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Want them to be capital-ready, spot early signals of stress in loan books Amid mounting bad loans and dip in profits, financial services regulators of several countries where Indian banks operate have sought assurance from bank managements about the readiness of parents, shareholders to chip in capital when required. Meeting senior officials of local banks and the Reserve Bank of India, officials of these financial market authorities emphasised the need to spot early signals of stress in loans books and make necessary provisions before it's late. More than a dozen Indian banks run branches abroad. “Regulatory bodies from UK, Hong Kong, China, UAE and other countries held separate meetings with large and midsize banks this week to figure out how they are placed to remain well-capitalised and treat the special mention assets,“ a senior banker told ET. The exercise is part of the meeting hosted by RBI under the system of `regulatory college'.Each bank is required to make pre

Digital payments can check black money and playakey role in fighting graft, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday as he asked the youth to become an “anticorruption cadre” as part of the “cleanliness” drive. Addressing his monthly Mann ki Baat radio programme, he said people, especially the youth, should become ambassadors of digital payments schemes rolled out by the government. “Lead this movement. Take it further as it hasavery major and prominent role in the fight against corruption and black money. To me, each and every individual involved in this mission constitutesanew anticorruption cadre in the country. Inaway you areasoldier in the cause of cleanliness and purity,” the Prime Minister said. He said gradually people are“sheddingtheirhardcurrency mindset” and moving towards digital currency and the youth are leading the way using their mobile phones as the new tool to make and receive payments. In the past two months, one million people have been rewarded, over 50,00

Legal and tax experts share some concernds about the revised model GST lAW Anti profiteering clause:The intention of the antiprofiteering clause is to pass on the benefits accuring on the benefits account to However, both industry divided. model GST central an authority the benefits while transitioning such as rate reduction passed penalty been passed Experts parameters service. operational will have says Smita Sujit Advaita provision Experts complain that there is ambiguity around what constitutes “commensurate reduction in the price”. There is also lack of clarity on whether the provisions will be applied on application from the affected parties or through suo motu investigation by the relevant authority. “The government needs to be careful while framing the rules to bring objectivity in deciding whether the benefit has been passed on to the customers or not,” says Bipin Sapra, tax partner, EY India. Advaita´s Ghosh feels the antiprofiteering provisions are susceptible toacon

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to formulate standard operating procedures (SOP) for approval of foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals by ministries. The proposal for setting up norms for FDI approvals in sensitive sectors, which are currently under government approval of the FDI policy, was discussed atarecent interministerial meeting. According to sources, several options came up for discussions at the meeting. In order to further improve ease of doing business, the government has decided to abolish the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and formanew mechanism for expeditious clearance of foreign investment proposals. Business Standard New Delhi,27th February 2017

India’s domestic economy has been on the recovery curve, with the real estate and construction sector taking a leading position. Recent steps taken by the government —from the demonetisation drive and the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) — are all working towards bringing in transparency and increased investor confidence in the real estate market. India is fast emerging as an attractive investment market with positive macro-economic sentiment - government initiatives to spur investments and a developing real estate market, are all integrating to make India a positive market for attracting investors. Underlining India’s position as a robust commercial real estate market is its appeal as an established outsourcing hub, which is expected to fuel expansion initiatives by corporate real estate occupiers from around the globe. The overall sentiment among corporate occupiers remains optimistic in recent times a

The tax department has reiterated that the PoEM rules, which require foreign firms to pay taxes in India if the effective control is here, will not apply to companies withaturnover of Rs.50 crore or less inafinancial year. Last month, the tax department had come out with the longawaited Place of Effective Management (PoEM) rules, which require foreign companies in India and Indian firms with overseas subsidiaries to pay local taxes if their businesses are effectively controlled by Indians. Then the rules did not setathreshold above which they were to apply. However, the accompanying press release states that the rules will not apply to companies withaturnover of up to Rs.50 crore inayear. That created confusion whether the threshold will be adhered to. Inacircular to clarify things, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said the provision "shall not apply toacompany havingaturnover or gross receipts of ~50 crore or less inafinancial year". PoEM rules essentially ta

The creation ofa ´bad bank´ will speed up resolution of stressed assets in the banking system, but it will also require significant capital infusion in the staterun banks to meet any shortfall, saysareport. The recent economic survey mentioned about formation ofabad bank that will purchase stressed assets and take them to resolution. “The creation ofa ´bad bank´ could accelerate the resolution of stressed assets in country´s banking sector, but it may face significant logistical difficulties and would simultaneously requireacredible bank recapitalisation programme to address the capital shortfalls at stateowned banks,” Fitch Ratings said inareport here on Friday. It said the country´s banks have significant asset quality problems that are putting pressure on profitability and capital, as well as constraining their ability to lend. It expects the stressedasset ratio to rise over the coming year from the 12.3 per cent as at endSeptember 2016, with the ratio significantly higher among