Page 8 - Banking Finance August 2022

RBI CORNER

Reserve Bank

Cryptocurency clear dan- Interest rates on small sav- continue to earn an interest rate of
5.5 per cent in the second quarter.
ger, warns RBI guv ings schemes unchanged,
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta says govt SEBI fines 2 Sahara compa-
Das described cryptocurrencies as
The government kept interest rates nies Rs. 12 crore
"clear danger" and said that anything
unchanged on small savings schemes,
that derives value based on make be- Sebi has imposed a fine of Rs 12 crore
including NSC and PPF, for the second on two Sahara Group companies and
lieve, without any underlying, is just
quarter of 2022-23 amid high inflation some of the board members of these
speculation under a sophisticated
and rising interest rate. two entities, including Subrata Roy
name. The government is in the pro-
The interest rate on small savings Sahara, for violating laws that govern
cess of finalising a consultation paper
schemes has not been revised since the fund-raising by corporates. The two
on cryptocurrencies after gathering
entities are Sahara India Real Estate
first quarter of 2020-21.
inputs from various stakeholders and
Corp (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing In-
institutions. Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Na-
vestment Corp (SHICL).
tional Savings Certificate (NSC) will con-
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been
tinue to have an annual interest rate According to the report, when Sahara
flagging concerns about
Prime City (SPCL) had filed for its IPO
of 7.1 per cent and 6.8 per cent, re-
cryptocurrencies, which are seen as a
in 2009, Sebi found that the two enti-
spectively, in the second quarter of this
highly speculative asset.
ties, SIRECL and SHICL had, between
fiscal.
In the foreword to the 25th issue of 2008 and 2009, raised funds through
"The rates of interest on various small
the Financial Stability Report (FSR) re- optionally fully convertible debentures
savings schemes for the second quar-
leased, Das also said that as the finan- (OFCDs). The fund-raising process for
ter of the financial year 2022-23, start-
cial system gets increasingly each of the companies had violated
ing from July 1, 2022, and ending on
digitalised, cyber risks are growing and Sebi's rules for collecting funds from
September 30, 2022, shall remain un-
need special attention. the public.
changed from those notified for the
"We must be mindful of the emerging first quarter (April 1, 2022, to June 30, RBI extends deadline for
risks on the horizon. Cryptocurrencies
2022) for FY 2022-23," the finance
card tokenisation
are a clear danger. Anything that de-
ministry said in a notification.
RBI is extending the deadline for card-
rives value based on make believe,
Interest rates for small savings schemes
without any underlying, is just specu- on-file (CoF) tokenisation by another
are notified on a quarterly basis.
lation under a sophisticated name," three months to September 30 as
The one-year term deposit scheme will transaction processing based on such
Das said.
8 | 2022 | AUGUST | BANKING FINANCE