The Reserve Bank on Friday accepted most of the recommendations of its working group on corporate ownership of private sector banks, by allowing unrestrained promoter shareholding in the first five years of operations and hiking the same to 26 per cent after 15 years from the extant 15 per cent and also the new capital requirements. The move will benefit leading banks like Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank, among others, which have been seeking more time from the regulator to divest their stakes for many years now. Accepting 21 of the 33 recommendations of the internal working group, the central bank said the remaining suggestions are under its consideration.
Most adult Indians should have access to bank deposits, credit and remittance facilities as well as insurance and mutual fund products in the next decade, and technology will play a big role in this transformation, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is in the process of issuing a show-cause notice to Vodafone Idea (Vi) for delaying the payment of licence fee. Companies pay 8 per cent of their adjusted gross revenue as licence fee. This also includes a universal service obligation levy. The fee is collected from each of the 22 telecom circles in the country on a quarterly basis.
Dy Governor notes it's an era of job changes for better.
Payment banks may not be viable option to attain financial inclusion.
'If the RBI blesses us with a banking licence, we would like to launch a successful bank.'
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
Even today, many MFIs already distribute pension and micro insurance products to low-income households.
Of the 11 licence holders, only eight remain in the fray as concerns about profitability and rising competition are making them think twice before jumping in.
'Facilitating conversion of well-run NBFCs into banks is urgently needed.'
The Union home ministry has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) for alleged violation of laws, a move the public think-tank termed "incomprehensible and disproportionate" and vowed to seek legal recourse against.
The year 2014-15 could well go as one of long-pending financial sector reforms, expected to have a lasting impact.
Banks in India must have a modern approach, suggests a panel comprising of banking bigwigs.
Commercial banks have not yet reduced their lending rates.
Applicants for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA) can submit any of nine documents, including valid or expired passport, ID cards and land tenancy records, to prove he or she is a national of Afghanistan or Bangladesh or Pakistan.
Thanks to Rajan we are an inflation-targeting country now
Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up on the bank? For now, he seems to be on a save-OCL mission. The bank will face its logical end, observes Tamal Bandopadhyay.
What connects P S Jayakumar of Bank of Baroda, V Vaidyanathan of Capital First Ltd and Chandra Shekhar Ghosh of Bandhan?
'We may bite the bullet and draw up plans for privatisation.' 'If that is done now, the sale of the government stake will fetch money; a delay will see erosion in whatever value is left in these banks,' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Bandhan Financial Services, which is to start banking operations soon, has received a combined equity commitment of Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion) from International Finance Corp (IFC) and GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund.
Sarvjit Singh Samra's Capital Local Area Bank offers attractive features.
The government plans to bring down its stake to 26 per cent in these two banks, which are yet to be identified. This may not come in the way of getting investors for these banks, provided the government is willing to step back rather than run them the way it had been doing for over five decades since these banks were nationalised, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Raghuram Rajan has appointed him as head of several committees soon after taking charge.
International education consultant NNS Chandra shares his advice.
Education finance is a complex and dynamic sector. There are too many variables -- the course, the calibre of students, the universities, and the job prospects once the course is over, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Post graduate colleges are aggressively tying up with banks to introduce banking courses.
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
Starting with a family, which had a dealership of Bajaj Auto's scooters, to becoming the owner of a household name in consumer appliances who could afford to have Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador, Venugopal Dhoot's is a story of an aggressive small town businessman's pursuit to be on the top. Now arrested in connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case, Venugopal Dhoot during his heydays was not the one to simply sit on small achievements like Videocon becoming the largest television set manufacturer in India.
Ananthasubramanian, 55, started her career in 1982 at Bank of Baroda as a specialist officer in the planning stream.
Rajan, as expected, furthered his predecessors' agenda and continued with the same resolution to make India's financial system safer, and direct the economy towards further liberalisation
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.
'Gruha Lakshmi Yojana' is an attempt of the Congress party to share the 'burden of the exorbitant' LPG prices and the 'costly daily expenses' that a woman has to bear, the party said.
Every political party loves to use the bait of loan waiver to woo the electorate. If their hearts bleed for the poor, they can always use the party funds to pay off the lenders, suggests Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The NDA government has approved additional facilities for members of minority communities living in India on long-term visa
'The book captures Rana Kapoor's hunger for real estate leading to bungalows in Delhi, Mumbai, London and other cities; the multiple companies -- over 100 -- to fund his family's various ventures; the attempt to game the system by showing lower non-performing assets,' notes Joydeep Ghosh.
Only when we are part of the same family, which will happen down the line, then, of course, we will give them (PMC depositors) all the assurance and the comfort.'
The fresh round of cancellation process of the 4,470 NGOs started on May 6.
The most pressing issue facing the financial sector is the rising stock of non-performing assets in the banking system
This is the first time in the RBI's history that a governor is leaving without willing to renew his contract
What do we need more of: Leaders who dominate global institutions or local leaders with a 'Make-in- India' mindset?