New Delhi, October 22
Concerned over defaults by big borrowers, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today that the government is monitoring the top 30 non-performing assets (NPA) accounts in each PSU bank.

The Finance Ministry has asked the lenders to set up separate verticals to recover money from loans that have been written off.

Addressing mediapersons after meeting the heads of PSU banks, the minister said he hoped that non-performing assets (NPAs) are a “function of the economy” and would improve with the recovery in economic growth.

“We are monitoring the top 30 NPA accounts in each bank, each zone. It is a matter of concern that it is the big borrowers (with loans of over Rs 1 crore) who are defaulting,” Chidambaram said.

The minister said the situation was not as bad as it was in 2000, when gross NPAs touched a high of 14 per cent. The NPAs, which plateaued over the years at about 2 per cent, have started creeping up with the deceleration in growth in the past few years.

As of June, the gross NPA of nationalised banks was 3.89 per cent and State Bank Group at 5.50 per cent.

Chidambaram said like the State Bank of India (SBI), other PSU banks should set up separate verticals to recover as much as possible from accounts that were written off.

The minister, however, expressed satisfaction over credit growth by PSU banks in the first and second quarters of the current financial year and expressed hope that it will remain “satisfactory” in the remaining part of the fiscal.

Chidambaram said housing loans recorded a healthy growth in the first and second quarters and rose by 42 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively. Growth was also observed in education loans.

The minister said PSU banks would open 10,000 new branches and set up 34,668 on-site ATMs during the course of the current financial year. Referring to the current account deficit, he said the government did not intend to lift the ban on gold coins and medallions.

Abu Dhabi, October 22
Nokia today announced five new smartphones and its entry in the tablet segment with the launch of 4G-enabled Nokia Lumia 2520, widening its portfolio to better compete with larger rivals, Samsung and Apple.

Priced at $499 (about Rs 31,000) before taxes, Nokia will start shipping Lumia 2520 to the US, the UK and Finland this quarter. It will be shipped to additional markets in the first quarter of 2014.

"Lumia 2520 is Nokia’s first tablet and a natural extension to Lumia family,” Nokia’s Executive Vice-President, Devices & Services, Stephen Elop said here.

The company did not disclose the time for launching the 10.1-inch screen size Lumia tablet in India but an Indian channel partner of Nokia said they expected the product to be launched in the first quarter of 2014.

New Delhi, October 22
India is among the world’s top five countries with the highest number of incidences of cyber crime such as ransomware (11 per cent), identity theft (11 per cent) and phishing (9 per cent), according to Symantec, which released its India findings from the 2013 Norton Report here today.

According to the report, the average cost per cyber crime victim in India has gone up to $207 from $192 last year. “At first glance of the India findings, we were happy to see a significant drop from the last year in the total number of victims and the total cost of cybercrime, but a closer scrutiny revealed an alarming trend,” said Ritesh Chopra, country manager, Norton by Symantec.

“Cyber criminals are using more sophisticated means like ransomware and spear-phishing, which yield them more money per attack than ever before. With 66 per cent of the Indian consumers using their personal mobile device for both work and play, this creates entirely new security risks for enterprises as cyber criminals have the potential to access even more valuable information,” Chopra said.

According to the report, India appears to be the ransomware capital of Asia Pacific with 11 per cent victims of this form of virtual extortion. That apart, in the past 12 months, 56 per cent of cyber crime victims in India have experienced online bullying, online stalking, online hate crime or other forms of online harassment.

The report further reveals that as consumers become more mobile and connected, these conveniences often come at a cost to them and their security. A staggering 63 per cent of smartphone users in India have experienced some form of mobile cyber crime in the past 12 months.

The report also finds that many consumers are engaging in risky behaviour that has them playing a game of chance with their private information, putting them at risk of becoming the next victim of online criminals.

A large percentage of Indian Wi-Fi users access social networks (61 per cent), shop online (44 per cent) and access their bank accounts (42 per cent) through a public or unsecure Wi-Fi. Adding to the risk are social network users in India who share their password with others (18 per cent), don’t log out of each session (21 per cent) and connect with people they don’t know (18 per cent).

More than half (55 per cent) of the consumers surveyed admitted that the convenience of being constantly connected outweighed any potential security risks. 

New Delhi, October 22
India has received over $9 billion from two foreign schemes, which were announced in September to attract foreign funds and help the country to bridge the widening current account deficit (CAD).

"Banks have taken advantage of RBI's liberalisation of FCNRB and Tier I capital schemes. So far, under the two schemes put together, banks have brought in $9.6 billion,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram told mediapersons here.

Soon after taking over as the RBI Governor on September 4, Raghuram Rajan had announced the opening of a swap-window facility to encourage banks to lure 
NRI funds.

Under the facility, banks are permitted to swap fresh FCNR(B) dollar funds at a fixed rate of 3.5 per cent per annum for the tenor of the deposit. Also, he had relaxed norms for banks and allowed them to raise capital abroad to the tune of 100 per cent of their Tier I (equity) capital. The schemes will remain valid till November 30.

The RBI had come out with special measures to arrest declining value of rupee, which was triggered by widening CAD, which touched a historic high of 4.8 per cent of the GDP in 2012-13. — PTI

"Banks have taken advantage of RBI's liberalisation of FCNRB and Tier I capital schemes. So far, under the two schemes put together, banks have brought in $9.6 billion.
— P Chidambaram, Finance Minister

Mumbai, October 22
National Stock Exchange (NSE) said today that it had lifted the ban on 26 entities, including Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi and firms linked to Prime Broking from trading in securities market. The NSE had suspended trading activities of 26 entities in July.

The exchange had decided to suspend the ‘unique client codes’ of these entities from trading for a period of six months or till the conclusion of the probe, whichever is earlier. They were suspended as part of a probe into suspected market manipulations.

“Pending final action on the outcome of the investigation... it is decided to re-enable the UCC of all 26 clients ...for trading on NSE with effect from October 23,” the NSE said in a circular today.

All traders and brokers need individual UCCs to carry out trades either for themselves or for their clients. The entities under the probe are suspected to have been conducting trades through benami entities. The entities which have been re-enabled from trading include Mehul Choksi, Manoj Madhav Vankar, Prime Securities, Prime Research and Advisory, Pinky Agro Foods, Primesec Investments, Sancheti Properties, Sharddha Garmewnts, Trusha Infra, Vankars Gems & Jewelleries. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 22
To safeguard investors from fraudulent money-collection schemes, the government today proposed a mandatory insurance cover for public deposits garnered by companies and hefty penalty of up to 18 per cent annual interest for defaulters.

The premium of the deposit insurance cover would need to be paid by companies themselves and a penalty at an annualised interest rate of 15 per cent would be slapped on those which do not provide a deposit insurance to their depositors. The proposed measures, which form part of the draft rules for the new Companies Act, also bar the companies from promising huge returns and hefty agent commissions in excess of the prevailing rates prescribed by the RBI for such deposits.

Releasing the draft rules, the Corporate Affairs Ministry said action would be initiated against the companies that fail to comply with the new rules, called the Regulations for Acceptance of Deposits by Companies. Besides, any violating company and each of its officer and other persons, who could be in default, would be punishable and fined Rs 10,000. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Mother Dairy hikes milk prices by `2
NEW DELHI: Mother Dairy, the largest milk supplier in the Delhi-NCR region, has increased milk prices by Rs 2 per litre with effect from Wednesday due to a rise in input cost. The price of full cream milk has been raised to Rs 44 per litre from Rs 42 a litre, toned milk to Rs 34 per litre from Rs 32 per litre, Double-toned milk to Rs 30 per litre from Rs 28 per litre. Token (loose) milk will cost Rs 32 a litre from Rs 30. — PTI

Bangalore top biz destination in India
NEW DELHI: Bangalore has been ranked as the country’s top business destination, followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Pune in terms of infrastructure, human capital, city culture and basic quality of living, says a survey. While Delhi does not figure on this list, Noida and Gurgaon from the NCR have been ranked 17th and 19th, respectively. — PTI

Rupee declines for 3rd consecutive day
MUMBAI: The rupee fell for the third straight session on Tuesday, ending 13 paise lower at 61.65 against the dollar on sustained demand from importers and banks as investors awaited US jobs data. The rupee resumed lower at 61.71 per dollar against the previous close of 61.52 . — PTI

HP launches new products
CHENNAI: Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Tuesday introduced its hybrid PC HP Pavilion in the personal computer segment and HP Elitebook Revolve 810, Probook 430 and Elitebook 800 series in the commercial segment here. The HP Pavilion x2 is a hybrid device that can be used as a notebook and as a tablet. — PTI