Noisy protests disrupted the both houses of the Parliament on the first day of the second part of the budget session
While the formation of a holding company will not outright privatise State-owned banks, officials believe it will help the Centre deflect criticism arising out of the latest banking scams.
Nirav Modi, the fugitive diamond merchant wanted in India to stand trial on fraud and money laundering charges, told a UK court on Thursday that he could be in England for years as some ongoing proceedings prevent his extradition. The 52-year-old former billionaire appeared for a hearing at Barkingside Magistrates' Court in east London via video link from Thameside prison in relation legal costs, or fines, amounting to GBP 150,247.00, accrued over his failed extradition appeal proceedings in the London high court. Dressed in a pink prison-issue outfit and sporting a moustache, a plump and bald Nirav addressed the three-member magistrates' bench to reveal that he had complied with the previous court direction to pay in GBP 10,000 per month towards the fines.
Sebi on Thursday sent a notice to fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi asking him to pay Rs 5.35 crore in a case pertaining to fraudulent trading in the shares of Gitanjali Gems Ltd and warned of arrest and attachment of assets as well as bank accounts if he fails to make the payment within 15 days. The demand notice came after Choksi failed to pay a fine imposed on him by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Choksi, who was the chairman and managing director as well as part of promoter group of Gitanjali Gems, is the maternal uncle of Nirav Modi.
The 49-year-old jeweller, fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank scam case, has made around six previous attempts at bail at the magistrates' court as well as at the high court level.
India's financial sector is dominated by large government-owned and private-sector banks.
The notice, which acts as an international arrest warrant, states that Purvi Deepak Modi, 44, is required on charges of "money laundering".
Use of blockchain technology will ensure that banks will not be blindsided like in the case of the Nirav Modi-Mehul Choksi blowout at PNB, says Raghu Mohan.
Mining conglomerate Vedanta Limited has received approvals from the majority of its creditors for a proposed demerger of businesses, marking an important step in the company's plan to split into six independent listed companies. "I am happy to let all of you know that we have received the 52 per cent plus the additional percentage, which is required for us to reach 75 per cent. "We have crossed that threshold as well. Most of the lenders have approved it," a senior Vedanta executive said in a recent bondholder conference call.
While the scam highlights the need for an overhaul of the oversight mechanism of banks and of their internal controls, questions are being raised on why multiple audits failed to raise an alarm
'Retail investors have been selling since the Budget and Foreign Portfolio Investors started selling.' 'Thus far, domestic institutions have picked up the slack, buying enough to keep the major indices from falling off a cliff.' 'However, there has been carnage in smaller stocks and the financial sector has been hit much harder than the major market indices,' points out Devangshu Datta.
The billionaire jeweller, who has fled the country, in the letter also disagreed with the loan default amount of Rs 11,400 crore and pegged the amount his companies owe to the bank at under Rs 5,000 crore.
But the 30-share Sensex rose by 141.52 points, or 0.41 per cent, to close at 34,297.47. The broader NSE Nifty gained 44.60- points, or 0.42 per cent, to end at 10,545.50 after touching a high of 10,618.10.
The finance ministry is in favour of extending the August deadline for public sector banks (PSBs) as well as insurance companies to increase their minimum public shareholding (MPS) to the mandated 25 per cent, said a senior government official. "The election results will determine the course of action. "Most likely, those who did not receive an extension to meet the minimum shareholding norm will be granted one," the senior government official said.
A bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru, which later decided to hear the matter on Thursday again, also said that the ailing airlines can be allowed to be represented by a lawyer in the proceedings to be conducted by the PSU bank against it.
The country's largest lender, SBI, has reduced marginal cost of funds based lending rate by 0.9 per cent from 8.90 per cent to 8 per cent for one-year tenure, the bank said in a statement.
Seven accused army personnel, including a major general and two colonels, escaped from any punishment even though a military court initially and a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry found they were involved in the alleged crime.
Once such a notice is issued against a fugitive, the Interpol asks its 192-member countries to arrest or detain the person if spotted in their countries after which extradition or deportation proceedings can begin.
The ED conducted further searches at 21 locations across India.
A large number of public sector bank employees, as a matter of routine, do not "take" promotions so that they are not transferred out of their hometowns. The eastern region is famous for this, but it is a common practice everywhere, says Shyamal Majumdar.
Three-four big gem and jewellery firms are showing financial weaknesses and might find it tough to withstand shocks
Public sector banks' cumulative profit crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark in the financial year ended March 2023, with market leader State Bank of India (SBI) accounting for nearly half of the total earnings. From posting a total net loss of Rs 85,390 crore in 2017-18, the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have come a long way as their profit touched Rs 1,04,649 crore in 2022-23, according to an analysis of their financial results. These 12 PSBs witnessed 57 per cent increase in total profit compared to Rs 66,539.98 crore earned in 2021-22.
The Enforcement Directorate Friday said it has attached gems, jewellery and bank deposits worth Rs 253.62 crore of some Hong Kong-based companies of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi as part of a money laundering probe. Some assets of Nirav Modi group of companies in Hong Kong were identified in the form of gems and jewelleries lying in private vaults and bank balances in accounts maintained there and these have been provisionally attached under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the federal probe agency said in a statement. The amount kept in banks amounts to $30.98 million and Hong Kong dollars 5.75 million, which is equivalent to Rs 253.62 crore (as on July 22, 2022), it said.
Challenging the "illegal" reduction in its claim by the erstwhile resolution professional (RP) in the Jet Airways revival plan, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) has moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) citing discrimination. The NCLAT on Thursday issued notices to RP Ashish Chhawchharia and the committee of creditors on PNB's plea to set aside the insolvency court's approval of the airline's revival plan. It has posted the matter for further hearing on September 21.
A UK Judge on Friday stated that the ruling in fugitive diamond dealer Nirav Modi extradition case will be made on February 25. The extradition trial of Nirav Modi has concluded today at Westminster Magistrates' court in London. District judge Samuel Goozee confirmed the timeline. Nirav Modi, who is wanted in India for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) of an estimated $2 billion, was re-remanded on December 1 by a judge at Westminster Magistrate Court in London.
For the baning sector, 2018 was a 'Year of Exits' - borrowers fled from the country as loans went kaput and many bank CEOs were forced to leave
Jaitley slammed lack of ethics in certain sections of businesses and said multiple layers of auditing system chose to either look the other way or did a casual job.
The National Commission noted that if the policyholder wanted reinstatement, he should have made a written request and should have also cleared the premium till that date, but no such request had been made.
Prominent exits by promoters included a Rs 15,300 crore share sale in Indus Tower by Vodafone Plc, a Rs 9,300 crore share sale by the Tata group in Tata Consultancy Services.
SBI Q3FY24 result review: A higher-than-factored weakness in the October-to-December quarter (Q3) results of State Bank of India (SBI), for financial year 2023-24 (FY24), has prompted brokerages to cut earnings estimates for the ongoing financial year. They, however, have maintained 'Buy' ratings on the stock, revising target price upwards in some cases, owing to the stock's recent underperformance relative to its peers.
In a major blow to Nirav Modi, a bankruptcy court in the US has rejected a petition of the fugitive diamond merchant and two of his associates, seeking dismissal of fraud allegations against them by the trustee of three companies they previously owned indirectly.
The expectations of a borrowing cut by the government faded among bond-market participants after the general election results because they feel the compulsions of running a coalition may put pressure on the exchequer, according to dealers. The recent trend of moderate depreciation in the rupee's nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) might not persist if there are significant changes to the structural reform agenda.
1975 World Cup-winning captain Ajit Pal Singh will supervise its functioning.
Subhash Shankar Parab, a key accused in the Rs 7,000 crore diamantaire Nirav Modi bank fraud case, was "deported" from Cairo on Tuesday after a long diplomatic and legal process, officials said in New Delhi. A CBI team had gone to Egypt's capital to bring back 50-year-old Parab, who was allegedly kept in illegal confinement in a Cairo suburb by Modi, the fugitive diamantaire, they said. The CBI had been chasing Parab, deputy general manager (finance) in Modi's Firestar Diamond and understood to be a key witness to the Letters of Undertaking (LoU) submitted to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) to siphon off over Rs 7,000 crore, they said.
Former British Army soldier Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, who was awaiting trial on charges of breaching the UK's Official Secrets Act at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London, escaped allegedly by clinging to the under-carriage of a delivery van.
Without naming either the alleged kingpin of the fraud, billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi, or Punjab National Bank, Jaitley questioned the ethics of some businesses in the country and asked as to why the bank's internal and external auditors could not detect the fraud which had been going on for 7 long years.
What is digital house arrest? It is a tactic cybercriminals use to confine victims to their homes and scam them, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
To increase the adoption of credit on United Payments Interface (UPI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is looking at an interchange fee for transactions lower than that for a credit-card transaction. Sources in the know said these charges could be 1-1.2 per cent. Fintech participants concur with the view that the interchange fee is expected to be lower than that for a credit-card transaction.
The Punjab National bank on Friday announced 0.25 per cent cut on interest rates for home and car loans, effective from Saturday, September 23.\n