Guidelines Financial News

National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has dismissed a petition filed by Ashdan Properties against Chemhub Tradelink's committee of creditors-approved resolution plan for Pancard Clubs. Ashdan was one of the three bidders interested in acquiring the bankrupt Pancard, which develops and operates hotels and resorts. Pancard Clubs has more than 1.5 million timeshare subscribers, who are classified as financial creditors. In its ruling, dismissing Ashdan's appeal, the court said around 23% of the financial creditors participated in the voting process, with a clear majority of 19.38% voting in favour of the resolution plan proposed by Chemhub Tradelink. The tribunal recommended that the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) use Pancard as a case study to form guidelines for instances where a single insolvency professional acts as the authorised representative of a large number of financial creditors.

life insurance companies met with the chairman and members of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) recently, to express their concerns over a proposed change in the guidelines to calculate the surrender value of prematurely terminated policies. Industry representatives said the changes as proposed could deal a «killer blow» to the sector. Any higher surrender value would lead to a fall in the persistency ratio — which indicates the proportion of policyholders regularly paying premiums — that has been just about 50% for more than five years, they claimed. During the meeting with the regulator, they flagged the potential detrimental effects of the proposed policy on persistency, the chief executive of a company said on the condition of anonymity. «The proposed hike in surrender values could lead to higher lapsation of insurance policies, thereby lower profitability,» he said.

foreign direct investment (FDI) from China in Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL), a subsidiary of Paytm parent One97 Communications Ltd, PTI reported citing sources. Paytm Payments Services applied for a licence with the Reserve Bank in November 2020 to operate as a payment aggregator under the guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways. However, the apex bank rejected PPSL's application in November 2022.

illegal loan apps from PlayStore in a span of two years ending Aug 2023? The latest data was revealed by Dr Bhagwat Karad, Minister of State (MoS) in the ministry of finance in a reply in Rajya Sabha. Google has reviewed nearly 3,500 to 4,000 loans apps and suspended or removed over 2,500 loan apps from its PlayStore during April 2021-July 2022, reveals the data shared by Similarly, during Sept 2022- Aug 2023, over 2,200 loan apps were removed from the PlayStore. Further, Google has updated its policy regarding enforcement of loan apps on the Play Store and only those apps are allowed on the PlayStore which are published by regulated entities or those working in partnership with regulated entities.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to do away with the OTP (one time password) based authentication. As of now, the banking regulator has not issued any detailed guidelines. The plan has been shared in a Statement on Development and Regulatory Policies released on Feb 8 on the RBI's website.

NCP MP Supriya Sule on Friday alleged that apps like Google Pay and PhonePe are «two ticking time bombs» and sought to know what steps the government is taking to check money laundering. Participating in a discussion on 'The White Paper on Indian economy' in Lok Sabha, Sule said whatever happened in Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) is «very alarming» and is almost like money laundering. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last month directed PPBL to stop accepting deposits or top-ups in customer accounts, wallets, FASTags and other instruments after February 29.

₹100 per plan/option and in multiples of Re 1. There is no upper limit for investment.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its February review meeting unanimously decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent, thus maintaining the status quo for the sixth straight time.  RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced that the central bank will issue guidelines for a principle-based framework for authentication of digital payment transactions.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is contemplating reinvesting 50 per cent of its exchange traded funds (ETFs) redemption proceeds back into equity, reported Business Standard. 

There was a sixfold jump in managing director level movement in legal and compliance functions in the financial services sector in the past one year, according to data from executive search firm Native.

NEW DELHI : The ministry of commerce’s directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), the ministry of external affairs and other government agencies will organize a day-long national conference on strategic trade controls (NCSTC), which will focus on special chemicals, organisms, materials, equipment and technologies (SCOMET), export controls system and its international best practices, the commerce ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The conference, which will be held on 30 January, will see participation from more than 500 industry representatives and other stakeholders.

University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued draft guidelines for de-reserving vacancies meant for scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) candidates in higher education institutes (HEIs) and open them up for the general category if enough reserved candidates are not available, news agency PTI reported Sunday. The last date for providing public opinion ends today.

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday gave nod to Zomato for its online payment aggregator operations. According to a communication to the stock exchange, Zomato Payments Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Zomato, has been given the approval to operate as an aggregator in the field of online payments.

India has begun commercial export of pomegranates to the USA after it lifted the export ban in 2022. The government expects this move to open a big market for the Indian pomegranates, a fruit which is being increasing preferred by consumers across the world for its health benefits.

—Name withheld on request

state-run insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) application to acquire a 9.99% aggregate holding of paid-up share capital in HDFC Bank. «Pursuant to Regulation 30 of the SEBI Listing Regulations, we would like to inform you that the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) vide its letter dated January 25, 2024, addressed to Life Insurance Corporation of India (“LIC”), has accorded its approval to LIC for acquiring aggregate holding up to 9.99% of the paid-up share capital or voting rights of HDFC Bank Limited,» the insurance company said in an exchange filing.

ET Wealth Online explains.

Mint explains: Last week, the government published guidelines for coaching centres scrapping enrolment of students below 16 years of age—enrolment should only be after secondary school (standard 10) examination. This rule caused worry since India’s coaching industry has become an alternative education channel. Students are enrolled as early as 10-12 years and prepared for engineering, medical and civil service exams.

NEW DELHI : The finance ministry on Wednesday notified direct listing of Indian companies on GIFT City’s exchanges, a move expected to enable startups and unlisted companies access global capital. Indian companies can now list on the financial hub’s India International Exchange and NSE International Exchange at Gandhinagar, the ministry said.

PGIM India Mutual Fund, said, “There is a continuing opportunity for investing in high growth and good quality large and mid-cap companies which can take advantage of the India growth story. Such companies can continue to compound capital at a rapid pace in a capital-efficient manner for a long period." The investment objective of the scheme is to seek long-term capital growth through investments in equity and equity-related securities of predominantly large-cap and mid-cap stocks.

Gujarat Police has arrested one more accused, who is the contractor of Kotia Projects, in connection with the boat capsize incident, which claimed 14 lives, including 12 children and injured several, police said. According to the police, the accused has been identified as Vineet Kotia, the contractor of Kotia Projects. With the arrest of the contractor of Kotia Projects, the total number of arrested accused reached seven. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Panna Momaya says, «The Kotia project is running under Vineet Kotia. He started the main project.