Diwesh Sharan, a deputy director general of ADB, says beside the PPP model and viability gap funding, there is a 3rd option - value capture - to raise funds for India's ambitious infrastructure projects.
Banks are in need of government support to manage the stressed assets
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
The number of infrastructure projects cleared by a monitoring group set up in the Cabinet Secretariat had increased consistently in the past year.
Following are comments from economists at leading financial institutions, banks and rating agencies on the interim Budget:
Nikunj Saraf, Vice President Choice Wealth, answers your queries.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her third Budget on February 1.
Addressing a session at the Future Investment Initiative 2019 here, Modi said India offers a huge investment opportunity in the infrastructure sector also as he emphasised that the country aims to be a $ 5 trillion economy in the next five years.
Corporate India is starting to step up its capital expenditure plans amid government incentives and signs of rising demand, company executives and analysts have indicated. This coincides with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently citing a double-digit growth in private capital expenditure. Healthy balance sheets of banks and corporates, along with increasing capacity utilisation and improving business sentiment, are contributing to a favourable environment for sustained growth in private sector investments, the RBI said in its policy last week.
The senior IPS officer said that 45 percent of cyber financial frauds taking place in the country are originating from the South East Asia.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by Indian companies have declined sharply by 80 per cent so far this year, in contrast with the same period last year, as bankers predict lower deal volumes due to falling profit margins of Indian companies and feeble stock markets. The decline in Adani Group shares has also hit buyer sentiment. According to data from Refinitiv, M&As in India stood at $3.3 billion from 253 deals, year-to-date (YTD) - a fall of 80 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Cross-border deals by Indian companies were also down 84 per cent to just $1.5 billion.
'No commercial bank will be allowed to fail. There is nothing to worry about.'
If 4,000 workers could work round the clock for the construction of the new Parliament building, then there is no reason why all infrastructure projects too cannot follow that model, asserts Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Deutsche Bank in India has managed to avoid the bad-loan problems plaguing its rivals such as Standard Chartered Plc.
Elaborating on this theme, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan pointed out that if the power sector had not been opened up through reforms initiated in 2003, India would still have been in darkness.
The 'bad bank' -- which will help banks clear their balance sheets by transferring the NPAs to special purpose vehicles -- has been one of the most debated ideas for stressed asset resolution.
Despite the $11.7 billion raised by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) through stake sales, venture investments in 2020 have declined by a fifth to $28.9 billion till September, consultancy firm EY said in a report on Thursday. Since mid-March, coronavirus infections started getting reported in the country, which has now become the second highest globally in terms of numbers. The lockdowns severely dented economic activity, leading to a 23.9 per cent contraction in the gross domestic product (GDP) for the April-June period and expectations of a 9.5 per cent contraction by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for 2020-21.
'The private sector believes that some enablers in labour-intensive sectors like apparel, toys, tourism, and media retail, can unlock a lot of jobs.'
"My aim is to make Maharashtra the world's big financial powerhouse and to make Mumbai a global fintech capital," he said.
While Andhra Pradesh is expected to receive Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore, Bihar is likely to get Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore in FY25.
'India's march towards being a $5 trillion economy continues, notwithstanding momentary setbacks.' 'India is at an inflexion point and most economists believe this growth super-cycle will extend for over four decades.'
The Reserve Bank has given an in-principle nod to invest $5 billion of foreign exchange reserves annually in infrastructure projects through two subsidiaries of India Infrastructure Finance Company.India's forex reserves stood at $266.52 billion as on November 2 and experts believe that they should be utilised at least for financing infrastructure projects.
'Facilitating conversion of well-run NBFCs into banks is urgently needed.'
An analyst says, due to excess capacity, investment in manufacturing will not be forthcoming
'As these segments are growing at 25 per cent for the last three years, credit quality has been extremely good.'
New norms are in place to strengthen regulations for this set of lenders which has been playing a critical role in Asia's third largest economy, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
India will require a total investment of $10.1 trillion to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, while the nation could face a shortfall of $3.5 trillion, a study by CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF) said. At the recently concluded COP26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India's aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. "India would need cumulative investments of $10.1 trillion to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, according to an independent study released today by the CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF)," a statement said.
'He asserted in his usual jovial style that he was not an MBA like his audience at IIM-Ahmedabad but perhaps had an even better business degree: MBB'. 'He went on to explain to his perplexed, blue chip B-School audience that MBB stood for "Marwadi by birth"!' Shivanand Kanavi salutes Shashi Ruia, co-founder of the Essar group who passed into the ages on November 25, 2024 in Mumbai.
'Any finality in such matters requires political views. We will review it closer to the full Budget.'
Anil Rego, CEO, Right Horizons, answers your personal income tax queries.
'Investors with higher risk appetite and longer horizon (more than one year) can invest in longer-duration funds like corporate bond funds, long-duration funds and gilt funds for maximum gain.'
The S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 have hit record highs amid the poll outcome-triggered bull frenzy at the bourses. Most analysts feel that the indices are on course to rise further over the next few months - till the general elections - albeit amid intermittent corrections - largely triggered by global developments. Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) win in the three state elections of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, analysts at Jefferies believe, reinforces the consensus expectations of a Modi win 2024 national elections with a greater likelihood of over 300 seats for the BJP.
The bank has decided to embark on a 'Technology Transformation agenda' to provide its customers smoother, faster, and better banking experience.
According to the report, the demand for materials needed for infrastructure projects like metals, minerals, buildings and transport equipment is expected to increase as the country invests in building its civil infrastructure.
A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted its ban on HDFC Bank on issuing new credit cards, the country's largest private sector lender on Wednesday said it had resources and plans in place to "further reinforce pole position in the credit card segment" and that it would "come back with a bang". "We will aggressively go to the market, with not just our existing suite of credit cards but also new offerings in the form of co-brands and partnerships," Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director and chief executive officer of HDFC Bank, said in a letter to his employees. The bank's management had earlier indicated that the lender had been sourcing liability customers aggressively over the past few months.
Nearly half of the investments by various US-based investors have been made in Reliance subsidiary Jio.
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
CPPIB, which started investing in the country in 2009, has invested in Kotak Mahindra Bank, L&T Infrastructure Development Projects, online education firm Byju's, energy company ReNew Power, logistics firm Delhivery, among others.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in India are expected to stay buoyant, seen over the last three-four years, despite a slowdown in the first seven months of the calendar year. "M&A is a lumpy business activity, and we may suddenly see large deals taking place during the next two quarters of the calendar year. "This would help maintain the streak of strong M&A activity.
