Top 10 business headlines: RBI revises NPA norms, Air India sale, and more

From Air India sale to NPA norms, Business Standard brings to you stories that made the headlines on Friday

RBI's revised NPA norms give banks 30 days from default for resolution plan

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday allowed banks more time and flexibility to consider how they want to treat an account after it has defaulted. This came after the Supreme Court quashed the circular the RBI issued on February 12 last year on recovering bad loans. READ ON...

Individual bankruptcy: Draft rules propose mediation over litigation

The government is fine-tuning the draft rules for individual insolvency and is likely to introduce three categories of debt resolution based on the loan amount, a senior official told Business Standard. The focus, the official added, would be on resolution through mediation in most cases. READ ON...

Govt plans to liberalise terms of Air India sale to attract buyers

The government is planning to liberalise the terms and conditions for the sale of state-owned carrier Air India. The changes would allow a potential buyer to go for a stake sale of the airline immediately after acquiring it. The revised norms would also enable merger or reverse merger of Air India with any existing business of the buyer. READ ON...

Govt looking to revive BOT model for road construction after 4-year gap

The Union government will soon be back with the classic road construction model —build-operate-transfer (BOT) — four years after it introduced the hybrid annuity model (HAM) for executing highway projects. Returning to BOT will see private investment coming in upfront, which is expected to benefit the Centre as the exchequer will not have to pump in money in such projects. READ ON...

L&T makes Rs 5,030-crore open offer for additional 31% stake in Mindtree

Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Friday announced an open offer to purchase 51.3 million shares or an additional 31 per cent stake in Mindtree at Rs 980 apiece. At the current offer price, L&T has to shell out around Rs 5,029.8 crore to buy the stake. READ ON...

Indiabulls Housing unlikely to gain much from stake sale in realty arm

The Indiabulls group’s decision to sell 14 per cent stake in Indiabulls Real Estate is expected to help its financing arm, Indiabulls Housing Finance. The deal comes at a time when the non-banking lending space is grappling with liquidity issues. “The stake sale is likely to improve leverage and give liquidity support to Indiabulls Housing. READ ON...

Why Azim Premji is the trailblazer in India's philanthropic world

As Wipro's founder and executive chairman, Azim Premji, decides to pass on the baton to the next generation, society at large will remember him more as a philanthropist than anything else. This is precisely because of his active pursuit of compassionate capitalism, through which Premji has pledged to give most of his wealth back to society. READ ON...

Student housing can attract $50-billion private investment, says report

As universities in India are unable to fully cater to the rising demand for student accommodation, the market has opened up a private investment potential of $50 billion, says a latest Global Student Property 2019 report by Knight Frank. READ ON...

RBI rate cut not likely to boost corporate lending, private sector's capex

The recent cut in benchmark interest rate by the Reserve Bank India (RBI) is not likely to boost corporate lending and private sector’s capital expenditure (capex), going by past trends. Historically, there is no correlation between growth in bank credit to industry and lower benchmark interest rates. READ ON...

RBI's move to introduce forex trading platform to hit fee income of banks

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) move to introduce a foreign exchange trading platform for retail customers is set to hit the fee income of banks significantly. This may also take a toll on the operations of small-time money changers in the long term in case the platform is adopted directly by the customers. READ ON...