Top 10 business headlines: Loan 'melas', GST Council meeting, and more

From crucial GST meeting to PSBs holding public meeting for loans, here are the top news headlines on Friday

Loan 'melas' are back: PSBs to hold credit meets in 400 districts, says FM

Public-sector banks (PSBs) will hold public meetings with borrowers for distributing loans in 400 districts of the country to boost demand ahead of the festive season, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday. In this, the banks will take help from non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Read More

Essel Group promoters may get six months to repay Rs 3,000 crore debt

Mutual funds (MFs) with a debt exposure to Essel Group companies are likely to give more time to their promoters to repay about Rs 3,000 crore of dues beyond the September 30 deadline, according to industry sources. Last week, the promoters had partially settled the dues pertaining to loans against shares through the proceeds of a stake sale in Zee Entertainment. Read More

Bank stake sales in insurance, mutual fund subsidiaries hit a wall

Even as private banks have the appetite to acquire stakes of public sector banks in insurance or mutual fund subsidiaries, there is no progress in the matter as they await clarity on holding company (holdco) structure norms from the regulator. Sources say given the complexity involved in the process of creating a holding company, which will ultimately be the parent company of banking and other businesses, banks are going slow in acquiring stakes in insurance arms or mutual funds of other lenders. Read More

GST Council meet today; fitment panel rejects rate cut demand for 200 items

Goods and services tax on caffeinated drinks will go up substantially, if the Council accepts the fitment panel’s recommendation of a steep increase in the tax rate to 40 per cent (28 per cent GST and 12 per cent cess), from the current 18 per cent, in its meeting on Friday. Read More

Trai move on interconnect user charge likely to face Reliance Jio challenge

The move by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to float a discussion paper on deferring its earlier decision of introducing a zero interconnect user charge (IUC) regime in January next year has been questioned by some leading telcos. Read More

GST Council may be asked to decide on compensation to states in 45 days

The Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) is likely to ask the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council in the meeting on Friday to decide on the issue of extension of compensation to states within the next month and a half to help the panel make a realistic projection of revenue in its report, which is expected by November. States have been strongly pitching for extension of the compensation period by three years to 2024-25. Read More

OECD slashes India's economic growth forecast from 7.2% to 5.9%

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) appears to be the most pessimistic on India's economy among think tanks, as it cut the GDP growth forecast by 1.3 percentage points to 5.9 per cent for 2019-20. Read More

Qatar Fund in Talks with Adani for Discom Stake

Qatar Investment Authority is in negotiations with the Adani Group to buy a minority stake in the latter’s flagship power transmission and distribution asset — Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML), reports Economic Times. The 14-year-old sovereign wealth fund of the oilrich Gulf nation could invest as much as Rs 3,000-4,000 crore for a minority stake of 20-25% in the business, said people in the know. Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited, the country’s largest private sector integrated power utility, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Transmission.

Sebi Tells LIC to Trim NSE Stake

The markets regulator has asked Life Insurance Corporation to trim its stake in National Stock Exchange by 5%, as the state-run insurer’s acquisition of IDBI Bank has caused a breach of the ownership cap set for the members of the stock exchange, Economic Times reported. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rules limit the total shareholding of trading and associate members in stock exchanges at 49%. LIC and IDBI Bank both held stakes in NSE, but LIC’s holding was outside this rule as it was classified as a strategic investor and not a member.

PEs defer exit plans in a volatile market

Private equity (PE) firms that hoped to exit their investments through initial share sales have been forced to defer their plans as volatility continues to rock India’s stock markets, according to a report in Livemint. Between January 1 and September 14 this year, 29 companies chose to let regulatory approvals for their initial public offerings (IPO) lapse, data from primary markets tracker Prime Database showed. There are still 22 firms holding valid approvals, but they too will lapse by December-end if they do not list by then.