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  In a relief to small-size firms, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday relaxed rules for opening current accounts with the banking system’s exposure of less than Rs 5 crore. The RBI asked banks to take an undertaking from borrowers that they will inform lenders when the credit facilities availed reaches Rs 5 crore or more.   The rules have been tweaked based on feedback received from Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and other stakeholders, the RBI said. Borrowers with banking system’s exposure of Rs 5 crore or more can maintain current accounts with any one of the banks with which it has CC/OD facility. Such banks must have at least 10 per cent of the exposure of the banking system to that borrower.Further, other lending banks may open only collection accounts, the RBI said. This can be done on condition that funds deposited in such accounts are remitted within two working days of receiving these to the CC/OD account.   The bank having the highest exposure may open current account

  Markets regulator Sebi has confirmed earlier directions passed against former CNBC Awaaz anchor Hemant Ghai, his wife and mother, that barred them from the capital markets for indulging in fraudulent trading practices. In an order passed late on Thursday, Sebi said the findings in the order are "prima facie" and that a detailed investigation in the matter is in progress. In its interim order passed in January, Sebi had noted that Hemant Ghai had advance information about the recommendations to be made on the ''Stock 20-20'' show, co-hosted by him, and he directly or indirectly used it to his advantage. The show featured recommendations on certain stocks to be bought and sold during the day. His wife Jaya Hemant Ghai and mother Shyam Mohini Ghai had undertaken a large number of buy-today-sell-tomorrow (BTST) trades during January 2019-May 2020, in synchronization with the recommendations made in the show, Sebi observed. They generated the proceeds of Rs 2,95,

  PB Fintech, the parent company of PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar, has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise Rs 6,017.5 crore via an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO will consist of a fresh issue worth Rs 3,750 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 2,267.5 crore. SVF Python II (Cayman) is offloading shares worth Rs 1,875 crore, and other shareholders will sell shares worth Rs 392.50 crore, of which Yashish Dahiya, chairman and CEO of the company, will be selling Rs 250 crore worth of shares. In its DRHP, the company has said it may consider a further issue of equity shares through private placement up to Rs 750 crore before filing the prospectus with the registrar of companies (RoC). Net proceeds from the public offering (fresh issue) will be used to enhance the visibility of the brand. The company said it will use around Rs 1,500 crore out of the net proceeds to fund marketing initiatives over

  1/10 IPO Candidates While startups like Zomato and CarTrade are awaiting clearance from markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to launch their initial public offerings (IPOs), there are at least nine other companies that have got the nod. According to a list of upcoming IPOs prepared by Axis Capital, nine companies have got regulatory approvals. These nine companies may launch their IPOs in the coming months. 2/10 GR Infraprojects Ltd The integrated road EPC company got Sebi's nod for its offer for sale (OFS) of upto 11,508,704 equity shares last month. With experience in design and construction of various road/highway projects across 15 states in India, GR Infraprojects had recently diversified into projects in the railway sector. 3/10 Shriram Properties Ltd Shriram Properties has Sebi's nod to issue equity shares worth Rs 800 crore, including a fresh issue of Rs 250 crore and OFS of Rs 550 crore. The company is among the 5 largest residential real e

  Shares of rate sensitive sectors were trading mixed with banks largely lower after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained 'status quo' on interest rates during the bi-monthly monetary policy decision. While, automobiles, real estate, select non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies stocks were trading up to 1 per cent higher, the benchmark Nifty50 index was down 0.06 per cent at 10:38 am. The Reserve Bank of India's six-member monetary policy committee, headed by governor Shaktikanta Das, on Friday kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged amid coronavirus uncertainty and fears over inflation. The repo rate (lending rate) will continue at 4.00 per cent and reverse repo rate (RBI’s borrowing rate) at 3.35 per cent. With this, the repo rate has remained unchanged for the sixth consecutive time. Among individual stocks, Hero MotoCorp, MRF and Mahindra & Mahindra from the automobile pack; and Phoenix Mills, Brigade Enterprises, Godrej Prop

  The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday revised the overseas investment limit for mutual funds (MFs). The market regulator stated in a circular that MFs can make overseas investments up to $1 billion each, within the overall industry limit of $7 billion. MFs had made representations to the regulator to increase the investment limit. Last November, Sebi had enhanced the overseas investment limit from $300 million per mutual fund to $600 million. Industry participants say this announcement was the need of the hour as several MF schemes that were international focused were attracting huge inflows. Sebi in its circular stated, “MFs can make investments in overseas exchange-traded funds (ETFs) subject to a maximum of $300 million per mutual fund, within the overall industry limit of US $1 billion.” Earlier the limit was $200 million per mutual fund. Indian fund houses have launched various international-focused fund of funds (FoF) in the last few months as such produ

  The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) policy comes at a critical time when the economy is in the midst of a confused lockdown with different perspectives on growth and a definite direction for inflation. The monetary policy committee (MPC) has reiterated in the past the accommodative stance, and hence the takeaway is that there are few chances of the repo rate being increased in the near future. Some of the important signals provided are the following. First, is the outlook on growth and here the RBI has scaled down the forecast to 9.5 per cent, which is now closer to what most analysts have done (CARE is 8.8-9 per cent). A single-digit growth sounds less attractive than a double-digit one. In fact, the rate would be declining over the quarters sequentially. Therefore, this also supports the MPC view that growth is weaker than expected and hence requires support from the monetary authority. The second view is on inflation, which is still unchanged at 5.1 per cent for the year. This may