RBI Increases Scope of Banking Ombudsman

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The Reserve Bank of India has widened the scope of its banking ombudsman platform by including issues regarding mis-selling of third-party products, and customer grievances related to mobile banking and electronic banking issues.

The new rule will be effective from July 1, and the banking ombudsmen will enjoy more power in their pecuniary jurisdiction.

Banks sell third-party insurance or MF products to earn a fee, but they were so far not liable to address customer grievances.

Now, the deficiencies arising out of sale of insurance, mutual fund and other third-party products will be looked into.

Banks would now have to take the onus of providing after-sales service on third-party products.

RBI has also simplified the process of making complaints.

Under the amended scheme, a customer would also be able to lodge a complaint against the bank for its non-adherence to RBI instructions with regard to mobile banking and electronic banking services.

The pecuniary jurisdiction of the banking ombudsman to pass an award has been increased from existing, Rs.10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.

Ombudsman can direct banks to pay compensation up to Rs. 1 lakh to the complainant for loss of time, expenses incurred as also, harassment and mental anguish suffered.

Source: https://www.pressreader.com/india/economic-times/20170624/281930247985177

 

Bankruptcy Code: Banks to refer Essar Steel, Electrosteel, Bhushan Steel to NCLT

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The fate of three near-bankrupt steel companies — Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel Steels — which together owe lenders nearly Rs.1 lakh crore will now be decided by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

The fate of three near-bankrupt steel companies — Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel and Electrosteel Steels — which together owe lenders nearly `1 lakh crore will now be decided by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Having failed to recover their dues or rope in either strategic or financial investors, lenders to these companies finally agreed on Thursday to resort to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), bankers familiar with the development said. The decision follows a directive by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on June 13 to banks asking them to refer a dozen troubled companies — with a combined debt of close to Rs.2.4 lakh crore — to the tribunal.

Corporate watchers said a new chapter was unfolding for India Inc, traditionally unfamiliar with insolvencies and, more often than not, able to wrangle concessions and bailouts, often with the help of those in power. Both the RBI and the government are attempting a speedy resolution to the problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) that is paralysing banks and stymieing investments.
While it has been known for several years now that many of the country’s top corporates are financially fragile, it was former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan who first forced banks to accept the reality and classify assets correctly in December 2015.

Bankers have been given a fortnight within which to move the tribunal. Among the other companies that have been refereed to the NCLT are Jyoti Structures, Lanco Infratech, Monnet Ispat and JP Infratech. The 12 accounts identified by the central bank are those to which banks have an exposure of more than Rs 5,000 crore, more than 60% of which has been recognised as NPAs. Once these cases are with the NCLT, the lenders need to set up a committee of creditors that will come up with a plan on how the asset will be tackled. If the committee is unable to find a solution within 180 days — this can be extended to 270 days — the borrowing entity will go into liquidation.

The three steelcos — Essar, Bhushan and Electrosteel — together have a manufacturing capacity of close to 18 million tonnes per annum. The total debt of the Essar Group is estimated at Rs.1.17 lakh crore. Most private banks have sold off their Essar Steel exposure to asset reconstruction companies, taking a haircut of more than 50%; most PSU banks have declared Essar Steel an NPA.
Essar Steel, promoted by the Ruias, had at a meeting last year requested banks to convert Rs.12,200 crore of loans into preference capital and equity shares.

While Rs.9,000 crore was sought to be converted into preference shares, to be redeemed after 12-18 years, the company had requested the remaining Rs 3,200 crore be converted into common equity. For the balance Rs 31,800 crore, the company had sought a prolonged repayment period. Senior bankers had told FE such a deep restructuring proposal, if approved by the consortium, would amount to taking a haircut of nearly 30%.

Bhushan Steel, promoted by the Singals, has been unable to service its loans for several years now thanks to the stress on cash flows, partly the result of large steel imports into the country which drove down prices. While banks had been monitoring the company’s operations and financials, they were unable to come up with a solution. In August 2014, a senior company executive was arrested around the time the former chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank SK Jain was arrested in an alleged case of bribery.

In the case of Electrosteel Steels, banks decided to initiate a strategic debt restructuring, with a view to roping in a new investor and beefing the equity capital of the company. However, despite many attempts, banks were unable to find a buyer within the stipulated 18 months, and were compelled to classify the account as an NPA.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/economy/bankruptcy-code-banks-to-refer-essar-steel-electrosteel-bhushan-steel-to-nclt/731747/

Capital gains tax evasion under CBI scanner

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing if any government officials were involved in misusing stock exchange platforms to benefit from the long-term capital gains tax (LTCG) exemption.

According to sources, CBI officials visited the headquarters of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in Mumbai to get relevant files pertaining to LTCG cases probed by the markets regulator.

This comes at a time the income tax (I-T) department is probing the entities which had allegedly misused capital gains provisions to evade taxes worth Rs 34,000 crore.

Gains made from the sale of shares held for more than a year are exempt from taxes.

According to sources, the CBI is trying to gather information if any government official made any undue gains by being the end-beneficiaries. “We have collected some relevant documents along with transaction trails with regard to the companies that appeared to have misused the trading platforms to evade taxes. We suspect that there are high chances of government officials being involved, especially as end-beneficiaries,” a CBI source said. “The undue advantage could be hidden and may have been done in a multi-layered arrangement, which needs to be identified.”

Sources said the central agency was in the process of vetting the documents and would accordingly take a call on registering a case against the suspected beneficiaries.

The issue is critical as a few instances of abuse have been reported despite several measures taken by the regulator and the bourses. The intensity of the matter has raised the probability of revocation of capital gains benefits.

So far, investigations by the SEBI revealed that 11,000 entities have bought shares of more than Rs 5 lakh each in the past three years in listed firms that might not have any business operations. The SEBI has identified these entities using data analytics and trading and surveillance data.

The probe suggests that such deals were aimed at evading capital gains tax by showing the source of income as legitimate from stock markets. The so-called losses, actually bogus losses, are showed in the books to offset the same against capital gains.

The modus operandi is thus: Operators advise beneficiaries to invest in the listed companies, which allot shares on preferential basis at a nominal rate. These shares are under a lock-in period for a year.

Subsequently, these operators manipulate the scrip. They also rope in entities to provide the “last traded price” to book LTCG and also to buy shares at a higher price. The beneficiary pays cash to the operator through a multi-layered structure from the gains made by evading taxes.

The markets regulator had reservations that the cases were about tax evasion, which do not fall under its purview. However, if share prices were manipulated, it could proceed under section 11B of the SEBI Act, which allows it to impound the sale proceeds.

It also pointed out that the evidence provided by the tax department was not sufficient to establish connections between promoters of companies, beneficiaries and the “last traded price” and “exit” providers.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/capital-gains-tax-evasion-under-cbi-scanner-117062100019_1.html

GST Council meet clears 5 set of rules, defers e-way bill rule, relaxes deadline for filing returns

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The GST Council on Sunday made the dreaded anti-profiteering clause more palatable specifying a sunset clause of two years even as it relaxed the deadline for filing returns under the goods and services tax (GST) till September

The GST Council on Sunday made the dreaded anti-profiteering clause more palatable specifying a sunset clause of two years even as it relaxed the deadline for filing returns under the goods and services tax (GST) till September. The Council also approved five sets of rules but deferred a decision on the E-Way Bill rule. The GST — a uniform levy across the country — will be rolled out at midnight on June 30, ahead of which the council will meet again. Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala are yet to approve the State GST law.

The GST Council tweaked rates for luxury hotels giving relief to states relying on tourism. State-run lottery tickets will attract a levy of 12% while those run by private players will attract a higher GST of 28%. Rates for hybrid vehicles were not discussed at the meeting, the 17th Council meeting.

The anti-profiteering clause seeks to penalise businesses that do not pass on the benefit of a reduced incidence to customers. Any firm found to be profiteering, will pay a penalty equivalent to the amount of benefits gained under GST but not passed on to customers.

At a press conference, finance minister Arun Jaitley said he hoped the anti-profiteering rule would not be used.

Explaining how the anti-profiteering clause would work, revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said the GST implementation committee, a body comprising officers from states and central government, would pass on any complaints that it receives to the Director General of Safegaurd. “The DG of Safeguard will then take about three months to investigate the complaint and send its findings to the anti-profiteering authority,” Adhia explained.

“We may be able to refund the penalty to consumers in the case of commodities that can be tracked. However, for other commodities, the penalty amount will be deposited in the consumer welfare fund as provided under the GST Act,” Adhia added.

The simplified rules for filing returns require a taxpayer to file only a simple, self-certified return —by August 20 for July and September 20 for August. This would summarise inward and outward supplies rather than specify invoice-wise detailed returns as per GST rules. However, assesses must file the return with invoice details in September for both months. These will be matched with the simpler returns filed earlier, and any discrepancy would be liable to a fine, Adhia said.

The FM observed the IT platform—GSTN– was ready. “So far, 65.6 lakh of the 80.91 lakh existing assessees have migrated to the GSTN. This is a reasonably good number given many current taxpayers would be out of GST ambit due to the annual turnover ceiling of Rs 20 lakh,” Jaitley said. The FM added that there was a window of more than 30 days for new businesses to register.

The GST council approved five sets of rules including those relating to advance ruling, appeal and revision, assessment, anti-profiteering and fund settlement.

The anti-profiteering authority will be a five-member body; the chairman will be a secretary- level officer with four joint secretary level officers as members.

With the GST Council divided on the E-way rule—the manner in which consignments moving across states will be tracked–Jaitley said the transient rule would prevail pending a final decision.

Meanwhile, the Council raised the ceiling for hotel rooms attracting the highest tax rate of 28%– rooms costing more than Rs 7,500 per night will now be taxed at 28% compared to Rs 5,000 and above earlier. Similarly, services provided by restaurants in five-star hotels will now also charge 18%, down from 28% earlier. This has brought these restaurants at par with other air-conditioned restaurants.

The Council lowered the annual turnover limit for the composition scheme to Rs 50 lakh for the north-eastern and some other hilly states, at their request. Earlier, the composition limit for all states was increased from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh. The composition scheme is applicable only to traders, manufacturers and restaurants.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/gst-council-meet-clears-5-set-of-rules-defers-e-way-bill-rule-relaxes-deadline-for-filing-returns/725238/

Stressed assets open floodgates for insolvency professionals

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State Bank of India seeks applications for empanelment, sets stiff conditions

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) move to push 12 large non-performing assets (NPAs) of the banking system into the insolvency process has created a massive business opportunity of up to Rs.2,500 crore for insolvency professionals.

To put the numbers in perspective, the RBI list comprises four companies with dues of over Rs.35,000 crore each. Even if one puts together all the few hundred cases handled by the six-month old framework, it would be a struggle to cross Rs.20,000 crore.

While the huge influx is likely to test the capacity of most players who are literally months old in the profession and present a steep learning curve, it will be a great stimulus for entry of stronger hands and investment in the segment.

According to the insolvency law, the entire process of corporate insolvency needs to be managed by a resolution professional appointed by a committee of creditors. The resolution professional, who will effectively become the chief executive officer of the business during the process period of 180 days, can charge a fee for his services. Besides, banks are also looking to appoint insolvency professionals to populate committees of creditors, which need to be formed for each of these companies.

With over Rs. 2.5 lakh crore debt coming in the top 12 companies in the first list, a one per cent charge works out to Rs. 2,500 crore. While this would be a ballpark figure, regulations do not prescribe a limit or range of fees, leaving a free hand for market forces. Globally, insolvency professionals work on various structures such as a fixed fee, time and effort-based charges, or a percentage of realisation. In some cases, a combination of these three methods could also be used. Banks would have pricing power, but good insolvency professionals would have their levers to charge a decent number, given the complexities involved and short supply.

Pavan K Vijay, managing director of Corporate Professionals, a Delhi-based firm that is looking at this opportunity, says the move gives a big boost to the nascent profession. “Even if the one per cent number does not work out, as there are bound to be negotiations, it could be around Rs.1,500 crore to Rs.2,000 crore. It is not small.”

The State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, which also has the lion’s share of these 12 large accounts, has begun the process of empanelling insolvency professionals by issuing advertisements recently.

“The bank (SBI) seeks to empanel IRPs (insolvency resolution professionals) as resolution professionals in applications filed before the National Company Law Tribunal for resolution and/or liquidation proceedings, including for representing the bank in the committee of creditors as per the provisions of the code/and the regulations,” said the advertisements issued early last week.

Other banks are likely to follow similar processes in selecting insolvency professionals, as the public sector is generally process driven, regulatory officials say.

According to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) website, there were some 977 registered insolvency professionals in the inaugural limited period criteria and another 350 in the regular category, which requires passing the national insolvency examination. Lawyers, chartered accountants, and company secretaries form a majority. However, not all of them might be able to handle the large mandates. Given the large accounts it handles, the SBI has set stiff eligibility criteria for the applicants. It wants people with experience in debt restructuring, who are also experts in company law, etc. The application window closes early next week. Since the big accounts bring with them a lot of complexities, individual professionals might not be able to handle the entire task, Vijay said.

Several top lawyers such as Shardul Shroff and Pallavi Shroff of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Alok Dhir of Dhir & Dhir, Bahram Vakil and Dushyant Dave are among the registered insolvency professionals. These would have established infrastructure and people to support their functions.

Also, the insolvency law provides for Insolvency Professional Entities (IPEs), which are corporate structures where two or more professionals can come together as partners or directors. However, there are only seven such registered IPEs as of today, according to the IBBI website. These are IRR Insolvency Professionals, a firm floated by Delhi-based lawyer Alok Dhir, AAA Insolvency Professionals, Witworth Insolvency Professionals, Gyan Shree Insolvency Professionals, A2Z Insolvency Services, Turnaround Insolvency and Nangia Insolvency Professionals.

Sandeep Gupta of Witworth, which is already handling a few mandates, feels while the opportunity is big, capacity and capabilities also need to be built up. “It is the beyond the means of an individual to handle a book size of several thousand crores. A company of such a size would have numerous non-financial creditors as well. These need to be handled in a given time frame. The resolution professional would need adequate support in terms of people and infrastructure,” he said.

For instance, Gupta said, he might hire a few freelance chief financial officers to manage one of the big accounts. Considering all this, calculating fee on a percentage basis could be misleading. It should be calculated, based on time and effort put in by the insolvency professional, he argued.

The SBI advertisement asks applicants to provide “tentative fees proposed to be charged” for various roles such as interim resolution professional, resolution professional on behalf of the committee of creditors or for being appointed as an insolvency professional to represent the bank in the committee of creditors. The bank also wanted to know whether the applicant would be “willing to abide by the fees decided by the bank.”

Source: https://www.pressreader.com/india/business-standard/20170619/281479276408067