Icra said. The agency revised down the economic growth estimate citing weak economic environment and rupee

Noting the resilience in the financial position of three microfinance institutions (MFIs), rating agency ICRA upgraded their ratings. The three MFIs are Grameen Financial Services Private GFSPL), Ujjivan Financial Services (Ujjivan) and Utkarsh Microfinance Private (Utkarsh). According to the agency, the upgrade reflects likely improvement in the resilience of their earnings, superior ability to scale up as well as strengthened capacity to cont

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) move to consider loans to public -private-partnership (PPP) projects as secured lending and initiatives such as the creation of Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF) augur well for the ailing road building sector, ratings agency Icra has said on June 20.

During April-June 2013, public sector banks may earn Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 7,000 crore owing to treasury gains as yield on government securities have declined by 60 basis points during April and May this year. This estimate on the treasury gains of state-run banks was given by Icra in a recent research report. The report noted that yield of government securities has fallen in the last two months and this will improve earnings of public

Following the tightening of norms on provisioning for restructured loans by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks might have to set aside Rs 1,500-2,500 crore as provisions in 2013-14 for their existing recast loan book. Ratings agency Icra said this in a report. Recently, the central bank said banks have to raise provisioning for the existing stock of restructured assets to 5 per cent in a phased manner over three years from the

While India’s infrastructure investment is likely to provide a boost to steel demand over the long term, there could be challenges to the raw material availability. Iron ore related uncertainties could be sorted out in the medium to long term,

A recent report by ratings agency Icra said bank credit to infrastructure sector may be affected by the norms of the Basel- III regulation. Credit to infrastructure is long-term in nature, while the deposits of banks is short-term to medium-term. This raises asset-liability mismatch. According to the Basel-III norms, banks must maintain a strict net stable funding ratio (NSFR), which is designed to ensure that long-term assets are funded with

The government introduced the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board to regulate and develop the City Gas Distribution business in India. However, the sector is still facing many challenges on its way,