1 MORE AUDITOR ARRESTED IN PMC BANK CASE

MUMBAI: A third auditor was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police in the ₹4,355-crore Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank fraud case on Tuesday.

The latest arrest was of Anita Shankar Kirdat, 48, a chartered accountant (CA) fromBhandup, who runs a firm, Anita Kirdat & Company. She has served as the concurrentauditor ofPMC bank from 2005 to 2019. “Kirdat has done concurrent auditing for PMC Bank more than 150 times, but could not detect discrepancies in the financial affairs of the bank,” said an EOW officer. The police suspect she is part of the overall conspiracy and are questioning her. She was produced in court on Wednesday. The court remanded her in police custody up to November 19.

This is the eighth arrest in the case. Investigators suspect that theauditorshavereceived ₹40-60 lakh to overlook fraudulent banking practices linked to the bank’s biggest client, Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL).

NEW DELHI : A sharp increase in foodpricespushedtheConsumer Price Index (CPI), India’s benchmark retail inflation measure to 4.6%inOctober,a16monthhigh.

Analysts said the headline numberprobablyconcealsoveralltepiddemandintheeconomy, evident in non-food non-fuel inflationfallingtoitslowestlevel inthecurrentseries(sinceJanuary 2012). Retail food inflation in October was 7.9%, the highest since August 2016.

Retail inflation, excludingthe food and beverages sub-group grew at just 2.7% in October. The food and beverages group has a share of 46% in the CPI basket. The 2.7% is the lowest ever value in the current series. Core inflation, which captures non-food non-fuel prices, too posted an annualgrowthof3.3%inOctober, again the lowest in the current series.

Asteepriseinvegetableprices isthebiggestreasonforthesharp spikeinfoodinflation. Vegetable priceinflationinurbanareaswas 35.4% (over the same period a year ago); it was 21% in rural areasinOctober.Overallvegetable price inflation was 26.1%, the highest since February 2018. Price of pulses too increased at 11.7%,thehighestsinceJanuary 2016. Aseasonal shock to vegetable supplies, such as that of onionsbecauseofuntimelyrains, is the main reason for the sharp rise in vegetable prices.

To be sure, inflation has been inching up steadily this year. Retailinflationgrowthwas2%in January this year and it has increasedeverymonthexceptin July to reach 4.6% in October.