COMPANIES (REMOVAL OF NAMES OF COMPANIES FROM THE REGISTER OF
COMPANIES) AMENDMENT RULES, 2019
In exercise of the powers
conferred by sub sections (1) (2) and sub section (4) of section 248 read with
section 469 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of2013), the central Government
hereby makes the following rules further to amend the companies (Removal of
Names of Companies from the Register of Companies) Rules,2016 , namely:-
(1) These rules may be
called the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from the Register of
Companies) Amendment Rules, 2019
(2) They shall come into
force with effect from 10h May,2019
2. In the Companies (Removal
of Names of Companies from the Register of Companies) Rules, 2016 (hereinafter
referred to as the principal rules), in rule 4,-(a) in sub-rule (1), for the
words five thousand rupees the following shall be substituted, namely:- ten
thousand rupees
Provided that no
application in Form No 'STK 2 shall be filed by a company unless it has filed
overdue returns in Form No. AOC4 (Financial statement) or AOC4 XBRL, as the
case may be, and Form No. MGT-7 (Annual Return), up to the end of the financial
year in which the company ceased to carry its business operations: Provided
further that in case a company intends to file Form No. STK-2 after the action
under sub-section (1) of section 248 has been initiated by the Registrar, it
shall file all pending overdue returns in Form No. AOC-4 (Financial statement)
or AOC4 XBRL, as the case may be, and Form No. MGT-7 (Annual Return) before
filing Form No. STK-2. Provided also that once notice in Form No STK-7 has been
Registrar Pursuant to the action initiated under sub-section (1) of company
shall not be allowed to file an application in Form No' STK-2 (b) in sub-rule
(3), in clause (ii), after the words, statement of words, letters and figures
in Form No. STK-8 shall be inserted' In the Annexure to the principal rules,-issued
by the section 248, accounts, the (a) in Form No. STK-4, in serial Number 2,
after item (vii), the following item shall be inserted, namely:-,
(viii) The company has
fulfilled all pending compliances if any [Applicable in case an application
under sub-section (2) of section 248 has been filed after the initiation of
action under sub-section (1) of section 248].(b) after Form No. STK -7, the
following Form shall be inserted' namely: STK-8.
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NATIONAL COMPANY LAW TRIBUNAL (SECOND AMENDMENT) RULES, 2019
In exercise of the Powers
conferred by sub-section (1] and sub section (2) of section 469 of the
Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), the Central Government hereby makes the
following rules further to amend the National Company Law Tribunal Rules,2016,
namely:-
(1) These rules may be
called the National Company Law Tribunal (Second Amendment) Rules, 2019
(2) They shall come into
force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette.
2. In the National Company
Law Tribunal Rules, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as the principal rules) in
rule 84, after sub-rule (2), the following sub-rules shall be inserted, namey -
(3) In case of a company
having a share capital, the requisite number of member to file an application
under sub-section (1) of section 245 shall be
-(i) (a) at least five per
cent of the total number of members of the company; or
(b) one hundred members of
the company,
whichever is less or
(ii) (a) member or members
holding not less than five per cent of the issued share capital of the company,
in case of an unlisted company;
(b) member or members
holding not less than two per cent' of the issued share capital of the company,
in case of a listed company.
(4) The requisite number
of depositor or depositors to file an application under sub-section (1) of
section 245 shall be -
(i) (a) at least five per
cent of the total number of depositors of the company; or
(b) one hundred depositors
of the company,
whichever is less or;
(ii) depositor or
depositors to whom the company owes five percent of total deposits of the
company.
3. In the principal rules,
in the schedule of fees, serial No. 28 shall be omitted.
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ICSI ISSUES FOUR AUDITING STANDARDS WHICH ARE MANDATORY FROM
1ST APRIL, 2020
The Council of the
Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has approved the issuance of
four ICSI Auditing Standards and the same were released on May 6, 2019 at the
ICSI House, New Delhi. The Standards are required to be observed by the Company
Secretaries undertaking Audits. The Standards seek to promote best auditing
practices, uniformity and consistency while conducting audits. The four
Standards are :
·
CSAS-1: Auditing Standard
on Audit Engagement;
·
CSAS-2: Auditing Standard
on Audit Process and Documentation;
·
CSAS-3: Auditing Standard
on Forming of Opinion, and
·
CSAS-4: Auditing Standard
on Secretarial Audit
These standards are
applicable on recommendatory basis on Audit engagements accepted by the Auditor
on or after 1st July, 2019; and mandatory for Audit engagements accepted by the
Auditor on or after 1st April, 2020.
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MCA
Stakeholders are requested
to note that Ministry is in the process of prescribing the format of annual
return required to be filed by the auditors under rule 5 of the National
Financial Reporting Authority Rules, 2018. Accordingly, the stakeholders are
requested to make such filings only after such format is made available MCA
vide its notification dated 13th November 2018 notified National Financial
Reporting Authority (NFRA) Rules 2018. Key aspects specified by the NFRA rules
are Classes of companies and bodies corporate governed by the NFRA Authority
includes every auditor referred to in rule 3 shall file a return with the Authority
on or before 3oth April every year in such form as may be specified by the
Central Government.
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RBI ALLOWS BANKS TO
TREAT IL&FS EXPSOURE AS NPAS
The
Reserve bank of India has allowed banks to treat exposure to IL&FS and its
group entities as non-performing assets -NPAs- following the NCLAT - National
Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s - order allowing the same. It may be recalled
that the central bank in its April 24 directive had asked banks to not treat
their exposure to IL&FS and its 300 group entities as NPAs, following a
circular by the NCLAT on February 25. It had said that no financial institution
will declare the accounts of ‘Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services
Limited’ or its entities as ‘NPA’ without prior permission of this Appellate
Tribunal. The Reserve Bank had then advised banks and financial institutions to
disclose in their notes to accounts. But an order by NCLAT on May 02, allowed
the banks to declare the accounts of IL&FS and its group companies that
have defaulted on repayments of loans as NPAs. A judicial bench then lifted the
embargo on the banks to declare the accounts of the debt-ridden IL&FS and
its 300 group entities, which could not repay their debt. In view of NCLAT’s
May 02, 2019 order the instructions contained in the (April 24) circular stand
withdrawn RBI said in a notification.
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FINANCIAL CREDITORS TO
REALISE RS 80,000 CRORE IN FY20: ICRA
Financial
creditors would realise more than Rs 80,000 crore in this financial year from
the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) mainly driven by two large accounts
Essar Steel and Bhushan Steel and Power. This is 21% higher compared to about
Rs 66,000 crore realised in the last financial year. Successful completion of
the corporate insolvency resolution process for these two accounts would bring
closure to eight companies from the RBI’s list and could help strengthen the
confidence in the IBC, despite the significant delays seen in the process with
most of the CIRPs lasting more than 500 days, Abhishek Dafria. The rating
company expects number of cases being admitted to the National Company Law
Tribunal (NCLT) to continue to increase, especially from the operational
creditors who are responsible for 50% of all cases admitted by the NCLT. The
progress of the resolution process under the IBC has been hampered over the
past two years by the over-burdened NCLTs, innumerable litigations, defiant
promoters and failing sectors, said ICRA. As of March 31, 2019, 715 cases of defaulting
corporate debtors had been closed under the IBC. Out of this, 378 corporate
debtors were ordered into liquidation, while only 92 corporate insolvency
resolution process yielded a resolution plan where the companies continue to
operate as going-concerns. ICRA said that the decision by Supreme Court is a
blow to the IBC and it is important for the RBI to find a new mechanism to
ensure that resolution of stressed assets happen in a disciplined manner. Also,
the NCLTs continue to remain heavily burdened as the number of cases being
admitted continues to increase quarter-on-quarter with the highest quarterly
admissions of 359 cases reported in the fourth quarter. As the timelines for
the corporate insolvency resolution process continue to get stretched, with 32%
of the on-going CIRPs as on March 31, 2019 having already crossed the maximum
allowed time of 270 days, the number of admitted cases that are yet to be
resolved are only increasing. As of March 31, 2019, the number of on-going
CIRPs had increased to 1,143. NCLT benches are being set up at Amaravati in
Andhra Pradesh and at Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
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ECONOMIC CENSUS 2019 TO INCLUDE GEOTAGGED DATA OF BUSINESS
ENTERPRISES
The upcoming Seventh
Economic Census 2019 will include geotagged data of business enterprises to
ensure that no bogus enterprises are included in the official statistics, a
senior official said. The move comes even as the government is facing questions
over its national income numbers and growth estimates. Field officials
conducting the survey will include live locations of the enterprises via their
mobile phones, the official told. Geotagging will help to organically clean the
database. At the first stage, there will be a physical check and geotagging of
all enterprises by the officers of Common Service Centres, the access points
for delivering government e-services in rural and remote areas. This would be
followed by a sampling check in which government’s field officers will randomly
verify the location of the enterprise. The geotagging is expected to help weed
out the shell companies and thereby improve data quality This comes after a
National Sample Survey (NSS) technical report on services sector enterprises in
India released last week had shown that nearly a third of the companies
included in the MCA-21 data were either missing or wrongly classified. This led
to further criticism of the official GDP calculations as MCA-21 data is used
for calculating corporate value addition in the new series with 2011-12 base.
The new GDP series has been under criticism for showing high growth not
corroborated by high-frequency indicators and sharp revision in earlier
estimates. The government had on Wednesday said the shortcomings had not
impacted the data. It is emphasised that there is no impact on the existing
GDP/GVA estimates for the corporate sector as due care is taken to
appropriately adjust the corporate filings at the aggregate level based on the
paid-up capital, MoSPI said.
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THREE YEARS OF IBC: INDIA HAS COME FAR, BUT STILL A LONG WAY
TO GO
It’s three years since
Parliament passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and about 30 months
since the first case was filed under the new law. It’s the landmark reform of
the past five years and has boosted India’s rankings in the World Bank’s ease
of doing business. But the track record in bad loans resolution has been less
than satisfactory owing to a variety of factors. Cases are mired in litigation,
timelines haven’t been adhered to the law itself has been amended a couple of
times, and the bankruptcy infrastructure hasn’t been ramped up as needed for
quicker and effective resolution. Still, the fact remains that IBC was a
much-needed, long-awaited reform which, despite warts and all, is an
improvement over the previous tools available to creditors to recover their
money from defaulters.
Shifting the balance of
power
When a defaulting company
is taken to bankruptcy court, its management passes on to a resolution
professional. If resolution doesn’t take place within 180 days (plus a 90-day
grace period), the defaulter is sent to liquidation. What it does is shift the
balance of power from the debtors to creditors. Promoters who held banks to
ransom by refusing to pay up their dues could no longer do so simply because
they stand to lose their company. The IBC ensured that promoters no longer have
any rights over their firms after mismanagement. This naturally helps instill
better credit discipline and helps release capital for banks. As M S Sahoo,
said, one of the biggest successes of the IBC is the behavioural change it has
induced in corporate debtors. The Supreme Court judgement earlier this year
which upheld the constitutional validity of the bankruptcy law adds teeth to
the IBC. Moreover, it’s not only banks which can trigger the IBC. Employees,
vendors, distributors and other operational creditors can take a firm to court
for unpaid dues. When creditor rights are strengthened, it helps deepen the
corporate bond market as well. For entrepreneurs, the IBC offers a easy and
quick route for winding up their business.
Teething troubles
That’s the theory anyway.
In practice, the IBC has had teething troubles common for new laws. But the net
result is that bad loan resolution is still not taking place as quickly as
envisaged in the law. According to Kotak Institutional Equities’ analysis of
IBBI data, a total of 1,858 cases have been registered under the IBC by 31
March 2019. Of this, 378 cases have been closed through liquidation while only
94 cases have been resolved with an average haircut of 52 percent. What’s more,
one in every three of the 1143 cases currently undergoing resolution has
exceeded the 270-day outer limit. That includes majority of the big 12 cases –
with outstanding dues of Rs 3.45 lakh crore. Some like Essar Steel have crossed
600 days. All this means delayed release of capital for banks. Almost one in
two cases have exceeded 180 days Even liquidation is taking time. For the 378
cases, that have been admitted to liquidation, the final report (saying that
the process has been closed) has been submitted for only 16 cases. In 278 out
of the 362 ongoing liquidation cases, the process has been going on for at
least six months.
Time = money
The tardy resolution is
hobbling the bankruptcy code. As these pages have pointed out earlier,
inadequate institutional infrastructure and two key amendments to the code,
have been the key culprits. In the first one in November 2017, Section 29 A was
introduced. It barred defaulting promoters to bid for assets under the IBC
unless they cleared their dues. In June 2018, a second amendment allowed
withdrawals of cases provided 90 percent of the creditors agreed. It also
allowed MSME promoters to bid for their companies, regardless of defaulting
status, and said that home buys should be treated on par with financial
creditors. These amendments are no doubt, well-intentioned, but they have not
been thought through properly. That’s especially the case with Section 29 A
where a wide net of related and connected parties has led to a lot of
litigation. The law does not seem to differentiate between defaulters who
defaulted in the ordinary course of business and those who are guilty of fraud
and siphoning of funds. The bankruptcy courts have also not made things easier
by sometimes entering the realm of commercial decisions and taking it upon
themselves to ensure optimal resolution even if it means overstepping their
remit. There have been cases when tribunals have allowed last minute bids,
permitted withdrawal of cases after the resolution processed ended and so on.
This is despite the law clearly stating that an application can be withdrawn
only before expressions of interest are submitted. A more recent example is the
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s suggestion that the committee of
creditors for Essar Steel rethink on how funds should be distributed to
operational and financial creditors. As these pages have said earlier, some of
these judgments have set a precedent which provide the basis for escalating
litigation and added to the delays.
The gaps in infra
Inadequate infrastructure
has been another factor causing delays. For a long time, the 12 benches of NCLT
had only 16 judicial members and nine technical members. Earlier this month, the
government okayed the appointment of 32 new members to the NCLT, more than
doubling its strength. This is a welcome and long overdue move. Besides this,
digitisation of the NCLT/NCLAT platform, proactive training/on-boarding of
judges, lawyers and other intermediaries will be necessary for effective
implementation of the code, said a report by Crisil and Assocham. A related
area is that of information utilities (IU) which provides access to credible
and transparent evidence of default. Currently, only one IU, the National
eGovernance Services Ltd (NSeL), is registered. Without proper IU
infrastructure, the NCLT gets involved in evaluating whether a default has
taken place; this can be a time-consuming process and eats into the bandwidth
of NCLT, said the Crisil report. Further, in the absence of IUs, the formation
of committee of creditors may take longer.
What next?
There is still a long way
to go for a comprehensive bankruptcy law in India For instance, as MS Sahoo has
pointed out in the recent newsletter of IBBI, it is time to focus on individual
insolvency. Group insolvency and insolvency related to financial corporations
is another area. Even in the existing corporate insolvency resolution process,
innovations should be considered. Last month, the ministry of corporate affairs
issued a notice seeking public views on group insolvency and pre-packaged
insolvency resolution. In a pre-pack, a defaulter arranges to sell all or some
of its assets to a buyer – with the blessings of its lenders – before declaring
insolvency. It then files this resolution plan with the National Company Law
Tribunal for the court’s approval. Such a mechanism will speed up the
resolution process since much of the work is done before approaching the
tribunal and relieve the pressure on the NCLT infrastructure. Of course, such a
system can be prone to abuse and needs to be thought through carefully,
especially features such as the transparency of the bidding system, treatment
of operational creditors, selling it to NCLT and bankers who have been
reluctant to take creditors to bankruptcy and so on. But given the delays we
have seen and the value destruction that has happened, the time seems right to
serious consider taking the next steps to improve the IBC.
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VIDEOCON HAD NO PLAN TO RECOVER RS 64 CR FROM KOCHHAR FIRMS:
CORPORATE AFFAIRS MINISTRY
Videocon Group had no
serious intention to recover Rs 64 crore that it had transferred to Kochhar
group of companies, according to an investigation report of the corporate
affairs ministry (MCA) that is unravelling the complex maze of firms floated by
the two groups. Kochhars’ NuPower Renewables utilised the said amount in March
2010 towards its purchase of wind energy generators from Shriram Transport
Finance Company (STFCL) and Shriram City Union Finance (SCUFL) for
approximately Rs 73 crore. MCA is also probing if NuPower also received Rs 325
crore from Firstland Holdings, owned by businessman Nishant Kanodia, it said.
NuPower acquired wind powers from Shriram Group and also constructed its own
wind power business by consolidation funds in its kitty (sum total of funds
from Videocon, Firstland, DH Renewable, bank loans, etc.), the report said. The
Mumbai regional office of MCA in the past has questioned Videocon chairman
Venugopal Dhoot, NuPower founder Deepak Kochhar, as well as his wife and former
ICICI Bank MD Chanda Kochhar, who was not a director in any of the companies
being probed. While MCA regulates the affairs of the companies in India and
doesn’t probe conflict of interest, in this case there was a need to quiz
Chanda Kochhar, said a person familiar with the probe. Her appointment as the
ICICI Bank CEO & MD has been mentioned in the report as it is pertinent to
note that the advances were transferred in her husband’s companies from
Videocon and Firstland Holdings around the time ICICI granted loans to either
their group firms or those associated to them. While detailing the sequence of
event relating to incorporation of companies and movement of funds, the MCA
report noted, May 2009 — Chanda Kochhar becomes the CEO & MD of ICICI Bank
Ltd. According to the MCA report, Videocon never came clean on the advance of
Rs 64 crore to Supreme Energy — a company promoted and incorporated by Dhoot,
but by 2012 it was owned by Deepak Kochhar. VIL has not separately disclosed
this amount in its financial statements but it is admitted on oath that the
amount was clubbed in figures under the head ‘advances’ but was also not
disclosed as related-party transactions as required under AS-18 as Supreme was
a related party of VIL. Violation on these counts and also of Section 295 of
CA, 1956 is reported in the inspection report of VIL, it said.
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IL&FS DEFAULT: ROLE OF LIC OFFICIALS UNDER SFIO LENS
The Serious Fraud
Investigation Office (SFIO) is examining the role of Life Insurance Corp
officials as part of its investigation into the Infrastructure Leasing &
Financial Services (IL&FS) default in September last year. The shock
default led to a liquidity squeeze, the effects of which are still
reverberating through the financial markets. LIC is the largest shareholder in
IL&FS with a 25% stake and had its representatives on the board. The SFIO
recently questioned a former LIC director, said an official familiar with the
development. The agency is seeking information about the funding of IL&FS
Transportation Networks Ltd (ITNL) by IL&FS Financial Services Ltd (IFIN)
since LIC was one of the lenders to IL&FS, the person said. The SFIO wants
to know if lenders were kept in the loop when IFIN took the decision to fund
ITNL. This is one of the major issues on which the former LIC director was
questioned, the person said. Currently the probe is focusing on irregularities
in the affairs of IFIN (an IL&FS subsidiary). Once the interim report on
IFIN is submitted, the focus will shift to IL&FS and other LIC officials
are likely to be called in for questioning by the SFIO, said the person. LIC
didn’t respond to queries. SFIO is also probing the role played by other IL&FS
shareholders. It recently questioned Central Bank of India executives over the
short-term loans that the state-run lender gave to IL&FS. Central Bank of
India holds 7.76% of IL&FS. Their (Central Bank of India executives)
statements have been recorded and will be part of the final report prepared by
SFIO, the official added. The public money was extended to the group companies
by IFIN without required security and performing due diligence, the agency said
in its report.
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MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS RECOMMENDS DETAILED PROBE INTO
AFFAIRS AT JET AIRWAYS
Concluding that the
transactions of Jet Airways are of 'suspicious' in nature and require a
thorough probe the Mumbai regional office of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
(MCA) last week submitted its report recommending a detailed investigation into
the affairs of the company, source in the know told. A lot of discrepancies
have been found in the book of accounts which were recently inspected by
Registrar of Companies (RoC), Mumbai . They were found to be in violation of
certain provisions of the Companies Act. Many of the transactions relating to
the fund movements are of suspicious nature which are unexplained. All this
requires a thorough probe and therefore a recommendation has been made to the
ministry to order an investigation into the affairs of the company, said the
above cited individual. According to procedure, the recommendation has been
placed before the five-member oversight committee which after deliberations
will place its observations and views before the Secretary. Based on the
recommendation made by the committee, the Secretary will take a final call as
to whom to entrust the probe with. It could be carried either by the Serious
Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) or a senior official from the regional
office, added the official. While allegations of money laundering isn’t probed
by the agency, the investigation will surely look at if fraud was committed, if
there are instances of deliberate acts of omission, concealment of facts, and
submission of financial statements, certificate and other reports which were
false or omitted certain material fact,added the above cited official. RoC,
Mumbai is not the first agency probing the cashstrapped airline. In September
last year, income-tax officials had carried out a survey at the business
premises of the airline based on specific information. I-T investigation wing
completed the probe recently, department insiders told. They suspect there were
some irregularities in transactions between Jet Airways and its Dubai-based
group companies that helped it evade taxes worth around Rs 650 crore.
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NCLAT RULES AGAINST INGEN FOR DELAYING ORCHID PHARMA
RESOLUTION PLAN
The National Company Law
Appellate Tribunal has directed the Centre to take action against US-based
investor Ingen Capital Group LLC, its managing director and other directors for
not implementing a resolution plan for Chennai-based Orchid Pharma after its
proposal was selected by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) and National Company
Law Tribunal (NCLT) for implementation. The order comes on a plea filed by
Ingen Capital against the Resolution Professional (RP) with the appellate
tribunal. An NCLAT bench comprising Justice S J Mukhopadhaya and Justice Bansi
Lal Bhat directed the Centre through the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to take
appropriate steps. If the appellant (Ingen Capital) has no office in India then
the Central Government through Ministry of Corporate Affairs may take up the
matter with USA, where the appellant company is situated, said the order. The
appelate tribunal ordered Ingen Capital to be deposit Rs 10 lakh in favour of
the CoC within 30 days. The bench observed that Ingen failed to deposit the
amount at an earlier date. The tribunal in an order on February 1, 2019 issued
a show cause notice to Ingen Capital directors Umesh Bhatia and Harish Bhatia
as to why appropriate action be not taken against them and the NCLT, Central
government and its agancies be not asked to take appropriate steps against the
company and its directors and why cost not be imposed on them. With the
directors not submitting a proper reply, the NCLAT in an order dated March 1,
2019, sought the investor to file show cause reply within three weeks, failing
which the Appellate Tribunal may initiate a contempt proceeding against them
and may issue bailable warrant of arrest. The show cause notice to the
directors asked them as to why appropriate action be not taken against them and
the National Company Law Tribunal, the Central Government and its agencies be
not asked to take appropriate steps against the company and its directors and
why cost be not imposed on them. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs was also
made a respondent to the appeal. Ingen approached the NCLAT with an appeal
assailing the order passed by the NCLT bench directing to deposit one third of
the Rs 1,000 crore payable to secured creditors. The appellate tribunal
directed it to deposit at least Rs 1,000 crore with the NCLT, Chennai, Registrar.
However, Ingen's counsel said that without receiving certain documents and
information it has been seeking, it will not be possible to deposit the amount.
In its order on February 1, 2019, the NCLAT observed that the company does not
want to give effect to the approved resolution plan and has put preconditions
that weren't included in the resolution plan. Ingen had to pay the amount in 30
days and settle the banks by that time. A consortium of 24 banks has lent a
total of over Rs 3,200 crore to the drug maker. With Ingen allegedly not paying
the upfront money, NCLT has directed it to pay one third of the payment due to
the financial creditors of the pharmaceutical company, which is around Rs 334
crore, in a fixed time-frame. It was at this point Ingen approached the NCLAT
with its appeal.
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NCLT ADMITS ANDHRA BANK’S IBC PETITION AGAINST LANCO THERMAL
In a setback to Lanco
Thermal Power Private Limited Company, the Hyderabad bench of National Company
Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday admitted the petition filed by Andhra Bank
under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) against Lanco thermal. The bank
filed the petition seeking to declare the said company as insolvent as it has
failed to repay Rs 150 crore loan amount According to the petitioner’s counsel
K Lakshmi Narasimha, Andhra Bank has given a corporate loan of about Rs 150
crore to Lanco thermal in 2015. In spite of several reminders, the company has
failed to repay any of this amount and went on dodging the issue one pretext or
the other. As there was no hope that the company would ever repay the said loan
amount, the bank has filed the present petition. Referring to the judgment in
the case of Dharani Sugars and Chemicals Limited vs Union of India, Lakshmi Narasimha
told the National Company Law Tribunal bench that the judgment would be applied
to the cases where IBC proceedings were initiated by the financial creditors
solely based upon the RBI circular. In the present case, the IBC proceedings
were initiated independently as per the RBI circular. After hearing both sides,
the tribunal bench comprising Ratakonda Murali, member judicial, rejected the
contention of Lanco thermal that it was likely to revive its business and held
that it was not a ground to dismiss the present case. It was a fit case to be
admitted since the corporate debtor (Lanco thermal) has admitted the default
and that the financial creditor has initiated these proceedings independent of
RBI circular. The bench admitted the petition and appointed Praveen Bansal as
interim resolution professional to carry the functions as mentioned in the IBC.
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NCLAT DISMISSES RAMCO'S APPEAL AGAINST SPICEJET FOR INSOLVENCY
PROCEEDINGS
The National Company Law
Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has dismissed an appeal by Ramco Systems against
Spicejet related to alleged non-payment of dues by the airline company for the
software solutions it offered as per an agreement. The tribunal has allowed
Ramco System to move before a court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate
relief. The NCLAT order comes on an appeal filed by Ramco against an order
passed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), New Delhi, on December 14,
2017. The order had refused its application as an operational creditor under
the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, against the airline company.
Upholding the NCLT order, the NCLAT bench comprising of Chairperson Justice S J
Mukhopadhaya and Judicial Member Justice Bansi Lal Bhat, observed, that there
is nothing on record to suggest that the invoices dated July 23, 2014 were
forwarded or received by Spicejet Ltd. Therefore, the Demand Notice issued on
April 24, 2017 as relates to invoice dated July 23, 2014, though it cannot bne
held to be barred by limitation but in absense of specific evidence relating to
invoices actually forwarded by the Appellant (Ramco Systems) and there being a
doubt, we hold that the Adjudicating Authority (NCLAT) has rightly refused to
entertain application under Section 9 which requires strict proof of debt and
default, said the Bench. However, the order passed by the Appellate Tribunal or
the NcLT will not come in the way of Ramco to move before the Court of
Competent Jurisdiction for appropriate relief, said the Tribunal dismissing the
appeal.
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AFTER NBCC MAKES REVISED BID, JAYPEE'S LENDERS ASK FOR
CLARIFICATION
Lenders of Jaypee
Infratech on thursday sought clarifications from NBCC on various relief
measures and concession proposed by the state-owned firm in its revised bid to
acquire the debt-ridden realty company, sources said. The creditors' panel will
meet again on May 14 to further discuss the revised bid of NBCC, they added.
The Committee of Creditors (CoC) met Thursday to discuss NBCC's revised offer
after it rejected the bid of Mumbai-based Suraksha Realty on May 3 through a
voting under the insolvency proceedings. During the meeting, lenders and
representatives of home buyers sought many clarifications from senior officials
of NBCC. These queries were mainly related to relief measures and concession
proposed by NBCC in its offer. NBCC was also asked how it will fund the
takeover of Jaypee Infratech, sources said adding that NBCC officials answered
all the queries. It was decided in the meeting that lenders will send a written
query to NBCC by Friday and the public sector firm would reply by May 13.
Lenders and homebuyers would meet again on May 14 to continue the discussion.
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INVITATION OF PUBLIC COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT INSOLVENCY AND
BANKRUPTCY (APPLICATION TO ADJUDICATING AUTHORITY FOR BANKRUPTCY PROCESS FOR
PERSONAL GUARANTORS TO CORPORATE DEBTORS), RULES, 2019
The Insolvency and
Bankmptcy Code, 2016 (Code) envisages reorganisation and insolvency resolution
of corporate persons, parb.1ership firms and individuals in a time bound manner
for maximisation of value of assets of such persons, to promote
entrepreneurship, availability of credit and balance the interests of all
stakeholders. In the two years since the enactment of the Code, the provisions
relating to corporate insolvency resolution, including fast track resolution,
corporate liquidation and voluntary liquidation of corporate debtors (CDs) have
been operationalised .
2. Implementation of the
individual insolvency and bankruptcy is intended in phased manner and
accordingly at present the provisions of Part III of the Code for personal
guarantors to CDs are proposed to be notified in the first phase.
3. Suggestions/ comments
are invited from stakeholders for the draft Rules.
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FORTIS PLANS MOVING COURT TO RECOVER ₹403 CR FROM SINGH BROTHERS
AND PROMOTERS
Fortis healthcare Ltd is
likely to approach the Delhi High court seeking to recover ₹403
crore, which was allegedly siphoned off from Fortis by its former promoters,
two people aware of the matter said. The move follows an order dated 17 October
by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) that directed Fortis to
take necessary action to recover ₹403 crore along with due
interest from the former promoters, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, and various
promoter companies within 90 days. With the deadline being missed, Fortis is
likely to approach the court in an ongoing case by Japanese drugmaker Daiichi
Sankyo Inc. Daiichi had moved the high court here seeking direction to the
brothers to take steps towards paying its ₹3,500 crore arbitration
award, including depositing the amount. It had also urged the court to attach
their assets, which may be used to recover the award. In its plea, Fortis is
likely to urge the court that if any direction related to payment of the award
is taken, Fortis funds and the Sebi order should be kept in mind. The case is
likely to be taken up on May 10. Apart from the brothers Malvinder Singh and
Shivinder Singh, the Sebi order named RHC holdings, Shivi Holdings Pvt. Ltd,
Malav Holdings Pvt Ltd, Religare Finvest Ltd, Best Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, Fern
healthcare Pvt. Ltd and Modland Wears Pvt. Ltd. Fortis Healthcare Ltd had
earlier also asked the market regulator to order the arrest of its former promoters,
since they have failed to return diverted money as directed by the regulator.
Since they have failed to refund the due amounts in compliance of Sebi order,
an application under Section 28 A of Sebi Act has been filed, praying for
recovery and directions against the entities, Ravi Rajagopal, Fortis chairman,
had told. Rajagopal had said that Sebi’s investigations had found that the
monies went to entities related to the former promoters. Sebi has meanwhile
been doing its own investigations and they came out with their orders in
October last year where they went beyond our investigation because they have
the right to call for information, they have forensic capability and they
tracked the ultimate destination of those monies and clearly established that it
was the former promoter-related entities that were responsible for the monies
and, therefore, those monies were owed back by the former promoters and their
related entities, he added.
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UNITECH DIVERTED RS 1,500 CR FOR OTHER PURPOSES, SC TOLD
The Supreme
Court-appointed forensic auditor told the court on Thursday that Unitech
diverted more than Rs 1,500 crore of homebuyers’ money for purposes other than
construction of housing projects and said the group and its officials were not
cooperating with the audit. Placing a preliminary report before a bench of
Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah, the auditor said it had examined 71 out
of 74 projects of Unitech group for which Rs 14,000 crore was raised from
homebuyers and traced the investment of Rs 12,000 crore by the company. The
report said over Rs 1,500 crore was spent by the group to acquire land and for
other purposes. It also said advance of Rs 600 crore was given to some people
seven years ago but the money had not come back to the company. It also said it
was not able to make any headway in finding the trail of diverted money as the
group was not providing documents and bank statements. Expressing displeasure
over Unitech’s non-cooperation with the forensic auditor, the bench said, We
will be left with no option but to hand over the probe to CBI. Without data we
cannot get to the bottom of this. Senior advocate Pinaki Misra contested the
auditor’s preliminary findings and said there was nothing wrong in investing
money to purchase land for other housing projects. It is a business model
followed in the sector, he said. The bench, however, was not satisfied and
directed that special facilities provided to Unitech’s jailed promoters Sanjay
and Ajay Chandra to enable them to hold negotiations within the jail premises
to sell assets be withdrawn forthwith and they be treated as ordinary
prisoners. The court also granted a last opportunity to the group to provide
all relevant documents and bank statements to the forensic auditor within two
weeks. Unitech group is developing 74 housing projects and around 17,000
homebuyers have invested in the projects. Due to financial crisis, the group
has not been able to complete the projects. It’s managing director Sanjay
Chandra and his brother Ajay Chandra have been in jail since August 2017 after
being arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police for not handing
over flats to buyers despite collecting money. The case was registered against
them by aggrieved homebuyers.
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ANIL AMBANI'S RCOM'S BANKRUPTCY BEGINS; NEXT HEARING ON MAY 30
The National Company Law
Tribunal Thursday allowed Reliance Communications (RCom) to exclude the 357
days spent in litigation and admitted it for insolvency. With this, RCom, which
owes over Rs 50,000 crore to banks, has become the first Anil Ambani group
company to be officially declared bankrupt after the NCLT Thursday superseded
its board and appointed a new resolution professional to run it and also allow
the SBI-led consortium of 31 banks to form a committee of creditors. At the
last hearing, Rcom, through the existing resolution professional, had sought
357 days (from May 30, 2018 to April 30, 2019) exclusion in the insolvency
process citing the stays it had on the process by the appellate tribunal and
the Supreme Court. The RP sought the exclusion from May 30, 2018 to April 30,
2019 as the initial insolvency proceedings was stayed by the National Company
Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and later by the apex court. A bench comprising
VP Singh and R Duraisamy said the matter should proceed in a manner of law and
in view of the guidelines, the tribunal grants the exclusion of time for
Reliance Infratel and Reliance Telecom along with RCom.
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SOME RELIEF FOR AMRAPALI, UNITECH HOME BUYERS BUT STILL A
TOUGH ROAD AHEAD
The Supreme Court on
Thursday asked the government to look into the possibility of it taking over
the Unitech Group and complete the pending housing projects to protect the
interest of home buyers. A two-judge bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud
said it would like to hear Attorney General KK Venugopal's views in the matter.
The government could look at the possibility of completing these housing
projects, which would be a relief for home buyers, who had invested their
hard-earned savings into it. The court’s order came a day after its another on
Wednesday said that ownership of Amrapali group in its various housing projects
would taken away and would be handed over to Noida and Greater Noida
authorities which will complete construction and hand over possession to
buyers.
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INSOLVENCY CASE: NCLT ORDERS LIQUIDATION OF DEBT-RIDDEN
STERLING BIOTECH
The Bench of the National
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) here has ordered the liquidation of debt-ridden
pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech. This is a setback for its lenders.
They were hoping they could withdraw the insolvency proceedings and accept a
one-time settlement (OTS) offer from the promoters. The tribunal had
reservations on this. It also felt that by accepting a withdrawal of insolvency
proceedings (under Section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code), the
company would essentially revert to the promoters, who are absconding and been
declared as wilful defaulters. Section 29A of the Code prohibits promoters of a
defaulting company from bidding for it. The committee of creditors (CoC) had
approved of the promoters' OTS offer by a 90 per cent majority. The promoters
had offered to pay Rs3,945 crore; of this, they'd paid Rs179 crore. The company
owes Rs8,100 crore to the banks; Sterling Group itself owes Rs15,000 crore. The
other group company, Sterling SEZ, has also gone into liquidation. However,
only 89 per cent of the lenders were for accepting it; 90 per cent is required.
The resolution professional (RP) appointed for the case did not inform the NCLT
about this and the tribunal had rebuked him. After 90 per cent approval came
for the second OTS, the lenders applied to withdraw the bankruptcy proceedings.
However, Madison Pacific Trust, one of the lenders, challenged this, saying it
held over 10 per cent voting right in the CoC and its consent was not sought by
the RP. The tribunal had then sought views from the Government of India,
Enforcement Directorate, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Reserve
Bank of India and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The government agencies
had objected to the OTS offer, RBI was neutral and Sebi was for acceptance.
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RP TAKES OVER RCOM BOARD; CORPORATE INSOLVENCY RESOLUTION
PROCESS TO RESUME
Following the National
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) directive, Reliance Communications (RCom) on
Wednesday informed the stock exchanges that the administration of the corporate
debtor would be taken over by the interim resolution professional (RP) and the
corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) would resume. The powers of the
board of directors or the partners of the corporate debtor, as the case may be,
shall stand suspended and be exercised by the interim resolution professional,
the company said in the filing. The NCLT has also directed the interim RP to
file a progress report of the CIRP. The next hearing is on May 30.
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SSG CAPITAL MOVES NCLT; CLAIMS LENDERS IGNORED ITS CLAIMS FOR
UTTAM GALVA ASSETS
Hong Kong-based SSG
Capital Management moved the NCLT on Wednesday pleading that its plan for the
distressed Uttam Galva companies was not considered by lenders that voted for
US-based CarVal’s plan for the assets. We have been rejected on the grounds
that CarVal has been shortlisted and they (lenders) refused to consider our
offer, the counsel representing SSG told the bench. Our grievance is not that
the evaluation matrix concluded that their offer was superior to mine but that
they refused to consider our offer, he said. The counsel also claimed that
SSG’s offer was better than CarVal’s. SSG, along with Synergy Metals and Mining
Fund and ART Special Situations Fund, offered an upfront payment of Rs 1,000
crore, while Car-Val’s upfront offer was Rs 625 crore. The counsel for CarVal
argued that it had also committed an unconditional amount of Rs 1,200 crore
while SSG Capital was depending entirely on recoveries and receivables to pay
the remaining amount apart from the upfront amount. It is uncertain whether the
recoveries will be made, he added. My offer of Rs 1,825 crore with Rs 625 crore
will be better by any standard to an offer of Rs 1,000 crore, said the counsel
for CarVal. State Bank of India had also said that SSG had failed to submit
satisfactory bids after multiple opportunities and was trying to disrupt the
process at the last stage by bringing in a bid after a successful bidder was
shortlisted. 84% of the CoC had voted in favour of the plan. Bank of Baroda had
said that there were deferred payments proposed in the SSG plan too and since
both were to be made from the earnings of the company, fundamentally, the
upfront payment was the clincher.
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METRO CITES ‘FINANCIAL CRUNCH’, SEEKS RELEASE OF GUARANTEES
FROM 4 BANKS
Metro Rail Corporation Ltd
has moved a petition before the High Court here stating that it is passing
through ‘great financial crunch’ at Nagpur, and hence seeking release of bank
guarantees from four banks. As the petitioner’s counsel stated that it was
necessary that its petition seeking the release of bank guarantees should be
decided at the earliest, Justice S B Shukre and Justice Pushpa Ganediwala
agreed to hear the petition for final disposal on June 10 next. A statement was
made before the court on behalf of the respondent-banks Axis Bank, Mumbai;
State Bank, Allahabad Bank, and ICICI Bank (all three based at Hyderabad), that
their case was heard by National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and its
present view was that it would decide first the issue of jurisdiction of NCLAT
regarding grant of interim direction and that might happen on or about May 23
next. The Court reminded that in its earlier order, it had made clear that if
no decision in respect of sweep of the general stay order passed by NCLAT in
the matter was taken by the Tribunal, the High Court would undertake the task
of interpreting the effect of that order and pass an appropriate order in this
case. S K Mishra urged on behalf of the petitioner that enough was enough and,
therefore, this petition be heard finally and disposed of on merit. The Court
stated in its order that it understood the anxiety of the petitioner and in
fact, the Court also understood that the same anxiety was shared by all the
parties before the Court. At the same time, according to the Court, another
dimension involved in this petition is regarding crystallisation of the view of
NCLAT in the matter. Of course, if the view is not crystallised by it, the High
Court would no longer remain under fetters and will take the call on the issue
independently.
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RELIGARE FINVEST SKIPS APRIL INSTALLMENT TO BANKS; PROPOSES
DEBT RESOLUTION PLAN
Religare Finvest Limited
(RFL) failed to pay installment of principal amount on its loans in April and
has proposed a debt resolution plan (RP) to banks, according to a statement
Wednesday. The Religare group company has been going through difficult times in
the recent past on account of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds
orchestrated by the erstwhile promoters, RFL said in a release. This has
resulted in the RBI putting RFL under a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) in January
2018. However, given the inherent asset-liability mismatch, RFL has proposed a
debt resolution plan (RP) to streamline its liability profile, it said, adding
that the reference date for the RP is April 1, 2019. The banks are in the
process of seeking internal approval for the RP, it added. As per the RP from
the reference date, RFL is in a standstill arrangement and is required to
service only interest. The principal installments will be restructured to align
with asset maturity profile. In line with this RP, RFL did not pay the banks
the principal installments falling due during April 2019, the non-banking
financial company said. However, RFL said it had adequate funds from its
operations to meet the April installment. RFL said despite the RBI action, it
has made principal repayments and interest payments of over Rs 4,400 crore till
end of March 2019 and banks and financial institutions were kept current by
that time. Further, it said the rating agencies have considered non-payment of
the April principal installment as a technical default and downgraded its
rating to D (ICRA: from BB to D, Fitch: Long term loans - from B+ to D and Tier
2 - from B+ to C). As a part of RP, banks have separately appointed two rating
agencies for rating the entire RP and the same would be applicable once the
plan is implemented. The operations and financial position of the other group
companies, Religare Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited and
Religare Broking Limited are not affected by the impact of this development in
RFL and both are current with all the banks, without any delay in debt
servicing, it said.
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GOVT TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR HOMEBUYERS TO CLEAR BUILDERS’
REVIVAL PLANS
The government is set to
provide relief to thousands of homebuyers and bankrupt builders awaiting rescue
by preparing a clarification on passing bankruptcy resolutions that are stalled
because many homebuyers did not vote. This follows a reference from the
National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to the ministry of corporate affairs in
the Jaypee Infratech Ltd case, where the panel of creditors dominated by
homebuyers could not clear a rescue plan from a Suraksha Realty Ltd-led
consortium as many homebuyers stayed away. We are exploring all options by
simulating various scenarios. The decision will be communicated to NCLT, said
Injeti Srinivas. The government will also assess if reinterpreting voting
rights needs an amendment to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The move will
stop resolution plans from being rejected because a large number of homebuyers,
who could be benami holders or those unaware of the consequences of not
asserting their rights, do not cast their votes. Homebuyers have 58% voting
share in the panel of creditors of Jaypee Infratech, as they were the biggest
source of funds for the firm more than lenders and deposit holders. In such a
case, homebuyers not voting en masse makes it impossible for the panel of
creditors to clear resolution plans, which require favourable votes from 66% of
the creditors by value. The absenteeism by homebuyers has led to nine out of 10
proposals discussed by Jaypee Infratech’s panel of creditors being rejected,
according to documents available on NCLT’s website. Srinivas said the ministry
was in the process of consulting the insolvency law committee attached to it
that consists of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India chairperson M.S.
Sahoo and outside experts. Policymakers want to make sure every effort is made
to rescue bankrupt companies from slipping into liquidation.
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ROC SUBMITS REPORT ON
JET AIRWAYS' BOOKS TO MINISTRY
The
Registrar of Companies (Mumbai) has submitted the inspection report of the
beleaguered Jet Airways' books to the Corporate Affairs Ministry which will
shortly start examining the details Action will be based on the inspection
report of Jet Airways' books, a ministry source said. The regional directorate
of Mumbai initiated inspection of the books eight months after the Ministry
directed it for such a probe to ascertain if there was any diversion of funds.vThe
RoC's inspection of a company's books is akin to a preliminary fact-finding
exercise which could lay the ground for further investigation. In the Jet
Airways case, the RoC stepped in last August after the company deferred its
first quarter FY19 results.
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DEBTS OF IL&FS'
GREEN COMPANIES LIKELY TO BE SETTLED BY JULY END: OFFICIAL
Loan
exposure worth Rs 12,000 crore of almost 55 green companies of crisis-hit
IL&FS group is likely to be settled by July end a senior government
official said as he asserted that the resolution process is on track. Besides,
many of the green companies have positive equity which means that after
settling debt obligations, shareholders would get something in return for their
equity stake, Injeti Srinivas said. Srinivas said the IL&FS resolution
process is on track and expects to reach some kind of conclusion in a
time-bound manner. There are almost 55 companies in the green category and they
have a loan exposure of about Rs 12,000 crore. Ten out of the 55 companies
account for nearly 90 per cent of the loan exposure, he noted. In the green
category, the major focus is on settling dues with respect to those ten large
companies. If the dues of the ten companies can be settled, then 90 per cent of
the Rs 12,000 crore can be settled. By July end, we will be aspiring to settle
the debt of green companies, which is around Rs 12,000 crore, he said. Srinivas
also said there are a few cases where creditors are willing to restructure the
entire loan to make 'amber' assets green. We are open to that. If they can be
made into green, then around Rs 2,000 to 4,000 crore of debt may shift from
amber to green, he noted. The amber companies have debt obligations worth
around Rs 20,000 crore and since there is a moratorium, the dues of these firms
are not being paid yet. We are not paying the dues yet, which is being heavily
contested in NCLAT by the creditors. If the secured creditors want distribution
of available funds before final resolution, they would have to file their final
claims. The interim payments made prior to resolution of the corporate debtor,
would automatically get adjusted against the final claim, Srinivas said. Noting
that the issue is the distribution ratio between secured and unsecured
creditors, he said one option could be that senior creditors get precedence and
the residual amount would go to unsecured creditors. Another option could be
pro-rata across the board And yet another option could be a pre-determined
ratio like, say 85 per cent of the funds get earmarked for the secured
creditors and the remaining 15 per cent to be shared by unsecured creditors.
This matter would be adjudicated by the NCLAT at the next hearing. We will
submit a scheme with a few options, Srinivas said. Though it is not in IBC, we
keep those time frames in mind and try our best to be well within those time
frames. The 270 days deadline is fast approaching and we have another 90 to 100
days to reach that. The way we are planning we should be able to achieve quite
a bit by then and a significant portion would have been resolved, Srinivas
noted.
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JAYPEE INFRATECH'S IRP
SAYS NBCC'S BID CONDITIONAL AND NON-BINDING
Realty
firm Jaypee Infratech's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) has opined that
state-owned NBCC's revised bid was conditional and non-binding which ran
contrary to terms of the insolvency proceedings, sources said. The Committee of
Creditors (CoC) is scheduled to meet on Thursday (May 9) to discuss NBCC's
revised offer to acquire debt-laden Jaypee Infratech. The public sector unit
has proposed infusion of Rs 200 crore equity capital, transfer of 950 acres of
land worth Rs 5,000 crore to banks and completing construction of flats by July
2023 to settle an outstanding claim of Rs 23,723 crore of financial creditors. NBCC
has put several conditions for the implementation of its plan, including a
demand to extinguish an estimated income-tax liability of Rs 33,000 crore over
a period of 30 years arising out of the transfer of land parcels from Yamuna
Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) to Jaypee Group. The IRP
Anuj Jain has written to the CoC that NBCC's revised bid is conditional as the
state-owned firm has stated that the plan will not be binding on it unless key
reliefs such as extinguishing of income tax liability and a dispensation from
seeking consent of YEIDA for any business transfer is granted, sources said. The
court-mandated deadline for completing the resolution plan for Japyee Infratech
ended on May 6 and the CoC has sought an extension of the deadline. The
Allahabad bench of the NCLT has posted the matter for hearing on May 21.
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WILL THROW AMRAPALI
GROUP OUT AND GIVE OWNERSHIP RIGHTS OF PROPERTIES TO NOIDA AND GREATER NOIDA:
SC
The
Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it may give ownership rights of all the 15
prime residential properties of embattled Amrapali Group to Noida and Greater
Noida Authorities as it has failed to fulfil its obligations towards 42,000
hassled home buyers. The top court said that Amrapali Group by its own
admission took Rs 11,652 crore from home buyers and invested only Rs 10,630
crore from it for construction of the residential projects. It also questioned
how Amrapali Group could mortgage the entire projects and secure loan worth
thousands of crores of rupees from banks when it was only an agent to develop
the property. A bench of justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit said that it would
protect the rights of thousands of home buyers and push the Amrapali Group out
of the projects. We see that entire Amrapali Group has failed to discharge its
duties towards home buyers, authorities (Noida and Greater Noida) and banks.
You (Amrapali Group) have neither completed any projects nor invested any money
in the projects. We think, you are the one who should be thrown out of these
properties. We will vest the rights of these properties with the Noida and
Greater Noida, the bench said. It said that Noida and Greater Noida can then be
asked to engage any builder or developer to finish the stalled projects and
sell the properties under their supervision. We may throw you out from these
properties and transfer its lock, stock and barrel to Noida and Greater Noida.
The loans which have been secured by Amrapali Group by mortgaging the lands to
the banks can be collected by the financial institutions from the directors of
the company or the corporate guarantors. We will ensure that banks do not enter
the premises of these properties and home buyers get the first charge on the
properties, the bench said. The top court asked the counsel for Noida and
Greater Noida authorities to compile all necessary data as how much money has
been paid by Amrapali Group till now, what is the principal lease amount and
interest component project wise and how much was the land given to the group.
Gaurav Bhatia, appearing for Amrapali said that the group has till now paid Rs
998 crore to both the authorities and Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA)
Act protects the rights of the developer. He said that Rs 11,652 crore were
collected from the home buyers and Rs 10,630 crore were used for construction
of various projects besides paying Rs 998 crore to the authorities as lease
amount. The bench asked Bhatia to explain the income taxes paid by a Group
company--Stunning Construction Pvt Ltd-- of CMD Anil Kumar Sharma and other
directors saying that tax liability of directors cannot be cleared from
company's fund. Bhatia claimed that Sharma has returned Rs 5.5 crore which was
paid for his income tax from the accounts of Stunning Construction while the
other director Shiva Priya has said that Rs 4.3 crore tax liability paid was
later adjusted towards his salary dues from the Amrapali Group. You file an
affidavit and give us each and every detail when was your income tax paid for
which assessment year and when was that money paid back. Show us the
transaction. Give all details of the salary or emoluments given to the
directors of the company. If any facts and figures are wrong, we will severely
haul them up, the bench warned. It posted the matter for further hearing on May
10.
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JET AIRWAYS PILOTS MOVE
SUPREME COURT FOR INTERIM FUNDING FROM SBI
Pilots
of grounded Jet Airways moved the Supreme Court Tuesday seeking direction to
SBI to provide the assured interim finance for restarting operations,
suspension of which has affected the livelihood of around 22,000 employees. The
petition filed by National Aviators Guild has sought a direction to the Centre
and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to disallow slots of Jet
Airways to other airlines on permanent basis. The plea, filed by advocate
Gaurav Agrawal, has sought that the airline should not get deregistered. The
distressed airlines, which had 115 aircraft, started suffering losses and could
not pay the employees from last December. It said that SBI's decision not to
infuse money was responsible for the operations of the airlines coming to stop
and its substantial devaluation. The respondents have deliberately, or
otherwise brought down the value of Jet Airways and as of now there are no
bidders who have submitted the bid to SBI. Consequently the employees of Jet
Airwyas have not been paid for last four months and have lost all hope of the
revival of the airlines, the plea said. It said the Centre, DGCA, Airports
Authority of India and others have failed to appreciate the value of company
which lies in the flight slots and the seats available in the international
sector through various bilateral agreements. The petition said that such acts
of the Centre and DGCA were highly prejudicial to employees of the company who
have been waiting to get paid for last five months and have been looking
forward to the resolution in bid process. If the value of the company is
deliberately undermined, the future of the employees would be at stake as there
would be hardly any bidder who would be willing to take up share in the
company, the plea said.
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IL&FS SECURITIES
MOVES TO SAT AGAINST SEBI ORDER ON ALLIED FINANCIAL
IL&FS
Securities Services (ISS) Wednesday moved the Securities Appellate Tribunal
(SAT) to direct markets regulator Sebi to annul certain transactions carried
out by Allied Financial Services. In February, Sebi had barred Allied Financial
and others for misappropriating client securities and a host of other
violations. Appearing for IL&FS Securities counsel Gaurav Joshi said there
were fraudulent mutual fund transfers carried out by Allied on behalf of its
clients Dalmia Cement and OCL India, among others where it was the clearinghouse.
He sought SAT's intervention to direct Sebi to annul the said transaction,
apart from de-freezing of securities which are stuck following the Sebi order. The
Sebi had probed the alleged irregularities at Allied, pursuant to a preliminary
inspection by the NSE had found non-availability of client funds worth Rs 94
crore, non-availability of client securities, non-settlement of inactive
clients and non-segregation of the transaction between own and client bank
accounts. Rafique Dada said the said requests are untenable, citing provisions
in the statutes dealing with contracts, and also informed that OCL and Dalmia
have approached the Delhi High Court with a similar prayer for de-freezing
certain securities. A SAT bench comprising Tarun Agarwala, CKG Nair and MT
Joshi reserved the order for May 15.
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SEBI ALLOWS FOREIGN
PORTFOLIO INVESTORS TO INVEST IN MUNICIPAL BONDS
Foreign
portfolio investors can now invest in municipal bonds, markets regulator Sebi
said in a circular Wednesday. The circular comes almost two weeks after the
Reserve Bank of India permitted FPIs to invest in municipal bonds as a measure
to broaden access of nonresident investors to debt instruments in the country. As
per the RBI, foreign investment in municipal bonds should be within the limits
set for FPI investment in State Development Loans (SDLs). The limits for FPI
investment in SDLs is 2 per cent of outstanding stock of securities. All other
existing conditions for investment by FPIs in the debt market remain unchanged,
the central bank had said in a circular on April 25.
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SEBI SEEKS
CLARIFICATION FROM MCX ON FORENSIC AUDIT FINDINGS IN IGIDR CASE
The
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has sought a clarification from
Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and its Managing Director Murugank Paranjape, on
the issue of preferential access to price feeds to Indira Gandhi Institute of
Development Research (IGIDR). SEBI sought this clarification based on findings
of the forensic audit report recently submitted by an audit firm, TR Chadha and
Company. A source close to the development told IGIDR used MCX data for
developing algo strategy. Another source said, MCX did not give live data to
IGIDR. It is alleged that IGIDR passed on the data from MCX to a broker, who
could use it to create algo strategy for trading. It has been debated if MCX
should have shared the data with IGIDR. Another source in SEBI told, We will
make a foolproof case. A former SEBI official told, After National Stock
Exchange episode, no one wants to shut the case before a proper inquiry, as
investigation agencies can open the cases after a few years and then blame
regulatory officials also. Also, when the names of Ajay Shah and IGIDR came up
in this case, the regulator became more cautious.
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SEBI ALLOWS MAGADH
STOCK EXCHANGE TO EXIT BOURSE BUSINESS
The
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Wednesday allowed Magadh Stock
Exchange to exit the stock bourse business The regulator said that Magadh Stock
Exchange (MSE) has substantially complied with the exit conditions laid down by
it and therefore, it is a fit case to allow MSE to exit which will also enable
the exchange to liquidate its assets post exit and to pay the outstanding dues.
It is observed that all the known liabilities have been brought out and that
there is no future liability that is not known as on date, Sebi said in an exit
order. Besides, it is noted that MSE has no outstanding dues to Sebi pertaining
to 10 per cent of the listing fee and the annual regulatory fee, the regulator
said.
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SEBI QUESTIONS RATING AGENCIES ON VALUING DEBT BACKED BY
PROMOTER SHARES
The rating agencies have
once again come under the scanner of the Securities and Exchange Board of India
(Sebi). This time the market regulator wants to know on what basis the rating
agencies are rating mutual fund's (MF) debt schemes with exposure to papers
that are backed by promoter shares, also known as loan against shares (LAS).
According to people in the know, the regulator also wants to understand how
rating agencies are re-valuing LAS instruments when there are sharp correction
in pledged equity shares, hitting the share cover of these structures. Sources
say that the LAS exposures have come under the regulatory scanner after most
MFs entered into 'standstill' agreement with Essel group promoters. As per the
agreement, the MFs and other lenders would not sell the pledged shares of the
promoters as promoters sought time till September to repay the loans. In normal
circumstances, a lender has the right to sell pledged shares to recover its
dues. Exercising this right, Reliance MF on Wednesday sold pledged shares of
Essel promoters, recovering over Rs 400 crore of dues, sources said. Meanwhile,
most other fund houses with exposures to the LAS structures of Essel group had
reached the understanding with the promoters, stating that sell of pledged
shares could lead to 'sub-optimal' recovery. A panic-sell of pledged shares en masse
could lead to sharp correction in market value of these shares, said a fund
manager, requesting anonymity.
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SAT GRANTS INTERIM RELIEF TO AJAY SHAH, SUNITA THOMAS IN
CO-LOCATION CASE
The Securities Appellate
Tribunal (SAT) has granted interim relief to academic Ajay Shah, along with his
sister-in-law Sunita Thomas and brother-in-law, banned by the Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) from being associated with the securities market
for misusing data from the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) for
commercial gains in the co-location case. In an order published on SAT's
website on Wednesday, the tribunal held that the alleged violation took place
almost a decade back Prima-facie, at this stage, we are of the opinion that the
alleged violation, if any, was in the year 2009. More than 10 years have
elapsed and the appellants were associated with the market during this period
and no compliant on any other score has been found against them, said Justice
Tarun Agarwala. SEBI had held that Shah, along with his sister-in-law and an
NSE official, have collusively worked to fulfil their commercial goals by
fraudulently using the data that was obtained by them from NSE to develop
algo-trading software and products. This trading software was used for sale to
market participants for dealing in securities market. Some of these products
were allegedly used by some firms for unfair access to NSE’s systems. NSE had
engaged the services of Infotech Financial Services Pvt Ltd to build a
liquidity index or LIX. This project, according to Sebi’s 40-page order,
involved inherent conflict of interest. Shah in his appeal had argued that he
was on several committees and continuing the directions in the SEBI order would
lead to his removal. He would be removed from these committees and that his
reputation as a Financial Advisor would take a bashing, Shah's counsel told
SAT. While passing the order granting interim relief, SAT said the data which
is alleged to have been used by the appellants (Infotech and others) for
preparation of Algo trading software was explained by NSE to be in the public
domain in related proceedings made against NSE. Taking these points into
consideration SAT granted interim relief to Ajay Shah, Sunita Thomas, Suprabhat
Lala and Infotech Financial Services Pvt Ltd. SAT has given SEBI six weeks to
file a reply.
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RBI TO UPDATE RTI DISCLOSURE NORMS AFTER LOK SABHA ELECTIONS
2019
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) is working on its disclosure policy under the Right to Information Act
(RTI), and will release an updated version in a few weeks, possibly after the
election results. The central bank had, on April 30, updated its disclosure
policy on its website to reflect the omission of certain clauses. These had
been deemed objectionable by the Supreme Court in its April 24 ruling, through
which it gave the RBI a ‘last opportunity’ to make public its confidential
reports on banks, shared earlier only with the management. A comparison with the
cached webpage of the RBI’s disclosure policy shows that the central bank had
essentially deleted section 8(1) (a) and section 8(1) (d) — which talk about
affecting the sovereignty and integrity of India, and impacting third party
interests — from its purview. Except for these two sections and the mention of
a ‘disinvestment’ proposal, the two disclosure policies were near-identical. This
is just removing a few sensitive clauses that the Supreme Court had found
objectionable. This is in no way a finished product. We will come up with the
updated policy in a manner that won’t contravene the Supreme Court order and
also ensure that the RBI is not on the wrong side of law, said a senior
official of the central bank. However, it is unlikely that it will come up with
the policy before the election results are declared, given its sensitive
nature. Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act 2005 regards information, disclosure of
which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the
security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation
with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence. Section 8(1)(d) regards
information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual
property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a
third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public
interest warrants the disclosure of such information. The Supreme Court had
observed that issues of national economic interest; disclosure of information
regarding currency or exchange rates/interest rates/ taxes; regulation or
supervision of banking, insurance and other financial institutions; proposals
for expenditure or borrowing, and foreign investments, could all, in some
cases, harm the national economy, especially if released prematurely. However,
lower-level economic and financial information such as contracts and
departmental budgets should not be withheld under this exemption, according to
this Court in the judgment dated 16.12.2015, said the Supreme Court ruling. The
RBI had wished to withhold information under Section 8(1) of the RTI Act,
regarding inspection/supervisory/scrutiny reports of banks/Financial
Institutions (FIs). Any information derived from these reports or contained in
such reports, and supervisory action taken thereon. The RBI’s rationale for not
disclosing the sensitive scrutiny report was that these constituted advisory to
the bank management for them to work on their weakness. Divulging the
information to public might lead to a run on banks even when the issue is
temporary in nature. Besides, by making the information public, the RBI would
be divulging a lot of information about the clients with whom the banks are
bound by client confidentiality agreements. However, the Supreme Court — first
in its 2015 ruling, and then in the 2019 ruling — had found that the regulator
had no such relationship with banks.
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RAGHURAM RAJAN TOP CONTENDER FOR BANK OF ENGLAND GOVERNOR
POST: REPORT
Raghuram Rajan is moving
up in the race to be the next Bank of England governor However, Dr Rajan had
last year said that he did not intend to apply for the job of Bank of England
governor. I have a very good job at the University of Chicago and I actually am
an academic, not a professional central banker. I am very happy where I am,
Rajan told reporters after an event in London last year.
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JET AIRWAYS CLASSIFIED
AS NPA IN Q4: ICICI BANK
In
a call with analysts on Tuesday, the management said Jet Airways was classified
as non-performing asset (NPA) in the fourth quarter of 2018-19. However they
clarified that the bank had made sufficient provisions against the same. In
addition, the bank also classified the fund-based exposure of ₹276 crore towards Infrastructure
Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) as NPA and made a provision of ₹146 crore against the same. The
management also said that it expects some slippages in the kisaan credit card
portfolio, which forms 3% of the total loan book.
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BSE BOARD APPROVES
BUYBACK OF 67.6 LAKH SHARES
BSE
Limited (earlier known as Bombay Stock Exchange) plans to buy back its fully
paid up equity shares of Rs 2 each at Rs 680 per equity share through tender
offer route. The total amount of buyback size will be a maximum of Rs 460
crore. The company proposes to buy back 67.64 lakh equity shares an offer
price, representing 13.06 per cent of the total paid-up equity capital. The
buyback offer size represents 24.73 per cent of aggregate of the total paid up
capital and free reserves. Meanwhile, BSE reported standalone net profit of Rs
201.05 crore during 2018-19. The operating earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) was Rs 25.32 crore as per standalone
results. The board recommended payment of dividend of Rs 25 per equity share of
face value of Rs 2 each. After taking into account the interim dividend of Rs 5
per share paid in the month of December 2018, the total dividend for the
financial year stands at Rs 30 per equity share of face value of Rs 2 each. The
dividend payout ratio is 97 per cent. The record date for determining
eligibility for the final dividend is June 28 and the payment will be made on
or before August 13.
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SEBI ASKS NSE, BSE TO LIMIT SECTORAL WEIGHTAGE: REPORT
Securities and Exchange
Board of India (SEBI) has requested stock exchanges to consider placing a limit
on sectoral weightage in benchmark indices. SEBI is concerned about the
financial sector’s increasing weight in benchmark indices since financial
stocks dropped post the loan default by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial
Services (IL&FS). As per the report, the financial sector currently has a
37 percent weightage in the Nifty and over 30 percent weightage in the Sensex.
As a regulator, it (SEBI) wants to ensure the market doesn’t become too
vulnerable to the performance of one particular sector, the article qouted a a
source as saying. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE had last week
floated consultation papers for feedback on whether sectoral weightage should
be capped as low as 25 percent.They have set May 31 and May 17, respectively,
as deadline for the feedback. The two exchanges will provide combined feedback
to the market regulator, the report said. Currently, a single stock’s weight
has been restricted at 35 percent in a sectoral index and 25 percent in broader
indices. The top three stocks in an index cannot have a weightage of over 65
percent. Index provider Asia Index, a joint venture between the S&P Dow
Jones and BSE, has written to SEBI expressing its views, the report said. Asia
Index said that such a move would alter the index’s liquidity profile and have
implications for the wider economy.
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SAT STAYS SEBI BAN IMPOSED ON ACADEMIC AJAY SHAH, INFOTECH
FINANCIALS
The Securities Appellate
Tribunal (SAT) has stayed the ban imposed by market regulator Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on academic Ajay Shah, Suprabhat Lala and algo
software developer Infotech Financials and its two directors Sunita Thomas and
Krishna Dagli. In an order passed on April 30, Sebi charged these individuals
and Infotech (the five appellants) for misuse of exchange data for commercial
gains. Prima-facie, at this stage, we are of the opinion that the alleged
violation, if any, was in the year 2009. More than 10 years have elapsed and
the appellants were associated with the market during this period and no
compliant on any other score has been found against them. We also find that the
data which is alleged to have been used by the appellants for preparation of
algo trading software was explained by NSE to be in the public domain in
related proceedings made against NSE, SAT said in an order uploaded on its
website. The tribunal has given Sebi six weeks to respond, following which the
appellants will be given three weeks to submit their rejoinders. SAT will next
hear the matter on July 22. In the April 30 order, Sebi alleged that the five
appellants while developing the so-called Liquidity Index (LIX) obtained
confidential data from NSE which they deployed for preparing an algo trading
software and used it for programming trading strategies. Sebi said the
confidential data was meant only for developing the Lix index. Janak Dwarkadas
and Shyam Mehta, who represented the appellants, argued before SAT that the
data provided by NSE was only a historical data which had no relevance for
future trading. They also said the data was not confidential as it was already
in public domain. The counsels also argued that even though the data was used
for developing the algo trading software, no confidentiality clause was
violated as the data was in the public domain and accessible to all. The
counsels also argued that if the Sebi order is allowed to stand during the
pendency of the appeal, it will put an irreparable loss and harm to the
appellant’s business. SAT is likely to hear the matter on May 14.
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SEBI INITIATES PROCEEDINGS AGAINST ICRA OVER RATING GIVEN TO
CLIENT
Rating agency Icra on
Thursday said market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)
had initiated adjudication proceedings against the company over rating assigned
to a client. The rating agency also said that its board had appointed external
experts to look into an anonymous representation forwarded to the company by
the market regulator. The company said it had made provisions in light of these
two issues. Based on the work done till date, the company has made provision on
a prudent basis with regards to the adjudication proceedings, while, apropos
the representation, no findings have yet been identified. The company will
consider the implications, if any, in due course, upon completion of these
matters, said Icra in a filing to BSE. According to reports, Sebi has initiated
action three rating agencies, including Icra, for their role in the IL&FS
crsis.
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INSURERS WANT 100% STAKE IN INSURTECH STARTUPS
Fintech, long a buzzword
in banking, has reached the shores of insurance companies who are lobbying the
regulator to have a bigger say in stake holding. Insurance companies want to
own and nurture startups with 100% stake from the current 10% cap the regulator
has put on holding. We want to buy all 100% in InsurTech companies, which align
with our business, said Prashant Tripathy. We, as an industry, have made a
presentation to Irdai to allow us to own 100% in these companies. Many
insurance companies still rely on legacy software. Lately, though, they have
dedicated teams to monitor new technologies to be able to understand their true
potential for disruption and are keen to invest in technology companies that
they perceive can disrupt the insurance industry. Companies in the insurance
innovation space are focused on building digital platforms, which are
aggregators and robo advisors using machine learning and usage-based selling.
Insurers are using technology that aids fraud detection at the point of
underwriting and also for assessing risk — for example, the use of wearables in
the context of ‘diagnostics’ for better underwriting. There are a dozen
insurance aggregators that help customers compare policy features and assist in
buying. Others use sensors that stick to the skin and are used for fitness
monitoring, glucose level monitoring to track health.
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HDFC PUTS JET'S MUMBAI OFFICE SPACE FOR SALE TO RECOVER RS 414
CR
Mortgage lender HDFC has
put up crisis-hit Jet Airways' office space for sale with a reserve price of Rs
245 crore” as part of efforts to recover outstanding dues. Jet Airways, which
temporarily shuttered operations on April 17, owes around Rs 414 crore to HDFC.
The borrower (Jet Airways) has failed to repay the amount (Rs 414.80 crore) due
to HDFC Ltd. Accordingly, HDFC Ltd has become entitled to enforce its mortgage
over the immovable property, it said in a public notice. As part of a
resolution plan, State Bank of India-led consortium of domestic lenders have
sought bids for stake sale in the airline. Four entities -- Etihad Airways, TPG
Capital, Indigo Partners and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)
-- are learnt to have shown interest in picking up stake in Jet Airways. The
details of the bidders are expected to be known on Friday.
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MF ASSETS UP 4% AT RS 24.78 LAKH CR IN APRIL
The assets under
management of the mutual fund industry increased four per cent last month to Rs
24.78 lakh crore against Rs 23.79 lakh crore logged in March, due largely to
inflows into liquid and ultra-short duration funds. Liquid funds saw an inflow of
Rs 89,778 crore, while inflows into ultra-short duration funds was Rs 11,000
crore, according to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India
on Thursday. Inflows into equity schemes was down 60 per cent at Rs 4,609
crore, from Rs 11,576 crore logged in March, due to sharp volatility in the
market and a series of corporate rating downgrades. The Equity AUM was down 12
per cent at Rs 7.37 lakh crore from Rs 8.40 lakh crore in March. Inflows into
equity linked savings schemes was down to Rs 458 crore from Rs 2,742 crore,
leading to a sharp drop in equity assets. N.S. Venkatesh, said some of the AUM
data announced for April cannot be compared with that of March as it had
regrouped and reclassified certain schemes to report data in line with the new
format prescribed by SEBI. Retail AUM increased marginally by two per cent to
Rs 10.90 lakh crore from Rs 10.72 lakh crore logged in March. Inflows through
systematic investment plans was up two per cent at Rs 8,238 crore (Rs 8,055
crore) with the addition of 3.62 lakh folios. Fixed maturity plans, which have
been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, witnessed an outflow of Rs
17,600 crore. Mutual funds have forced FMP investors to either extend their
maturity period or wait endlessly for returns.
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RELIANCE INDUSTRIES BUYS GLOBAL TOY RETAILER HAMLEYS FOR
UNDISCLOSED AMOUNT
Reliance Industries has
acquired British toy retailer Hamleys, the energy-to-telecoms conglomerate said
on Thursday. Reliance Industries, which runs the world's biggest
single-location crude oil refinery in western India, has been gradually
transforming itself into a consumer-facing behemoth through its retail and
telecoms ventures. Through its Reliance Brands subsidiary, the company signed
an agreement to buy Hamleys from Hong Kong-listed C Banner International
Holdings. Reliance did not disclose the price, but in 2015 C Banner had bought
it for 100 million pounds ($130.2 million) from France's Groupe Ludendo. The
acquisition marks the first foray of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance
Industries in an overseas retail brand. The worldwide acquisition of the iconic
Hamleys brand and business places Reliance into the frontline of global retail,
said Darshan Mehta.
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HCL TECH OVERTAKES WIPRO TO BECOME THIRD-LARGEST IT SERVICES
FIRM IN INDIA
HCL Technologies (HCLT) on
Thursday surpassed Wipro to become the third-largest IT services firm in India
in 2018-19, making the first change in the pecking order of the country’s
$170-billion IT outsourcing industry in the last seven years. The Noida-based
IT services firm announced its revenues touched $8.63 billion in the last
financial year, a rise of 10 per cent over the previous financial year. In
constant currency terms, the rise was 11.8 per cent. Wipro, in comparison,
posted IT services revenues of $8.12 billion, up 3.8 per cent over the
preceding financial year. Revenues in the fourth quarter were Rs 15,990 crore,
a rise of 21.3 per cent YoY and 1.9 per cent sequentially. The operating margin
of the company, however, dropped 70 basis points to 18.9 per cent in the March
quarter as compared to 19.6 per cent in the preceding quarter. On the back of a
robust deal pipeline, the IT services firm gave a guidance for 14-16 per cent
growth in revenues for FY20, making it the firm with the most optimistic
outlook for this fiscal. In comparison, the TCS management said the firm was
hopeful of posting double-digit revenue growth in FY20, while Infosys has
guided for a 7.5-9.5 per cent rise in the top line.
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L&T ACQUIRES ADDITIONAL 2% STAKE IN MINDTREE; TAKES TOTAL
HOLDING TO 26%
Larsen and Toubro
(L&T) has acquired another 2 per cent stake in Mindtree by purchasing
shares from the open market, taking its overall holding in the mid-sized IT
company to 25.93 per cent, according to a regulatory filing. This is to inform
you that, Larsen and Toubro Ltd has acquired 33,05,775 equity shares (with face
value of Rs 10 each) of Mindtree Ltd, since its last disclosure...made on May
8, 2019, L&T said in a filing. The mode of the acquisition was open market
purchases and L&T's holding after the said purchase stood at 25.93 per
cent, compared to 23.92 per cent prior to the transaction, another filing said.
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WHY INDIA'S BIGGEST INVESTORS IN SHADOW BANK DEBT ARE GETTING
COLD FEET
Mutual fund investments in
commercial paper and bonds that mature within 90 days dropped to 3.24 trillion
rupees ($46.5 billion) at the end of March, the lowest in six quarters, data
from the securities regulator show. The fallout from shock defaults last year
by IL&FS Group continues to make it more difficult and costlier for
companies in the sector, particularly weaker players, to access funding.
India’s non-bank lenders are selling stakes or raising funds by disposals or
securitizations of more loans as the central bank steps in to provide greater
liquidity to squeezed credit markets. Rating cuts on debt instruments of
lenders including Dewan Housing Finance Corp. and companies in Anil Ambani-led
Reliance group in recent months have added to concerns. Mutual funds’ decision
to reduce exposure to non-bank lenders and housing finance companies could be
attributed to a marked reduction in credit flows to select lenders, and
investor concerns on the recent spate of credit downgrades, said Dhawal Dalal.
The funds have cut their exposure to non-bank lenders’ debt to 27 percent of
assets under management as of the end of March from about 34 percent last
September, Dalal said. This could fall toward 25 percent in the near-term, he
said. A liquidity crisis forced non-bank lenders and housing finance companies
to rely heavily on selling down loans for funds in the year ended March,
according to rating company ICRA Ltd. While interventions by the Reserve Bank
of India are helping Indian credit markets regain some normalcy, a focus by
investors on top-rated non-bank financier debt holds risks for lower-rated
lenders.
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SENIOR LAWYERS INDIRA JAISING, ANAND GROVER CRY FOUL OVER SC
NOTICE
Indira Jaising and Anand
Grover Wednesday cried foul over a Supreme Court notice to them and their NGO,
Lawyers Collective, on a plea alleging FCRA violation by them, and said they
are deeply disturbed by the turn of events. They said they are being victimised
as Jaising took up the cause of a sacked woman employee of the apex court who
had levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India
Ranjan Gogoi which were rejected by an In-House Inquiry Committee on May 6. The
notice was issued to them on a plea seeking investigation and lodging of FIR
under various provisions of law for allegedly violating rules relating to
receipt and utilisation of foreign funds. Jaising and Grover, have been asked by
a bench headed by the CJI to respond to a plea by an NGO, Lawyers Voice. It is
obvious to us that this is victimisation on account of Ms Jaising taking up the
issue of the procedure adopted in relation to the allegations of sexual
harassment against the Chief Justice of India by a former employee of the
Supreme Court which Ms Jaising has done so in her capacity as a concerned
citizen, a senior member of the bar and a women's rights advocate, without
commenting on the merits of the allegations, Jaising, Grover and Lawyers
Collective said. They said that since Jaising, a former Additional Solicitor
General, has been publicly vocal on the due process with regard to the conduct
of the In-House Inquiry Committee headed by Justice S A Bobde, the CJI should
have recused himself from hearing the matter. Considering that Ms Jaising has
been publicly vocal on the issue of due process of law in relation to the
conduct of the in-house inquiry, the Chief Justice ought to have recused
himself from hearing the matter, the statement said. They also said that the
plea by Lawyers Voice was filed in the apex court on May 6 and it came be
listed before the CJI's court on Wednesday contrary to the circulars and
notifications of the top court. We are deeply disturbed by the turn of events.
It needs to be noted that the petition came to be filed on May 6, 2019. It
appears from the record on the Supreme Court's website that the petition was
filed on May 6 at 3.19 PM. There were a number of objections, which were
removed on May 7, they said. It further appears that though the matter was not
orally mentioned on May 7, it came to be listed in court number 1 on May 8,
contrary to the circulars and notifications of the Supreme Court in respect of
listing, the statement said. It has been brought to our knowledge that during
the proceedings today, though the petitioner's advocate did not orally seek any
interim orders, the court has passed an order to the effect that the pendency
of the petition will not come in the way of government agencies proceeding in
the matter, the statement said. They said it appeared from the oral submissions
by the advocate appearing for the petitioner that the plea concerns the alleged
'mis-utilisation' of foreign funding under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act,
2010 (FCRA). The statement said that Lawyers Collective has no foreign funding
since 2016 when its FCRA registration was suspended and later, cancelled by the
Union Home Ministry.
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OVER 1 CRORE PLEDGED
SHARES OF MINDTREE WERE RELEASED ON MARCH 30
IT
firm Mindtree on Tuesday informed stock exchanges that around 1.10 crore
pledged shares of the company were released on March 30, following instructions
from various debenture holders. Mindtree is in the midst of a takeover battle,
with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) seeking to take control of the mid-sized IT
firm. However, Mindtree's promoters are opposed to the proposed deal. (A total
of) 1,10,19,467 equity shares (6.71 per cent stake) were pledged in favour of
IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd. have been released pursuant to the instruction
of various debenture holders of various NCDs issued, Mindtree said in a filing
to the exchanges. The pledged shares were released on March 30, 2019, as per
the filing.
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ZEE ENTERTAINMENT
SHARES RECOVER SLIGHTLY AFTER FIRM DENIES REPORT OF AUDIT RELATED CONCERNS
The
shares of Zee Entertainment recovered slightly after the firm denied the report
relating to concerns about the audit of the financial statements for Q4FY19. We
deny the above rumours floating in the market relating to audit of the
financial statements of the company, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL)
said in a regulatory filing. The company stock that fell as much as 12 per cent
intraday recovered slightly to end the day at Rs 333.30, down 35.90, or 9.72
per cent on BSE. The scrip had declined 4 per cent on Tuesday. The audit of
standalone and consolidated financial statements for the fiscal is in progress
by the statutory auditors of the company, it added. A meeting of the board of
directors has already been scheduled on May 27, 2019, the firm also said. On
report of stake sale by promoters, ZEEL said in the separate exchange filing
that it can’t provide clarification on the same as of now. The promoters Essel
Group on Tuesday had said that the process of sale of stake in the company is
at an advanced stage. The company is not in a position to provide any comment
or clarification until such time any potential investor is identified and such
arrangement is disclosed by the promoters to the board of directors of the
company, the firm said in a regulatory filing.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
TELCOS' BODY SAYS WORST
OF TARIFF WARS OVER, STABILITY TO RETURN BY Q4
Stability
and rationality may to return to the telecom market by the fourth quarter of
the current fiscal, as mobile operators move beyond hyper-competitive pricing
into tapping new, value-added avenues of revenue to bolster topline and profit,
according to industry body COAI. We expect stability and rationality to return
to the market. The market has been, in a sense, a bit irrational in terms of
dynamics, in terms of pricing intensity of going after other people's
customers, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director General
Rajan S Mathews told. The telecom operators will look at getting more offerings
like content, e-commerce and financial services aggregated onto their networks
to enhance revenue streams and arrest declines in topline and bottomline, he
said. I don't personally expect to see revenue declining by the time we get to
the fourth quarter of the current financial year. We have seen that for the
last 5-6 quarters, we have seen decline in topline and profitability. That will
be arrested. I don't see a great uptick in churn, and I don't see
hyper-competitive pricing going on because of those factors, I would expect to
see stability return to the market, Mathews added. From an industry
perspective, we have probably seen the worst of churn, and worst of intensity
of cutting of tariffs, so we are seeing more rationality coming in because of
the challenge of raising finances. The question of how bad is it going to be is
past. We are looking at a more positive dimension, Mathews said.
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RICH INDIANS OWN MORE
GOLD THAN GLOBAL AVERAGE; SET TO LAP UP MORE IN 2019
Amid
heightened volatility in the stock market, the ultra-rich are betting big on
Gold, with 14% UHNI’s expected to increase their allocation to the yellow metal
in 2019, according to a report. Nearly 14% of Indian ultra-high networth
individuals (UHNWIs) are likely to increase their investment to Gold asset
class in 2019, 3% higher compared to the previous year 2018. Notably, Indian
UHNWIs already have a higher allocation towards Gold in their investment
portfolio at 4%, as compared to the global average of 2%, and Asia average of
3%. Shishir Baijal, Knight Frank India noted that gold has always been
considered a safe investment and in countries with cultural affinity towards
the yellow metal, a renewal of interest is seen. Like all investments gold also
witnesses volatility but has remained largely stable with a upward bias for
long periods of time, he said. While India is one of the largest consumers of
gold, it has usually been in the form of ornaments for retail purpose. However,
in recent times, the trend seems to be changing now, as investors purchase gold
and bonds for investment purpose, noted the report. This trend is expected to
grow further. With the optimistic outlook towards investments in the asset
class, on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, we expect a number
ultra-rich in India to purchase gold both for investment and consumption
purpose, Baijal added. Interestingly, while 14% of the ultra-rich are looking
to increase allocation to gold, globally, 20% of survey respondents said that
they are going to increase allocation to Gold in 2019, a higher percentage when
compared with 11% citing to have increased allocation in 2018. The positive
attitude of UHNWIs towards investments in the asset class has also gone up in
Asia with 25% expecting an increase when compared to 19% who cited an increase
in allocation in 2019.
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RERA’S THREE-YEAR
REPORT CARD SHOWS GAPS IN IMPLEMENTATION
Santosh
Parashar, has filed a case against a Ghaziabad-based real estate developer with
the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera). Parashar, who is set
to appear for his first hearing on 9 May at the Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater
Noida) bench of UP Rera, is hopeful that the authority will come to his rescue.
Since UP Rera came into existence, it has seen about 12,500 cases, out of which
5,700 have been disposed of till date. Parashar booked an apartment at a
housing project in Ghaziabad in March 2015. He had already paid the booking
amount and a few initial instalments. Parashar refused to sign the agreement
and asked for a re-allotment. After several rounds of requests and arguments,
he was finally allotted another unit, and signed the agreement in December
2015. But this was not the end of his ordeal. Some months later, Parashar found
out to his utter shock that the unit alloted to him didn’t exist in the
building plan. A few other homebuyers also faced the same issue, but repeated
enquiries failed to elicit any response from the developer. Moreover, the
project is delayed. Buyers were supposed to get possession in December 2018,
but construction came to a halt one and a half years ago and only 30% of the
work has been done till date, said Parashar, who finally lodged a formal
complaint with Rera in April 2019. The Act was enacted on 1 May 2016, and all
states were mandated to formulate and notify rules for the functioning of the
regulator in their respective jurisdictions within six months, and set up a
regulator by 1 May 2017. However, many states failed to meet both these
deadlines. Every state was also supposed to launch a website within a year of
Rera’s establishment. However, according to information compiled by Anarock
Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd, a real estate consultancy, states like Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland are yet to notify rules under the Act.
Also, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Lakshadweep and Puducherry are yet to
launch their websites (see graphic). A few others states have diluted some of
the provisions of the Act, while the West Bengal government has drafted its own
separate real estate Act and established a Housing Industry Regulatory
Authority under it. Launching a website was an important aspect of the Act to
provide homebuyers information such as names of under-construction projects and
details like the names of developers and promoters, approvals, the number of
apartments, possession date, registered agents, and so on. The Act mandates
that the website must enable homebuyers to file complaints online. While many
states don’t have a website yet, some of the existing websites do not have
adequate information and are of little help to the homebuyers. Orissa Rera does
not even have a working phone number to guide, said Sarada Prasanna Das. Das
booked an apartment in late 2011, which was to be delivered in 2013. The
39-year-old finally had to cancel his booking in 2015 as the construction of
the tower in which he booked had not even started. After a lot of following up,
the developer returned ₹40,000 out of about ₹5 lakh Das had paid, and provided a
repayment plan to settle the remaining amount by July 2016. Das, who hasn’t received even a single repayment
instalment until now after the initial payment, is now trying to get Rera’s
help to recover his dues. But so far he has been unable to file a formal
complaint with Rera because he doesn’t know how to go about it and the
information on the website is not helpful enough. Das is not the only one who
is disappointed with the way Rera functions. Manish Patni, is fighting a case
against a Haryana-based developer in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission (NCDRC) seeking a refund of his payments to the developer with
interest, as the project is delayed. He claims that the developer had promised
a different layout in the builder-buyer agreement and the brochure at the time
of booking but submitted a revised brochure for the project, with a different
project layout, when getting the project registered with Rera. When I along with
other aggrieved homebuyers wrote an email to Rera and Town and Country Planning
Department, Haryana, providing them information about the wrongdoings of the
developer, none of them acted on it. When we approached the Rera office, they
said they would act if we withdraw the case from NCDRC and file a fresh formal
complaint with Rera. Patni alleged that Rera had not taken any action even
though they had provided it the relevant information and documents. While a few
states claim to have solved a large number of complaints filed with them, their
websites still lack some important information. For instance, information about
cases against developers or projects are not available on the UP Rera website.
However, in a recent interview, Rajive Kumar, chairman, Uttar Pradesh Rera,
said that they are working on it and such information will be made available
soon. Pradeep Mishra, said Rera is doing relatively well if we consider
projects that were launched after Rera came into existence. The authority is
checking papers before registering projects; it is also doing a ground check,
taking stock of development and so on. However, it’s a toothless tiger when it
comes to old projects, said Mishra. Given the high level of project delays and
cheating cases, Rera’s enactment after eight long years of wait (its first
concept paper came in 2008) had raised hopes among homebuyers. But lack of
seriousness and slow pace of its implementation by several states has come as a
setback.
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VODAFONE GROUP PLEDGES VODAFONE IDEA STAKE WITH SEVEN FOREIGN
BANKS
Vodafone Group Plc has
pledged its entire 44.39% stake in Vodafone Idea — worth over ₹18,000
crore — with seven foreign banks, after India’s
largest telco issued new shares to the promoters following a ₹25,000-crore
rights issue. Vodafone Promoter Mauritius Shareholders and Vodafone Promoter
Indian Shareholders have pledged their 44.39% stake in Vodafone Idea, the
company told stock exchanges on Wednesday. There are 12 entities under Vodafone
Group that own the stake, and are based out of India and Mauritius. According
to the filing, Vodafone Group has pledged the shares for financing arrangements
in favour of HSBC Corporate Trustee Company (UK) Ltd, which is acting as a
trustee for BNP Paribas, HSBC Bank Plc, ING Bank NVSingapore branch, StanChart
Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc.
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SUITORS ARE LINING UP FOR MCDONALD'S NORTH AND EAST INDIA
OPERATIONS
As fast-food chain
McDonald’s India and its estranged partner Vikram Bakshi look to settle their
six-year-old dispute suitors are lining up to run the former's operations in
north and east India. The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group and Moon Beverages, which is
Coca-Cola’s largest bottling partner, have initiated talks with McDonald’s for
Bakshi’s Connaught Plaza Restaurants (CPRL) that runs 165 McDonald’s
restaurants in the north and east, the Economic Times reported, quoting three
officials aware of the developments. Speculation is rife that Amit Jatia-led
Hardcastle Restaurants, which runs McDonald’s outlets in south and west India,
may want to run the burgers-and-fries business nationally.
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RELIANCE TO DIGITISE 5
MILLION INDIAN KIRANA STORES BY 2023
As
more and more neighbourhood kirana stores aim to modernise their tech
infrastructure, the entry of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) would help
expand the current 15,000 digitized store base to over five million stores by
2023, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) research said on Tuesday. One of
the most interesting trends in retail sector in India is that kirana stores are
keen to upgrade their merchant point-of-sale (MPoS) technology, which is
driving a wave of modernisation (90% of the $700 billion retail market is still
unorganised). The current one-time price point of ₹50,000 limits the market to Class A/B
stores (turnover of ₹900K /month). We
believe that with the RIL's entry, we could see an increase in merchant
adoptability, as the price points will likely come down (RIL's current one-time
deposit is ₹3,000) and reach should
expand, the research noted. As a big player, RIL is entering an otherwise
scattered market. Some of the key players in the fragmented merchant
point-of-sale (MPoS) are SnapBizz, Nukkad Shops and GoFrugal. Kirana stores
liked the ease of billing/generating GST complaint bills the best. The PoS
system provides an option of adding in-built discounts and also push offers to
entire customer database via SMS, the research noted.
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AMAZON HIT BY EXTENSIVE FRAUD: HACKERS STOLE MONEY FROM 100
SELLER ACCOUNTS
Amazon.com Inc. said it
was hit by an extensive fraud, revealing that unidentified hackers were able to
siphon funds from merchant accounts over six months last year. Amazon believes
it was the victim of a serious online attack by hackers who broke into about
100 seller accounts and funneled cash from loans or sales into their own bank
accounts, according to a UK legal document. The hack took place between May
2018 and October 2018, Amazon’s lawyers said in a redacted filing from November
that can now be made public. Amazon said it was still investigating the
compromised accounts and believed that hackers managed to change details of
accounts on the Seller Central platform to their own at Barclays Plc and Prepay
Technologies Ltd., which is partly owned by Mastercard Inc., according to the
filing. Amazon found the accounts were likely compromised by phishing
techniques that tricked sellers into giving up confidential login information.
An Amazon spokesman said the company had finished its investigation of the
incident. The case highlights how the world’s biggest online retail platform --
designed to be automated with minimal human input -- can be misused and how
difficult it is for Amazon to find perpetrators. Lawyers for Amazon asked a
London judge to approve searches of account statements at Barclays and Prepay,
which have become innocently mixed up in the wrongdoing. Amazon needed the
documents to investigate the fraud, identify and pursue the wrongdoers, locate
the whereabouts of misappropriated funds, bring the fraud to an end and deter
future wrongdoing, the company’s lawyers said in the court filing. The filing
doesn’t say how the suspected wrongdoers were able to add details of additional
banks to the merchant accounts. The Amazon units named in the filing include
Amazon Capital Services UK Ltd., which makes loans available to sellers for as
long as one year. The first fraudulent transfer occurred on May 16, according
to the filing.
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COWORKING OFFICE SPACE:
THE EMERGING SPOT FOR INVESTORS
With
a sharp increase in leasing in the shared working space over the last few
quarters, co-working is catching up as a preferred asset class for several
leading developers and investors, a report by real estate consultancy firm CBRE
said. Flexible working space saw a 277% jump in leasing to nearly 3 million sq
ft in the first quarter of calendar 2019, according to the report. On a
quarterly basis, it shot up by 70%. Even the size of leasing have increased
significantly with several co-working operators shifting focus to taking up
medium-to-large sized spaces of as much as 1 lakh sqft, the report said. Bangalore
and the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) region were the most preferred
markets for flexible space operators in India, accounting for more than half of
leasing in the country in the segment during January-March this year, the
report showed. As per the report, interest in the segment was also strong from
a landlord perspective as is evident by Hyderabad-based developer Meenakshi
Group's investment in iKeva to support expansion plans of the co-working
startup. He said the leasing quantum of this segment is expected to rise to
about 10 million sq. ft. by 2020 from about 7.1 million sq. ft. in 2018.
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TCS SET TO BECOME
WORLD’S THIRD-LARGEST IT SERVICES COMPANY
Tata
Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) is set to surpass DXC Technology Co. to become
the world’s third-largest software services provider in fiscal 2018-19, marking
the first change in the pecking order of the information technology (IT)
outsourcing industry in two years. If TCS does surpass DXC, it will only lag
behind International Business Machines Corp. and Accenture Plc. DXC Technology,
formed by the merger of Computer Sciences with a division of Hewlett Packard in
2017, needs to clock a 5.06% sequential growth in the fourth quarter to end
with $20.91 billion in revenue. Most analysts believe it is unlikely that DXC
will manage this growth. DXC declares its fourth-quarter earnings on 23 May. TCS
grew 9.6%, or added $1.82 billion in new business, to end with $20.91 billion
in revenue in the year ended 31 March. In the first nine months of 2018-19, TCS
generated $15.52 billion in revenue, more than the $15.47 billion in business
done by DXC. TCS’s strong performance over the two years has seen a change of
guard at the top. In 2017, TCS entrusted Rajesh Gopinathan, to take over as
chief executive and succeed N. Chandrasekaran, who was named the chairman of
Tata Sons Ltd. Still, the company managed to retain all its senior executives
and improved its growth and profitability, with the consensus view that this
was one of the smoothest management transitions at an Indian corporate entity. DXC
had $25.39 billion in revenue when it was set up in 2017, while TCS ended with
$17.57 billion in revenue. This implies that over the last two years, DXC has
seen its revenue decline by more than $4 billion, while during this time TCS
has added $3.34 billion in incremental revenue. IBM, which ended with $79.59
billion in revenue last year, does not disclose business from IT outsourcing
services. However, the company got $69.76 billion in business from global
business, technology services and cognitive solutions, all of which can be
clubbed under IT services business. Accenture ended with $39.57 billion last
year.
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
INDIA WILL BE FIRST NATION TO TEST FB'S DIGITAL CURRENCY:
REPORT
The inner workings of
Facebook’s blockchain team are still shrouded in secrecy but it’s staffing up,
according to people familiar with the group. Those people said that its
product, which Bloomberg earlier reported will be a type of cryptocurrency,
could be announced as soon as next quarter.;Launched last May, Facebook’s
blockchain unit now counts 50 employees. According to Facebook insiders, the
blockchain group is developing a stablecoin, a type of digital currency pegged
to the US dollar or a basket of currencies, making it less prone to swings in price.
The first country that will test the currency will be India, a region that is
particularly appealing for Facebook because it still has room to expand. The
product could allow users to transfer money for remittances via WhatsApp
through stablecoin. Chris Hughes has called for the break up of the social
network in a piece in the New York Times.We are a nation with a tradition of
reining in monopolies, no matter how well intentioned the leaders of these
companies may be. Mark's power is unprecedented and un-American, he wrote on
Thursday.
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APPLE FINALISES LIST OF
LOCATIONS FOR ITS FIRST RETAIL STORE IN INDIA: REPORT
Apple
Inc. has finalized a short list of locations for its first retail store in
India, according to people familiar with the plans, as the company redoubles
its efforts in the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market. The iPhone giant
has zeroed in on several upscale sites in Mumbai, and plans to make a final
decision in the next few weeks, said the people, asking not to be named because
the discussions are private. The vetted spots are comparable to iconic Apple
locations on Fifth Avenue in New York, Regent Street in London or the
Champs-Elysees in Paris, they said. Apple has been prohibited from opening its
own stores in the country because it doesn’t meet local sourcing requirements,
but it’s shifting manufacturing into India and is in talks with the government
about its retail expansion. The Cupertino, has struggled to establish itself in
India where consumers have opted for less expensive Chinese brands such as
Xiaomi and Vivo. But Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has vowed to improve in
the fast-growing market, especially as Apple loses ground in China. Manufacturing
in India will also allow the company to sidestep 20 percent tariffs on imported
phones, making its devices more competitive. Now Apple appears to be doing the
difficult -- and expensive -- work of building a foundation for its business.
Foxconn Technology Group, its most important manufacturing partner, is running
quality tests for the iPhone Xr series in India and plans to begin mass
production at a facility in the suburbs of Chennai. Older models are already
assembled at a Wistron plant in Bangalore. The increase in local operations
should expedite approval for a company-owned store when a new government takes
over in India at the end of May or early June, said the people.
#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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