1. ATMs to Dispense Rs 2,500; Banks to Exchange Rs 4,500 per Day
On day four of the Narendra Modi government’s demonetisation drive, the government raised withdrawal limits in banks and ATM machines, and said that people should complain to their district administration about businesses that are not accepting non-cash methods of payment.
In a statement issued by the finance ministry on Sunday, the Centre said the per-person exchange limit over bank counters would be increased from Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500, while cash withdrawal limits at re-caliberated ATMs would raised from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 a day.
Source: Business Standard
2. Tata Sons Stoops to New Low: Mistry
Cyrus Mistry has hit back at Tata Sons, saying the group holding company has stooped to a new low by questioning many eminent personalities who serve as independent directors on the boards of Tata Chemicals and Indian Hotels Company (IHCL).
In a statement on Sunday evening, Mistry’s office said these eminent people, who serve as independent directors, are now being questioned by Tata Sons for undertaking their fiduciary duty of protecting the shareholders of the companies.
Source: Business Standard
3. As India Scouts for Cash, PM Modi Seeks Patience
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a teary-eyed appeal to his compatriots and said that their suffering was all for a good cause and that in 50 days, things would get much better. He also told Indians to expect much more by way of initiatives to root out black money.
The weekly limit of Rs 20,000 for withdrawals from bank accounts has been increased to Rs 24,000 and the limit of Rs 10,000 per day has been scrapped, the finance ministry said.
Cash withdrawal limits at re-calibrated ATMs have been raised to Rs 2,500 from Rs 2,000. The PM was to hold a review of the demonetisation exercise with the finance minister and RBI governor late on Sunday.
Source: Economic Times
4. India to Be Part of Core World Bank Team
For decades a borrower, India will soon sit in the core management team of the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank.
Axel Van Trotsenburg, vice-president of development finance at the Bank, told Business Standard: “India will be one of the IDA deputies, the 14-member group of donor nations which run the key negotiations with member countries.”
Van also said the institution would weigh costs to consider Indian markets for raising bonds — as the institution will for the first time tap international markets to raise money — to finance low-cost aid programmes.
Source: Business Standard
5. Swachh SBI? Not yet
As the nation begins cleaning its cash hoard, its banks are still struggling with the hygiene of their loan books. State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, was no different.
Amidst hopes of better asset quality, the lender saw its fresh slippages increase again, the stock of gross non-performing assets (NPAs) double from a year ago and its net profit drop by 34% in the September quarter.
Slippages during the quarter were Rs 10,341 crore and the tally of slippages for the first six months of this fiscal year is at Rs 19,131 crore.
Source: Livemint
6. Paytm Hits Record 5 Mn Transactions a Day
Buoyed by a sudden surge in demand for digital transaction, India’s largest mobile payments platform, Paytm said it has touched a figure of five million payment transactions per day.
Following the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, mobile wallets, debit and credit cards, online money transfers have seen a rise of 200%, industry experts have observed. According to senior executives at Paytm, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company would be able to close the financial year with Rs 24,000 crore worth of transactions processed on the platform.
Source: Business Standard
7. Telecom Companies Reject Trai Plan to Compute Call Drop Rates
Mobile phone companies cutting across GSM and CDMA technology platforms have rejected the telecom regulator’s suggestion of computing call drop rates through a meta data analysis of call detail records (CDRs), asserting that the latter is designed purely for billing purpose and not measuring quality of service.
Any analysis of CDRs, they said, would present a flawed picture as abnormal call terminations/disconnects can be triggered by handsets getting switched off inadvertently, battery draining out or a customer moving to an underground metro station or a building.
Source: Economic Times
8. Tata Sons May Not Guarantee Credit for Cyrus Mistry-Helmed Companies
Tata Sons may not guarantee loans, refinancing deals or funding requirements at group companies where Cyrus Mistry refuses to step down as chairman, making borrowings much more costly.
Units that don’t adhere to the values and policies of Tata Sons cannot be supported with Tata’s assurance, top executives of the holding company told ET.
Source: Economic Times
9. Online Retailers Witness Sharp Slump in Sales and Order Cancellations
India’s leading online retailers are struggling with a sharp slump in sales and order cancellations, following the scrapping of high-value currencies, raising fears that this will erode some of the gains from the just-concluded festival season.
Order volumes for online retailers have plunged by 50-60 percent since the surprise announcement on demonetisation on 8 November, according to e-commerce industry experts, logistics providers and company executives that ET spoke with.
Source: Economic Times
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