The RBI has shelved its plan for polymer notes more than a decade after it invited interest from global manufacturers for one billion pieces of Rs 10 denomination polymer banknotes, reveals Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
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.
Railway officials also indicated that possible 'sabotage' and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident.
'When you need to revive the economy, when you need to revive aggregate demand, you cut taxes.' 'But what's this government doing?' 'It's increasing taxes for the middle class and the vast majority of the poor on fuel, which has a ratchet effect on most other products.'
PwC one of the big four audit firms, has expressed disappointment at the conviction of two former partners in the Satyam scam.
In the US, Zoho gets close to 80 per cent of its revenue from small companies, while the remaining comes from large ones.
'They are taking the people of the country for granted.'
While its deposits from Iran accounts have come down from a peak of around Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 2,200 crore, it's been offset by the bank receiving almost Rs 24,000 crore in deposits post note ban.
To shed more light on how GST will affect the individual as well as the nation, Rediff Chat has lined up experts to field your queries.
What's different this time is that global financial stress -- which has its genesis in four policy choices made in recent years -- is juxtaposed with a more resilient real economy, observes Sajjid Z Chinoy, chief India economist at J P Morgan.
As FIIs pull out of road projects, doubts have surfaced about the future of new highways and roads
The two-wheeler sector has been underperforming its peers on the volumes front for over five quarters now. Even in the March quarter, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp posted a 17-24 per cent YoY decline in volumes, the sharpest in the listed auto universe. The ongoing impact of frequent price hikes, all-time high fuel prices, and muted rural sentiment has led to the lacklustre showing by two-wheeler makers. What has aggravated the situation for two-wheeler companies, which get almost all their sales from the internal combustion engine or ICE-based units, is the traction for electric two-wheelers (EV).
Serum Institute of India CEO Aadar Poonawalla has said that the production of Covid-19 vaccine Covishield is in full swing in Pune and he will review the operations once he is back in the country in a few days. Poonawalla is currently in the UK to meet his family members.
'There is a certain irony embedded in this asymmetric geographical distribution of FDI because most state leaders have shed their inhibitions about promoting 'business' and have understood its virtues as a more cost-effective way of replacing the mai-baap welfarism that passed for economic policy till the early nineties', says Kanika Datta.
'Everyone says never waste a crisis.' 'When we went into Covid and we were in total lockdown, we were at work.' 'The planes were not flying and we wondered what to do.' 'We looked at each of our performance metrics -- what are customers complaining about, how do employees feel, how do investors feel?'
Cash flow-based analysis should throw up businesses better able to survive the transient effects of a working capital crunch, says Devangshu Datta.
Why are investors gung-ho about State Bank? asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'Start-ups that generate a majority of their income in India are likely to opt for an Indian listing.'
'While the poor have little say in shaping India's intellectual or public discourse, they do have a significant role in deciding political outcomes,' points out Roshan Kishore.
While most banks in India store all this data on Indian servers in their core banking systems, the current directive addresses new-age payment and fintech companies operating in the space
In the start-up world, hitting the $1-billion mark, which accords the "Unicorn" tag, is a milestone. Enterprises typically reach the milestone only by series C or series D, or three to four funding rounds later. Zeta achieved it at the first one. On May 25, the six-year-old banking tech firm raised $250 million from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, at a post-money valuation of $1.45 billion. "This is the first time we have raised institutional money," Zeta co-founder Bhavin Turakhia beamed on the conference call. This trajectory is uncommon in start-ups.
'The minimum holding period for equities should be three years.' 'Try goal-based investing.' 'Link your equity portfolios to specific goals such as retirement, purchase of a house or car...'
When Nitin Gadkari was president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party had announced it would set up a separate ministry for handlooms and handicraft. Instead of doing that, the BJP government has abolished the only institution that took into account the voice of the weavers.
Solar equipment manufacturing, however, is unlikely to pick up in India as Chinese imports are more cost-effective
Employees across segments, including those involved in specialised jobs such as technology, compliance and risk management, have started leaving the bank fold in hordes, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Bankers pay a small price for their misdeeds, no matter how large the cost to their banks or to the economy at large, says TT Ram Mohan.
Zero-coupon bonds don't give out interest but are issued at a deep discount to the face value, making it difficult to ascertain the net present value.
While there is a glimmer of hope and India's COVID-19 numbers are on a definite decline for a combination of reasons, a vaccination programme continues to be important, particularly given the presence of a mutant, more transmissible strain, several experts said while cautioning against infection upticks ahead.
While analysts remains overweight on financials, property, discretionary, industrials and materials, they maintain a neutral stance on pharma, telecom and energy; and underweight on staples, utilities, and IT services.
For any airline to be eligible for restructuring, the current ratio has to be equal to or higher than 0.4, while 'debt to Ebitda' has to be equal to or less than 5.5.
Tax benefit on WFH expenses, regulatory clarity on cryptos figure high on their wish list.
On November 12, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to ring in uniformity in asset classification and income recognition across all lending institutions. Shadow banks, or non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), like commercial banks, are to test non-performing assets (NPAs) on a daily basis and upgrade them to "standard assets" only when interest and principal arrears are settled by borrowers. This is going to create all manner of headaches for shadow banks and their clientele. Says Y S Chakravarti, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), Shriram City Union Finance: "NPA levels will go up, especially of small borrowers.
India's gold obsession needs a correction.
Questioning the bullet train in view of the investment needed in Indian Railways is similar to saying that India needed to invest in primary education rather than in IITs, says Shreekant Sambrani.
'The new ceiling will cover around 93 per cent of all deposit accounts, up from 90 per cent earlier,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Airlines are slashing salaries and re-negotiating vendor contracts as drastic fall in passengers has hurt revenue. Go First has cut staff salaries by around 16 per cent while IndiGo and SpiceJet are enforcing a leave without pay (LWP) policy and pay by the hour structure respectively to prune expenses. Vistara, which reversed pay cuts for junior staff including managers and cabin crew in March, is not touching employee salaries at the moment and instead focusing on vendor renegotiation and maximising cargo revenue. An Air India executive said efforts are on to pay salaries by 7th or 8th of June.
The speed at which he led the central bank in different areas -- ranging from internal reorganisation to inflation fighting, stabilising the currency, taking on rogue corporations, cleaning up bank balance sheets, and opening the sector -- makes one believe that Rajan knew he had only three years to do his job. A fascinating excerpt from Tamal Bandyopadhyay's MUST-READ Roller Coaster: An Affair with Banking.
'Earlier-than-expected tapering from the US, followed by rate hikes, and locally, a potential third wave, which mimics the second wave in terms of severity.'
One thing is for sure: It smacks of the regulator's lack of confidence in the bank's board, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
