BANKING UPDATES

Reform move: Govt aims to halve pending tax disputes: Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia told TOI that the government was moving to first unclog disputes at the level of tax department's commissioner (appeals), the first port of call for taxpayers, by seeking clearance of low-value cases. (TOI) § Loan growth of Private sector banks to be double of PSBs till FY19: Private sector lenders will witness an annual credit growth of 24 per cent till financial year 2019, twice that of their ailing and capital-starved state-run peers, domestic ratings agency Crisil said today. (ET) § A new scheme for facilitating start-ups intellectual property: The Government of India has launched a scheme for facilitating Start-ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) to promote awareness and encourage IPR protection among startups. The scheme, which is part of recently-launched Start-Up India by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is to protect and promote intellectual property rights (IPR) for startups and encourage innovation and creativity among them. (BS) § Apex court stops govet from selling residual stake in Hindustan Zinc: Questioning the government’s “hurry” to divest its remaining stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to put on hold a plan to offload its 29 per cent share in the erstwhile public sector unit, now a subsidiary of Vedanta. (BL) § Bankruptcy order on Sivasankaran lifted: A cloud has lifted for Chennai-born transnational businessman Chinnakannan Sivasankaran after the Supreme Court of Seychelles on Monday cancelled an August 2014 order declaring him bankrupt and directed all his assets around the world be freed. (BL) § RIL Q3 net up 39% to record Rs 7,290 cr : Reliance Industries' (RIL's) third quarter (Q3FY16) consolidated profit rose 39% to a record Rs 7,290 crore ($1.1 billion), boosted by the highest refining margins in seven years. (TOI) § China’s growth hits 25-yr low, raises stimulus hope: China's slowdown, along with the slump in commodity prices, prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut its global growth forecasts again on Tuesday, and it said it expects the world's secondlargest economy to see growth of only 6.3% in 2016. (TOI) § Oil market could drown in oversupply in 2016, says IEA: The world could find itself drowning in oil this year and prices could fall further as new Iranian output cancels out production cuts elsewhere, according to the International Energy Agency. (The Guardian) § Investors turn highly cautious on lower- rated bonds: Fund managers continue to be cautious about investing in debt paper that’s rated below AAA. Issuances of bonds that don’t carry a top-notch rating have slowed sharply in the last couple of months. Indeed, corporate bond market activity itself seems to have lost a bit of momentum. (FE) § No solution yet for stuck road projects: Though half of the build, operate and transfer (BOT) expressways being built remain in danger of defaulting — according to Crisil, 5,080 km of roads with an outstanding debt of Rs 45,900 crore are at very high/ high default risk — no resolution was reached at the meeting between bankers and officials of the roads ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) earlier this month. A final decision on the bankers’ demand of a pari passu charge on tolls from these expressways will be taken in a meeting with finance minister Arun Jaitley later this month. (FE) § IMF cuts world growth, holds on India: The IMF on Tuesday kept unchanged its growth forecasts for India at 7.5% for the next two years, but trimmed projections for global economic growth for 2016 and the year after that by 0.2 percentage point each on “subdued demand and diminished prospects”. (FE) § Budget may allocate Rs 5000 cr to NITI Aayog as discretionary fund: The Budget may allocate about Rs 5,000 crore as discretionary fund at NITI Aayog’s disposal for rewarding states undertaking economic reforms and making focused interventions to address local problems. (FE) § Insurers for tax exemptions on home, shopkeepers policies: In the last few years, profits of general insurance companies took a hit as a result of severe natural calamities – floods in Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir and the cyclone Hud-Hud. In order to increase awareness about householder policy and shopkeepers insurance, the general insurance industry has proposed tax exemptions for such policy premiums. (FE) § Indian Bank to raise Rs 1100 cr via Basel-III compliant bonds: The Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on January 19, 2016 has accorded approval to the Bank to raise Basel-III compliant tier-II bonds for Rs. 1,100 crore in one or more tranches in the current or subsequent years based on the requirement,” Indian Bank said in regulatory filing. (BL) § FPSF moves SC against Sebi nod to Imfi to act as self –regulatory body: The Financial Planning Supervisory Foundation (FPSF) has moved the Supreme Court against markets regulator Sebi’s in-principle approval to the Institution for Mutual Fund Intermediaries (Imfi) to act as a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) for distributors of mutual fund products. (FE) § Job stimulus a shot in the arm offor MSME this budget: With recognition of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as major employment providers, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is said to be considering a number of proposals to provide boost to MSME businesses in his upcoming Union Budget 2016-17. (BS)