Not ordering disclosure of details of electoral bonds prior to April 12, 2019, was a "conscious choice" by the Constitution bench, the Supreme Court said on Monday while refusing to entertain the submissions of ASSOCHAM and CII against the disclosure of bond details on the ground of their plea not being listed.
The State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased by donors between April 1, 2019 and February 15 this year, out of which 22,030 were redeemed by political parties.
In the biggest weekly increase in over a year, India's forex reserves swelled by $6.56 billion to reach $531.08 billion for the week ended October 28, RBI data showed on Friday. The overall reserves, which have been on a declining spree for many months now, had dropped by $3.85 billion to $524.52 billion in the previous reporting week. The $6.5 billion jump in the reporting week is the highest since September 2021.
The unions are opposing the government's move to take away the public debt management from the Reserve Bank and curtail its powers on the monetary policy.
As on April 1, income tax arrears have increased to Rs 43 trillion from Rs 24 trillion on April 1, 2023.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, will also hear a separate plea which has sought initiation of contempt action against the SBI alleging it "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of the contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6.
Chastising the State Bank of India, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered it to disclose the details of the electoral bonds encashed by political parties to the Election Commission by the close of the business hours on March 12 and warned the country's largest public sector lender that the court may proceed against it for 'wilful disobedience' if it failed to comply with its directions and deadlines.
India's foreign exchange reserves declined $1.15 billion to $571.56 billion for the week ended July 22, according to RBI data. The reserves has been declining amid continuing volatility in the rupee which has also significantly depreciated against the US dollar. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had declined by $7.54 billion to $572.71 billion.
In a circular, the ministry said all NGOs which were registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act should receive donations from abroad in a single designated bank account.
The State Bank of India, which unsuccessfully sought extension of time till June 30 to disclose the details of electoral bonds, on Monday faced searching questions from the Supreme Court which wanted to know about the steps taken to comply with the directions it had issued while scrapping the controversial scheme of anonymous political funding on February 15.
The NCLAT said the RBI cannot restrict it from prohibiting banks from 'asset classfication' and observed that any change in this order would upset the entire resolution process of the IL&FS
The top court said it cannot order a roving inquiry into purchase of electoral bonds on the assumption that it was quid pro quo for award of contract.
The country's foreign exchange reserves rose by $21.1 million to $280.19 billion, the Reserve Bank said.
Tokenisation is the process of replacing debit and credit card numbers with a set of characters or tokens.
Among bank groups, PSBs, which constitute the largest market share in bank lending, have accounted for the bulk of frauds reported in 2018-19.
State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and IDFC Bank have filed a petition against the notice, in a last-ditch attempt by the banking system to keep the information confidential. The notice was given to the lenders under Section 11(1) of the RTI Act, seeking third-party disclosure requirements. While the apex court's original directive in 2015 applied to the full report, it was subsequently agreed that not the entire report but only relevant portions, such as those on bad debts and borrowers, would be made public.
The total reserves had gone up by $982 million in the previous reporting week.
A person availing the services of a bank for 'commercial purpose' is not a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act, the Supreme Court has said. The apex court stated that to come within the ambit of the consumer, a person will have to establish that the services were availed exclusively for earning his livelihood by means of self employment. A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said there cannot be any straitjacket formula and such a question will have to be decided in the facts of each case, depending upon the evidence placed on record.
The RTI also sought the details of the fees paid by the SBI to senior advocate Harish Salve to defend its case against the disclosure of the electoral bonds' records, citing that the records are held in a fiduciary capacity and the information is personal in nature.
State Bank of India on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of time till June 30 to disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties.
In a circular, the ministry said all NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act should receive foreign donations in a single designated bank account.
;The entire INDIA bloc, led by Rahul Gandhi, was against the bonds and they wanted the old system of cut money to rule over politics once again;
'The committee has been constituted. Different government departments and FSDC members are part of it.'
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday raised the retail inflation target for the current financial year to 5.7 per cent on the back of rising global prices amidst the ongoing geo-political tensions, even as it expected the prices of cereals and pulses to soften on prospects of good winter crop harvest. "Global food prices along with metal prices have hardened significantly. "Economy is grappling with a sharp rise in inflation... Inflation is now projected at 5.7 per cent in 2022-23 with Q1 at 6.3 per cent; Q2 at 5 per cent; Q3 at 5.4 per cent and Q4 at 5.1 per cent," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while unveiling the first monetary policy review for the current fiscal year.
In his letter to President Droupadi Murmu, SCBA President Adish C Aggarwala urged her to seek presidential reference of the apex court judgement in the electoral bonds scheme case.
India's forex reserves decreased by $587 million to $635.08 billion for the week ended December 24, the RBI said on Friday. In the previous week ended December 17, the overall reserves had decreased by $160 million to $635.67 billion. The kitty had touched a lifetime high of $642.45 billion in the week ended September 3, 2021.
The regulatory actions, undertaken by the RBI and the government, came hours after finance ministry sources confirmed that SBI was directed to bail out the troubled lender. For the next month, Yes Bank will led by the RBI-appointed administrator Prashant Kumar, an ex-chief financial officer of SBI.
When the landslide hit, Sruthi's house was washed away, along with its inhabitants. She lost her entire family and some relatives. All she had left for a close confidante was her fiance Jenson. Days after the landslide and the loss of her family, Jenson died in a road accident that also left Sruthi with serious injuries. News of the accident and Sruthi's backdrop as the lone surviving member of a family wiped out in the July landslide, was picked up by the media, and people rushed to help.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, which was hearing an application filed by the Election Commission (EC) seeking a modification of the operative portion of its March 11 order in the electoral bonds case, directed its registrar (judicial) to ensure that the data filed earlier by the poll panel before it in a sealed cover be scanned and digitised.
'Mumbai main branch (SBI headquarter) has all the data ready-made. It doesn't take even an hour to out the data from the system.'
The RBI 'assured people' that enough cash in small denominations is also available at banks.
The bank, however, maintained that the incremental benefit from the MCLR based lending rates introduced in April 2016 as an alternative to the earlier system of base rate, was positive.
RBI's previous monetary policy was announced on September 29.
In its verdict last month, the top court directed the SBI to furnish the details to the Election Commission (EC) by March 6.
Yes Securities, the broking and investment arm of Yes Bank, on Wednesday said the Supreme Court directive on loan moratorium due to pandemic has brought the much needed clarity and there will not be any financial impact on the banks as the compound interest waiver is to be reimbursed by the government. On its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking moratorium extension beyond August 31, 2020, the apex court on Tuesday said it is a policy decision, refusing to interfere with the Centre's and RBI's decision to not extend the loan moratorium beyond the limit. However, it observed that the benefit of moratorium should go to all set of borrowers irrespective of the loan amount and asked to refund any amount collected as penal interest and compound interest during March-August 2020.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said "surprisingly" the prime minister is grounded in New Delhi on Wednesday and not travelling around the country for new "inaugurations", for rebranding, or for claiming credit for past work.
India's forex reserves increased for the second consecutive week, touching $584.554 billion as of February 26, up by $689 million, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. The overall reserves had increased by $169 million to $583.865 billion in the previous reporting week. The reserves, which have been steadily increasing over the last few months, had touched an all-time high at $590.185 billion for the week ended January 29 this year.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had on May 11 reserved its verdict on the pleas after a marathon hearing of 10 days.
RBI has already come out with a discussion paper on banking sector in India, on which the regulator has invited comments from stakeholders.
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to commence a crucial hearing from Tuesday on a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties.
