Issue: 1163
FDI policy changed: 60-day
clearance for border country investments in electronics, capital goods: The Union Cabinet chaired by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved key changes to the foreign direct
investment (FDI) policy governing investments from countries sharing land
borders with India, introducing a defined approval timeline and easing certain
restrictions to attract global capital into manufacturing, startups and
deep-tech sectors. Under the revised policy,
investment proposals from land-bordering countries (LBCs) in specified sectors
will be processed within 60 days, providing greater certainty to companies
planning joint ventures or technology collaborations.
(Business Today)
India invokes Essential
Commodities Act to prioritise LPG supply for households and CNG: The government has invoked the
Essential Commodities Act to regulate the supply of natural gas, prioritising
the critical commodity for households and CNG vehicles, as well as for the
production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for shipment.
The
order prioritises the supply of natural gas to the Domestic Piped Natural Gas
(D-PNG) supply, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for transport, LPG production,
Pipeline compressor fuel, and other essential pipeline operational
requirements. These sectors “shall be
treated as priority allocation and shall be maintained subject to operational
availability to hundred per cent. of their average past six month average gas
consumption”.
(Business Line)
Finmin seeks Parliamentary
approval for ?1 lakh cr ‘Economic Stabilisation Fund’ to face war-induced
volatility: To
prepare for unforeseen economic shocks in the context of the war in West Asia,
the Finance Ministry on Wednesday sought Parliamentary approval to establish a
?1 lakh crore ‘Economic Stabilisation Fund’.
More
than half of the requirement of funds will be met through fresh cash outgo,
while the remainder will come from savings, the document related to the second
batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants (SDG) showed.
(Business Line)
State Bank of
India shuns Russian crude oil payments despite US reprieve: SBI is not willing to process payments
for Russian oil even after the US government issued a temporary waiver for
India’s imports, as the lender is uncertain how long the concession will last,
according to people familiar with the matter. The state-owned bank believes
that engaging in such business could expose it to risks as it has a sizable
loan portfolio in global markets, and also hurt its reputation, said the people
who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
The
lender’s stance underscores how short-term easing of US sanctions is doing
little to revive financial channels supporting India’s purchases of Russian
crude. SBI had refrained from facilitating any transactions tied to Russian oil
imports following US sanctions announced on Russia’s two biggest crude oil
producers in October.
(Business Line)
High-level panel may
examine bank consolidation: A government-appointed
high-level committee on banking for Viksit Bharat could look at issues such as
consolidation among lenders and foreign investor voting caps, according to ICRA.
"The basic premise is that the government is of the belief that you need
large size institutions to cater to the demands," Srinivasan said, adding
that India may require bigger banks to support domestic growth rather than
relying entirely on foreign funds. He said the panel may examine
"consolidation, voting patterns for foreign investors, there are caps
today, and whether you are going to look at conversion of NBFCs into banks or
allow them to remain large NBFCs".
(Economic Times)
IDFC First Bank settles
Chandigarh fraud claims at ?645 crore: IDFC First Bank on Tuesday
said it has completed the reconciliation of all relevant accounts at its
Chandigarh branch and confirmed there are no further discrepancies, bringing
partial closure to a fraud incident that rattled investors and markets in late
February. In a regulatory filing to stock exchanges, the bank disclosed that it
has paid a net principal amount of ?645 crore to claimants ?55 crore more than
its initial estimate of ?590 crore. The bank said the incremental payout is
linked to additional claims received against the same incident and the same
branch, and is not connected to any new incident.
(Economic Times)
US banks eye capital
victory as regulators tee up new Basel draft:
U.S. President Donald Trump's bank ?regulators will
unveil in coming weeks long-awaited draft rules that could ultimately shrink
the amount of ?cash lenders must set aside to absorb losses, in a major
potential victory for the industry. The
Federal Reserve and fellow agencies are expected this month to unveil a more
industry-friendly draft of the "Basel" rule overhauling how lenders
gauge risk, three industry executives said. The agencies also plan to release a
related proposal easing an extra ?capital surcharge levied on ?the riskiest
global ?systemically
important banks, or GSIBs, they said.
(Economic Times)
PSBs mopped up over ?28,000
cr in 5 years through selling third party financial products:
Public sector banks earned over ?28,600 crore in
five years through selling of third party financial products, Finance
Ministry’s data presented in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday showed. Such products
include insurance (life and non-life), mutual funds, credit cards, demat
accounts. This data is critical as
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently asked the banks once again to
focus on core business while saying that they are spending more time on selling
insurance than core business
(Business Line)
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers
resigns with immediate effect; Rahul Bhatia takes interim charge: InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, the parent company of
IndiGo, announced that its CEO Pieter Elbers has resigned with immediate effect.
This comes months after the carrier faced its worst-ever operational disruption
in December that had put its management under intense scrutinyThe Board said it
accepted his resignation, which was submitted citing personal reasons, and
agreed to waive the notice period requested by him. The decision was taken at a
meeting of the Board of Directors held on March 10, where the resignation was
formally approved. Elbers, who had been serving as CEO since September 2022,
will be relieved of his duties at the end of the same day..
(Business Today)
Tata Consultancy Services
wealth erosion tops $100 billion from peak: In a first for a domestically listed company,
the market capitalisation (mcap) of Tata group flagship Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS) has fallen by more than $100 billion from its peak. At its high
on January 17, 2022, the information technology (IT) bellwether was valued at
$200.15 billion. At the latest close, its mcap stood at about $99 billion
(?9.09 trillion), reflecting a sharp erosion in investor wealth. The decline
comes amid a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Indian IT services companies as
investors assess the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on traditional
outsourcing models.
(Business Standard)
Amfi to approach Sebi over
discontinuation of solution schemes: The Association of Mutual Funds in India
(Amfi) will make a representation to the Securities and Exchange Board of India
(Sebi) regarding the regulator’s proposal to discontinue retirement and
children’s mutual fund (MF) categories, Amfi Chief Executive Venkat Chalasani
said on Monday. The representation will highlight the concerns of investors and
asset management companies arising from the sudden closure of the two scheme
categories, which together manage over Rs 57,000 crore. These solution-oriented
schemes currently comprise 41 funds and have more than 6.2 million folios.
(Business Standard)
Union Cabinet clears
amendments to IBC, Companies Act and LLP Act: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved changes
to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) suggested by a parliamentary panel,
as well as the Companies Act and the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Act,
according to official sources.
Changes to the Companies
Act and LLP Act, sources said, focus on easing processes and the compliance
burden on businesses. In both Acts, various forms have proposed for
rationalisation, alongside more action on decriminalisation for greater ease of
doing business. The IBC Bill has proposed changes including a
credit-initiated insolvency resolution process and a two-tier approval
framework for resolution, besides bringing in provisions for group and
cross-border insolvency.
(Business Standard)
Over ?4.09 Lakh Crore
Disbursed to Farmers under PM-KISAN through 21 Installments since Launch: The PM-KISAN scheme is a central sector scheme
launched in February 2019 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister to supplement the
financial needs of farmers with cultivable land-holding. Under the scheme, a
financial benefit of ? 6,000/- per year is transferred in three equal
instalments, into the Aadhaar seeded bank accounts of farmers through Direct
Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. Under the PM-KISAN Scheme, cultivable landholding
is primary eligibility criteria to receive benefit of the Scheme subject to
certain exclusions relating to higher economic status.
This
information was given by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare,
Shri Bhagirath Chaudhary in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
(PiB)
RBI issues new rules on how
banks can distribute dividends, links payouts to capital strength: RBI has issued updated
prudential norms governing dividend declaration and profit remittance by banks,
to ensure payouts remain aligned with capital strength and asset quality. The
new directions apply to commercial banks including banking companies,
corresponding new banks and State Bank of India, as well as foreign banks
operating in India through branch structures. The guidelines lay down detailed
eligibility conditions and limits governing how much dividend, banks
incorporated in India can distribute to shareholders and how foreign banks can
remit profits to their parent entities abroad. The central bank said the move
is aimed at ensuring that banks maintain adequate capital buffers and financial
stability while distributing profits.
(Economic Times)
RBI caps bank dividend
payout at 75% of profit after tax under new norms: RBI on Tuesday said banks
incorporated in India can declare dividends based on their capital adequacy
levels, with the payout capped at 75 per cent of profit after tax (PAT) for the
relevant financial year. The dividend quantum will depend on a bank’s Common
Equity Tier-1 (CET1) ratio, with higher capital buffers allowing greater payout
flexibility, according to the amended guidelines on declaration of dividend by
RBI-regulated entities, released on Tuesday. Banks with CET1 ratios just above
the regulatory minimum will not be allowed to pay dividends. Those with
significantly stronger capital positions may distribute up to 100 per cent of
adjusted PAT, subject to the overall 75 per cent cap of PAT.
(Business Standard)
Cabinet approves extension
of Jal Jeevan Mission till December 2028: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday
approved the extension of Jal Jeevan Mission up to December 2028 with an
enhanced outlay of Rs 8.7 lakh crore for the rural drinking water supply
project which will now shift focus from infrastructure creation to service
delivery. The project was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 to
provide safe and adequate drinking water through tap connections to all
households in rural India.
(Business Standard)
ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES ACT 1955
§ The
Centre on Tuesday issued an order under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955,
directing the diversion of natural gas to the economy’s priority sectors. The
move comes a day after the government directed refineries to use their propane,
butane, propylene and butene output entirely for LPG production under the same
Act.
§ The
Essential Commodities Act, 1955, empowers the Centre to control the production,
supply and distribution of commodities deemed essential, to ensure availability
at reasonable prices.
§ The
Act allows the Centre to add new commodities to the essential list or remove
them, depending on prevailing circumstances. In 2020, Parliament amended the
law to limit the Centre’s powers to impose stockholding limits on certain food
items. Under the amendment, stock limits on cereals, pulses, potatoes, onions,
edible oilseeds and oils can be imposed only under extraordinary circumstances
such as war, famine, natural calamities or a sharp price surge.
§ Such
limits may be triggered if there is a 100 per cent increase in the retail price
of horticultural produce or a 50 per cent increase in the retail price of
non-perishable food items compared to the previous 12 months or the average of
the last five years, whichever is lower.
RBI KEY RATES
Repo
Rate: 5.25%
SDF:
5.00%
MSF
/Bank Rate: 5.50%
CRR:
3.00%
SLR:
18.00%
FOREX RATES (RBI REF. RATE)
INR
/ 1 USD : 92.0174
INR
/ 1 GBP : 123.6990
INR
/ 1 EUR : 106.9960
INR
/100 JPY: 58.4000
EQUITY INDEX
Sensex: 78205.98 (+639.82)
NIFTY: 24261.60 (+233.55)
Bnk NIFTY: 56950.80 (+931.00)
Historical events: March 11 marks
significant global and Indian events: the 2011 Japan earthquake/tsunami, the
2020 COVID-19 pandemic declaration, and the 1689 execution of Maratha King
Sambhaji. Key historical milestones include the 1917 fall of Baghdad to
Anglo-Indian forces, the 1941 US Lend-Lease Act, and the 2011 Indian missile
tests.
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