CA Online

The new unit will research, draft rules and supervise new emerging technologies in the future.  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed a new unit within the central bank to beef up its own intellectual capital in the face of emerging technologies like cryptocurrency, blockchain and artificial intelligence.  This new unit will research and possibly draft rules and supervise new emerging technologies in the future, two people familiar with the central bank’s plans said.  “As a regulator, the RBI also has to explore new emerging areas to check what can be adopted and what cannot. A central bank has to be on top to create regulations. This new unit is on an experimental basis and will evolve as time passes,” said one of the people cited above. The unit is just about a month old as of now and though a chief general manager is identified to lead it, a formal announcement internally has not been made yet.  An RBI spokesperson did not reply to an email seeking comment. Analysts said RB

Market Regulator likely to let cos use stock exchanges to sell bonds directly to investors, including retail investors, any time and as many times during a financial year, after filing a single prospectus  Sugata Ghosh & Reena Zachariah  ‘Bond tap’, which gives corporates the flexibility to time the market, prune cost, and dramatically cut down on paperwork for raising money, will soon be a reality in India. Capital market regulator Sebi is preparing the ground to allow ‘on tap public issue of bonds’ — a mechanism that will let corporates use stock exchanges to sell bonds directly to investors, including retail investors, any time and as many times during a financial year, after filing a single prospectus.  “After filing the tap bond issue prospectus, a corporate can decide when to enter the market. It can be multiple times during a financial year depending on the fund need and market appetite... as the name suggests, it’s turning the tap on or off. Such issuances could be a ch

The payroll data has been revised downwards for each of the nine months between September 2017 and May this year The net enrolment numbers released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been revised down by 12.4 per cent for the September-May period, from an earlier estimate of 4.5 million to 3.9 million.  The payroll count in June rose by 24 per cent to 793,308. The net enrolment numbers for June were the highest since September 2017. In May, the payroll numbers had grown by 10 per cent to 638,653.  The payroll count is essentially the difference between the number of workers who joined and exited from the EPFO’s fold. All employees who work in establishment hiring at least 20 workers contribute towards provident fund and pension, managed by the EPFO. The Union government has been citing this data since past few months as an indication for job growth in the economy. During a debate on the no-confidence motion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed that over

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose more than fourfold between 1993-94 and 2011-12 but workers salaries only doubled, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Monday in the latest indication of low pay and growing wage inequality in the country.  Over the last two decades, GDP has risen at an annual average of about 7%. “Overall, this means that GDP rose more than four-fold since 1993”, but low pay and wage inequality India Wage Report.  “The India Wage Report shows that low pay and wage inequality remain a serious challenge to India’s path to achieving decent working conditions and inclusive growth,” said the report, adding that the average real wage in India has doubled between 1993-94 and 2011-12. It said though rural wage increased faster than urban wage, the cumulative wage in urban India is more than double that of rural India, indicating the wage inequality in the country and how decent work remains a constant challenge. India’s strong economic growth is not

The inter-creditor agreement (ICA) between banks, which is part of the government’s Sashakt plan, is meeting with some stiff resistance from some private sector banks and almost all foreign banks. The agreement was mooted by the Sunil Mehta committee as the first step to resolve bad or non-performing loans (NPAs). Any bank that signs the ICA, agrees to the following conditions: 1. When a borrower defaults or shows signs of default, the lead bank shall alone negotiate with the promoter or with rival bidders for a resolution. 2. If any bank dissents, it has the option to buy the loan from other bankers at a premium or sell its loan to them at a 15% discount to the liquidation value of the loan. 3. If two-thirds of the lenders involved in a loan have signed the ICA, then the provisions of this agreement will apply. Almost all public sector banks have signed the agreement. Among private banks ICICI, Axis, Federal and some smaller banks have signed, but banks like HDFC, Kotak and

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Viral Acharya on Monday said there is a need to enact a new law to bring the public credit registry (PCR) under its purview.  A new PCR Act will ensure transparency in data acquisition and dissemination through access rights by various users, Acharya said at a session at the Ficci-IBA conference.  “It is desirable to have a special comprehensive legislation overriding the prohibitions contained in all other legislations on sharing of information required for PCR. Otherwise, all such legislation will have to be amended separately, providing an exemption for sharing of information with PCR,” said Acharya. The idea of a PCR was first mooted by Acharya himself last year at the Annual Statistics Day conference. He said the PCR aims to be an extensive database of credit information that is accessible to all stakeholders. From the point of origination of credit to its termination, the PCR will capture all lender-borrower accounts at one place. A

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) employees are threatening to skip work across the country on September 5 and 6 to press with their long-pending demands for updating pension plans and grant of new options on the retirement corpus.  They want one more option for pensions to Contributory Provident Fund (CPF) retainers. Furthermore, they say that CPF or Additional Provident Fund should apply to staff recruited since 2012. Staff members have come together under the banner of the United Forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees to press for industrial action that could hurt traditional banking operations in the first week of September. They claimed the finance ministry had always turned down their demand, although it updated pensions for about 5.5 million central government employees. “RBI governors, past and present, have time and again taken up the issue with the government and assured the employees and retirees of a positive outcome. However, it has not happened. The ministry has every