Monday, 28 December 2015

RBI releases Deepak Mohanty Panel's report on Financial Inclusion

The financial inclusion initiative envisaged by the Committee is much broader in scope, going beyond the traditional domain of the Reserve Bank.


The Reserve Bank of India has placed on its website, the Report of the Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion (Chairman:  Deepak Mohanty). 

Background
It may be recalled that, taking inspiration from the remarks of the Prime Minister made in his address at the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Reserve Bank, this Committee was constituted with the objective of working out a medium-term (five year) measurable action plan for financial inclusion. It was mandated to, inter alia, review the existing policy of financial inclusion including supportive payment system and customer protection; study cross-country experiences of financial inclusion to identify key learnings, particularly in the area of technology-based delivery models; articulate the underlying policy and institutional framework and finally, suggest a monitorable medium-term action plan for financial inclusion in terms of its various components such as payments, deposit, credit, social security transfers, and other financial products and services.

Vision
The financial inclusion initiative envisaged by the Committee is much broader in scope, going beyond the traditional domain of the Reserve Bank. The Committee recognised that substantial progress has been made in terms of access of financial products and services especially after the launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana. However, there were significant gaps in terms of usage, inadequate ‘last mile’ service delivery, and exclusion of women as well as small and marginal farmers and very low formal link for micro and small enterprises. 

There were also systemic issues of stability of the credit system, over-indebtedness and agrarian distress. Against this background, the Committee set a much wider vision of financial inclusion as “‘convenient’ access to a basket of basic formal financial products and services that should include savings, remittance, credit, government-supported insurance and pension products to small and marginal farmers and low-income households at reasonable cost with adequate protection progressively supplemented by social cash transfers, besides increasing the access of small and marginal enterprises to formal finance with a greater reliance on technology to cut costs and improve service delivery, such that by 2021, over 90 per cent of the hitherto underserved sections of society become active stakeholders in economic progress empowered by formal finance.” 

The Committee was of the view that a meaningful financial inclusion is not feasible without government-to-person (G2P) cash transfer.

Salient recommendations
Banks have to make special efforts to step up account opening for females, and the Government may consider a deposit scheme for the girl child – Sukanya Shiksha - as a welfare measure.

Given the predominance of individual account holdings (94 per cent of total credit accounts), a unique biometric identifier such as Aadhaar should be linked to each individual credit account and the information shared with credit information companies to enhance the stability of the credit system and improve access.

To improve ‘last mile’ service delivery and to translate financial access into enhanced convenience and usage, a low-cost solution should be developed by utilisation of the mobile banking facility for maximum possible G2P payments.

In order to increase formal credit supply to all agrarian segments, digitisation of land records is the way forward. This should be backed by an Aadhaar-linked mechanism for Credit Eligibility Certificates to facilitate credit flow to actual cultivators.

To phase out the agricultural interest subvention scheme which has distorted the agricultural credit system and ploughing the subsidy amount into an affordable technology aided universal crop insurance scheme for marginal and small farmers for all crops with a monetary ceiling of Rs.200,000 at a nominal premium to end agrarian distress.

A scheme of ‘Gold KCC’ (kisan credit card) with higher flexibility for borrowers with prompt repayment records, which could be dovetailed with a government-sponsored personal insurance, and digitisation of KCC to track expenditure pattern.

Encourage multiple guarantee agencies to provide credit guarantees in niche areas for micro and small enterprises (MSEs), and explore possibilities for counter guarantee and re-insurance.

Introduction of a system of unique identification for all MSME borrowers and sharing of such information with credit bureaus.

Establishing a system of professional credit intermediaries/advisors for MSMEs to help both the sector banks in credit assessment.

To further step up financing of the MSE Sector a framework for movable collateral registry may be introduced.

Commercial banks may be enabled to open specialised interest-free windows with simple products like demand deposits, agency and participation certificates on the liability side and cost-plus financing and deferred payment, deferred delivery contracts on the asset side.

An eco-system comprising multiple models should be encouraged with will foster partnerships amongst national full-service banks, regional banks of various types, NBFCs, semi-formal financial institutions, as well as the newly-licensed payments banks and small finance banks.

Banks’ business model to integrate Business Correspondents (BCs) with appropriate monitoring by designated link branches and greater mix of fixed location BC outlets to win the confidence of the common person.

Introduction of a system of online registration of BCs, their training and monitoring their activity including delinquency, and entrusting more complex financial products such as credit to trained BCs with good track record.

A geographical information system (GIS) to map all banking access points.

To step up the self help group (SHG)-bank linkage programme (SBLP) initiated by NABARD with the help of concerned stakeholders including government agencies as a livelihood model.

Corporates should be encouraged to nurture SHGs as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Provision of credit history of all SHG members by linking with individual Aadhaar numbers to check over-indebtedness

To restore tax-exempt status for securitisation vehicles for efficient risk transfer.

More ATMs in rural and semi-urban centres, interoperability of micro ATMs and use of application-based mobiles as point- of- sale (PoS) for creating more touch points for customers.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to develop a multi-lingual mobile application for customers who use non-smart phones, especially for users of national unified USSD platform (NUUP).
Permit a small-value cash-out with adequate KYC along for non-bank prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) to incentivise usage.

To allow PPI interoperability for non-banks.

Levying a surcharge on credit card transactions by merchant establishments should not be allowed.
Banks to complete the task of linking of deposit accounts with Aadhaar in a time bound manner so as to create the necessary eco-system for social cash transfer.

Financial Literacy Centre (FLC) network to be strengthened to deliver basic financial literacy at the ground level. Banks to identify lead literacy officers to be trained by the Reserve Bank in its College of Agricultural Banking (CAB) who in turn could train the people manning the FLCs.

The Reserve Bank to commission periodic dipstick surveys across states to ascertain the extent of financial literacy.

All regulated entities should be required to put in place a technology-based platform for SMS acknowledgement and disposal of customer complaints.

To strengthen the Information Monitoring System for District Consultative Committees (DCC) and State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) deliberations.

The responsibility of the SLBC/lead bank scheme to be rotated among to instil a spirit of competition.
SLBCs to focus more on inter-institutional issues, livelihood models, social cash transfer, gender inclusion, Aadhaar seeding, universal account opening, and less on credit deposit ratio which is a by-product.

As a part of second generation reforms, the government can replace the current agricultural input subsidies on fertilisers, power and irrigation by a direct income transfer scheme.

Selling stake ​ to institutions like IFC​ would be beneficial​: Kishore Kharat, IDBI Bank

If multilateral institutes like IFC takes interest in picking up stakes, its is good for the further development of the bank, said Kishore Kharat


IDBI Bank has experienced a boost in its shares after the government decided to reduce its holdings from 91% to 52%. With this reduction of holdings, the IDBI Bank will get more freedom and operational autonomy along with strength.

Kishore Kharat, MD & CEO, IDBI Bank, told CNBC TV18 that till now the bank has not received any direct proposal from the IFC but if multilateral institutes like IFC takes interest in picking up stakes, its is good for the further development of the bank.

On NPL, he said that all the assets are performing assets but some of them are treated as stressed assets due to regulatory prescriptions. Kharat is waiting for the economy to turn up along with the improved flow of cash. Around Rs.300-400 crore accounts have been already identified for ARCs, he added.

"We may have to bite the bullet one time either this quarter or the next quarter to clear our balance sheets as the deadline given by the RBI governor is March 2016 and with this we will certainly bounce back in the improved economy", said Khatar.

Stock View

IDBI Bank Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 90.15, up by Rs. 2.35 or 2.68% from its previous closing of Rs. 87.8 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 88 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 91.4 and Rs. 87.9 respectively. So far 5081302(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 14082.76 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 95.7 on 03-Dec-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 52.45 on 25-Aug-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 93.15 and Rs. 86.55 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 76.5 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 13.88 % and 9.63 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 50 DMA

Future Consumer Enterprise down 3%; plans to raise funds

The company has announced that it is planning to raise USD 55m (Rs. 3,685 million) through the Preferential issue of CCDs and Warrants


Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd plunged 3% to Rs.25.40 on BSE. The company has announced that it is planning to raise USD 55m (Rs. 3,685 million) through the Preferential issue of CCDs and Warrants.

The scrip opened at Rs. 26.65 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 26.65 and Rs. 25 respectively. So far 6305707(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 4342.5 crore.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 6 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 27.25 on 23-Dec-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 10.01 on 24-Dec-2014. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 27.25 and Rs. 23.4 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 43.58 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 18.58 % and 37.84 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 50 DMA.

Calendar 2016 set to begin with many positives

Along with the pay bonanza, the government steps to improve the ease of doing business and simplify business opportunities as well as frontload expenditure have helped create demand in the economy.


Even before new calendar year dawns, we have some good vibes for the economy and the domestic stock market in the coming year. The first bit is of course on the monsoon front, which is a crucial macro-economic trigger for India. After two years of successive monsoon failures, the new calendar is likely to see a better outcome, with some weather experts predicting a La Niña next year. Should that materialize, there is no risk of any fresh drought and hopefully we will have a good monsoon.
 
The second big trigger is of course the Seventh Pay Commission award, which is expected to create strong consumption demand in the economy. Urban demand has pretty much held up in most parts of the country over the past few quarters though rural demand has been quite slow.
 
Along with the pay bonanza, the government steps to improve the ease of doing business and simplify business opportunities as well as frontload expenditure have helped create demand in the economy. The government has been spending on infrastructure, and mining has restarted in pockets, and hopefully, it will get extended further and infrastructure spends, leading to more efficiency, more productivity, and more output.
 
Credit off take, another key component of the economy, has been pretty slow this year compared with what it was last year. With the interest rate trajectory firmly on decline, it is expected to help better credit off take, leading to better demand in the economy.
 
Capex takeoff is another trigger markets and investors have been waiting for long. The government has consciously tried its part to make it happen faster, so that private sector investment can follow. For instance, Rs 34,000 crore worth of road tenders have been issued in November. In cement, we are seeing 70 per cent capacity utilization. Once these existing capacities get used up quickly, there will be scope for fresh capital expenditure and capacity expansion, leading to better growth in the economy.
 
From purely market’s perspective, the major event risks appear to have gone and if earnings growth picks up as expected from the second half of this financial year, then the stock market should do better in the days to come.
 
The only stumbling block, if any, has been the slow progress on the reforms front. There has already been a big setback that the GST front, as the crucial legislation is still stuck in political logjam. Even the bankruptcy bill appears deadlocked.

ONGC Videsh and Rosneft sign deal

ONGC Videsh Limited and Rosneft has signed an Agreement of Confirmation of successful completion of the first stage pre-completion actions in relation to the creation of a joint venture in JSC ‘Vankorneft’.


ONGC Videsh Ltd
ONGC Videsh Limited and Rosneft has signed an Agreement of Confirmation of successful completion of the first stage pre-completion actions in relation to the creation of a joint venture in JSC ‘Vankorneft’. The document was signed in the presence of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi by Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Limited, Narendra K Verma and Rosneft Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin.

The document was signed in continuation of the agreement of sale and purchase of a 15% share in Vankorneft and the shareholders agreement in regard of the enterprise management (the documents were signed in September, 2015). The parties intend to complete the transaction upon obtaining necessary regulatory and other approvals.

Rosneft and ONGC Videsh also signed a Memorandum of understanding for cooperation for geologic survey, exploration and production of hydrocarbons onshore and on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation.

The document, signed is in continuation of the Memorandum of understanding for cooperation in exploration, appraisal and hydrocarbon production on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation (signed within SPIEF-2014). It confirms the intention of parties to continue cooperation in the named areas and expands the sphere of the potential partnership to include Russian onshore hydrocarbon development projects. Particularly the companies will analyze the possibility of expanding their partnership aimed at the development of perspective Rosneft projects in East Siberia.

Marico board to allot Bonus Equity Shares

Consequent to the aforesaid allotment of Bonus Shares, the paid up and issued capital of the Company stands increased from 64,50,85,599 Equity Shares of Re. 1 each aggregating to Rs. 64,50,85,599 to 1,29,01,71,198 Equity Shares of Re. 1 each aggregating to Rs. 1,29,01,71,198.


Marico Kaya Enterprises
Marico Ltd has announced that the Securities Issue Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company vide a resolution passed on December 26, 2015 has approved the issue and allotment of 64,50,85,599 Equity Shares of Re. 1 each as Bonus to the Members whose names appeared in the Register of Members/ List of Beneficial Owners as on the Record Date i.e. December 24, 2015.

Consequent to the aforesaid allotment of Bonus Shares, the paid up and issued capital of the Company stands increased from 64,50,85,599 Equity Shares of Re. 1 each aggregating to Rs. 64,50,85,599 to 1,29,01,71,198 Equity Shares of Re. 1 each aggregating to Rs. 1,29,01,71,198.

Marico Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 224, down by Rs. 2.1 or 0.93% from its previous closing of Rs. 226.1 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 227.8 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 227.8 and Rs. 223.7 respectively. So far 772256(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 29170.77 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 234.2 on 21-Dec-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 157.88 on 12-Jan-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 234.2 and Rs. 217 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 59.67 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 32.96 % and 7.37 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 50 DMA.