OUTSTANDING LISTING FEE CAN’T BE RECOVERED UNDER IBC, RULES
NCLT
Ruling that the National
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is not the right forum to initiate recovery
proceedings for non-payment of ‘annual listing fees,’ the tribunal’s Mumbai
Bench has said that the listing agreements are subject to the control and
supervision of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The ruling
came in a plea filed by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) against Asahi
Infrastructure & Projects. The Bench of MK Shrawat, Member (Judicial),
observed that the debt in question falls within the ambit of regulatory dues
Therefore, as a sequel, they need not be treated as operational debt. While
dismissing the petition filed by the BSE under Section 9 (application for
initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process by operational creditor)
of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the tribunal said the petitioner
has the liberty to approach the appropriate forum and take legal steps for
which it is entitled to. BSE, in a statement in December 2017, said a few
listed companies had failed to pay the listing fee for the last few years in
spite of advance intimation, reminders and grant of sufficient time. Such
companies — numbering about 130 — continue to be listed and traded on the BSE.
Proceedings have already been initiated against seven such defaulters before
the NCLT, Mumbai, the exchange said. The tribunal referred to the Insolvency
Law Committee’s March 2018 report wherein an observation is made that SEBI has
wide ranging powers to enforce its orders and recover dues. Further, it
mentioned that the Law Commission has given an example of Section 24 (2) of
SEBI Act, 1992, that if any person fails to pay the penalty imposed or fails to
comply with any of directions, he/she shall be punishable with imprisonment
etc. The ccommission, after due deliberation, unanimously agreed that
regulatory dues need not be included in the definition of operational debt.
Because of this final observation (as made in Para 1.20) of the Law Commission
Report, this Bench is of conscientious view that in spite of the fact that
there was a listing agreement executed between the BSE with the corporate
debtor, it [the issue] is totally governed and supervised by the regulations
issued by SEBI. As discussed supra (above), the regulatory authority (SEBI) is
already empowered to execute not only its recovery mechanism, but also
enshrined with power to punish the defaulter; hence, the insolvency proceedings
shall not be gainful either to the regulator or the exchange (front-line
regulator), said the Bench.
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NPA CRISIS: PSU BANKS’ RECOVERIES LESS THAN WRITE-OFFS IN
OCTOBER-DECEMBER THIS FISCAL
Cash recoveries made by 20
public-sector banks (PSBs) in the December quarter of FY19 were lower than the
amount of loans written off by them during the quarter. The clutch of banks
together recovered Rs 35,058 crore during Q3 while writing off loans worth Rs
44,998 crore over the same period. This was even as recoveries rose 37% over
Q3FY18 and 15% over Q2FY19. The fact that there were no large non-performing
assets (NPAs) resolved through the insolvency route during the December quarter
restricted banks’ recoveries. Fifteen of the 20 banks recovered less than they
wrote off in the third quarter, with the difference being the largest for
Central Bank of India, which recovered Rs 465 crore and wrote off loans worth
Rs 4,069 crore in Q3. The March quarter may turn out to be a better one for
Central Bank as it hopes to recover around Rs 2,500 crore from the sale of its
exposures to Essar Steel (Rs 424 crore), Bhushan Power & Steel (Rs 1,550
crore), Alok Industries (Rs 1,251 crore), Bombay Rayon Fashions (Rs 96 crore)
and Burnpur Cement (Rs 51 crore). With Rs 221 crore recovered against
write-offs worth Rs 1,211 crore United Bank of India also saw a wide mismatch
between the two categories. On the other hand, Andhra Bank recovered Rs 503
crore, significantly more than the Rs 55 crore it wrote-off during the December
quarter. The government had set a recovery target of Rs 1.8 lakh crore for PSBs
in FY19. Senior officials at the finance ministry and public-sector bankers
held a meeting on Monday to take stock of recoveries from stressed assets,
mainly through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
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PRIVATE SHIPBUILDER ABG SET TO BE LIQUIDATED
ABG Shipyard Ltd, once
India’s biggest private shipbuilder, is headed for liquidation after a lenders
panel rejected the resolution plan submitted by London-based Liberty House for
the debt-laden shipbuilder. The Committee of Creditors (CoC) led by ICICI Bank
has approved a resolution backing the liquidation plan. The yard owes some Rs
18,245 crores to a clutch of banks led by ICICI Bank. The NCLT is expected to
issue a final order on liquidation shortly.
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EDEN REAL ESTATES: NEXT NCLT HEARING ON APRIL 26
The National Company Law
Tribunal (NCLT) will next hear the winding up matter of Kolkata-based Eden Real
Estates on April 26. Cyprus-based Betoking Limited — as a financial creditor —
had dragged Eden Real Estate, the developers of Eden City Maheshtala in
Kolkata, to the insolvency court, sources close to the development said. The
petitioner had sought the winding up of Eden Real Estate Private Limited for non-payment
of admitted interest dues on Compulsory Fully Convertible Debentures (CFCD).
CFCDs were issued to the tune of ₹29.76 crore and subscribed
by Betoking. Interest (11 per cent coupon on CFCDs) is due for payment since
financial years 2013-14, according to Betoking.
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NCLAT SETS ASIDE NCLT'S LIQUIDATION ORDER OF JYOTI STRUCTURES
The National Company Law
Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has set aside the liquidation order of Jyoti
Structures Limited and said that the Mumbai bench of National Company Law
Tribunal (NCLT) should consider afresh the Rs 4,000 crore resolution plan
submitted by Sharad Sanghi and others. The appropriate order on the resolution
plan submitted by Sanghi and others should ideally be passed by the NCLT Mumbai
preferably within two weeks, a two-member Bench led by Chairperson Justice S J
Mukhopadhaya said. According to the terms of the plan, Rs 50 crore would be
provided up-front to the lenders of the company, while Rs 75 crore would be
provided in the second year. The rest of the funds would come over the next 15
years, the resolution plan had proposed. Sanghi and others later offered to
reduce this time to 12 years. The plan was approved by with a 62.66% voting
share of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Jyoti Structures at first. Some
dissenting creditors of the company later changed their stance and approved the
said resolution plan, taking the total approved voting share to 81.31%. The
Mumbai Bench of NCLT, however, rejected the plan and ordered liquidation of the
company on the ground that the plan had been approved after the 270-day
deadline. The decision of the NCLT was, however, challenged before the NCLAT on
the ground that it had not considered the eight day gap between the company
being admitted the under corporate insolvency resolution process and the
interim RP being appointed. If the aforesaid period of eight days is excluded,
then we find that the resolution plan was approved within 270 days which the
adjudicating authority has failed to notice, the NCLAT said in its judgement. The
total admitted debt of Jyoti Structures stands at Rs 7,010 crore while the
liquidation value of the company stands at Rs 1112. 52 crore. The resolution
plan submitted by Sanghi and others would mean that the lenders of the company
would have to take a 43% haircut. This plan was, however, the only plan
submitted before the CoC of Jyoti Structures. The Mumbai-based company
specialises in power transmission, distribution as well as engineering,
procurement and construction projects. It was among the largest non-performing
assets referred to insolvency by banks following Reserve Bank of India's
circular.
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INSOLVENCY CASE AGAINST BENGALURU'S PROPURBAN FOR NOT PAYING
SALARY
PropUrban Advisory
Services, previously known as Bluering Realtech, is fighting an insolvency case
in NCLT Bengaluru. The case has been filed by company's ex-employee Amit Naidu
over non-payment of his salary. PropUrban didn't pay salary to Amit for 2017-18
while he was working in the company, said the advocate representing Naidu. The
company hasn't paid the salary yet. After several discussions, the company did
give few post-dated cheques but later gave a stop notice on the same, said
another ex-employee. The advocate representing Naidu says as of now only one
ex-employee has come forward to file a case against the company which will next
be heard on March 27.
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PRIVATE LENDER TAG: IDBI OFFICERS APPROACH KERALA HC SEEKING
TRANSFER TO PSBS
The 'private lender' tag
to IDBI Bank has forced more than 60 assistant managers of the bank to approach
the High Court of Kerala seeking direction for transfer to other nationalised/
public sector banks (PSBs). The petitioners submitted that they could be
transferred/ deployed to thousands of vacancies in any of these banks 'without
causing heartburn or inconvenience to anyone.' The decision of the Centre, the
first respondent, to dilute its stake below 51 per cent in IDBI Bank goes
against the undertaking given by the then Finance Minister to Parliament, they
argued. A majority of the petitioners are over-aged and have little chance of
employment in the public sector or reputed firms. Therefore, the respondents
listed in the case ought to have considered their grievances. The Government or
its instrumentality cannot alter service conditions of employees and any
alteration causing prejudice cannot be made without affording them an
opportunity to be heard, the petitioners said. They prayed that that they be
declared as eligible and entitled to continue in service as officers with
nationalised banks/ PSBs. The IDBI Bank must permit them to get postings under
any one of them. The petitioners prayed for issue of orders for their transfer
with all service benefits, such as pay and allowances status and seniority,
career advancement and promotion, superannuation and retirement benefits. After
all, 'the petitioners have every right to be re-deployed, because they had
undergone a thorough and competitive selection process for recruitment into
PSBs.' The action evidenced in depriving the service conditions of the
petitioners by applying guidelines applicable to private banks is arbitrary and
violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
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SEBI MULLS NEW DVR FRAMEWORK TO PREVENT HOSTILE TAKEOVERS
The Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday issued a draft framework to allow
domestic companies issue shares with differential voting rights (DVRs). If
approved, companies will be allowed to issue shares with either fractional or
superior voting rights. The move will particularly help new-age companies and
promoters as they will be able to retain decision-making powers without
diluting too much control. It will also act as a mechanism to stave off hostile
takeovers which have become a concern area in companies with low promoter
holding. The current regulatory framework doesn’t permit DVRs with higher or
superior voting rights. Sebi has proposed dual-class share framework with
superior voting rights, where a share will have higher voting power than an
ordinary share. This, however, will be restricted only to unlisted companies.
Listed companies will be permitted to issue shares with inferior voting rights,
where a share will carry fraction of voting power compared to an ordinary
share. Besides voting power, these shares could carry other rights like higher
dividends. Such structures are common globally with companies such as Facebook,
Alibaba and Snapchat issuing dual-class shares. Snapchat, in particular, has
issued so-called Class C shares held by promoters to retain 90 per cent voting
power. In India, five companies such including Tata Motors, erstwhile
Pantaloons Retails and Gujarat NRE Coke had issued shares with DVRs. In 2009,
Sebi had directed stock exchanges to prohibit use of DVRs. The proposed new
framework is mainly aimed at new technology firms which typically see high
growth but burn a lot of cash and thus are required to raise capital at
frequent intervals. Raising equity on a periodic basis leads to dilution of
founder stake, which can be effectively addressed through use of DVRs as a mode
of capital raising, Sebi has said in the discussion paper. These (new-age)
firms, continuously require to grow only through equity, which dilutes
founder’s stake, thereby diluting control. It is pertinent to note that in such
cases, retaining founder’s interest and control in the business is of great value
to all shareholders. Sebi has proposed to allow unlisted companies to issue
superior right (SR) shares. Also, companies that issued SR shares be allowed to
come out with an initial public offering (IPO). Sebi has, however, said that
only ordinary shares can be issued in the IPO. Also, post listing further issue
of SR shares in any form will not be permitted. Also, there will be bar on
pledging or creating third-party interest on SR shares. Further, SR Shares will
have to be treated at par with the ordinary equity shares in every respect
except in the case of voting on resolutions. The maximum voting power on SR
shares is proposed to be 10:1—10 votes for every SR share held More
importantly, post-listing SR shares will be treated at par with ordinary shares
in cases such as appointment or removal of independent directors or voluntary
winding up of the company.
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GOVT, BANKS NOT KEEN TO DRAG JET AIRWAYS TO NCLT; PREFER
DOMESTIC INVESTOR TAKING CONTROL
Naresh Goyal-led Jet
Airways' insolvency is the last problem state-owned bankers would want with a
resolution plan still not in sight for the embattled airline. According to a
government official, the Centre doesn't want Jet Airways to get into insolvency
via the National Company Law Tribunal, and instead favours a domestic investor
to hold controlling stake in the Jet Airways. The government is in favour of an
Indian player having majority stake in the airline, he said. After Etihad
Airways decided against any capital infusion, banks are likely to be the
capital providers. Lenders have the option to pump in money on behalf of the
major stakeholders pledging shares, a senior government official said. He said
that the former will have to, later, reduce its stake. Sources in the aviation
ministry, however, said that it wasn't an ideal situation for state-owned banks
to convert their debt to equity. A lenders’ consortium led by State Bank of
India (SBI) was in talks with Etihad Airways, minority stake holder of 24
percent shares in Jet, to infuse extra capital worth Rs 750 crore. The Abu
Dhabi based airline has, now, decided to walk out of the airline completely and
sell off its stake to lenders. Being a shareholder, often without full control,
but providing financial and human resource assistance in an environment where
you cannot derive fair and reasonable benefit, simply does not work. I think
there is a valuable learning point from it but the thesis that suggests Etihad
just goes it alone is one that is equally flawed, Tony Douglas, said. Bankers,
however, want either Etihad or Jet to push in funds to retain the board
position, making the situation tricky. All the lenders held a late evening
meeting on the resolution plan for Jet Airways but could not hammer out a
mutually agreeable resolution.
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PMO, FINMIN AND SBI IN A HUDDLE AS JET AIRWAYS HITS DEEP AIR
POCKET
The government is working
on plans to help the Naresh Goyal-led Jet Airways stay afloat through a management
change. Banks are trying to work out a way to revive Jet Airways through a
change in management, said a top official on condition of anonymity. Banks are
also trying to revive the airline to protect the interests of consumers and
creditors, the official said. Pradeep Kharola, Rajnish Kumar and Nripendra
Misra attended a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to take a stock of
the situation. The government has given us no direction. We have taken a
decision in commercial interest. The resolution plan is almost ready said
Kumar. Kumar also said that effort is being made by the lenders to keep the
airline running in the interest of the country’s aviation sector. IBC
(Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code), in the case of service industry is the last
option. Under IBC the resolution of a service industry like airline is nearly
impossible and IBC means that we are grounding the airline, Kumar said. Bankers,
however, want either Etihad or Jet to push in funds to retain the board
position, making the situation tricky. Our interest is in Jet Airways, and not
the promoters, and discussion with Ethiad is on. Ethiad will take decision
based on their assessment of the situation. It is not that they have
conclusively decided that they will go out, Kumar said.
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NCLAT DIRECTS FRESH ESSAR STEEL COC MEET ON FUNDS DISTRIBUTION
The National Company Law
Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday asked the resolution professional of
Essar Steel India to call a fresh meeting of the committee of creditors (CoC)
of the company to consider the redistribution of funds from ArcelorMittal’s Rs
42,000-crore resolution plan. The NCLAT was hearing an appeal moved by Standard
Chartered Bank (StanChart), which has alleged that the CoC treated the bank’s
claim in a discriminatory manner by giving it only 1.7 per cent of its total
admitted dues from Essar Steel, while other financial creditors had got over 85
per cent of their dues. StanChart had also sought to stop the distribution of
funds. Though the appellate tribunal clarified there would be no stay on the
implementation of the resolution plan the CoC and resolution professional of
Essar Steel will have to call a meeting on the issue and convey its decision to
the NCLAT. The NCLAT would then consider if there is any discrimination in
distribution of funds, a two-member Bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya
said. The case would be next heard on March 27.
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CREATE A SEPARATE FUND OF REGULATORY FEE CUT FOR FARMERS: SEBI
TO EXCHANGES
Market regulator
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday directed stock
exchanges dealing in agri commodities to create a separate fund from the amount
exchanges are saving with reduction in the regulatory fee, for the benefit of
farmers and Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs). In order to reduce the cost
burden on farmers the regulator had earlier announced a cut in regulatory fee to
a flat Rs 100,000 for stock exchanges for farmers and FPOs trading in agri
commodities as against turnover based fee for others in all segments. The cut
in regulatory fee helped deepen participation of farmers and FPOs in agri
commodities futures. In order to pass on the desired benefits from reduction of
regulatory fees on agri commodity derivatives, it has been decided that the
stock exchanges dealing with agri commodity derivatives shall create a separate
fund earmarked for the benefit of farmers / FPOs in which, the regulatory fee
forgone by Sebi shall be deposited and utilized exclusively for their benefit
and easy participation in the agri-commodity derivatives market, Sebi said in a
circular on Wednesday. The separate fund would help deepen participation in
agri commodities on stock exchanges, said Naveen Mathur. Meanwhile, Sebi
directed stock exchanges to utilize this fund exclusively for the benefit of
and for easy participation by farmers and FPOs in the agri-commodity
derivatives market. Stock exchanges can utilize the fund primarily for reducing
cost of transaction and for facilitating ease of trading by farmers / FPOs
also. Exchange may consider cost or a part of the cost of mark to market (MTM)
funding by exchange / clearing corporation (CC) on the sell positions of the
farmers / FPOs who make early pay-in of the commodities in approved warehouses
for utilisation of funds. Broker fee for farmers / FPOs can be subsidized
through use of fund, Sebi said.
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UNITED BANK OF INDIA'S TURNAROUND PLAN HINGES UPON BPSL
RESOLUTION
United Bank of India's
(UBI's) target to return to profitability in this quarter hinges upon the
resolution of Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL). According to Ashok Kumar Pradhan,
managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), UBI, the bank expects to
return to profitability this quarter. However, if the resolution of BPSL
doesn't take place in the quarter, the bank would need to provide Rs 300 crore
as additional provisioning, he said. In August last year, the committee of
creditors for BPSL had approved JSW Steel's Rs 19,700-crore resolution plan.
Earlier, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had directed to
resolve the BPSL case by March 31, 2019. However, recently, the operational
creditors of the company had raised objections over the plan before the
National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). On the back of high provisioning, UBI
posted a net loss of Rs 1,139 crore during the third quarter (Q3) of the
current financial year, as against a loss of Rs 637.53 crore in the year-ago
period. Its provisions, other than tax and contingencies, nearly doubled to Rs
1,967.20 crore in the last quarter, compared with Rs 1,074.35 crore in the
year-ago period.
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LENDERS DRAG ROAD DEVELOPERS TO NCLT, PUSH FOR ASSET SALES
Around 15% of the total
operational build-operate-transfer (BOT) road assets are struggling due to
mismatch in cash flows leading to issues with the servicing of debt, according
to Rajeshwar Burla. In the last few months, lenders have taken some road asset
special purpose vehicles to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), and in
certain cases they have initiated process for sales to recover money from the
defaulting road developers. Recently, Oriental Bank of Commerce had pressed for
insolvency proceedings against L&T Halol Shamlaji Tollway Ltd, a special
purpose vehicle of L&T Infrastructure Development Projects at NCLT's
Chennai Bench. Asset sale transactions in the recent past are also driven by
lenders. In 2018, three assets were sold through substitution route. Of these,
one was initiated by the lenders (classified as non-performing asset) as a
distressed asset sale and two were initiated by the concessionaire through
harmonious substitution, Burla said. Some of the assets on the block currently
are available through substitution at attractive valuations, and hence
investors prefer this route.On the other hand, some developers with a weak
credit profile, have disposed of their assets at a loss as liquidity took
precedence over revenues.
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NCLAT: TAX DUES ARE OPERATIONAL DEBT
A two-member NCLAT bench
headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya held that statutory liability
including income tax and value added tax dues, of debt-ridden companies are ‘operational
debt’ Central or State Tax Departments such as – Income Tax Department, Sales
Tax Departments and Local Authority, entitled for dues are ‘operational
creditors’ under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, the bench added. For the
said very reason, we also hold that income tax department of the central
government and the sales tax Departments of the state Governments and local
authority, which are entitled for dues arising out of the existing law are
‘Operational Creditor’ within the meaning of Section 5(20) of the I&B
Code’, said the appellate tribunal. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal
(NCLAT) order came over a four petitions filed by the Income Tax department,
Sales Tax Department, Maharashtra, where question as whether statutory dues
come under the definition of the operational debt and if yes, then can they be
treated as operational creditors of the company. Counsel appearing for
respective companies has contended before the NCLAT that Income Tax cannot be
in the nature of operational debt as it refers to the claim in respect of goods
or services, including employment or a debt in respect of repayment of dues of
the central, state government or local authorities. However, Income Tax
department and Sales Tax Department, Maharashtra contended that operational
debt also included debts arising under any law payable to the central and state
government.
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GUJARAT: BANK NPAS RISE BY 70% IN 3 YEARS
Bad loans of banks in
Gujarat grew about 70 per cent in three years, a report of the State Level
Bankers Committee (SLBC) for the October to December quarter of the fiscal
2018-19 says. Gross Non Performing Assets (NPAs) of banks stood at Rs 38,520
crore, 11.45 per cent higher than Rs 34,563 crore in the corresponding quarter
in the previous fiscal and 70 per cent higher than Rs 22,659 crore in the
corresponding quarter of 2015-16. Market players say this indicates that the
ability of bank clients to repay loans has dropped sharply over the years.
While the NPA has dropped marginally over previous quarter's gross NPA of Rs
39,289 crore or 6.88 per cent of total advances, overall it has risen by 9.37
per cent during the fiscal. Sagar Rabari, said that the constant rise in NPA
indicates an overall slowdown in the economy and earnings of farmers and
industrialists, depleting their ability to repay loans. First, demonetisation
and then Goods and Service Tax (GST) has adversely hit earnings of the masses.
This has reduced their purchasing power consequently reducing production and
thereby creating joblessness, said Rabari. Prabodh Patel, said that as such
slowdown is not evident in Gujarat as more and more industries are coming up in
Dahej, Vapi and other industrial estates. However, overproduction because of
intense competition may have hurt earnings and therefore the ability to repay
loans, he said. Actual reasons for a rise in NPA need to be found out. Only industries
should not be blamed for bad loans. One should also see what action has been
taken against bankers who had approved these loans, whether banks have been
able to recover high value loans, said Patel.
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IN BAD NEWS FOR BORROWERS, NBFCS’ FUNDING COST ZOOMS TO
MULTI-YEAR HIGHS
Debt concerns have pushed
funding costs for non-bank financing companies to multi-year highs in recent
weeks. That’s bad news for all the borrowers who rely on the lenders in the
world’s fastest-growing major economy -- from poor entrepreneurs getting micro
loans for food delivery businesses to property tycoons looking to roll over
debt that fueled a construction boom. Read more on that here. The development
will make money more expensive for a huge range of enterprises and individuals,
at a crucial time for policy makers. Teetering economic activity is already
pressuring the central bank to deliver on expectations for a back-to-back
interest rate cut in April. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi must avoid any
economic turbulence ahead of elections next month. Spreads on top-rated
five-year bonds of Indian non-bank lenders have risen 75 basis points from the
end of August to near their widest levels since 2012, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. The problems started late last year following shock
defaults at shadow lender IL&FS group. Things looked better briefly earlier
this year after authorities stepped in to increase liquidity, but more
surprises popped up in the past few months. Debt concerns at conglomerate Essel
Group and troubles for mortgage lender Dewan Housing Finance Corp. have since
pushed financing costs higher. Recent issues with a few non-bank lenders
created a second wave of worry the issues we thought were dissipating early
January are now resurfacing, said Prakash Agarwal, head of financial
institutions at India Ratings. The cost of funds for lower-rated NBFCs will
become disproportionately higher as we go forward. Non-bank lenders with AA
ratings were paying about 10.68 percent for money last month, up 64 basis
points since September, according to the latest analysis by CARE Ratings of
weighted average rates. ICRA expects growth in lending by NBFCs to halve in the
second half of the 2019 fiscal year to 12 percent on the back of the funding
squeeze and risk aversion. The non-bank lenders account for 50 percent of
overall borrowing from the debt market, according to ICRA.
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INVESTORS FLEE SHADOW LENDERS IN INDIA AFTER SHOCK OF DEFAULTS
The NBFC funding crisis
has to be addressed specifically in terms of measures to reduce credit
spreads,' says Srinivas Varadarajan. One option would be for the central bank
to take AAA rated corporate debt as collateral, with a government guarantee, he
said. India risks fresh bad debt pile up as weak banks resume lending Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das’s decision to allow some weak
state-run banks to resume lending is a short-sighted approach in Oxford
Economics Ltd.’s view. The decision risks building up bad debts with renewed
vigor, Priyanka Kishore, wrote in a note. Das, who took over as Reserve Bank of
India governor after Urjit Patel resigned in December, has eased curbs on weak
state lenders to support credit and economic growth ahead of a general election
starting in April. Of the 11 banks on whom tough restrictions were placed since
2014, five have recently been allowed to exit the regulator’s so-called Prompt
Corrective Action sanctions. The short-term palliative comes at a long-term
cost,' she wrote. 'Pushing back full resolution of stressed bank balance sheets
is only likely to prolong India’s investment malaise.' India already has the
world’s worst bad-loan ratio Weakness in India’s banking industry prompted
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to inject record amounts into state
banks. Nevertheless, soured loans have contributed to a nearly $200 billion
pile of zombie debt that has curbed investment by businesses. With bad debts
concentrated in the industrial sector, weak public sector banks are likely to
continue to limit their exposure to these entities, which, in turn, should keep
investment growth trapped in the low double digits and cap India’s growth well
below the desired 8 to 9 percent, Kishore said.
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BIGGEST INDIA BOND HOLDERS DITCH GOVERNMENT PAPER FOR STATE
DEBT
Selling Indian government
bonds and buying high-yielding paper issued by the nation’s states is a
favorite trade among the biggest holders of sovereign debt right now. The strategy
is offering lenders extra returns of about 100 basis points at a time when
concerns about an oversupply from the federal government’s record borrowing
plan has damped the appeal of sovereign securities, according to ICICI Securities
Primary Dealership Ltd. and Deutsche Bank AG. Most of the banking system is
replacing sovereign debt with state-development loans or credit, said Srinivas
Varadarajan. India’s $807 billion sovereign-debt market is battling poor demand
and increased volatility ahead of the upcoming elections. Underwriters have
rescued bond sales twice since January as the government’s plan to borrow $100
billion in the year starting April 1 and a slowdown in buybacks of the
securities by the central bank damps appetite. That dynamic doesn’t apply to
the nation’s states, some of whom recently borrowed funds at about 8.4%, richer
than the 7.39% yield on the 10-year federal paper sold at the most recent
auctions. It makes sense to sell a government bond at 7.5% and buy a state
development loan at 8.2-8.3%, or give the money out as a loan, Mumbai-based
Varadarajan said. Banks are buying state bonds and moving them to the so-called
held-to-maturity group, a category that shields them from price swings. Central
bank rules allow lenders to shift their holdings between three buckets --
held-to-maturity, available-for-sale and held-for-trading -- before the start
of the new fiscal year on April 1.
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FIIS SELL $844 MILLION OF BONDS IN FEBRUARY
Foreign investors exited
the Indian bond market in February, pulling out $844 million last month amid
rising tensions after India conducted air strikes against a militant camp in
Pakistan territory. However, the sentiment witnessed a turnaround in March, as
overseas funds have bought $921 million so far this month on rising hopes the
incumbent government may form government at the centre for the second term in
the upcoming election. Even as India witnessed fund outflows in February,
elsewhere in Asia foreign investors were net buyers in the bond market.
Foreigners turned net buyers of Asian bonds in February, however, the flows
were uneven as political uncertainty in parts of the region dampened optimism
that the United States and China were inching toward a trade deal. Foreigners
bought a net $1.95 billion worth of bonds last month, after selling $3.26
billion in January, data from central banks and bond market associations in
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and India showed. However, the bulk
of the money flowed into Indonesian bonds. Foreigners purchased $2.33 billion
worth of Indonesian bonds amid expectations that its central bank may begin
easing policy soon after last year’s aggressive tightening. Overseas investors
purchased Malaysian bonds for the first time in four months, helped by a
stronger ringgit and receding political tensions.
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MUTUAL FUNDS' EXPOSURE TO NBFCS FALLS BY RS 45K CR IN 7 MONTHS
The liquidity crisis in
the non-banking financial companies (NBFC) space triggered by the default of
infrastructure lending major IL&FS last September is continuing to have an
impact on mutual fund (MF) deployments in the sector. The overall exposure of
debt MFs to NBFCs stood at 2.2 lakh crore in February, a drop of 45,386 crore
since July 2018 when the liquidity stress first emerged. The share of NBFCs in
allocations by debt MFs has reduced to 15.6% in February from 19% in July last
year. The percentage share of funds deployed by MFs in commercial papers (CPs)
of NBFCs touched 7.7% in February, the lowest since December 2017.MF
allocations to CPs of NBFCs have been falling in recent months — from 11.3% or
1.57 lakh crore in July last year to 8.5% or 1.14 lakh crore in December. After
the liquidity crisis, MFs withdrew more than a third of their investments from
CPs. As of February, debt MFs held 1.08 lakh crore in CPs of NBFCs. About 29%
of the total funds deployed by debt MFs in February were in CPs. Debt MFs
invested 4.05 lakh crore in CPs on an overall basis at the end of February
compared to 3.06 lakh crore in March last year. The share of corporate debt
paper, which includes floating rate bonds, non-convertible debentures among
others, fell to 31% in February from 38% in March last year. The total exposure
of debt MFs to this instrument stood at 4.34 lakh crore at the end of February.
Incidentally, debt MF allocations to government securities (G-Secs) have almost
halved since March 2018. The share of certificates of deposit (CDs) and PSU
bonds / debt dropped marginally in February compared to March last year. Investment
in other asset types almost doubled — from 8% in March last year to 15% in
February. This segment includes treasury bills, other money market investments,
equitylinked debentures/notes, asset backed securities and bank FDs among
others.
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CRACKDOWN ON FRAUDULENT, MISLEADING COMPANIES GIVING SHARE
MARKET TIPS; SEBI BARS THESE WEBSITES
Making money in the stock
market or finding a multi-bagger is what many investors dream of. There’s
nothing wrong in it. However, when it is not backed by self-driven research and
is rather based on tips from friends, colleagues or entities with vested
interests, it may even end up with a huge loss of capital. Market regulator SEBI
keeps receiving complaints and grievances from investors about certain
investment advisory websites cheating them of their money The modus operandi of
such unregistered investment advisory websites is simple – Make investors subscribe
to their investment packages and then run away with the money. The investors
are promised huge returns and the websites typically use terms such as ‘zero
loss’, ‘jackpot’, ‘rumour based’, ‘sureshot’, etc. in the names of the packages
offered in their websites and promise accuracy between 90% to 99%. As far as
return on investment is concerned, sample this: ‘Earn monthly minimum 800-900
percent profits’. The Whole Time Member of SEBI, Madhabi Puri Buch, passed an
ad-interim ex-parte order dated March 20, 2019, debarring certain websites and
their owners to continue operations. It was established that certain websites
and individuals were allegedly offering unregistered investment advisory
services, but in reality they were running the operations without obtaining the
SEBI registration as an Investment Adviser under SEBI (Investment Advisers)
Regulations 2013. On the contrary, they claimed through their websites that
they are SEBI-registered Advisory firms. The Order obverses that, Based on the
information available on the unregistered investment advisory websites and
complaints received by SEBI against such websites, it is prima facie observed
that the Noticees create unregistered investment advisory websites periodically
and lure investors by promising assured monthly income with unbelievable
returns of 300-800% on buying and selling of securities based on the tips
provided by them. Once the subscription is received, the Noticees either give
stock tips for few days to the subscribers and then stop entertaining their
calls, or avoid the calls of the subscribers entirely without giving any stock
tips. Subscription offers were generally in the range of Rs 25,000 and, as per
this Order, the total subscription amount garnered through subscription fee for
unregistered investment advisory activity on the websites by the entities was
in excess of Rs 10 crore. Most of the websites also mentioned performance track
record and testimonials, possibly with a view to lure investors to pay
subscription fee for the advisory/stock tips products offered by them.
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NO ADD-ON COVERS BY GENERAL INSURERS: IRDAI
IRDAI on Tuesday withdrew
general insurers’ ability to provide add-on coverage extending to a period of
12 months or more, for covering corporates for fire, industrial risk and
others. This move comes close on the heels of GIC’s decision to hike insurance
rates in 42 sectors. Automatic extensions allow policyholders to enjoy the
benefits of the base policy cover for a specified period, with the insurer
charging them on a pro-rata basis and with the terms and conditions for add-on
the same as the base cover. The clause was introduced for the sake of
convenience, say insurers. If a corporate has one or more policies with an
insurer, and if each policy is ending on a different date, the policies could
be bundled together with add-ons so that they would all need to be renewed at
the same date (providing convenience for both insurer and insured), said Puneet
Shani. These extension add-ons have been used more by public sector companies,
which issue tenders before taking up insurance. For most private companies,
they also have audits and yearly book keeping. So, they would prefer the policy
closing annually and getting renewed year-on-year. So it’s mostly PSUs who have
been using add-ons, said an executive with a private insurer.
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RBI LIKELY TO CHANGE DISCLOSURE NORMS FOR BONDS
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) is likely to ease disclosure rules on the transfer of various categories
of state government bonds held by high-street lenders, a move that could help
increase treasury incomes at traditional banks. The banking regulator may say
that lenders need not disclose the transfer of state bonds from the
held-to-maturity (HTM) category to the available-for-sale (AFS) segment, said a
source with direct knowledge of the matter. If the RBI eases the rules, banks
would get to shift more of state loans that are in HTM category to AFS,
translating into an increase in liquidity as these bonds carry higher coupon.
This will also help financially prudent state governments buy back bonds as
those states would aim to cut their borrowing costs in a falling rate regime.
If banks are allowed to transfer state bonds from HTM (Held-to-Maturity) to AFS
(Available for Sale) without any disclosure, it should increase the stock of
such bonds available for secondary market trading, said a senior executive from
a large bond house. The differential between state and central government bonds
should continue to compress until fiscal year end before it expands in the new
financial year on higher supply, the person said. This makes a 'buy' case for
investors for now. The differential was as high as 110 basis points three-four
weeks ago, prompting investors to book mark-to-market profits with falling
yields. The easing of rules was discussed in a meeting held between the RBI and
different state government secretaries a week ago. State bonds, known as State
Development Loans (SDL) in market parlance, are expected to inch up to Rs 4.3
lakh crore in FY20 from Rs 4 lakh crore in FY19, according to a note by
PhillipCapital India. Net-net, supply is higher in FY2019-20. Total outstanding
stock of state bonds is more than Rs 23 lakh crore now. State bonds offer 75-85
basis points higher than central debt securities. Bond yields and prices move
in opposite directions. State government bonds have of late assumed importance
as such debt papers, now voluminous, can change market dynamics.
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BANKS ASK RBI TO ALLOW UPI 2.0-ENABLED DEVICES USE RECURRING
PAYMENTS FEATURE, SAYS REPORT
Indian banks have asked
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow their customers with UPI 2.0-enabled
devices to use the recurring payments feature for loan repayments. However, the
central bank, citing concerns regarding the possible misuse of the feature,
left this feature out from the official version, the report added citing
industry sources. This feature would have enabled customers to issue a one-time
mandate to make recurring payments for periodic services rendered from
merchants. The use cases for this would have been automatic payments of monthly
bills and subscription-based services, a senior unnamed bank official was quoted
as saying in the report.
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AS BANKS IN PUNJAB ARE DOING HUGE WRITE-OFFS, FOPSIA IS IN
PROCESS OF FILING PIL IN THE SUPREME COURT
The Federation of Punjab
Small Industries Association (FOPSIA) is in the process of filing a PIL in the
Supreme Court as banks in Punjab are doing huge write-offs. Badish Jindal said
In Punjab alone, the banks are in the process of writing-off more than Rs
30,000 crores out of this huge sum, there were NPAs to the tune of Rs 13,000
crores in Ludhiana alone. He said that the Gross NPA ratio of the nationalized
banks stand at 14.7% which means that around 14 lakh crores of nationalized
banks are under threat. Whereas the Gross NPA of private sector banks stand at
4.7%. Similarly as per investigation the 94% frauds occurred in nationalized
banks whereas the private sector banks accounted merely 6% of amounts more than
Rs 50 crores, he added. In a statement, he said Now the Banks are settling the
large NPA’s by merely charging 19% of the principal amount So when it comes to
accounting the large companies are repaying merely 12% to 14% of their total
outstanding.
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RUPEE RECOVERS 13 PAISE AGAINST DOLLAR
The rupee on Wednesday recovered
by 13 paise to close at 68.83 against the US dollar amid sustained buying by
foreign investors in domestic equity markets and lower crude prices. However,
the local currency remained cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy
decision on Wednesday. Brokers said foreign fund inflows in the debt and equity
markets helped the rupee recover. However, the dollar's strength overseas
capped the gain, they added. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex), the
domestic currency opened lower at 69.11 a dollar and gained to touch the day's
high of 68.72. It finally settled at 68.83 per dollar, up 13 paise over its
previous close. The rupee on Tuesday had slipped by 43 paise to close at 68.96 against
the dollar. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net of
Rs 1,771.61 crore on Wednesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs)
were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,323.17 crore, provisional data available
with BSE showed.
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SILVER DEMAND IN INDIA SET FOR FOUR YEAR HIGH
Silver will see a
resurgence in demand this year from rural Indians spending cash handouts from
the government designed to aid local economies ahead of the general election,
according to Metals Focus Ltd. Purchases are set to rise to about 6,590 tons,
beating the 6,442 tons bought in 2018 and marking the best year since record
consumption in 2015, Chirag Sheth, said. The demand recovery will continue over
the next few years because of economic growth, higher income, and relatively
low silver prices and penetration of sterling silver, he said. India last month
started distributing the first instalment of Rs 2,000 to smallholders, under
PM-KISAN scheme. The government cash handouts to farmers will help silver
demand much more than gold, as many recipients only have the purchasing power
to buy the cheaper metal, said Sheth. Silver prices in India have been
relatively stable for the last two years, and are about half their 2011 peak.
At around Rs 38,000 a kilogram, the metal is about eighty times cheaper than
gold and a far more affordable investment or gift for the average citizen. In
contrast to gold imports, which collapsed last year, inflows of silver rose 36 per
cent in 2018 to 6,958 tons, just shy of the all-time high of 7,579 tons seen in
2015, according to India’s trade ministry. Sheth pegged this years imports at
between 6,000 tons and 7,000 tons. In the last two years, demand has been very
strong from the jewellery and silverware segments, said Sheth. The market is in
an expansion phase.
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INDIA'S FIRST REIT HAS BEEN FULLY SUBSCRIBED
The initial public
offering (IPO) of Embassy Office Parks REIT was fully subscribed on Wednesday,
the last day of the initial share sale, data from the stock exchanges showed.
The Embassy Office Parks REIT, backed by global private equity firm Blackstone
Group LP and Bengaluru-based developer Embassy Property Developments Pvt. Ltd,
plans to raise ₹4,750 crore in the IPO by issuing units in a price band of ₹299-300
apiece. As of 1pm on Wednesday, the Embassy REIT IPO saw a subscription of
102%, with institutional investors subscribing to 119% of the portion reserved
for them. The portion reserved for high net worth individuals and retail
investors was subscribed 81%. On Friday, the REIT raised ₹1,743
crore by allocating units to institutional investors as part of its so-called
anchor book allocation of the IPO, stock exchange data showed.
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NBFCS BACK IN BUSINESS OF HIRING
Non-banking finance
companies (NBFCs) are beginning to add crucial jobs across various functions
indicating that stability has returned to a key sector that was unsettled last
autumn by a liquidity squeeze and subsequent increases in capital costs. NBFCs
could hire about 15,000 people in FY20, an estimate by recruitment firm
TeamLease showed. Among those adding jobs are Mahindra Finance, Shriram
Transport Finance, Piramal Capital, Aditya Birla Finance, IIFL, Magma FinCorp,
and Ugro Capital. These companies have already begun recruitments, and the
Jan-March quarter alone could account for half the expansion in FY19, which
ends in 10 days. According to TeamLease, NBFCs have hired around 10,000
employees in FY19. The (NBFC) sector is poised for the next level of growth in
next few years and well-run NBFCs would benefit the most (from this expansion),
said Ramesh Iyer, managing director at Mahindra Finance. We are also expanding
and diversifying into new products, such as shortterm consumer durable credit
and education loans. Mahindra’s non-banking unit has 30 lakh customers. In
FY20, the company might appoint about 1,000 people as it adds 75-100 branches.
Hiring will gain momentum next financial year, with 40-50% rise in employee
counts, said Sabyasachi Chakraverty, head — banking & finance, Team-Lease
Services. Piramal Capital’s employee strength has increased to more than 1,200
from 600 in FY18. Similarly, Shriram Transport Finance would recruit 2,000
people in FY20, aiming to expand about 18%.
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L&T CEO TRIES DINNER DIPLOMACY TO CONVINCE MINDTREE
FOUNDER
In a bid to assuage
concerns over L&T’s bid to take over Mindtree, SN Subrahmanyan, MD and CEO
of the engineering conglomerate, has invited Krishnakumar Natarajan, the IT
service firm’s co-founder and Executive Chairman, to dinner. I called Mr
Krishnakumar and invited him for lunch and dinner I don’t have a tussle with
anyone, Subrahmanyan told. He is an iconic gentlemen. I have the greatest
respect for people who start a business and develop it because I’ve not been
able to do that it’s (Mindtree) a lovely company. In what is billed as
Corporate India’s first hostile takeover bid in the IT sector, L&T on
Monday said it has entered into a definitive share purchase agreement with VG
Siddhartha and his related entities, Coffee Day Trading Ltd and Coffee Day
Enterprises Ltd, to acquire a 20.32 per cent stake in Mindtree. L&T will
purchase this stake at ₹980 per share, aggregating to approximately ₹3,269
crore. Mindtree’s founders have condemned the takeover bid and vowed to fight
it. L&T’s top executives said they will engage with their peers at
Mindtree and drive home the point that there will only be a change in the
shareholding structure, and that there are no plans to change the Mindtree
management or merge it with one of L&T’s software companies. There is a
major shareholder moving out and here you’ve got a great company coming in to
protect you from everything. Nobody will touch you, hopefully, with our
interest there. That is the way one has to look at it, Subrahmanyan said.
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KOKILABEN GOT MUKESH AMBANI TO BAIL OUT ANIL
Mediation by matriarch
Kokilaben Ambani is what prompted India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani to bail out
younger sibling Anil at the nick of the moment from a potential jail term. The
brothers were in discussions since February 20, the day the Supreme Court
ordered Anil Ambani to pay ₹453 crore to Swedish telecom equipment major Ericsson within
four weeks or face a three-month jail term. This time, family name and values
came into play. Going forward, the brothers would be looking at similar
synergies in their businesses, another source added. The younger Ambani, who
paid Ericsson its dues on Monday, had thanked the elder brother for
demonstrating the importance of staying true to their strong family values by
extending this timely support. However, this is not the first time Mukesh has
extended a helping hand to Anil. In December 2017, the elder brother had
emerged the white knight and announced acquisition of debt-laden RCom through
Reliance Jio Infocomm. RJio is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mukesh
Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries.
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PROPERTY DISTRESS IN INDIA HAS PIRAMAL PROWLING FOR
ACQUISITIONS
Billionaire Ajay Piramal’s
son is seeking to take advantage of teetering Indian developers to expand his
property business Piramal Realty, which counts Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and
Warburg Pincus & Co. as minority investors, is looking to buy land from
distressed developers and build a portfolio of commercial assets, Anand
Piramal, said. In the next two years there will be lot of consolidation, and in
each city the top four to five developers will survive and thrive, the
34-year-old said. Five or six years ago, most of the people that came to sell
to us were land owners; now most of the opportunities are coming from
developers. Developer-to-developer deals are happening because many of these
people are stuck, he said. Investor confidence was rocked last year by a series
of defaults at shadow lender IL&FS Group, which pushed up costs for
borrowers, including builders looking to roll over debt that fueled a
construction boom. Real estate firms have to pay about ₹1.29
trillion ($18.7 billion) a year on outstanding debt but generate less than half
that in income that can be used for repayments, according to an analysis of
about 11,000 companies by research firm Liases Foras.
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FACEBOOK FIXES GLITCH THAT EXPOSED MILLIONS OF USER PASSWORDS
TO EMPLOYEES
Facebook Inc said on
Thursday it has resolved a glitch that exposed passwords of millions of users stored
in readable format within its internal systems to its employees. The passwords
were accessible to as many as 20,000 Facebook employees and dated back as early
as 2012, cyber security blog KrebsOnSecurity, which first reported in the
issue, said in its report. These passwords were never visible to anyone outside
of Facebook and we have found no evidence to date that anyone internally abused
or improperly accessed them, the company said. KrebsOnSecurity, citing a senior
Facebook employee, said the an internal investigation by the company so far
indicates that between 200 million and 600 million Facebook users may have had
their account passwords stored in plain text Facebook said the issue was
discovered in January as part of a routine security review. Majority of the
affected were users of Facebook Lite, a version of the social media app largely
used by people in regions with lower connectivity. The social network is also
probing the causes of a series of security failures, in which employees built applications
that logged unencrypted password data for Facebook users, the report said. We
estimate that we will notify hundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users, tens
of millions of other Facebook users, and tens of thousands of Instagram users,
the company said.
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LOK SABHA POLLS: OVER 30,000 POLITICAL ADS ON FACEBOOK SINCE
FEBRUARY
A total of 30,457
advertisements related to politics or issues of national importance have hit
the world's largest social media network ahead of the general election. The
expenditure on these advertisements was Rs 6.54 crore, shows the data from
Facebook's Ad Library Report. This report is a weekly summary of the library
and includes data for ads that have been viewed by people in India. Making this
report available to the public is part of Facebook's efforts to increase
transparency in advertising, according to a note on the social media giant's
website. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to dominate the space. A
page called ‘My First Vote For Modi’ accounts for the largest number of ads by
number (2,765). Another one called ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ was second (2,429).
‘Namo Supporters’ was third with 2153 ads. The ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ page
was the highest spender on advertisements. It accounted for nearly one out of
every six rupees spent so far on Facebook's political advertisement’s,
according to the data. It was also the biggest spender for the latest week.
‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ spent over Rs 20 lakh between March 10 and March 16,
the latest week for which the data is available. The Facebook data also
provides information on the top search terms. The top search term was the BJP,
followed by the Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was third and Congress
President Rahul Gandhi was fourth. The data from Twitter shows that there have
been no promoted tweets from the official Congress and BJP account in the past
seven days. Social media activity can be a major factor in elections, noted a
July 2017 piece in the Journal of Political Marketing entitled, ‘Introduction:
Social Media, Political Marketing and the 2016 US Election’. We can gauge the
scale of social media's role in the 2016 presidential election from the data
reported by the Pew Research Center (July 18, 2016). According to their survey,
44 per cent of US adults received information about the 2016 presidential
election from social media. That is more than the percentage cited for either
local or national print newspapers, it said. It noted that the winning candidate,
Donald Trump, had a greater presence on social media than his opponent, Hillary
Clinton. Trump had almost 10 million Twitter followers to Clinton's 7 million,
and his 9 million Facebook followers were about double her number, it said.
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EU REGULATORS FINE GOOGLE €1.49 BILLION FOR BLOCKING RIVAL
ONLINE SEARCH ADVERTISERS
European Union (EU) antitrust
regulators handed down a €1.49 billion fine to Google on Wednesday for blocking
rival online search advertisers, marking the company’s third penalty in two
years. EU’s competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced the results
of the long-running probe of Google’s AdSense advertising business at a news
conference in Brussels on Wednesday. The commission found that Google and its
parent company, Alphabet, breached the EU antitrust rules by imposing
restrictive clauses in contracts with websites that used AdSense, preventing
Google rivals from placing their ads on these sites. Google prevented its
rivals from having a chance to innovate and to compete in the market on their
merits, Ms. Vestager said. Advertisers and website owners, they had less choice
and likely faced higher prices that would be passed on to consumers. Microsoft
filed an EU antitrust complaint about the service in 2009 and the EU Commission
formally launched its probe in 2016, although it said at the time that Google
had made some changes to allow affected customers more freedom to show
competing ads.
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GOOGLE'S 'INBOX' APP SHUTTING DOWN IN APRIL
Google is shutting down on
April 2 its email app Inbox that gave users options like advanced filtering,
message snoozing and more visual organisation. The search engine giant first
hinted at bringing the app to an end last year, but it was not until recently
that the users started seeing a more specific shutdown date, GSMArena.com
reported on Tuesday. 'Inbox' is shutting down. We are saying goodbye to 'Inbox'
at the end of March 2019. While we were here, we found a new way to email with
ideas like snooze, nudges, smart reply and more. That's why we have brought
your favourite features to Gmail to help you get more done, reads the desktop
message that pops up while logging into Inbox. However, an iOS-only email
client named Spark will be launched for Android right around the time Google
retires Inbox. This, according to the tweets it has been replying to Inbox
users on Twitter. Perhaps 'Spark' will be able to fill a void that will be left
by 'Inbox', the report said.
#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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