The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) accommodative monetary policy, combined with the government's growth-centric fiscal policy, will help boost domestic growth amid global economic turmoil, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said on Wednesday.

Terming the central bank’s decision to continue with the rate easing cycle by reducing the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.0 per cent as “timely and prudent,” Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of CII, said the rate cut coupled with the shift in monetary policy stance from 'neutral' to 'accommodative,' too, is a big positive.

"This change, which CII has long advocated, firmly emphasises the Central Bank's pro-growth approach while maintaining vigilance regarding inflation outlook,” Banerjee said in a statement.

In order to further boost digital payments, the National Payments Corporation of India will be enabled to set the limit on person-to-merchants transactions via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Wednesday.

At present, the transaction amount for UPI, covering both person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant payments (P2M), is capped at Rs 1 lakh, except for specific use cases of P2M payments which have higher limits, some at Rs 2 lakh and others at Rs 5 lakh.

“To enable the ecosystem to respond efficiently to new use cases, it is proposed that NPCI, in consultation with banks and other stakeholders of the UPI ecosystem, may announce and revise such limits based on evolving user needs,” said Malhotra after the 54th meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC).

Appropriate safeguards will be put in place to mitigate risks associated with higher limits. Banks shall continue to have the discretion to decide their own internal limits within the limits announced by NPCI.

Indian equity markets have now entered the ‘attractive zone’ from the ‘fair’ and ‘moderately expensive’ zones where the markets remained for most of 2024, a new report said on Tuesday.

This is a notable improvement as the shift indicates a good opportunity for long-term investors, according to the Union Mutual Fund report.

Despite global geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainties, the long-term outlook for India remains positive.

Harshad Patwardhan, Chief Investment Officer at Union AMC, said that strong macroeconomic fundamentals, healthy corporate and banking balance sheets, expected demand revival due to tax relief and welfare schemes, and signs of a new private investment cycle are all encouraging factors.

The Indian stock markets staged a robust relief rally on Tuesday, snapping a three-day losing streak ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy decision on April 9.

Both the Sensex and Nifty rose sharply, each gaining around 1.5 per cent by the end of the day as investors brushed aside concerns over US tariff threats.

The Sensex jumped 1,089 points, or 1.49 per cent, to close at 74,227.08, while the Nifty climbed 374 points, or 1.69 per cent, to settle at 22,535.85.

The Finance Ministry's Department of Financial Services has notified the amalgamation of 26 Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) on the principles of 'One State One RRB' as part of the fourth phase of the continuing exercise to improve efficiency, according to an official statement issued on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Finance had rolled out an amalgamation plan in November 2024 for consultation with stakeholders. After consultation with stakeholders, the amalgamation of 26 RRBs in 10 states and one UT has been carried out with the primary focus on the improvement in scale efficiency and cost rationalisation, the statement said.

At present, 43 RRBs are functioning in 26 states and 2 UTs. Post amalgamation, there will be 28 RRBs in 26 states and 2 UTs with more than 22,000 branches covering 700 districts. Their predominant area of operation is in rural areas, with approximately 92 per cent of branches in rural and semi-urban areas, the statement said.

Measures taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease the monetary policy in recent months are expected to support a year-on-year credit expansion of around 10.8 per cent at Rs 19 lakh crore to Rs 20.5 lakh crore in 2025-2026, according to an ICRA report released on Tuesday.

Such measures include the repo rate cut, deferment of proposed changes in the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) framework and additional provisions on infra projects, along with the roll-back of increased risk weights on lending to unsecured consumer credit and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).

Besides this, the durable liquidity infusion by the RBI through open market operations (OMO) by way of purchases of Government bonds and forex swaps with banks, would aid the liquidity and faster transmission of the ongoing cut in policy rates, the report states.

The swift shift in global sentiment, high market volatility and fear of recession amid the US tariff shock indicate a 25bps cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on April 9, with possible change in stance to “accommodative" to give directional easing bias, a report showed on Tuesday.

The Central Bank began its three-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Monday.

“The extent to which this global trade war could stretch is unclear. Monetary policy may have to do the heavy lifting in India by being more countercyclical than fiscal this year. Implications for India could stem from both, global financial market disruptions and real sector hit,” said Emkay Global Financial Services in the note.

While there is scope for negotiation and de-escalation, “we think this could be a pivotal turning point for emerging markets (EMs) assets in coming months”.

India secured the third position globally in terms of funding raised for the fintech sector in Q1 2025, following the US and the UK, a report showed on Tuesday.

A majority of the funding in this space has been seen in the late-stage rounds. Late-stage funding witnessed a 47 per cent increase to $227 million in January-March period, compared to $154 million raised in Q4 2024, said the report by Tracxn, a leading market intelligence platform.

The first quarter of this year witnessed a total funding of $366 million. March was the most funded month of the quarter, with $187 million raised, accounting for 51 per cent of the total funds.

The Indian economy faced bearish stock trends, US-imposed tariffs, global trade tensions, and rising inflation discouraging venture capital inflows.

The indigenous development of hybrid and electric propulsion tugs is not only a technological advancement but also a symbol of India’s growing capability to lead the global green maritime movement, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, has said.

After unveiling advanced machinery at Cochin Shipyard to enhance shipbuilding capacity of the country, the minister remarked that this is a movement towards realising the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

The Union Minister inaugurated the ‘ProArc CNC Plasma Cum Oxy Fuel Plate Cutting Machine’ — an advanced facility that will significantly enhance Cochin Shipyard Limited’s ship-building capabilities.

The system allows real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and increased production efficiency, directly aligning with the objectives of the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy (SBFAP) 2.0.

Indian frontline indices opened in the green on Tuesday as heavyweights like Titan, Tata Steel and Adani Ports lifted the market sentiment despite global uncertainty amid US tariffs.

As of 9:21 am, Sensex was up 1,169 points or 1.60 per cent at 74,307 and Nifty was up 375 points or 1.69 per cent at 22,536.

Along with largecaps, midcaps and smallcaps moved up. Nifty midcap 100 index was 1,094 points up or 2.24 per cent at 49,903 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was 356 points up or 1.75 per cent at 15,424.

On the sectoral front, all indices were trading in the green. PSU Bank, financial services, metal, realty, energy, private bank, infra and realty were major gainers.