Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Rs 30,600 crore government guarantee for the bad bank has changed the body language of bankers for the better, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Armed with court order, a consortium of lenders led by SBI can now sell certain real estate properties and securities belonging to fugitive Vijay Mallya to recover loans turned bad with failure of Kingfisher Airlines. A consortium of 11 banks that gave Mallya loans, led by State Bank of India (SBI), had approached a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court seeking restoration of his properties seized by the Enforcement Directorate. The special PMLA court in Mumbai on Tuesday allowed the restoration of properties worth Rs 5,646.54 crore to banks.
The RBI rejection is a second blow to BoB - the lead bank of both companies -- after a Delhi high court order on August 18 stayed a move by BoB and the entire consortium of lenders to classify these accounts as fraud, restraining them from taking any other coercive action till the next hearing.
New-generation private sector banks such as ICICI, HDFC, Axis, Kotak etcetera owe their existence to the recommendations of the first Narasimham Committee.
It won't be easy for the banking sector to better its performance every quarter, predicts Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
At a time when the asset quality of state-owned banks is deteriorating, the Reserve Bank of India is also planning harsher penalties for wealthy promoters of wilful defaulters.
the three investors that have submitted their final bids are not commercial banks. Among the three, one is a non-banking financial company. Another distinctive feature of the revival is that PMC may lose its cooperative bank characteristic after its reconstruction.
At a hearing before Master David Cook at the Queen's Bench Division of the court, Mallya's legal team sought a dismissal of the interim order.
While the lender has Rs 17,000 crore of retail assets and land parcels in Juhu, Borivali, Worli, and Chembur in Mumbai, there may be a disconnect between the quality of DHFL's books and the value bidders ascribe to it.
A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday moved a step closer in their attempt to recover debt from loans paid out to Vijay Mallya's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines after the high court in London upheld an application to amend their bankruptcy petition, in favour of waiving their security over the embattled businessman's assets in India. Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs handed down his judgment in favour of the banks to declare there is no public policy that prevents a waiver of security rights, as argued by Mallya's lawyers. At a virtual hearing, July 26 was set as the date for final arguments for and against granting a bankruptcy order against the 65-year-old Mallya after the banks accused him of trying to "kick matters into the long grass" and called on the "bankruptcy petition to be brought to its inevitable end".
If new goals have emerged, this is the time to make fresh investments.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her third Budget on February 1.
FinMin officials say an announcement could be made in the Budget.
Markets watchdog Sebi on Tuesday decided to tighten norms for utilisation of IPO proceeds by companies, introduce special situation funds to invest only in stressed assets and amend various regulations, including those on mutual funds and settlement proceedings. The board of Sebi, which met on Tuesday, also gave its nod for amending Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations and introducing a provision for appointment or re-appointment of any person, including as a managing director or a whole time director or a manager, who was earlier rejected by the shareholders at a general meeting. Once the amended norms are in place, such appointments or re-appointments can only be done with the prior approval of the shareholders.
With assets depreciating over time, it will lead to large haircuts for lenders and creditors, say experts
Asset Reconstruction Companies, set up to assist banks and financial institutions in reducing their non-performing assets pegged at over Rs 90,000 crore (Rs 900 billion), are all set to start operations shortly.
The Budget kept away from mood dampeners such as an increase in taxes (capital gain taxes) and even the much-feared introduction of Covid cess and wealth taxes, says Nimesh Kampani, chairman, JM Financial.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his government is using all channels including diplomatic to bring back high-profile economic offenders, leaving them with no option but to return to the country. Speaking at a symposium on credit flow and economic growth, he asked banks to support wealth and job creators with proactive lending while promising to stand by any loans given in right earnest. "In our attempt to bring back fugitive (economic offenders), we relied on policies and law and also used diplomatic channels.
The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has launched a probe into the books of Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company (EARC) following allegations by a whistleblower of fund diversion and irregularities. The whistleblower, Paras Kuhad, a former additional solicitor general of India, had written to the Prime Minister's Office and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Kuhad has alleged that Edelweiss Group and Caisse de depot et placement du Qubec (CDPQ), a Canadian institutional investor, which hold stakes in the ARC, diverted funds and did not adhere to norms while making investments in EARC's instruments. Sources have indicated that a probe has been initiated, but the MCA did not comment on the issue.
Such measures are expected to further enhance the protection of investors in the securities market
The government liberalised FDI policy in sectors, including multi-brand retail, single-brand retail, commodity exchanges, power exchanges, broadcasting, non-banking financial institutions and asset reconstruction companies.
MCA blamed its financial troubles on non-receipt of payments from the Board of Control for Cricket in India for the last 10 months.
The Union Budget 2016-17 has cheered the NBFC sector
Penalty must act as a deterrent. If it is too low, it could encourage the regulated entities to lap up penalty instead of complying with the norms, suggests Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Inching closer to resolving the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank issue, the Reserve Bank on Monday came out with a draft scheme for takeover of the crisis-hit bank by the Delhi-based Unity Small Finance Bank (USFB). The draft scheme of amalgamation envisages takeover of the assets and liabilities of PMC Bank, including deposits, by USFB, thus giving a greater degree of protection for the depositors, the RBI said. In September 2019, the RBI had superseded the board of PMC Bank and placed it under regulatory restrictions, including cap on withdrawals by its customers, after detection of certain financial irregularities, hiding and misreporting of loans given to real estate developer HDIL.
The bank may post a loss of Rs 1,000 crore during October-December 2019-20 quarter, an analyst commented.
The system envisaged under the FRDI Bill, if implemented properly, would help improve the efficiency of capital allocation without harming consumers, and without risking the stability of financial firms, says Ajay Shah.
Experts say this further underlines the lack of investor interest in stressed assets at present.
The government on Monday signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Earlier this month, the government had accepted an offer by Talace Pvt Ltd, a unit of the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, to pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt. Following that, on October 11 a Letter of Intenet (LoI) was issued to the Tata Group confirming the government's willingness to sell its 100 per cent stake in the airline.
'The concern that the bad bank may create a moral hazard for the system is extremely valid.'
Banks, through the Indian Banks' Association, have urged RBI and credit information companies to maintain a database of wilful defaulters.
At present, Sebi norms bar wilful defaulters from issuing convertible debt instruments.
The court ruled that an interim debt order in favour of SBI and other banks seeking access to funds in the Mallya's ICICI UK bank account "should remain in force" but the application to make it final should be adjourned until after the hearing of his pending bankruptcy petition.
Mallya is separately fighting extradition to India on fraud and money laundering charges worth an estimated Rs 9,000 crore
Ruia, a chartered accountant whose business ranged from sugar to textiles and heavy engineering to tyres, refused to comment on queries about his interest in Air India.
Several of his lenders have a lot to answer for.
Private equity player Everstone Capital has sold Modern Foods, which it had taken over in early 2016 from Hindustan Unilever, to Mexican baking major Grupo Bimbo for an undisclosed sum.
The high court remained unconvinced by Mallya's claim that he has been a non-resident Indian since 1988 and has lived in England since 1992, a country where he has indefinite leave to remain
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