rediffGURU Yogendra Arora answers readers' personal income tax queries.
Call centres, once the engine room of India's BPO exports, are evolving too. Depending on the complexity, 30 to 50 per cent of voice and chat volumes are now handled by conversational AI.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
In a breather to the troubled edtech company, the steering committee of lenders has agreed to amend a $1.2 billion term loan with Byju's by August 3, 2023, the lenders announced on Monday. Successful execution of the amendment would "immediately" solve the loan's acceleration and end all open litigation while avoiding further enforcement actions, they in a statement. An e-mail sent to Byju's did not elicit a response.
The report said the moratorium for three more months will imply that companies need not pay till August 31, 2020, and this means that there is almost minimal possibility of companies being able to service their interest liabilities then in September.
Ask rediffGURU and tax expert Mihir Tanna your income tax-related questions.
'Understand your financial goals. Next, categorise them by size. Then evaluate your investment options.'
The CBI has filed a fresh case against absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi, wanted along with his nephew Nirav Modi in a loan fraud case of Rs 13,500 crore, for allegedly inflating the value of diamonds and jewellery pledged to get Rs 25 crore loan from IFCI, officials said on Monday. The CBI has booked Mehul Choksi, his company Gitanjali Gems and valuers Surajmal Lallu Bhai and Co, Narendra Jhaveri, Pradip C Shah and Shrenik Shah, they said. The central agency has acted on a complaint from Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Ltd alleging that Choksi had approached it in 2016 seeking Rs 25 crore working capital loan for which he had pledged shares and gold and diamond jewellery.
'There has been a change in the advances mix, with the share of corporate loans decreasing.'
On reforms in pipeline, she said the government is for universal right to minimum wages and wants to remove regional disparity through a national floor wage.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given HDFC Bank six months to migrate HDFC's home loan customers to external benchmark linked lending rate (EBLR), top sources in the bank told Business Standard. Almost half of HDFC's 5.4 million customers are home loan customers. It is mandatory for banks to link retail loans and loans to micro, medium and small enterprises to an external benchmark. Non-banking financial companies do not have such a mandate.
Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, once hailed as rising stars in India's clean energy sector, are now facing serious regulatory action.
Finance ministers of states demanded an increase in allocation under 50-year interest-free loan scheme, while fiscally stressed states like Punjab and Kerala pitched for a special package and borrowing flexibility, sources said on Friday. In a pre-budget meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, states have also urged for higher borrowing limits to support fiscal activities, besides additional funds for Jal Jeevan Mission.
Housing finance company (HFC) PNB Housing is planning to focus on reducing delinquencies in 2023-24.
'Common sense says if one can afford, servicing the loans during this period is a better bet than postponing it by three months,' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The target was for banks to sell Rs 2 trillion worth of non-performing assets to NARCL, the so-called 'bad bank, by 2021-2022. Only 10 per cent of this has been executed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a tri-services ceremonial welcome in Colombo, Sri Lanka, marking the first time such an honor has been bestowed upon a foreign leader. The welcome took place at the historic Independence Square, the venue for national day celebrations. Modi's visit comes as Sri Lanka shows signs of recovery from a recent economic crisis, with India playing a significant role in providing assistance. During the visit, both leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues, including defense cooperation, energy, and digital initiatives.
The petitioners had sought interim order of protection from any coercive action and for the probe to be stayed in the case pending the hearing of their pleas.
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Kotak Mahindra Bank's net interest margin is likely to swell after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted its restrictions on the private lender that barred it from issuing fresh credit cards and onboarding new customers through digital mode, brokerages said on Thursday. The bank's net interest margin (NIM) has seen a decline of over 35 basis points (bps) since the restrictions were imposed by the regulator in April 2024.
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
The final guidelines to link the interest rate to external benchmarks will be issued by the end of this month
One smells a rat when cases are settled for too small a price offered either by the highest bidder or the promoter -- within and outside the legal ambit of insolvency process, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
'The intensity and frequency of heatwaves will be much higher than in previous years over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.'
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Nitin Narkhede your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
The ministry has also asked that the cap of such borrowings is to be set at $500 million (Rs 3,450 crore) for a single company and $1 billion (Rs 6,900 crore) for the entire sector.
Troubled edtech firm Byju's founder Byju Raveendran on Thursday said that he is willing to pay back the entire money to lenders if they are willing to work with him. During a two-and-a-half-hour call with the media, Raveendran said that lenders will not get any money if the process of insolvency against the company continues. "If they are willing to work with me, I am willing to give them money back before I take a single rupee out.
Opt for balloon schemes if you are capable of paying a large instalment upfront
Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved-owned Ruchi Soya on Thursday hit the capital market to raise Rs 4,300 crore through its follow-on public offer (FPO) as it aims to become a debt-free company. The issue closes on March 28. The price band has been fixed at Rs 615 to Rs 650 per share. Addressing a press conference here, Ramdev said the company has launched its FPO despite volatility in the stock market because of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The stimulus measures include extension of the 90-day moratorium on recognition of impaired loans to 180 days, in addition to several relaxations in bank lending limits, including allowing banks to fund interest on working capital loans.
Banks will also consider requests from MSMEs for restructuring their stressed standard assets. So far, only 25 per cent of the around 1 million eligible MSMEs have taken benefit of the RBI's special dispensation.
Byju's, India's most-valued startup, has decided to put two of its key assets -- Epic and Great Learning -- on the block to generate $800 million-$1 billion in cash, with an aim to meet the edtech firm's various commitments, including repaying the entire $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) within six months, according to sources. The cash-strapped company has proposed repaying $300 million of the $1.2 billion loan in the next three months, depending on whether the lenders accept Byju's amendment proposal, said the people familiar with the development. "This loan repayment proposal has been submitted to the lenders and conversations are going in the right direction," said a person in the know.
India needs another shot of difficult reform, of the kind only possible at gunpoint. Mr Trump holds that gun to our heads now. A drastic reduction in tariff protection, other elements of sarkari wet-nursing will force entrepreneurial India to become competitive again, argues Shekhar Gupta.
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.
The company will retire part of the debt by way of sale and lease back of some its aircraft.
'With a very stable technology with limited functionalities, a large network has spanned out.'
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As a result of this moratorium, individuals' EMI payments of loans taken will not be deducted from their bank accounts, providing much needed liquidity to borrowers whose income has been disrupted due to the lockdown till May 31.
'Spend, but create assets, spend but make sure that people benefit from it.' 'This has been a beautiful guiding principle. And I think as a finance minister I owe so much to the prime minister for keeping this path clear before us.'
Loans for Indian airlines have dried up as banks have become cautious to lend to the sector.
