News digest: Vajpayee passes away, PCA framework, rupee falls, and more

With Vajpayee, curtains for an era that was gentler, but more democratic

Was he a private person? Yes, but you would have never known it, judging by the way he lived his life. Was he a public person? Not always: His political moves, especially against his adversaries, were so indirect and secret, and at the same time so brutal, that they rarely recovered.

The 10th prime minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of India’s most beloved leaders and most brilliant orators, died on Thursday. And, with him ended an era of politics that had Hindu majority assertion as its core.

Born on December 25, 1924, to Krishna Bihari Vajpayee and Krishna Devi, a Brahmin couple in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, Vajpayee studied law at Kanpur’s DAV College. Read more...

Govt asks RBI to water down PCA scheme, feels norms have put burden on PSBs

The government has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider diluting the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA), a framework to maintain sound financial health of banks, in a bid to ensure that regulatory sanctions against public sector banks (PSBs) are lifted swiftly.

The government is of the view that the RBI’s decision to tighten PCA norms in 2017 had put burden on PSBs, which were already reeling from the increased provisioning for bad loans on their books due to the banking regulator’s asset quality review in 2015-16, a senior government official said. Read more...

Rupee closes at 70.16 against dollar on persistent foreign fund outflows

The rupee continued to weaken further to close at a new record low of Rs 70.16 against the US dollar on Thursday, reflecting the volatility in global currency markets triggered by the crisis in Turkey and concerns over India’s rising trade deficit.

The Indian currency opened above Rs 70 and stayed over that crucial threshold through the day’s trading, according to Clearcorp Dealing Systems data. It slumped to an all-time low of 70.40 per dollar (intra-day) on persistent foreign fund outflows but recovered subsequently. Read More...

Tata, Shapoorji looking to build strong portfolio of commercial properties

The Tata and Shapoorji Pallonji groups, two of the country's oldest conglomerates, are looking at building a strong portfolio of commercial properties with their partners at a time when global fund managers like Blackstone and Brookfield have pumped billions of dollars into such properties.  

Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL), the real estate and infrastructure arm of the Tata group, has a portfolio of 19-20 million square feet (sq ft) of commercial projects, including IT parks and special economic zones, both developed and under construction. The company is eyeing doubling the portfolio size in the next four to five years, sources in the know said. Read more...

PSUs get 3rd lifeline to meet free-float norms, deadline extended by 2 yrs

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has thrown another lifeline to public sector undertakings (PSUs) to achieve 25 per cent public shareholding, a key corporate governance requirement, which private sector listed entities had to achieve by June 2013. 

According to sources, the capital markets regulator has extended the August 21 deadline by another two years. The move comes as a relief to over three dozen PSUs in which the government shareholding is in excess of 75 per cent. At the current market rate, disinvestment of close to Rs 250 billion would have been required if these companies were to meet the minimum public shareholding condition.  Read more...