Mumbai: Top officials of ICICI and Axis banks have told an anti-fraud agency that recovery of loans worth Rs 1,000 crore seemed impossible from the Nirav Modi and Gitanjali Group of companies.

According to sources, ICICI Bank Executive Director N.S. Kannan and Axis Bank Deputy Managing Director V. Srinivasan, who appeared before the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) in Mumbai on Tuesday, told investigators that there was “no visible possibility” of recovering the money from the companies owned by fugitive jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

Kannan told the anti-fraud agency, which comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and probes white-collar economic crimes, that its exposure to these entities was Rs 800 crore.

ICICI Bank in a regulatory filing in the BSE on Wednesday clarified that the bank has “no exposure to the Nirav Modi group of companies, nor has the bank issued any Letter of Undertaking; nor has any buyer’s credit exposure against LoUs with respect to Nirav Modi group of companies as well as the Gitanjali group of companies.”

It, however, added: “The bank is a part of the working capital lender consortium in the Gitanjali group of companies along with several other banks wherein its exposure is not the largest.”

Srinivasan also confirmed that his bank had lent Rs 200 crore to the two groups.

In another regulatory filing, Axis Bank said: “…we would like to state that exposure of Axis Bank to these entities (Nirav Modi and Gitanjali group of companies) is approximately Rs 200 crore.”

According to the sources, both said that there was “no visible possibility of any recovery”.

The anti-fraud agency on Tuesday asked ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar and Axis Bank’s Shikha Sharma to appear in person or send representatives to explain to SFIO how much their banks had lent to jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner and uncle Mehul Choksi. The two have fled the country.

(IANS)

New York: Mukesh Ambani’s net worth has soared to $40.1 billion, making him the richest Indian for the 11th year in a row, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos toppled Bill Gates as the world’s wealthiest person, says Forbes.

According to Forbes’ 2018 ‘World’s Billionaires’ list, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s wealth surged a whopping 72.84% to $40.1 billion (Rs 2,60,622 crore) – highest among the 119 Indian billionaires on the list.

Ambani was ranked 19th globally, up from 33rd position in 2017.

“Mukesh Ambani chairs and runs $51 billion (revenues) oil and gas giant Reliance Industries, among India’s most valuable companies,” Forbes said.

Bezos, referred to as the “Centi-billionaire”, topped the list with a net worth of $112 billion, becoming the only person to appear in the Forbes list with a 12-figure fortune.

“Shares of his e-commerce giant Amazon rose 59% in 12 months, helping boost his fortune by $39.2 billion. It was the biggest one year gain since Forbes started tracking billionaires in 1987,” it said.

The Amazon founder moved ahead of Bill Gates, who is now the second richest person globally with a fortune of $90 billion.

According to Forbes, India is home to 119 billionaires, 18 more than last year.

This year’s list consists of 2,043 of the richest people in the world.

The combined net worth of this elite group is a whopping $9.1 trillion, up 18% since last year. Their average net worth is a record $4.1 billion.

Azim Premji is the second richest Indian and was ranked 58th on the overall list with a net worth of $18.8 billion, followed by Lakshmi Mittal (62nd position, net worth of $18.5 billion), Shiv Nadar (98th, $14.6 billion) and Dilip Shanghvi (115th, $12.8 billion).

The 10 richest Indians include Kumar Birla, ranked 127th overall with a fortune of $11.8 billion, Uday Kotak (143, $ 10.7 billion), Radhakishan Damani (151, $10 billion), Gautam Adani (154, $ 9.7 billion) and Cyrus Poonawalla (170, $9.1 billion).

Acharya Balkrishna, the co-founder of FMCG company Patanjali Ayurved, was ranked 274th on the list with a net worth of $6.3 billion.

“Acharya Balkrishna derives his fortune from fast-growing consumer goods giant Patanjali Ayurved. Balkrishna owns 98.6% of the privately-held company, which he cofounded with politically well-connected yoga guru Baba Ramdev,” Forbes said.

Meanwhile, Anil Ambani, the younger sibling of Mukesh Ambani was ranked 887th on the list with a net worth of $2.7 billion.

Indian jeweller Nirav Modi is among the drop-offs from the list, along with Papa John’s Pizza founder John Schnatter, Christoffel Wiese of South Africa, and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud. Donald Trump, who became the first billionaire president in US history in January 2017, was ranked 766th on the list, down from 544, with a fortune of $3.1 billion. Trump’s fortune fell $400 million since March 2017.

There were 259 newcomers, including the first ever cryptocurrency billionaires, while 121 dropped out due to falling fortunes or political headwinds, including 10 Saudi Arabians.

Forbes further noted that the gap between the really rich and the merely rich continues to widen, as fortunes soar to new heights so much so that the 20 richest people on the planet are worth a staggering $1.2 trillion, a sum roughly equivalent to the annual economic output of Mexico.

“In aggregate, they may represent less than 1% of total billionaires but their riches amount to 13% of the total fortune of all billionaires worldwide,” Forbes said. The Forbes Worlds Billionaires list is a snapshot of wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from February 9, 2018.

(PTI)

New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI): All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi today slammed spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for his remarks on the Ayodhya dispute saying it was contempt of the Supreme Court and stressed that the apex court should not hear the matter till the next Lok Sabha election.

Talking to news channel NDTV yesterday, Ravi Shankar said, “According to Islam, you cannot pray in a disputed site so anyway they can’t have a mosque there. This way everyone wins.”

The spiritual leader said that the Supreme Court order would not resolve the issue.

“If the court rules against a temple, there will be bloodshed. Do you think the Hindu majority will allow it? They will garner resentment towards the Muslim community,” he had said.

Owaisi slammed Rav Shankar’s comments, saying “I would say that he has committed contempt of the Supreme Court by whatever he has said.” Owaisi also said that the apex court should not hear the matter till the next general elections.

After his (Ravi Shankar’s) open threat of infighting people saying that if the issue is not decided in favour of X group, then India would become like Syria, I think the Supreme Court should not hear this matter till the next Lok Sabha elections because politics is being done over it, he told NDTV.

He said Ravi Shankar has come out with his weird statement deliberately before the hearing on the issue in the court on March 14.

He alleged that Ravi Shankar’s comments showed that he (Ravi Shankar) was not a man of peace and does not believe in the Constitution.”

(PTI)

Jaipur: The Congress on Wednesday swept the Rajasthan local body bypolls which were held across 21 districts of Rajasthan for electing Zilla Parishad members, Panchayat Samiti members and Nagar Palika/Nagar Parishad members on Tuesday, March 6. The Congress won in all three local bodies.

Out of the 6 Zilla Parishad seats where bypolls were held, the Congress won 4, Bharatiya Janata Party won 1 and an Independent candidate won one. In the Panchayat Samiti member bypoll on 21 seats, the Congress won 12, BJP won 8 while Independents won 1.

In the Nagar Palika/Nagar Parishads bypoll on six seats, the Congress won 4 while the BJP won 2. Soon after the results were out, Congress leader Sachin Pilot tweeted, “After winning the recent MP&MLA by elections, Cong has today comprehensively routed BJP in the local body by elections held in 21 dists in Rajasthan!”

In Bikaner district, Congress won all three seats. Congress’s Savitri Devi Jakhar won Shri Dungargarh Panchayat Samiti seat in Panchayat Samiti bypolls. Congress’s Bhanwari Devi won from Nokha’s Jasrasar seat. Congress’s Sunita Devi won the Baadnu Lal Madesar seat.

In Barmer, the Congress’s Kheemawati Meghwal won Ward 37 of Zilla Parishad. Congress also won the Ward 7 of Dungarpur Zilla Parishad. The Congress also won both Wards 1 and 18 of Karouli Zilla Parishad.

These bypolls came a month after the Congress won two Rajasthan Lok Sabha seats – Alwar and Ajmer – and one Assembly seat – Mandalgarh – where bypolls were held.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Naveen Kumar, the suspect who is being investigated for his charged in connection with the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh, has revealed that he had sourced the bullets from Uttar Pradesh.

According to SIT sources “He said a man from a neighbouring state assured him to get bullets from Uttar Pradesh for 1,000 each. As indicated by his statements, Naveen conspired to execute the journalist. We have sufficiently gathered material confirmation to demonstrate it in court. Naveen claims that it’s his first mission, however, we are not persuaded. It’s not an easy job for a first-timer to contact professional arms dealers and buy live bullets. Naveen is no beginner and this has made us presume his part in the Gauri case,”

Naveen Kumar the right-wing activist from Maddur in Karnataka’s Mandya region who is presently in the custody of the special investigation team (SIT), was caught from a KSRTC bus stop on February 18. Fifteen live bullets were seized from him. His striking resemblance to the CCTV footage of the biker roaming close to Gauri’s home on the day she was killed and two days before landed him in SIT custody.

A target practice camp is said to have organised by Naveen for four individuals in Kollegal forest, sources said they required more opportunity to remark on it. “Naveen claims that he was just going by a relative’s farmhouse in Kollegal. We are doing examinations at the forest and farmhouse,” another officer said.

(Agencies)

Photo credit: Filmibeat

Kannada superstar Upendra, who wanted to upset political equations in the state Assembly elections, resigned from the Karnataka Prajavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) on Tuesday and announced that he intends to create a new party instead. He has named the new party as ‘Prajakeeya’.

After many of his party colleagues came out against him on Monday, calling him a dictator, rumour mills were abuzz that Upendra might join the BJP on Tuesday. Several top BJP leaders, including Shobha Karandlaje and R Ashoka, had also invited him to the saffron brigade. But Upendra has politely turned down their offer.

(Agencies)