Top headlines: Action to aid post-Covid recovery, Tatas to offer ESOPs

Business Standard brings you top headlines of the day

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said there is an urgent need for coordinated action among nations to enable a swift economic recovery. Meanwhile, the government is likely to seek a special dispensation from the Sebi and RBI to ease new regulations on investments. More on these stories down below

For LIC IPO, govt may ask regulators to ease new norms on investments

The government is likely to seek a special dispensation from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the applicability of the recently introduced — and yet-to-be-tested — norms regarding anchor investors’ lock-in period and caps on high networth individual (HNI) funding for the initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), said people in the know. Read more here

Need for coordinated action among nations to aid post-Covid recovery: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said there is an urgent need for coordinated action among nations to enable a swift economic recovery post the Covid-19 pandemic, and also to build resilience to future shocks.

Speaking at the G20 Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) meeting in Washington DC on Tuesday night, Sitharaman shared her insights on the economic outlook, risks, and near-term policy challenges such as food and energy security and the tightening of global financial conditions. Read more here

Amazon-Future case: CCI filing may hinge on power to revoke order

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is in the process of filing a written submission before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

The antitrust watchdog may communicate to the tribunal about holding the right to revoke its own decision if the information furnished to it is incomplete and/or incorrect, said people in the know. Read more here

Giving wings: Tatas to offer ESOPs to Air India staff to boost productivity

In a bid to incentivise its staff and improve their performance, Air India may soon offer them employee stock options (ESOPs). The erstwhile national carrier, which was acquired by the salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group last year, will be the second company in the Group to have an ESOP policy.

Tata Motors is the other Group company with an ESOP policy, which was implemented in 2018. Air India will also bring in a key performance indicator for its employees — a benchmark to be used to judge their performance. Read more here

On the road to 75 new digital banks, there will be twists and turns

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that “75 digital-only banks and non-banking financial companies” (NBFCs) are to be set up this year has caused a ripple of excitement. It is a reiteration of her stance in the Union Budget but in a much more public forum, the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, on Tuesday.

The announcement clearly signals an acceleration of the government’s plans for digital-only banks. But these plans have to be seen in the context of the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines for the “Establishment of Digital Banking Units (DBUs)” on April 7 this year, and a working group’s (WG) report on digital lending released on November 18, 2021. Read more here