New Delhi, March 5
Concerned over mounting non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking sector, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today asked public sector banks (PSBs) to focus on recovery of bad loans, especially among the large corporate accounts.

Addressing a press conference after reviewing performance of the PSBs, he said credit disbursal to medium-sized industry has declined.

“The biggest challenge facing the PSBs is NPAs and their asset quality,” he said, adding a large part of the meeting with banks’ chiefs was focused on bad loans and the steps needed for the recovery.

Pointing out that NPAs were “high in large corporate sectors” and small industries, although they were down for the real estate segment, Chidambaram said banks have been told to focus on recovery.

NPAs or bad loans of PSBs rose by 28.5% from Rs 1.83 lakh crore in March, 2013 to Rs 2.36 lakh crore in September last year.

The minister said the banks recovered Rs 18,933 crore worth of bad loans during the April-December period.

To a query regarding the bad loans with United Bank of India (UBI), he said the issue would be separately discussed with RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday. He, however, said the UBI has managed to recover Rs 1,200 crore in January 
and February.

When asked about the curbs on import of gold, he said the government would revisit the customs duty only after factoring in the final Current Account Deficit (CAD) numbers for the 2013-14 financial year.

Chidambaram said the government will continue to provide capital support to banks but the lenders are expected to focus on profitability.

That apart, the government will convene a meeting of telecom service providers and the Indian Banks’ Association to discuss measures to increase the penetration of mobile banking services in the country.

He said the model code of conduct, which came into force today following the announcement of General Election, will not affect the process of issuance of new banking licences by the RBI.

Besides, he clarified that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will continue to take decisions on investment proposals and the government will not come to a halt because of the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi, March 5
Micromax today launched its first octa-core smartphone ‘Canvas Knight’ for Rs 19,999, which will be sold only through its website.

The device has a MediaTek 2GHz tru octa-core processor with 2GB RAM and has a 5-inch full high- definition display.

"Canvas Knight is another milestone for Micromax to bring the best combination of technology, style and affordability for the masses," Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma said.

It comes with a 16 MP rear camera and voice command capabilities wherein a user can click images by saying 'cheese' or 'capture' while on the move. It runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system and has a 2350 mAh battery and equipped with 32GB of internal storage. — PTI

New Delhi, March 5
The tower-sharing deal between Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Jio Infocomm and Airtel’s sister concern Bharti Infratel could prove to be a game changer for the telecom sector. It could lead to the faster rollout of the much-awaited data and voice services over the 4G network for which the former has a pan-India licence.

As per the plans of Reliance Jio, it would lease around 70,000 towers and put up another 30,000 of its own, including smaller cell sites on single poles, leading to wider coverage and better service for the customers.

Reliance Jio had last year announced a similar deal with Reliance Communications, owned by Anil Ambani.

The deal between the companies owned by the Ambani brothers proposed to use some or all of the 48,000 towers held by RCom's Reliance Infratel unit. RCom sources said it has already delivered about 25,000 towers under the deal to Jio. Reports suggested Reliance Jio is also negotiating with telecom tower companies Viom Networks and GTL Infrastructure to lease more towers. The two have 41,000 and 32,000 towers, respectively.

Industry watchers pointed out that with such deals, RJio would be in a situation not only to provide much faster data services on its 4G network, it would also be in a position to provide voice calling over this network.

This would allow the company to provide voice calling on the network not only at much lower pricing but would also allow much clearer voice call.

New Delhi, March 5
The government has approved payment of 8.75% rate of interest on PF deposits in 2013-14 for over five crore subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO.

"The Finance Ministry has given its concurrence to the EPFO trustees' decision to provide 8.75% rate of interest to its members for the current fiscal," an official said.

EPFO's apex decision making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) headed by Labour Minister had decided to raise interest rate for the current fiscal to 8.75% from 8.5% paid in 2012-13, in its meeting held on January 13.

The CBT decision was sent to the FinMin for vetting. Since it has given its concurrence to the decision, the interest would be credited into the accounts of subscribers, he said. — PTI

New Delhi, March 5
Analysts have cautioned on the impact of the El Nino condition affecting monsoons this year which will have a negative impact on growth and inflation.

Research firm Crisil said in a report that if El Nino condition affects the monsoons, as is being forecast by foreign agencies, it can slow down the economy to 5.2% next fiscal from a projected 6%.

Several international weather forecasters see enhanced possibility of an El Nino this year. This can change ocean and wind currents across the globe, wreaking havoc on the climate.

However, Crisil said there is a fair degree of uncertainty associated with these early forecasts, and it will be too premature to conclude that an El Niño condition will occur this year.

For India, El Nino shifts rainfall patterns and can weaken or delay the monsoons. “In the past decade, it was one of the factors responsible for two of our most severe monsoon failures (2002 and 2009),” Crisil noted.

Poor rainfall could push up the already high food inflation further and pump down GDP, the report warned.

In particular, the occurrence of an El Nino is said to cause rainfall deficiency in the northwest and central areas of the country, and excess rainfall in the North-East.

BRIEFLY

Sahara Group firms’ stocks fall up to 5%
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Fund mop-up via preferential route down 88% in January
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Plaint against Export Credit Guarantee Corp rejected
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SBoP opens 1,175th branch at Sadhaura in Haryana
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Google launches indoor maps in India
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