Deccan Chronicle

RBI steps to boost credit growth risky: Fitch

- FALAKNAAZ SYED

Indiabulls Real Estate reported a 75.69 per cent decline in consolidat­ed net profit at Rs 49.27 crore for the December quarter from Rs 202.4 crore a year ago, mainly due to higher expenses. Total income rose by 2.33 per cent to Rs 1,317.7 crore from Rs 1,287.59 crore. Expenses rose 20 per cent to Rs 1201.28 crore from Rs 1,001.32 crore. During the quarter, the firm sold its entire stake in Century, which indirectly owns Hanover Square.

New Delhi, Feb 10: Indian Overseas Bank has reported widening of its net loss to Rs 6,075.49 crore during the third quarter, owing to higher provisioni­ng for bad loan. The bank had reported a net loss of Rs 346.02 crore during the October-December period of 2018-19.

Its total income also fell to Rs 5,197.94 crore from Rs

5,688.59 crore in the yearago quarter. Provisioni­ng for bad loans jumped to Rs

6,663.94 crore compared with Rs 2,075.28 crore a year ago. The bank's gross non-performing assets, however, dropped to 17.12 per cent of the gross loans at the end of December

2019, from 23.76 per cent a year ago.

New Delhi, Feb. 10: State-owned gas utility GAIL India on Monday reported 25 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit due to a slump in margins on natural gas marketing as well as LPG and liquid hydrocarbo­ns.

The net profit at Rs

1,250.65 crore, or Rs 2.77 a share, in October-December, was 25.6 per cent lower than Rs 1,681.23 crore, or Rs 3.73 per share, earned in the same period a year ago, the company said.

Revenues from natural gas marketing fell 9.5 per cent to Rs 14,662.67 crore and segment profits dropped 31 per cent to Rs

466.52 crore. Revenues from gas transmissi­on business, however, continued to grow in double digits.

Greater Noida, Feb. 10: Domestic passenger vehicle sales declined 6.2 per cent in January as vehicle demand continued to be stressed by rising cost of ownership and slower GDP growth, automobile industry body Siam said on Monday.

Passenger vehicle sales last month stood at

2,62,714 units against

2,80,091 units in the yearago month, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufactur­ers (Siam). Car sales last month were also down 8.1 per cent at 1,64,793 units compared with 1,79,324 units in the January last year.

Vehicle sales across categories registered a decline of 13.83 per cent to

17,39,975 units from

20,19,253 units in January

2019, Siam said. "Sales of vehicles continue to be stressed due to rising cost of vehicle ownership and slower growth in GDP," Siam President Rajan Wadhera said.

Vehicle prices have gone

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) move last week to use unconventi­onal tools to nudge banks to lend more to automotive, housing purchases, and MSME sector are unlikely to support sustainabl­e credit growth until capitalisa­tion improves meaningful­ly across banks, in particular among state-owned banks, rating agency Fitch said on Monday. The agency also warned that Indian banks have a poor up as manufactur­ers gear up for the transition to stricter emission norm BS-VI from BS-IV beginning April 1. Besides, many companies had raised prices in January, citing rising input costs.

Wadhera further said, "We are hopeful that the recent announceme­nts by the government on infrastruc­ture and rural economy would support growth of vehicle sales going forward, especially in commercial vehicles and twowheeler segment."

According to Siam, total two-wheeler sales in January fell 16.06 per cent to 13, 41, 005 units compared with 15,97,528 units in the same month last year. track record with restructur­ing and that the extensions announced for real estate and MSME sectors are likely to defer assetquali­ty pressures unless there is a sustained improvemen­t in macroecono­mic conditions.

The RBI, in its sixth bimonthly monetary policy last week, announced allowed exemption from maintenanc­e of cash reserve ratio (CRR) on incrementa­l disburseme­nt on auto, housing and MSME loans. The CRR is the percent of its cash

Amazon has filed a writ petition in Bangalore High Court seeking stay against the competitio­n watchdog’s investigat­ive order against e-commerce biggies.

The petition dated February 10 said that the order issued by the Competitio­n Commission of India (CCI) “has been passed without applicatio­n of mind” and will cause irreparabl­e loss/injury to the goodwill/reputation of the company.

“An interim stay on the proceeding­s must be granted as the balance of convenienc­e for stay lies in favour of the petitioner as a bonafide company,” Amazon said

The Competitio­n Commission had ordered a probe against Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart in a complaint filed by the Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM), representi­ng small businesses, in January. The petitioner had alleged that the e-commerce companies were violating the competitio­n laws.

“It needs to be investigat­ed whether the alleged deposits a commercial bank must maintain with the RBI. Banks can now knock off the equivalent of additional loans disbursed to these priority fields between end-January and end-July

2020 from their net demand and time liabilitie­s for the purpose of calculatin­g their cash reserve ratio. The central bank also permitted extension of date of commenceme­nt

exclusive arrangemen­ts, deep-discountin­g and preferenti­al listing by the OPs (opposite parties) are being used as an exclusiona­ry tactic to foreclose competitio­n and are resulting in an appreciabl­e adverse effect on competitio­n,” the CCI had said in its order.

Amazon termed the findings of the order “perverse, arbitrary, untenable in law”.

When asked about the of commercial operations of commercial real estate project loans, delayed for reasons beyond the control of promoters, by another one year without downgradin­g asset classifica­tion, and last but not the least announced an extension of one-time restructur­ing benefit for MSMEs without an asset classifica­tion downgrade. “The move is intended to improve monetary transmissi­on, writ petition, Amazon said that the matter was subjudice and hence it could not offer any comments.

“Amazon claims that it follows the FDI policy, then why they are opposing investigat­ion. Let CCI conduct the investigat­ion and it will make position clear,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederat­ion of All-India Traders (Cait), an ally of DVM. supporting credit to fields that have multiplier effects...However, most of these sectors have had above-average lending growth in the last few years, either directly or indirectly via non-banks, and could be at risk were the economy to slow. Moreover, these measures are unlikely to support sustainabl­e credit growth until capitalisa­tion improves meaningful­ly across banks, in particular among state-owned banks.” Fitch Ratings said.

As high as 94 per cent Indian households with a solar home system (SHS) reported an improvemen­t in their quality of life as people felt safer and children found more time to study. One in 10 owners who use SHS to light and power businesses and unlock more work hours reported significan­t a rise in their income, says a recent study report by Gogla, the global associatio­n for the off-grid solar energy industry.

The research surveyed 949 households in South Asia, primarily rural customers. In India, the study covered Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

India has long been one of the key markets for the small-scale solar sector. Nearly 950,000 products, including solar lanterns, solar kits and solar home systems, were sold in the first six months of 2019 alone.

“The ‘Powering opportunit­ies in South Asia Research’ report shows that...small-scale solar continues to have an important role for Indian households. Although a majority of customers are using their solar home systems as a back up to the central grid, the additional energy security and power the systems provide are boosting the quality of life and unlocking economic opportunit­ies for those in rural and remote areas,” said Viraj Gada, Gogla’s India regional representa­tive.

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