1. Bank Strike Likely on 28 February
Operations at public sector banks may be hit on Tuesday as most unions under the aegis of UFBU have threatened to go on strike to press for various demands, including accountability of top executives in view of mounting bad loans in the banking sector.
Most of the banks, including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda have already informed their customers that functioning of branches and offices will be impacted if the strike takes off.
The functioning of private lenders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank is expected to be normal except delay in cheque clearances.
(Source: PTI)
2. Infrastructure: Narendra Modi Govt Takes on Challenge of Urbanisation With ToD Initiative
The Centre has formulated a policy to promote living close to mass public transport corridors like metro, monorail and bus rapid transit (BRT), a move aimed at addressing the challenges of urbanisation.
The National Transit Oriented Development Policy seeks to promote Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) -– a type of infrastructure development which enables people to live within walking or cycling distance from transit corridors which are being undertaken in India at a large scale. The policy will be discussed with the states and union territories (UTs) at a national workshop on urban development on Tuesday next week, an official release said.
The Ministry of Urban Development is also incentivising the TOD under new Metro Policy and Green Urban Mobility Scheme that seeks to create non-motorised transport infrastructure in cities like footpaths and cycle-tracks.
(Source: PTI)
3. Banks Still Levying Card Fee on Fuel Purchases
Several banks are still imposing the transaction fee on consumers paying by debit card for fuel despite a clear instruction from the government not to do so.
Several inconvenienced customers have written to the oil ministry in the past few weeks regarding this illegal deduction, an oil ministry official said. The ministry is engaged in persuading banks with the help of the finance ministry to reverse these charges, he said.
In order to boost digital payments after demonetisation, the government had said that no bank can levy fuel surcharge or transaction fee on customers paying by debit cards.
An RBI order also bars banks from levying the fee on consumers; it directs them to recover it from merchants.
(Source: Economic Times)
4. Britannia, Amul, Dabur to Raise Prices or Cut Quantities in Packaged Products
Get ready to pay more for biscuits, ice-creams and soaps this summer. Shopping for daily-consumption grocery products is set to get more expensive thanks to higher input costs.
Companies including Britannia, Amul, Dabur and Parle are either raising prices or cutting quantities in packaged products after the cost of ingredients such as sugar, milk powder and palm oil increased by 20-80 percent over the past year on account of fluctuating global commodity prices and lower production cycles.
Biscuit maker Britannia said prices of its biscuits will go up by up to 7 percent, while Wipro Consumer Care, the manufacturer of the country’s third-largest soap brand Santoor, said prices will rise about 5 percent.
(Source: Economic Times)
5. Faced With Jio's Competition, Airtel May Now Drop Roaming Charges
Bharti Airtel is set to abolish domestic roaming charges on its network for both voice and data services, a person familiar with the matter said, matching a key offer by rival Reliance Jio Infocomm, the entry of which has triggered a price war in India.
A source told ET:
The company is all set to offer free incoming calls/ SMSes on national roaming and there will be no premium on outgoing calls
The source added that there will be no additional data charges on national roaming. The company is also planning to simplify activation and billing for consumers who travel overseas in a bid to encourage subscribers to use its international roaming packs.
(Source: Economic Times)
6. Tackling Pollution, Investing in Renewables Will Help India’s Economy: UNEP Chief Erik Solheim
India has some of the most polluted cities in the world. It also needs to create jobs. So it is not rocket science to figure out that tackling pollution and shifting investment towards renewables will help India’s economy.
For this, the Indian government needs to provide a conducive legislative framework and its financial markets and outside investors need to step in, says United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Erik Solheim.
With Indian firms like Tata and Infosys getting on board, it’s easy to see where the market is going. This is something that speaks for itself. This kind of engagement will also help unlock some of the challenges, particularly around financing
(Source: IANS)
7. Tata Housing Sets Sights on Rs 15-20 lakh Affordable Homes Again
After focusing on premium housing for several years, Tata Housing Development Co. Ltd plans to resume building homes costing Rs15-20 lakh, after incentives in the Union budget made low-cost housing more attractive for builders.
The Mumbai-based firm builds affordable homes under Tata Value Homes and premium and luxury homes under Tata Housing.
Within Tata Value Homes, its entry-level homes are under Shubh Griha, and the slightly more expensive homes under New Haven at Rs 25-60 lakh.
The Union budget on 1 February proposed infrastructure status for affordable housing projects to facilitate higher investments in the sector
(Source: Livemint)
8. ICICI Bank-Led Consortium Acquires Majority Stake In Jaiprakash Power Ventures
Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd issued shares to ICICI Bank and other lenders, giving them a 51 percent stake in the company under a Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) plan, the company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange last week
The company, on 18 February, 2017, allocated the equity to lenders after conversion of part of its outstanding debt. It issued 305.80 crore shares at Rs 10 each to its 23 lenders thereby converting Rs 3,058 crore of debt into equity.
Post conversion, ICICI Bank, at 13.72 percent, has the largest shareholding after the promoter, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India hold 5.39 percent, 4.41 percent and 3.50 percent respectively in the company.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)