Overregulation hampering growth of NBFCs...

Assocham met the RBI governor Shaktikanta Das to discuss the liquidity issue being faced by non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and housing finance companies (HFC). Assocham met the RBI governor Shaktikanta Das to discuss the liquidity issue being faced by non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and housing finance companies (HFC). Industry body Assocham met the Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das in New Delhi on Friday to discuss the liquidity challenge being faced by non-banking financial companies (NBFC). Assocham told the governor that overregulation of the sector is hampering the growth of the NBFC model of lending, PTI reported. The trade association requested Das not to revise the current asset-liability mismatch (ALM) norms for NBFCs till the normalcy is restored. It underlined the need for a regulator that would also act as a facilitator for NBFCs. “We reiterated our concern that while the asset side of NBFCs is subject to regulation which has been harmonised with that of banks, the liability side i.e. fundraising activity, still remains highly restricted, thereby creating a liquidity crunch for the sector,” a statement by Assocham was quoted by PTI. Assocham requested Das for just three months minimum holding period for loans that have maturity of two-five years. The industry body also said that housing finance companies (HFC) should be given access to National Housing Finance (NHB) refinance facility. It also requested the sectoral cap to be increased to 35% and an additional 15% on mutual funds investing in NBFCs and HFCs respectively. Assocham further told Das that life insurance companies limit to BFSI portfolio including equity exposures may be increased from 25%, while government securities exposure limit may be reduced from 50% according to the trend in the economy. Risk weightage for NBFCs should be reduced to 20% and 30% for AAA and AA rated companies respectively ones in accordance with the weighting to asset finance companies (AFCs) and IFCs. Assocham also requested the RBI governor to restore the arrangement of treating bank funding to NBFCs & HFCs for on-lending to the priority sector as priority sector lending for banks.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal buys p...

BENGALURU: Sachin Bansal, who came into a fortune following the acquisition of Flipkart by Walmart, is using at least some of that money to buy more property. The homegrown ecommerce site’s co-founder has inked deals to buy two residential properties in the upmarket locality of Koramangala in Bengaluru for about Rs 45 crore, according to people familiar with the matter. Bansal already resides in Koramangala in his own place, in area often described as the boulevard of billionaires. Among other self-made billionaires owning homes in this area are Infosys co-founders Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan , Narayana Health founder Dr Devi Shetty, and BPL Mobile found Dr Devi Shetty, and BPL Mobile founder Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Bansal’s two new plush properties are of 5,800 sqft and 5,000 sqft. He’s paying Rs 44,000 per sqft and Rs 38,000 per sqft, respectively, for them. Bansal, who is estimated to have received $1 billion (pre-tax) when he exited Flipkart, declined to comment when asked by TOI about the investments. He bought his existing property a few years ago when he liquidated some shares in Flipkart during the valuation boom. Bulge-bracket deals have become far more common in Bengaluru’s residential market in the last few years. The mega deals are spurred by industrialists and new-age entrepreneurs. Koramangala and Lavelle Road, in the city centre, have been the preferred choices for the nouveau rich. Bansal’s co-founder in Flipkart, Binny Bansal, had purchased a 10,000-sqft property in Koramangala for Rs 32 crore three years ago. Bengaluru’s traditionally wealthy folk are mostly located in the heart of the city, in areas like Fairfield Layout off Race Course Road and Sadhashivanagar.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Sharing your streaming login may land yo...

Chennai: A new tool, backed by artificial intelligence (AI), will catch you sharing your login details of streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar and others with your friends. UK-based Synamedia has launched a new service called Credent ials Sharing Insight at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show Show (CES) 2019 to help subscription service providers and OTT players who lose billions in revenue as users share access credentials beyond permitted limits. The tool uses AI, machine learning and behavioural analytics to spot the various locations a particular account is simultaneously active at, and provides real-time reports to the clients, who can either turn this into incremental revenue or take steps to curb the practise. Synamedia cited data from research firm Park Associates to note that ove r $9 billion of pay-TV revenues and $1.2 billion of OTT revenues are estimated to be lost to credentials sharing by 2021. “We are targeting Credentials Sharing Insight at any OTT service provider that wants to combat the rapid rise in account sharing betwee friends and families and turn it into a new revenue-generating opportunity,” Jean Marc Racine, CPO and GM EMEA of Synamedia, told TOI in an email response.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

India's Iranian oil imports slide in Dec...

NEW DELHI: India's oil imports from Iran fell by 41 percent in December to 302,000 barrels per day oil (bpd), ship tracking data reviewed by Reuters showed, as pressure from U.S. sanctions took effect. The United States introduced tough sanctions aimed at crippling Iran's oil revenue-dependent economy in November but gave a six-month waiver to eight nations, including India, which allowed them to import some Iranian oil. India is restricted to buying 1.25 million tonnes per month, some 300,000 bpd. December imports from Iran were 9.4 percent higher than November when some cargoes were delayed due to lack of ships, the tanker arrival data showed. Iran was the sixth biggest oil supplier to India in December compared to third position it held a year ago and last month Tehran's share of India's overall imports declined to 6.2 percent from 11.7 percent a year ago, the data showed. After abandoning the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to end Tehran's nuclear ambitions and ballistic missile programme and curb its support for militants in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East. In 2018 India shipped about 13 percent more oil from Iran at 531,000 bpd as refiners boosted purchases ahead of the U.S. sanctions drawn by discounts offered by Tehran, the data showed. Iran was hoping to sell more than 500,000 bpd of oil to India in 2018/19, its oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said in February last year, and had offered almost free shipping and an extended credit period to boost sales to India. In the previous fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2018 India refiners had cut purchases from Iran due to a dispute on the award of development rights of a giant gas field. Government sources say Reuters' calculations showing India's oil imports from Iran in this fiscal year would be higher than the 452,000 bpd, or 22.6 million tonnes, it imported in the previous year, are correct. In April-December 2018, the first 9 months of this fiscal year, India's oil imports from Iran averaged about 533,800 bpd, up about 22 percent from a year ago, the data showed. India's total oil imports in December were about 4.9 bpd, up about 15 percent from a year ago, the data showed.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Facebook planned to sell users' data in ...

Facebook considered selling users' data to companies some years ago but later decided to act against it, the media reported. According to Arstechnica.com that viewed an unredacted court document, Facebook staff in 2012 considered charging companies at least $250,000 for "access to one of its primary troves of user data -- the Graph API". "In April 2014, Facebook changed the way the previously permissive Graph API works. "The social media giant restricted some data access and eliminated all access to the earlier version by June 2015," the report said on Friday. The Wall Street Journal also reported that "Facebook employees discussed pushing some advertisers to spend more in return for increased access to user information". A failure on Facebook's part to adequately redact a public court document revealed this information. According to Arstechnica.com, Facebook gave "extended access to the v1.0 of Graph API to numerous companies not only including Nissan and Royal Bank of Canada but now also to Chrysler/Fiat, Lyft, Airbnb, and Netflix, among others". A Facebook spokesperson, however, was quoted as saying that Chrysler/Fiat and the other companies, besides Nissan and Royal Bank of Canadaa, were listed erroneously in the court document. The news comes on the heel of the British Parliament obtaining a set of internal Facebook documents from US software company Six4Three that has sued the social media giant over what it claims are fraudulent breaches of contract. Facebook, however, defended itself, saying that Six4Three's "claims have no merit, and we will continue to defend ourselves vigorously". Now defunct, Six4Three in a new filing to a California lawsuit in May 2018 alleged that Facebook collected information on users and their friends through its apps. The filing was part of a suit brought against Facebook in 2015 by Six4Three. To collect the information, Facebook used several methods including tracking users' locations, reading their text messages and accessing their photos on phones, according to the allegations as reported by the Guardian. In March, Facebook admitted it collected data from people's calls and texts but said it had prior consent. However the Guardian reported that it logged some messages without explicitly notifying users. Six4Three sued Facebook over its app Pikinis, which allowed users to zoom in on bikini photos. It alleged that Facebook tracked users, sometimes without their express consent.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

IIP Growth Slides To 17-Month Low In Nov...

Growth in industrial production in India fell sharply in the month of November, reigniting fears of a slowdown in the economy in the third quarter of the current fiscal year. The Index of Industrial Production rose by a meager 0.5 percent in November 2018, compared with 8.5 percent in November 2017, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Growth came in much lower than expected. A Bloomberg poll of 22 economists had projected a growth rate of 3.6 percent. Industrial output had risen by 8.1 percent in October 2018. Growth between April-November 2018 now stands at 5 percent. Manufacturing output contracted by 0.4 percent compared to 7.9 percent growth in the previous month. An adverse base effect due to strong 10.4 percent growth in November 2017 may have also subdued year-on-year growth rates. Mining output rose by 2.7 percent year-on-year in November compared to 7 percent in October. Electricity generation rose by 5.1 percent compared to 10.8 percent last month. Though an adverse base effect and post festive winding down were expected to drag down growth, the sharper than expected correction has been disappointing, said Shubhada Rao, chief economist at Yes Bank. She partly attributed the contraction in manufacturing to the poor performance in the automobile manufacturing segment. Tighter financing conditions led by a slowdown in the non-banking financial sector could have led to lower automobile production, dragging down manufacturing growth. Output in only 10 of the 23 industry groups saw positive growth, suggesting a broad-based slowdown. Use-based classification of goods suggests that both capital goods and consumer goods saw weak growth. Primary goods output rose 3.2 percent in November vs 6 percent last month. Capital goods output contracted by 3.4 percent in November after rising 16.8 percent in the previous month. Data in this segment is often lumpy due to the nature of such orders. Output of intermediate goods contracted by 4.5 percent in November compared to 8 percent in October. Infrastructure goods production rose 5 percent in November compared to 8.7 percent last month. Consumer durables output contracted by 0.6 percent in November after 17.6 percent growth last month. Non-consumer durables output also contracted by 0.9 percent compared to 7.9 percent growth last month. The numbers further strenghthen belief that industrial growth is still not on a sound footing, said Sunil Kumar Sinha, principal economist at India Ratings and Research. High variability in industrial growth across sectors and within sectors on a month-on-month basis has led to lack of confidence even in higher growth in earlier months. Weakness in industrial growth, together with falling inflation, will strengthen calls for easier monetary policy. “If economic activity continues to stay soft then core inflation pressures could also see some easing going ahead thereby increasing expectations of accommodation in the next monetary policy meeting,” said B. Prasanna, Head of Global Markets Group at ICICI Bank.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Jet-lenders meet fails to sort out repay...

Discussions between the debt-laden Jet AirwaysNSE 4.47 % and lenders to the struggling carrier, led by the State Bank of India (SBINSE -0.92 %), are still inconclusive as bankers seek to recover dues that missed the repayment deadline in December. Banks have classified Jet Airways in the SMA-0 category, which includes loans in default between 1 and 30 days, after the airline failed to pay its dues for the month of December. “The loan is still in the operating portfolio. We have not moved it to stressed loans,” said a senior executive at a large public sector bank. “We are in constant touch with the company and many rounds of meetings have taken place, but no concrete proposal is on the table yet.” Meanwhile, SBI and its investment banking arm SBI Capital Markets are discussing repayment plans with officials at Jet, although a resolution is yet to be reached, two people familiar with the discussions said. Jet Airways is a borrower from a group of 26 lenders, its 2017-18 annual report said. It has debt of more than Rs 8,000 crore on its books. Bankers say SBI, which has the largest exposure, is taking the lead in the negotiations. “The best-case solution is for some equity infusion, either through existing shareholders or from someone else. It is still an early default; so, there is hope that normal payments will resume,” said a second person familiar with the account. Jet shares rose 4.67% to end at Rs 254 apiece on BSE on Friday. Jet Airways has delayed payments of loans, salaries and plane lease rentals besides grounding planes, laying off staff, and shutting unviable routes. People close to the development said Jet has been swapping engines on planes likely to be returned to lessors. But they said there has been no notice to repossess planes yet. Jet has been rated in the default category by rating agency ICRA, which said the company has large upcoming debt repayments due between December 2018 and March 2019 ( Rs 1,700 crore), FY2020 ( Rs 2,444.5 crore) and FY2021( Rs 2,167.9 crore).

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Budget 2019: Go for rural themes with a ...

2019 could experience mild volatility. I do not think it will be as large as we saw last year because there are lots of macro stability coming in. Last year, we had some macro headwinds and that has kind of eased off. There is external stability or outlook on oil prices. Oil should stay in $50-70 range. That should not really pose much of a challenge in terms of current account deficit. The inflation outlook is also fairly benign. We do not see any increase in interest rates. If at all a pause or a mild cut is there, all these macro factors are looking fairly sanguine and fairly moderate. That apart, on the global front, there could be more volatility and concerns could come in either form trade wars or what happens in the euro zone or in China. But those are the factors which would lead to slightly higher volatility over there. After some time, we are seeing some recovery from earnings. How are you positioning yourself for the upcoming budget and what would be the key expectation from the event? We are not really looking too much into this budget because being just before the elections. I do not think much could be expected in terms of big policy decision in this budget but by and large, the narrative would be towards trying to go for a feel-good factor and some kind of a stimulus for consumption. It will be pro rural and the general consumer sector is a better way to play. The focus should be on the low-ticket discretionary consumer items. The rural push would be there. We expect some kind of a money flow into the hands of the farmers because of farmer distress and one could play some of the rural themes purely from a short-term perspective. Do you think that some of FII money that went out last year could come back this time? Last year, the FII outflow was on the back of strong US dollar. This year as we move in, the outlook on US dollar appears to have peaked out and we are seeing some easing off of that. That should see a reversal of flows into the emerging markets. Also the global growth differential of emerging markets versus the developed markets is now trending positive, The emerging markets, by and large, should show a better growth than the developed markets. The overall allocations to emerging markets should look better this year and any indication of that could be seen in last one month or so inflows into emerging market ETFs have improved and India’s weightage in the emerging market funds has come off because of the selloff we saw in the last calendar year. With macro stability coming back into India, one can expect the FII flows to be positive.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Ashok Chawla resigns as chairman of NSE ...

Mumbai: Ashok Chawla resigned as the chairman of the National Stock Exchange(NSE) in light of the recent legal developments, the bourse said in a release on Friday evening. The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) on Friday informed a special CBI court that it has got sanction from the government to prosecute five people--current and former bureaucrats-- in the Aircel-Maxis case including Chawla. According to PTI, Ashok Jha, former economic affairs secretary, Kumar Sanjay Krishna, a former joint secretary in the finance ministry, Dipak Kumar Singh, former director in the finance ministry and Ram Sharan, former under secretary in the finance ministry are the others. Of the five, three are working with various government departments while two have retired. The court had granted two months time to the CBI for obtaining the sanction from authorities. CBI had on July 19 filed charge sheet against former Union minister P Chidambaram, his son Karti and 10 individuals, including public servants, and six companies as accused for alleged irregularities and criminal conspiracy in the Aircel-Maxis deal case. Ashok Chawla took charge as chairman of NSE in May 2016 from S B Mathur. The retired bureaucrat had handled the crisis at the exchange after Chitra Ramkrishna quit as the chief executive of the bourse. The exchange remained headless for almost six months. Prior to joining the exchange,Chawla was the head of Competition Commission of India. Recently, CBI had also named BSE Chairman S Ravi in an FIR in the Rs 600 crore fraud case at IDBI bank.Ravi continues as the chairman of the exchange on the grounds that only an FIR that has been filed against him.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Govt release Rs 638 crore for developmen...

NEW DELHI: The Centre has released nearly Rs 638 crore in current fiscal so far under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP), which is being implemented to ameliorate the problems of people living in isolated forward locations, officials said Friday. The Home Ministry has so far released Rs 637.98 crore during 2018-19 to 17 states to meet special development needs of border population with a focus on the people living within 50 kilometres of the International Border, they said. In 2017-18, the ministry had released Rs 1,100 crore for the all-round development of villages located along the international border, a home ministry official said. The BADP covers 111 border districts in 17 states to meet special development needs of border population with a focus on the people living within 50 kilometres of the international border. Schemes under the BADP include construction of primary health centres, schools, supply of drinking water, community centres, connectivity, drainage to enable sustainable living. It now covers schemes or activities relating to Swachhta Abhiyan, skill development programmes, promotion of sports activities in border areas, promotion of rural tourism, border tourism, protection of heritage sites, construction of helipads in remote and inaccessible hilly areas, which do not have road connectivity, another official said. Skill development training to farmers for the use of modern and scientific techniques in agriculture, organic farming is also part of the BADP now, another official said. As many as 61 model villages are also being developed under the BADP to improve the quality of life for the border population. A total of Rs 13,400 crore has been released since the BADP programme was initiated in 1986-87. India shares border with Pakistan (3,323 km), China (3,488 km), Nepal (1,751 km), Bhutan (699 km), Myanmar (1,643 km) and Bangladesh (4,096 km).

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Vodafone Idea senior marketing executive...

Siddharth Banerjee, Vodafone EVP Marketing, has joined Facebook’s India operations as Director- Global Sales Organisation (GSO). Banerjee’s move will be one of the first big exits from the newly formed Vodafone Idea . Although Vodafone Idea did not respond to ET’s queries, Banerjee updated his profile on Linked In. Before the merger with Idea Cellular, Banerjee was responsible for marketing and branding for Vodafone India and, after the merger, reported to Shashi Shankar of Idea Cellular. In his new role, Banerjee will be responsible for partnering businesses for Facebook India and will lead agency relationships and verticals in his field.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

What our politicians are missing: India�...

It’s an election year in India, with the world’s largest polls expected in the spring. The focus of politicians is, as usual, on farmers and rural areas and competitive pandering to both — hardly surprising in a country that considers itself a nation of villages. However, this narrative has one major flaw. India is, in fact, more urban than politicians know or acknowledge. This seriously affects India’s growth prospects, leading to inefficiencies and loss of productivity in both rural and urban areas. What’s worse, the resulting misallocation of resources is making India’s blossoming urban areas well-nigh unlivable. The problem — in India as elsewhere — is largely one of definition. What constitutes a city or urban area varies widely around the world. Some nations employ simple population cutoffs: Mexico and Venezuela count any town with more than 2,500 residents as urban, while New Zealand uses 1,000 people. Since 2000, the U.S. Census has focused instead on population density (above a minimum threshold of 2,500 residents). China uses a density criterion of 1,500 people per square kilometer, but recently expanded the definition to include residents of villages that are directly connected to municipal infrastructure or that receive public services from urban municipalities. In India, only “statutory towns” are considered urban and have a municipal administration — a definition that officially leaves the country 26 percent urban. State governments make the decision using widely differing criteria; demographic considerations are peripheral at times. The Census of India provides the only other official, and uniform, estimate. Its formula uses a mix of population, density and occupation criteria, and pegs India at 31 percent urban. Such estimates can be misleadingly low. For instance, Kerala is statutorily only 16 percent urban. Yet the census sees the well-developed southern state as approximately 48 percent urban. If we use a population cutoff of 5,000 residents as Ghana and Lebanon do, or even Mexico’s threshold of 2,500 people, Kerala’s urban share leaps to 99 percent, which is more consistent with ground reality. In effect, then, a state that’s close to 100 percent urban is being governed as if it was only 16 percent urban. This pattern plays out across many large Indian states. Using a reasonably conservative definition as Ghana does, in fact, India is already close to 50 percent urban, far removed from the dominant narrative that India lives in her villages. The consequences of underestimating the urban share of the population are dire. Resources are badly misallocated: By one estimate, over 80 percent of federal government financing still goes to rural development. This reduces incentives for politicians, especially rural ones, to change the status quo. Tens of millions of Indians who live in dense, urban-like settlements are governed by rural governments that lack the mandate and the money to deliver basic services. In India, urban governments are constitutionally required to provide things such as fire departments, sewer lines, arterial roads and building codes. Local bodies in rural areas aren’t. Not acknowledging towns as urban also encourages haphazard and chaotic development. As satellite data clearly show, most cities extend well beyond their administrative limits, and dense, linear settlements spread out of those cities along transit corridors. This growth is unregulated and unplanned, marred by narrow roads, growing distance from major thoroughfares, limited open space and haphazardly divided plots. As the map below of growth in Kozhikode (formerly known as Calicut) between 1975 to 2014 shows, what appears to be a single economic unit is now governed by a multitude of rural and urban jurisdictions, with no mechanism to coordinate on mobility, public goods or municipal services. It’s difficult and expensive to retrofit such cities with proper infrastructure and services: In the areas below, road widths fall from an average of 10 meters pre-1990 to four meters in new growth areas. India’s hardly the only country to face these problems, even though its size and level of development makes the challenge here particularly acute. The planet is over 50 percent urban and continues to urbanize rapidly, almost entirely in the developing regions of Asia and Africa. As long as there are no standard definitions, urban-rural classifications are likely to be political, path-dependent and arbitrary. This will deny many countries the vital scale and agglomeration economies provided by urban areas, a necessary condition for escaping poverty. A universal definition would need to be flexible. Instead of imposing a simple population cutoff, governments could track population densities and offer more urban services where they are highest. Additionally, satellite data can be used to track the spread of development, so that city boundaries are expanded when necessary and where logical. Any attempt to create a common and well-understood urban definition will be politically fraught and contested. But such an effort is critical. Whether millions get to live in the equivalents of Melbourne, Tokyo or Stockholm rather than Mumbai, Lagos or Kinshasa crucially depends on these choices.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Infosys business improves, ups revenue g...

BENGALURU: Infosys surprised investors and analysts with double-digit revenue growth on constant currency basis in the quarter ended December, sending its shares up by nearly 7% in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange (the results were announced after markets closed in India). It was the first time in 11 quarters that the company touched double-digit growth. The performance - which was helped by large deal wins, especially in the banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) sector in North America - encouraged the company to sharply revise upwards its revenue guidance for the full year to 8.5-9%, from 6-8%, on a constant currency basis. For the third quarter ended December 31, the company grew 10.1%, compared to 5.8% in the same period a year earlier. Constant currency discounts the effect of currency volatility over which companies have no control. Rival TCS, which announced third quarter results on Thursday, had seen its revenue grow by 12.1%, its highest in 14 quarters. "The pipeline today is very healthy and we feel good about what the fourth quarter looks like in terms of large deals. Many segments are growing well. Good pipeline and deal wins have led us to raise the guidance," Infosys chief executive Salil Parekh said. A couple of years ago, BFSI was a drag for all Indian IT services providers as banks withheld spending due to regulatory uncertainty. But in the past few quarters, the BFSI momentum has picked up and IT players are inking mega contracts.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019

Indians face 10-year wait for US green c...

NEW DELHI: A recent US Congressional Research Service report said that removing country quotas for the green card will see the likes of India and China dominate the race for the coveted document that allows the holder to live and work permanently in US. Indians applying for green cards in the skilled workers category suffer the brunt of the country based quota system and face a decade-long wait time.

12-01-2019 TO 31-01-2019