29_Mum_MS_RBISURPLUS
Rbi reports increase in surplus transfer driven by foreign exchange gains in fy25
MUMBAI: Earnings from foreign exchange operations helped the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report a 27% jump in its surplus transfer to the central govt for FY25, with revenue coming from both foreign currency assets as well as profits from the sale of dollars in the Indian markets.
The surplus, also termed the available balance for transfer, rose to Rs 2.7 lakh crore in FY25 from Rs 2.1 lakh crore in FY24.
Overall interest income rose by 12% to Rs 2.11 lakh crore, while gains from foreign exchange transactions contributed to a 47% jump in other income, which stood at Rs 1.28 lakh crore. The RBI's total income for the year increased by 23% to Rs 3.38 lakh crore, mainly driven by a 29% rise in interest earnings from overseas assets to Rs 1.33 lakh crore.
However, part of the money was used by the RBI to strengthen its financial buffers.
The Contingency Fund rose by 27% to Rs 5.42 lakh crore, following a Rs 44,862 crore provision to align its Available Realised Equity (ARE) with the 7.5% target under the Economic Capital Framework. The ARE rose nearly 25% to Rs 5.72 lakh crore, while the Asset Development Fund remained unchanged at Rs 22,975 crore.
Domestic earnings, however, declined. Interest income from local investments dropped nearly 10% to Rs 77,327 crore, largely due to lower returns from rupee securities. Other income from domestic operations fell by 20% to Rs 2,143 crore. Total expenditure went up by 8% to Rs 69,714 crore, mainly due to higher costs for printing currency and employee benefits.
Stay informed with the latest
business
news, updates on
bank holidays
and
public holidays
.
AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
30 minutes ago
- Mint
From red to black: India's top automakers see EV business turning around
New Delhi: After pumping in money for several years, Indian automotive manufacturing companies are finally beginning to see their electric vehicle (EV) businesses moving towards profitability. The EV business of top car makers Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) are already operationally profitable–a crucial milestone towards full profitability–even as Hyundai Motor India said its flagship EV is per-unit profitable. These three companies account for nearly two-thirds of the electric car market. On the other hand, two-wheeler majors Bajaj Auto Ltd, Hero MotoCorp, Ather Energy and Ola Electric Ltd are hopeful of turning operationally profitable soon. Achieving net profit, however, is some distance away for both segments. The trend comes on the back of strong growth in sales of EVs in FY25. Even as electric passenger vehicle sales rose 18% to 107,645 units in the fiscal year, electric two-wheeler sales grew 21% to 1.14 million units in the same period, as per Vahan portal data. Also read | New Delhi is promoting hybrid cars on par with electric, upsetting EV makers Analysts said policy incentives and a reduction in the cost of EV production are helping their profitability push. 'Reduction in import duties on key materials required to build EV components, increased localization by OEMs, and policy interventions like PLI and PM e-drive scheme are helping OEMs move towards EV profitability," Shridhar Kallani, research analyst for auto at Axis Securities, said. 'The increasing demand from consumers is also leading to a volume push, thereby helping the OEMs to grow the market and their profitability." Operations profitable Tata Motors, India's third largest automaker, reported Ebitda (earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization) margin of 1.2% in FY25, a move into the black from -7.1% in FY24. 'In the EV segment, we became one of the few global manufacturers to achieve positive Ebitda (earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization) on the back of a higher level of localisation, aggressive cost reduction, and securing PLI benefits," Shailesh Chandra, managing director at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Limited and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Limited, said in his annual letter to shareholders. Likewise, close rival M&M reported Ebitda-positive EV sales, despite entering the segment late. And Hyundai reported positive Ebitda on its flagship Creta Electric at the unit level, minus launch-related expenses. M&M launched two EVs in the January-March period–BE 6 & XEV 9e–while Hyundai launched the Creta Electric in January. These new launches are driving the EV sales of the two companies, which were at 8,182 units and 2,410 units, respectively, during FY25, per data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada). Read this | EVs hit with falling resale value as consumer demand cools 'MEAL (Mahindra Electric Automobile Ltd) as a company was Ebitda positive in its first quarter of operation," Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director and CEO-auto and farm sectors, said during the post Q4 results earnings call on 5 May. 'It made a ₹10-crore Ebitda profit without accruing any PLI (production-linked incentive)." Meanwhile, K.S. Hariharan, head of investor relations at Hyundai Motor India, said during the company earnings call on 16 May, 'If you exclude the launch-related marketing expenses and the test drive discounts, we are margin positive on Creta EV." However, there is some scepticism about them matching profits of conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles anytime soon. Rahul Bharti, senior executive officer, corporate affairs at India's top conventional car maker Maruti Suzuki, said during the company's Q3 earnings call on 29 January that it will take a long time for EVs to match ICE's profitability. 'If the profit of an EV was equal to that of an ICE, why would the government support so much at the Centre and the state level?" Bharti noted during the call with analysts. 'The very fact that there is a drastic reduction in GST, and so many subsidies at different levels on demand side and supply side, means that there is a difference." Profit on two-wheels India's top two wheeler players, too, are also chalking out a clear path to profitability. Bajaj Auto Ltd and Hero MotoCorp Ltd expect to turn their EV business Ebitda profitable in the next 24 months. Meanwhile, Ather Energy and Ola Electric Ltd remain hopeful that they will soon touch the break even point. Ola Electric Mobility Ltd, the country's largest electric two-wheeler company, said it is very close to breaking even. Ola had guided for reaching the milestone in the current quarter, but it's now likely to reach it in the July to September period amid slowing sales. 'What we had shared is that we expect to get to auto segment Ebitda positive within some time in Q1…we are more or less on track on that," Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and managing director at Ola Electric, said, adding that its auto segment will likely turn Ebitda positive sometime in June or July. The Ebitda margin was -78.6% in Q4 of FY25. As per the management, Ola will need 25,000 monthly sales to reach the breakeven point. In five months of 2025 so far, it has sold on average 19,000 vehicles per month, as per Vahan portal data. Also read | EV industry, government struggle to find alternatives as China throttles rare earth magnet supply Its Bengaluru-based peer Ather Energy Ltd is also confident about its path to profitability as its Ebitda margin improved to -23% in FY25 from -42% in the year-ago period. 'Profitability is the function of revenue and cost," Ravneet Phokela, chief business officer at Ather, told Mint. 'As we increase our sales through network expansion and reduce cost through localisation, there is a clear path to profitability." The country's largest conventional two-wheeler seller, Hero MotoCorp, is also guiding for profitability of its EV business by 2027 on the back of increasing sales, reducing cost and realising PLI benefits. 'What will really make this business profitable is the scale-up (of EV business), the bill of material cost reduction through localization, and PLI benefit realization," Vivek Anand, the company's chief financial officer said during the post results earnings call on 14 May. Hero MotoCorp's Ebitda margin from EVs improved from -155% in FY24 to -95% in FY25. 'At 25,000-30,000 levels of volume per month, we hope that this will break even, which in our view is a couple of years away," Anand added. The company sold about 4,000 vehicles on average every month in the financial year 2025. And read | Automakers rush to PMO, commerce ministry as Chinese magnet crisis set to spread beyond EVs, threatens production cuts Bajaj Auto Ltd also noted during its call with analysts that it is very close to breaking even for its e-two-wheeler business. For its combined two-wheeler and three-wheeler electric business, it had broken even on the Ebitda level in the July-September quarter (Q2 of FY25). 'At a unit economics level, clearly with PLI and PLI-certified models, we now have a line of sight to getting very close to an Ebitda break-even, relative to what was a very significant loss 12-15 months ago," said Dinesh Thapar, CFO at Bajaj Auto. The Nifty Auto index has gained 0.8% in 2025, lagging the Nifty 50's 4.2% rise during the same period.
Time of India
39 minutes ago
- Time of India
Bank investments in MFs soar 91% in FY25 amid subdued lending, surplus liquidity
Chalasani of AMFI expects banks' MF investment interest to be strong as the central bank has changed its liquidity stance from neutral to accommodative, leaving scope for sustained surplus liquidity. Banks' mutual fund investments jumped 91% year on year to Rs 1,19,863 crore as on March 21, 2025, from Rs 62,499 crore on March 22, 2024, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bulletin showed. Banks' MF investments had grown 28% in the previous year. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Amid subdued lending and surplus liquidity, banks are earning relatively attractive returns from an untraditional source—mutual funds. Bank s' mutual fund investments jumped 91% year on year to Rs 1,19,863 crore as on March 21, 2025, from Rs 62,499 crore on March 22, 2024, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bulletin showed. Banks' MF investments had grown 28% in the previous non-SLR (statutory liquidity ratio) investments are remunerative treasury operations that banks engage in with surplus funds in the absence of attractive lending opportunities.'Besides suboptimal credit growth, bank investments in mutual funds schemes have gone up due to surplus liquidity conditions, favourable market conditions and relatively faster execution' explained Vinod A N, general manager and treasury head at South Indian Bank Venkat N Chalasani, CEO of Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) and a former State Bank of India deputy managing director, said, 'Most of these investments are in liquid and money market schemes, which is also reflected in the overall mutual fund investment numbers where investments are in zero risk short-term debt instruments such as treasury bills where returns are comparably higher.'AMFI data for MF assets under management (AUM) in March 2025 shows that over 40 % of the funds are parked in liquid schemes. The returns on such investments can go up as high as 7%, while comparable treasury bill yield is around 5.9%Deploying surplus liquidity in MFs for a short-term period helps banks in asset liability management—to execute a bullish interest rate view and higher yield with the benefit of diversification without sacrificing the quality, exports said.'Unlocking of liquidity is relatively better in the form of MF redemption when compared to direct investments,' Vinod MF investments are expected to remain positive in 2025-26, depending on multiple variables like liquidity, interest rate view, credit growth, etc. 'However, repeating the sharp jump (of FY25) is a tall task,' Vinod said. 'I expect moderate growth in MF investment for the rest of FY26.'Chalasani of AMFI expects banks' MF investment interest to be strong as the central bank has changed its liquidity stance from neutral to accommodative, leaving scope for sustained surplus of the restrictive factors, however, is higher risk weights on these investments for banks which is linked to the quarter end investment positions. Hence, a longer trend of bank investments in MFs show a significant amount of pull-outs during the quarter ending period.
Time of India
39 minutes ago
- Time of India
Most listed new-age startups improve Q4 profitability; Swiggy, Ola lag behind
Out of the 17 new-age companies listed on Indian stock exchanges, 11 reported an improvement in profitability for the January-March quarter, either by expanded profits or narrower losses, in a sign of better operational performance. This group includes Nykaa , Delhivery , BlackBuck, Paytm, Policybazaar, Go Digit , Ather Energy and Ixigo . However, six others saw a deterioration in their bottom lines. These include food and grocery delivery firms Swiggy and Eternal , which ramped up cash burn amid intensifying competition in the fast-growing quick commerce sector. Losses also widened for FirstCry , Mobikwik and Ola Electric. For Ola Electric, the fourth-quarter loss more than doubled to Rs 870 crore even as its operating revenue plummeted 62%. Among the lot of these 17 companies, beauty and fashion retailer Nykaa and Policybazaar parent PB Fintech were the top performers, having posted 24% and 38% year-on-year growth in revenue for the fourth quarter, while also more than doubling their profits. ETtech Brokerages underscored the improvement in margins for these two companies, which went public in 2021, suggesting the momentum could continue. For PB Fintech, Citi Research highlighted a one-percentage-point expansion in contribution margins for the March quarter — which came after three quarters of contraction — in addition to reduced expenses on employee stock option plans as key drivers behind its strong profitability momentum. Live Events On Nykaa , brokerage firm JM Financial said strong working capital enhancement ensured that the company had its first year of positive cashflow since Covid, after adjusting for lease liabilities and capital expenditure. 'We believe core BPC (beauty and personal care) will benefit from repeat purchases from customers acquired this year, resulting in sharper margin improvement in the coming years. Nykaa's ability to deliver robust growth in a tepid demand environment along with margin enhancement demonstrates its differentiated market positioning,' the firm said. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Beauty retailer Honasa Consumer , the parent of Mamaearth, meanwhile saw its profits falling 15% during the quarter on back of the company's offline restructuring exercise. The company's management indicated that it is now expected to see the positive impact of the rejig. ETtech Quick burn The fourth quarter saw increased cash burn for Gurgaon-based Zomato parent Eternal and Bengaluru-headquartered Swiggy in their quick commerce units, Blinkit and Instamart , respectively. This impacted their consolidated earnings, particularly at a time when their largest segment of food delivery is undergoing a slowdown. Going ahead, senior executives of the two companies laid out differing views on how they see profitability. Eternal said Blinkit will aggressively chase market share even if it comes at the cost of near-term profitability. On the other hand, Swiggy group CEO Sriharsha Majety said the operating losses for Instamart peaked by the end of the January-March quarter, and the company expects to 'progressively unwind losses' from here on. Eternal reported a 78% fall in its net profit to Rs 39 crore in the past quarter, while Swiggy's net loss nearly doubled to Rs 1,081 crore. A research note from HSBC Securities said Blinkit lost Rs 2 for every Rs 100 of gross order value (GOV), while Swiggy lost Rs 18. 'Cash burn for Swiggy was even higher than profit losses. In terms of competitive intensity, while the next few months are tactically favourable for Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart, competition may get intense again in the second half of this year and next year (2026),' it said. EV mixed bag For Ola Electric, the March quarter saw not only expanding losses but also a significant fall in revenue as the company went from being the leader in electric two wheeler segment to now falling behind legacy players such as TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto in terms of market share. Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities, while downgrading their call on Ola Electric's stock to 'sell', said its future 'hinges on scaling up volumes' and a 'successful motorcycle foray', and that the company 'faces executive and credibility challenges'. According to the brokerage firm, the company's performance during the past couple of quarters has been marred by weaker scooter volumes and rising warranty provisions, which have weighed on its profitability. 'Volume trends have been impacted by increased competitive intensity and several quality issues faced by customers,' the analysts added. The company's operating revenue for the March quarter came in at Rs 611 crore – lower than its rival Ather Energy, which posted Rs 676 crore in top line . To be sure, Ather Energy, which went public in May, clocked less than half the scooter volumes compared with la Electric in fiscal 2025. Even though Ola Electric's losses expanded, Ather Energy saw its loss narrowing 17% during the March quarter. Logistics on firm ground New-age logistics firm Delhivery and truck aggregator platform BlackBuck both reported profits for the fourth quarter, compared to losses in the year-ago period. For Delhivery, the profitability in the March quarter meant it posted its first full year of net profit as its core transportation business continued to show improvement in operating efficiencies. BlackBuck, which went public last year, reported a net profit of Rs 280 crore, a major chunk of which was on account of a one-time tax credit. However, even on a pre-tax basis, BlackBuck turned profitable, reporting a Rs 41 crore profit, as it tightened expenses particularly under the heads of employee benefits and interest costs.
