BANKING UPDATES

Implementation challenge for India: Rajan:Implementation remains the major challenge for India's economy and if it can deliver on its promises the country will be "the place to be", RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has said. When asked to nominate the three things that most need to change to make a difference to the Indian economy Rajan said, "Implementation, implementation, and implementation". (TOI) § A RBI top brass discusses NPA issues with bankers, ARCs: Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan and other top RBI officials met bankers, representatives of asset reconstruction companies and NBFCs today to discuss effectiveness of distressed assets resolution mechanism and sought their suggestions to make it more efficient. (BS) § Bad loans: RBI reviews bank’s books: With banks staring at the March 2017 deadline to purge their books of bad loans, the Reserve Bank of India on Monday reviewed the functioning of various mechanisms to achieve this goal, including the joint Lenders’ Forum, Strategic Debt Restructuring Scheme and sale of assets to asset reconstruction companies. (BL) § Paytm aims for summer launch of payment bank: Paytm, the digital wallet and e-commerce company, is looking at a summer launch this year. Project Pokhran , as the company call its payments bank project internally, is in full swing to hire professionals and set up offices for the new business. EY ( earlier earnest and Young) and Mckinsey & Co are advising paytm for the banking foray. (BS) § Piramal to Float 6k-cr Distressed Assets Fund: Move to set up one of the biggest funds in India at a time when banks may hasten pace of distressed asset sale: RBI’s move to allow banks to convert part of their debt into equity of a defaulting company and later find a buyer for their stake – also comes as a huge opportunity for Piramal Capital which will own the majority of the funds. (ET) § Bond prices dip, call rates steady: Government Bonds (G-Secs) dropped further on sustained selling pressure from banks and corporate, while the overnight call money rates ended stable owing to alternate bouts of buying and selling. (BL) § Kotak bank net up 32% to Rs 945 crore, ING Vysya deal a drag: Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) today reported a 32 per cent rise in its December quarter net profit at Rs 945.16 crore as the fourth-largest private lender's growth numbers were impacted by higher provisions for the erstwhile ING Vysya Bank, which merged with it .(ET) § Sensex plummets 267 points on exports dip, oil prices : Market benchmark Sensex on Monday fell to a 20-month low after plunging 266.67 points to 24,188.37, dragged down by a massive dip in exports, while RIL cracked over 5 per cent on crude slipping below USD 28 per barrel. (FE) § Bank Nifty down 1.22% as sector faces NPA pressure: Bank Nifty, the guage of top banking shares, touched new lows on Monday as the sector continues to reel under the asset quality pressure even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the banks to clean up their books by March 2017. (FE) § MFs may show agent commission in a/c statements: After capping agent commission, mutual fund industry body and front line regulator AMFI may now ask the fund houses to disclose the individual distributor commission in the account statements sent to investors. (BL) § Trade deficit up as gold imports triple: India's trade deficit widened in December as gold imports nearly trebled, due to a rush from traders to take advantage of lower prices and a fall in exports for the 13th straight month. (TOI) § Ex Airbus COO to lead Tata Motors: Tata Motors has appointed Guenter Butschek, a former Airbus and Daimler executive, as CEO and MD. He will be the third expat to lead the maker of Nano hatchback after Karl Slym and Carl-Peter Forster. (TOI) § Talking terms: Ambani brothers in telco tie-up: In a major strategic partnership, Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil who lead mobile firms Reliance Jio and Reliance Communications, respectively on Monday inked an agreement to share and trade spectrum in the 800 MHz band across 17 circles. (FE) § Easwar panel makes it easier for tax payers: Small taxpayers like retirees with mainly interest income could soon be spared the hassle of facing a higher outgo as tax deducted at source (TDS) and then seeking refunds. Also, professionals with gross receipts up to Rs 1 crore may be given the facility to show just 33.3% of the receipts as income and pay tax on the same at the applicable rate, instead of going through the rigmarole of getting expenditure to that extent certified by the taxman. Experts said 90% of the professionals in the country would fall under the proposed presumptive tax rule. (FE) § Wipro s net dips, in line with expectations: IT major Wipro has reported a sequential dip in net profit of 0.06% for the OctoberDecember quarter, impacted primarily by the Chennai floods and a lower utilisation of its human resources. (FE) § Road map for new accounting standards: The finance ministry on Monday announced a road map for implementation of Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) converged with International Financial Reporting Standards for scheduled commercial banks, insurancecompanies and non-banking financial companies. (FE)