Shares of PB Fintech likely to see limited upside in near term, says JM Financial, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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PB Fintech, the parent company of PolicyBazaar, made a positive stock market debut with a 17.35% gain on Monday. The listing pop came as a positive surprise to many experts and analysts, however, JM Financial Services expects limited scope for further gains in the stock.

The brokerage has set a price target of Rs 1,270, which implies a near 5 per cent downside from the current market price. “We initiate coverage with a ‘hold’ rating, solely due to premium valuations with significant upside risks in our ‘bull’ scenario that can drive share price to over Rs 2,200 by December 2024,” it said.

Though the brokerage firm sees limited near-term upside against CMP post the strong listing, they reckon there is a likely path for PB Fintech to grow to a valuation of $13.5 billion over the next couple of years against $7.3 billion currently. This is only if few incremental levers fall into place, which are unlikely in the very near-term, the brokerage said.

These levers consist of digital penetration reaching 5.5 per cent against 4.5 per cent.

Shares of PB Fintech likely to see limited upside in near term, says JM Financial

“Policybazaar is the dominant market leader in a large and growing industry with strong tailwinds such as increasing digital penetration, rising disposable income and insurance awareness. We do believe Policybazaar will be in the driving seat in enhancing insurance penetration in India,” JM Financial said

The brokerage firm is of the strong opinion that the company should continue deepening scale moats in light of new-found competition emerging from insurers’ direct channels and cross-sell by fin-tech players like PhonePe and Paytm.

JM Financial expects PB Fintech, PolicyBazaar’s parent, to grow revenues by 31 per cent annually over the next 10 years.

“While we expect slight market share loss in online distribution due to insurers’ investment in direct channel and newer competition, this loss will be aptly compensated by the company’s growth in physical distribution” it added.



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Avanti Finance raises Rs 306 cr in equity, debt funding, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Mumbai, Financial inclusion-focussed non-banking lender Avanti Finance has raised USD 15 million (Rs 111 crore) in series-A2 equity funding round from existing investors Oikocredit, Nomura, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the KR Shroff Foundation, as well as Rs 195 crore in debt. With this cash infusion, Avanti has completed its series-A equity and also debt funding round, raising a total of USD 41 million or Rs 306 crore, the Bengaluru-based company said in a statement on Thursday. It did not, however, say from where it has raised the debt.

Avanti will use the funds to strengthen its tech platform and bolster data science, apart from enhancing its product suite and to expand the team, Rahul Gupta, chief executive of Avanti, said.

Avanti has built a digital platform that facilitates a paperless, presence-less, and cashless approach to lending to reduce cost and friction for the un-served and un-derserved, especially in rural India.

Avanti partners with a diverse set of organisations with strong roots in local communities to offer loan products that are hyperlocal and focused on livelihood sustainability across 21 states covering over 200 districts.

Unitus Capital acted as the exclusive financial transaction advisor to Avanti and Abhiraj Krishna Associates acted as the legal advisors to Avanti. PTI BEN MKJ



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Know how banks, financials performed this week, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The Indian equity market witnessed volatility during the week, with domestic benchmark indices ending in the red in four out of five sessions. The Nifty50 on Friday closed at 18,114, with more than 1% weekly loss, but investors were prompt to take corrections as a buying opportunity.

The Nifty Bank remained the star performer, crossing the 40,000-mark, with more upside to come in banks. Banks, including PSU banks, were the main sectoral gainers while FMCG, Metals, Realty, Pharma and Auto were the largest losers.

According to experts, immediate support for Nifty50 is coming near the 18,000-mark. If the index manages to hold above the mark, the market can expect a swift pullback. Meanwhile, resistance is seen near 18,250-18,350.

Festival demand outlook, Jul-Sep earnings data backed by recovery in economic activity, vaccination numbers crossing 1 bln mark, developments around Asian markets, healthy FPIs and exports data, strong industrial production data, developments around the US economy, inflation fears, global energy crisis, were key driving factors this week.

Weekly Market wrap up: Know how banks, financials performed this week

Monday Closing bell: Market closes higher for seventh session, Nifty PSU Bank gaining nearly 4%

Extending their winning streak into seventh straight session, Indian indices ended with record gains on Monday, led by banks and financial stocks. The Sensex hit a record high of 61,963, while Nifty touched an all-time high of 18,525 intraday.

At the end of the day’s trade, the Sensex settled 0.75% higher at 61,765, while Nifty50 added 0.76% to close at 18,477. The broader market was positive, with midcap and smallcap stocks also clocking stellar gains.

The Nifty PSU Bank outperformed with nearly 4% gains to close at 2,824. The Nifty Bank index also ended the day with strong gains and ended 0.87% higher at 39,864, while Nifty Financial Services closed 0.46% higher at 19,034. Most of the banking stocks had a good run on Monday after strong numbers posted by HDFC Bank.

Tuesday Closing bell: Dalal Street closes in red, snaps seven-day winning streak

Sensex, Nifty witnessed a volatile session on Tuesday, ending in the red after having touched fresh all-time highs earlier in the day. At the closing bell, S&P BSE Sensex finished 0.08% lower at 61,716, while NSE Nifty 50 ended the day at 18,418, down from an intraday high of 18,604.

Broader markets fared worse than the benchmark indices to end deep in the red as Nifty Midcap 50 closed 2.22% lower, while the Smallcap 50 was down 1.47%

The Nifty Bank index touched 40,000 intraday but closed 0.36% lower at 39,540, while Nifty Financial Services ended flat with positive bias to close 0.18% higher at 19,068. After gaining nearly 4% in the previous session, Nifty PSU Bank Index ended 3.74% lower on Tuesday.

Weekly Market wrap up: Know how banks, financials performed this week

Wednesday Closing bell: Bears pull down benchmark indices, Bank Nifty close flat with marginal losses

Domestic equity indices continued to fall for the second consecutive session on Wednesday amid heightened volatility. S&P BSE Sensex 0.74% lower at 61,259, while the NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.83% to settle at 18,266.

In broader markets, the BSE Midcap index shed 1.9% to close at 25,915, and the Smallcap index tumbled 2.3% to end at 28,879.

The trend remained largely negative, with only PSU bank indices closing in the green, up 1.54%. Bank Nifty closed flat with marginal loss of 0.6% at 39,518, while Nifty Financial Services closed 0.58% lower at 18,957. SBI, IndusInd Bank, and Bajaj Finance were the top gainers on the Nifty50 index while Bajaj Finserv was among the top laggards.

Thursday Closing bell: Market ends flat with negative bias, banks and financials outperform

A flat recovery, led by select financial shares, helped key benchmark indices recoup some of their losses. BSE Sensex fell over from the day’s high to end below the 61,000-mark at 60,923. The Nifty50 also oscillated between 18,384 and 18,048 during the day before signing off at 18,178.

The broader markets moved in tandem, with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices falling 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively.

The Nifty Bank index, meanwhile, ended 1.3% higher at 40,030 after hitting a new record high of 40,200 intra day, while Nifty Financial Services gained 1.22%, closing at 19,188. Kotak Mahindra Bank rallied 6.5% to close as the top Sensex gainer, followed by HDFC, ICICI Bank and SBI.

Stealing the show, Nifty PSU Bank index added nearly 3%, led by Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank, and PNB.

Friday Closing bell: Markets end in red for fourth session, banks and financials fare well

Bulls attempted to make a comeback during the early trade on Friday but failed to hold their ground, forcing Dalal Street to close in the red for the fourth day running.

At close, S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.17% to close at 60,821 while NSE Nifty 50 dropped 0.35% to end at 18,114. Midcap and small-cap indices fared worse than largecap peers, lossing more than 1% each.

Bank Nifty index continued to outperform , closing at 40,323, up 0.73%, while Nifty Financial Services closed 0.59% higher at 19,302. Nifty PSU Bank ended the day with a loss of 0.47%.

HDFC was the top Sensex gainer, jumping 2.25%, followed by IndusInd Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. PNB, Power Finance and Chola Invest were among top drags.

Banks and financial services- September quarter results

Weekly Market wrap up: Know how banks, financials performed this week

HDFC Bank: the bank on Saturday reported a standalone net profit of Rs 8,834 crore, up 18% from Rs 7,513 in the year-ago period. Core operating profits came at Rs 15,131.8 crore, up 18.24% YoY and 4.1% Q-o-Q.

HDFC Bank’s net interest income (NII) plus other incomes increased by 14.7% to Rs 25,085.2 crore. GNPAs were at 1.35% of gross advances as on September 30, 2021, as against 1.47% as on June 30, 2021.

Provisions came down 18.8% at Rs 3924.7 crore. The bank’s loans grew 15.5% from a year ago, about three times the banking sector’s rate.

Federal Bank: Private sector lender reported a near 50% jump in net profit for the September quarter on lower provisions and improvement in asset quality even as its total income shrunk.

The net profit stood at Rs 460 crore compared with Rs 308 crore in the year-ago period. Total income fell about 3 per cent at Rs 3,824 crore from Rs 3,937 crore.

Operating profit fell by about 9% at Rs 865 crore from Rs 947 crore over the same period. However, a 54% lower provisions at Rs 245 crore helped the net profit surge.

YES Bank: The bank today reported a 74.3% y-o-y growth in net profit to Rs 225 crore for the said quarter against analysts’ expectations of a Rs 31 crore net loss.

Weekly Market wrap up: Know how banks, financials performed this week

The NII fell 23.4% y-o-y to Rs 1,512 crore. The healthy bottomline performance of the lender was thanks to a sharp decline in provisions. YES Bank’s provisions for bad loans declined 65% to Rs 377 crore.

GNPAs ratio fell to 15% from 15.6% in the previous quarter. Similarly, net NPA ratio came in at 5.5% as against 5.8% in the previous quarter.

Bank of Maharashtra: Net profit jumps 103 % to Rs 264 cr. The bank’s recovery from written-off accounts stood at Rs 340 crore, including Rs 258 from the DHFL resolution. Net interest margin (NIM) improved to 3.27%, GNPA declined 5.56% and Provision coverage ratio improved to 92.38%.

Banks’ recovery and up-gradation stood at Rs 645 crore from Rs 556 crore last year around the same time.

IDBI Bank: The bank on Thursday reported a 75% jump in net profit to Rs 567 crore from Rs 324 crore in the same period of the last fiscal. The NII grew 9% to Rs 1,854 crore, NIM improved to 3.02%, compared to 2.70% in the second quarter last fiscal.

Bank’s GNPAs declined to 20.92% against 25.08% a year ago. Net NPAs improved 1.62% from 2.67%. Provisions for bad loans and contingencies also rose to Rs 434 crore.

Weekly Market wrap up: Know how banks, financials performed this week

HDFC Life Insurance: The life insurer on Friday announced a 15.9% fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 274.16 crore in Jul-Sep, as against Rs 326.09 crore a year ago.

Total income, however, rose to Rs 20,478 crore against Rs 16,426 crore a year ago, while the net premium income increased by 52% to Rs 11,445 crore from Rs 10,056 crore, the insurer said in a regulatory filing.

Value of new business (VNB) recorded a robust 30% growth to Rs 1,086 crore over last year. Profit after tax on the other hand stood at Rs 577 crore for H1, 26% lower than H1 FY21.

LIC Housing Finance:
Net profit for the said quarter fell 69% at Rs 248 crore as compared with Rs 791 crore in the year-ago period. NIM for the quarter dipped to 2 per cent as against 2.20% in the June quarter.

The company’s total income for the quarter was lower at Rs 4,715 crore as compared to Rs 4,982 crore during the year-ago period. The NII was Rs 1,173 crore as against Rs 1,238 crore.

Its total loan portfolio stood at Rs 2.38 lakh crore registering an 1% y-o-y growth. During the quarter, total disbursements grew 29%. Retail home loan disbursements grew 38%.

Weekly Market wrap up: Know how banks, financials performed this week

L&T Finance Holdings: The company on Wednesday reported a 10% decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 223 crore. Total income fell to Rs 3,134.46 crore as against Rs 3,508.91 crore during the year-ago period.

Rural finance business saw the highest-ever Q2 disbursement at Rs 4,987 crore, a jump of 51% quarter-on-quarter. The total disbursements in the quarter stood at Rs 7,339 crore.

GNPAs stood at 5.74% during the quarter, amounting to Rs 4,796 crore. Debt-to-equity ratio stood at 4.40 in Q2FY22. Capital adequacy improved to 25.16%.



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Banking Sector shows high discrepancy trends in Q2-21, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The Banking sector showed a high discrepancy percentage at 17 percent, double the industry average of 8.7 percent in Q2-21 as per the Trends Report released by First Advantage – a leading background screening company in India.

Sectors like Banking, BPO, Engineering & Infra, Financial Services, FMCG, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Pharma, and Telecom display discrepancy percentages way above the industry average of 8.7 percent in Q2-21. Both Employment and Address Component (Check level) have contributed to the high discrepancy percentages in these industries.

Alternate modes of verification in the Address component, is a good example of how First Advantage- not only identified but moved swiftly from the standard modes of verification to alternate modes. In Q2-21, 44 out of every 100 Address verifications – were conducted through the alternate modes of verification.

“In the current digital workplace, significance of background verification of a candidate, a vendor or a partner has become crucial to safeguard from any potential risk. As companies compete for the best talent available in the marketplace, it is important to get insights that will help you ‘Onboard Faster. Hire Smarter’,” apprised Amit Singh, Head – Commercial, First Advantage India.

The case level inflow has shown a monumental and historic rise in the second quarter of 2021 – furthermore holding good the theory of recruitment and background screening trends coinciding with the pre-Covid cyclical trends of the job markets. The second quarter of 2021 has shown an increase of 25 percent in volumes as compared to the first quarter.

“With our digital initiatives driven by modern technology and alternate screening solutions, we have transformed our processes to adapt with the changing environmental and economic conditions. Our focus, as always, has been to enhance customer onboarding experiences, reduce delivery cycle timelines and provide improved quality performance,” adds Singh.

This story is provided by PRNewswire. will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)



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IL&FS Financial Services to sell bad loans worth Rs 4000 crore, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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IL&FS Financial Services, an arm of IL&FS, has put on the block Rs 4,297 crore of loans that have been classified as non-performing assets. The finance company has said that the 62 loans will be sold all together for an upfront cash payment. Interested parties have been given until October 19 to submit a binding bid.

Last week, the RBI allowed lenders to sell even those loan accounts that have been classified as fraudulent. The loans that IL&FS is trying to sell are those advanced to third-parties that are not part of the group. The financial services arm has also advanced loans to group companies which are non-performing.

According to sources, the scope of recovery in these loans is limited. In July the board had said that it expects to recover Rs 58,000 crore or 95% of the recovery target by March 2022. The group’s overall debt stood at Rs 99,000 crore as of October 2018, of which it expects to recover Rs 61,000 crore.

A presentation on the recovery update filed by IL&FS said the corporation plans to recover Rs 2,250 crore after September 2021. This included the recovery from sale of IFIN NPAs, recoveries from non-group investments, and release of non-fund-based limits.

Banks have classified loans to IFIN as fraud. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) had observed shortcomings in the operations, risk management and compliance of the company for years.



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Will online fraudsters move away from financial services?, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Online financial services sector fraud attempts dipped 15 per cent in the sector quarter as fraudsters in India are re-focusing their efforts from financial services to the travel and logistics industries according to a study by credit bureau Transunion Cibil.

Though the rate of suspected online financial services fraud attempts have still risen globally by 18.8% globally during April-June quarter over the same period a year ago, it declined in India by 15.35%, indicating stronger fraud control measures being adopted by the financial services industry, a release by the credit bureau said.

The rate of suspected digital fraud attempts on an aggregate rose 16.5% globally when comparing Q2 2021 to Q2 2020. But in India the percentage of digital fraud attempts decreased by 49.20% during the same time period.

The study notes that gaming and travel and leisure were the two most impacted industries globally for the suspected digital fraud attempt rate, rising 393.0% and 155.9% respectively in the last year. For transactions originating in India this rate rose 53.97% for gaming and 269.72%% for travel and leisure, the release said indicating a shift in industry[focus by fraudsters.

“It is quite common for fraudsters to shift their focus every few months from one industry to another,” said Shai Cohen, senior vice president of Global Fraud Solutions at TransUnion. “Fraudsters tend to seek out industries that may be seeing an immense growth in transactions. This quarter, as countries began to open up more from their COVID-19 lockdowns and travel and other leisure activities became more mainstream, fraudsters clearly made this industry a top target”.

The pandemic accelerated community – online dating and online retail transactions which require logistics and fraudsters have recognized this. “In India post the unlocks, travel and leisure has increasingly become a target as the industry recovers and fraudsters are looking to capitalize as more transactions return to this industry,” added Shai. “As fraudsters continue to target consumers, it’s incumbent on businesses to do all that they can to ensure their customers have an appropriate level of security to trust their transaction is safe all while having a friction-right experience to avoid shopping cart abandonment.”



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Majority of IBC resolutions ending in liquidation were with BIFR, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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About 75 per cent of the corporate insolvency resolutions ending in liquidation were earlier with the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) or defunct.

These companies on an average had assets valued at around 7 per cent of the outstanding debt amount, according to the latest Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India data.

There have been concerns raised in certain quarters about the number of companies going into liquidation and steep haircuts taken by creditors under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which has been in force for nearly five years.

Value erosion

Nearly 47 per cent or 1,349 cases closed under the insolvency law ended up in liquidation till the end of June this year but economic value in majority of the cases had eroded even before commencement of the corporate insolvency resolution process, according to IBBI.

A total of 4,541 CIRPs (Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process) were initiated till end of June and out of them, 2,859 were closed.

Out of them, 1,349 CIRPs ended in liquidation while 396 ended in approval of resolution plans, as per the latest quarterly newsletter of the IBBI.

“The economic value in most of these corporate debtors had almost completely eroded even before they were admitted into CIRP,” the IBBI said.

Of the 396 corporate debtors rescued through resolution plans, 127 were in either BIFR or defunct, according to IBBI.

Realisation by creditors

“Till June 30, 2021, realisation by FCs (Financial Creditors) under resolution plans in comparison to liquidation value is 167.95 per cent, while the realisation by them in comparison to their claims is 36 per cent. It is important to note that out of the 396 CDs rescued through resolution plans, 127 were in either BIFR or defunct,” the newsletter added.

Around 51 per cent of the CIRPs were triggered by Operational Creditors (OCs) while nearly 43 per cent were initiated by FCs.

“However, about 80 per cent of CIRPs having an underlying default of less than Rs 1 crore, were initiated on applications by OCs, while about 80 per cent of CIRPs, having an underlying default of more than Rs 10 crore, were initiated on applications by FCs,” it noted.

According to the newsletter, the share of CIRPs initiated by CDs is declining over time and they usually initiated the process with very high underlying defaults.



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Govt extends tenure of 4 public sector banks’ top officials, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Four state-owned banks on Friday said the government has extended tenures of their top officials, including managing director and chief executive officers (MD and CEOs) of Punjab National Bank and Bank of Maharashtra.

Besides, the government has extended the tenures of executive directors of Punjab National Bank (PNB), Union Bank of India and Central Bank of India.

The government sent notifications to these banks on Thursday, informing them about the extensions given to the top-level officials.

“The Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, vide its notification dated August 26, 2021, has extended the term of office of S S Mallikarjuna Rao, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank (PNB), for a period beyond September 18, 2021,” PNB said in a regulatory filing.

Rao’s current tenure was to come to an end on September 18, 2021, and the extension has been given till the date of his superannuation (January 31, 2022) or until further orders, whichever is earlier, PNB said.

The government has also extended the tenure of Bank of Maharashtra MD and CEO A S Rajeev for two years, the Pune-based lender said in a filing.

Rajeev’s current tenure was coming to an end on December 1, 2021.

In addition to this, two executive directors of PNB, two in Union Bank of India (UBI) and one in Central Bank of India have been given extension beyond their current tenures.

Sanjay Kumar and Vijay Dube, executive directors of PNB, have been given extensions till August 23, 2023 and November 30, 2022, respectively.

The terms of UBI’s executive directors — Manas Ranjan Biswal and Gopal Singh Gusain — have been extended.

Biswal’s term has been extended beyond his currently notified term, which expires on February 28, 2022, till the date of his superannuation (April 30, 2022) or until further orders, whichever is earlier, Union Bank of India said.

Similarly, Gusain’s term has been extended till the date of his superannuation, (January 31, 2022) or until further orders, whichever is earlier. His term was coming to an end on September 19.

The Department of Financial Services, through a notification on August 26, has also extended the term of office of Ashok Srivastava, executive director of Central Bank of India, the lender said in a separate filing.

His term has been extended beyond January 22, 2022, till the date of his superannuation (November 30, 2022) or until further orders, whichever is earlier, Central Bank of India said.



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Govt extends tenures of UBI, Central Bank of India’s executive directors, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Public sector lenders Union Bank of India (UBI) and Central Bank of India on Friday said the government has extended tenures of their executive directors.

The terms of UBI’s executive directors — Manas Ranjan Biswal and Gopal Singh Gusain — have been extended vide a notification dated August 26, the lender said in a regulatory filing.

Biswal’s term has been extended beyond his currently notified term, which expires on February 28, 2022, till the date of his superannuation (April 30, 2022) or until further orders, whichever is earlier, Union Bank of India said.

Similarly, Gusain’s term has been extended till the date of his superannuation, (January 31, 2022) or until further orders, whichever is earlier. His term was coming to an end on September 19.

The Department of Financial Services, through a notification on August 26, has also extended the term of office of Ashok Srivastava, executive director of Central Bank of India, the lender said in a separate filing.

His term has been extended beyond January 22, 2022, till the date of his superannuation (November 30, 2022) or until further orders, whichever is earlier, Central Bank of India added.



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Former union finance minister P Chidambaram says India’s recovery depends on Centre not taking foolish decisions, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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India’s economy will not recover to pre-pandemic levels in the current financial year or in 2022-23 if the Narendra Modi government continues to take “foolish decisions,” said former union finance minister P Chidambaram here on Thursday.

Chidambaram said that the Centre’s four year National Monetization Pipeline is a foolish decision that is akin to giving away the country’s assets that were built by the Congress party over several decades.

“The recovery in 2022-23 may take us to the pre-pandemic level, provided the government does not take foolish decisions,” said Chidambaram while speaking to reporters.

Speaking further, the AICC core group committee member, said that along with demonetization and faulty roll out of GST, the Centre’s refusal to increase public expenditure during a pandemic was a foolish decision. “And a few days earlier they took another foolish decision to monetize national assets,” said the former Union minister.

Chidambaram said that India’s economy ended with negative growth in the last financial year with no hope of any recovery even in 2021-22.

“The GDP for this year will not go to the pre-pandemic level of 2019-20. 2020-19 was a decline. 2021-22 will show an apparent increase in the GDP but it will not go back to the pre-pandemic level. Only when it goes to the pre-pandemic level, can you call it a recovery,” said Chidambaram.



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