Tag Archives: RBI

According to Reserve Bank of India data, Indians are spending more on overseas travel. They took out (outward foreign exchange remittances) almost $1.42 billion (₹12,500 crore) a month on an average in 2023-2024 compared with just $400 million (about ₹3,300 crore) a month on an average five years ago in 2028-2019.

According to RBI, “40 scheduled banks have cumulatively doubled their lending to the aviation sector in January at ₹45,076 crore, as against ₹23,407 crore three years ago. Investments from other sources stood at ₹27,824 crore in January 2023, up 62% year-on-year, and continued to rise gradually during FY24. Industry analysts attribute this surge in investments to the following factors, among others.”

Anirban Chakraborty, MD & CEO, Tourism Finance Corp India (TFCI) has praised the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Policy, saying that instead of tinkering with Reverse Repo Rate, RBI has continued its accommodative stance. “The decision of status-quo shall provide relief to the economy, especially affected sectors like hospitality, retail, real estate, auto, etc., for some more time. Further, allocation of Rs. 2,400 crore to the Ministry of Tourism in the Union Budget this year (18.42% higher than the previous year), coupled with low interest rate regime, shall greatly benefit the hospitality sector. 

Sharing his view on the RBI’s decision to open an ‘on-tap liquidity window for contact-intensive sectors’, aggregating ₹15,000 crore till March 31, 2022 for the tourism sector, Aditya Agarwal, CFO, Cleartrip, has said, “This measure helps alleviate the stress in the sector, provides much-needed support to industry participants, and allows the industry to be well prepared to meet customer needs.”

FHRAI has requested Minister of Finance and the RBI for an extension of moratorium for an additional 3 months, adding that 90% of the hospitality sector could be declared as NPAs post August 31. In another move, it has requested Ministry of Home Affairs for relaxing of quarantine norms for domestic travellers as well as permission to open bars and banquet halls, among others.

On behalf of the hotel industry of Odisha, J K Mohanty, MHCIMA, Chairman – Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha & IATO Eastern Region, has written a letter to Reserve Bank of India, to extend the moratorium period up to March 2021 and exempt hoteliers from payment of interest during this period as it is not possible to pay interest without earning. He also expressed his gratitude to RBI for announcing immediate action to avoid the crisis by allowing relief on loan moratorium on interest and principal repayment for a period three months and later extended to six months.

According to an RBI survey, the aviation, automobiles, construction, MSME, and tourism & hospitality sectors would be the hardest-hit by COVID-19 pandemic. The bank carried out a systemic risk survey ‘to capture the perceptions of experts, including market participants, on the major risks faced by the financial system’.  Within the tourism sector, around 90 per cent of the respondents stated that the ‘prospects of recovery within the sector in the next 6 months appear bleak’. The aviation sector appears to be a close second, with nearly 85 per cent of the respondents categorising the prospects as grim. The results of the survey were published in its financial stability report released recently. It mentioned that the above-mentioned five sectors are adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Respondents said that “while most sectors face sizeable and immediate revenue losses, the adverse impact is seen in sectors where consumption spending is discretionary in nature”.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that banks are permitted to allow a three-month moratorium on payment of instalments of all term loans outstanding on March 1, 2020. This decision applies to all regional, rural and co-operative banks as well as NBFCs, including housing finance companies. The moratorium will not result in asset classification downgrade and will have no adverse impact on credit history of beneficiaries. Travel trade bodies and associations have been demanding a moratorium on EMIs and bank payments for a period of one year along with a complete tax holiday.

Spending on foreign travel was at $596 million in June 2019, which was 42% of the total forex purchased by Indian individuals in the month, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which started collating data under the liberalised remittance scheme since 2004. It has been the highest spent on travel since then and was $381 million, accounting for 37% in June 2018. In the first quarter of FY19, international travel cost the country $1,594 million of the total $4,181 million in forex purchased by individuals between April and June 2019. In April-June 2018, travel was $1 billion out of a total spend of $3 billion. After travel, the next thing that Indians spent foreign exchange was education at 25%.