Merger plan...

Indian Bank declined 8.9%, Union Bank of India 8.8%, Canara Bank 7.5%, Syndicate Bank 6.2%, Andhra Bank 6%, Oriental Bank of Commerce 5.3%, Bank of India 5.2%, Punjab National Bank 4.2%, SBI 4.2%, IDBI Bank 3.5%, Allahabad Bank 1.9%.

BOB incurred a net loss of ₹2,432 crore in fiscal year 2018, against a profit of ₹1,383 crore last year. Gross non-performing assets (NPAS) increased to 12.3% from 10.5% a year earlier.

Vijaya Bank reported a profit of ₹727 crore in fiscal year 2018 against ₹750.50 crore a year ago. Gross NPAS narrowed to 6.3% from 6.6% last year. In comparison, Dena Bank reported a loss of ₹1,923.20 crore in fiscal year 2018 against ₹863.60 crore loss last year. Bad loans surged to 22% from 16.3% a year earlier. 1 lakh with him,” the SP said.

The accused spent part of the money on buying a two-wheeler, duplicate mobile SIM cards and other equipment, besides engaging the services of Subhash Sharma from Bihar. “On August 9, they conducted a recce on the movements of Pranay and they made a first attempt to kill him on August 14, but they could not execute it as his brother Ajay was also there along with him,” the SP said.

On August 17, Pranay and Amrutha threw a party for friends and relatives and that angered Rao further. “In the meantime, Rao came to know that Amrutha was pregnant and Rao thought if she delivered the baby, it would be all the more humiliating for him. So, he started bringing pressure on her to abort the foetus,” Ranganath said.

The accused made another attempt on the life of Pranay on September 1 as well, but it also did not succeed. “Finally, they committed the murder on September 14, when the couple was coming out of the hospital after Amrutha underwent medical check-up,” the SP said.

He said the police had warned the young couple to be careful ever since they got the complaint from Pranay’s family about threats from Rao. “We even arranged CC cameras at their house and asked them to inform the police if they encountered anything suspicious.” cheaper,” she said.

Sitharaman also rejected Antony’s charge that the government had compromised India’s security by reducing the number of jets ordered from 126 to 36. “He has done the negotiations, so he knows about how do they go. These are not over-the-counter purchases. Orders have to be placed and then they have to be manufactured, thus there is a timeline,” she said.

On kickback rumours in the Rafale deal during the previous regime, Sitharaman said, “There have been rumours so far. Let them gain strength. I am not saying we will investigate the deal.”

Congress president Rahul Gandhi charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi with irregularities in the Rafale deal. Addressing a rally at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh he again said the deal favours Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group.

Military affairs expert Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak (retd) said, “The up-scaling of the combat squadron numbers of the IAF is a crucial national imperative. This issue must be insulated from the political slugfest over defence acquisitions.”

The Rafale deal has become controversial with the opposition, led by the Congress, claiming that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is ₹1,670 crore for each, three times the ₹526 crore, the initial bid by the company when the UPA was trying to buy the aircraft. It has also claimed the previous deal included a technology transfer agreement with HAL. The NDA has not disclosed details of the price, but the UPA deal, struck in 2012, was not a viable one, former defence minister Manohar Parrikar has previously said, implying that it would have never been closed and that, therefore, any comparison is moot. Indeed, the UPA was not able to close the deal till 2014, largely over discussions related to pricing of items not included in the initial bid and also HAL’S ability to assemble the aircraft locally and the cost of doing so. The NDA has said that the current deal also includes customized weaponry.

The deal has also become controversial on account of the fact that one of the offset deals signed by Dassault is with the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani. The Congress claims the earlier deal was scrapped and a new one signed just to provide Ambani this opportunity for an offset deal. Both the government and Reliance have repeatedly denied this. Sniffing an electoral opportunity in the Rafale deal, the Congress has been relentlessly keeping up the heat. Gandhi has claimed that it is “the corruption of the century”. The opposition party also said that it would make Rafale one of the main issues in its election campaign. The NDA government has said that it cannot disclose the details of the price on two counts: a confidentiality agreement with France, and the strategic reason of not showing its hand to India’s enemies.

Later in the evening, the Congress said the discussions on the cooperation between the Indian company and the French firm were on. “Had she (Sitharaman) bothered to ask Dassault Aviation, then they have publically stated in their Annual Report of 2015... that they are in active negotiation with the Public Sector Undertaking firm,” Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, adding similar claims had also been made in a press briefing by a bureaucrat before PM Narendra Modi’s visit to France in 2015.