The mutual fund (MF) industry had an action-packed 2023 as it tackled the scrapping of tax benefits for debt fund investors and surging flows into equity funds.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to constitute a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to enquire and investigate into the Hindenburg Research report which made a slew of allegations against the business conglomerate led by industrialist Gautam Adani. The fresh public interest litigation (PIL), filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari, has also sought directions to set up a special committee to oversee the sanction policy for loans of over Rs 500 crore given to big corporates. Last week, another PIL was filed in the apex court seeking prosecution of short seller Nathan Anderson of US-based firm Hindenburg Research and his associates in India and the US for allegedly exploiting innocent investors and the "artificial crashing" of Adani Group's stock value in the market.
'Given the emerging trends, it may be time for India to embrace digital banking,' notes Pradipta Bagchi.
The RBI, according to the source, wants details on the procedure followed for credit appraisal by the bank while giving loans to Videocon.
If raters get away by moving from AAA to D overnight after companies default, as happened with DHFL, YES Bank, RCom, and IL&FS, it shows a complete breakdown in the rating system. It calls for exemplary punishment, not kid glove treatment, says Debashis Basu.
PNB has rich experience in the integration of commercial banks.
Private sector lender HDFC Bank on Thursday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked it temporarily stop all launches of its upcoming digital business-generating activities and sourcing of new credit card customers after outage at its data centre which impacted operations last month.
Since March 2020, when the Nifty50 plummeted to 7,511 following the announcement of a nationwide lockdown, the stock market has been on an upward trajectory. Over the next four years, the major market index has delivered a remarkable compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 31.5 per cent. In the past year alone, the Nifty50 has gained by 27 per cent, hitting a succession of record highs.
Based on this screening, the committee may weed out applications that do not meet the eligibility yardstick or the 'fit and proper' criteria for securing a licence.
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.
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday said that it is working on various technologies to detect pesky calls and messages along with a joint action plan with other regulators to curb financial frauds. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said that Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) or pesky communication is a major source of inconvenience to the public and impinges on the privacy of individuals. "Now complaints are reported against Unregistered Telemarketers (UTMs), where a surge has been seen in pushing various kinds of UCC SMSes. Additionally, UCC calls are also one of the concerns which need to be dealt with equally along with UCC SMSes," it said.
Tactical investors should have an investment horizon of around six months to one year, long-term investors should stick around for 10 years or more.
IDBI Bank had to sell its MF arm after being acquired by state-owned insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation since LIC already had an AMC.
There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group on a quid pro quo basis.
Airports across the country witnessed chaotic scenes on Friday after dozens of flights were either delayed or cancelled after a widespread global computer outage that also hit operations like cash withdrawal at some banks, and impacted functioning of some brokerages. Globally, the Microsoft cloud outage led to US airlines cancelling flights, but the tech giant later reportedly said its cloud services outage in the Central US region has been resolved.
'Space out when raising funds; Sebi mulls securitisation platform'
'We expect the bull-market phase to still persist, but now led by large-caps which offer better valuation and benefit from FII inflows.'
'We expect continued pressure on midcaps, but any sharp correction looks unlikely from here on.'
Mutual fund (MF) houses have started realigning their overseas product offerings after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) advised them to stop subscriptions. PPFAS Asset Management has decided to suspend transactions in Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund with effect from February 2, 2022. Though new lump-sum and systematic investment plans (SIPs) will not be accepted, existing SIPs and systematic transfer plans (STPs) will continue.
The company has not been able to sell its 9.8% stake in Cairn India
The government has given a go-ahead to State Bank of India and other financial institutions to take over capital-starved Yes Bank, and an announcement is likely to be made soon, highly places sources said on Thursday. The board of SBI, the country's largest lender, is meeting in Mumbai on Thursday, but it could not be immediately ascertained whether the takeover of Yes Bank is on the agenda. Yes Bank, which is grappling with bad loans, is looking to raise fresh capital but the plans are facing uncertainties.
'Clients deemed higher-risk are required to update their KYC more frequently.'
Currently, banks are closed every second and fourth Saturday of a month. Why shouldn't they be shut every Saturday? When most customers carry their banks in their pocket (the app on the mobile phone), there is no need to keep banks open on Saturdays, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
There are four first information reports against Saradha Group in which it is alleged that thousands of investors were allegedly duped by the company officials and their associates who swindled their deposits.
In addition to challenges such as reining in non-performing assets (NPAs) and boosting profits, Chaudhry will have to repair the bank's reputation, build internal controls, and improve regulatory relations.
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In the global market, the US dollar rose against the basket currencies in early trade as US President Barack Obama called for diplomacy in dealing with alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria but kept open the possibility of military action against the Assad regime.
The country's largest housing finance company HDFC Ltd will merge with the country's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank, according to a regulatory filing. The scheme of amalgamation will be subject to various regulatory approvals, including from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), HDFC Bank said in the filing on Monday.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Friday a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to constitute a committee monitored by a retired apex court judge to inquire and investigate into the Hindenburg Research report which has made a slew of allegations against the business conglomerate led by industrialist Gautam Adani.
The US has been widely criticised for using pressure tactics to secure information from other countries, without reciprocity.
It has been a year since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) initiated prompt corrective action (PCA), an exercise that puts weak banks under central bank scrutiny, against the 94-year-old Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB). But recently, this low-profile Chennai-headquartered bank found itself attracting some unwonted publicity when 60 per cent of its shareholders voted against a proposal to re-appoint seven directors, including one of the promoters, K R Pradeep (who holds around 2 per cent), and the company's managing director & chief executive officer S Sundar.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are set to pump in more funds in debt securities, as the next government under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to be a stable one and is seen as growth-oriented by market participants.
Following the 30-day moratorium placed on Yes Bank, asset management companies have asked their clients, who have bank accounts with the troubled lender, to furnish details of alternate accounts for receiving redemption payouts. Redemption is the return of an investor's principal on a fixed income security such as a bond, mutual fund or preferred stock.
They now believe their money will be repaid after completion of the tenure of the instruments they have invested in, says Anup Roy.
After Chanda and Deepak Kochchar, the Kudvas are the second power couple in the financial world to come under the regulatory glare.
For financial sector companies setting up shop in India, as of now the go-to regulators are obviously Sebi and the RBI with carve-outs for IRDAI or possibly PFRDA. But this could change soon with the International Financial Services Centres Authority, observes Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
India does not have a unified regulatory regime to counter Ponzi, or pyramid, schemes whose operators typically grab new deposits to meet their promise of guaranteed returns to existing savers, point out Manoj Kumar and Mayank Bhardwaj.
Traditionally, financial institutions have operated risk functions in silos. However, the nature of unknown threats today requires industry participants to work together, says Vikram Limaye.
Move to shift powers from RBI without discussions baffles many
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das kept the red flag on cryptocurrencies flying, warning that the next financial crisis can be triggered by private cryptocurrencies if such speculative instruments are allowed to grow.
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.
In the context of market integrity, the IRAI and RBI should go over the minutes of the LIC and SBI board meetings when the decisions to invest in Adani equity or debt were taken, notes Jaimini Bhagwati, former World Bank treasury professional.
