Wednesday 26 August 2020

26 August 2020 News and Updates

Ø  US Consumer Confidence fades further in Aug
Ø  Difficult to accurately assess Economic Impact of COVID-19: RBI
Ø  India plans deep cut in Thermal Coal Imports 
Ø  Banks need to shed risk aversion, says RBI
Ø  Cement demand up as rural segment recovers
Ø  DLF to develop 10 million sq ft of Middle-Income Housing 
Ø  India's Crude Steel output falls over 24 pc in July, Global Production shrinks 2.5 pc: worldsteel

Ø  Govt to spend Rs 1.2 Trn on Oil, Gas exploration and refineries in FY21
Ø  Management of foodgrain surplus key challenge for India: RBI Report 
Ø  Sebi slaps Rs 50 lakh fine on NSE for change in compensation policy
Ø  PNB makes first recovery of Rs 24 cr in Nirav Modi fraud case in US
Ø  Pharmacy Consolidation may disrupt domestic drug market: Credit Suisse
Ø  Tata Motors Group says will cut consolidated debt to zero in 3 years

Ø  Ramco Sytems bags multi-million dollar deal in Malaysia
Ø  Crude oil Output down 10%, Natural gas down 5% in July
Ø  Domestic oil and gas industry resumes work on projects worth ₹ 5.88 Lakh Crore 
Ø  JSW Group to jointly market Steel, Cement 
Ø  Sun Pharma subsidiary resolves US investigation on Product Promotion 
Ø  CanFin Homes’ Q1 profit up 15.02%

Ø  Greenko and NTPC to partner for supplying on-demand green energy
Ø  TVS Automobile Solutions and Google tie up to digitise auto aftermarket
Ø  Air India bidding deadline extended again to 30 October due to Covid-19 
Ø  Moody's downgrades SBI's Standalone profile on asset quality concerns
Ø  NCDEX to relaunch futures contract of Til on Aug 26

Ø  TERI proposes Rs 40-lakh crore Green Stimulus to revive Growth, Jobs 
Ø  Clear exit strategy, credible milestones needed for fiscal consolidation, says RBI
Ø  Germany Economy's 2nd-quarter decline revised to below 10 Percent 
Ø  Credit Suisse to shut 37 Bank branches in Switzerland

Ø  Some states may cut stamp duty rates to push realty sales: Anarock
Ø  Kalyan Jewellers files prospectus for Rs 1750 Crore IPO
Ø  Interpol issues Global Arrest Warrant against fraudster Nirav Modi's wife Ami
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👉  Provision for Aadhar Authentication in GST Registration
https://www.gst.gov.in/newsandupdates/read/394

👉 Upcoming Trainings for Taxpayers by GSTN.
https://www.gst.gov.in/newsandupdates/read/395

👉 Reduction of fees for OC & ITT Courses for Foundation and Direct Entry students undergoing Virtual classes - (21-08-2020)
https://www.icai.org/post/reduction-fees-oc-itt-courses

👉 Top cos take on govt over GST anti-profiteering
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/top-indian-companies-take-on-indirect-tax-department-over-gst-anti-profiteering/articleshow/77733460.cms

👉 Govt, RBI need to share cost of UPI infra
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/government-rbi-need-to-share-cost-of-maintaining-upi-infrastructure-report/articleshow/77726264.cms?utm_source=ETTopNews&utm_medium=HP&utm_campaign=TN&utm_content=23
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⚫The country's GDP may have contracted by 25% in the June quarter, which witnessed the strictest coronavirus induced lockdowns. Mfg, construction, and trade, hotels, transport and communication will be the worst-affected segments in the official set of numbers to be announced by the Govt
⚫Co's bidding for public procurement from countries, which share a land border with India, will now need to separately register with the Govt and secure a security clearance before engaging in the bidding process.The move is set to affect mostly co's in China, which have hitherto had a major presence in both central and state level public procurement.

⚫FM said the GST Council would look into the auto industry’s demand for lowering the tax rate on two-wheelers, which are now taxed at the highest slab rate of 28%.
⚫Rating agency Moody’s has downgraded  (SBI’s baseline credit assessment from “ba1” to “ba2” as economic shock from the Covid-19 may aggravate the weakening borrowers’ credit profiles. It would hurt asset quality of India banks.

⚫India has recorded 66,873 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total way past the 3.2 million mark. With 1,066 fatalities, the country's death toll is nearing 60,000.
⚫ICMR DG said that irresponsible people who are not using the face masks, not maintaining social distaining are the ones who are driving the pandemic in India.

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👉  Pre-packaged insolvency resolution framework could make a debut in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) segment before being expanded to other sectors.

The government is drawing up a framework for resolution of MSMEs under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which could be rolled out soon, said a senior official.

“We may experiment with pre-packs for MSMEs and then expand it,” said the official, who did not wish to be identified.

A pre-packaged resolution is one where a company prepares a restructuring plan in cooperation with its creditors before initiating insolvency proceedings. This reduces the time and costs involved in the process.

The terms of such a resolution plan would have to be confidential until statutory proceedings begin and the process would involve very little time in court, said an official from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).

However, this would be subject to the approval of the government. A sub-committee under the Insolvency Law Committee is working on the framework, said the official.

In May, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had raised the threshold for initiating insolvency proceedings to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh to protect MSMEs from an adverse fallout of the pandemic and lockdown.

👉 The banking sector went through a bout of pain, starting with the asset quality review in 2015, shooting up of non-performing assets (NPAs), write-offs, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and National Company Law Tribunal (IBC-NCLT) awards, culminating in capital infusion by the government. Capital infusion, ultimately, is public money. Just when the banking sector was recovering, with NPAs coming down from 11.6% as on March 2018 to 8.6% as on March 2020, along came the covid-19 shock. This would have a significantly negative impact on NPAs as almost all borrowers are reeling.

Given the challenge, the situation has been managed pragmatically. What all has been done? The moratorium, IBC-NCLT being put on hold and rating agencies being allowed to go a little slow on downgrades. It is pragmatic because faced with a once-in-a-hundred-year challenge, it is not about theoretical correctness but about facing the challenge. When voices were being expressed that the moratorium should not be extended beyond 31 August as it may compromise on credit discipline, it was done away with and a one-time settlement or restructuring allowed.

At the margin, certain improvements are happening. The extent of moratorium availed of as on 30 April—combining all categories of borrowers and lenders—was 50% of the system. On a ballpark basis, this indicates stress in the system, from the perspective that half the borrowers were indicating that they can’t pay up immediately. There would be a bit of a dilution in data in the form of communication gap, particularly in the individual borrower segment, where 55% of the loans were under moratorium in April. The accumulation of interest over a long period of time and the extra burden of EMIs towards the end of the tenure were not properly understood by individual borrowers, and in certain cases were not properly explained by the bankers. If properly explained, some people may not have availed of the moratorium, in view of the disproportionately higher burden later on.

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