Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das tells Anup Roy, Raghu Mohan and Niraj Bhatt that it is time for banks to lower interest rates and start lending to cash-starved finance companies after due credit appraisal and proper risk assessment.
'In plain simple English, these practices amount to a looting of our country's future by some in the business community, in cahoots with some lenders,' says RBI Governor Dr Urjit R Patel.
Lenders are not enthused because, as brokers, their responsibility towards policyholders will be higher than corporate agents.
'LIC's proposed investment will come out of what is technically called the 'policyholders funds'.' 'As the name implies, these monies belong to policyholders; that is, you, me and 25 crore others who have taken a total of 30 crore policies from LIC.' 'It is not the government's or LIC's money to play poker with,' says S Muralidharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas.
Five state-run general insurance companies have a total exposure of Rs 347.64 crore, or 0.14 per cent of their total assets under management (AUM), in Adani group of companies, the finance ministry said on Monday. In a written reply to a question by Congress' Manish Tewari, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said Life Insurance Corp (LIC) held Rs 35,917.31 crore in debt and equity of Adani group of companies as on December 31, 2022. This is 0.97 per cent of its total assets under management (AUM) of Rs 41.66 trillion.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is considering a proposal to make insurance frauds a parameter for calculating credit scores in an attempt to put a lid on the increase in such activity. The proposal, which is a part of the recommendations made by a working group formed by Irdai and the General Insurance Council, suggests that insurance frauds should feature when the risk profiles of individuals are evaluated and should be used to calculate their credit scores. A poor credit score can deprive a person of financial services such as loans and credit cards, and deter him from indulging in fraud.
An expert committee, set up by the Supreme Court to probe allegations against the Adani group following a bombshell report from a US short seller, has members with potential conflict of interest, a fresh petition filed in the apex court on Monday said.
Resolution to the bad loans problem has to be incremental, and the RBI has to ensure NPAs are not swept under the carpet, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh tells Joydeep Ghosh.
Without bringing sound governance and technical capabilities into the RBI's work, injecting new money sets the stage for a next wave of bad behaviour by banks, warns Ajay Shah.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking investigation under the supervision of a sitting apex court judge against the Adani group of companies in light of the allegations made by the US-based Hindenburg Research.
The United States on Friday expressed concern over India's crackdown on Ford Foundation and Greenpeace, and said it is seeking "clarification" on the action.
The government has imposed anti-money laundering provisions on cryptocurrencies or virtual assets as it looks to tighten oversight of digital assets. In a gazette notification, the Finance Ministry said the anti-money laundering legislation has been applied to crypto trading, safekeeping and related financial services. After this, Indian crypto exchanges will have to report suspicious activity to the Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND).
The agency said in a statement that a provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act "attaching bank accounts of Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) and Indians for Amnesty International Trust (IAIT)".
With the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) draft reconstruction scheme for the troubled lender suggesting a permanent write-down of these bonds outstanding as of March 5, bondholders who have invested RS 10,800 crores are up in arms, reports Hamsini Karthik.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed stricter disclosure norms for certain foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to bring in more transparency and trust against the backdrop of the Adani-Hindenburg Research saga. Under the new norms, FPIs with an exposure of more than 50 per cent to a single group or with assets of over Rs 25,000 crore will be tagged as 'high risk' and will be required to provide additional information such as full identification of their ownership, economic interests, and control rights. A failure to provide these disclosures will lead to invalidation of the FPI registration.
We must stop stigmatising business failures. Particularly when startups are mushrooming all around, the financial system, backed by the RBI and the government, can explore ways of extending support to restart the journey of a failed entrepreneur by finance as well as counselling, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The NBFC was registered on December 1998, with an office in Lucknow.
Did the fear of central agencies probing scams involving NCP leaders that forced these politicians to jump ship?
NBFCs which have not met Sebi criteria will face tough action.
'The PCA framework was revised and tightened in April 2017, but there was no discussion in any board meeting. The government does not know the rationale behind revising the framework and how the RBI arrived at it. Similarly, there was no discussion in the board meeting on the revised NPA framework,' said an official.
A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to commence hearing from October 31 a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme for political funding of parties.
'The Reserve Bank's independence has remained a work in progress, an enduring challenge that the nation has been grappling with on an ongoing basis,' says RBI Deputy Governor Dr Viral Acharya.
The Act envisages that the states and Centre will formulate specific rules for real estate regulation.
Calcutta HC dismisses United Bank of India's decision on technical grounds
Directing the Centre, states and Union Territories (UTs) to ensure the queer community is not discriminated against, the CJI, who is heading the constitution bench, said queer is a natural phenomenon known for ages and is neither urban nor elitist.
Join Rajiv Raj of Credit Vidya on how you can get good CIBIL score and home loan rates at 4.30 on Rediff ZaraBol.
The fresh round of cancellation process of the 4,470 NGOs started on May 6.
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Prior RBI permission a hurdle, given its views; business interest needs to be clearer.
Let all the stakeholders, especially the government, remember that if the Make in India lion needs to roar and rise again, it won't happen unless India Inc rises too, points out Shekaar Subramanian.
In advanced economies where the financial system is more matured, the form of shadow banking is more of risk transformation through securitisation.
A charge sheethas been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against social activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and a company run by them for alleged violation of foreign funding rules.
Police FIR reveals the bank had replaced 44 loan accounts of HDIL with 21,049 fictitious loan accounts. These 21,049 were actually not created in the core banking solution of the bank, but were mere entities in the advances master indent submitted to RBI for conducting its inspection for the year ended March 2018.
Financial Intelligence Unit data show many of these societies have become the biggest draw for laundering money. Subhomoy Bhattacharjee reports.
The initiative could help a large number of the alleged FERA violators get away with just financial penalties instead of criminal charges. The government's advisory, informed sources said, will not apply to all the cases as the RBI will decide on a case-to-case basis.
'The main worry is lots of new investors coming into the markets in order to make a quick buck/easy money.' 'Those things are happening again and have happened in the past as well.' 'All that has led to problems.' 'We are not there yet, but will get there eventually.'
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday announced a slew of legislations that would be brought in during the winter session of Parliament, including amendments to the NPA Act and regulation of credit information companies.
He said the Aadhaar programme violated informational privacy, self-determination and data protection.
'It is quite clear that the agitation against the farm laws is against the Centre and they will try to create all hurdles they can in that. They are using all tactics as their sole purpose is to defeat the agitation'
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared changes in the Act. Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal earlier this week said the Bill would be tabled in Parliament soon.
The CBI on Wednesday registered a case against social activist Teesta Setalvad and her organisation for alleged violation of FCRA in recieving funds from abroad without taking prior permission from the home ministry.
