The regulatory changes brought in by the insurance regulator and the amendments proposed to the Insurance Act by the Centre may herald a new dawn for the sector in India. This may result in insurers bringing out more consumer-led products, top honchos of general insurance companies of the country concurred at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2022.
Fair trade regulator CCI has approved private sector lender Ratnakar Bank' proposal to buy Royal Bank of Scotland's credit card business, mortgage portfolio and banking operation in the country, saying the deal will not have an adverse impact on competition.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.
'Isn't it obvious? Do you have a doubt? There is so much data that shows that there is quid pro quo.' 'There are many instances of donations being given after the raids, donations being given before the award of a contract and many other permutations and combinations.'
Reliance group chairman Anil Ambani on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai in connection with a money-laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and others, officials said. The agency is expected to record the statement of Ambani under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The 60-year-old businessman arrived at the ED office in Ballard Estate around 9.30 am.
A US Congress-constituted quasi-judicial body on Wednesday asked the Joe Biden Administration to designate four nations, including India, as "countries of particular concern", alleging that religious freedom conditions there in 2020 continued their negative trajectory.
The government on Monday ruled out making public the RBI report detailing the reasons why the central bank could not keep inflation within the targeted 6 per cent upper limit for the three consecutive quarters. "Yes sir, RBI has furnished a report to the central government, as mandated under Section 45ZN of the RBI Act, 1934 and Regulation 7 of RBI Monetary Policy Committee and Monetary Policy process Regulations, 2016," minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply. The said provisions of the RBI Act, 1934, and regulations therein does not provide for making the report public, he said.
In the aftermath of the PMC Bank mess which was in the RBI's highest rating of 'A' category, trustworthiness of these ratings may be up for a review.
With this, India joins 60 other countries that collect PNR details of international passengers.
'Clearly, the depositors of cooperative banks need the maximum protection.'
The Delhi High Court Tuesday restrained the Enforcement Directorate from taking any further action pursuant to the attachment of Amnesty International India's funds in connection with a money laundering case.
MUDRA Bank will have a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore.
In his first comments after resigning as RBI governor on December 10 last year amid sharp differences with the government, Patel said banks indulged in over-lending, while the government did not "fully play" its role, and also conceded that the regulator should have acted earlier.
The proposal is being examined by the finance ministry in the run-up to Budget 2008-09. The banks have told Finance Minister P Chidambaram that there is a considerable divergence between the provisions made according to the RBI guidelines and the deductions allowed by the Income Tax Act.
Sebi on Tuesday sent a notice to 7 entities, including Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh, asking them to pay Rs 48.15 crore within 15 days in a fund diversion case of Religare Finvest. Sebi also warned of attachment of assets and bank accounts, if they fail to make the payment. The notice came after the entities failed to pay the fine imposed on them by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
Few proposals included in the Finance Bill would not help ease liquidity concerns in the economy, say RBI officials.
It is time for the three finance ministers of the 1990s to reveal the real hero, says T C A Srinavasa-Raghavan.
The Enforcement Directorate had asked for financial details from both public and private sector banks and a part of these details were submitted last week
The grievance redressal mechanism of many big e-commerce players is not up to the mark as the number of complaints received by the National Consumer Helpline has risen sharply over the last four years, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said on Thursday. Addressing an event organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), Singh said the number of complaints registered on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has gone up to 90,000 in November compared to 40,000 in the same month last year. "Four years back, the number of complaints pertaining to e-commerce transactions was 8 per cent of the total complaints.
Proceeds of the crime had been siphoned off and laundered or concealed, or layered and integrated into the main financial system through the acquisition of properties. His wife Bindu Kapoor has been charged with being aware of the source of monies that were being routed through these companies.
The RBI was not party to the decision to demonetize 500 and 1,000-rupee notes, which was taken at the highest level of India's political leadership.
The RBI has this year cut interest rates by 110 basis points in four instalments but banks have passed only a part of it to borrowers. Before the last reduction earlier this month of 35 basis points, the bank on an average had passed only 29 basis points out of 75 basis points cut affected during 2019.
Business is down to such an extent that last year these firms could not even meet RBI's capital norm of Rs 50 million for partnerships and Rs 100 million for public and private firms in this line of business.
India and the US on Thursday said they are looking forward to the reconvening of the India-US Trade Policy Forum later this year to further enhance trade relationship and identify new areas for engagement.
The Income-Tax (I-T) department has issued around 8,000 notices to salaried employees, self-employed individuals, and companies who made significant donations to charitable trusts. The department suspects potential tax evasion, as records of these donations do not correspond with the income and expenses of those making them. Sandeep Bajaj, managing partner, PSL Advocates & Solicitors, says, "Notices were issued for donations made during the assessment years of 2017-18 through 2020-21."
India borrows ideas that we don't need, like the FRDI Bill, and ignores the ones we need, like rewarding whistleblowers such as the ones who want to save Bombay Mercantile Bank, says Debashis Basu.
If indeed the issues involved between the government and RBI are of immense public interest, why not make public the arguments of both the government and the RBI, irrespective of the outcome of the process, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.However, the Act is silent on what happens if the governor's views differ from that of the government. If Patel does not want to budge from his stance the government can either see merit in the Governor's arguments and decide against going ahead with its plan or overrule him. My guess is that the issues raised by the government need to be sorted out not at the November 19 board meeting but between the Governor and the government, says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Backed by their strong physical presence across the country, UTI Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund (MF) have managed to mobilise a higher proportion of their total assets under management (AUM) from towns and villages than their peers. Data compiled by Nuvama Institutional Equities shows that UTI MF and SBI MF are the only two major fund houses with over a fifth of their AUM coming from areas beyond the top 30 cities (referred to as B-30). UTI MF tops the chart with 23.8 per cent of its assets belonging to B-30 centres, followed by SBI MF with 21.2 per cent B-30 assets. The industry average stands at 17 per cent.
'These are interesting days for watchers of English cricket and central banking,' points out Amol Agrawal.
The incidence of corruption cases can be checked to a large extent if the suggestions already available with RBI and the government are taken seriously, says Shyamal Majumdar.
The organisation said it had been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work.
The PNB fiasco falls into a family line that involves non-fund limits - read contingent liabilities which are off-books. Harshad Mehta did it with bankers' receipts in 1992. Ketan Parekh exploited the ignorance of bankers who did not know the difference between a cheque and a pay-order. And the RBI blinked when it failed to insist the SWIFT platform be linked to the core banking solution. Raghu Mohan & Abhijit Lele trace the banking mess that was just waiting to happen.
The government must set up a Bank Investment Company to shrink its role in PSBs, if we are serious about tackling the two persistent issues - lax corporate governance practices and discretionary decision-making, says Shyamal Majumdar.
Kotak Mahindra Bank and Vedanta were the top Nifty gainers.
'RBI was focusing on public sector banks perhaps thinking that private sector banks are managed efficiently while PSU banks are not.' 'Now, RBI has to focus on private sector banks too.'
She said I treated her like a bachchi. At another moment, she said I had gone to various people and 'bitched' about her. She also threatened to bring the entire matter to the PM's notice. A revealing excerpt from Subhash Chandra Garg's We Also Make Policy: An Insider's Account of How the Finance Ministry Functions.
The searches are in connection with alleged violation of foreign direct investment norms that is linked to an earlier case of revocation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act licence of the NGO by the Union home ministry in 2010, the ED said.
The decision of the US regulator not to allow financial institutions any further increase in their exposure to commodity futures leaves a question mark on the proposal to allow MFs and banks to trade in commodity futures in India. In India if mutual funds, banks, NRI's and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are allowed there should be limits fixed by the regulator regarding exposure to commodities. The price discovery function can happen only if there is liquidity.
Justice M S Sonak in an interim order on Monday restrained the Charity Commissioner from attaching the assets and accounts of the NGO. The HC also ordered defreezing of the domestic and non-FCRA bank accounts of the NGO.
