Payouts to key management personnel in non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are under the banking regulator's scrutiny. Top industry officials said this is a follow-through on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) circular of April 29, 2022, which asked NBFCs in the "middle" and "upper" layer of its four-tiered scale-based regulatory (SBR) framework to put in place a board-approved compensation policy.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
'Das is friendly, but he finally does what he does. The quality of engagement is very good.'
It may be a 'no-go' for banking licences to large industrial houses.
The RBI working group's proposal to allow corporate houses to set up banks is a "bombshell" and at this juncture, it is more important to stick to the tried and tested limits on involvement of business houses in the banking sector, according to an article jointly written by former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and ex-Deputy Governor Viral Acharya. They also said that the proposal is "best left on the shelf".
An internal working group set up by the RBI has proposed to raise the cap on promoters' stake in private banks from the current 15 per cent to 26 per cent in 15 years. The group has also recommended that large corporate or industrial houses may be allowed as promoters of banks only after amendments to the Banking Regulation Act and strengthening of the supervisory mechanism for conglomerates, including consolidated supervision. The Reserve Bank of India had constituted the internal working group (IWG) on June 12, 2020, to review extant ownership guidelines and corporate structure for Indian private sector banks.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao on Wednesday defended the central bank's decision of not allowing industrial houses to float banks, and said more deliberations are needed before RBI changes its stance on this issue agreed back in 2001. An internal working group (IWG) of the RBI had recommended allowing industrial groups into banking, but late last month the RBI said it kept on hold the two recommendations of allowing industrial houses and large non-banks to float banks. However, RBI had accepted 21 of the 33 recommendations of the group that submitted its report a year ago.
Private equity (PE) is set to play a bigger role in banks. Of 21 recommendations accepted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) out of 31 made by its Internal Working Group (IWG), its stance on non-promoter holdings in private banks is seen with excitement, though it doesn't refer to PEs explicitly. On non-promoter holdings in these banks, the RBI said this will be capped at 10 per cent of the paid-up voting equity share capital in the case "of natural persons and non-financial institutions and entities"; and "at 15 per cent for all categories of financial institutions, entities, supranational institutions, public sector undertaking, or the government." While this is a modification of the IWG's stance for the non-promoter holding in banks at up to 15 per cent, it does open up a huge window for PEs, all the same. This is because, while the RBI has remained silent on the eligibility of industrial houses for bank licences, fresh high-quality capital in large amounts can only come from PEs.
The most common complaint of financial consumers is cumbersome processes, complicated products, usurious charges, and mis-selling of products, which finally don't deliver what is promised or as expect, notes Debashis Basu.
The RBI working group's proposal to allow corporate houses to set up banks is a 'good-looking' step in a 'bad direction' and may lead to crony capitalism and eventual financial instability, former chief economist of World Bank Kaushik Basu said on Thursday. Basu further said that there is a good reason why all successful economies have a clear dividing line between industries and corporations on the one hand, and banks and lending organisations on the other.
Since 2014, the public sector banks' branch network in rural and semi urban has grown by a mere 4,000 while for private sector banks, it doubled from 9,673 to 18,437.
'Facilitating conversion of well-run NBFCs into banks is urgently needed.'
Here are the key decisions announced by the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday.
Bad loans of PSBs are at Rs 20 trillion. Most of it is, I sense, due to corruption and behest lending. Nobody pays a price for this charade. Not the promoters, the bankers, RBI officials, finance ministry bureaucrats or politicians, points out Debashis Basu.
India's rivalry with Australia dates back to 1947-48 when Lala Amarnath's team travelled to take on the hosts, who were captained by batting great Don Bradman. The visitors were beaten 4-0 in the five-match series. A statistical analysis of the Test record between the two teams.
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