ED initiates an enquiry in ICICI-Videocon loan, asks Sebi for documents
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has started an enquiry into the Rs 32.50-billion loan sanctioned to the Videocon group and others by ICICI Bank, which was part of a consortium of lenders. According to sources, the agency has written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), seeking information on the Videocon group. The ED asked for details of the investigation into the group’s activities in the past few years. The enforcement agency will also approach the Reserve Bank of India for details on disclosures by ICICI Bank about its dealings with Videocon.
Insolvency cases: Banks make the third list for NCLT
Banks have drawn up a third list of corporate defaulters to be referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), senior bankers told FE. Most of the 25-30 companies on the third list are those where the aggregate exposure of the lenders is more than Rs 2,000 crore, and where there is little possibility of resolution through restructuring outside the NCLT. “We have identified these accounts after the Reserve Bank of India notice and we want to refer them to the NCLT as early as April,” a senior banker with a large state-run bank said on condition of anonymity.
Market-related grievances: How filing complaints at scores are now easier
n order to redress grievances of investors promptly, markets regulator Sebi has made some changes in the process of filing complaints in the centralized web-based platform called Scores (Sebi Complaints Redress System). Investors who wish to lodge a complaint on Scores will have to now register themselves. After filing the registration form with details like name, PAN, contact details, email id, Aadhaar number, a unique user id and password will be communicated to the investor through email or SMS. After that, he will have to select the correct complaint category, entity names, nature of complaints and provide complaint details in brief (up to 1000 characters.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code set for a major overhaul
India’s bankruptcy law, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), is set for a major overhaul as policymakers seek to decisively deal with business failures that slow down expansion in Asia’s third-largest economy. The ministry of corporate affairs is finalizing a series of IBC amendments based on a panel’s recommendations to remove difficulties in turning around businesses and to strike a balance between the interests of lenders, customers of failed businesses and their promoters, according to the insolvency law panel’s report which was submitted to the government last week.
How India’s oil companies lose pricing freedom in poll season
In 2010, the government decontrolled petrol pricing. Four years later, it deregulated prices of diesel, too. But do public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) truly have the freedom to set market-linked prices of these fuels? That’s worry investors in these stocks — Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL — will have to contend with as many big States go to the polls this year before the general elections are held next year.
Consider this. In November 2017, with just a month to go for the Gujarat Assembly elections, oil prices had reached $60 a barrel and were on their way up.
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