The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent and decided to continue with its accommodative stance against the backdrop of an elevated level of inflation.
The department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) can also seek in-principle approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for strategic divestment of PSUs on a case-to-case basis considering investor appetite and sectoral trends.
Of the three major Budget announcements related to the banking sector, privatisation of PSBs is the most audacious, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
In Chanda's defence, one can always say, why would the Videocon Group take care of her husband as a quid pro quo to get a loan? After all, the group has taken money from the entire banking industry and ICICI Bank's share in the pie is not even 10 per cent. So, if it had a quid pro quo with Chanda to get the money, it must have had similar arrangements with other banks, too. If this is not the case, one must accept that it had got money from all banks, including ICICI, without any under-the-table conditions, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Piramal Enterprises on Friday claimed that its bid for resolution of debt-ridden mortgage lender DHFL is highest and fully compliant with regulatory norms. Since the conclusion of the fifth and final round of the bidding process last month, Piramal Enterprises and the US-based Oaktree Capital are claiming that their bids are the highest and fully implementable. According to sources, suitors have submitted bids in the range of Rs 35,000-37,000 crore.
Operationalising the ban is being fleshed out: it will entail which cryptocurrencies will be banned and how.
Seen as a major initiative, the 'strategic partnership model' aims to create a vibrant defence manufacturing ecosystem in the country through involvement of both the major Indian corporates as well as the MSME sector.
The country was, in February, put on the list of jurisdictions that require increased monitoring. These are done to counter money-laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing in a more efficient manner.
In a significant move, markets watchdog Sebi on Tuesday decided to implement the requirement to separate the positions of chairperson and managing director at listed companies on a voluntary basis and not make it mandatory for now. The development also comes against the backdrop of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently saying the regulator should hear if Indian companies have a view on the matter even as she made it clear that she was not "giving a diktat". The top-500 listed entities were required to split the roles of chairperson and managing director/chief executive officer before the April 2022 deadline.
India believes no country would emerge victorious in the Russia-Ukraine war as all will suffer losses and there will be a "more serious" impact on developing and poor countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday after holding talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as both leaders reiterated the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
While the government has not made the report public, sources said the panel had recommended a sharp cut in all taxes on the gold business, including import duty and goods and services tax which amounts to over 13%.
The EPFO is likely to decide soon the rate of interest on PF deposits for 2013-14, which is expected to be over 8.5 per cent.
Equity benchmarks extended their decline for the fourth straight session on Wednesday, with the Sensex falling 214.85 points after the Reserve Bank raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points. Continuous foreign fund outflows and surging crude oil prices also weighed on markets. The 30-share BSE benchmark dropped 214.85 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 54,892.49.
But their trajectory and direction have been largely influenced by politics and the political leadership's understanding of how the economy needs to be managed, explains A K Bhattacharya.
Currently, there is no regulation or any ban on the use of cryptocurrencies in the country.
Armed with necessary macro and micro growth drivers, India is on its way to becoming the fastest growing major economy in the world, a finance ministry report said. Rapid vaccination and teeming festivities will push India's ongoing recovery resulting in narrowing of demand-supply mismatches and greater employment opportunities, as per the monthly Economic Review prepared by the ministry.
The Rajya Sabha on Thursday approved a bill to raise the foreign investment limit in the insurance sector to 74 per cent, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying while control will go to foreign companies, the majority of directors and key management persons will be resident Indians who will be covered by law of the land.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had called Karti for questioning on Thursday in connection with the foreign investment clearance given in the Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006 when his father Chidambaram was the finance minister.
There are lessons for the Congress to learn from the Karnataka elections of how burying the hatchet among top leaders and not washing dirty linen in public can help, says Ramesh Menon.
'Rahul inspired Indian industry with an ethos, an ethos of being more confident, more independent, more thorough, more competitive, more generous, more public-spirited, and more national and more international all at once,' remembers Naushad Forbes.
The pre-Budget proposals sent to the finance ministry aim to bring uniformity in tax treatment for investments in different financial sectors, mitigate hardship to retail taxpayers, and encourage participation in mutual funds.
Investors must remember that only resident Indians can open a PPF account and a person can have only one PPF account.
Pranab Mukherjee's stewardship of the economy will stand out as much for the manner in which he managed controversies as for creating quite a few of them, says A K Bhattacharya.
Blackstone, KKR, and Bain Capital, among others, are in the race for its general insurance arm, and Bandhan Bank, Bain, and Dabur Investments have shown interest for RCap's 51 per cent stake in the life insurance business.
The high-level panel also asked the government to work towards re-orienting subsidies in a targeted manner from the crop sector to the non-crop sector and redesign the electronic National Agriculture Market.
Expecting an annual CSR spending of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore (Rs 150-200 billion) by India Inc, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot has asked companies to see the new law as an investment opportunity to create a better work environment, rather than a forced expenditure.
In power, Mamata Banerjee has tried to bury the ghost of the past, but it might still be work-in-progress. Big-ticket and eye-grabbing (in terms of investment size) projects are still few and far between, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
All banks are eligible for privatisation. A committee of secretaries will decide which banks will be privatised, says Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda.
"As FM, I granted approval in the normal course of business," he said in a statement.
Equities went into a tailspin on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank surprised the market with a mid-cycle rate hike in a bid to tame soaring inflation.
The panel also suggested that Know Your Client rules should be based on the risk profile of investors.
The key assets put on the block include its entire stake in Reliance General Insurance Company, the third-largest private sector insurer, and a 49 per cent stake in Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, a joint venture with Nippon Life, which is among the top five private-sector insurance companies.
"I have appointed a task force to speedily identify the projects so that money can be frontloaded," she said.
Prime Minister Modi has certainly pulled back, and his political capital -- dependent as it is on an image that he knows best and never retreats -- may have taken a bit of a beating. But, equally, it is hard to say that the protesters have 'won', argues Mihir S Sharma.
The final policy may be out only after formation of the new government, according to sources
Economy has become a major cause of concern for the new government with GDP dropping to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the 2018-19.
Making a case for an optimal fiscal stance, the Economic Survey on Friday said growth leads to debt sustainability and not necessarily vice-versa. "This is because debt sustainability depends on the 'Interest Rate Growth Rate Differential' (IRGD) i.e. the difference between the interest rate and the growth rate in an economy. "With the Indian context of potential high growth, the interest rate on debt paid by the Indian government has been less than India's growth rate by norm, not by exception," it said.
The government is unlikely to come up with the IPO of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in the current financial year ending March 2022, as the valuation of the state-owned behemoth is taking more than anticipated time, and the preparatory work is still far from complete. There are still some issues that need to be addressed with regard to the valuation of LIC, a senior official of one of the merchant bankers said. Even after the valuation, there are several regulatory processes that have concluded, the official said.
Banks are set to sell dud-loans worth Rs 90,000 crore of 22 firms in the first tranche to the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL). It's reason for cheer given that such sales to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) have been poor in recent times. In fiscal 2020, their assets under management (AUM) contracted by 4 per cent; and in fiscal 2021, it fell by another 100 basis points to Rs 1.07 trillion. So, why are we where we are?
The lock-in requirement has been reduced from three years to one year for angel funds and their minimum investment threshold has been slashed from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.
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