- 70,000 HOUSING SOCIETIES IN MAHARASHTRA TO FALL IN GST NET: Around 70,000 Co-operative Housing Societies (CHS) in Maharashtra will have to register under Goods & Services Tax (GST) regime as their annual collections are likely to exceed the Rs 20 lakh mark. Out of the 70,000 of such societies, around 50,000 are in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
- CABINET LIKELY TO DISCUSS TIGHTER NORMS: Perturbed over the recent spate of banking frauds, the Union Cabinet is likely to consider measures to strengthen the regulatory regime for auditors to prevent such fraudulent incidents in future. Cabinet may consider setting up of National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA). Last week, Finance Minister expressed his displeasure over laxity by auditors in the backdrop of the scam at Punjab National Bank.
- GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN 35 OVERSEAS BRANCHES OF PSU BANKS: The government has ordered shutting down 35 overseas branches of Indian Public Sector banks (PSBs) over viability and profitability. 69 more such international branches are being considered for closure. The Government is looking to consolidate PSBs overseas operations as it is planning to close all non-viable overseas operations for cost efficiency and synergy.
- FINANCE MINISTRY ORDERS PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS TO SCAN NPAs OVER Rs. 50 CRORE FOR FRAUD: Stung by the recent Punjab National Bank fraud, the Finance Ministry on 27th February has directed all Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to scan their Non-Performing Asset (NPA) accounts worth more than Rs. 50 crore for possible fraud and refer any such fraud cases to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The ministry has given 15 days deadline to take “pre-emptive action” to identify the gaps and brace up for increasing operational and technical risks.
- PEER-2-PEEAR (P2P) LENDING PLATFORMS ARE GAINING POPULARITY IN SMALL CITIES: According to a social impact report by Faircent, the tech driven approach of P2P lending has been empowering Indian Businesses in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. In October last year RBI published guidelines to regularise P2P lending platforms as Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC). These P2P firms either operate as NBFC, intermediaries for banks/NBFCs or operate as P2P direct lenders to small businesses and these are becoming more popular in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities as they use a wide variety of non-traditional data to evaluate credit risk.
- BANKS TOLD TO LINK CBS WITH SWIFT SYSTEM: Considering the recent PNB fraud case where the SWIFT mode was mis-used, the Reserve Bank of India has set an April 30th deadline for all banks to link the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) with their respective Core banking Solutions (CBS). The Indian Banks Association (IBA) Chairperson Mrs. Usha Ananthsubramanian said there is urgency to fast track SWIFT-CBS linkage.
- LOW-COST HOUSING LOANS FACE HIGHER RISK OF DEFAULTS: Recent report on low-cost Housing loans has revealed that there are elevated risks in the low-cost housing loan segment because of the higher propensity among the borrowers to default. As against the overall 1.96 % of home loans which have become NPA, the contribution of loans under Rs. 25 lakhs was 2.33% and in case of home loans under Rs. 10 lakhs it is 4%.
This post first appeared on IMPACT OF DEMONITIZATION OF CURRENCY IN INDIA IN 2016, please read the originial post: here
