Economy set to recover on low interest rates, softening inflation: RBI bulletin

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The Indian economy is poised to regain the ground lost to the pandemic and re-emerge as among the fastest growing countries in the world, supported by the decadal low interest rates, softening inflation and a modest current account surplus, according to a article in the Reserve Bank of India’s latest monthly bulletin.

The Indian economy is clearly differentiating itself from the global situation, which is marred by supply disruptions, stubborn inflation and surges of infections in various parts of the world, per article ‘State of the Economy’, put together by 21 RBI officials.

The authors, however, underscored that the global economic outlook remains shrouded in uncertainty, with headwinds from multiple fronts corralling together at a time when many economies are still struggling and are at nascent stage of their recovery.

They cautioned that growing likelihood of policy normalisation by major central banks to quell fast rising inflation may tighten financial conditions and stutter the ongoing growth impulses.

Vaccination drive

The authors noted that domestically, there have been several positives on the Covid-19 front, in terms of reduced infections and faster vaccinations.

Mobility is rapidly improving; the job market is recouping and overall economic activity is on the cusp of a strengthening revival. Overall monetary and credit conditions stay conducive for a durable economic recovery to take root.

The authors assessed that in India, the recovery gained strength, though the speed and pace of improvement remains uneven across different sectors of the economy.

“Indicators of aggregate demand posit a brighter near-term outlook than before. On the supply side, the Rabi season has set in early on a positive note on the back of a record Kharif harvest and manufacturing is showing improvement in overall operating conditions, while services are in strong expansion mode. “Overall monetary and credit conditions stay conducive for a durable economic recovery to take root,” the article said.

The authors opined that the economy is gradually healing amidst an uncertain and volatile global environment, battered by supply chain and logistics disruptions, inflation shocks and geopolitical tensions.

“Incoming high frequency indicators show that the recovery is taking hold in several spheres, though some others are still lagging behind.

“With the gradual uptick in confidence, mobility indicators have edged up,” the article said.

Job market

The job market is exhibiting signs of ebullience on the back of uptick in business optimism and faster pace of vaccination, it added.

India’s merchandise exports have staged a smart turnaround, with surging double-digit growth for the eighth consecutive month in a row

Collections under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) have marked their second highest level in October since its introduction on the back of better tax administration and ongoing economic recovery.

Referring to the issuance of e-way bills being the highest in their history, the authors felt that this bodes well for GST collections going forward.

After exhibiting moderation in the month of September 2021, power consumption has registered an uptick despite supply side constraints.

“The headline manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) recorded expansion for the fourth consecutive month in October with anticipation of an improvement in demand conditions.

“The services sector is convalescing with the headline PMI rising to a decadal high in the same month,” the authors said.

Festival boost

With attractive offers by developers amidst the festival season, property registrations have also surged.

Overall, the growth momentum in digital transactions over the past few months indicates that the economy is gradually shaking off the shackles of the second wave of the pandemic, the authors said.

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Customer service and claims experience will be key focus areas: PB Fintech

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PB Fintech — the parent of online insurance and credit comparison platforms Policybazaar and Paisabazaar — will focus on improving customer service and claims experience and does not plan to chase profitability in the short term.

“We are looking at working on two areas — customer service and claims experience. Consumers should have a great experience at the time of onboarding and claims,” said Yashish Dahiya, Chairman and CEO, PB Fintech.

Considering acquisitions

In an interaction with BusinessLine post the company’s listing, Dahiya said the company will also consider investing in business and capabilities in these two areas, including acquisitions, if needed.

Also see: PB Fintech: No insurance against unfavourable risk reward at current levels

“If we have to invest in some business and capabilities, we will do that. A lot of things are required in that area, whether it is operational strength, access to data. We will do whatever it takes,” he said.

PB Fintech will be centred on strategy and growth and will not be profit oriented in the short term, Dahiya added.

“We are in no hurry to be profitable. Our core business is already profitable and we have no challenges there. There are a lot of experiments that we do which will strengthen the future of the business and we will continue to do that.

Also see: PB Fintech shares list with over 17 per cent premium

“I don’t think we will be in a short term hurry to be profitable. But in the longer term, we will be significantly profitable,” he said, adding that while the efficiency of the core business will keep improving, so will investments and experiments.

Offline stores

PB Fintech will also continue to focus on offline stores.

“The offline part started five months ago and I think it will become a meaningful part of the business,” Dahiya said.

Shares of PB Fintech listed with a premium of over 17 per cent against its issue price of ₹980 on Monday.

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Karnataka Bank launches CASA campaign

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Karnataka Bank launched CASA (current account savings account) campaign for 2021–22, and introduced a new current account scheme — KBL Current Account – Premium — specifically designed to meet the needs of small and medium entrepreneurs.

A media statement said that the bank intends to mobilise more than 4.15 lakh current and savings accounts through active involvement of its 8000-plus workforce in all the 858 branches of the bank across India under this campaign from November 15 to February 28.

Also see: Karnataka Bank sponsors ECGs for Udupi gram panchayats

Quoting Mahabaleshwara MS, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, the statement said the bank is proud to introduce yet another value-added current account scheme – KBL Current Account – Premium — at the launch of CASA mobilisation campaign.

Digitally powered savings account products

Under this scheme, customers can have a new current account by maintaining a monthly average balance of ₹25,000 and can avail a host of premium facilities.

Also see: P Jayarama Bhat completes term as Chair of Karnataka Bank

The bank, which has been focusing more on CASA funds, is now all set to take CASA to a new high of 33 per cent, Mahabaleshwara MS said.

The bank aims to introduce its line of digitally powered savings account products to prospective customers with this campaign, he added.

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Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases

Press Releases

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The Reserve Bank of India will conduct a Variable Rate Reverse Repo auction on November 16, 2021, Tuesday, as under:

Sl. No. Notified Amount
(₹ crore)		 Tenor
(day)		 Window Timing Date of Reversal
1 2,00,000 7 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM November 23, 2021
(Tuesday)

2. The operational guidelines for the auction as given in the Reserve Bank’s Press Release 2019-2020/1947 dated February 13, 2020 will remain the same.

Ajit Prasad           
Director (Communications)

Press Release: 2021-2022/1195

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RBI introduces internal ombudsman mechanism for select NBFCs

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The Reserve Bank of India on Monday introduced the Internal Ombudsman mechanism for select non- banking finance companies.

“…the Reserve Bank…has directed Deposit-taking NBFCs (NBFCs-D) with 10 or more branches and non-deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND) with asset size of ₹ 5,000 crore and above having public customer interface to appoint Internal Ombudsman (IO) at the apex of their internal grievance redress mechanism within a period of six months from the date of issue of the direction…,” it said.

NBFCs including stand-alone primary dealer, NBFC-Infrastructure Finance Company, core investment company, Infrastructure Debt Fund – NBFC; NBFC – Account Aggregator; NBFCs under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process; NBFCs in liquidation and NBFCs having only captive customers have been excluded from the directive.

“The IO shall deal only with the complaints that have already been examined by the NBFC but have been partly or wholly rejected by the NBFC. In other words, the IO shall not handle complaints received directly from the customers or members of the public,” the RBI said.

The central bank had in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies as part of the Monetary Policy Statement in October this year announced the move while noting that the increased significance, strength and reach of NBFCs across the country has necessitated having in place better customer experience including grievance redress practices.

“The implementation of the IO mechanism will be monitored by the NBFC’s internal audit system apart from regulatory oversight by RBI,” it further said.

The person appointed as the IO shall be either a retired or a serving officer, not below the rank of Deputy General Manager or equivalent in any financial sector regulatory body or any other NBFC, bank, with necessary skills and experience of minimum of seven years of working in areas such as non-banking finance, banking, financial sector regulation or supervision, or consumer protection, the RBI said.

Further, the person should not have worked or be working in the NBFC or companies in the Group to which the NBFC belongs and he or she should not be above the age of 70 years at any point of time during the tenure as IO.

The NBFC may appoint more than one IO depending on the number of complaints received per branch network. In such a case, the NBFC shall define the jurisdiction of each IO.

The NBFC shall put in place a system of periodic reporting of information to Reserve Bank on a quarterly and annual basis.

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Reserve Bank of India – Notifications

Notifications

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RBI/2021-2022/126
CO.CEPD.PRS.No.S874/13-01-008/2021-2022

November 15, 2021

The Chairman/Managing Director & CEO
a) NBFCs-D with 10 or more branches, and
b) NBFCs-ND with asset size of Rs 5,000 crore and above (excluding NBFCs given in para 3 of this direction)

Madam/Dear Sir,

Appointment of Internal Ombudsman by Non-Banking Financial Companies

In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 45 (L) read with 45 (M) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) being satisfied that it is in public interest and in the interest of conduct of business relating to Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), directs NBFCs registered with RBI under Section 45-IA of the RBI Act, 1934, fulfilling the criteria given below, to appoint an Internal Ombudsman (IO).

2. NBFCs fulfilling the following criteria as on date would be required to appoint the IO:

a) Deposit-taking NBFCs (NBFCs-D) with 10 or more branches.

b) Non-Deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND) with asset size of Rs.5,000 crore and above and having public customer interface.

3. The following types of NBFCs will be excluded from the applicability of this direction:

  1. Stand-alone Primary Dealer;

  2. Non-Banking Financial Company – Infrastructure Finance Company (NBFC-IFC);

  3. Core Investment Company (CIC);

  4. Infrastructure Debt Fund – Non-Banking Financial Company (IDF-NBFC);

  5. Non-Banking Financial Company – Account Aggregator (NBFC-AA);

  6. NBFC under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process;

  7. NBFC in liquidation;

  8. NBFC having only captive customers.

4. An NBFC shall be required to comply with the provisions of this direction as follows:

a) NBFC fulfilling the criteria (para 2 above) as on date – within six months;

b) NBFC fulfilling the criteria post issue of this direction and NBFC commencing operations after the issue of this direction – within six months of attaining the specified criteria, as may be applicable.

5. Any NBFC which is covered by this direction shall continue to have an IO for a period of three years after the company falls below the thresholds (para 2 above). If the term of the incumbent IO ends before this three-year period, the NBFC, with the prior approval of RBI, may not appoint another IO.

6. Appointment of the IO:

a) The person to be appointed as IO shall fulfil the following prerequisites:

  1. The person shall be either a retired or a serving officer, not below the rank of Deputy General Manager or equivalent in any financial sector regulatory body/any other NBFC/bank, with necessary skills and experience of minimum of seven years of working in areas such as non-banking finance, banking, financial sector regulation or supervision, or consumer protection.

  2. The person shall not have worked/be working in the NBFC/companies in the Group1 to which the NBFC belongs in which he/she is being appointed as IO.

  3. The person appointed as IO shall not be above the age of 70 years at any point of time during the tenure as IO.

(b) The NBFC may appoint more than one IO depending on the number of complaints received/branch network. In such a case, the NBFC shall define the jurisdiction of each IO.

(c) The Principal Nodal Officer/Nodal Officer, liaising with the offices of RBI Ombudsman, or any other official of the NBFC, shall not act as the IO or vice versa.

7. Tenure of the IO: The tenure of the IO shall be for a fixed term of not less than three years, but not exceeding five years and the same shall be indicated in the appointment letter. The IO shall not be eligible for reappointment or for extension of tenure in the same NBFC.

a) The NBFC shall undertake the process of fresh appointment well in advance to fill the vacancy before the expiry of the incumbent IO and ensure that the post of the IO does not remain vacant at any point of time.

b) The IO shall not be removed before the completion of the contracted term without the explicit approval of the Reserve Bank. In case the vacancy arises on account of reasons beyond the control of the NBFC (such as death, resignation, incapacitation, terminal illness, etc.), the NBFC shall appoint a new IO by following the procedure of appointment as indicated at para 6 of this direction, within three months from the date of the vacancy arising.

8. Secretariat and cost of the office of the IO: The NBFC shall depute such number of its officers and/or other staff and make available such infrastructure to the office of the IO as may be considered necessary for its effective functioning.

a) The Board of the NBFC shall fix the emoluments/facilities/benefits of the IO, which should be appropriate keeping in view the stature and position of the IO being at the apex of the grievance redress mechanism of the NBFC, and the need to attract experienced persons with requisite expertise.

b) The emoluments/facilities/benefits of the IO, once determined, shall not be changed during the currency of his/her tenure.

9. Role and responsibilities of the IO: The IO shall deal only with the complaints that have already been examined by the NBFC but have been partly or wholly rejected by the NBFC. In other words, the IO shall not handle complaints received directly from the customers or members of the public.

a) The following types of complaints shall be outside the purview of this direction and shall not be handled by the IO:

  1. Complaints related to frauds, misappropriation etc., except those resulting from deficiency in service, if any, on the part of the NBFC;

  2. Complaints/references relating to (a) internal administration, (b) human resources, (c) pay and emoluments of staff;

  3. References in the nature of suggestions and commercial decisions of the NBFC;

  4. Complaints which have been decided by or are already pending in other for a such as Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, courts, etc.

b) The complaints that are outside the purview of this direction shall be immediately referred back to the NBFC by the IO.

c) The IO shall examine the complaints based on records available with the NBFC, including any documents submitted by the complainant, and comments/clarifications furnished by the NBFC to the specific queries of the IO. The IO may seek additional information from the complainant through the NBFC.

d) The NBFC shall furnish all records/documents sought by the IO to enable expeditious redress/resolution of customer grievances.

e) The IO may hold meetings with the concerned functionaries/departments of the NBFC and seek any record/document available with the NBFC that is necessary for examining the complaint/decision.

f) The IO shall periodically analyse the pattern of all complaints received against the NBFC, such as product-wise, category-wise, consumer group-wise, geographical location-wise, etc. and provide inputs to the NBFC for policy intervention, if any.

g) The IO shall not represent the NBFC in legal cases before any court or fora or authority.

h) The IO shall report to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the NBFC administratively, and to the Board functionally.

10. Procedural guidelines for NBFCs regarding complaints referred to the IO by the NBFC: The NBFC shall formulate a Standard Operating Procedure approved by its Board and establish a system of auto-escalation of all complaints that are partly or wholly rejected by the NBFC’s internal grievance redress mechanism to the IO for a final decision.

a) The NBFC shall internally escalate all such complaints to the IO within a period of three weeks from the date of receipt of the complaint. The IO and the NBFC shall ensure that the final decision is communicated to the complainant within 30 days from the date of receipt of the complaint by the NBFC.

b) In case the NBFC has a complaint management software, it shall provide to the IO read-only access to the system and enable uploading of the decision of the IO.

c) The IO shall also have read-only access to the Reserve Bank’s Complaint Management System to enable the IO to keep track of: (a) the cases forwarded by the offices of RBI Ombudsmen, (b) decisions of the RBI Ombudsmen, and (c) where applicable, the decision of the Appellate Authority under the RBI Ombudsman scheme.

d) The decision of the IO shall be binding on the NBFC, except in cases where the NBFC has obtained approval for disagreeing with the IO’s decision as stated in sub-para 10 (f).

e) In case the IO upholds the decision of the NBFC to reject/partly reject the complaint, the reply to the customer should explicitly state the fact that the complaint has been examined by the IO and, for the reasons stated in the reply, the decision of the NBFC has been upheld.

f) In case the IO overrules the decision of the NBFC to reject/partly reject the complaint, the NBFC can disagree with the decision of the IO with the approval of the Executive Director/Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer as may be applicable. In such cases, the reply to the complainant shall explicitly state the fact that the complaint was examined by the IO and the decision of the NBFC was overruled by the IO in favour of the complainant; however, the NBFC, with the approval of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, has disagreed with the decision of the IO. All such cases shall be subsequently reviewed on a quarterly basis by the Board of the NBFC.

g) In case of complaints that are fully or partly rejected even after examination by the IO, the NBFC shall necessarily advise to the complainant as part of the reply that he/she can approach the RBI Ombudsman for redress (if the complaint falls under the RBI Ombudsman mechanism) along with complete details. The advice should include the link to Reserve Bank’s portal (cms.rbi.org.in) for online filing of customer complaints.

h) The NBFC shall use the analysis of complaints handled by the IO in their training programmes/conferences to raise awareness among the frontline staff about, inter-alia, the pattern of complaints being received in the NBFC, their root causes, remedial measures and expected action on the part of frontline staff. The IO may also be associated with such trainings, where necessary.

i) While assessing the performance of the IO, in addition to the level of pendency etc., the NBFC shall also consider the number of cases where substantive differences were observed between the decisions of the IO vis-à-vis those given by the RBI Ombudsman subsequently.

j) The NBFC shall disseminate the guidelines/instructions regarding the role of the IO among its staff while communicating the appointment of the IO in the organization (all branches and administrative offices).

k) The NBFC shall not provide the contact details of the IO in the public domain as the IO shall not handle complaints received directly from the customers.

l) The decision of the IO shall mandatorily be included in the information submitted by the NBFC to the office of the RBI Ombudsman while replying to/furnishing documents to the office of the RBI Ombudsman.

m) If the opinion of the IO is not available with the NBFC when the complainant approaches the RBI Ombudsman, the NBFC should obtain the views of the IO and include the same in its submission to the office of the RBI Ombudsman.

n) The IO shall function from the Head/Corporate Office of the NBFC.

11. Reporting to RBI: The NBFC shall put in place a system of periodic reporting of information to Reserve Bank as indicated below:

a) On a quarterly basis, the total number of complaints received, the number of partly or wholly rejected complaints and the number of complaints escalated to the IO, within 15 days from the end of the quarter;

b) On an annual basis:

  1. the number of cases where the decision of IO has been rejected (with the approval of Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer), to be submitted by April 15; and

  2. the number of cases closed by the IO, and age-wise number of cases where the NBFC was yet to implement the decision of the IO, to be submitted by April 15.

The reporting format is given in Annex.

c) The NBFC shall, within five working days of appointment of the IO, furnish the details of the IO to the Chief General Manager, Consumer Education and Protection Department, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, 1st Floor, Amar Building, Sir P M Road, Mumbai – 400 001 (email: cgmcepd@rbi.org.in) in the following format:

  1. Name of the Internal Ombudsman;

  2. Details of the last position held/organization name;

  3. Date and period of appointment;

  4. Brief professional profile, including previous exposure to financial services; and

  5. Contact details, i.e., address, phone/fax numbers, email address, etc.

12. Board Oversight: The IO shall furnish periodic reports to the Board of the NBFC as may be specified by it, preferably at quarterly intervals, but not less than bi-annually.

13. Audit: The internal audit of the NBFC shall cover the implementation of this direction.

a) The audit shall, inter-alia, cover aspects relating to:

  1. the infrastructure (space, IT infrastructure, human resources, etc.) provided to the IO;

  2. adherence with various timelines indicated in the direction;

  3. support provided by the NBFC to the IO for redress of the complaint; (refer para 9 (c) and (d))

b) The scope of the internal audit shall exclude any assessment of the correctness of decisions taken by the IO.

14. Supervisory Oversight: The areas relating to customer service and customer grievance redress, as well as the implementation of this direction, shall be a part of the risk assessment and supervisory review undertaken by the Reserve Bank. Further, Reserve Bank will review the cases where the decision of the IO has not been accepted by the NBFC and the aggrieved customer approaches the RBI Ombudsman, for assessing the effectiveness of the internal grievance redress mechanism of the NBFC and initiating corrective actions as it may deem fit.

Yours faithfully,

(Ranjana Sahajwala)
Chief General Manager

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The biggest mistake we made was we did not go to the bankers before going court: Hemant Kanoria

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“In hindsight, the biggest mistake we made was that we did not go to the bankers before going to the Court (National Company Law Tribunal/NCLT),” said Hemant Kanoria, former promoter of the Kolkata-based SREI Group. Kanoria was referring to an application filed last year by Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL), a material wholly-owned subsidiary of Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd (SIFL), for approval of a proposed Scheme of Arrangement with the creditors and SEFL for re-alignment of debts under Section 230(1) of the Companies Act, 2013. However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the Board of Directors of SIFL and SEFL on October 4, 2021, owing to governance concerns and defaults by these companies in meeting their various payment obligations and placed them under an Administrator (Rajneesh Sharma, Ex- Chief General Manager, Bank of Baroda). NCLT, Kolkata, accepted the central bank’s application on October 8, 2021, to initiate corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against the aforementioned companies. In an interaction with BusinessLine, Kanoria observed that he will weigh, as erstwhile founder of the infrastructure finance company, if he can participate in the CIRP. He emphasised that SEFL had earlier received expression of interest from 11 investors and many of them would be interested to come back and make investment via CIRP. Excerpts:

Will you be able get back your company?

If we see someone (investor) coming and giving a very good value for the company and all the creditors are able to get their full payment, we’ll be very happy. But if people are trying to take the company for a ride and give a lower bid, we may have to come in and intervene…we are quite sure there are sufficient securities/ assets, arbitration awards, which may take a little time (to realise)…Unfortunately the infrastructure sector has been very badly impacted, because everything was derailed, and to bring things back on the rails takes time.

How did your group get into a spot?

Last year, when Covid happened and when the lockdowns began, most of our clients — construction companies and contractors, along with infrastructure companies, started facing problems. Their work came to a standstill. They were not able to get their money because government offices were closed. There were claims cases, which were in the courts, and all that came to a standstill. So, the whole cycle stopped.

RBI subsequently come out with guidelines for extending moratorium to our clients and offering them refinancing/ restructuring. That was a good move. If it had not been done, all of them would have defaulted. But, at the same time, this (moratorium) was not extended to NBFCs (who had taken loans from banks) because for the consumer-lending NBFCs it was not required as their average tenure of lending was short.

Given that we are an IFC, all of our lending was medium to long-term. Unfortunately, we being the only company in this particular (infrastructure) sector, the RBI could not have had a special dispensation/ guidelines for us.

Why did your attempt to realign debt fail?

Until and unless there was stress, we could not go in for a realignment of the debt. And that time there was no loan outstanding. So, the only alternative for us to deal with the loans from banks was to do a debt realignment under Section 230 of the Companies Act as that allowed us to do realignment in consultation with the creditors and with their consent.

We moved under Section 230 last year in October for making full payment along with interest to all the banks…and we said that the entire loan be converted into debentures and the whole payment can be made over a period of certain time along with interest.

And if this scheme was not acceptable to the bankers, they could have revised it. Unfortunately, the bankers did not like that we went to court because they thought going to the court was fighting against them. But actually it was not fighting. It was only facilitating so that repayments can take place in a structured manner and the company could continue in the proper manner without disruption being caused to the company due to either mismatch on the asset liability side or in any other matter.

And also our clients were not in a position to pay back timely because all their money was stuck up.

Were bankers uncomfortable with the idea of conversion of loans into debentures?

Anticipating all the aforementioned developments, we moved NCLT in October 2020. But in November, the bankers put a restraint on the operations of the company and also created a trust and retention account where all the cash flows were captured by them. In December last year, we had to move all the other creditors (secured debenture holders, unsecured debenture holders, secured ECB lenders, unsecured ECB lenders, PDI holders and individual debenture holders of SEFL) also for a realignment of the debt. However, at no particular time we had offered any haircut to the bankers. At no particular time we had asked for any sacrifice on the interest etc, it was full payment, because we were sure that we will be in a position to pay all the creditors in a structured, orderly fashion. And that was the reason why we moved the court and there was no other intention. But we found that this pre-emptive move was not taken very well by the bankers or by RBI.

The RBI flagged connected lending. What do you have to say on this?

The RBI raised certain issues about connected parties or related parties (lending) etc. It identified certain parties, being borrowers of SEFL, as probable connected/related companies. But there is a process which the company follows. We have a very strong board of directors and all the decisions are taken through committees etc. So, therefore, when any borrower is brought in by the team members, the appraisal is done on the basis of the project, cash flows, security, which the borrower offers, and after that, in the event that that particular borrower falls under related party or connected entity then there is a process again, which is followed through the compliance, legal and the Secretarial department to see whether it falls under related party or connected party under the Companies Act and Ind-AS. And if it does, then it is adequately reported to the audit committee of the board. If it does not, then it is not reported to the audit committee of the board. We have inspections going on by RBI, we have various other internal audits, statutory audit which keeps going on and this is not something which is new.

So, all of a sudden.. the RBI took exception to it…Borrowers which are there will be classified under the connected party…I’m only talking about the connected entities. But most of them are companies which are under the Alternative Investment Fund. Srei Infra has an investment in that AIF. They are only managers and this is third party money.

So, therefore, just to give you an example, suppose a Bank’s mutual fund arm has invested in the debt paper of an automobile company. The MF is only a manager, investing third party money in the debt paper. Now, if the bank gives a loan to this automobile company, will the company become a connected party for the bank? Under no stretch of imagination does it becomes a connected party. So, similarly, in the case of AIF and SREI that is the relationship which is there.

Because the RBI mentioned that these are probable connected parties, they were adequately reflected in the balance sheet of March 31…There is no distinction in the process which is being followed for any loan the company gives. All the borrowers assets are seen, securities are seen, cash flows are seen and proper evaluation is done. So, there has been no dilution in the processes which have been followed.

Why did you opt for debt realignment under Section 230 of the Companies Act?

We went under Section 230 so that the company does not end up being in default. Because we have so many lenders, both domestic and international, and bond holders (almost about 70,000-80,000 bond holders), going to everyone independently would have taken a lot of time and would have resulted in the company getting into a big problem.

But in hindsight, I think that the biggest mistake we made was that we did not go to the bankers before going to the court. We should have first gone to them, discussed with them, and then gone to the court… We thought if we go through the court route, we will be able to deal with many creditors on one platform and the scheme that we had given was very, very fair. There was no haircut to anyone at all. But by taking the company through CIRP, we do not know what the result will be. From our end, that is the reason we have reached out to the Administrator, the RBI and the creditors that whatever support or help that is required, we are very happy to provide that because we want the institution to get back on its feet as soon as possible. So that is our only intent — to see that all the creditors are paid off because there are sufficient assets in the company, there are claims (court), there are assets/ securities. So, that someone needs to very intensely follow up to find out solutions.

We have investors who are quite keen to come in and…about 11 Expression of Interest had already come in. Many of them would be interested to come back (via CIRP) and make investments.

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KVG Bank making efforts to improve digitisation in rural areas: Chairman

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The efforts put in by Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank headquartered in Dharwad, has helped people in more than 40 villages to get round-the-clock access to banking system, according to P Gopi Krishna, Chairman of KVGB.

He was speaking on Monday after receiving the ‘Best Regional Rural Bank’ (RRB) award under the Regional Rural Banks Category by ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) in recognition of the bank’s initiatives in digital financial services in response to Aatmanirbhar Bharat programme.

He said because of the best efforts put in by the bank more than 40 villages have been converted into 100 per cent digital villages under its jurisdiction. People in these villages have round-the-clock access to banking system through Internet banking, mobile banking, micro-ATMs, AePS (Aadhar-enabled Payment Systems), IMPS and UPI.

Stating that digitisation has benefited villages by facilitating cashless transactions, he said KVGB’s contribution in this context has become significant in achieving the national initiative to digitise rural banking.

Gopi Krishna said the focus of the government on financial inclusion and digitisation, especially after demonitisation, has made very big impact on unbanked masses towards banking services. Now villagers are also well acquainted with cash alternatives such as debit/credit cards, mobile/internet banking, Aadhaar payments, he said.

Over a span of six to seven years, the number of banking outlets has increased in villages. This has helped many villagers to have basic savings bank deposit account of their own. He said agricultural credit offtake has almost doubled now.

R Gurumurthy, Regional Director of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), who handed over the award to KVGB at Bengaluru on Monday, appreciated the efforts put in by KVGB in digitisation.

Stating that the country is moving towards cashless economy, he said efforts towards digitisation will help the country keep pace with the fast-changing world.

Brij Mohan Sharma, Executive Director of Canara Bank, said the creation of a digital environment is now a priority for RRBs. Time is not far when digitisation will change the face of the rural economy, he said.

Niraj Kumar Verma, Chief General Manager of NABARD, said NABARD is keenly watching the progress and involvement of RRBs and extending timely guidance and support. Over the years, the RRBs have made impressive strides on various business indicators, including digitisation, he said.

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Reserve Bank of India – Press Releases

Press Releases

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A. Source Security 5.09% GS 2022 5.09% GS 2022 8.35% GS 2022 8.15% GS 2022 8.13% GS 2022 8.13% GS 2022
B. Notified Amount (amount in ₹ cr) 4,000 4,000 4,000 8,000 4,000 6,000
Destination Security GOI FRB 2031 GOI FRB 2034 7.57% GS 2033 7.57% GS 2033 GOI FRB 2031 GOI FRB 2034
C. i. No. of offers received 22 27 13 5 5 7
ii. Total amount of Source Security offered (Face value in ₹ cr) 6050.00 5180.00 905.00 4025.00 4890.00 4102.082
iii. No of offers accepted 5 3 0 0 3 5
iv. Total amount of source security accepted (Face value in ₹ cr) 4000.00 2950.00 0 0 2890.00 3100.00
v. Total amount of destination security issued (Face value in ₹ cr) 3,995.253 2985.305 0 0 2977.245 3236.335
vi. Cut-off price/yield for destination security 100.62/4.7398 99.32/4.8655 NA NA 100.62/4.7398 99.30/4.8676

Ajit Prasad            
Director (Communications)

Press Release: 2021-2022/1194

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SBI Report, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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People may be holding as much as Rs. 3.3 lakh crores in cash for emergency purposes due to the Covid related dislocation in their income expectations, estimates SBI. The rise in cash to GDP ratio may be misleading due to this factor. If one adjusts for the emergency, the cash to GDP ratio may be lower than the pre-demonetisation level.

“Our estimate also shows that because of the pandemic people may have been holding as much as Rs 3.3 lakh crores in cash for precautionary motive beginning FY21″ said SBI Research team’s report titled “A Guide to Formalisation of Economy since FY18”.It adds that “If we adjust for such currency transactions, the currency to GDP ratio for pure payment purposes may have actually declined in FY21 compared to earlier years.”

The formalization efforts are bearing major fruit in terms of currency /GDP ratio. The research report by the country’s largest lender estimates that without pandemic GDP collapse, CIC/GDP ratio would have been 12.7% in FY21, as against 12.4% in FY11.

Indian consumers are migrating to high end technology platforms like UPI- Unified payments interface- that does not require the intervention of a POS or a point of sale machine and factor authentications: UPI transactions have jumped 70 times in last 4 years.

Latest currency in circulation data reveals that it has remained constant over the previous year even as record purchases happened during Diwali at Rs 1.25 lakh crores. The latest RBI data show that currency in circulation rose Rs 43,892 crore during the festival weekend, almost the same as the previous year’s Diwali week when the festival spends were lacklustre. “This happened for the first time since 2014” said S K Ghosh, SBI’s group chief economic advisor, who has authored the report.

“Indian consumers now prefer convenience in payments through the click of a button. The vast quantity of information that is produced as a passive by-product of the use of such UPI transactions holds a great promise as a transformative resource for real time policy and evidence based policy making” Ghosh said.

As this would need use of huge swaths of data and use of artificial intellegence by banks, the report recommends scaling up of large investment in cloud platforms by banks. “This might also necessitate regulatory interventions of both Central Banks and Government so that database can be harnessed and stored and also used for real time policy making” Ghosh said.



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