Curbing bad loans: RBI vows to trim banks’ corporate exposure limit to 25% of its capital-Financial Express-30th March 2015
In a move to reduce risks in the banking sector and curb the rising bad loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to reduce the exposure of a bank to a business group to 25 per cent of its capital, down from the existing level of 55 per cent.
The RBI proposal has come at time when many of the top business groups, especially in the infrastructure segment, are already over-leveraged and reeling under heavy debt burden.
In a draft paper, the RBI said, “the sum of all the exposure values of a bank to a single counterpart or to a group of connected counter-parties must not be higher than 25 per cent of the bank’s available eligible capital base at all times.”
The proposed ‘Large Exposure’ (LE) framework will be fully applicable from January 1, 2019, the paper said, while seeking stakeholders’ views on it till April 30.
Clearing operations on March 30, 31-HBL
March 27:
To provide greater convenience to tax payers, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday said all designated branches of agency banks as well as its own offices conducting government business will keep their counters open for full day on March 30 and till 8.00 pm on March 31. In order to facilitate government receipts and payments, necessary arrangements have been made to conduct special clearing operations across the country, the RBI said in a statement. Centralised payment systems such as the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) will also be operational on both the days with extended business hours.
FinMin asks banks to deposit March TDS by month end
Worried over the shortfall in the overall direct tax collection kitty, the government has asked banks, both public and private, to not delay remitting of TDS funds of the current month into state coffers and do the same within the current financial year ending in March.
The Income Tax department and its apex policy making body, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), are wary that the growth registered this time under the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) category is less than half as compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.
According to official data updated till March first week, TDS collections stood at 7.49 per cent as against 16.69 per cent in the same period last year.
RBI to soon issue norms for Central Fraud Registry -HBL
The Reserve Bank of India has almost finalised the structure of Central Fraud Registry and will soon come up with guidelines to enable quick sharing of information about unscrupulous borrowers and help banks fight bad loans.
“We have almost finalised the structure. We would be issuing guidelines soon,” RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra told PTI.
The proposed institution, which will enable quick sharing of information on entities found to be defrauding banks, would work under the supervision of RBI, he said.
Banks are advertising the list of wilful defaulters on their website and newspapers individually. With setting up of this registry, list of all unscrupulous borrowers will be available on a single platform.
Thus, banks can take advantage of the registry at the time of sanctioning loan by checking the credentials of a borrower from the registry.
“It is important for the system to weed out the unethical elements at the earliest opportunity to ensure the credibility and the efficiency of the credit system in the country,” he said.
Poor investment flows to hurt United Bank's credit growth-Business Standard
Despite RBI lifting all lending restrictions imposed on United Bank of India (UBI) due to high NPA levels, the bank's credit growth will not rise significantly owing to poor investments on the ground, its Executive Director Sanjay Arya has said.
"There has been an improvement in sentiments as several measures have been taken by the Centre and various state governments. But that has not percolated to the ground as little investments are taking place," Arya told PTI. Recently, the banking regulator had lifted all lending restrictions which were imposed in December 2013 as the bank had posted a loss in that quarter owing to high NPA levels. On December 31, 2013, UBI's gross NPA was Rs 8,546 crore, which gradually came down to Rs 7,890 crore at the end of December 2014.
Arya said though restrictions had been lifted, RBI had said the bank would not be able to increase its credit-deposit (CD) ratio beyond 70 and capital adequacy ratio should not fall below 9.5 per cent. In the given current economic scenario, UBI would not be aggressive in lending activity to raise credit. "Our approach to corporates will be very cautious as we do not want to create further slippages. We will be very selective," he said. The focus would be primarily on the retail and the MSME sectors, besides improving recovery, he said.
The bank would also raise additional tier I capital to support its renewed lending activity, he added.
Union Bank of India defers Rs1,386 cr QIP issue to next fiscal
The bank had taken shareholders’ nod for extension of approval for raising capital in June 2014
State-owned Union Bank of India has deferred its plan to raise Rs.1,386 crore funds through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) to the next fiscal.
“We have got everything in place. We will hit the market at the right time. We have taken approval for Rs.1,386 crore (fund raising) through QIP,” Union Bank of India chairman and managing director Arun Tiwari said. Last year in June, the bank had taken shareholders’ nod for extension of approval for raising capital. The bank had planned to raise funds during the current fiscal, but given the market condition it has been deferred.
“Where is the demand, why unnecessarily raise capital and sit over it as there is no demand for credit at this point of time?” he said. Besides, Union Bank of India plans to raise Rs.2,000 crore capital through issuance of Additional Tier 1 Bonds. It would be Basel III compliant Tier 1 perpetual bonds. Asked about expectations from RBI monetary policy on 7 April, he said that looking at the current situation it is highly unlikely that RBI would ease rate further. “They have already done twice in quick succession,” he said.
Earlier this month, RBI surprised markets by reducing the benchmark interest rate by 0.25% to 7.5% on the back of softening inflation and the government’s commitment to continue the fiscal consolidation programme. This was the second time in two months that RBI cut interest rates outside the regular policy review. Last time on 15 January, it had cut the repo rate by 0.25% to 7.75%.
Political News In Debate At Tea Stall
AAP infighting hurting governance, Kejriwal govt image hit: Polls-Hindustan Times 28.03.2015
(read my views below)
AAP leaders may wish otherwise but a Hindustan Times-C fore survey on Saturday revealed that 83% respondents feel that the rift in the party is hurting the image of Arvind Kejriwal's government.
Fifty-five per cent of 2,036 people surveyed said Kejriwal was turning AAP into a one-leader party.
In fact, 37% respondents blamed Kejriwal for the internal squabble and 25% thought his supporters were responsible. While 13% felt both groups were equally responsible for the turmoil, 16% felt it was the fault of Yadav and Bhushan.
The rift in the party became visible when Yadav called Kejriwal a dictator in a letter last June.
Now with both of them at loggerheads with the Kejriwal camp, 70% respondents felt the infighting was taking the focus away from the poll promises. Only 23% disagreed while the rest couldn't decide. Also, few seemed impressed with the performance of the AAP government in the first month.
Six per cent respondents rated the performance of the Delhi government over last one month as excellent, 22% thought it was good though 34% called it average. While 21% of those surveyed did not have an opinion, 17% found the government's show poor.
AAP founder members Yadav and Bhushan, who had challenged Kejriwal's leadership, were on Saturday removed from the party's powerful national executive by an overwhelming majority at the national council meet, a move slammed as "murder of democracy" by the duo.
Amid high drama, a resolution to remove the two dissident leaders was passed by around 230 of around 300 national council members present in the meeting.
After making an emotional speech, party convenor Kejriwal left the venue before the resolution to remove the two leaders was introduced by Manish Sisodia.
As the action unfolded Saturday, HT also ran online polls asking its readers whether the duel is going to affect party's image and how do they rate the government's performance.
According to one online poll — the respondents for which volunteered and were not chosen scientifically — 81.98% respondents feel that the rift in AAP is hurting the image of Kejriwal's government. 48.76% people feel that Kejriwal is responsible for the internal squabble in AAP whereas 21.29% feel Bhushan and Yadav are responsible for the squabble. While 10.79% felt Kejriwal's supporters were responsible, 16.63% felt all of them were to be blamed.
79.66% respondents think Kejriwal is trying to turn AAP into a one-leader party whereas 16.08% disagree. Only 4.26% said they couldn't decide.
On being asked if infighting in AAP is taking the focus away from the poll promises made to the citizens of Delhi, 81.7% people said yes. 14.6% respondents disagreed whereas 3.7% had no opinion.
When asked to rate the performance of the Kejriwal government over the last one month, a massive 55.61% people gave poor rating and only 9.69% termed it excellent. 10.42% respondents said the government performed good whereas 17.17% rated it average. 7.11% respondents had no opinion.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/ht-poll-81-98-people-feel-kejriwal-govt-s-image-has-taken-a-hit/article1-1331690.aspx
AAP removes Ramdas as Lokpal, Bhushan from disciplinary panel -Business Standard-29.03.2015
The Aam Aadmi Party today removed party’s internal Lokpal Admiral L Ramdas and Prashant Bhushan as the chief of National Disciplinary Committee, a day after the latter and senior leader Yogendra Yadav were expelled from the National Executive (NE).
At an “emergency” NE meeting here, the party removed former navy chief Ramdas from the internal Lokpal and set up a new Lokpal panel, comprising former IPS officers N Dilip Kumar and Rakesh Sinha and educationist S P Verma.
“All these people have given their consent to be part of the party’s Lokpal panel,” party’s national secretary Pankaj Gupta said.
The AAP National Executive, while sacking Bhushan from the disciplinary committee, decided to replace him by a three —member panel headed by Dinesh Waghela. The other members are Arvind Kejriwal loyalist Ashish Khetan and national secretary Pankaj Gupta.
Read News On Kumar Viswas
The removal of Ramdas came a day after he was sent an SMS asking him not to attend the National Council meeting to avoid “confrontation“.
Miffed over the snub, he then wrote a letter to the Political Affairs Committee criticising the leadership.
Ramdas said he had come from his village in Maharashtra to attend the meet. However, he said he would not attend the meet to “honour” the party’s request.
The AAP body also announced a committee that will take care of the April 22 agitation against the Land Acquisition Bill, when the party plans to gherao Parliament on the issue.
This committee comprises Ilyas Azmi, Prem Singh Pahadi, Yogesh Dahiya, Somendra Dhaka, Gurnam Singh and Kiran Vissa, which would decide on the details of the agitation programme.
The party has also formed a committee under the leadership of senior leader and PAC member Sanjay Singh to look into expansion of the organisation in other states.
Kejriwal And Aam Admi Party in My Opinion
Mr. Kejriwal is perhaps wondering in dreamland if he thinks that by removing Mr. Yogendra Yadav, Mr. Prashant Bhusan and other members from National Council he and his followers will live in peace and he will be able to carry on government business comfortably. Mr. Yogendra Yadav and Mr Prashant Bhusan are founder member and makers of the party. Mr. Yadav is master in reading and forming the pulse of voters and Mr. Bhusan is master in litigation.
It is Mr. Yadav who prepared ground for forming political party and it is Mr. Bhusan who not only damaged hundred year old National party called as Congress Party by exposing various scams in courts , he also contributed a lot in drafting of Jan Lokpal Bill .These two stalwarts like Yadav and Bhusan cannot be taken lightly and they have huge potential to motivate voters and volunteers of the party and they have sufficient talent to malign the image of Kejriwal and his followers. These two can disturb the peace of Mr. Kejriwal and his followers. It depends on them what role they will play, constructive by forming new party or destructive by initiating legal and social action against AAP survival.
Mr. Kejriwal is misguided by a few flatterers who surrounded him all the time during all meetings of the party. He is in wrong impression that all four expelled members were indulged in anti party activities. Party should at least keep in mind that his party won 67 out of 70 seats in Delhi and it could not be possible if there were enemies within the party and if core members like Mr. Yadav or Bhusan and other volunteers were engaged in anti party activities. Kejriwal did not try to bring opposing members in mainstream. He failed to persuade them to follow the line of action which majority of PAC or NC wanted. He failed to pacify the quarrelling members.
Mr. Kejriwal enjoys supremacy and undented majority in the party and he could have rejected any proposal of Mr. Yadav or that of Mr. Bhusan in democratic way. He used to talk of consulting voters and villagers of the area before taking any decision and before selecting any candidate. He used to say that he is not king, real King is common men. But in reality, he failed to give value to his own fellow members and core founder members who were part of PAC and NC. Important and core members like Kiren Bedi, Sazia Ilmi, Binni and many other left the party.Mr. Kejriwal has been discarded even by Mr. Anna Hazare who led the mass movement againt Corruption.
Normally in all parties such ego problems comes but a successful leader prevail upon them by hook or by crook. Mr. Narendra Modi was facing false and fabricated abusing by media and Non-BJP parties in all forums and he faced the humiliating treatment at all levels for a decade and more. Since he was true in his approach and in intention, he ultimately won the game. It is sad that even after becoming Prime Ministers of India dirty politicians of opposing camp and dirty media men are still engaged in maligning Mr. Narendra Modi rightly or wrongly. There is no doubt in it that there are still many within BJP who dislike Modi's style of functioning. A person of national stature in a country like India where freedom of speech is without any regulation and without any check point has to face such propaganda . A genuine leader however shines as much as he is rubbed by opponents. Not only Mr. Modi, even leaders like iron lady Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, V P Singh, Morar ji Desai , Jai Prakash Narayan had several opponents inside as well as outside their party.
Mr. Kejriwal is a clean , dry honest, devoted and humble person with full of patriotism . There is no doubt in it and more than ninety percent of AAP followers have full trust on his intention. I may say confidently and firmly that there was none to replace Mr Kejriwal in his party and there was none to challenge his supremacy in the party. One may say without any hesitation that without Mr. Kejriwal , party is full zero . There was no challenge to him from any corner of the country . But Mr. Kejriwal failed to use his unchallenged status in managing the crisis He always tried to keep him away from crisis. When his part needed him much to resolve the crisis he went to Bangalore for treatment..
Mr. Arvind Kejriwal failed to run the government during his last tenure .He failed to pacify the anger of warring members in PAC meeting and he failed to pacify by his speech the members of National council meeting. He failed to convince PAC and NC that expelled members were in wrong path and neither did he give opportunity to expelled members to prove that they are right and Mr. Kejriwal is wrong. Mr Kejriwal delivered his speech in NC meeting and left the meeting. He did not think it wise to listen to views of accused members.
Even judiciary give full time and full opportunity to all accused to prove that they are not guilty. It is the basic need of any judicial course of action .
Mr. Kejriwal failed to shed personal ego and failed to dilute the anger of his own followers who were bent upon expelling Mr. Yadav by hook or by crook. In this way he always failed to keep his small team united and keep all founder members intact. Several good followers of AAP have deserted the party during last few months and several others will leave the party gradually.
I therefore feel that Mr. Kejriwal has opened Pandora's box by expelling important and core members of the party. Now litigation and anti party activities will rise to unlimited extent. Mr. Kejriwal will not be able to function peacefully and it is the residents of Delhi who will have to face the consequences. New problems will arise daily and new opponents will come forward slowly because of the fact that Mr. Kejriwal have not learnt to create consensus and neither he knows the art of dictating the party boldly and courageously without inviting dissidents and without repercussion.
Split of the party which took place on auspicious Ramnavmi Day on 28th March 2015 is not full and final , it is rather the beginning of braking of the party and it is the beginning of the end of the party. Only positive minded person can expect good results from such dirty activities and dirty game played by members of the party and only hard-core and blind supporters of AAP can dream of its growth in other parts of the country or its success in Delhi if inner party indiscipline continues in the same fashion. Allegation and counter allegation will spoil precious time of top leaders and the party and voters of Delhi will be deprived of service for which they are eagerly awaiting .
I lastly appeal Mr Arvind Kejriwal , Chief Minister of Delhi to apply all energy on governance and try to rebuild party's image .
I hope Mr Yadav and Mr. Bhusan will also stop maligning party's image. Work is supreme.
I appeal Mr. Kejriwal and his followers and volunteers to dilute their Personal ego and shed their difference of mind and work together .
Bad image created by current episode may be set aside by good work only. Please stop criticising others and focus on services to be extended to voters of Delhi as promised during election campaign.
AAP crisis: top 10 developments-The Hindu
1
AAP removes Prashant Bhushan from the National Discplinary Committee.
2
Medha Patkar resigns from AAP's primary membership.
3
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare says the fiasco is entirely the AAP’s “internal affair”.
4
Mr. Yadav’s supporters Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha also removed from the National Executive.
5
Sources say Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Anand Kumar found guilty of planting false stories in the press.
6
A report of the AAP Delhi unit questioning Mr. Yadav’s and Mr. Bhushan’s “style of functioning” tabled at the meeting.
7
“Every MLA was given ten buses to get supporters to heckle me; what is happening to the movement is sad,” says Mr. Yadav.
8
Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan are still party members and have only been removed the National Executive.
9
"All options open, including going to Election Commission", says Mr. Bhushan.
10
"There was gundagiri (hooliganism) at AAP national council meeting and Kejriwal did nothing to stop it," says Mr. Yadav