The government will pump Rs 42,000 crore into debt-laden public sector banks in the remainder of the current financial year to March to improve their financial health, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Monday.

“We will infuse the next tranche of recapitalisation in public sector banks by mid-December. About Rs 42,000 crore remains to be infused as capital in the banks in the current financial year,” the official said.

The Rs 42,000 crore capital infusion is part of the Rs 2.11 lakh crore, two-year, front-loaded bank recapitalisation plan announced by the government in October 2017 to support credit growth.

While recapitalisation of banks will be based on regulatory capital requirement and also on the need to fuel growth, large banks like State Bank of India (SBI) and PNB are less likely to get any additional infusion this fiscal year to March.

The government is going ahead with the remaining capital infusion plan despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extending the deadline for meeting the Basel III norms by a year.

On November 19, keeping the capital adequacy ratio for banks unchanged at 9 per cent, the RBI extended the deadline to meet Basel III norms from March 2019 to March 2020 in order to increase the current lending capacity of banks.

Further, the official said four to five public sector banks, whose NPAs have gone down and current account-savings account ratios (CASA) have improved, may come out of the RBI’s prompt corrective action (PCA) framework.

Currently, 11 banks with high bad debts are under the PCA framework that prohibit them from further lending. On the insistence of the central government, the RBI’s Board for Financial Supervision is expected to meet soon on the issue.

The government’s Rs 2.11 lakh crore recapitalisation was to be funded through sale of bonds worth Rs 1.35 lakh crore, budgetary provisions of Rs 18,139 crore and Rs 58,000 crore from the market by diluting the government’s equity share.

Of the Rs 1.35 lakh crore, the government has already recapitalised banks with Rs 82,000 crore. In July, it infused Rs 11,336 crore in five banks – Punjab National Bank, Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Corporation Bank.

IANS

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar says his upcoming film ‘2.0’ attempts to convey a global message on climate change.

“There is a moment in the story that emphasizes the other living creatures on planet earth. It says that the planet not only belongs to the human race but also to animals and birds,” said the ‘Padman’ actor during a media interaction on Monday.

“Though animals and plants cannot raise their voice against human beings, they have the right to live. So do not spoil the mother nature,” he said.

The film is a sequel of ‘Enthirana’ released in 2010 and written and directed by S Shankar. It featured Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Akshay is working with Shankar for the first time. “We used to speak in Marathi on the sets and we used to enjoy that. Shankar is a brilliant director to work with and he is a very humble man. It was so interesting to see how he would add a quirk of entertainment in any or every dialogue of our daily conversation.”

“He is a very professional person. He narrated me the whole story, the screenplay and I knew each character of the film from the beginning. I was impressed by the concept and wondered why nobody has explored the subject so far,” said Akshay

The film that reportedly had a budget of Rs 543 crore is considered the most expensive film of India made in 3D.

The actor urges the audience to watch the film in 3D at the theatre.

“This film is not converted into a 3D film after shooting, but originally shot in 3D format and therefore the whole experience was different for us. It will be a unique experience for the audience as well,” said the actor.

The trailer of the film was released on November 3.

Asked if the extensive use of technology would overpower the core story of the film, Akshay said, “I do not think so. I would rather say that the use of technology has enhanced the narration. The global message of the film comes across crystal clear.”

‘2.0’ is releasing on November 29.

IANS

 SBI General Insurance Company Ltd aims to be among the top five non-life insurers by investing in technology and launching new products, and seeks to go public through an initial share sale in 2020, a senior official said on Monday.

The company plans to boost the number of agents and other distribution channels, and focus on health insurance policies.

“We are investing in digital technology and looking at digital strategy. Now there are insurers that are purely into digital technology. The investment is part of our overall budget for information technology,” Lisa Jeffery, Deputy CEO, told reporters.

At a time when the industry is registering a 12 per cent growth, SBI General Insurance is clocking about 30 per cent business growth.

“We hope to log about 35 per cent growth in our gross domestic premium income (GDPI). During the first half of the current fiscal, the GDPI growth was about 30 per cent at Rs 2,067 crore and the net profit was at Rs 270 crore,” Jeffery added.

She said SBI General Insurance was one of the few players to have posted an underwriting profit, or premium income minus claims.

According to Jeffery, the company got 3,289 claims due to Kerala floods for a value of about Rs 168 crore, towards which Rs 64 crore has been paid out.

She said the company officials contacted the policyholders (insured) and told them about the insurance protection and claims procedure.

With respect to cyclone Gaja that devastated several districts in Tamil Nadu, the company has received 128 claims.

The fire premium rates continue to go down with the entry of purely online/digital insurers without the traditional set-up.

To a question, Jeffery said that IAG International was not planning to increase its stake in the company from the current 26 per cent to the maximum permissible 49 per cent.

The non-life insurer is a joint venture between State Bank of India (SBI) and IAG International.

In September, SBI sold a four per cent stake in SBI General at Rs 482 crore to Axis New Opportunities Fund (1.65 per cent) and Premji Invest (2.35 per cent), valuing the company at about Rs 12,000 crore.

After the deal, SBI holds a 70 per cent stake in SBI General Insurance.

IANS

The Reserve Bank has ‘more than adequate’ reserves and that it can transfer over Rs 1 trillion to the government after a specially constituted panel identifies the ‘excess capital’, says a report.

An RBI board meeting had last Monday decided to form a committee, which is likely to be announced later this week.

“We expect the proposed committee on the RBI’s economic capital framework (ECF) to identify Rs 1-3 trillion which is 0.5-1.6 per cent of GDP as excess capital,” analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note Monday.

The brokerage report said as per its stress tests, the central bank can transfer Rs 1 trillion to the government if the transfer is limited to passing excess contingency reserve and can go up to Rs 3 trillion if the total capital is included.

Giving a break-up, the report said Rs 1.05 trillion can be transferred if the contingency reserve is capped at 3.5 percent of the RBI book. It further said this level will be 75 percent higher than the average of BRICS economies, excluding India.

Additional forms of transfers can include Rs 1.16 trillion from the contingency reserves if one restricts to yield rise of 4.5 percent as against 9 percent at present.

Limiting the appreciation cover in RBI’s currency and gold revaluation account to 25 percent (Rs 53.25 per US Dollar) will release about Rs 72,000 crore to the government, it said.

It also said capping the overall reserves at 20 percent of the RBI’s book as against 28.3 percent now and higher than 18 percent recommended by the Usha Thorat panel will be able to release Rs 3.11 trillion.

The statutes do not prohibit transfer of excess capital to the government, it said, pointing out that the RBI Act places no bar as long as government maintains Rs 5 crore of reserve funds under Sec 46 of the RBI Act.

While Section 47 enjoins the RBI to credit its annual surplus to the national exchequer, after provisions, it does not place any restrictions on further transfers, it added.

The RBI’s contingency reserves at 7 percent are higher than the BRICS (excluding India) average of 2 percent, it said, adding the revaluation reserves are also on the higher side relative to BRICS central banks.

As per a press statement after the nine-hour marathon board meeting, the government and RBI will be jointly deciding on the panel constitution and also its terms of reference.

Following widespread criticism from many quarters, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said over the weekend that government did not need any support from the RBI’s reserves for the next six months.

However, multiple reports had claimed that the government is eyeing the extra cash which will help it in the run-up to the elections.

This comes amidst falling GST collections and little borrowing window left for the government, as it has already used up close to 96 per cent of borrowings as of end October.

By taking the money from the RBI, the government will only increase its fiscal deficit, as it will have to issue bonds to the central bank.

The government for the second year in a row has pegged fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of GDP this fiscal year.

Many analysts are expecting government to overshoot this by at least 20-30 bps by March.

PTI

Kiev, Ukraine – October 17, 2012 – A logotype collection of well-known social media brand’s printed on paper. Include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Vimeo, Flickr, Myspace, Tumblr, Livejournal, Foursquare and more other logos.

 There is need for proper control of services provided by social networking sites as their nature is to make profits and not improve the world, an Australian cybersecurity expert has warned, noting that countries such as China and Korea have taken steps to “stop bad things happening”.

In an interview with IANS while on a visit here, Richard Buckland, who teaches at UNSW, Sydney, said that companies like Facebook operate to earn profit.

“We trust these sites for communication and maintaining relationships with people… They don’t have any duty towards the people of the country (in which they operate). So we cannot trust these companies. It’s not that they are bad, but that is their nature. The nature of the Facebook and other social networking sites is to survive and make profit, not to improve the world,” he said.

“So, there is need for proper control on the services of these social networking sites at the government, national, trans-national and international levels to control bad practices,” he added.

“If the governments leave their own interest and think about the citizens and regulate social networking sites like China and Korea, they can stop bad things happening. If social networking sites are regulated properly, some good things will also happen as Facebook helps in communities getting together,” said Buckland, a Professor in Cybercrime Cyberwar and Cyberterror at the School of Computer Science and Engineering UNSW (University of New South Wales), one of Australia’s leading research and teaching universities that is seeking to attract more and more students from India.

He stressed on educating people about cyber activities and advised India, as well as other countries, to learn from the alleged Russian meddling through social media during the 2016 US presidential elections.

“In the long run, these problems would be solved by having an educated population. Once people understand cybersecurity, benefits of collaboration of communication, social media would no longer be a problem. If people are not well educated they are easily swayed by emotional arguments,” Buckland said.

He also asserted that countries like the US, UK and Australia are not handling the social media very well.

The professor said in England and Australia particularly, there is a growing level of public awareness of the issues of social media. “There is national discussion about this but there are no government initiatives. it is just the move of newspapers and people.”

“I think we should look at the US experience with Russia during its Presidential elections in 2016. The best way is to learn from others’ mistakes. So by watching what happened in the US we all can learn and think. I don’t think that the US government is really able to do much because of its passion for ‘free speech’ culture,” Buckland said.

He cited lack of cyber security experts behind the challenges the world is facing and warned Indian authorities to take precautions and keep vigil on social networking sites during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections .

He said India has advantages and challenges.

“The challenges are so large as you are moving into so many areas. With quick movements, there comes the ability to do bad things. The largeness of diversity of India makes it an attractive target to bad people and vulnerable to crime, terror and war. Indian people have good values and ethics, and communities are working together. I think, part of the solution to cyber crime will be people working together and trusting each other.”

“For cyber terror and cyber war, there are issues with large infrastructure that is controlled by computers. In Ukraine and Australia, the power sector is an easy thing to attack. In India, I think nuclear power increases the risk of attack. Other sectors that are more vulnerable to cyber attacks are transport with which cities can really be locked, hacking of robots, some high-end cars like BMW, stock market and medical sectors because computers touch every part of our life.”

He said there is shortage of cyber experts. “This industry has zero per cent unemployment. As per one estimate, there are almost two jobs for one graduate. Countries like America take the benefit as they pay most. We need more trained people. So the computing sector has the highest demand,” he said.

He advised against doing anything online which is not safe and laid emphasis on caution, saying there was no harm in being sceptical and suspicious.

IANS

San Francisco An investigation by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) found that LinkedIn had processed hashed email addresses of approximately 18 million non-LinkedIn members and targeted these individuals on Facebook without necessary permission, a new report has revealed.

The investigation covered the activities of the Microsoft-owned professional networking platform during the first six months of 2018, The Verge reported on Saturday.

In its report published on Friday, DPC said that it concluded its audit of LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company (LinkedIn) in respect of its processing of personal data following an investigation of a complaint notified to the DPC by a non-LinkedIn user.

The complaint concerned LinkedIn’s obtaining and use of the complainant’s email address for the purpose of targeted advertising on the Facebook.

The investigation revealed that that LinkedIn Corporation in the US did not have the required permission from the data controller – LinkedIn Ireland — to process hashed email addresses of 18 million non-LinkedIn members.

The complaint was ultimately “amicably resolved”, with LinkedIn implementing a number of immediate actions to cease the processing of user data for the purposes that gave rise to the complaint, DPC said in its report.

However, the body was “concerned with the wider systemic issues identified” in its report, and undertook a second audit to see if LinkedIn had adequate “technical security and organisational measures.”

DPC found that the site was “undertaking the pre-computation of a suggested professional network for non-LinkedIn members,” and ordered them to stop and delete associated data that existed prior to May 25 of this year, the day when General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect.

“We appreciate the DPC’s 2017 investigation of a complaint about an advertising campaign and fully cooperated,” Denis Kelleher, Head of Privacy, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, for LinkedIn, told TechCrunch in a statement.

“Unfortunately the strong processes and procedures we have in place were not followed and for that we are sorry. We’ve taken appropriate action, and have improved the way we work to ensure that this will not happen again,” Kelleher said.

As TechCrunch pointed out LinkedIn did not get fined in this process because until the implementation of GDPR at the end of May, the regulator had no power to enforce fines.

It is still not clear how LinkedIn got hold of those 18 million email addresses.

(IANS)

The Indian government plans to open a ‘Passport Seva Kendra’ in each of the 543 parliamentary constituencies across the country by March next year to ensure convenient passport services to its people, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said here.

The government is trying to ensure that Indian citizens do not face any difficulty in obtaining their passports whether in India or abroad, he said as he launched the ‘Passport Seva’ programme at India’s Consulate here on Wednesday.

The ‘Passport Seva’ programme has brought in a huge transformation towards delivery of passport services in India, Singh said while handing over passports to a few Indian citizens who had used the new programme to renew their passports.

The new system will ensure an easy and convenient application submission process, usher-in standardisation, digital overhauling, end-to-end status tracking and enhance security, the minister said.

The government plans to have a ‘Passport Seva Kendra’ in each of the 543 parliamentary constituencies across the country by March, 2019 to ensure convenient passport services to its citizens, he said.

“We plan to have a Passport Kendra in each head post office (in India) so that any citizen doesn’t have to travel beyond 50-60 km for his or her passport services,” Singh said.

The government aims that by March next year, each of the 543 Parliamentary constituencies in the country should have one ‘Passport Seva Kendra’ for the benefit of the citizens, he said.

The year 2017 registered a 19 per cent growth in passport related services. The monthly submission of applications has crossed one million mark for the first time and more than six crore passports have been issued through the ‘Pasport Seva’ system, the minister said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken several measures to improve the passport service delivery experience, including by simplifying several passport rules and doing away with cumbersome requirements that delayed the process and led to unnecessary hurdles, he said.

The MEA with the Department of Posts took the decision to start ‘Passport Seva Kendars’ in head post offices.

As a result, 236 ‘Post Office Passport Seva Kendras’ (POPSKs) have been operationalised to date and many more are in the pipeline. This, when added to 36 passport offices and 93 erstwhile ‘Passport Seva Kendras’, makes a total of 365 passport offices for public.

The MEA has also initiated the integration of ‘Passport Seva Programme’ at all Indian Embassies and Consulates across the globe.

The MEA has successfully initiated a pilot project at the High Commission of India in London followed by the Consulate General of India in Birmingham and Edinburgh.

After launching the global ‘Passport Seva’ programme at the Consulate General of India in New York for the Indian diaspora, the MEA will launch the programme at the Indian Embassy in Washington followed by the Consulate in Atlanta. It aims to operationalise all Embassy/Consulates in the US during the course of next 15 days.

The Indian government plans to roll out the global ‘Passport Seva’ programme at all Embassies/Consulates within the next three to four months, a move that will ensure that “our ‘Passport Seva’ globally is inter-linked and centrally controlled,” Singh added.

PTI

Despite the crisis in realty space in the country, which is home to the largest number of homeless in the world, networth of top 100 realtors has jumped 27 per cent to Rs 2.37 trillion in 2018, as per a report that’s led by Lodha group founder Mangal Prabhat Lodha.

Significantly, the country’s largest developer DLF group and its founder KP Singh, who was the richest real estate entrepreneur in 2017, does not find a place among the top 10 developers in the country this year.

According to the Hurun rich-list 2018, the 62-year-old Lodha, who is also a senior BJP leader, is the richest real estate entrepreneur in the country with total wealth of Rs 27,150 crore.

Lodha is followed by Jitendra Virwani of the Bengaluru-based Embassy group with total wealth of Rs 23,160 crore in 2018.

The city-based Lodha was at the second position last year with a wealth of Rs 18,610 crore, while DLF’s Kushal Pal Singh, who had topped the list last year with a wealth of Rs 23,460 crore, does not figure in the year’s top 10 list. However, his son Rajiv Singh comes third with wealth of Rs 17,690 crore this year.

It can be noted that the senior Singh has moved out of daily operations of DLF and has transferred his shares to his son Rajiv and daughter Piya.

“Total wealth of the top 100 real estate developers stood at Rs 2,36,610 crore or USD 32.7 billion in 2018, up 27 per cent from Rs 1,86,700 crore or USD 28.6 billion in 2017,” says the Hurun-Grohe India (German sanitary ware maker) rich-list 2018.

The list relates to those realtors born and brought up in the county, and the valuation of these individuals is as of end-September 2018 when the rupee averaged at 72.46 to the dollar, according to the publishers.

Almost 59 per cent of the names featured in the report are first-generation entrepreneurs, says the report.

From a city-wise perspective, Mumbai is the most preferred city of residence for the real estate tycoons with the city being home to 35 of them, followed by Delhi (22) and Bengaluru (21) and Pune which is home to five of the richest 100 realtors.

At the fourth slot is Chandru Raheja of the city-based K Raheja group with a networth of Rs 14,420 crore, followed by Vikas Oberoi (Rs 10,980 crore).

The Hiranandani brothers, Niranjan of Hiranandani Group and Surendra of House of Hiranandani, come at the sixth slot with a wealth of Rs 7,880 crore each, and the billionaire brothers Manoj and Raj Menda of Bengaluru are at the ninth position with a wealth of Rs 5,900 crore each. Ajay Piramal and family are the seventh slot with a combined wealth of Rs 6,380 crore.

While the average age of the participants is 59 years, 24 year old Kunal Menda of RMZ Group of Bengaluru is the youngest among of them and Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi of East India Hotels is the eldest at 89.

Only four names under-40 are featured in the list indicating that the experienced and long standing names build wealth in the long-run from this sector.

The list also features nine women entrepreneurs, with Renuka Talwar of DLF ranked at 19 topping the list.

Among the 10 debutants, Rameshwar Rao Jupally of My Home Constructions leads the list at 14.

Anas Rahman Junaid, managing director and chief researcher at Hurun Report India said, “realty sector has always been among the key wealth creators in the country, though it also accounts for the largest number of homeless in the world. He expressed hope that value creation by the realty sector will continue given the regulatory environment (mandatory Rera registration) which in turn will bring in greater transparency in the sector.

PTI

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday gave its ex post facto approval to a MoU between India and Tajikistan on cooperation on youth affairs. The MoU shall be valid for five years.

“The areas of cooperation on youth matters include exchanges of youth representatives of youth organisations and government officials in-charge of youth policy-making, extension of invitations to international conferences and seminars and research and other information,” an official statement said.

The MoU was signed on October 8 by India’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Somnath Ghosh and Chairman of the Committee for Youth and Sports Affairs for Tajikistan, Abdullozoda Ahtam Rustam, to promote cooperation on youth matters.

IANS

Bengaluru is the third most preferred city of residence for real estate tycoons in India as 21 names from the city have been featured in the GROHE Hurun India Real Estate Rich List 2018. In terms of net worth, three real estate developers from Bengaluru are among the top 10 in the country.

Bengaluru-based Jitendra Virwani of Embassy Group has been ranked number two in the list with a net worth of Rs 23,160 crore. The list is topped by Mangal Prabhat Lodha of Lodha Group.

Among other Bengalureans, Manoj Menda and Raj Menda of RMZ Group share the No 9 rank with the net worth of Rs 5,900 crore each.

Hurun Report and GROHE India on Wednesday released the second edition of the rich list featuring the richest real estate entrepreneurs in India. While Mumbai stood first with 35 names hailing from the financial capital, it was followed by Delhi with  35 names hailing from the financial capital, it was followed by Delhi with 22 names.

The total wealth of top 100 real estate barons featured in the list accounted for Rs 2,36,610 crore ($32.7 billion) in 2018 – up 27% against 2017 edition’s cumulative wealth of Rs 186,700 crore ($ 28.6 billion). The List was compiled on the basis of of the net worth of living Indians as on September 30, 2018, when the rate of exchange to the US Dollar stood at Rs 72.46.

Only four names aged below 40 years were featured in the list and nine women were featured on the list – with Renuka Talwar of DLF being the richest woman ranked at No 19.

Anas Rahman Junaid, MD, and Chief Researcher, Hurun Report India, said “Real Estate sector in India has always been among the key wealth creators in the country. The combined wealth of the top 100 names
listed by us in 2018 stands at $32.3 billion. It is also an industry that demands patience and persistence – with an average age of the participants on the list hovering around 59 years and accounting for 59% of the first generation entrepreneurs.”