The RBI will embark on its biggest banking clean-up exercise after President Pranab Mukherjee promulgated an ordinance authorising it to issue directions to banks to initiate insolvency resolution process in the case of loan default.
The tweak in the rules will help the Modi government tackle toxic loans that have crossed the Rs 6 lakh crore mark.
So, what does this mean?
1) The ordinance promulgated by the government on bad loans has now empowered the RBI to issue directions to banks for resolution of stressed assets. This basically implies the central bank can issue directions to any banking company or banking firms to initiate insolvency resolution process with respect to a default under the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
2) It has also empowered RBI to issue directions to banks for resolution of stressed assets.
3) The law will also empower RBI to set up sector related oversight panels that will shield bankers from later action by probe agencies looking into loan recasts.
4) RBI will be able to give specific solutions with regard to hair cut for specific cases and also, if required, look at providing relaxation in terms of current guidelines.
What is RBI’s target?
The central bank wants to resolve 60 largest delinquent-loan cases in nine months, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Why is it being done now?
Ridding bank balance sheets of stressed assets is key to reviving credit growth and furthering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of creating more jobs in the $2 trillion economy.Various schemes proposed by RBI to resolve the problem have been unsuccessful, with lenders reluctant to write down assets sufficiently and company owners unwilling to negotiate repayment plans.
Stressed assets — bad loans, restructured debt and advances to companies that can’t meet servicing requirements — have risen to about 17 percent of total loans, the highest level among major economies, data compiled by the government shows.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act , 2016, or RERA, aims to protect home buyers and encourage genuine private players
The much-awaited Real Estate Act comes into force from Monday with a promise of protecting the right of consumers and ushering in transparency but only 13 states and Union Territories (UTs) have so far notified rules.
The government has described the implementation of the consumer-centric Act as the beginning of an era where the consumer in king. Real estate players have also welcomed the implementation of the Act, saying it will bring a paradigm change in the way the Indian real estate sector functions. The government has brought in the legislation to protect home buyers and encourage genuine private players.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2016, (RERA Act), was passed by Parliament in March last year and all the 92 sections of the Act comes into effect from 1 May. “The Real Estate Act coming into force after a nine-year wait and marks the beginning of a new era,” Housing and urban poverty alleviation (HUPA) minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said. The minister said the law will make “buyer the king”, while developers will also benefit from the increased buyers’ confidence in the regulated environment.
“The Act ushers in the much-desired accountability, transparency and efficiency in the sector, defining the rights and obligations of both the buyers and developers,” Naidu said. The developers will now have to get the ongoing projects that have not received completion certificate and the new projects registered with regulatory authorities within 3 months from Monday.
Under the rules, it is mandatory for the states and UTs to set up the authority. However, only 13 states and UTs have so far notified the rules. The states that have notified the rules are Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharasthra, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
The housing ministry had last year notified the rules for five UTs—Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep, while the urban development ministry came out with such rules for the National Capital Region of Delhi. The other states and UTs will have to come out with their own rules.
A HUPA ministry spokesperson said the ministry has been taking up the matter with all the states and UTs for implementation of the Act, requesting them to ensure action as per the provision of the Act within the time limit. The ministry had earlier formulated and circulated the model rules to the states and UTs for their adoption and it is their responsibility to notify the rules, the spokesperson said. Those states which have not notified the rules will face public pressure and even people could approach the court in the matter, he added. On reports that key provisions have been diluted by some states, he said it was pointed out to those states and they have assured the ministry that it would be corrected.
The Indian real estate sector involved over 76,000 companies across the county. Some of the major provisions of the Act, besides mandatory registration of projects and real estate agents, include depositing 70% of the funds collected from buyers in a separate bank account for construction of the project. This will ensure timely completion of the project as the funds could be withdrawn only for construction purposes. The law also prescribes penalties on developers who delay projects. All developers are required to disclose their project details on the regulator’s website, and provide quarterly updates on construction progress. In case of project delays, the onus of paying the monthly interest on bank loans taken for under-construction flats will lie on developers unlike earlier, when the burden fell on home buyers, said real estate service provider JLL India CEO and Country Head Ramesh Nair.
RERA also states that any structural or workmanship defects brought to the notice of a promoter within a period of five years from the date of handing over possession must be rectified by the promoter, without any further charge, within 30 days, he added. If the promoter fails to do so, the aggrieved allottee is entitled to receive compensation under RERA, Nair said.
Other highlight of the Act is imprisonment of up to three years for developers and up to one year in case of agents and buyers for violation of orders of appellate tribunals and regulatory authorities. As per industry data, real estate projects in the range of 2,349 to 4,488 were launched every year between 2011 and 2015, amounting to a total of 17,526 projects with investments of Rs13.70 lakh crore in 27 cities, including 15 state capitals. About ten lakh buyers invest every year with the dream of owning a house.
Real estate industry bodies Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI) and National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) said the implementation of this law will bring paradigm change in the way Indian real estate functions. They expect property demand to rise but supply may get affected in the near term. “It will bring a paradigm change in the real estate sector. It will protect buyers who have purchased flats in the past. The regulator under the RERA should find ways to help complete ongoing projects and provide relief to home buyers,” NAREDCO chairman Rajeev Talwar said.
CREDAI president Jaxay Shah said RERA will increase transparency in the sector and boost confidence of both domestic and foreign investors. He, however, said there will be some “teething problem” initially in implementation of this law. Asked about the impact on prices, Shah said, “Supply will dip during this year but demand will improve as buyers will have increased confidence about investing in the property market” The real estate prices will remain stable now but rates could rise by 10% in the next six months, he added.
Govt’s plan to make Aadhaar mandatory for key managerial personnel in filings under Companies Act is aimed at tackling issues of bogus identities, shell companies and money laundering
The government will soon make quoting of Aadhaar number compulsory for key managerial personnel and directors in regulatory filings under the Companies Act.
The move, primarily aimed at tackling the issue of bogus identities, comes at a time when authorities are bolstering measures to deal with the menace of shell companies, suspected to be used for laundering illicit funds.
Moving towards implementation of the Aadhaar requirement under the companies law, the corporate affairs ministry has already asked individual stakeholders to obtain Aadhaar at the earliest for “integrating their details with MCA21”. MCA21 is the portal through which filings required under the Companies Act are submitted to the ministry.
An official said the ministry has started work for implementing a framework to make quoting of Aadhaar compulsory in the filings made under the companies law. “We will roll it out pretty fast. It will be done in a phased manner,” the official said.
The idea is to have a system in place which would help in identifying the stakeholders whose name come up in the filings made through MCA21. The move also assumes significance against the backdrop of instances where authorities have found discrepancies in personal details provided by individuals in the regulatory filings.
According to the official, having Aadhaar number along with the filings would help ascertain the authenticity of the individuals. With respect to foreign entities, a separate system would be worked out by the ministry. There are more than 16 lakh registered companies.
While asking individual stakeholders to obtain Aadhaar at the earliest, the ministry had emphasised that information in Aadhaar should be in harmony with PAN (permanent account number).
“When implemented, all MCA21 services shall be available based on Aadhaar-based authentication only,” the notice, issued earlier this month, said.
Individual stakeholders, including “DIN (director identification number) holders/directors/key managerial personnel” as well as certain professionals have been asked to obtain Aadhaar.
Professionals of the institutes of chartered accountants, company secretaries and cost accountants have been asked to get Aadhaar as early as possible. This would be applicable irrespective of whether the individual is in “employment or in practice”.
As many as 8-9 lakh registered companies are not filing annual returns with the ministry and are a potential source of money laundering, revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said on Saturday.
A Universal Robots employee demonstrates how a model of their industrial robot arms works in Singapore March 3, 2017.
Foreign precision engineering firms are investing more in Singapore, drawn by strong semiconductor demand and government incentives aimed at re-tooling an economy short of skilled labor.
The city-state is running programs worth billions of dollars to support productivity, automation and research, attracting global chipmakers including U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc and Germany’s Infineon Technologies.
This investment rush into electronics helped the technology sector log 57 percent output growth on average in October-February from a year ago, and kept Singapore from recession late last year.
“I’ve lived in Europe, I’ve lived in Japan, I’ve spent a lot of time in Taiwan and other countries. From a proactive standpoint, Singapore is about as good as it gets,” said Wayne Allan, vice president of global manufacturing at Micron, adding the Singapore government’s long-term vision was key to Micron expanding its investment.
Taking advantage of government grants, Micron is investing $4 billion to make more flash-memory chips in Singapore. It increased output by a third in the second half of last year and expects similar growth in the first half of this year.
Linear Technology Corp, a maker of analog integrated circuits, has opened a third chip testing facility in Singapore, and will produce 90 percent of its global test equipment in the city-state.
All this has created something of a virtuous circle in the semiconductor supply chain, with chip testing equipment supplier Applied Materials reporting record shipments to Singapore last year, said its regional chief, Russell Tham.
It’s unclear how much of this revival in Singapore’s $40 billion chip industry is due to a so-called ultra-super-cycle in the global memory chip sector, and Singapore remains a smaller player than South Korea and Taiwan.
“It is vulnerable to a pull-back,” said Nomura economist Brian Tan. “If there’s a turnaround in the semiconductor industry … it becomes a lot more apparent that the underlying growth momentum is not great.”
MOVING UP
However, there are real signs that the targeted government incentives are helping firms move up the value chain.
One of the larger programs is the Productivity and Innovation Credit, where Singapore has budgeted S$3.6 billion ($2.6 billion) for 2016-18. Another S$400 million automation support package is aimed at small firms, and a S$500 million Future of Manufacturing plan encourages testing new technologies.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry says it encourages manufacturers to “embrace disruptive technologies” such as robotics. “These measures will help ensure the manufacturing sector in Singapore remains globally competitive,” it said, attributing the strong semiconductors performance partly to demand from China’s smartphone market and improved global semiconductor demand.
For Feinmetall Singapore, whose products are used for testing semiconductor wafers, grants covered about two thirds of the $100,000 cost of a needle-bending machine it needed to help overcome an island-wide labor shortage.
“If we use the same methods as before … I don’t think we can expect any growth,” said Sam Chee Wah, the company’s general manager, noting Feinmetall Singapore struggled to retain some workers for much longer than a year, even after nine months of training.
GlobalFoundries Singapore, a wafer maker, has spent $50 million on 77 robots, each able to perform the tasks of 3-4 workers. This has helped the company move up the value chain into parts for self-driving cars and security-related chips for credit cards and mobile payments, says general manager KC Ang.
Singapore now has about 400 robots per 10,000 workers, the world’s second-highest density after South Korea. Most robots are used in electronics, according to the International Federation of Robots.
And further developments are in the pipeline.
AUTOS, IOT
At its Singapore manufacturing hub, Infineon is developing productivity tools such as robotics and automated guided vehicles which it hopes to deploy to other production sites. Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors is also developing vehicle-to-everything technology, enabling vehicles to communicate with each other and roadside infrastructure.
Instead of trying to compete with high-volume producers such as China or Malaysia, Singapore has shifted to higher-end products, said Jagadish C.V., head of Systems on Silicon Manufacturing, another firm making semiconductor wafers.
“So you do the products which others can’t do so easily,” he said, adding his firm had shifted most of its output to specialized products, such as chips used in smartphones.
CK Tan, President of the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association, noted the global chip industry is automating faster than other sectors because of cost pressure, a need to eliminate or reduce error, and have a consistent process control.
“In Singapore, it’s even more important for us to … look at how to speed up or increase the level of automation because of the lack of skilled resources,” he said. “The industry has recognized it has to move upscale. The government incentives play a part to allow the manufacturing side to be relevant, to be at least cost competitive.”
The Ministry of Trade and Industry said first-quarter growth in manufacturing – up 6.6 percent year-on-year, while overall GDP was up 2.5 percent – was due mainly to output expansion in electronics and precision engineering.
Integrated circuits were Singapore’s biggest export product among non-oil domestic exports in January-March, topping S$6 billion ($4.29 billion), according to trade agency IE Singapore.
Bandhan Bank’s net interest income stood at Rs 2,403.50 crore in the financial year 2017
Bandhan Bank on Thursday reported a net profit of Rs1,111.95 crore for the financial year that ended on 31 March. A comparable year-ago figure wasn’t available because the lender started operations only in August 2015.
Net interest income, or the core income a bank earns by giving loans, was Rs2,403.50 crore. Gross advances were Rs23,543.29 crore and deposits stood at Rs23,229 crore.
Current and savings accounts at the end of the March quarter made up 29.43% of deposits. Bandhan Bank’s capital adequacy ratio, an indicator of financial strength expressed as a ratio of capital to risk-weighted assets, was 26.36%. The bank has 840 branches and 10.5 million customers.
Bandhan Bank, which converted from a microfinance institution to a full-fledged lender, kept its focus on borrowers who make up more than 90% of its loan book. Going forward, the bank intends to diversify into affordable housing and loans to micro enterprises.
According to Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, founding managing director and chief executive officer of Bandhan Bank, deposit and credit growth for the bank will continue to grow at 30%.
In the financial year 2016-17, the bank sold inter-bank participatory certificates worth Rs6,704.21 crore, which helped the bank boost its net interest margin.
The net interest margin, the difference between the rate a bank charges for loans and pays for deposits, for the year was close to 10%.
Under the inter-bank participatory certificates arrangement, banks can sell a part of their portfolio to other banks that are short of their targets for lending to the priority sector that includes agriculture and small businesses.
The bull run was driven by hopes of earnings growth and continued buying by domestic investors. Rising global optimism on French elections results and likely announcement of tax reforms by Donald Trump in the US also pushed the markets higher.
With mixed positive sentiments among investors and unabated funds inflows in both global and domestic rallies, markets created yet another milestone in the stock trading history on Wednesday. The benchmark Sensex ended with new and all-time high of 30,133.35 for the first time, while the broader Nifty scaled a new peak at 9,351.85 points.
Similarly, energised by positive global cues in line with a spectacular rally in equities, the rupee also surged by another 15 paise to close near a fresh 21-month high of 64.11, the third straight session of gains. This is the highest closing for the rupee since August 10, 2015, when it had ended at 63.87.
The market momentum also got an additional push on growing expectations for robust foreign inflows to India sparked by a renewed optimism about the US economy and waning anxiety over the European political landscape. Besides, stocks also saw frenzied buying, in line with global shares, which have been on a high after the first round victory of centrist Emmanuel Macron in French presidential elections. Investors are also keeping an eye on US President Donald Trump’s much-awaited tax reforms.
However, traders and market insiders have a different view on this unusual rally, saying that the impressive show by the ruling BJP in Delhi civic polls added to the positivity in the share market.
Keeping the upward trend of the markets, the BSE, however, cautioned the investors not to be carried away by the ‘euphoria’ and refrain from investing in penny stocks. BSE Chief Executive Ashish Chauhan appealed to investors to invest only in good companies or opt for the mutual funds’ route to invest in the markets. “As an exchange, we advice investors not to be carried by the 30,000 mark euphoria and they should not invest in penny stocks nor do they fall prey to fly-by- night operators,” Chauhan said after celebrating the milestone at the Dalal Street towards the end of the trading hours in Mumbai.
As far as Sensex is concerned, the BSE 30-share index opened on a strong footing and surged to a lifetime high of 30,167.09 points in intra-day trade, before settling at 30,133.35, up 190.11 points, or 0.63 per cent. This surpassed its previous record close of 29,974.24, reached on April 5. The gauge had hit its previous intra-day high of 30,024.74 on March 4, 2015. The Sensex has gained 768.05 points or 2.62 per cent in three days.
Similarly, the broader 50-issue NSE Nifty scaled a new high of 9,367 before finally settling 45.25 points, or 0.49 per cent higher at 9,351.85, a new record closing.
Its previous closing high of 9,306.60 was hit in Tuesday’s trade. It also broke the previous intra-day record of 9,309.20. “Market has made a higher high on account of rising global optimism due to ease in political risk in Eurozone and expectation of tax reform in the US. “Volatility emerged during the late hours due to profit booking but short covering ahead the expiry navigated the direction back to north. Optimism on earnings and continued buying by local investors is directing the recent rally in the market,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Overseas, Asian indices also ended higher following overnight rally in US stocks on strong earnings announcements and expectations surrounding US President Donald Trump’s impending tax reforms. Tokyo’s Nikkei ended up 1.1 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5 per cent, its fifth straight day of gains. Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.2 per cent.
Key indices in Europe, however, were mixed in their morning deals, with Paris CAC 40 rising 0.1 per cent, London’s FTSE slipping 0.06 per cent and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 declining 0.03 per cent. Back home, of the 30-share Sensex pack, 18 scrips ended higher while 12 closed lower.
Major gainers were ITC 3.36 per cent, M&M 3.29 per cent, HDFC 2.36 per cent, HUL 1.78 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.61 per cent, Tata Motors 1.17 per cent, Bharti Airtel 1.14 per cent, Maruti 0.88 per cent, HDFC Bank 0.73 per cent and Asian Paints 0.73 per cent.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 5,021.73 crore, higher than Rs 4,006.89 crore registered during the previous trading session.
Home service startup UrbanClap has raised Rs.20 Crore of debt funding from California-Based Trifecta Capital through Non-Convertible Debentures.
A Non – Convertible debenture or NCD do not have the option of conversion into shares and on maturity, the principal amount along with accumulated interest is paid to the holder of the instrument. There are two types of NCDs-secured and unsecured.
Previously, UrbanClap raised an undisclosed amount funding from Ratan TATA in December 2015. The total equity funding from UrbanClap is about $36.6 Millions. The startup investors base include SAIF Capitals, Rohit Bhansal, Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Capital and others.
The startup has also acquired similar startups like GoodServices and Mumbai-Based HandyHome.
The Delhi-Based startup was founded in October 2014 by Varun Khaitan, Raghav Chandra and Abhiraj Bhal. UrbanClap is the simplest way to hire trusted services. The startup helps their customers to find the right service professionals for activities important house works. Their vision is to use technology and smart processes to structure the highly unorganised services market in India and emerging markets.
Trifecta Capital is an early stage technology fund that invests in the best start-ups. Current portfolio companies include Equipment Share, Second Spectrum, Moltin and others. Trifecta Capital is a top quartile Silicon Valley-based seed fund. The venture capitalist is industry agnostic and look to support companies starting at seed stage but continue our support until IPO.
Commenting on the funding Rahul Khanna, managing partner at Trifecta Capital, said: “We are very focused on identifying category leaders. The venture debt firm has so far committed Rs 300 crore to 21 startups in the last 18 months through its Trifecta Venture Debt Fund I, the target corpus for which is Rs 500 crore.”
The venture debt firm has invested in several startups such as BigBasket, Rivigo and Urban Ladder.
The RBI will embark on its biggest banking clean-up exercise after President Pranab Mukherjee promulgated an ordinance authorising it to issue directions to banks to initiate insolvency resolution process in the case of loan default.
