FPIs pump over Rs 19,700 crore in November, highest in eight months

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After taking a break from buying into Indian equities in August and September, FPIs bought equities in abundance in November.

Foreign investors pumped over Rs 19,700 crore into the country’s stock markets in November, the highest in eight months, mainly due to government’s plan to recapitalise PSU banks and surge in India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business.

In addition, such investors put in Rs 530 crore in the debt markets during the period under review.

According to depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) invested a net amount of Rs 19,728 crore in equities last month.

This is the highest net investment by FPIs since March, when they had poured in Rs 30,906 crore in the equity market.It has been a tremendous journey for the Indian equity markets in 2017. After taking a break from buying into Indian equities in August and September, FPIs bought equities in abundance in November.

The strong inflow could be largely attributed to the government’s decision to recapitalise public-sector banks, which is expected to enhance lending and propel economic growth, said Morningstar India’s senior analyst manager (research) Himanshu Srivastava.

“This is particularly seen as a positive step after the questions have been raised from various quarters on the government’s ability to effectively implement economic reforms. Further, the slow pace of economic growth was also believed to be due to rising non performing assets (NPAs) problem in public sector banks, hence this decision provided a much-needed impetus to FPIs to again look back at Indian equity space,” he added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the PSU bank recapitalisation plan of Rs 2.11 trillion, out of which Rs 1.35 trillion will come from recapitalisation bonds, and the rest from markets and budgetary support.

Additionally, the news about India faring well in the World Bank’s Ease of Business index and a jump in core sector growth also turned the tide in India’s favour, Srivastava said.

India gained 30 places in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index for 2018 to 100th among 190 nations.

“These (bank’s recapitalisation plan and world bank’s ranking) and positive developments in the recent times provided a much-needed breather to FPIs who were concerned about the short-term impact of demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) on the domestic economy and sluggish pace of economic recovery,” he added.

Yet another positive piece of news has come from Moody’s Investor Services, which upgraded its India rating by a notch to ‘Baa2’ from ‘Baa3’ with a stable outlook, citing improved economic growth prospects driven by the government reforms.
Overall, FPIs have invested Rs 53,800 crore in equities so far in 2017 and another Rs 1.46 lakh crore in debt markets.

India jumps 30 places on World Bank’s ease of doing business index, breaks into top 100

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The World Bank’s ease of doing business report showed that eight reforms were key in helping businesses in 2016/17. India is also among the 10 economies to have improved the most, alongside El Salvador, Malawi, Nigeria and Thailand.

Doing business in India became much easier over the past one year because of a raft of policy reforms, an annual World Bank index showed on Tuesday, in what is possibly a shot in the arm for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to win big-ticket investments.

For the first time, India jumped 30 places to break into the top 100 in the ease of doing business rankings for the year to June 2017. The 190-country index is an influential barometer of competitiveness among countries that likely also helps businesses make investment decisions.

India’s impressive performance was largely due to reforms in taxation, insolvency laws and access to credit, part of measures Prime Minister Modi’s government has pushed to boost investment and jobs that would help absorb a million people who join the workforce every month.

“India’s performance is not based on efforts of just one year but consistent efforts made over the last three years to continuously improve the regulatory environment of doing business,” Annette Dixon, vice president South Asia, told a press conference.

“It is the result of a number of reforms that the government has undertaken that India is becoming a preferred destination to do business.”

India saw improvements in six of 10 indicators, including on winning construction permits, enforcing contracts, paying taxes and resolving insolvency. It, however, slipped when it came to starting a business, getting an electricity connection, cross-border trade and registering property.

Underlining how reforms had helped India improve its overall ranking, the World Bank said the establishment of debt recovery tribunals reduced non-performing loans by 28% and lowered interest rates on larger loans, suggesting that faster processing of debt recovery cases cut the cost of credit.

India was also among the 10 economies to have improved the most, alongside El Salvador, Malawi, Nigeria and Thailand.

– Hindustan Times

Total bad loans seen at whopping $130 bn; as defaults rise, cases at NCLT accumulate

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Stressed loans near $10-billion mark; total bad loans seen at over $130 billion; 250 NCLT cases across 10 benches
While many of the loan exposures had turned toxic in 2015 and 2016, bankers were looking to recover their dues via other schemes such as the strategic debt restructuring or the S4A (scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets ) and 5/25.

While many of the loan exposures had turned toxic in 2015 and 2016, bankers were looking to recover their dues via other schemes such as the strategic debt restructuring or the S4A (scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets ) and 5/25.

With defaults on loans and corporate bonds nudging $10 billion in 2017 so far and the total quantum of bad loans estimated to have crossed $130 billion, the number of cases at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has jumped to around 250 across 10 benches. At the end of March, fewer than 40 cases had been referred to the tribunal. Banks are hoping to recover their loans via the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code(IBC) and have already referred a dozen large accounts to the tribunal following a recommendation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). They are expected to approach the tribunal for another two dozen accounts.

Apart from banks, also knocking on the doors of the NCLT are other creditors such as non-banking financial companies and asset reconstruction companies. A few corporate debtors too have approached the tribunal.

While many of the loan exposures had turned toxic in 2015 and 2016, bankers were looking to recover their dues via other schemes such as the strategic debt restructuring or the S4A (scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets ) and 5/25.

Consequently, several of the exposures had not been classified as non-performing assets. With the RBI asking banks to refer the cases to the NCLT, the tribunal has been inundated with cases.

Industry watchers believe that given the quality of the fixed assets — plant and machinery — at many of the companies is of good quality, the firms are unlikely to be liquidated. However, buyers will come in only if banks take big haircuts since just about 45-50% of the debt is believed to be sustainable.

Of the 12 cases referred to the NCLT, 11 have been admitted. While some of the companies — Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel and Monnet Ispat — raised objections, the tribunal overruled these.

Bhushan Steel, which owes banks a whopping Rs 44,447 crore, had earlier objected to the insolvency proceedings alleging that State Bank of India (SBI) had inflated the dues by around Rs 100 crore.

Nonetheless, SBI’s petition was admitted by the NCLT, which ordered the interim resolution professional (IRP) to take charge of the company. The IRP, along with a committee of creditors, is currently working on a resolution plan.

The central bank has recently sent a second list of defaulters like Videocon Industries, IVRCL and Visa Steel that banks must take to the bankruptcy court if stress is not resolved by December 13.

These defaults, in turn, have put pressure on banks’ balance sheets which have reported a remarkable rise in bad loans in the June quarter of FY18. India’s largest bank SBI saw its gross bad loan ratio — total non-performing loans as a percentage of its total loans — rise 86 basis points sequentially to 9.97%.

SBI has an exposure of Rs 50,247 crore to the 12 accounts referred to the NCLT and the total provision on those accounts stood at Rs 19,943 crore. SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya told reporters during the results press conference that the bank requires incremental provision of Rs 8,571 crore with respect to the 12 accounts in FY18.

Source: Financial Express

 

Debt resolution top priority in insolvency process, says IBBI chief

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The IBBI chief said as per the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), resolution is left with the imagination of the market participants and they are free to take any call in regards to an entity, which is down with indebtedness.

Resolution of indebtedness of a firm will be the top priority of all constituents of the insolvency and bankruptcy mechanism in the interest of the stakeholders, and it will think about liquidation only if it finds that the resolution is hard to come by, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) chairperson MS Sahoo said on Wednesday.

“In such a process, the first endeavour is resolution. If it is not resoluble then they think about liquidation. The endeavour of the law, insolvency professionals and committee of creditors is to first find out a resolution plan,” Sahoo said while speaking at a conference organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The IBBI chief said as per the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), resolution is left with the imagination of the market participants and they are free to take any call in regards to an entity, which is down with indebtedness. The government is just trying to create an enabling environment.

The government’s effort is also to empower the market participants in every field and that is what has been the focus of the insolvency code where one gets not just the freedom to enter into a business, but also enjoys the freedom to exit the business.

“In our scheme of things, we have segregated the role of the state and the role of the market. We have also segregated commercial aspects from judicial aspects. Bankruptcy code says that insolvency professionals will run the company; but for a resolution, the decision of resolution will be taken by the market, that is the committee of creditors,” he said.

Sahoo also pitched for a market driven institutional mechanism to facilitate and enable mergers and acquisitions with minimum regulations that can conveniently safeguard the legitimate interests of concerned stakeholders. “Why can’t we have that kind of framework where approvals of the authorities are minimised, institutions work and everything is delivered by the market?” he asked.

 

Source: Indian Express

Banks’ auditors under lens: RBI seeks explanation on differences in write-downs

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According to RBI data, PSU banks in FY17 have written off Rs 81,683 crore against Rs 2.49 lakh crore in the past five years.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has questioned scores of auditors at 27 public sector banks on the process and logic they had used to compute and report write-downs at the lenders, two people close to the development told ET.

The RBI has sought written explanation on differences in the write-down assessments by its own inspectors and those certified by the auditors. A write-down is a reduction in the estimated and nominal value of an asset, and is charged off as a loss to the profit and loss account for the relevant period. In some cases, the RBI has also questioned the provisioning methodology and non-performing asset (NPA) figures arrived at by the auditors at a few public sector banks, sources told ET.

The banking regulator is examining whether auditors at these state-run lenders followed RBI guidelines on write-downs, provisioning and NPAs. “This is part of RBI’s annual assessment. Auditors will have to explain how they provisioned for NPA and how they calculated write-downs,” said a person aware of the matter.

The write-downs, NPA and provisioning figures arrived at by the auditors and RBI inspectors differ by up to 10%.

WRITE-DOWNS & PROVISIONING
According to RBI data, PSU banks in FY17 have written off Rs 81,683 crore against Rs 2.49 lakh crore in the past five years. In a few cases, the audit reports of some of these lenders do not reflect these write-downs, said one of the persons cited above. Most banks do not separately report write-downs in their accounts, combining them often with quarterly provisioning.

Most Indian public sector banks use more than one auditor due to the enormous size of their balance sheets. Most auditors are mid-to-small Indian firms that audit several branches. The 27 public sector banks collectively employ 115 auditors, according to data analysed by the ET Intelligence Group.

According to the people in the know, auditors at State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank and Bank of India (BoI) were sent the show-cause notices about two weeks ago.

ET’s detailed email queries to the regulator and the affected lenders – SBI, PNB, BoB, IDBI, Indian Overseas Bank, Canara Bank, BoI, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and Allahabad Bank – did not elicit any response.

REGULATOR HAS PRIVILEGED ACCESS’
According to a major bank’s auditor who did not wish to be identified, the differences are not unexpected. “The RBI has access to information an auditor may not. Like, if a loan in bank X has gone toxic, the auditor of bank Y may not know, but the RBI would,” he said. He added that there is a time lapse between auditors preparing an account and the RBI conducting inspections. “What you must look at is the impact on the P&L of a bank due to divergence. In most cases, that is not much,” he said.

To be sure, there may have been ‘technical’ errors in interpreting the writedown rules, resulting in the differences. “There is a direct impact of the new accounting standards on the way write-downs are arrived at,” said a senior executive at a top audit firm. “Under the old accounting system, the rules around write-downs were not as precise, and there is a possibility that some auditors may have ignored this.”

Source: Economic Times

Bad loan crisis: Crackdown by banks sends borrowers scrambling to offer solutions

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Tough stance taken by govt, RBI makes borrowers cautious

Indian banks are beginning to spot a welcome change in their customers’ behaviour: borrowers who have seen their accounts classified as stressed or non-performing are approaching the lenders with proposals to resolve such accounts in a time-bound manner.

The tough stance taken by the central government and the Reserve Bank of India to end the festering bad loan crisis in the Indian banking sector has caught many borrowers by surprise and they are scrambling to put together resolution plans to avoid harsher penalties including insolvency proceedings, bankers said. Even a couple of months ago, it was difficult to get these clients to the negotiation table.

“I can definitely say that we are in a much better position than even six months ago. We are seeing traction from a section of our borrowers to come up with proposals for resolution of stressed accounts,” said Rajkiran Rai G, managing director and CEO, Union Bank of India. “However, it is too early to say if this is the end of the problem. We will have to see how the discussions shape up,” he added.

Borrowers with outstanding amounts between Rs 500-1,500 crore are the most active in trying to resolve their stressed accounts, and they are looking at various options including scouting for investors and sale of non-core assets, two senior bankers with state-run banks said on conditions of anonymity. A large number of these borrowers are from the steel, power and telecom sectors. Some of the larger corporates with outstanding amounts between Rs 1,500-5,000 crore have also taken initiative to resolve their stressed accounts. On an average, these account for about 50% of the current gross non-performing assets of the banking system, the bankers said.

In June, the RBI’s Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) had said 12 accounts totaling about 25% of the current gross NPA of the banking system would qualify for immediate reference under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). At present, proceedings against all the 12 accounts are on in various benches of the National Company Law Tribunal across the country. For accounts that do not qualify under the above criterion, IAC had recommended that banks should finalise a resolution plan within six months. “In cases where a viable resolution is not agreed upon within six months, banks should be required to file for insolvency proceedings under IBC,” the RBI had said.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/economy/bad-loan-crisis-crackdown-by-banks-sends-borrowers-scrambling-to-offer-solutions/769027/

IBBI notifies rules for bankruptcy probe

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Union Minister for Finance, Arun Jaitley administering the oath to Madhusudan Sahoo as the Chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), in New Delhi.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has powers to start probe against service providers registered with it without intimating them, according to new regulations.

IBBI, which is implementing the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), has notified the regulations for inspection and investigation of service providers registered with it.

Insolvency professional agencies, professionals, entities and information utility are considered as service providers under the Code.

The Code, which provides for a market-determined and time-bound resolution of insolvency proceedings, became operational in December 2016.

As per the regulations, the investigation authority has to serve a notice intimating the entity concerned about the probe at least ten days in advance.

However, the requirement could be done away with on grounds such as apprehensions that the records of the particular service provider might be destroyed before the probe starts.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/ibbi-notifies-rules-for-bankruptcy-probe/article19289857.ece