THE ECHO OF INDIA�KOLKATA

Thursday�December 21, 20178 Economy & Business

Mounting bad loans: RBIputs BoI under watch

Bourses informed by bank about being placedunder Prompt Corrective Action Framework

NEW DELHI, DEC 20 /--/The RBI has initiated a'prompt corrective action'against Bank of India formounting bad loans, placingvarious restrictions on itincluding issuing of freshloans and dividenddistribution, BoI said onWednesday. In a filing tostock exchanges, BoI saidReserve Bank of India hasplaced it under PromptCorrective ActionFramework, consequent tothe onsite inspection underthe risk based supervisionmodel carried out for theyear ended March 2017.

"This is in view of highnet NPA, insufficient CET1Capital and negative ROA(return on asset) for twoconsequent years. Thisaction will contribute to theoverall improvement in riskmanagement, asset quality,profitability, efficiency, etcof the bank," BoI said. At theend of March 2017, the

bank's asset qualityworsened with gross nonperforming assets (NPAs) at13.22 per cent, as against13.07 per cent in theprevious year. Net NPAs,

however, improved to 6.90per cent from 7.79 per cent.For the second quarterended September, 2017-18,asset quality improved asgross NPAs declined

marginally to 12.62 per centof gross advances, from13.45 per cent a year ago.Net NPAs also improved to6.47 per cent of netadvances for the periodunder review, down from7.56 per cent a year ago. Inabsolute terms, gross NPAsstood at Rs 49,306.90 crore ason September 2017, from Rs52,261.95 crore earlier.

The RBI has initiatedsimilar action against otherpublic sector banksincluding IDBI Bank,Indian Overseas Bank andUCO Bank.

The Reserve Bank inApril had issued a new setof enabling provisionsunder the revised PCAframework with a clausethat if the bank does notshow improvement then itcould be either be mergedor taken over by other bank.The BoI stock was trading atRs 174.50, down 3.78 per centon BSE. (PTI)

SAIL usesmultimodal

transport to

supply TMTbars to B'deshKOLKATA, DEC 20 /--/Domestic steel giant SAILWednesday flagged off fromKolkata port the firstconsignment of 1,000 tonnesof SAIL-TMTreinforcement bars for theIndo-Bangla Maitree SuperThermal Power Project.This is the first time thatSAIL is utilising multimodaltransport for delivery ofmaterial to a project site, theSteel Authority of India Ltd(SAIL) said in a statement.

"The barge will offloadthe material at Bangladesh'sMongla port, fortransportation by road to theproject site at Moidaravillage in Bagerhat districtof Bangladesh," thestatement said. The Maitreeproject is a 50:50 jointventure of BangladeshPower Development Boardand NTPC India for settingup of two 660 Megawattthermal power plants inBagerhat district ofBangladesh by 2020 at anestimated cost of USD 1.49billion. SAIL bagged anorder for supply of 17,200tonnes of corrosion-resistant thermo-mechanically treated(TMT) rebars in sizes 8mmto 36 mm in phase-1. Re-barswere produced at the threeintegrated steel plants ofSAIL at Burnpur, Durgapurand Bhilai. (PTI)

Sudhir Mathur (R), Managing Director, Motorola Mobility and Balu Chowdary (L),Chairman and Managing Director of Big C inaugurating its first Moto Hub store, inHyderabad on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI, DEC 20 /--/The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) may either be holdingback Rs 2,000 notes or couldhave stopped printing highdenomination currency, saysa SBI Research report.

Juxtaposing the datapresented in the Lok Sabharecently with the oneprovided by RBI in itsAnnual Report earlier, theSBI Ecoflash report said onWednesday, "we observe"that the value of smalldenomination currency incirculation up to March 2017was Rs 3,501 billion. Thisimplies that the value of highdenomination notes wasequivalent to Rs 13,324billion as on December 8,after netting out the smalldenomination notes from thecurrency in circulation onthat day, it said. The reportfurther said that as per theMinistry of Finance in theLok Sabha recently, the RBIhas printed 16,957 millionpieces of Rs 500 notes and3,654 million pieces of Rs2,000 notes as on December8. The total value of suchnotes translates into Rs15,787 billion. "This meansthat the residual amount ofhigh currency notes (Rs15,787 billion , Rs 13,324billion) of Rs 2,463 billionmay have been printed bythe RBI but not supplied in

News In BriefRBI may be holding backRs 2k notes, says SBI report

the market," said the reportauthored Soumya KantiGhosh, group chiefeconomic adviser, SBI.Interestingly, the reportadded, "it is safe to assume"that Rs 2,463 billion may beon the lower side as the RBImust have printed notes ofsmall denomination in theinterregnum (Rs 50 and Rs200).

"As a logical corollary, as2000 denomination currencyled to challenges intransactions, it thus indeedseems that RBI may haveeither consciously stoppedprinting the 2000denomination notes/orprinting in smaller numbersafter initially it was printedin ample amount tonormalise the liquiditysituation," said Ecoflash.

This also means that theshare of small currencynotes in total currency incirculation now may havetouched 35 per cent in valueterms, it added. Thegovernment on November 8last year had announceddemonetisation of highvalue notes, Rs 500 and Rs1,000, which togetheraccounted for 86-87 per centof the currency incirculation. The move hadlead to huge cash shortageand large queues werewitnessed at banks forexchange or depositing thescrapped currency. The RBIintroduced a new Rs 2,000note as well as new versionof the Rs 500 note.Subsequently, the RBI, forthe first time, also introduceda Rs 200 note. (PTI)

Konkan Rail,IIT-B tie-upMUMBAI, DEC 20 /--/ TheKonkan Railway hassigned an MoU with theIndian Institute ofTechnology-Bombay (IIT-B) to make its GeorgeFernandes Institute ofTunnel Technology in Goaa world-class centre ofknowledge in tunnel andunderground structuretechnologies. KonkanRailway CorporationLimited (KRCL) Chairmanand Managing DirectorSanjay Gupta and IIT-BDirector Prof D VKhakhar signed theMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) atthe premier engineeringinstitution here onTuesday. Under the MoU,IIT-B will offer technicalsupport to the KonkanRailway to strengthen theGeorge FernandesInstitute of TunnelTechnology (GFITT) atMadgaon in Goa, a releaseissued by KRCL said.

ACCA eyesFinance &AccountacyspaceKOLKATA, DEC 20 /--/ TheUK-based Association ofChartered CertifiedAccounts (ACCA) is eyeingthe finance andaccountancy (F&A)academic stream in Indiafor bridging skill gaps. An o t - f o r - p r o f i torganisation, ACCA wasset up in 1904 by a RoyalCharter in the UK bywhich it imparts trainingin F&A across 180countries including India."We are aiming to bridgethe skill gaps inaccountancy and financein India to make theacademia industry-ready," Md Sajid Khan,head of internationaldevelopment of ACCAsaid.

Netmagic toinvest Rs 1,200-crMUMBAI, DEC 20 /--/NTT Communications-owned Netmagic, whichclaims to be the largestdomestic cloudcomputing firm witharound 10 per cent marketshare, is investing over Rs1,200 crore to almostdouble its capacity byApril. The city-based firmwill add 5 lakh square feetspace by opening two newdatacenters as part of theplan, which will take itstotal space to 11 lakh sqft,a top official has said. TheJapanese tech major hasalready invested Rs 1,500crore into the city-basedcompany since it boughtout the promoter SharadSanghi five years ago andwill invest around Rs1,200 crore more intothese new data centres.

NEW DELHI, DEC 20 /--/Individuals with over Rs 1crore of declared incomerose 23.5 per cent to 59,830 intax assessment year 2015-16,but the higher number of'crorepatis' had Rs 50,889crore less income than that ofthe previous year.

The income taxdepartment today releasedstatistics for assessment year2015-16 (financial year April2014 to March 2015) showingthat 59,830 individuals withgross total income of over Rs1 crore had a cumulativeincome of Rs 1.54 lakh crore.In the assessment year (AY)2014-15, the 'crorepati'individuals or those withgross income of over Rs 1crore (Rs 10 million) were48,417 with a cumulativeincome of Rs 2.05 lakh crore.

Number of 'crorepatis' in assessmentyear 2015-16 grew 23.5%

Of the 1.2 billion citizens,4.07 crore filed tax returns inAY 2015-16 with close to 82lakh showing zero or incomeless than Rs 2.5 lakh.Currently, no income tax islevied for up to Rs 2.5 lakh.In AY 2014-15, 3.65 crore filedtax returns with 1.37 croreshowing zero or less than Rs2.5 lakh income. Thecombined income of allindividual tax filers rose toRs 21.27 lakh crore in AY2015-16, from Rs 18.41 lakhcrore in the previousassessment year. Themaximum number of 1.33crore individuals was in theRs 2.5-3.5 lakh income groupin AY 2015-16. There were asmany as 55,331 individuals,with income between Rs 1crore to Rs 5 crore whilethose with income between

Rs 5 crore and Rs 10 crorewere 3,020. A total of 1,156individuals had incomebetween Rs 10 crore and Rs25 crore. In AY 2015-16, onlyone person had income ofover Rs 500 crore and histotal income was Rs 721 crore.In the previous year, therewere seven individuals inthat category with acumulative income of Rs85,183 crore. The number ofindividuals in Rs 100-500crore category rose to 31 (withcumulative income of Rs4,175 crore), from 17 (with Rs2,761 crore income) in AY2014-15. In all, 4.35 croreincome tax returns,including those byindividuals, were filed in AY2015-16. Total incomedeclared was Rs 33.62 lakhcrore. (PTI)

3 Maha power

utilities yet to

repay Rs 66-k cr

loan: MinisterNAGPUR, DEC 20 /--/Maharashtra EnergyM i n i s t e rC h a n d r a s h e k h a rBavankule told theLegislative AssemblyWednesday that all thethree state-runelectricity companies areyet to repay loan worthnearly Rs 66,000 crore.The minister informedthis in a written replytabled in the House, inwhich he also dismissedthe reports that thesecompanies are not payingadditional interest as thestate refused to standguarantee for such loans.

"The MaharashtraState ElectricityGeneration Company Ltd(Mahagenco) has anunpaid loan amount ofRs 35,310 crore with anaverage interest rate ofRs 10.16 per cent," hestated. "Similarly, theMaharashtra StateElectricity DistributionCompany Ltd (MSEDCLor Mahadiscom) has anunpaid loan of Rs 23,173crore and theMaharashtra StateElectricity TransmissionCompany Ltd (MSETCLor Mahatransco) is yet torepay Rs 6,733 croreloan," the minister added.Both these companies hadborrowed the loan at anaverage interest rate of10.54 per cent and 10.60per cent respectively,Bavankule said. (PTI)

WASHINGTON, DEC 20 /--/ SenateRepublicans Wednesday passed asweeping overhaul of the US tax code inmore than 30 years, bringing PresidentDonald Trump closer to scoring his firstmajor legislative victory amid criticismthat the package disproportionatelybenefit the wealthy and corporations.

The Senate approved the USD 1.5trillion tax bill, which includespermanent tax breaks for corporationsand temporary tax cuts for individuals,by a final vote of 51-48. The House ofRepresentatives earlier approved the

US Senate passes Trump'slandmark tax reform bill

bill comfortably. In the House it waspassed by 227 to 203 votes. Republicanshave majorities in both houses ofCongress. For final approval thelegislation must go back to the Housefor a procedural issue before it can besent to the White House for thepresident to sign it into law. Onceenacted, the legislation will representthe most drastic changes to the US taxcode since 1986. The bill was passedalong party lines, with every SenateRepublican present voting in its favourand all Democrats voting against it.

Odisha to wooinvestors inmetro cities

BHUBANESWAR, DEC 20 /--/ The Odishagovernment has decided to organiseinvestor reach-out activities at all majormetropolitan cities, including Delhi,Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai tohighlight business opportunities here anddrum up support for the second edition ofthe Make-In-Odisha Conclave. Chiefsecretary A P Padhi, who presided over ameeting of the Oversight Committee, saidsimilar activities would also be organisedwith internal business partner countries andagencies. This apart, the meeting hasdecided to initiate four-layer preparatoryand coordination activities for the Make-In-Odisha Conclave, scheduled to beorganised between November 11 and 15,2018. There will be nine major sectoralsessions in the conclave with specificinvestment proposals. Prospective investorsfrom the USA, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan,Malaysia Germany, Switzerland and othercountries are likely to participate in theevent, official sources said. The meetingresolved that the event would be organisedin collaboration with the Department ofIndustrial Policy and Promotion, variousindustry associations and businesschambers. Potential investors and businessleaders from India and abroad would takepart in round table conversations, coastalmarathon, exhibition,exposure,networking, plenary sessions and sectoralsessions at the four-day event. Theobjectives of the conclave would be toshowcase the manufacturing ecosystem ofOdisha, highlight investment opportunitiesand elicit investment intentions from thecorporate houses, said principal secretary,industries, Sanjeev Chopra. The companiesoperating in various sectors in Odisha,including steel, aluminium, infrastructure,food processing, IT, textiles, petrochemicalsand power, will also set up stalls to showcasethe newly emerging investmentopportunities in this mineral-rich state,Padhi said. (PTI)

Essar Oil (UK)posts $ 169m

profit for H1 FY17NEW DELHI, DEC 20 /--/ Essar Oil (UK)Ltd, which owns and operates UKs StanlowRefinery, Wednesday reported its highestever half-year net profit at USD 169 millionon the back of record margins andoperational efficiencies. Net profit of USD169 million (Rs 1,082.61 crore) in April-September was 231 per cent higher thanUSD 51 million in the same period a yearago, CEO S Thangapandian said fromLondon.

"We had a record half-year EBITDA andnet profit as the market has been good andunits have been run very very efficiently,"he said. EBITDA or pre-tax profit more thandoubled to USD 264 million. "A strongoperational performance, supported byproduct cracks has enabled us to postrecord figures for a half year period andagain improve our delta over thebenchmark margin," he said. The companyearned a record USD 11 on turning everybarrel of crude oil into fuel as compared toa current price gross refining margin ofUSD 7.6 per barrel in H1 FY2017. He saidinnovations were made to increase high-value transport fuel throughput. Jet fuelproduction has been increased to 135-140kilo tonnes per month from 120 KT a monthpreviously. Essar, he said, will complete theUSD 250 million investment in theexpansion of the refining capacity by thefirst quarter of next year. The investment inthe revamping of certain units of therefinery would help cut down on crude oilprocessing cost, improve product slate andlead to marginal increase in capacity.Refinery capacity would increase from 68million barrels to 75 million barrels byMarch 2018, he said. The firm, controlled byRuia-family of Mumbai that sold Essar Oilto Russias Rosneft for USD 12.9 billion, has46 petrol pumps in the UK currently and istargeting 400 in five years, he said. (PTI)

EPFO makes a New Year resolutionto better service delivery

NEW DELHI, DEC 20 /--/Retirement funds managerEPFO has its plate full, goinginto the next year -- from fulldigitisation to Aadhaarseeding, with the solepurpose of making servicedelivery better for itsnearly 4.6 crore users.

Raising the bar when itcomes to investment in thestock market also figureshigh on its to-do list. Keen onservice overhaul, theEmployees' Provident FundOrganisation (EPFO) looksto start with linking ofprovident fund accountswith biometric identifierAadhaar and generation ofUniversal Account Number(UAN) through mobiles. In2017, the EPFO embarkedon a digital journey with aneye on providing almost allservices on smartphones --ranging from PF withdrawalto submission of lifecertificate by pensioners.Speaking to PTI, the CentralProvident FundCommissioner V P Joy said,"The EPFO will be apaperless organisation byAugust 15, 2018, withcomplete digitisation of itsoperations. Moreover, our

focus would be on providingall services to our membersand pensioners throughsmart mobile phonesanywhere, anytime." ThePF body, Joy further said,has planned to put in placea service in a week that willallow the users to link theirAadhaar with PF accountsusing mobile phones.

"Apart from this, wewould shortly provide aservice to members togenerate Universal AccountNumber (UAN) usingmobile phones. At present,this service is availableonline," Joy added. He toldPTI that the EPFO is on the

way to linking all UANswith Aadhaar so thatpayments can go throughusing the Aadhaar EnabledPayment System (AEPS).AEPS is a bank-led modelthat allows online inter-operable financialtransaction at PoS (point ofsale/micro ATM) throughbusiness correspondent(BC)/Bank Mitra of anybank using Aadhaarauthentication. Currently,of the 4.6 crore contributingmembers, as many as 2.75crore have seeded theirAadhaar with their PFaccounts. However, out ofthese 2.75 crore, 1.25 crore

Aadhaar numbers havebeen verified. The EPFOhas a mandate to verify allAadhaar-seeded PFaccounts for the switch toAEPS, which is seen tocompletely change theexperience and efficiencyof services for the better.The retirement funds bodyis also working on a planthat will ensure customerscan see their share ofexchange traded funds(ETF) investment units intheir PF accounts from Aprilonwards.

Last month, the EPFOhad approved a proposal oncrediting ETF units to thePF account of members. Thedecision was taken by EPFOtrustees last month whenthey cleared an accountingpolicy for valuation and anequity investment policyprepared in consultationwith IIM Bangalore.Subscribers can liquidatethese investments at thetime of withdrawal from thePF account upon retirementor taking advance onvarious grounds such asbuying a home, children'smarriage and theireducation. (PTI)