1. ICICI Bank Chairman Meets MF Heads over Succession Plan, If Kochhar Quits
With investments of over Rs 300 billion riding on the stock, heads of mutual fund (MF) houses met ICICI Bank Chairman MK Sharma over the succession plan at the private sector lender. It is learnt that Sharma met top MF executives to provide clarifications on the Videocon loan controversy.
Sources said the Rs 21-trillion MF industry raised questions over the bank’s “back-up” or succession plan in case Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director (CEO & MD) Chanda Kochhar steps down.
(Source: Business Standard)
2. US Debt Load Seen Worse Than Italy's by 2023, IMF Predicts
In five years, the US government is forecast to have a bleaker debt profile than Italy, the perennial poor man of the Group of Seven industrial nations.
The US debt-to-GDP ratio is projected widen to 116.9 percent by 2023 while Italy’s is seen narrowing to 116.6 percent, according to the latest data from the International Monetary Fund. The US will also place ahead of both Mozambique and Burundi in terms of the weight of its fiscal burden.
The numbers put renewed focus on the US deteriorating budget after the enactment in December of $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, and the passage more recently of $300 billion in new spending.
(Source: Bloomberg)
3.RBI Firm on New NPA Rules, Says Cos Should Not Take Loan Contract Casually
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor N S Vishwanathan strongly defended its new rules on debt resolution, including the one-day default norm, stating that banks should get into action before any such default takes place and that companies should not take the covenants of a loan contract casually.
“The debt contract embedded in bank loans has been continuously losing its sanctity, especially where the borrowing is large. There is a need to change this and restore sanctity of the debt contract, lest bank debt becomes subordinate even to equity,” said Vishwanathan at the National Institute of Bank Management, Pune.
(Source: Business Standard )
5. ATM Operators Seek Higher 'Interchange Rates', Customers May Be Hit
Bank customers may be hit as ATM operators have demanded higher "interchange rates" for ATM transactions to enable them to comply with recent stringent RBI guidelines, an industry body said here on Wednesday.
Presently, all banks charge a fee of Rs 15 for each cash and Rs 5 for all non-cash transactions from each other for use of their ATMs by other banks' customers — which is recovered from the (user) customers — beyond the five minimum free transactions.
Now, the Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) has demanded that this should go up by at least Rs 3-5 per transaction to enable the (ATM) operators to recover their costs which have “skyrocketed” in recent times.
(Source: IANS)
6. Income Tax Dept Warns Against Tax Evasion by Salaried Employees
The income tax (I-T) department has cautioned salaried taxpayers against under-reporting their income or inflating their deductions in assessment year 2018-19.
It has also warned intermediaries like chartered accountants against abetting such tax evasion. Any infractions will invite action under various penal and prosecution provisions of the Income Tax Act.
The advisory, issued by the central processing centre based in Bengaluru, comes days after the tax department notified income tax return forms, or ITR forms, for 2018-19, seeking for the first time a break-up of the salary component and the deductions, together with income earned from house property.
(Source: Livemint)
7. Govt to Probe Suspected Hoarding of Rs 2,000 Notes, Cash Withdrawal Spike
The government has launched a probe into suspected hoarding of Rs 2,000 notes and a spike in cash withdrawals over the last fortnight. The ministry held meetings with top officials of all banks through video conferencing on Tuesday and Wednesday and directed them to fill up ATMs expeditiously.
(Source: Business Standard)
8. Air Passenger Traffic Grows The Fastest In 32 Months
India’s aviation sector witnessed its highest passenger growth in 32 months in March as more than 1.16 crore Indians took to the skies. Airline passenger traffic grew 28 percent, compared with the same month last year on account of strong capacity addition, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
The growth in passenger traffic in the world’s fastest-growing aviation market was led by Air India, GoAir, Air Asia and Vistara. All the four airlines reported strong growth in passenger traffic by growing above the industry average of 28 percent.
The number of fliers for InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the parent of IndiGo, fell 27 percent as the airline cancelled 935 flights due to instances of technical glitches in their Pratt & Whitney engines.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
9. Walmart May Retain Flipkart Top Executives If Deal Goes Through
Walmart is likely to retain the management team of Flipkart Ltd, including chief executive officer (CEO) Kalyan Krishnamurthy, if the proposed deal of the e-commerce firm goes through, two people familiar with the matter said.
Walmart is competing with rival Amazon.com Inc to buy a majority stake in Flipkart, which also owns the online fashion retailers Myntra and Jabong and the mobile payments app PhonePe. While it’s a two-way race, Walmart’s talks with Flipkart have advanced much further and the retailer is in pole position to buy more than 55 percent of Flipkart, the two people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
(Source: Livemint)
10. Fortis Shareholders Call for EGM to Remove Four Directors from Its Board
Minority shareholders of Fortis Healthcare Ltd today called for the removal of four directors from its board amid a takeover battle for India’s second-largest hospital chain.
National Westminster Bank Plc as a trustee of Jupiter India Fund, East Bridge Capital Master Fund Ltd and East Bridge Capital Master Fund I Ltd, have requested an extra-ordinary general meeting, Fortis said in an exchange filing late Wednesday night. Together they hold 12.04 percent stake in the company.
(Source: BloombergQuint)
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