Provident Financial News

From trade to human rights, the leaders of China and the European Union differed on a wide range of issues at a summit this week in the Chinese capital

Can the U.S. economy achieve a much-hyped “soft landing”

Axis Mutual Fund announced the launch of the 'Axis US Treasury Dynamic Bond ETF Fund of Fund'. Benchmarked against the Bloomberg US Intermediate Treasury TRI, the primary investment objective of the scheme is to provide regular income by investing in units of overseas ETFs where the investment mandate is to invest in US treasury securities across duration. The fund will be managed by Vinayak Jayanath. The new fund offer (NFO) is set to open for subscription on December 12, and will close on December 19. The scheme will predominantly follow an active investment strategy for investments in the overseas mutual funds. The fund is designed to dynamically adjust to market fluctuations, aiming to capitalize on the expected yields and minimize risks. This fund has the potential to be an ideal addition for those looking to diversify their portfolio for international exposure. This dynamic management approach allows the fund to adapt to changing macroeconomic conditions, targeting both capital appreciation and income generation opportunities.

Apple is rumoured to unveil a range of refreshed iPad and MacBook Air models in the early months of 2024, The update regarding the new line-up comes from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

RBI has been holding rates since February. Here 11 mutual fund managers explain the policy for investors. Mahendra Jajoo, CIO Fixed Income, Mirae Asset MF In line with market consensus, MPC conveyed a balanced approach with keeping key policy rates as well as stance unchanged considering ebbing inflationary pressures globally but still emphasising on the need for policy to be actively disinflationary. The pleasant surprise was a significant revision upwards in FY24 growth projections by 50 bps to 7%. Inflation projection for FY 24 remains unchanged at 5.4% but that for Q2FY25 is projected at 4%. Market will feel somewhat relieved on the suggestion that with liquidity turning in deficit on its own accord, OMO operations may not be needed in the immediate term.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% in its December Monetary policy which is also its last for 2023. While retaining its stance of withdrawal of accommodation, the Central Bank's decision to leave rates unchanged was unanimously voted by the 6-member MPC panel, while the need to retain the stance was voted by 5 out of 6 members. While the policy was pretty much in line with the Street's expectations, here is how experts reacted to Governor Shaktikanta's monetary policy speech: Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart In response to RBI policy decision and Das' confidence in economic growth, our market continues its bullish momentum, with the Nifty reaching a significant milestone of 21,000.

UPI payment transactions for educational and healthcare purposes. In measures announced after its monetary policy review, the central bank has also increased the limit for e-mandates used to make recurring payments, such as buying mutual funds and paying insurance and credit card bills. The RBI has also proposed to set up a fintech repository to keep track of the increasing linkages among banks, NBFCs and fintechs. The limits of UPI transactions for payments made to hospitals and educational institutes have been raised by five times from Rs 1 lakh to Rs.

A new survey suggests a little more than half of potential first-time homebuyers are interested in using a first home savings account, even though they don’t know much about it.

A suspended Surrey RCMP officer accused of using his position of authority to engage in intimate relationships with women — both on and off-duty — likely won’t face traditional jail time, a sentencing hearing in B.C. provincial court has heard.

Bank of India (RBI) kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent and maintained the policy stance of 'withdrawal of accommodation' on Friday, December 8. The standing deposit facility (SDF) rate remains at 6.25 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate at 6.75 per cent. Besides, the RBI raised its real GDP growth projection for FY24 to 7 per cent from 6.5 per cent earlier with Q3 GDP at 6.5 per cent (against the estimates of 6 per cent earlier) and Q4 GDP at 6 per cent (against the estimates of 5.7 per cent earlier).

Wi-Fi routers designed to meet the challenges of today's connected homes. As the hub of your home network, a Wi-Fi router plays a pivotal role in supporting various devices simultaneously, from smart TVs and gaming consoles to smartphones and laptops. The introduction of bandwidth-intensive applications and the surge in remote work and online learning emphasize the need for a robust and efficient router.

Within a recent post on social media, Richard Teng, who was recently hired as the CEO of Binance, provided reassurance to stakeholders over the exchange's commitment to maintaining its key principles. His message, which comes after a turbulent era for the corporation, is a promise of stability and a focus on the user from the company's perspective. Given the recent legal problems that have involved his predecessor, Changpeng Zhao, this promise is especially noteworthy in light of those specific occurrences.

The recent events surrounding Atomicals Market (AM) have been a significant concern for the Atomicals community, especially following a severe security breach in two of its trading markets. This breach led to hacker attacks and considerable losses for users, stirring up discussions and demands for action within the community. Shep.eth, an early participant and active community member, took the initiative to address these issues directly with the AM team.

Another leading South Korean crypto exchange has listed the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT as global trading volumes begin to climb.

RBI plans to set up a regulatory framework for digital lending apps or loan web aggregators to make taking of loans more consumer centric and transparent. The RBI governor, as part of the announcement today after the monetary policy review, said that concerns regarding the functioning of loan web aggregators and loan products that harm customers have come to its notice. Therefore, it proposes to set up a regulatory framework to enhance customer centricity and safety for customers. As per the statement issued, «The Reserve Bank had accepted, vide its Press Release dated August 10, 2022, the recommendation of the Working Group on Digital Lending (Chairman: Shri Jayant Kumar Dash) to come up with a regulatory framework for web-aggregators of loan products (WALP). WALP entails aggregation of loan offers from multiple lenders on an electronic platform which enables the borrowers to compare and choose the best available option to avail loan from one of the available lenders. Based on the recommendation of the Working Group, it has been decided to bring such loan aggregation services offered by the Lending Service Providers (LSPs) under a comprehensive regulatory framework. The framework will focus on enhancing the transparency in the operations of WALPs, increase customer centricity and enable the borrowers to make informed choices. The detailed guidelines will be issued separately.»

carbon-neutral port operations and be Net Zero for APSEZ by 2040. Our climate-friendly transformation includes electrifying all cranes, switching all diesel-based Internal Transfer Vehicles to battery-based ITVs, and installing an additional 1000 MW of captive renewable capacity," the X post read. Gautam Adani also said his conglomerate is pledging mangrove plantations in about 5,000 hectares by the financial year 2024-25.

Reserve Bank of India's decision to keep the repo rate unchanged for the fifth successive time at 6.5% is expected to support the housing property market and help sustain a consistent trajectory of growth in home sales. The prevailing momentum in mid-income and premium housing sales is expected to persist, whereas affordable and low-income housing, sensitive to interest rates, may experience a subdued pace. Responding to the inflationary environment, the central bank, through six successive increases since May 2022, had raised policy rates by a cumulative 250 basis points, taking the repo rate to 6.5% before hitting the pause in April. Following this, home loan rates are already hovering around 9% from a record low of 6.6% a year ago. “Both residential and commercial real estate markets may benefit from stable interest rates.

release of Google's new AI model Gemini, which has been in the works for some time. It provides credible competition to OpenAI's GPT-4. And when OpenAI releases GPT-5, Google is likely to launch ‘Gemini Ultra’, the most powerful version of its AI model.

WhatsApp has unveiled its latest feature, View Once for voice messages, providing users with the ability to send self-destructing audio notes. Revealed in a recent blog post, this new feature follows the introduction of a similar one for photos and videos in 2021 and is designed to enhance user privacy. The disappearing voice notes feature aims to address concerns about the potential forwarding of voice messages, allowing users to share sensitive information without fear of it being passed on. WhatsApp highlighted the diverse scenarios in which this feature can be useful, such as sharing credit card details or planning surprises. «For reading out your credit card details to a friend, or when you’re planning a surprise, you can now also share sensitive information over voice message with added peace of mind,» the company explained in its announcement.

Marinetrans India IPO listing: Shares of Marinetrans India Limited listed on NSE SME Emerge platform at ₹30 per share levels, delivering 15.4% premium against the issue price of ₹26 per equity share. However, profit booking soon triggered and Marinetrans India share price hit 5 per cent lower circuit at ₹28.50 apiece levels within few minutes of stock listing. Marinetrans India shares have logged 8.56 lakh trade volume in first 13 minutes of share listing.

Canada's Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, announced a substantial increase in the financial criteria for international students applying for study permits, emphasising the government's commitment to safeguarding the integrity of the education system, CBC reported. Miller also issued a stern warning, threatening to «significantly limit visas» if provinces and educational institutions fail to take appropriate actions before the upcoming fall term. Do you meet the immigration criteria? Check here The decision also extends the temporary lift on the 20-hour work limit for international students, now extended until April 30, 2024. Miller outlined the government's concerns about potential abuse in the system, targeting both questionable employers and institutions that may not be providing a genuine educational experience, according to Canadian public broadcaster CBC. During a news conference, Miller expressed concerns about certain educational institutions operating as «puppy mills» and emphasised the need to address fraud and abuse within the system. He said, «There are, in provinces, the diploma equivalent of puppy mills that are just churning out diplomas, and this is not a legitimate student experience.» The increased financial requirement for prospective students will be raised to USD 20,635, doubling the longstanding USD 10,000 threshold.