Dhiraj Relli said that later we may have bouts of volatility due to elections, timing and quantum of rate cuts, and valuation concerns….reports Asian Lite News
The year 2023 has been a great year for markets — for both the frontline indices and the broader markets. It once again showed the impact of Retail/HNI buying and when the FPIs also turned buyers there was no going back, says Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO at HDFC Securities.
“In 2024, we are beginning on a high base and hence it may be difficult to expect a similar performance by the time 2024 ends,” he said.
He said that however, the resurgence of FPI buying and placement of India as an attractive market, despite the seeming high valuations, may help our markets register some more gains in the early part of the year.
He said that later we may have bouts of volatility due to elections, timing and quantum of rate cuts, and valuation concerns.
He said that the retail Indian has truly woken up and will drive the markets whenever the macros are favourable.
As 2023 draws to a close, the most significant feature of the year’s rally is the sharp outperformance of the broader market, says V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
He said that the midcap index is up by almost 45 per cent and the small cap index is up by 55 per cent leaving the Nifty far behind with appreciation of around 20 per cent.
He said that this trend is likely to be reversed in 2024 since the mid and small caps are overvalued and large caps are relatively fairly valued.
He said that the autos, construction and financials are set to do well in 2024. Autos are in a cyclical rebound, financials are fairly valued even after the recent run up and the prospects for construction related segments continue to look good. Capital goods will continue to do well in 2024 too.
He said that January is normally a poor month for the market while Q3 results and management commentary will be keenly watched by the market.
According to the bank, it is fully committed to ensuring continued adherence to the highest standards of compliance with RBI recommendations…reports Asian Lite News
The Reserve Bank of India has lifted the restrictions on the business generating activities planned under HDFC Bank’s ‘Digital 2.0’ programme.
“We wish to inform you that the RBI vide its letter dated March 11, 2022 has lifted the restrictions on the business generating activities planned under the Bank’s Digital 2.0 programme,” the bank said in a regulatory filing on Saturday.
“The members of the Board of Directors have taken note of the said RBI letter.”
According to the bank, it is fully committed to ensuring continued adherence to the highest standards of compliance with RBI recommendations.
“We have utilised this time to draw up short, medium, and long-term plans to meet the evolving digital requirements of our customers and we will roll out these initiatives in the days to come.”
In August last year, RBI had relaxed the restrictions on the bank and allowed the lender to issue new credit cards.
However, the restrictions on all new launches of the digital business generating activities planned under ‘Digital 2.0’ were to be reviewed by the RBI.
In December 2020, the RBI directed HDFC Bank to temporarily stop all launches of the ‘Digital Business’ generating activities and sourcing of new credit card customers on certain incidents of outages in the Internet banking, mobile banking and payment utilities of the bank over the past two years.
The failure of the bank to bring clarity to the matter and suddenly decide to debit the savings account with a huge amount of interest is a deficiency of service as well as a malpractice which affects lakhs of customers on a daily basis….reports Asian Lite News
HDFC Bank took Rs 56,763 from a customer’s account in an unauthorised manner to settle alleged debt on a credit card which was neither requested nor used.
This episode occurred at the HDFC Gurguram branch where the bank issued a credit card to a customer (name withheld) which was received but never used.
In 2015-16, the bank started sending bills of Rs 14,500 for a card which was never requested but received and not used. When the customer enquired there was no response.
When the customer approached the branch manager, he was asked to destroy the card and send it to the Chennai office which he did in his presence. However, to his chagrin the customer continued to receive credit card statements. The harassed customer then started writing mails to Aditya Puri, then chairman of the bank. While these mails were acknowledged there was no closure in the matter. The follow ups were constant on the pry of the customer but all to no avail. The bank started harassing the customer again in 2021 when the customer’s employer was called for credit card bills.
PIC CREDITS ANI
The bank then sent a legal notice for the credit card. The same customer also had a HDFC Standard Life policy and when the amount matured, HDFC Bank debited Rs 56,763 from the bank account in lieu of the credit card bills.
The bank is not permitted by RBI guidelines to hold money from the savings account to pay for this debt. This debt arose from a credit card and should have been treated as a separate issue. What is worse is that as part of the redemption process a cancelled cheque of Kotak Mahindra Bank was provided, HDFC Life continuously delayed the settlement saying it had not received the mail. When after repeated entreaties the amount was credited into the said account, said money evaporated.
The bank has not provided any statement of transactions and cash memo which is actually signed by the bank customer or any document which proves that the credit card was requested or used.
The Credit card is a Prepayment Plan Instrument and requires the bank to make sure that if instrument is issued it should be in possession of the rightful owner and not some frivolous record in the database. The card/instrument was received but disputed from the outset by the rightful owner.
The Bank and the collection agencies have made several attempts to call and harass the client which has been put on record. The recorded emails show that repeatedly a clarity was requested from the bank to show how the credit card was even used by the client. The bank has fled from its responsibility.
There is no record that the request was made for such a credit card. The credit card is not showing on the HDFC portal and no data is available to even challenge the claim. The bank has prevented the client from genuine information in order to bring clarification to the matter and has left the client to the scrutiny and illegal practice of various collection agencies.
The matter arose at HDFC Gurugram branch but the office to pursue the matter was addressed in Chennai for no specific reason. This was done to make it inaccessible for the client to clarify the issue. That the client repeatedly visited the Gurugram Branch to clarify the matter but the whole matter was denied without providing any justification since 2014.
As per RBI guidelines banks have a restricted access to exercise their right to lien. The bank cannot exercise a lien over a personal account of a customer. According to guidelines a credit card account is always separate from since a person acts in a different capacity than his understanding of the savings account.
The failure of the bank to bring clarity to the matter and suddenly decide to debit the savings account with a huge amount of interest is a deficiency of service as well as a malpractice which affects lakhs of customers on a daily basis.
Customers can conduct over 15 types of transactions using the ‘Mobile ATM’, which will be operational at each location for a specific period….reports Asian Lite News
HDFC Bank on Saturday said it has deployed mobile ATMs across India to assist customers during the lockdown.
“At restricted, sealed areas, the ‘Mobile ATMs’ will eliminate the need for general public to move out of their locality to withdraw cash,” the bank said in a statement.
“During the lockdown last year, HDFC Bank successfully deployed mobile ATMs in over 50 cities and facilitated lakhs of customers in availing cash to meet their exigencies.”
Accordingly, customers can conduct over 15 types of transactions using the ‘Mobile ATM’, which will be operational at each location for a specific period.
“We hope our mobile ATM will provide a great support for people who want to avail basic financial services without having to venture far from their neighbourhood,” said S. Sampathkumar, Group Head – Liability Products, Third Party Products and Non-Resident Business at HDFC Bank.
“This service will also be of great help to all the healthcare workers, and other essential service providers who have been working tirelessly to combat the pandemic.”
Meanwhile, shares of HDFC Bank surged to a record high in January on the back of strong earnings reported for the October-December quarter.
