Business Today 13 August 2017

The reader of Business Today would be aware that we have been writing about the mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks in India, and especially the government-owned banks regularly. We have examined how the rising NPAs would force the banks to raise enormous capital in order to meet the capital adequacy norms set by Basel III. We have looked at how banks tried to fix their bad debt problems with the help of asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) as well as why this has not been a successful approach. And also, why strategic debt restructuring (SDR), which allowed companies to restructure their debt, did not work out as anticipated. We have examined the efforts of the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to clean up the mess – and…

Red Tape Grinds GST to a Halt This refers to your cover story (The Good, Bad and Ugly, July 30). Our company – Blue Star International – is a government-recognised Star Export house, with turnover of ₹40 crore and 100 per cent realisation of export proceeds till date. Our GST jurisdictional office is in Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi. We welcomed the 7th July CBEC notification distinguishing or clarifying who could give bond and who could give letter of undertaking (LUT) for exporting without payment of IGST. Our team went to the GST jurisdictional office on 10th July to seek what documents are required for LUT acceptance and claiming composite rate drawback. We moved our file for LUT acceptance the same day to claim composite rate drawback with all required…

QUOTE "That’s a major milestone where an Indian automotive company is opening up manufacturing in a resurgent Detroit. I think that’s a wonderful twist of history." M&M Chairman Anand Mahindra on the company's decision to open a facility in Detroit ₹2.5 lakh crore This is the amount banks may have to forgo as dues from 50 large stressed companies, says a report by CRISIL 210 GOVERNMENT SITES DISPLAY AADHAAR DATA About 210 websites of central and state government departments were found to be displaying personal details and Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, P.P. Chaudhary, said in the Lok Sabha. “The Unique Identification Authority of India has taken note and is regularly monitoring the status to get the Aadhaar data removed from the said websites,”…

25 26 DEBATING GLOBALISATION WHAT: IMF Conference on "Globalisation in the Aftermath of the Crisis" WHEN: July 25-26, Kuala Lumpur WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The event being organised jointly by the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the IMF Economic Review will aim to deepen the understanding of the recent setback to globalisation. It will provide a forum to discuss the slowdown in global trade and finance, the role of protectionist policies, and welfare implications of immigration. 26 THE NEED FOR PPPs WHAT: India PPP Summit WHEN: July 26, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The FICCI summit will discuss critical issues related to Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). It will focus on policy framework and regulations, fostering partnerships and evolving innovative financing solutions for PPPs. It…

A new trend is emerging. Hefty dividend payments by companies seem to be becoming unpopular. As per the data collated by Ace Equity for 382 companies whose details were available, 2016/17 saw the steepest decline – of 16 per cent compared to 2015/16 – in dividend payouts over the past decade. Around 45 per cent of these companies saw a decline in dividend payouts over the period – this despite over 20 per cent growth in their net profit and 6.4 per cent growth in the top line. Back in 2016, it was a different story. India Inc. (a bunch of BSE 500 companies) saw 7.4 per cent growth in dividend payments despite witnessing a 10.2 per cent reduction in profits. Dividend growth has outpaced growth in net profits over…

The key objective of the scheme is to streamline fertiliser distribution and improve availability The government’s ambitious direct benefit transfer (DBT) programme for fertiliser subsidy may hit the skids as point-of-sale (POS) machines, required to carry out all such transactions for the sake of transparency, are in short supply. Close to 200,000 retail outlets across 11 states are supposed to receive these devices as a POS-only buy-and-sell regime is afoot and pilots for the same are under way in 14 districts for almost a year now. Under the new practice, retail outlets equipped with POS machines can read and record a buyer’s Aadhar/ID details. Once the validation is done, the subsidy amount is credited to the bank account of the manufacturer concerned. Before making any authenticated transaction, retailers must enter…