CBI books AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, others for corruption
In a major setback for the Tatas, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has indicted top executives of Tata Sons and the group’s airline company AirAsia Bhd for trying to bribe government officials in order to subvert aviation laws of the country for their venture AirAsia India. The agency on Tuesday named Tony Fernandes, group CEO of AirAsia, Bo Lingam, former deputy group CEO of AirAsia Bhd, and R Venkataramanan, managing trustee at Tata Trusts (AirAsia, AirAsia Bhd and Tata Trusts together own 66 per cent of Tata Sons) in the FIR, alleging they paid money to middlemen for bribes to known public servants and others for securing air operator’s permit and for operation of international scheduled air transport services.
Income-tax appeal limits may be raised to cut litigation
In a move that will lead to more concentrated efforts in resolving tax litigation involving around Rs 5 trillion, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is planning to increase the threshold for filing appeals by income-tax (IT) authorities. The CBDT is planning to increase the limit for appeals to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) from Rs 1 million to Rs 2 million. It also plans to increase limits for filing income-tax appeals in high courts and the Supreme Court from the current Rs 2 million and 2.5 million, respectively.
Govt wants RBI to frame dividend policy; to amend RBI Act
The government is nudging the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to formalize a policy governing the yearly dividends it pays to the Centre. Any such policy is likely to be given statutory backing through amendments in the RBI Act. This move comes in the wake of differences between North Block and Mint Road over the dividend that the Centre received from the RBI in 2017-18. A senior government official said that the government’s nominees to the RBI board – economic affairs Secretary Subhash Garg and financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar – will take this issue up in the next RBI board meeting.
At 18%, Indian customers’ biggest victims of banking fraud: FIS study
Indian consumers have taken to digital banking in a big way, but they are also among the biggest victims of banking frauds, shows a new report released by payments company FIS. The report, surveying people across multiple countries, found that 18 per cent of Indian customers reported a fraud in the past year – more than any other country surveyed by the organization. These frauds occur across all ages and correlate with the frequency of usage of digital banking by different age groups, according to the report.
37 banks see Rs 1.3 trillion jumps in gross non-performing assets in Q4
Weighed down by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) new rules on restructured assets, domestic banks, both public and private, added over Rs 1.3 trillion in gross non-performing assets (NPAs) in the fourth quarter ended March. Provisions and contingencies, amounts set aside for NPAs, also raised to Rs 1.4 trillion in the final three months of 2017-18, according to a review of the performance of 37 listed banks. While the provisions and contingencies figure includes those for tax, standard assets and loss in value of investment such as government securities, a large chunk of it is for stressed loans, including NPAs.
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