24.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News

Economic Times:

1) Overseas corporate bond sales, which nearly halved through 2020 despite global yields slumping to the floor, could revive next year as Indian companies regain sufficient confidence in the broader reconstruction to seek debt capital at global financial hubs that are facing a liquidity glut.

2) The pandemic has led to a surge in the adoption of cash withdrawals through Aadhaar enabled Payment Systems (AePS) that have doubled since last year, replacing the age-old dependence on teller machines where transactions halved in the same period.In November, 68.4 million withdrawals worth ₹18,820 crore were processed through AePS channels against 39 million worth ₹9,778 crore in the same period last year.

3) DEBT RESOLUTION:IL&FS to Sell China Road JV to PingAn for ₹2,074 cr.The group has also received approval from Supreme Court Justice (Retd) DK Jain to sell its Chinese JV Road Asset Chongqing Yuhe Expressway Co Ltd (CYEC) to PingAn.

4)RBI Wednesday issued a note of caution to the public against the use of “unauthorized” lending apps, citing recent media reports on unethical collection practices at some financiers and the arbitrary interest rates being levied by a section of these lenders.

Financial Express:

1) The governor of RBI held meetings with the chiefs of public sector banks and some private banks on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, through video conference.At the meetings, governor asked banks to strengthen their capital and provisioning positions, as also their ability to lend and contribute to financial stability.

2) A consortium of lenders led by Union Bank of India sought bids to replace the concessionaire in the four-laning of a road project in Maharashtra.The current concessionaire is Supreme Manor Wada Bhiwandi Infrastructure, which has defaulted on loans worth Rs 164 crore to UBI.

3) HDFC, which on Wednesday signed a pact with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), said its green housing retail loan book has crossed the Rs 14,000-crore-mark across 310 certified green buildings.

4) State Bank of India is offering trade finance solutions and services to Israeli corporates to help them tap business potential arising out of recent Abraham accords leading to normalisation of ties between Israel and Arab states.

BusinessLine:

1) RBI’s latest draft on the declaration of dividends by NBFCs may help them in strengthening their balance sheet by improving leverage ratios and creating a buffer and surplus for fresh lending. RBI’s move will also help NBFCs in creating better provisioning against the delinquent assets.

2) Race for DHFL heats up.While Oaktree Capital’s bid of about ₹36,700 crore seems to be higher in terms of net present value, Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Ltd is offering higher upfront cash of ₹13,000 crore.

3) Retro tax flare-up: India loses Cairn case.FinMin says all options against $1.2-b arbitration award to be considered.

4) NHA to take a relook at health packages under Ayushman Bharat programme.It is studying ways to extend affordable health insurance to the middle income group.

BusinessStandard:

1) The confidence level of chief financial officers over the overall financial and macro-economic conditions in the country reached an all-time low for the October-December quarter, says a report.

2) Direct tax professionals have sought extension for tax audit report, income tax returns for audit cases and time limit for AGMs in the wake of the ongoing pandemic scenario.

3) Union Minister Nitin Gadkari will on Thursday inaugurate and lay foundation stones for highway projects worth Rs 8,341 crore in Rajasthan.These projects are for a total length of 1,127 kms.

4) Demand for retail credit makes a comeback in November: CIBIL report.Although year-on-year growth across key metrics has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels, there has been positive momentum for credit demand.

Live Mint:

1) Banking system liquidity on the slide due to advance tax outflow.As of Monday, the banking system liquidity was at a surplus of Rs 4.95 trillion, as against Rs 6.13 trillion a week earlier, on the eve of the deadline for the third instalment of advance tax.

2) India has proposed to help the World Food Programme (WFP) replenish its foodgrain stock from overflowing state-owned granaries to assist the organization’s efforts in providing food to the most vulnerable global population.

3) Lenders to Future group have agreed to recast its loans under the RBI’s one-time restructuring scheme as the deal with Reliance Industries Ltd remains mired in a legal spat.The lenders led by SBI have already invoked the debt recast scheme well within 31 Dec.

4) Govt to release next deposits of PM-KISAN on 25 December amid farmers' protest.The govt will transfer more than ₹18,000 crores to over 9 crores beneficiary farmer families on 25 December

23.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News

23.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 Indian Army, Bank of Baroda sign MoU for ‘Baroda Military Salary Package’ : Indian Army and Bank of Baroda have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for ‘Baroda Military Salary Package’. The MoU was signed by Lt Gen Ravin Khosla, DG(MP&PS) and Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda in presence of Lt Gen Harsha Gupta, Adjutant General, Indian Army who also chaired the meeting. The MoU lays don the basis on which banking services would be provided by Bank of Baroda to serving and retired personnel of Indian Army. Services under ‘Baroda Military Salary Package’ will be offered to serving and retired personnel of Indian Army through the Bank’s network of over 8,200 domestic branches and around 20,000 business correspondent touchpoints, an official release said. - Business Line

🍒 ICICI Bank launches online platform for foreign companies setting up shop in India : Private sector lender ICICI Bank has launched an online platform for foreign companies that plan to set up business in the country. “Called ‘Infinite India’, the platform offers them banking solutions as well as value-added services such as incorporation of a business entity, corporate filings, licences and registrations, HR services, compliances and taxation among others,” ICICI Bank said in a statement on Tuesday. This will help foreign companies, as it eliminates the need for coordinating with multiple touchpoints, leading to a hassle-free experience of doing business in India, it added. - Business Line

🍒 ICICI Bank seeks to gain market share in MNC banking : ICICI Bank is opening a new comprehensive online window for multinational companies (MNCs) wanting to establish or expand in India as it seeks to take advantage of the country's potential as an alternative to China and benefit from the challenges foreign banks face after the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) recent restrictions on opening of current accounts. Executive director Vishakha Mulye said strong foreign direct investment (FDI) into India, the nation's young demographic profile and government measures to push India as an attractive destination for foreign investment will help the bank gain market share from foreign banks. "India along with China is one of the fastest growing markets in the world but recently the attractiveness of China has been going down. Added to that is the digital ecosystem that has been developed in India which will help improve governance and standards in the long run," Mulye said. - economic times

🍒 SBI Life and Apollo join the race for RCap assets : Reliance Capital's (RCAP) expression of interest (EOI) for asset monetisation garnered mega response with 60 bids being received. SBI Life and Apollo are among the 10 new bidders who have submitted expressions of interest for Reliance Capital's assets, taking the total number of bids to 60. December 1 was earlier the deadline for the submission of EOIs. Over 60 different bids have been received with SBI Capital Markets Limited and JM Financial Services Limited, the advisors to the lenders. Later the date for submitting the bids was extended to December 17. Over eight bidders have bid for entire RCAP assets on as-is-where-is basis. The prominent among them are Oaktree, J.C. Flower and multiple ARCs. - economic times

🍒 Industry bodies to press for holding back new wage definition in meeting with govt on Dec 24 : Representatives of industry bodies, including from CII and FICCI, will hold a meeting with the labour ministry top brass on Thursday to make a case for holding back implementation of new definition of wages, which would increase social security deductions and reduce take-home pay of workers. "The representatives of CII and FICCI among other industry bodies would meet union labour ministry top brass on December 24, 2020 to discuss the new definition of wages which is likely to be implemented by April 1, 2021," an industry source said. The new definition provides that the allowance of an employee cannot be more than 50 per cent of the total salary. This would increase the social security deductions like provident fund. - economic times

🍒 Distress funds are betting on rise in NPAs in India in the coming months due to Covid pandemic : Non performing assets (NPA) in the banking system is set to see a jump in the coming months and some of the distress funds or special purpose funds are betting big on that. Most banks have managed to keep their NPA under control as companies availed moratoriums or were allowed to delay repaying loans for some months due to Covid pandemic. Industry trackers now expect that this number will jump in the coming months. Some of the funds that bet on distressed companies are hoping that they could invest in these in the coming months. These funds had put their investments on hold even as the government postponed the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) process. - economic times

🍒 Covid claims: Insurers paying 100-150% more than the premium collected : Insurance companies have already paid claims that are 100-150 per cent more than the premium they received on corona-specific policies, according to industry experts. As mandated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), there are two corona-specific policies — Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak. These policies have been brought in as standard covers, while the pandemic was at its fastest spread early this year. “Most of the companies have paid much more than what they had received. For Corona Kavach, we have paid 150 per cent than what we have received,’’ S Prakash, Managing Director, Star Health & Allied Insurance told BusinessLine. - Business Line

🍒 PhonePe introduces voice notification feature for Business app : India-based fintech platform PhonePe on Tuesday announced the launch of its new voice notification feature in vernacular languages on the PhonePe for Business app. The platform has introduced voice notifications in over nine vernacular languages on the PhonePe for Business app. “The voice confirmation helps merchants during peak business hours with a voice message announcing the amount received from a customer without the merchant having to check the customer’s phone screen, or waiting for a bank SMS,” PhonePe explained in an official release. - Business Line

🍒 Reliance Capital: 10 more bids submitted : Another 10 bids have been submitted for the assets of Reliance Capital. Sources said these include a bid by Apollo, which has submitted an expression of interest for Reliance Capital on an as is where is basis. SBI Life Insurance is also understood to have submitted a bid for Reliance Nippon Life Insurance. The Committee of Debenture Holders of Reliance Capital had on December 7 decided to extend the deadline for bids for certain subsidiaries of the debt ridden group to December 17. Reliance Capital had floated an expression of interest for selling stake in its subsidiaries as part of the process to pay off its dues to creditors. The initial deadline had been set as December 1. - Business Line

🍒 IOB loan fraud : ED says accused who defrauded Indian Overseas Bank paid managers' flight, hotel bills : Probing a Rs 299-crore Indian Overseas Bank loan fraud case, similar to the alleged USD 2 billion worth PNB swindle, the Enforcement Directorate has found that the accused "paid" for the air travel and hotel stay of a senior bank manager and his family as kickbacks. The central probe agency said "lapses" were also detected on the part of at least three managers — Anil Kumar, P C Rana and N Chokalingam — of the IOB branch in Chandigarh, "as well as the concurrent auditors." The ED case is related to its criminal money laundering investigation "in a case related to buyers credit fraud of Rs 299.14 crore at the IOB, Chandigarh". The agency took congnisance of an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to file a case under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against IOB Assistant Manager Ashu Mehra, properitor of heights international company Amanpreet Singh Sodhi, owner of vision procon company Dinesh Kumar and directors of a firm saibhakti impex Pvt ltd — Gaurav Kirpal and Aman Kirpal. - moneycontrol.

🍒 Securitisation volumes to get back on growth track in FY22: Icra : The securitisation volumes especially in retail loans of finance companies and mortgage lenders will see healthy growth in 2021-22 (FY22), after experiencing contraction in Fy21 so far, according to Icra. Also, the credit quality of the rated pass-through certificates (PTCs) should remain ‘Stable’ during FY2022. Even though collections may not have reached pre-Covid levels, the credit enhancement available in the transactions has further built-up on amortisation of the pools supporting their credit quality. The rating agency said increase in securitisation volumes for the rest of FY21 an in FY2022 would be supported mainly by growing investor confidence in asset quality due to improving collections. Higher funding requirement of originators on account of rising disbursements and improving business activity post end of lockdown and moratorium period would give a push to activity. “Collections across all asset classes have bounced back sharply since the dip in April 2020 following the nationwide lockdown," said Abhishek Dafria, Vice President and Group Head - Structured Finance Ratings at Icra. - Business Line

🍒 Govt has received 120-130 FDI proposals from China since April: Report : The government has received over 120 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth about Rs 12,000 crore from China since April, when it was made mandatory for a company from countries sharing land border with India to invest in any sector only after getting government approval, sources said. As per that decision, FDI proposals from China need government approval for investments in India in any sector.An inter-ministerial committee has been formed by the government to scrutinise these proposals, they said adding most of the investments are for brownfield projects (means in existing Indian companies). In April this year, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) came out with a press note stating that a company or an individual from a country that shares land border with India can invest in any sector here only after getting government approval. The decision was taken to curb opportunistic takeovers or acquisitions of domestic firms due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. - Business Standard

🍒 Banks line up ARC sales as 2020 draws to close : The distressed asset market, which had gone into a deep freeze after the outbreak of Covid-19, has started to recover in Q3. Large banks have lined up a string of legacy non-performing assets (NPAs) for sale to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs). The deterioration of household incomes has also led banks to consider the ARC route for retail assets and the activity in this segment is now 30-40% higher than pre-pandemic levels. On Monday, State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank put out notices for the sale of their exposures to Action Ispat & Power (Rs 540 crore) and Gammon India, respectively. A consortium of lenders to Jindal India Thermal Power (JITPL), led by Punjab National Bank (PNB), has also sought bids for the project. Earlier, Bank of Baroda (BoB), Axis Bank and IDBI Bank have also run processes for NPA sales, according to sources. - financial express

🍒 Govt plans to set up a development finance institution in 3-4 months: DFS Secy : The government plans to set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI) in the next three to four months with a view to mobilise Rs 111 lakh crore required for funding of the ambitious national infrastructure pipeline, according to Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda. “We need a development financial institution as infra financing needs patient capital, and banks are currently not suited for lending for long term projects which do not generate any cash for years,” he told PTI in an interview. Even deepening the bond market with regard to infrastructure financing is a matter which is receiving attention of the government and there is a need to do something more in order to have a robust bond market for infrastructure financing, he said. “To provide funding, to enhance credit rating of projects, a DFI is needed, and we are actively working on it, and soon such an institution will be in place. We are in the process of finalising details such as shareholding of the government and whether such a body will be formed through a statute. - financial express

🍒 SBI Card raises Rs 450 crore through non-convertible debentures : SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd (SBI Card) has raised Rs 450 crore by issuing bonds on a private placement basis, the company said on Tuesday. The stakeholder relationship committee of the company has approved the allotment of 4,500 fixed rate, unsecured, rated, taxable, redeemable, senior, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of the face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs 450 crore on a private placement basis, SBI Card said in a regulatory filing.The tenure of the debt instruments is five years with the date of maturity as December 22, 2025.The bonds bear coupon rate of 6 percent per annum, SBI Card said.The bonds will be listed on the Wholesale Debt Market Segment of BSE. Stock of SBI Card closed at Rs 822 apiece on BSE, up 0.78 percent over previous close. - moneycontrol.

🍒 Manappuram Finance raises Rs 400 crore via by issuing bonds : Manappuram Finance on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 400 crore by issuing bonds on private placement basis. The Financial Resources and Management Committee of the board of directors of the company has approved the allotment of 4,000 rated, secured, redeemable non-convertible debentures aggregating to Rs 400 crore, Manappuram Finance said in a regulatory filing. These bonds will mature in three years and carry a coupon rate of 7.45 percent per annum. Shares of Manappuram Finance were trading 1.79 percent lower at Rs 159.25 apiece on the BSE. - Business Line

🍒 Paytm Payments Bank outperforms all important banks in terms of UPI payments: NPCI report : Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) outperformed all important banks in India in terms of the success rate of UPI transactions yet again. PPBL has the lowest technical decline rate at 0.02 percent among all UPI remitter banks and 0.04 percent among all UPI beneficiary banks, according to the latest report by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The technical decline rate is around 1 percent for all other major banks. “Our performance in the latest NPCI report is a testament of the hard work that the team puts in to provide the best technology infrastructure in the global banking space. We are well ahead of others when it comes to leveraging AI and Big Data to offer innovative products & services to our customers across the country. Our tech team which comprises of the best minds in the business, work round the clock to provide a seamless and efficient experience. This has helped us build a trusted & long-lasting relationship with our partners (sic)" Satish Gupta, MD & CEO of Paytm Payments Bank Ltd, said in a statement. - moneycontrol.

🍒 Rs 7,000-crore fraud: Ex-MP faked companies in name of maids, drivers, says CBI : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said that Hyderabad-based Transstroy India Private Limited, which is embroiled in one of the biggest banking frauds in the country worth Rs 7,296 crore, had created fictitious companies in the name of maids, sweepers and drivers and made them directors to divert funds. Transstroy is owned by former TDP MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao. In its FIR, CBI alleged that Padmavati Enterprises, Unique Engineers, Balaji Enterprises and Ruthwik Associates swindled Rs 6,643 crore. “Nine are non-existing companies, which have been created to run fraudulent operations with the assistance of employees,” the CBI alleged. A KPMG forensic audit revealed that the accused had borrowed Rs 9,394 crore from Canara Bank and 13 other banks. - Times of India.

🍒 Rupee widens losses by 5 paise at 73.84 against dollar : The rupee furthered its losses by another 5 paise to close at 73.84 against the US dollar on Tuesday in line with weaker Asian peers amid concerns over a new coronavirus strain. At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.95 against the US dollar and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.82 and a low of 73.95. The local unit finally closed at 73.84 against the American currency, registering a fall of 5 paise over its previous close.

🍒 Sensex, Nifty rebound : Nifty IT index gained over 3 per cent to 23,611 points India's benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty bounced back by more than 1 per cent in Tuesday's trading sessions after an over 3 per cent fall on Monday. Sensex rose by 452 points or 1 per cent to close at 46,006. The Nifty index gained 137 points or 1.03 per cent at 13,466 points.

🍒 Gold prices today fall for second time in three days, silver rates drop : Gold and silver prices edged lower in Indian markets mirroring similar trend in international markets. On MCX, gold futures edged 0.5% lower to ₹50,180 per 10 gram in second decline in three days while silver fell 2% to ₹67,660 per kg. In the previous session, gold prices had edged 0.2% higher while silver rose 1.5%. Though gold has recovered from lows of below ₹48,000, it remains significantly lower than the August highs of ₹56,200. Similarly, silver had also almost touched ₹80,000 per kg in the same month..

22.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News

22.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 Central Bank of India launches Rupay Select Debit Card : Central Bank of India on Monday launched a variant of contactless Debit Card – ‘RuPay Select’. Launched in association with the National Payments Corporation of India on the occasion of the bank’s 110th foundation day, the RuPay Debit Select Card will focus on customers’ lifestyle, fitness, rejuvenation, nutrition and personal care, the public sector bank said in a statement. Pallav Mohapatra, MD and CEO, Central Bank of India, said: “Customers with select card will enjoy benefits such as complimentary health check-ups, and lounge access at selected centres besides accidental cover of ₹10 lakh at no extra cost.” They would also be entitled for discounted health check-ups with the this National Common Mobility Debit Card (NCMC) which also facilitates offline transactions in both transit and as well as retail purchases. The Bank also launched FASTAG (for electronic toll collection) in association with OSTA. “Customers using the bBank’s FASTAG will not lose any interest by transmitting the funds into FASTAG account, instead, the customer will cross the tToll pPlaza with Central Bank of India FASTAG based on recharge amount blocked in his Ssavings account and the account will be debited on next day of transaction unlike other players having such product where the fund is transferred to a wallet by debiting account of the customer,” Mohapatra said. - Business Line

🍒 Canara Bank has exposure of ₹678 crore to Transstroy : Canara Bank has clarified that it has an exposure of ₹678.28 crore to Transstroy India Ltd which allegedly committed a bank fraud and is under liquidation. In a notice to the BSE, Canara Bank said that it has already made 100 per cent provision for the account in its books. Transstroy, a construction company, and its directors were booked by the CBI last week for an alleged fraud of ₹7,926 crore affecting a consortium of banks led by Canara Bank. The company was declared as willful defaulter by Canara Bank in December 2018. Canara Bank’s exchange notification said that Transstroy was enjoying limits from various Banks under Multiple Banking Arrangement from 2001. Subsequently, a consortium with Canara Bank as leader with 13 other banks was formed in 2013 and the total limit sanctioned was ₹4,765.70 crore and the share of Canara Bank is ₹678.28 crore. The account was declared as fraud and reported to RBI on February 10 this year. - Business Line

🍒 HDFC, ICICI, and SBI top three banks of 2020, says report : The BFSI Movers and Shakers 2020 Report by Wizikey, a PR- SAAS start-up, highlighted the top 100 banks in India and emerging BFSI models such as Wallets and UPI, Neobanks, NBFCs, Small Finance Bank, Payments Banks, among others, that have found acceptance and their respective sectoral leaders this year. Beyond the banking counterparts, one of the most muted sectors – insurance – also saw a massive shift in gears this year, considering their rise in popularity due to the after-effects of the pandemic, the report noted. According to the report, HDFC, ICICI, and SBI were the top three banks of 2020 (mentioned according to rank). The three banks that transformed themselves almost overnight to serve the Indian consumers and have also trumped their newer counterparts including Axis and Kotak Mahindra in both quantity and quality of news are ICICI, HDFC, and SBI. - Business Line

🍒 SC stay on loan accounts: FinMin says tough to assess recap of banks : The Finance Ministry has said it is finding it difficult to finalise the recapitalisation programme for public sector banks due to the Supreme Court stay on classification of loan accounts as non-performing assets. “Any amount can be thought of, if there is estimation of NPA. On account of the Supreme Court’s interim order, it is not possible as of now,” a senior government official told BusinessLine. In its order dated September 3, the apex court had said that the accounts that were not declared NPA till August 31, 2020 shall not be declared NPA till further orders. The six months loan moratorium period ended on August 31, under which borrowers were given the option to defer their EMI (equated monthly instalment). - Business Line

🍒 Banks ramp up cross-selling, aim to gain bigger share of customer's wallet : What you sell matters; how you do it matters even more. More than 80 per cent of Axis Bank’s retail assets are sourced from existing customers. And yet, last year, the bank made a fresh start with “Aarambh”, to enhance product personalisation and cross-selling. “It’s a first-of-its-kind initiative that provides both existing and potential customers with customised products using in-house proprietary algorithms involving multiple data sources,” explains Praveen Bhatt, executive vice-president and head (retail liabilities and direct banking channel) at Axis Bank. The focus at State Bank of India (SBI), too, is to ensure that the products being sold are aligned with the appetites of customers. SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara explains: “The income from cross-selling has grown 30 per cent year-on-year for the last three years. There is a separate customer value enhancement unit for this activity. The potential is huge and the ramp-up is significant.” - Business Standard

🍒 Insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC) suspension extended till March 31 : Suspension of the insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC) is being extended till March 31, 2021, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce virtual conference Monday. “Even the suspension of the IBC has been postponed even further from 25th of December… we've moved to say that it can be up to 31st March 2021,” she said.Sitharaman backed the suspension of IBC for nearly the full year since every industry had gone through major stress because of the pandemic. “So the entire year has had the IBC suspended, and rightly so, because every industry has gone through major stress because of the pandemic and nobody could be drawn the words insolvency which may have occurred during the pandemic,” Sitharaman said at the session with the industry in the preparations to the Union Budget. - economic times

🍒 Paytm Payments Bank has best tech for UPI payments, confirms NPCI report : Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has once again outperformed all major banks in India in terms of the success rate of UPI transactions. According to the latest report by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), PPBL has the lowest technical decline rate at 0.02 per cent among all UPI remitter banks and 0.04 per cent among all UPI beneficiary banks. All other major banks have a way higher technical decline rate of around 1 per cent. This confirms the superiority of the in-house technology-infrastructure at Paytm Payments Bank and has been the key reason for its success. - Business Line

🍒 Domestic money transfer: BCFI wants govt to do away with GST : The Business Correspondent Federation of India (BCFI) wants the government to do away with the Goods and Service Tax (GST) imposed on senders, predominantly migrant workers, when they make a domestic money transfer to a rural area through Business Correspondents (BCs). Currently, BCs charge the senders 1 per cent of the money to be transferred as transaction charge. This includes 18 per cent GST. Sunil Kulkarni, CEO & Head, BCFI, said on the one hand one segment of the population is fully banked, with the tech-savvy among them accessing online funds transfer services such as the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) free of charge, but on the other hand, migrant labour in cities/ urban areas have to pay GST for sending money through BCs to their families in rural areas. - Business Line

🍒 RIL, PFC are top overseas borrowers: RBI data : Lured by higher liquidity and lower rates, and with the RBI relaxing the norms, Indian corporates have increasingly turned to overseas borrowings. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its arms been at the forefront in raising external commercial borrowings (ECBs) over the past few years. According to RBI data, the oils-to-telecom group collectively raised about $23.48 billion through ECBs between FY17 and September FY21. Based on the RBI’s monthly USD-INR exchange rate at the end of the respective financial years, the total borrowing in rupee terms comes to about ₹1.65-lakh crore. Of the total borrowing by the group, the share of holding company RIL alone stood at $17.27 billion, followed by Reliance Jio Infocomm ($5.25 billion), Reliance Sibur ($669 million) and Reliance Utilities & Power ($300 million). - Business Line

🍒 Kapil Wadhwan tells DHFL administrator his offer is higher than revised bids : Kapil Wadhawan, the former promoter of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL), has sent a fresh missive to the administrator of the troubled mortgage financier, underlining that his proposal to fully repay all creditors is the best compared to the revised bids submitted for the resolution, and that it should be considered. “My settlement proposal dated December 13, 2020 provides for repayment of ₹91,158 crore to all the lenders as opposed to the next highest bid of only a sum of ₹36,646 crore,” he has written in a December 19 letter to DHFL administrator R Subramaniakumar, pointing out that the objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is maximisation of value for all stakeholders. - Business Line

🍒 ICICI Pru MF to launch Business Cycle Fund NFO : ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a open-ended equity scheme Business Cycle Fund, which will invest in equity and equity-related securities, with a focus on riding business cycles through dynamic allocation across sectors and stocks. The New Fund Offer opens on December 29 and closes on January 12. The fund will follow a top down approach right from monitoring macro indicators (global and domestic), identifying business cycle followed by determining suitable sectors, and selecting the stocks within these sectors. An ongoing business cycle may extend or shorten depending on the macroeconomic conditions and the fiscal and monetary policy response by the government and central banks during a business cycle. Such times can often provide appropriate opportunities for investment. - Business Line

🍒 Fundraising via bonds hits a peak at ₹7.45-lakh crore : Riding on low-interest rates and policy reforms by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Indian corporates have raised the highest-ever sum of 7.45-lakh crore through rupee bonds this year. This is 8.3 per cent higher than ₹6.87-lakh crore raised in 2019. A total of 5.12 lakh crore raised in 2018. With another 10 days for the year to end, companies are expected to raise another ₹20,000-25,000 crore. “Covid-19 had an impact in March and April, when the companies had restrained from raising funds through bonds, but then there was a sharp recovery in May. The reasons included an ample liquidity in the system, lower interest rates and RBI’s introduction of Targeted Long-Term Repo Operations (TLTRO), which helped a lot in terms of corporates to issue more bonds,” said Ajay Manglunia, Managing Director and head institutional fixed income at JM Financial. - Business Line

🍒 ADB, Northern Arc sign $40-million loan pact : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday announced that it has signed a $40-million loan (in Indian rupee equivalent) with Northern Arc Capital (NACL) to support the livelihoods of microfinance borrowers and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in India. In a press release, the Manila-headquartered multilateral funding agency said that the loan is disbursed to Northern Arc as part of its ongoing Covid-19 response. The Chennai-based NBFC will use the loan proceeds to on-lend and provide guarantees to financial institutions and individual borrowers. It will also on-lend to affordable housing finance companies, the statement said. - Business Line

🍒 Centrum-BharatPe, Liberty group in race for beleaguered PMC Bank : Steel baron Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Group of the UK, the Jaspal Singh Bindra-led Centrum group and BharatPe combine, and two business families from Mumbai and Hyderabad have expressed interest for beleaguered Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC Bank). This is the first time that corporates, non-banking financial companies, and high-net-worth individuals have shown eagerness in taking over an urban-cooperative bank (UCB). The development comes a month after a Reserve Bank of India’s Internal Working Group report made a case for corporate ownership of banks. The winner for PMC Bank will continue to run it as an UCB. Automatic conversion of the UCB licence to that of an universal bank is ruled out,” said a source. Suitors for the bank comes as a relief for its depositors. - Business Standard

🍒 The pandemic bill for banks: Severe credit losses, operation turbulence : The 10th edition of McKinsey’s Global Banking Annual Review says the pandemic will present a two-stage problem for banks — first, severe credit losses, likely through late 2021, which almost all banks and banking systems are expected to survive; then, amid a muted global recovery, banks will face a profound challenge to ongoing operations that may persist beyond 2024. Depending on the scenario, $1.5 trillion to $4.7 trillion in cumulative revenue could be forgone between 2020 and 2024. - Business Standard

🍒 CMS Info Systems plans to invest upto Rs 1,300 crore on ATM ramp-up : Baring Private Equity-backed CMS Info Systems (CMS), plans invest upto Rs 1,300 crore to scale up its managed ATM business and cash management business in India. Rajiv Kaul, vice-chairman and wholetime director, CMS Info System, said that starting with a capital expenditure of Rs 180-200 crore, the company expects to create 2,000 jobs. Out of them, 70 per cent of will be blue-collar job opportunities, and the balance 30 per cent white-collar ones. The investment will be funded through internal accrual and debt. The span for investment would be over seven years, Kaul said. For the time being, the firm does not envisage specific investment from its owner Baring for these plans, he added. Sion Investment Holdings, an affiliate of Baring Private Equity Asia, holds 100 per cent in the company. - Business Standard

🍒 Gold prices edge higher for fifth day to Rs 50,308 per 10 gm; silver jumps Rs 673 a kg : Gold prices continued their northward march for the fifth straight day by Rs 200 to Rs 50,308 per 10 gram in the Mumbai retail market on rupee depreciation and volatile global cues. The precious metal price pared earlier gains tracking rebounding dollar on safe-haven appeal as a new coronavirus strain in Britain led to sell-off in most assets class. The rate of 10 gram 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 46,082 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram was Rs 50,308 plus GST. The 18-carat gold quoted at Rs 37,731 plus GST in the retail market. Silver prices climbed by Rs 673 to Rs 67,192 per kg from its closing on December 18.

🍒 Markets crash on mutant virus fears : News reports of a fast-spreading virus strain in the UK stopped the bulls in their tracks on Monday. In the last hour of the trading session, the Sensex fell by 1,406 points or 3 per cent to close at 45,553. The Nifty index declined by 432 points to close at 13,328. It was the worst crash in the indices in seven months. Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC were the biggest drags on the Sensex that led the index to fall over 500 points. The Bank Nifty index fell by 1,258 points or 4.1 per cent at 29,456. 

🍒 Rupee slips 17 paise to 73.73 against US dollar : The rupee declined 17 paise to 73.73 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday amid weak domestic equities and strengthening American currency in the overseas market. However, unabated foreign fund inflows and lower crude prices supported the rupee and restricted the fall, forex traders said. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened sharply lower at 73.74 against the greenback. It was trading 17 paise down at 73.73 in early deals. In the previous session, the rupee strengthened by 3 paise to close at 73.56 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading up 0.46 per cent at 90.37.

21.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News

21.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 Bank of Baroda completes integration of erstwhile Dena, Vijaya banks with itself : State-run Bank of Baroda on Sunday said it has completed integration of 3,898 branches of erstwhile Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with itself. In a first three-way amalgamation, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank were merged with Bank of Baroda from April 1, 2019. The bank has completed the integration of 1,770 erstwhile Dena Bank branches in December 2020, and had earlier completed the integration of 2,128 erstwhile Vijaya Bank branches in September 2020, the lender said in a release. "We have successfully completed integration of erstwhile banks with Bank of Baroda amidst the challenges faced under the COVID environment. We are happy to once again welcome all our esteemed customers and request them to avail full suite of Bank of Baroda's products and digital solutions," the bank's managing director and CEO Sanjiv Chadha said in the release. - economic times

🍒 PSU banks to raise Rs 25,000 crore in next 3 months: DFS Secy : Public sector banks (PSBs) are planning to raise about Rs 25,000 crore through a mix of equity and debt in the next three months to support credit pick up and meet regulatory requirement. In the last few months lenders including State Bank of India, Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have raised about Rs 40,000 crore from the market, Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda told in an interview. "Banks have been able to raise a lot of money from the markets. About Rs 40,000 crores have been raised by the public sector banks both in the form equity and also AT1 and Tier II bonds. We will expect another 20,000-25,000 during the remaining part of the financial year," he said. Earlier this month, Canara Bank raised Rs 2,000 crore while Punjab National Bank (PNB) raised Rs 3,788.04 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP). RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has been advising banks to proactively raise capital and not wait for a difficult situation to arise due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. - economic times

🍒 India needs multiple bad banks to clean balance sheets of lenders, get credit growth back : Industry body CII on Sunday said it has urged the government to consider creation of multiple bad banks to address the adverse impact of non-performing assets (NPAs) accumulated by public sector banks in the recent past, that got further accentuated during the pandemic. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in its pre-budget memorandum recommended that the government consider enabling Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) to purchase NPAs. "In the aftermath of Covid, it is important to find a resolution mechanism through a market determined price discovery. With huge liquidity both globally and domestically, multiple bad banks can address this issue in a transparent manner and get the credit cycle back in action," CII President Uday Kotak said. - economic times

🍒 Gold imports dip 40% in Apr-Nov to $12.3 bn : Gold imports, which have a bearing on the current account deficit, fell 40 per cent to $12.3 billion during April-November due to fall in demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the commerce ministry. Imports of the yellow metal stood at $20.6 billion in the corresponding period of 2019-20. The imports, however, recorded a year-on-year growth of 2.65 per cent in November to $3 billion. Silver imports during April-November 2020 too dipped 65.7 per cent to about $752 million. The decline in gold and silver imports has helped in narrowing the country's trade deficit, difference between imports and exports, to USD 42 billion during April-November 2020-21 as against USD 113.42 billion in the year-ago period. - economic times

🍒 FPIs invest Rs 54,980 cr in Indian equities in Dec so far : Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) pumped in Rs 54,980 crore in Indian markets in December so far amidst availability of excess liquidity in global markets and expectation of fresh stimulus package by various central banks, among others. As per the depositories' data, FPIs invested a net Rs 48,858 crore into equities and Rs 6,122 crore into debt segment between December 1 and 18.This took the total net investment to Rs 54,980 crore during the period under review.In November, the total net investment of FPIs stood at Rs 62,951 crore. Himanshu Srivastava, associate director - manager research, Morningstar India said, "availability of excess liquidity in global markets and low interest rates diverted foreign flows into emerging markets like India." - economic times

🍒 EPFO net new enrolments rises 56% to 11.55 lakh in October : Net new enrolments with retirement fund body EPFO rose by 56 per cent to 11.55 lakh in October compared to 7.39 lakh in the same month last year, according to its latest payroll data, providing a perspective on formal sector employment amid the coronavirus pandemic. The net payroll additions, however, have registered a slight dip in October compared to 14.19 lakh in September this year, according to a statement by the Labour Ministry. Provisional payroll data released by the EPFO last month had shown that net new enrolments stood at 14.9 lakh in September this year. - economic times

🍒 PayPal faces Rs 96 lakh penalty for violating India's anti-money laundering processes : American online payment gateway giant PayPal has been imposed a Rs 96 lakh penalty by the FIU for alleged contravention of the anti-money laundering law and accused of "concealing" suspect financial transactions and abetting "disintegration" of India's financial system. PayPal, which began India operations in November 2017, said it was fully committed to follow due processes and is "carefully reviewing the matter". The company has also been charged with "defeating and frustrating" the tenets of public interest and the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which aims to keep the country's financial system safe from economic crimes, terrorist financing and black money transactions. Calling the contraventions as "deliberate and wilful", the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in a scathing 27-page order issued on December 17 held the company guilty on three broad counts, the fundamental being its failure to register itself as a "reporting entity" with the federal agency as mandated under the PMLA.- economic times

🍒 Corporate Insolvency: IBBI may rein in engagement of third party consultants : Insolvency professionals appointed under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) may not find it all that easy to contract out their duties to third party consultants or advisors (including non Insolvency Professional Entity) during corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) if the latest IBBI discussion paper is anything to go by. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), which has released the discussion paper on ‘Engagement of “professionals” in a corporate Insolvency Resolution Process’, has invited public comments on several questions including whether only a person having an authorisation from the regulator of a profession to practice the profession may be appointed as a “professional” by an IP in a CIRP. - Business Line

🍒 Pensioners can submit life certificates till February 28: Union Minister Jitendra Singh : In a major relief to central government pensioners amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the date for submission of life certificate has been extended up to February 28 next year, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday. "This decision has been taken considering all the sensitivities to avoid pandemic risk emanating from gathering of crowds at the pension disbursing banks," said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel. In addition to this, he said, the pensioners above the age of 80 years were given an exclusive window from October 1 onward to submit their life certificate so as to avoid rush likely to happen from the opening date of November 1. - financial express

🍒 M-cap of eight of top-10 most valued companies zoom, HDFC, TCS lead gainers : Eight of the top-10 most valued domestic companies together added Rs 1,25,229.25 crore in market valuation past week in-line with a bullish broader market trend, with HDFC, TCS and Bajaj Finance emerging as the biggest gainers. Over the past week, the BSE benchmark gained 861.68 points or 1.86 per cent. Only Reliance Industries Limited and Hindustan Unilever Limited witnessed erosion from their market valuation, rest eight companies including HDFC Bank and Infosys made gains. HDFC’s valuation zoomed Rs 32,992.86 crore to Rs 4,46,174.05 crore, making it the biggest gainer. The market capitalisation of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) jumped Rs 29,700.13 crore to Rs 10,74,157.65 crore. Bajaj Finance added Rs 24,642.81 crore to Rs 3,16,481.88 crore to its valuation. - Business Line.

20.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News

 20.12.2020: Today's Banking / Financial News at a Glance

🍒 RBI Central Board meets to take stock of economy amid global challenges : The Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) met on Friday to review the current economic situation in the backdrop of global and domestic challenges and various areas of operations of the central bank. The board reviewed customer education initiatives and resolution of customer complaints, and discussed the draft Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India, the RBI said in a statement. “The board noted the change in the Bank’s financial year from July-June to April-March and the changes in the unit of presentation from millions/billions to lakhs/crores,” the statement said. - Business Standard

🍒 SBI-led consortium pursue UK bankruptcy order against Vijay Mallya : A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) returned to the High Court in London for a bankruptcy application hearing against liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, as they pursue the recovery of debt from loans paid out to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. At a virtual hearing before Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs on Friday, both sides deposed retired Indian Supreme Court justices as expert witnesses on Indian law in support of their arguments for and against a bankruptcy order against Mallya in the UK. While the banks argued a right to waive their security over the Indian assets involved in the case in order to recover their debt in the UK, lawyers for the 65-year-old businessman argued that the funds in question involved public money held by state-owned banks in India which precluded them from such a security waiver. "As a commercial entity, a bank has a right to exercise its commercial wisdom to decide what it wants to do with its security, noted barrister Marcia Shekerdemian, arguing on behalf of SBI and others. - Business Standard

🍒 Government exploring setting up bad bank, all other options : The government is exploring all options, including setting up of a bad bank, to improve the health of the country's banking sector, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj said on Friday. He also said the government has recapitalised public sector banks and continue to pump in capital as per requirements. "We are looking at various options, including the option you mentioned (of bad bank), and it is still in the works... The RBI has been asking us, and we ourselves also feel that we need to recapitalise. We have recapitalised to a large extent and this year too, we have kept some money for recapitalisation so that commitment is there...," he said. - Live Mint

🍒 IIFL Home, ICICI Bank join hands for affordable housing, MSME loans : IIFL Finance on Saturday said its home loan subsidiary has tied up with ICICI Bank to provide affordable housing and MSME loans. "IIFL Home Finance Ltd...and ICICI Bank have entered into a sourcing and servicing arrangement to partner in extending credit to the affordable housing loans & MSME loans (loan against property)," IIFL Finance said in a regulatory filing. Under the tie-up, IFL Home will originate and service customers through the entire loan life-cycle including sourcing, documentation, collection and loan servicing and in turn, ICICI Bank will provide funding to these customers, it added. Definitive agreements for the arrangement, including the sourcing agent agreement and service provider agreement were executed between IIFL Home and ICICI Bank on December 18, the filing said. - economic times

🍒 Indian banks pursue UK bankruptcy order against Vijay Mallya : A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) returned to the High Court in London for a bankruptcy application hearing against liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, as they pursue the recovery of debt from loans paid out to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. At a virtual hearing before Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs on Friday, both sides deposed retired Indian Supreme Court justices as expert witnesses on Indian law in support of their arguments for and against a bankruptcy order against Mallya in the UK. While the banks argued a right to waive their security over the Indian assets involved in the case in order to recover their debt in the UK, lawyers for the 65-year-old businessman argued that the funds in question involved public money held by state-owned banks in India which precluded them from such a security waiver. "As a commercial entity, a bank has a right to exercise its commercial wisdom to decide what it wants to do with its security,” noted barrister Marcia Shekerdemian, arguing on behalf of SBI and others. - economic times

🍒 Canara Bank exposure to Transstroy consortium lending at Rs 678 crore : State-run Canara Bank on December 19 said its exposure to Transstroy India Ltd is over Rs 678 crore under a consortium lending arrangement and the borrower was declared as a wilful defaulter earlier in 2018. The company is under the process of liquidation, it said. In a clarification, Canara Bank said the bank's exposure to the Transstroy India is of Rs 678.28 crore contrary to news claiming it to be an alleged fraud of Rs 7,926 crore. "In this regard, it is clarified that the company was enjoying limits from various banks under multiple banking arrangement from 2001. Subsequently, a consortium with Canara Bank as leader with 13 other banks was formed in 2013 and the total limit sanctioned was Rs 4,765.70 crore and the share of Canara Bank is only Rs 678.28 crore," it said in a regulatory filing. - moneycontrol.

🍒 IDBI Bank raises Rs 1,435 cr from 44 investors via issue of equity shares : IDBI Bank has raised Rs 1,435 crore through an issue of equity shares to 44 qualified institutional investors, according to a regulatory filing. The bank had targeted to raise Rs 2,000 crore (base size Rs 1,000 crore and green-shoe option of Rs 1,000 crore) through the QIP issue at a floor price of Rs 40.63 apiece.The QIP committee of the board of directors at its meeting held on December 19, 2020 approved the issue and allotment of 3,71,808,177 equity shares to 44 eligible qualified institutional buyers at the issue price of Rs 38.60 per share, IDBI Bank said in a regulatory filing. The shares were issued at a discount of 5 per cent to the floor price of Rs 40.63 apiece, it said. The QIP issue had opened on December 15 and closed on December 18, 2020. - Business Standard

🍒 PSBs may find it hard to raise money on asset quality, governance concerns : Public sector banks (PSBs) would find it difficult to raise capital from private investors owing to asset quality concerns and a delay in implementing governance reforms, say experts. While the banks have cleaned up books and the space has seen consolidation after the merger exercise, the impact of big-ticket frauds of the past and the bad-loan burden remain an issue. This is reflected in the less-than-enthusiastic response to the recent Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs) of Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank, say two executives with merchant banks involved in the capital raising plans. Technically, IDBI Bank is a private sector lender, but is considered a public sector entity for the purpose of assessment. - Business Line

🍒 CBI registers cases against Transstroy for alleged bank fraud, conducts raids : The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against Hyderabad-based infrastructure company Transstroy (India) Ltd and its directors for alleged bank fraud estimated at more than ₹7,926 crore. Following a complaint by Canara Bank, which along with its consortium partners had extended credit facilities to the infra firm, the investigating agency has registered a case against the company and named its Chairman and MD, Cherukuri Sridhar, and additional directors, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, former MP, and Akkineni Satish, in the case. - Business Line

🍒 Rising inflation is of concern: HDFC Chief Economist : Inflation has been rising and is at over 7 per cent as against the RBI mandated 6 per cent. This is a matter of concern as it has gone up substantially over the past three months, said Abheek Barua, Chief Economist, HDFC Bank. This means that if one is expecting more help from the RBI, it may become difficult to come by as there will be liquidity pressure, he said. “The fiscal deficit has gone for a toss. The government had set a target of 3.5 per cent of GDP for Centre and 3 per cent for the States. This is now at 6.5 per cent for the Centre and 4.5 per cent for States. Together it is at 11 per cent, which will be dangerous if not brought down,” he stated. - Business Line

🍒 Piramal, Oaktree slug it out as race for debt-laden DHFL intensifies : The race to acquire troubled mortgage financer DHFL intensified after Oaktree Capital and Piramal made detailed presentations to lenders through the day. Bank officials said they (bidders) had gone into exhaustive explanations, and the work might carry on into one more session before they finish work. SBI Caps, process advisor, also made a presentation. The valuers – JLL and IBSA – are likely to present assessments at the next session on Saturday. All the offers have been made with several conditions, and the lenders will have to take a call by considering their net present value. One banker privy to proceedings said the offers made by the bidders had many conditions attached. This needs to be put in simple terms to make the offers comparable for lenders to decide which of the two is better. Lenders are expected to vote next week. - Business Standard

🍒 Companies that undertook mergers are now stuck with tax credit issue : Several companies that had initiated mergers are now facing issues in recovering tax credits due to delays in getting necessary approvals and conclusion of the process after the lockdowns disrupted the timelines. Tax credits on the amount paid to revenue authorities when the process is on are getting stuck as the tax department undertakes a detailed scrutiny in merger cases which take long to conclude.For some of the larger companies, the amount stuck in tax credit runs into hundreds of crores, say insiders. People in the know said that hundreds of companies — both with external mergers or intra-group—have been affected by this delay. Tax credit is a refund that can be set off against future tax liabilities. - Business Line

🍒 Why shouldn’t all LVB merger petitions be transferred to Bombay HC: Supreme Court : The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from various shareholders and others on why all the petitions related to merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with DBS Bank India, pending before different high courts, should not be transferred to the Bombay High Court. RBI has sought transfer of all the petitions to the Bombay HC to avoid multiplicity of proceedings and conflicting judgments. Justice MM Shantanagoudar issued notice to various shareholders including AUM Capital Markets and Indiabulls Housing Finance, among others. It posted the matter for further hearing in January. Currently five petitions challenging the LVB merger scheme with DBS Bank, issued by the central government on November 25, are being heard by four different HCs of Madras, Bombay, Karnataka and Delhi. The amalgamation scheme has already come into force from November 27. - financial express

🍒 Honda shuts 23-year-old Greater Noida car unit : Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) has decided to pull the plug on production at its Greater Noida plant in Uttar Pradesh, sources said on Saturday. The automaker, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese Honda Motor Co, had set up the Greater Noida plant in 1997. Industry sources said the plant would, however, continue to house the company's corporate head office, spare parts division and research and development (R&D) centre among other functions. Meanwhile, the company declined to comment on the matter. - economic times

🍒 As Sensex rallies 800 points in a week, these 20 stocks in BSE500 index rose 10-40% : The record rally in the market continued this week as well. The Nifty50 closed above 13,700 levels while the S&P BSE Sensex had a touch-and-go-moment with 47,000. The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 861 points or 1.87 percent while the Nifty50 was up 1.83 percent for the week ended December 18 compared to 1.6 percent gain seen in the S&P BSE Midcap index and 1.2 percent rise in the BSE Smallcap index in the same period. Even though the broader market underperformed, there was plenty of action seen in individual stocks. There are about 20 stocks in the BSE500 index that rose 10-40 percent in just 5 trading sessions.

🍒 Gold prices jump nearly 2% this week to Rs 50,305/10 gm, bias bullish for short term : Gold prices edged lower to settle at Rs 50,305 per 10 gram on December 19 as participants trimmed their long position as seen by the open interest. The precious metal ended the week with a gain of Rs 980 or 1.99 percent for the week. The rate of 10 gram 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 45,899 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram was Rs 50,108 plus GST. The 18-carat gold quoted at Rs 37,581 plus GST in the retail market. Silver prices gained Rs 50 to Rs 66,519 per kg from its closing on December 17..