Today's Hot Stories - February 23, 2013 - PT education

Today's Hot Stories - February 23, 2013

10 Headlines for Today

(1) Hyderabad among 5 cities alerted ahead of blasts
(2) Meghalaya, Nagaland begin voting amid tight security
(3) Oscar Pistorius granted bail
(4) Taj Group mulls China expansion, eyes Tibet
(5) Compute every stake buy separately for takeover norms: SEBI
(6) USIBC wants FDI limit in defence hiked to 74%
(7) Defending champ Ferrer reaches semis in Argentina
(8) Michael Clarke’s century props up Australia
(9) Women’s Hockey: Japan downs India
(10) Drug trials claim 436 lives in 2012

5 Stories for Today

(1) Snow shuts Jammu-Srinagar NH, avalanche warning issued
(2) Tunisia Islamist party chooses new prime minister
(3) Decks cleared for new players in banking space
(4) Daimler promises a new variant every month
(5) The Guv keeps the bar high

(1) Snow shuts Jammu-Srinagar NH, avalanche warning issued


The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the second day on Saturday even as fresh snowfall across Kashmir prompted authorities to issue an avalanche warning in higher reaches of the Valley.

“The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is closed for vehicular traffic due to continuous snowfall on either side of Jawahar tunnel in south Kashmir,” a spokesman of the traffic department said.

He said snowfall was hampering efforts of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and other concerned agencies to clear the road of the snow accumulated overnight.

The 294-km arterial highway, the only all-weather road link between Kashmir and rest of the country, was closed yesterday due to snowfall.

The snowfall in the Valley has affected normal life as electricity supply has been snapped while many roads in the rural areas have been blocked due to snow.

Roads in Srinagar, which received the second major snowfall of the winter this morning, were rendered slippery and traffic was moving at a snail’s pace in most areas.

According to a MET department official, Srinagar received snowfall and rains equivalent to 30.1 mm rainfall since yesterday while Qazigund - the gateway town to the Valley - received 42.2mm.

Pahalgam in south Kashmir received snowfall equivalent to 46.6 mm of rainfall followed by Kupwara (44.0mm), Kokernag (40.6 mm) and Gulmarg skiing resort (35.0 mm) in north Kashmir.

The snowfall has resulted in the mercury staying around freezing point in most parts of the Valley but Gulmarg continued to shiver at minus 5.6 degrees Celsius.

While Kargil was the coldest recorded place in the state at minus 11.0 degrees Celsius, Leh town saw the mercury rise to minus 5.0 degrees Celsius.

Source: The Hindu

(2) Tunisia Islamist party chooses new prime minister


Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party has chosen its hardline interior minister to form the North African nation’s new government, a top official said on Friday.

Ali Larayedh, who has been widely criticized by the opposition for failing to ensure stability in Tunisia, hails from Ennahda Party’s hardline wing. His nomination is expected make the task of finding consensus and building a coalition with Tunisia’s other political parties more difficult.

The party chose Larayedh in an overnight meeting and he will be presented to President Moncef Marzouki later Friday, Moadh Ghannouchi, the son of Ennahda’s leader, told the Associated Press.

Tunisia was plunged into a political crisis after the assassination of a leftist politician two weeks ago. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned after his own party rejected his proposal to form an apolitical government of technocrats.

The split between the party and Jebali was seen as a deep disagreement between the party’s hardline and moderate wings.

Larayedh also announced late Thursday the arrest of several suspects in the assassination of opposition lawyer Chokri Belaid, saying “rapid progress” had been made in the investigation.

Belaid was shot four times outside his home on Feb. 6, provoking days of unrest as many Tunisians held the government responsible for his death.

Source: The Hindu

(3) Decks cleared for new players in banking space


Any Indian-owned corporate can apply

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Friday, issued final guidelines for setting up of new banks in the private sector, including corporate houses and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), through a wholly-owned Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC).

Public sector companies are also eligible to apply. The RBI will allow applicants for new licences until July 1.

“Promoters/ promoter groups should have a past record of sound credentials, integrity and should be financially sound and have a successful track record of running their business for at least 10 years,” RBI said in its guidelines.

The RBI further said that “promoter groups’ business model and business culture should not be aligned with the banking model and their business should not potentially put the bank and the banking system at risk on account of group activities such “as those which are speculative in nature or subject to high asset price volatility.”

However, the RBI does not exclude any companies from speculative sectors such as real estate and brokerage houses from entering the banking sector. In its draft guidelines, earlier, the RBI had excluded companies from these areas from getting new banking licences.

The initial minimum paid-up voting equity capital for a bank would be Rs.500 crore. The NOFHC would initially hold a minimum of 40 per cent of the paid-up voting equity capital of the bank which would be locked for five years and which would be brought down to 15 per cent within 12 years. “The bank shall get its shares listed on the stock exchanges within three years of the commencement of business,” the RBI added.

The aggregate foreign shareholding in the new bank would not exceed 49 per cent for the first five years after which it would be as per the extant policy.

At least 50 per cent of the directors of the NOFHC would be independent directors. The NOFHC and the bank would not have any exposure to the promoter group. “The bank shall not invest in the equity / debt capital instruments of any financial entities held by the NOFHC,” it added.

The new banks should open at least 25 per cent of its branches in un-banked rural centres (population up to 9,999 as per the latest census).

Source: The Hindu

(4) Daimler promises a new variant every month


We are here to create a permanent institution: CEO

Undeterred by the “worst environment the market has seen in the last 50 years”, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles plans to truck on with its strategy, and launch one truck variant a month over the next 17 months from its Oragadam plant near here.

“Despite the shady and extremely challenging truck market, we have not reduced our production plan. Our next launches will include 9 -12 tonne vehicles and tractor trailers,” said Marc Llistosella, Managing Director and CEO, Daimler India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of German truck-maker Daimler AG.

The company’s market share, at present, ranges between 8 and 36 per cent, depending on the region.

“We are here to create a permanent institution. We expected a slow entry, and once we enter all categories, we will make our mark. Remember, we aren’t selling only our products; we are selling ourselves as well. For us, repeat orders are vital,” he said, while addressing reporters at the launch of three light-duty trucks in the 9 to 12 tonne range. Last year, close to 3 lakh trucks of various categories were sold in India.

This number, he said, is expected to hit nearly 5 lakh in a couple of years. “Last September, we delivered on our first promise with our heavy-duty trucks. This year, in addition to the new launches, we will also ramp up our dealer network to 80 from the present 32,” he said.

Source: The Hindu

(5) The Guv keeps the bar high


It took nearly three years for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to give a final shape to the government’s decision to let more players in the private sector banking field. That by itself offers a clue to the divide in thinking between the fiscal and monetary managers of the Indian economy. When it did come out with guidelines for “Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector”, the central bank has let it known to aspirants at large in unambiguous terms that banking is a no-nonsense, serious business, and that there cannot be any trust deficit.

Not surprisingly, the emphasis is on giving licences only to ‘fit and proper’ promoters. The past records, financial soundness and integrity, among others, of the promoters will be scrutinised by the RBI to assess the ‘fitness’ of the banking aspirants. It has even reserved the right to seek assistance from other regulators and assorted agencies to satisfy itself of the ‘fitness’ of the aspirants. This ‘fitness’ rider comes even as the RBI throws the banking field wide open to aspirants in the private sector that are owned and controlled by resident Indians and also to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). This particular rider will have interpretational issues, and ensures that the central bank has the last word.

The global financial crisis has, in its wake, seen the always cautious RBI turn even more so. And, the guidelines reflect that concern. The Rs.500 crore capital stipulation, the insistence on floating a wholly-owned non-operative financial holding company, well-defined voting rights, requirement of filling up the board with independent directors and so on are all indeed required to ring-fence the bank from being manipulated by the owners.

Competition between a bank and an NBFC is one thing. But competition among banks is a different ball game in the fast-evolving global context, and in a compulsive domestic environment. Why would anybody enter into banking if they can’t make money? We have seen many big names which entered the private banking space earlier go into oblivion, subsumed by M&As. The environment has only turned tougher since then for banks, both from business point of view and regulatory angle.

The guidelines are anything but encouraging for NBFCs to convert themselves into banks. Most of these NBFCs have been largely sector-centric lenders, and are last-mile linkers to financial inclusion. For them, conversion into bank will mean they have to compromise on their core competence, and venture into non-specialised areas. After all, financial inclusion involves cost and associated risk. Banking per se is practiced as a low-risk business, especially in a highly regulated environment. And, as such, need not necessarily be the tool for financial inclusion.

Source: The Hindu

Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.