QBiz: Over 9 Crore PANs Linked to Aadhaar; IOC Buys US Crude Oil
The Quint’s roundup of the top business news of the day.
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1. Over 9.3 Crore PANs Linked With Aadhaar
More than 9.3 crore Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) have been linked with Aadhaar, a senior Income Tax Department officer said. Of the total PAN-Aadhaar seeding, which is nearly 30 percent of the total about 30 crore PAN holders, about three crore linkages were done in June and July. He said, as quoted by PTI:
According to the officer, the tally is expected to grow as the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy-making body of the department, has already extended the last date for linking the two unique numbers till 31 August.
Source: PTI
2. NPA Resolution to Spur Credit Expansion, Growth: Panagariya
Resolution of bad loans in the banking system is on the ‘right track’ and will ‘open the door’ to rapid credit expansion and growth, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said.
Terming the non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans problem as a ‘legacy issue’, he said that even after three years of the NDA government taking charge, it has not gone away.
“So banks will be better equipped to lend and on the sides of borrowers there will be greater appetite,” Panagariya told PTI.
Source: PTI
3. FPIs Stay Bullish On Debt, Pump In Rs 10,000 Crore In August
Foreign investors have pumped in over Rs 10,000 crore in the Indian debt markets this month so far, following the RBI’s decision to cut key interest rates. However, in view of higher stock valuations, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pulled out more than Rs 2,000 crore from equities during this period.
According to the latest depository data, FPIs invested a net sum of Rs 10,419 crore in the debt markets during 1-2 August. This comes following a net inflow of Rs 1.16 lakh crore in last six months from February-July 2017. Prior to that, they withdrew more than Rs 2,300 crore.
Source: PTI
4. IOC Buys First Shale Oil From US
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd has bought the country’s first shale oil from the US and is looking to step up imports from America as part of its crude diversification strategy. IOC bought 1.9 million barrels of US crude in its second import tender seeking oil from the Americas, IOC’s Director - Finance AK Sharma told PTI.
India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, joins Asian countries like South Korea, Japan and China to buy US crude after production cuts by Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) drove up prices of Middle East heavy-sour crude, or grades with a high sulphur content.
IOC had last month sealed a deal to import 1.6 million barrels of Mars crude from the US and 4,00,000 barrels of Western Canadian Select oil for delivery at its Paradip refinery in Odisha – the first ever such purchase of US crude by an Indian state-run refiner.
Source: BloombergQuint
5. Sajjan Jindal to Launch JSW’s First Electric Car in India by 2020
JSW Energy will launch its first electric car by 2020, along with its own energy storage and charging infrastructure, as the power arm of billionaire Sajjan Jindal-led group joins the race led by Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc.
JSW Energy’s board approved its plan to manufacture electric vehicles, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Prashant Jain told BloombergQuint. The car will have nearly 50-60 percent localisation, he said.
Source: The Quint
6. SEBI Close to Finalising Crowdfunding Norms
Three years after first examining how it can regulate crowdfunding, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is closer to finalising norms for this funding channel, said two people aware of the development.
The regulator is considering allowing large firms and institutional investors to fund money via this channel, ask such investors to take prior nod from it before getting access to such platforms, and relax disclosure norms so that information is shared only with investors and not the public at large.
SEBI might exempt crowdfunding activities from the private placement norms of the Companies Act as well, which require a private company to compulsorily make a public offer and list the securities on a recognized stock exchange if the number of investors is 200 or more in a year.
Source: Livemint
7. NPAs May Continue to Crimp Banks’ Earnings for Rest of FY18
Asset quality concerns continue to plague India’s banks, especially those owned by the government, and analysts expect June quarter’s pain to remain in 2017-18. Thirty-seven of the 38 listed banks that reported June quarter earnings till Saturday have posted a 24.3 percent rise in aggregate gross bad loans to Rs 7.79 trillion from a year earlier, data compiled by Mint shows.
The increase is 6.43 percent when compared with the March quarter. Of this, Rs 6.83 trillion belong to public sector banks.
With a gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio of 23.6 percent, Indian Overseas Bank tops the list, followed by UCO Bank with 19.9 percent.
Source: Livemint
8. DLF Promoters, GIC May Ink Pact on Rs 13,000 Crore Deal This Month
Realty major DLF’s promoters are likely to enter into an agreement this month with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC to sell their 40 percent stake in the rental arm in a deal estimated at around Rs 13,000 crore.
In October 2015, DLF had announced that its promoters would sell their entire stake in the DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL), which holds the bulk of the commercial assets of the group. The promoters had in March this year entered into an exclusivity pact with GIC to negotiate on this transaction.
According to people aware of the matter, both the parties are likely to sign definitive agreement by end of this month. The people had earlier said the deal is likely to be valued at around Rs 12,000-13,000 crore.
Source: Livemint
9. TRAI Website to Soon Display Telcos Tariff Plans: Trai Chief RS Sharma
Telecom subscribers will be able to soon check tariff plans of different operators on the regulator’s website, improving transparency over rates, TRAI Chairman RS Sharma has said. Going further, TRAI s mulling allowing ‘export’ or use of that data to enable people to build tariff-comparison apps and products, just as one sees for insurance or airline fares.
The regulator has recently asked all operators to start filing their tariffs in electronic form along with physical submission, and intends to do away with the physical filing entirely, albeit in a phased manner. As per some estimates, nearly 24,000 rates are filed in a year by telecom companies – the number includes tariff plans for all operators for various circle as well as special tariff vouchers.
Source: PTI
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