MCA
Forms CHG-4 and INC-22 are
likely to be revised on MCA21 Company Forms Download page w.e.f 15th February,
2019 Stakeholders are advised to check the latest version before filing.
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SC RESERVES ORDER ON ERICSSON'S CONTEMPT PLEA AGAINST RCOM
CHIEF ANIL AMBANI, OTHERS
The Supreme Court
Wednesday reserved its verdict on Ericsson India's plea seeking contempt action
against Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani and two others
for non-clearance of its Rs 550-crore dues A bench of justices R F Nariman and
Vineet Saran said it is reserving its verdict. During the hearing, senior
advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Ericsson India, said there was wilful
disobedience of apex court's orders and contempt action should be initiated
against them. Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for RCom, countered the argument and said
no contempt was made as no orders of the apex court were violated
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JSW STEEL SET TO ACQUIRE BHUSHAN POWER
JSW Steel Tuesday went
procedurally a step closer to acquiring an asset in bankruptcy-induced
ownership change after the administrator overseeing the sale of Bhushan Power
and Steel issued a letter of intent (LoI) in favour of India’s biggest maker of
the alloy. JSW Steel had made a Rs 19,650-crore offer which included upfront payment
of Rs 19,300 crore, with another Rs 350 crore earmarked for operational
creditors, according to sources close to the development. After JSW Steel
accepts the LoI, the resolution professional will submit JSW Steel’s plan to
the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for its approval. JSW has been issued
the LoI. The resolution professional will file the matter before NCLT for its
approval on Wednesday, a senior industry executive with direct knowledge of the
matter told.
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PAR PANEL FOR SETTING UP ENQUIRY COMMISSION INTO IL&FS
CRISIS
A Parliamentary panel on
Wednesday suggested setting up a commission of enquiry into the IL&FS
fiasco, including probing the role of the credit rating agencies (CRAs). Debt
crisis in infrastructure lender IL&FS came to light following a series of
defaults by its group companies beginning September 2018. IL&FS is sitting
on a debt pile of about Rs 91,000 crore. The Standing Committee on Finance, in
its report presented in Parliament, said the government has since intervened
and re-constituted the company's board and the matter is being heard by the
National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The Committee would recommend a
comprehensive commission of enquiry into the whole gamut of the episode, which
will inter-alia probe the role of CRAs that had over-rated the entities
sometime before the crisis and the role of the largest institutional
stakeholder in IL&FS, namely the LIC of India as well as other
institutional stakeholders, it said. The committee, chaired by senior Congress
leader M Veerappa Moily, suggested that the governance failures and indecision
or indiscretion on the part of the IL&FS board should also be thoroughly
probed. "The Committee desire that urgent measures should be initiated to
resurrect IL&FS, as it is the only major institution funding the
infrastructure projects in the country," it said. Similarly, the committee
suggested to the Finance Ministry and SEBI to explore the mandatory rotation of
rating agencies along the lines of statutory auditors to avoid the pitfalls of
long association between the issuer and the credit rating agency, particularly
considering the recent instances of failure of CRAs in sensing simmering
'trouble' in their client-entities. "This may also help eliminate element
of complacency in the credit rating industry and bring fresh perspectives on
table. In the same vein, the Ministry may also evaluate the suggestion to have
rating compulsorily carried out by more than one agency (dual or multiple),
particularly in respect of debt instruments/bank credit involving large amounts
say, more than Rs 100 crore," it said. The committee also recommended
changes in the regulatory framework to avoid situations of 'conflict of
interest', such as when the CRA or its subsidiaries are also allowed to do
advisory/consultancy work besides rating, it said.
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PARLIAMENTARY PANEL WANTS PROBE INTO IL&FS CRISIS
A Parliamentary panel has
recommended to the government that a commission of enquiry should look into the
failure of IL&FS and the role of the credit rating agencies (CRAs) in it.
The standing committee on finance led by Congress party leader Veerappa Moily
said in its report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday that the enquiry should be
comprehensive and cover the role of major stakeholders This, the panel said,
should include, “the role of CRAs that had over-rated the entities sometime
before the crisis and the role of the largest institutional stakeholder in
IL&FS, namely the LIC of India as well as other institutional
stakeholders.". The government appointed board is now exploring sale of
certain assets to pay off debt. IL&FS has assets across highways, toll
bridges, power projects and transmission networks, and holds them through
various special purpose vehicles. The House panel said the governance failures
and indecision or indiscretion on the part of the IL&FS board should be
thoroughly probed. "The Committee desire that urgent measures should be
initiated to resurrect IL&FS, as it is the only major institution funding
the infrastructure projects in the country," it said. The committee
suggested to the Finance Ministry and capital market regulator the Securities
and Exchange Board of India to explore mandatory rotation of rating agencies
like the rotation of statutory auditors to prevent the company management and
rating agencies getting into a cozy relationship. This may help in eliminating
complacency in the credit rating industry, the panel noted. The Ministry may
also evaluate compulsorily rating by more than one agency, particularly in the
case of debt instruments/bank credit involving large amounts say, more than ₹100
crore, said the House panel.
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NCLT ADMITS SFIO PLEA TO WIND UP IBMA
The National Company Law
Tribunal, Mumbai on Wednesday admitted Serious Fraud Investigation Office
(SFIO) petitions for winding up the Indian Bullion Market Association (IBMA)
and Juggernaut Projects, which are being probed in connection with the alleged
Rs 5,600-crore National Spot Exchange (NSEL) scam. IBMA is a subsidiary of NSEL
and a step-down subsidiary of 63 moons, NSEL’s parent. Juggernaut is one of the
exchange defaulters. SFIO is planning to file winding-up petitions against 15
defaulter companies, and 17 subsidiaries and associate companies of NSEL,
sources in the know of the development told. “We have started with two
companies. The rest will follow soon. This should be done within the next two
to three months and would include both subsidiaries and defaulters,” said an
official in the know. “The petitions were admitted on Wednesday and now, the
two parties have been given time till March 4 to file their say. This is when
the tribunal will hear the matter again,” advocate Ashish Mehta, SFIO attorney,
told. “IBMA was registered as an institutional trading and clearing members
(ITCM) of NSEL and had 89 trading members registered under it. It directly had
19 clients registered under it. IBMA was being used as a vehicle by NSEL for
generating fictitious documents to support the illegal trading on its exchange,
that is, by way of paired traders contracts, to cover up for the fact that no
physical delivery was involved in the trading of the contract,” the application
filed before the NCLT. SFIO states, “Juggernaut ignored bye-laws of NSEL
exchange and started buying and selling goods without any or sufficient
verification of physical commodity. It was involved in circular, paper trades
where by one entity of the group used to sell the commodity, while the other
entity of the group used to buy the same commodity with a view to close the
loop for the online traders in paired contracts.”
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ALOK INDUSTRIES CASE: NCLT GRANTS ‘OPERATIONAL CREDITOR’
STATUS TO GAIL
The Ahmedabad Bench of the
National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday accepted the plea of
state-run gas supplier GAIL India to be treated as an operational creditor (OC)
in the resolution process of textiles player Alok Industries. Reading out the
operational part of the order passed on Wednesday, adjudicating authority
Justice Harihar Prakash Chaturvedi said GAIL India will be treated as an OC on
par with its status in other cases including the Essar Steel one. Under the
resolution plan submitted by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in partnership with
JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company, GAIL India’s claims of ₹506
crore were not considered worth merit. The tribunal also said Alok Industries’
insolvency resolution professional (IRP) ought to have consulted the committee
of creditors (CoC) and sought direction from the tribunal, instead of
adjudicating over categorising GAIL India as an OC. GAIL India had filed a
petition before the NCLT saying the IRP had ignored its claims and rejected its
status as an OC. GAIL claimed its dues were from 2014 to 2016. The RIL-JM
Financial resolution plan provides full payments to operational creditors with
claims of up to ₹3 lakh. GAIL India had opposed the plan.
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THEY FLY IN PRIVATE JETS AND HAVE MONEY FOR RAFALE, BUT NO
MONEY TO PAY ERICSSON, DUSHYANT DAVE
The Supreme Court reserved
its verdict in the contempt petition filed by Ericsson against Anil Ambani and
Reliance Communications for alleged violation of the orders passed by the Court
Dave contended that the failure of Reliance to pay the Rs. 550 crore as
promised in its undertaking to the Court was deliberate and willful contempt of
court. “It is like a tenant who agrees to vacate a house but later says he
cannot because he could not find alternative accommodation.” He said that the
money, which was realised from the sale of assets of Reliance to Jio, was given
to the Department of Telecom (DoT) instead of Ericsson. He also alleged that
the contemnors have made profits due to the rise in share prices after the deal
with Jio. Dave also pointed out other projects that have been handed over to
other Reliance companies controlled by Anil Ambani. “They have money for
Rafale. Somebody who is getting involved in every conceivable project has no
money to pay Rs. 550 crore to us and honour this Court’s order.” Dave said that
Reliance has an obligation towards the Supreme Court in light of the
undertaking given to the Court and the various orders passed pursuant to it.
Dave also attacked Ambani saying that, “They fly in private jets and have huge
houses but no money. it is unfortunate that extraordinary citizens can take the
court for a ride like this. They are not ordinary citizens. They are getting
advice from the best lawyers in the country. This is no ordinary contempt like
that committed by a tenant or a farmer.” Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Anil
Ambani, placed heavy reliance on the submission that the undertaking given by
Reliance was not an unconditional one. It was his submission that the
undertaking given in Supreme Court was pursuant to an extraordinary order for
the benefit of all, as otherwise, the matter would have continued under the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). “For the benefit of all concerned, an
extraordinary order was passed. The IBC proceedings were halted. If your
Lordships look at the last line of the undertaking, it says that in case the
payment is not made to Ericsson the appeal will be dismissed. As per the
undertaking, there will be sale of assets of Reliance Communication to Jio and
the proceeds will be given to the Banks and Ericsson.” Rohatgi said that in
case the payment was not made within the stipulated time, the consequence was
that the appeal in the Supreme Court would fail. “If it does not fructify, the
appeal will fail. That is all. There was no blanket undertaking to pay
Ericsson. The undertaking was conditional. To say that it was unconditional is
a travesty of justice”, he said. Regarding the allegation that the Rs. 780
crore obtained from the sale to Jio was given to DoT instead of Ericsson,
Rohatgi said that it was given by the lenders to the DoT in order to avoid
cancellation of license, and that Reliance Communications did not take that
decision. Further, he said that the sale was to bring in Rs. 18,100 crores, but
only Rs. 780 crores was realised. Moreover, another deal with Jio fell through,
he submitted. “This was no experiment as Rohatgi and Sibal have said. Rohatgi
says it was an attempt to settle. But later orders of this Court extending the
deadline to pay make it clear that it was not an experiment. The petitioners
have taken advantage of time. Now they cannot say it was an experiment.”
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RBI FINDS NO DIVERGENCE IN ASSET CLASSIFICATION, PROVISIONING:
YES BANK
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) has cleared Yes Bank of any disparity in reporting bad loans, known as
divergence in market parlance the private-sector lender said late evening
Wednesday. “The report observes NIL divergences in the bank’s asset
classification and provisioning from the RBI norms,” the Mumbai-based lender
said in a statement to the stock exchanges, citing the central bank’s risk
assessment. The banking regulator assesses compliance by banks with extant
prudential norms on income recognition, asset classification and provisioning
(IRACP) as part of its supervisory processes. YES Bank has received the Risk
Assessment Report for FY18 as an outcome of the IRACP process. Divergence
refers to the difference between the RBI's inspection report and the lender’s
own report. Against the Rs 748.98-crore of gross NPAs reported by Yes Bank as
on March 31, 2016, the RBI assessment showed the tally at Rs 4,925.68 crore,
leading to a divergence of Rs 4,176.70 crore. This divergence further increased
to Rs 6,335 crore in FY17 and was the main reason the former CEO Rana Kapoor's
tenure was curtailed last year by the central bank.
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RBI IMPOSES RS 5 CR PENALTY ON FOUR PSU BANKS
The Reserve Bank imposed
penalties of Rs 5 crore on four public sector banks including SBI and Corporation
Bank for violation of various banking norms. The monetary penalty on the banks
has been imposed for non-compliance with various directions issued by RBI on
monitoring of end use of funds, exchange of information with other banks,
classification and reporting of frauds, and on restructuring of accounts, RBI
said in a statement. A penalty of Rs 2 crore has been imposed on Corporation
Bank and Rs 1 crore each State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda and Union
Bank of India. The RBI, however, added the fines are based on deficiencies in
regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any
transaction or agreement entered into by the banks with their customers.
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SEBI HAS ROBUST MEASURES FOR PROPER FUNCTIONING OF SECURITIES
MKT: IOSCO REPORT
Markets watchdog Sebi has
been identified by a global body of regulators among those having put in place
robust measures to ensure orderly functioning of securities markets. This is a
part of the findings of an IOSCO report titled Standards Implementation
Monitoring on Secondary and Other Market Principles These secondary and other
market principles seek to promote fair, efficient and transparent markets and
provide core elements of an essential regulatory framework for securities
regulations. According to the report, the Indian capital markets regulator has
mostly implemented secondary market principles. These secondary market
principles cover areas such as authorisation, oversight and ongoing supervision
requirements; transparency requirements; detection and deterring market
misconduct; and also deal with managing risks, such as monitoring large
exposures, default procedures and short selling. In India, the recognised stock
exchanges have in place automated systems of market surveillance which are
complemented by Sebi's own system that allows for surveillance across bourses
and market segments, as per the report. It noted that Sebi's Integrated Market
Surveillance System (IMSS) and Data warehouse & Business Intelligence
System (DWBIS) integrate the data from across the stock exchanges and
depositories. All data from the exchanges and depositories are delivered
overnight and fed into IMSS and DWBIS. DWBIS is an in-house system developed by
Sebi for data mining and analytics. In addition to trading data, DWBIS stores a
wide array of non-trading information including corporate announcements and
information related to individual traders and entities. Further, DWBIS can
automatically generate consolidated analysis of trading data for a wide range
of market misconduct, including front running, wash sales, marking the close
and possible pump and dump schemes. Besides, the report indicated that the
implementation of the IOSCO's secondary and other market principles is
generally high across most of the member jurisdictions that the committee
reviewed.
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RBI CANCELS CERTIFICATES OF 32 NBFCS
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) this week cancelled the certificates of registration of as many as 32
Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). RBI said These companies shall not
transact the business of a Non-Banking Financial Institution, as defined in
clause (a) of Section 45-I of the RBI Act, 1934. Of 32 NBFCs, RBI cancelled
certificates of 14 companies from West Bengal, 6 companies from Mumbai, 5 from
Gujarat, 3 from Delhi and 1 from Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and
Nagpur.
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LOANS WORTH RS 20,900 CR SANCTIONED UNDER 100-DAY OUTREACH
PROGRAMME FOR MSMES
Loans to the tune of Rs
20,900 crore have been sanctioned under the 100-day outreach programme for
MSMEs across 104 districts announced in November, a top official said
Wednesday. Rajeev Kumar said 33 lakh MSMEs have been provided facilities under
the 100-day outreach programme. Out of these, 6.36 lakh MSMEs in 39 districts
are under the textiles sector. Loans to the tune of Rs 20,900 crore have been
provided to MSMEs in 104 districts, including Rs 6,500 crore for the textiles
sector enterprises, Kumar said at an outreach event for MSMEs in the textiles
sector. Smriti Irani said as many as 21 crore Indians are linked to the Pradhan
Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, while
Rs 3,000 crore has been disbursed as claim amount. Till today Rs 3,000 crore
has been given under these two schemes, Irani said.
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59-MINUTE LOAN PORTAL: BANKS PROVIDE LOANS WORTH RS 30K CRORE
SINCE LAUNCH
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi-led government's initiative to provide quick loans up to Rs 1 crore to
small businesses from public sector banks appears to be bearing fruit. Loans
worth Rs 30,000 crore have been successfully disbursed after it was launched in
September 2018. The psbloansin59minutes portal will succeed further and see
more credit outlay as banks transmit the 25 basis rate cut announced by the
Reserve Bank of India in February, a government official told the newspaper. As
many as 24,000 new borrowers availed loans worth around Rs 6,400 crore and
68,000 repeat debtors borrowed Rs 23,439 crore, the official said. There is now
less human interference in the sanctioning process. Also, since the loan
documentation is done through the portal itself, it also creates a liability on
the approving authority to provide reasons for delays and denials, a Finance
Ministry official was quoted in the report as saying. The Finance Ministry
official added that the restructuring of MSME loans, which was announced by the
RBI, will further help the industry. Even Financial Services Secretary Rajiv
Kumar had said that this will help redistribute loans worth Rs 1 lakh crore to
seven lakh eligible small businesses. The scheme will free up additional
resources, which will fuel demand and create further opportunities in the
industry, he had stated.
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SEBI HIRES MORE HANDS TO INVESTIGATE STOCK MARKET FRAUDS
Recent stock market
volatility and growing complaints of market manipulation have prompted the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to increase the number of experts
in its investigation department Sebi traditionally always had one chief general
manager (CGM) as the head of the department for investigations. Now, owing to
the case load, Sebi has increased the number to four, said a person with direct
knowledge of the matter. Sebi’s move assumes importance in the wake of
increased cases and complaints of market manipulation and unusual volatility in
a select few stocks. In the past two months there have been at least four
instances of blue-chip stocks and companies coming under the radar due to
complaints, rating action and lender action. According to Sun Pharma
disclosures to stock exchanges on Tuesday, Sebi has queried the company on its
relation with Aditya Medisales. Similarly shares of Dewan Housing and Finance
Ltd (DHFL) fell by 9.73% on 30 January following allegations of ₹31,000
crore of financial irregularities. Sebi has been increasing its surveillance
and investigation efforts to clear the backlog of cases. But new cases of
alleged market manipulation are being observed. More resources need to be
channelled towards investigating these cases to protect the interest of
investors. Sebi is also planning to recruit 100 employees every year for the
coming three years and most of the manpower will be devoted in strengthening
investigations, said the first person quoted above.
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BANK CREDIT GROWS 14.5%, DEPOSITS UP 9.63%
Both bank credit as well
as deposits growth marginally declined on a fortnightly basis, clipping at 14.5
percent at Rs 94.29 lakh crore deposits grew at a tepid 9.63 percent to Rs
121.22 lakh crore for the fortnight ending February 1, according to the latest
RBI data. In the previous fortnight ended January 18, deposits had increased by
9.69 percent to Rs 119.86 lakh crore and credit grew by 14.61 percent to Rs
93.32 lakh crore. The decline was mainly driven by the poor show by agriculture
and allied activities and the personal loans during the week. While credit
demand from agriculture and allied activities grew by 8.4 percent in December
2018, compared to an increase of 9.5 percent in December 2017, industrial
credit rose by 4.4 percent in December 2018 over 2.1 percent in the year-ago
month. Similarly non-food credit also increased faster at 12.8 percent
year-on-year basis in December 2018 compared to a 10 percent growth in the same
month last year. In the reporting month, credit to the services sector almost
doubled to 23.2 percent as against 14.7 percent year- ago period but personal
loans growth decelerated to 17 percent from 18.9 percent.
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RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY SALES JUMP BY 5% IN Q3
Third-quarter residential
property sales saw 5% jump in year-on-year basis across top tier I cities in
the country with southern cities leading the growth. The residential sales was
recorded at 69,886 units in Q3 of FY19 as compared to the same period last
year, mainly driven by affordable housing segments, said a recent report by
Liases Foras report. As per the report, higher sales was led by Chennai, which
saw 22% jump in sales and Hyderabad at 18%. Additionally, Pune witnessed a
growth of 14% in sales followed by Bangalore and Ahmedabad at 11% each and at
Kolkata 10% and MMR 9%. However, NCR is the only city that witnessed a decline
in sales with sales dropping by 17% as compared to last year. Close to 53% of
the sales of this quarter were contributed by sub-50 lacs segment, in which the
segment of 25-50 lacs is beginning to gain more traction with 12% YoY growth.
Ultra luxury segment ( >2Cr) has observed a 6% drop on QoQ and an 18% drop
on YoY basis, said Pankaj Kapoor MD Liases Foras. However, unsold stock has
seen a 3% rise on a year-on-year basis. While Kolkata witnessed a 25% increase
which is the highest followed by Hyderabad and Chennai showing 20% and 19%
growth respectively. Weighted average prices across all Tier I cites remained
stagnant on quarterly basis and witnessed a dip of 1% on an annual basis.
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BANKER UDAY KOTAK CALLS FOR ETHICAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Banker Uday Kotak Tuesday
exhorted entrepreneurs to be mindful of ethics, integrity, and governance as
they go about building companies. The comments from Kotak, who has been
appointed by the government to help steer the crippled infra lender IL&FS
out of difficulties, came while stressing on the need for entrepreneurs to be
thorough professionals. You need to be creative, passion-oriented, purposeful
and finally have a sense of professionalism, ethics, integrity, and of governance
which are the bedrocks of
sustainable
entrepreneurship, Kotak said. It can be noted that after IL&FS, which owes
over Rs 94,000 crore to lenders, has defaulted and eventually led to
government superseding the
board, the infra lender was found to be wanting in governance practices, with
allegations levelled against the top leadership. To start with, there was a
complex maze of companies- 348 to be precise–and then there were borrowings
between the group firms as well. Kotak said apart from the need for entrepreneurs
to be good professionals there is also a need for them to imbibe
entrepreneurial spirit. He said within Kotak Mahindra Bank they have coined a
phrase called ‘professional entrepreneurs’ to ensure this.
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OPERATORS CAN'T CHARGE TV VIEWERS MORE THAN CURRENT MONTHLY
OUTGO UNDER 'BEST FIT PLAN': TRAI
Telecom regulator TRAI
Wednesday asserted that operators cannot charge TV viewers more than their
usual monthly outgo under the 'best fit plan' to be offered during the
transition period, and cautioned that the regulator will take action on any
such complaint TRAI has clearly asked distribution platform owners (DPOs) to
ensure that for consumers, the monthly outgo under the best fit plan should not
exceed the payout per month of existing plan of the subscriber, SK Gupta told.
Gupta said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is monitoring the
situation and will take action on consumer complaints, if any, on the issue. TRAI
has directed DPOs to give best fit plan to customers who have not exercised
their option as of now, in order to protect their interest and ensure that they
do not face any inconvenience, Gupta said. The regulator had Tuesday extended
the timeline for consumers to make their channel preferences till March 31,
2019. TRAI had said that the best fit plan should be designed based on
consumers' usage pattern and language spoken.
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SHOW-CAUSE NOTICES TO IDEA, BSNL FOR NOT MEETING TRAI'S CALL
DROP NORMS IN SEPT QUARTER
Show-cause notices have
been issued to two telecom operators -- Idea and BSNL -- for not meeting TRAI's
call drop norms in some service areas for the quarter ended September 2018,
Parliament was informed Wednesday. The notices were issued to the two telecom
service providers (TSPs) on January 18, 2019, Communications Minister Manoj
Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. The non-compliance on Drop Call
Rate (DCR) benchmark pertained to four service areas for Idea and one service
area for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, he said. As per latest
report of TRAI for the quarter ending September 2018, all TSPs are complying to
Drop Call Rate (DCR) benchmark despite rapid increase in traffic volume and
more stringent benchmarks, except Idea in four License Service Areas (LSAs)
i.e. Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and North East; and Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in one LSA i.e. West Bengal, Sinha said. To
another question, the minister said the operators plan to install 1.02 lakh
towers for mobile services in rural areas in 2019-20. He said that the Telecom
Department had got joint representation from telcos in August 2018 on frequent
suspension of internet services being ordered by the state governments.
Accordingly, on 28.09.2018, all State Governments have been advised to
sensitise the concerned officials/agencies against precipitate actions leading
to shut down of internet services, and to ensure that the provisions of 'Temporary
Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017'
are adhered to, the Minister said. He said the Central government has not
issued any order of internet shutdown under the provisions of the said rule.
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41 MN CUSTOMERS LOST, BHARTI AIRTEL FOCUSES ON USER RETENTION,
ACQUISITION
Faced with growing
consolidation in the telecom space and a falling customer base, Bharti Airtel
is focussing on both, user retention and acquisition of new subscribers The
company is not just leaning on tariff wars and content on its platform to
achieve this end, but is overarching itself to improve its relationship with
its customers by providing them with superior experience at its retail stores. As
on September 2018, Bharti Airtel had a customer base of over 444 million across
its operations, which declined by 9.23 per cent at 403 customers by the end of
December 2018. The country’s largest telecom service provider has come up with
100 next-gen stores nationwide, to offer customers a digitally enhanced
experience. Its preferred users can have access to faster and superior service
quality at these stores. Bharti Airtel has also been transforming its previous
store formats into this next-gen variant. The company has 500 own stores and
another 1,500-2,000 franchisee outlets, which it intends to transform into the
new variant under its 'Project Next' initiative. The firm intends to invest
around Rs 2,000 crore under this digital transformation plan, which was
launched in 2017.
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OVER 1,000 REALTY DEVELOPERS KEEP DODGING RERA NOTICES
With over 1,000 real
estate projects in the state not registering with the Real Estate Regulatory
Authority (RERA) and their proponents not responding to repeated notices, the
authorities are in a fix. Two days ago, the Karnataka-RERA secretary wrote to
the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai),
requesting it to facilitate the registration of unregistered projects by
encouraging promoters/developers to appear before the Authority. Referring to
the 1,076 projects “under investigation”, which have been identified by RERA
for not having registered with the body, the authority’s secretary said not
only have the projects’ proponents not responded to the notices, they have not
explained the reason for not registering with RERA as per the provisions. A
majority of these projects are in Bengaluru. “Despite issuance of several
notices by RERA, only a few promoters have come forward and registered and a
very few promoters have submitted their explanation claiming exemption under
the provisions of the Act and rule but have failed to produce relevant
documents before the Authority,” Latha Kumari K S wrote in the letter. She
asked the Credai-Karnataka president to support the implementation of the RERA
Act and rules in letter and spirit. In his reply, Credai vice president Suresh
Hari wrote: “All Credai members have registered under RERA and it is only the
small builders who are out of the confederation who have stayed out. So there
is nothing that we can do to get them registered.” Activists who are fighting
for the effective implementation of RERA have questioned the authority for not
initiating action against these projects “under investigation” and for
following a wait and watch policy. “RERA can verify the plan approval
sanctioned to projects that are under the scanner. They can even freeze their
bank accounts,” said M S Shankar. RERA authorities say it is a herculean task
to track project promoters. “Often their registered offices do not exist or
emails bounce back. In several cases, there is no way we could find out and
track the promoter. RERA cannot initiate penalty provisions without giving the
project proponent an opportunity to present the case,” said Kumari.
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MAHARERA ALLOWS BUILDERS A SECOND CHANCE IF HOMEBUYERS AGREE
The Maharashtra Real
Estate Regulatory Authority has decided to give developers a second chance to
complete delayed projects after the usual extension of a year, provided over
50% customers of the property concerned agree to it. Vasant Prabhu, said an
order was issued last week to give genuine developers a second chance to
complete a stalled project if the consumers were willing to wait. He said,
"The extension is subject to consent of more than half the flat buyers and
a time-frame would be set." Prabhu said, "We were getting complaints
of delay in project execution. With this order, consumers can take a call on if
they want to continue with the project. If more than 50% consumers agree, we
can give an extension to the developer."
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INDIGO CRISIS: INDIA FACING PILOT SHORTAGE; 2,000 MORE NEEDED
THIS YEAR
The cancellation of over
30 flights by IndiGo has bought the growing shortage of pilots to the fore,
especially when airlines are expanding their fleet. According to industry estimates,
more than 100 new planes will be added in the next 12 months, a bulk of which
will come from IndiGo alone, currently adding nine planes every month. As a
result, around 1,500-2,000 additional pilots will be required in 2018-19 to fly
new aircraft and tide over the existing crisis in the cockpit. Despite more
flights in operation, the number of additional commanders being recruited is
slowing down. Aviation industry estimates the number of additional commanders
recruited by carriers fell by around 10 per cent in 2017-18 over 2016-17. This
was despite domestic carriers scrambling for more expatriates to make up for
the dwindling pool of qualified home-grown commanders. According to CAPA
Research, the country has over 7,963 pilots and will require an additional
17,000 pilots in the next 10 years, of which 9,000 first officers will be
upgraded to commanders. IndiGo currently has 3,100 pilots on its payroll. The
carrier constitutes for 38 per cent of pilots recruited by domestic airlines.
It also has a domestic market share of 41 per cent and is planning an
aggressive overseas flightpath. It has over 1,250 captains, which effectively
constitutes for over 31 per cent of the 4,000 commanders in service.
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DRAFT IT RULES NEED HOLISTIC RE-LOOK, TRACEABILITY CLAUSE
AGAINST RIGHT TO PRIVACY: NASSCOM
IT body Nasscom has said
the traceability requirement being proposed under the amended IT rules appear
to be in "contravention" to the right to privacy and called for a
"holistic re-look" as well as further detailing on the entire issue.
The comments come in response to the changes proposed by the government in IT
(Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules, 2018 that will tighten noose around
Internet platforms, and raise their accountability in the backdrop of spread of
fake news on social media outlets. "This requirement appears to be in
contravention of the right to privacy which was recognized as a fundamental
right by the SC. We suggest that the requirement to enable tracing the
originator of content does not appear to meet the tests of necessity and
proportionality and should be deleted," Nasscom said in its submission. In
a separate statement, Nasscom Wednesday also advised against a generalised
approach to classify 'intermediaries' - entities offering services through
digital platform. These include companies ranging from messaging apps, social
networking platforms, fintech apps as well as other Internet-led businesses.
The IT body argued that distinction needs be made in the "magnitude of
oversight" and due diligence that such platforms undergo since "not
all of them enable users to share content with others or make it available to
the public". It explained that several intermediaries involved in
business-to-business roles do not fit in the concerns around fake news. Also,
many platforms -- like payment based firms and telecom companies -- are already
regulated by entities like the Reserve Bank of India and the telecom department
and norms that are even more stringent than the Intermediary Guidelines 2011.
The body said it will continue to actively work with the government on
formalising these guidelines and creating an optimal framework that can be
conducive for the industry at large.
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BELEAGUERED JET AIRWAYS MAY GET A RS 600 CRORE EMERGENCY LOAN
Jet Airways India Ltd.,
the beleaguered carrier that’s in the midst of bailout talks with its partner
and lenders, is set to get an emergency loan of as much as Rs 600 crore ($85
million) to help it tide over a cash crunch, according to people familiar with
the matter. Banks, led by State Bank of India, plan to provide the funds
against shares pledged by founder and Chairman Naresh Goyal and partner Etihad
Airways PJSC and backed by their guarantees, the people said, asking not to be
identified before a public announcement. The disclosure is likely to be made
after Jet Airways’ extraordinary shareholder meeting scheduled for Feb. 21, one
of the people said. The fund infusion would come as a lifeline for Jet Airways,
Asia’s worst-performing airline stock, that has defaulted on interest payments
delayed salaries and grounded multiple aircraft in its struggle to stay afloat.
Etihad, Goyal and SBI have been holding talks for weeks over a rescue deal for
the carrier that hasn’t seen a profit for nine of the past 11 years in the face
of cutthroat competition. A final decision is pending as the plan needs the
approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the market regulator,
the people said.
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VALUATION OF INDIAN EQUITIES STILL REMAIN EXPENSIVE, SAYS
CREDIT SUISSE
The valuation for Indian
equities remain expensive and some de-rating is warranted, given the general
elections in April-May, said a note by foreign brokerage Credit Suisse. The
benchmark Nifty is trading at a 12-month forward price-to-earnings multiple of
17.1, versus the 10-year average of 15.3. Despite this, equity markets could
gradually grind higher as corporate earnings are set to accelerate, says the
brokerage, even as the RBI’s 25-basis-point rate cut provides further impetus
to the economy. “The Q3 earnings so far portray good earnings momentum, which
should get further fillip once the consumption stimulus, announced in the form
of income transfer and tax rebate for lower income groups, starts to show its
effect,”. The brokerage likes select names in financials, chemicals,
construction materials, and IT, but is cautious on consumer companies given the
overly stretched valuations.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___
LOAN AGAINST SHARES: SEBI MULLS STRICT DISCLOSURE NORMS FOR
MFS
Mutual funds may no longer
be able to sweep private funding deals with listed company promoters under the
carpet. SEBI is likely to tighten the disclosure norms for MFs that lend to
company promoters and may prescribe a cap on concentration of such deals,
sources close to the development told. Also, the regulator will ask MF trustees
to be diligent on structured exposure, which is nothing but loan against shares
(LAS). It is estimated that MFs had extended in excess of ₹25,000
crore as LAS to a few corporates. Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, DSP MF and Franklin
Templeton are among the top funds having high exposure via LAS. Such deals,
wherein a few large MFs had indulged in non-banking finance company like
financing, came to light just days ago. These funds are now stuck as the
promoters have told MFs that they may immediately not be able to fulfil margin
calls as the value of their shares, kept as collateral, has declined sharply.
Loan to Zee group promoters falls under this category. MFs have now asked SEBI
to let them give promoters more time to fulfil their obligation. The regulator
is as of now is just watching the situation and has asked MFs to do their best
to avert a crises and recover their money. “The promoters have played enough
games with the markets for long now. The new disclosure regime should also
force promoters of listed companies to give reason for cutting such deals.
Small investors will be reassured about buying stocks of such companies and
know the risks fully,” said Arun Mukherjee. MFs mostly fund company promoters
under debt segment schemes such as credit risk, medium term plan and dynamic
bond funds by accepting their listed shareholding as collateral.
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IT STAFF SET FOR DOUBLE-DIGIT INCREMENTS
Information technology
sector professionals can look forward to better annual increments this year
than last time, as well as more opportunities owing to growing demand in
emerging segments such as machine learning and robotics, said industry
association Nasscom and compensation experts. Last year, the average salary
hike in the IT industry was 6-8%, according to Nasscom (National Association of
Software and Services Companies). “This year would see increments of 8-10%
across the IT industry, but talent in niche technologies may get almost double
the increments of an average performer,” said Sangeeta Gupta. Professional
services firm Aon and human resources consulting firm Mercer have also pegged
increments for the IT sector at around 10%. However, top performers and those
with niche skills in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and
block chain are likely to command higher salary hikes of up to 20%, they said.
Aon said that in its latest estimates for 2019 increments in June 2018, average
hikes for the IT sector were projected at around 9.8%. It said the data is
showing a positive bias and that the final projections, which are set to come
out next month, are likely to be around 10%. “The IT industry is demonstrating a
positive outlook this year with a salary increase of 0.6% compared to last
year. The business outlook exhibits an upswing driven by a greater uptake of
solutions focused on automation, analytics, deep domain expertise and cloud
deployment,” said Anirban Gupta, senior consultant at Aon India Consulting.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___
INDIA SECOND ONLY TO UK IN SEEKING USER DATA IN 2018, SAYS
REDITT
Social media platform
Reddit revealed that the Indian government had sought information on four users
during 2018. This is the second-highest number of such requests from foreign
governments. The United Kingdom ranked higher with five requests. India ranks
second along with Germany, which also had four such requests The previous year
saw one request from the Indian government for account information. It had also
made four requests for removal of content from the social media platform that
ranks among the most popular websites in the United States. Reddit is the sixth
most-visited website in the United States, ahead of others including Twitter,
LinkedIn, Instagram and Netflix; shows data from analytics website Alexa. It
prepares an annual transparency report, the data from which suggests that the
site seeks to strike a balance between acceding to government requests when
required and preserving user privacy when possible. “In 2018, Reddit received
28 requests for the production of user account information from foreign
governmental authorities (excluding emergency requests). Reddit did not comply
with any of these requests,” said the report. It also talks about
non-governmental requests for removal of content. There was one foreign
non-governmental removal request from India. Data from the report suggests it
was over defamation. It received 65 such requests in 2018. It complied with ten
of them in whole or partially. The content was removed on seven occasions, one
of which involved a request from India. Further information was not available
in the report. Overall, the platform received 581 requests to produce user
information from the United States and other countries. This is a 151 per cent
increase over the previous year.
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ICICI SECURITIES SEES INDIA INC'S EARNINGS REVIVAL ON POLICY
CHANGES
Indian equities will see
double-digit earnings growth for the next three fiscal years as changes to
government tax and bad-loans policies allow more cash to be channeled into
Asia’s third-largest economy, according to the nation’s largest brokerage. Rules
for tackling soured debt and a nationwide sales tax would increase savings and
lower the cost of capital for companies, helping drive the pace of earnings
growth to between 10 to 15 percent for each of the next three years, Shilpa
Kumar, said.
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MODI’S 28 FEB MEET AIMS FOR A WORLD RECORD
The Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) will attempt to break the world record at a meeting on digital platforms
where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to interact with around 3.5
million people at the same time, according to a national-level office-bearer of
the party who asked not to be named. The 28 February interaction will happen
through the NaMo app and other digital platforms. We are going for a world
record-breaking feat. We have submitted the application as well, said the
office bearer. Modi will address around 18,000 mandals or units with over 3.5
million people in total in the ‘Sanghatna Samavad’ across the country between
12.30pm to 2pm. The official said the BJP will approach the Guinness World
Records, which places extensive checks before certifying a record, to validate
claims.
#For Source of Information copy and paste the heading in google.
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
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