The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), by way of its notification of January 15, has released its updated measures by way one can improve transparency and safety of debit/ credit cards. This will be applicable from March 16. If a person is expecting to get a debit or credit card any time after March 16, he/she will have to keep plethora of things ready for consideration.
For all kind of transactions such as online transactions, contactless transactions, card-not-present transactions and international transactions, card holders will be liable to set up separate services on their newly allotted card. However, card holders can access all their limits through all channels such as internet banking, mobile application, IVR or ATMs.
However, the regulation is mandatory for those who use mass transit systems and prepaid gift cards. At a time of issuance/reissuance of the card, RBI has asked banks to grant only domestic card transactions at ATMs and Pos terminals in India. Moreover, it will be mandatory to disable existing cards which have never been used for any kind of transactions. These norms have been taken to curb cyber frauds.
Cricket is a game of chance but in Ranji Trophy cricket, it’s a game of first innings lead. Saurashtra won the first even Ranji Trophy title at Rajkot beating Bengal. So, aside from the Western Region annexed the trophy. However, Mumbai, the headquarters of Indian cricket could not achieve any headway in the championship.
Saurashtra skipper Unadkat springs into action to put the skids on Bengal’s chase on the fifth and final day. His left arm medium-pace bowling was a revelation in this Ranji Trophy Championships. A magnificent tale of grind and toil came to a halt as Saurashtra, led by an inspiring Jaydev Unadkat, stopped Bengal on the fifth and final day to win its first title. Unadkat not only delivered the final blow but also claimed 63 wickets at an average of 13.23 per wicket. But that was not the best this season. Bihar slow left-arm orthodox bowler Ashutosh Aman took 68 wickets in the 2018-19 season.
Saurashtra’s success story is phenomenal. They achieved this against all odds. At the same time the winning team was showing early promise in Ranji Trophy in different names. Nawanagar (HQ Jamnagar) appeared in Ranji Trophy from 1936/37 to 1947/48 (won title on debut in 1936/37 when they beat Bengal in final). Western India States Agency (HQ Rajkot) appeared in Ranji Trophy from 1934/35 to 1945/46 (won title in 1943/44 when they beat Bengal in final). Kathiawar appeared in Ranji Trophy from 1946/47 to 1949/50.
All three above sides merged to become Saurashtra from 1950/51 to date (won title in 2019/20 when they beat Bengal on first innings lead. Incidentally, Saurashtra won their maiden national title – the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2007-08, they again beat BENGAL in the final. So for Saurashtra, Bengal is the soft target to win titles.
Corona virus caused ripples as the last days play was played with gates closed for the public. More over, C Shamshuddin, one of the field umpires was on ruled out as the on-field umpire for the remainder of the Ranji Trophy final after getting hit around the lower abdomen area on the opening day of the title clash between Bengal and Saurashtra. Substitution was done from day two of the match.
After falling to Mumbai in 2012-13 and 2015-16, and to Vidarbha in 2018-19, Saurashtra beat Bengal on first-innings lead in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy final to become the newest team to win Indian cricket’s premier domestic competition. Since their first campaign in the Ranji Trophy in 1950-51, Saurashtra, in the process, become the third Gujarat-based team to triumph in the competition, the others being Gujarat and Baroda. Saurashtra are the third team from the Saurashtra region of Gujarat to win the Ranji Trophy, following the title runs of Nawanagar in 1936-37 and Western India in 1943-44.
After losing just once (against Uttar Pradesh) in a group containing Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Mumbai, Railways, Baroda, and Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra finished fourth in the combined Group A and B table to qualify. So after a long gap the Ranji Trophy had gone to the place where it actually belongs to.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Equities look attractive after stock market meltdown!
Banks going bust has shaken the confidence of citizens who have now become hesitant to keep large sums of money in bank’s fixed deposits after the PMC and Yes Bank fiasco. The Coronavirus and crude crash globally has resulted in stock markets crashing. However, it is a boon in disguise for investors to cash on in these times of turmoil. Today, blue chip companies are available at mouthwatering valuations and some even below their book value. The dividend offered in many companies is even higher than FD’s and every investor can think of parking funds in equities if they have a long term horizon.
Buy when everybody sells and vice versa is a golden rule to make money in stock markets but people do the reverse which is why people have had bad experience in stocks. One’s portfolio today should be distributed in pension funds, post office schemes guaranteed by the government and equities which are attractive at the moment. I have been picking up stocks of HDFC group companies, Infosys, TCS and other top companies which I am confident would perform well in the times to come. FD’s in private banks offer interest which when compared to inflation gives negative returns. This is the best time to invest in equities and the brave hearted can take risks for phenomenal gains in the days to come!
S.N.Kabra
Yogi Aditynath rightly counters court-verdict through ordinance for rioters
Virus of pseudo-secularism in India is still so high that even courts are compelled to make sue-motto Sunday sittings for taking cognizance of so-termed hurting right to privacy of rioters by ordering removal of hoardings depicting picture of those against whom cost is imposed for rioting. It was great of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who instantly reacted by bringing out an ordinance for enabling government to recover cost of damage from rioters and putting their photos on public-hoardings in much desired name-and-shame policy when Supreme Court asked the law under which such steps were taken. If putting pictures of rioters in public hurts right to privacy, then photos of criminals should also be removed from all police-stations.
Central government should also act immediately to rectify outdated laws so that persons responsible for killing IB officer Ankit Sharma and Head Constable Ratan Lal may be hanged in a time-bound period of say maximum one year to create a much-desired fear against riot-killing and other crimes attracting death-penalty. Otherwise Ankit Sharma and Rattan Lal may not get justice till infinity like is being seen in case of Nirbhaya killers. Law should be so amended that even courts may not be able to interfere in quick-most justice-delivery-system especially in cases attracting death-penalty.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
In a drastic step to curb the spread of Coronavirus, the Maharashtra government ordered closure of cinema halls, gyms, swimming pools and malls in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur cities from Friday midnight.
Making the announcement in the state Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the government was invoking the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 from midnight.
Wherever possible, companies should allow employees to work from home in view of Coronavirus threat, he said.
Thackeray announced that schools in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad areas will remain shut till further orders. However, the SSC exams in those schools will continue as per schedule.
He also informed the House that so far, 17 persons have tested positive for Coronavirus in the state- three each in Mumbai and Nagpur, 10 in Pune and one in Thane.
The chief minister also appealed to the people to avoid visiting malls.
Yes Bank is India’s fourth largest private sector bank that has been growing at a brisk pace. It is primarily a Corporate bank which means that a large part of the loan is given to Corporates and substantial business is generated from this segment. Such a bank gets in trouble when Corporate borrowers are not in a position to repay back loans. Given the fact that the corporate sector was facing a stoppage, Yes Bank was seeing defaults in its books. Further, in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) audits, it became apparent that Yes Bank was under-reporting such non-payment of loans. In order to cover for such non-payment of loans, the bank falls back on its capital and in case it has adequate capital, it can keep on functioning properly. In the case of Yes Bank, it is suspected that such non-payment losses are very large and hence their current capital is not sufficient to cover such fatalities. Thus, in order to revive the bank, the current management was trying to raise capital which they were unable to. Given their inability to raise capital the bank would have had to shut down, however RBI has stepped in to prevent such an eventuality.
Yes Bank came into existence in the year 2003 when it was formed by Rana Kapoor and Ashok Kapoor but when the latter expired in Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attack, Rana Kapoor took over complete control of the Bank. While Kapoor is famous as a risk taker, Ashok Kapoor was a old-fashioned person. After Ashok died, Rana randomly gave loans to loss making companies. But in due course, Yes Bank never showed the actual data and always gave a manipulated data to hide losses of stressed asset. UBS a global firm first raised the issue regarding loan given to stressed asset, but that wasn’t creating much problems for Yes Bank. Gradually the exposure of Yes Bank to bad companies was rising. The bank gave loan to several companies like DHFL, once the company was unable to repay the loan, problems for Yes Bank started increasing. In 2018, the market cap of the Bank was Rs. 1 lakh crore which came down to 5000 crore in one and half years. When the RBI realised that there was some problems in the Yes Bank, it refused to extend the term of Rana Kapoor and revised his term to 31st January 2019. Soon after, the stock price of Yes Bank started falling. Rana Kapoor pledged his share which was not known though it was known that he had shareholding of 11 per cent at one time which was worth around Rs. 9000 crore which he slowly reduced to 1 per cent. Loans worth Rs 20,000 crore out of Rs 30,000 crore sanctioned by Rana Kapoor, during his tenure as chief of the crisis-ridden Yes Bank, turned into bad debts, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a special Court last Wednesday. According to news agency PTI, the submission was made by the ED to a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai which extended Kapoor’s custody till 16 March after the agency sought remand for further probe.
Kapoor, who was arrested by the ED is facing a probe from the ED and the CBI over allegations that he received kickbacks through scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited’s (DHFL) Rs 600 crore loan to a family-owned company. Kapoor’s wife and three daughters are also among the 13 accused named by the CBI in the case. As many as 44 companies belonging to 10 large business groups reportedly accounted for bad loans of Rs 34,000 crore of Yes Bank, PTI reported, adding that nine firms of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group reportedly owed Rs 12,800 crore while the Essel Group had unpaid loans of Rs 8,400 crore.
Last week, Yes Bank was placed under a moratorium by the RBI which took control of the Board and also imposed a Rs 50,000-limit on withdrawals from the bank after the central bank cited “serious deterioration in the financial position of the Bank”. Since then, the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has shown interest in buying up to 49 per cent stake in the beleaguered private lender, as a part of its restructuring plan.
Mainly, RBI has intervened in the management by putting a cap on withdrawal. There may be some hardships to the customers, but this action has been taken to protect the interest of depositors. Unhealthy practices followed in lending and classification of the advances not done correctly are prime reasons for the crisis. The Yes Bank has lost its credibility on account of unethical banking practices followed by them. The bank has been put under moratorium to gain some time to study the situation and find out solutions. The bank is not going shut down the doors. All deposits will be safe. To understand this, one must know how a bank functions. Deposit of every 100 rupees made in any bank by a customer, the bank has to deposit 21.50 rupees with RBI as SLR ( statutory liquidity ratio) in the form of government securities, bonds and 4 rupees as cash with RBI. This is the reserve fund maintained with RBI. The balance amount only is lent to the borrower to pay interest for the deposit of 100 rupees. As the borrower would have invested in various assets to generate income to pay interest on the borrowed – big medium and small. All the deposits are invested in various loans and advances. Some of the advances might have been taken with bad motives and those have to be identified and be recovered from the culprits and the accountability also should be fixed. Then only such unwanted things will not happen. The Indian legal system is toothless and will threaten as if something is going to happen, but in reality it is not so. One example is that one SARFAESI act was brought in to solve the problems of the NPA accounts without the intervention of a court because trying to find a solution to NPA accounts in our legal system it takes five to seven years. When the banks were trying to recover the money from the stressed assets, the court started interfering and issuing stays. In any sector bad and selfish people will be there and because of these, problems come. Like that only Yes Bank has been saddled with good amount of NPA accounts. On account of NPAs, hefty provision has to be made which has resulted in capital reduction or erosion. If all the customers demand money immediately, it will not be possible to realise the money from the borrowers and pay them on demand. But all the deposits are safe and will be paid. To chanellise the withdrawals, a cap has been fixed for smooth solution of the problem. This action has been made by RBI as a controller as well as a supervisory bank. Already a structured plan has been displayed calling for opinions from all the stake holders in the bank including the investors. After that a final call would be taken by the RBI and the Government of India. The depositors have to be a bit patient and try to help the government and RBI to find the culprits so that they be punished.
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The unexpected write down of some bonds issued by crisis-hit Indian lender Yes Bank Ltd. as part of a state-led rescue is set to raise borrowing costs and make capital-raising tougher for other banks, investors, analysts say. The takeover of Yes Bank by Indian bank’s biggest lender, State Bank of India last week comes against the backdrop of a string of scandals in the country’s financial sector in the last couple of years from a $2 billion fraud at a large state-owned bank to mismanagement of funds at shadow banks. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it would work on a revival plan as part of which bonds classified as Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital will be written down ‘permanently, in full.’ Yes Bank had about 88 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) in AT1 capital as of March 2019, its annual report showed, under the Basel III framework. Investors included Nippon India Mutual Fund, Franklin Templeton, a slew of local fund houses and retail investors.
An independent director of Yes Bank Ltd and Cost Accountant, Mr Uttam Prakash Agarwal who stepped down as head of the bank’s audit committee citing major corporate governance concerns, but the lender said that he was facing a ‘fit and proper’ status review as directed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Gill had to be reminded repeatedly for sharing information on the capital-raising plans and the term sheets he eventually shared lacked essential details alleges Agarwal. It seeks the regulator to investigate gains made by investors due to sharing of false developments. Gill could not be reached for a comment immediately.
When AV asked, Agarwal said, “The investors need not worry about their investments, they will get their full money back. It’s the failure of governance and total involvement of current management. YES Bank’s MD and CEO Mr Ravneet Gill and his team could not manage the show. Unnecessarily the Kapoors are under attack but Gill is solely responsible for the mismanagement. Its game of manipulations, these guys just finished everything.”
Agarwal has also demanded appropriate action against the lender’s CEO and MD Gill for allegedly violating various regulatory norms. Agarwal, who was an independent director in 2018, resigned from the board of Yes Bank last month citing deteriorating standard of corporate governance at the private sector lender end. In a letter to the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, Agarwal alleged a breach of governance, non-compliance, undue influence and control on the majority members of the board by Gill through quid pro quo. The letter also alleged that there has been substantial erosion in the market capitalisation of about Rs 40,000 crore since Gill took over as the managing director.
An Iran Air flight carrying Indians stranded in Coronavirus-hit Iran, landed at Mumbai airport on Friday afternoon, according to an official.
Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the Coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working on plans to bring back Indians stranded there.
The number of passengers onboard the Iran Air plane could not be immediately ascertained.
An official told an agency that the Iran Air flight landed at the Mumbai airport at around 12.08 pm.
The passengers were taken to Jaisalmer on an Air India aircraft, another official said.
On Thursday, a Defence spokesperson said around 120 Indians would be brought to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and quarantined at an Army facility there.
“They will be quarantined at an Indian Army facility created under the aegis of Southern Command. The patients will be transferred from the airport post their initial screening to the quarantine facility under escort of civil administration,” Defence Spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh had said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Thursday, said there are over 6,000 Indians in various provinces of Iran.
Coronavirus outbreak is a matter of “great concern” and the government’s initial focus is to bring back Indian pilgrims stranded in Iran, he had said.
The Maharashtra government has approved a proposal to rename Mumbai Central station as “Nana Shankarseth Mumbai Central Railway Station”.
The proposal to rename the station would now be sent to the Railway Ministry, officials said.
Jagannath “Nana” Shankarseth(1803-1865) was a Maharashtrian philanthropist and educationist famous for his contribution to Mumbai’s development.
In 2017, Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant in Lok Sabha had demanded that the Mumbai Central railway station should be renamed after Jagannath Shankar Seth for his contribution to the city and the growth of railways in its pioneering years.
Shankarseth also had made a major contribution towards the development of Mumbai. He was one of the founders of the School Society and the Native School of Bombay. He had contributed funds when Students’ Literary and Scientific Society first opened their girls’ schools, despite facing stiff opposition from few members of the Hindu community.
A railway museum in Mumbai has been closed for public viewing in the backdrop of the Coronavirus situation, officials said on Friday.
The Heritage Museum at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai would remain closed for public viewing this month as a preventive measure, they said.
Of the 14 Coronavirus positive cases in Maharashtra so far, three are from Mumbai.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday touched upon his short-lived rebellion last year, which saw him briefly joining hands with the BJP, and said he was now “firmly in the saddle”.
In November last year, the senior NCP leader created a flutter when he joined hands with the then BJP chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and became his deputy after an early morning swearing-in ceremony in Raj Bhavan.
However, the BJP-Ajit Pawar government lasted for just 80 hours after which he got back into the NCP fold and became a Cabinet minister in the Shiv Sena-led dispensation.
Referring to the rebellion before the MVA government took charge, he said in the assembly, “Whatever I did, I did it openly. I crossed over and came back. Now, I am firmly in the saddle here.”
Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, made the remarks while replying to budget demands.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), by way of its notification of January 15, has released its updated measures by way one can improve transparency and safety of debit/ credit cards. This will be applicable from March 16. If a person is expecting to get a debit or credit card any time after March 16, he/she will have to keep plethora of things ready for consideration. 
Cricket
In a drastic step to curb the spread of Coronavirus, the Maharashtra government ordered closure of cinema halls, gyms, swimming pools and malls in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur cities from Friday midnight.
The unexpected write down of some bonds issued by crisis-hit Indian lender Yes Bank Ltd. as part of a state-led rescue is set to raise borrowing costs and make capital-raising tougher for other banks, investors, analysts say. The takeover of 
An Iran Air flight carrying Indians stranded in Coronavirus-hit Iran, landed at Mumbai airport on Friday afternoon, according to an official.
The Maharashtra government has approved a proposal to rename Mumbai Central station as “Nana Shankarseth Mumbai Central Railway Station”.
A railway museum in Mumbai has been closed for public viewing in the backdrop of the Coronavirus situation, officials said on Friday.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister