🍒 RBI Governor tests positive for Covid-19 : The Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has tested positive for Covid-19 but is asymptomatic. “I have tested Covid-19 positive. Asymptomatic. Feeling very much alright. Have alerted those who came in contact in recent days. “Will continue to work from isolation. Work in RBI will go on normally. I am in touch with all Deputy Governors and other officers through VC and telephone,” the Governor said in a tweet. In his statement in the minutes of the monetary policy committee meeting, Das emphasised that monetary policy has to provide adequate support to ensure a robust revival of the economy from the devastating effects of Covid-19, while at the same time ensuring that any persistence of elevated inflation does not lead to an unanchoring of inflation expectations. “With the supply side disruptions seen to drive the current inflationary pressures likely to be transient and expected to wane out in the months ahead as the economy normalises, there is merit in looking through the current high levels of inflation and persevere with the accommodative stance for monetary policy as long as necessary to revive growth on a durable basis,” said the Governor, who is leading RBI’s fightback against the impact of Covid on the economy. - economic times
🍒 Yes Bank lacked cost control; aim to cut operational expenses by 20% in FY21: CEO Prashant Kumar : Yes Bank lacked a culture of cost control, and under the new management, the lender is targeting to reduce operational expenses by 20 per cent in FY21 by rationalizing branches and ATMs, giving up unwanted leased spaces and renegotiating rents, a top official has said. The city-based lender is experiencing delays in loan recovery efforts as big defaulters are approaching courts, its new chief executive and managing director Prashant Kumar told PTI. Kumar was asked to lead Yes Bank in March after its rescue by a SBI-led consortium of lenders after alleged governance lapses under co-founder and chief executive Rana Kapoor. The bank reported a 21 per cent reduction in operating expenses in September quarter. "Unfortunately, there was no control on costs," Kumar said, adding that a global consultant has charted out a step-by-step agenda to reduce spending through which it aims to save 20 per cent on operating expenses in FY21 over FY20. - economic times
🍒 DHFL Committee of Creditors to discuss four offers on Monday : The Committee of Creditors (CoC) to the beleaguered DHFL will Monday begin discussing the four offers that lenders have received for the debt laden housing finance company (HFC). There will be a presentation on the offers made during the bidding process that ended on Saturday, sources said. Lenders will get to know who has bid what and the conditionalities, they said. It may be recalled that Oaktree Capital, which offered the highest recovery to lenders, has offered Rs 28,000 crore for the entire company. The others in the fray are Adani Group, which is learnt to have offered about Rs 1,600 crore for the wholesale portfolio and slum redevelopment asset; Piramal Enterprises, which has offered about Rs 15,000 crore for the retail portfolio; and Hong Kong’s private banking firm SC Lowy. It may take another fortnight before the winning bidder is selected, banking industry sources said. - Business Line
🍒 Prashant Kumar, tasked to lead YES Bank's revival, braces for Covid impact : The chief executive officer of Yes Bank Ltd., who helped the lender emerge from India’s biggest-ever bailout, is girding for fallout from the pandemic. The coronavirus outbreak has “created a problem” on the loan book, even as progress has been made on fixing key drawbacks such as weak governance, fund-raising challenges and declining deposits, Prashant Kumar said in a phone interview Saturday. It’s “very, very difficult to estimate the impact,” Kumar said. “With the fundamental issues taken care of, we want to control costs and increase profit to deal with any adverse impact on the credit due to the pandemic.” Yes Bank returned to profit in the quarter ended September and Kumar made provisions for potential covid-related losses. When regulators seized the lender in March, its depositors had been fleeing and the bank was struggling to attract investors. State Bank of India bought a stake in Yes Bank and Kumar was plucked from the government-controlled lender to lead the turn around. His predecessor, Rana Kapoor, who co-founded Yes Bank in 2003 and built it into India’s fastest-growing lender, was forced out by the central bank in 2018 amid a dispute over reporting of bad debts. “The market wasn’t even sure how much rot was still in the loan book,” Kumar said. - Business Standard
🍒 Bitcoin rallies to reach highest level in over a year with PayPal support : Bitcoin has breached the $13,000-mark for the first time since July 2019 after online payments company PayPal decided to allow the customers to buy, sell and hold this and other virtual coins using its online wallets. PayPal customers will also be able to use cryptocurrencies to shop at the 26 million merchants on its network starting in early 2021. The Calfornia-headquartered company plans to support Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin at first. The service will be available to PayPal account holders in the US in the coming weeks. The company plans to expand the features to Venmo and select international markets in the first half of 2021. The move has been welcomed by cryptocurrency experts and enthusiasts in India as well. "PayPal offering services to its customers to buy or sell cryptocurrencies is a positive sign for the overall ecosystem. Given the strong distribution and reach of PayPal, the huge user base of over 346 million globally, and many merchants around the world, with this service, it has given direct access to cryptocurrencies to numerous users," said Sumit Gupta, CEO and co-founder, CoinDCX, a Bain Capital-backed cryptocurrency exchange. "Although the users can't redeem their Bitcoin outside PayPal, I believe it is a good starting step and it is likely that other major global payment players will follow the lead." - Business Standard
🍒 LIC IPO may spill over to next fiscal : The mega initial public offering of Life Insurance Corp (LIC) may spill over to the next fiscal as the government will first look at the independent actuarial valuation of the country''s largest insurer, a top official has said. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the pre-IPO work of LIC is going on at four stages -- appointment of advisors for ensuring compliance, legislative amendment, LIC''s internal software changes to come out with its ''embedded value'' and appointing an actuary for vetting LIC's actuarial valuation. The government plans to amend the Act under which the state-run LIC was set up to prepare for the sale. A stake sale in LIC is crucial for meeting a record Rs 2.1 lakh crore disinvestment target set for the current fiscal ending March 31, 2021. - moneycontrol.com
🍒 IRDAI proposes changes in insurance advertisement regulations : In a bid to protect consumers, regulator IRDAI has proposed to prohibit insurers from issuing advertisements that make claims which are beyond reasonable expectations of performance. The unfair and misleading advertisements will include those which fail to clearly identify the product as insurance and describe benefits that do not match the policy provisions, the regulator said in the draft Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Insurance Advertisements and Disclosure) Regulations, 2020. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is seeking to come out with new advertisement regulations and has invited comments from stakeholders on the exposure draft by November 10.- moneycontrol.com
🍒 LTC cash voucher scheme: How government employees can avail benefits : Central government employees can submit multiple bills of goods and services purchased in their own name to avail the benefit of the LTC (Leave Travel Concession) cash voucher scheme, according to the Finance Ministry. The Expenditure Department, under the Ministry, has issued a set of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on LTC cash voucher scheme, clarifying that an employee can also avail the scheme utilising the applicable LTC fare without leave encashment. The government on October 12 announced the LTC cash voucher scheme under which central government employees can purchase any goods or services with GST rate of 12 per cent or above to avail the benefit. Till now, employees got LTC benefits only on travels made, or had to forgo the amount.- moneycontrol.com
🍒 FPIs remain net buyers in October so far amid better than expected financial results : Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) remained net buyers in Indian markets in October so far, pumping in a net ₹17,749 crore in the month as better than expected quarterly results, the opening of the economy, and resumption of business activities kept investors’ interest intact. In equities, FPIs invested a net sum of ₹15,642 crore and the debt segment saw an inflow of ₹2,107 crore during October 1-23, the depositories data showed. The total net investment during the period under review stood at ₹17,749 crore. - Business Line
🍒 Franklin Templeton to move Supreme Court against HC order to wind up six debt schemes : Franklin Templeton India plans to move the Supreme Court against the Karnataka High Court order making it mandatory to seek investors approval for winding up the six debt schemes even while upholding Trustees decision to close down the scheme. In a note to investors, Sanjay Sapre, President, Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) said on basis of initial review the fund house believes it may be necessary to appeal aspects of the order in the Supreme Court even while the fund house is still in the process of studying the order. - Business Line
🍒 Six of top 10 most valued firms add Rs 86,684 crore in m-cap : Six of the top 10 most valued Indian firms added a cumulative Rs 86,683.71 crore in market valuation last week, with HDFC twins emerging as the biggest gainers. On the top 10 chart, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel and HCL Technologies were gainers. While, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) and Infosys saw erosion in their market valuation. HDFC Bank, India’s biggest private sector lender, witnessed its valuation soar by Rs 20,198.59 crore to stand at Rs 6,80,092.72 crore. - Business Line.
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