- Friday, February 28, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Here are news in brief related to Indian economy and business for Thursday, June 8, 2023:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will come up with a regulatory framework to allow default loss guarantee arrangements for digital lenders, it said on Thursday, Reuters reported. First loss default guarantee (FLDG) is a lending model between fintech companies and their partner banks and non-banking finance firms where the initial hit on a default is taken by the fintech firm that originated the loan. In guidelines issued in 2022, the central bank had indicated it was not in favour of such arrangements since they could encourage lenders to take on undue risk. However, the proposed regulatory framework is “in tune with our objective of maintaining a balance between innovation and prudent risk management,” the central bank said in the statement on developmental and regulatory policies.
RBI governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said half of the to-be-withdrawn Rs 2,000 notes came back to the system, ANI reported. “So far about Rs 180,000 crore (£17.3 billion) of Rs 2000 notes have come back. This is roughly about 50 per cent of the Rs 2000 notes which were in circulation on March 31,” Das said at a post-monetary policy meeting press conference. About 85 per cent of those notes, on a provisional basis, have come back as deposits in bank accounts. he added. “Good thing is that there has been no rush in any of the banks,” Das said, appealing to people not to rush to banks in panic.
Packaged foods, beauty and personal care categories will be the key drivers of growth for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) over the next five years, Sanjiv Mehta, managing director and CEO of the company, has said, reported The Hindu businessline. Mehta, who retires later this month, told the news outlet that both categories are under-penetrated and have a big scope to grow. In 2020, the market size of the beauty and personal care industry in India was valued at Rs 1 trillion (£9.6 billion). It is likely to become double by the year 2025, according to market insights firm Statista, the report added.
Crisis-hit airline, Go First, on Thursday announced that its scheduled flight operations will remain cancelled till June 12, adding that a full refund will be issued to the passengers. Earlier, it was supposed to be till Friday (9), ANI reported. “We acknowledge the flight cancellations might have disrupted your travel plans and we are committed to providing all the assistance we can,” Go First said in a tweet. The airline operator had in early May filed for voluntary insolvency and since then its operations were kept stalled. India’s civil aviation regulator DGCA had advised the airline to submit a comprehensive restructuring or revival plan, within a period of 30 days.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a supplementary charge sheet against aviation consultant Deepak Talwar and his NGO Advantage India for alleged violation of foreign funds received by it, officials said, PTI reported. In its charge sheet, the probe agency has listed Talwar, Advantage India, his wife Deepa Talwar besides Girish Vaid, Krishan Kumar Nair, Tarun Kumar Kapoor, Archana Kapoor, and Pran Nath Monga. The CBI has invoked sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) related to criminal conspiracy and cheating besides provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act in the supplementary charge sheet filed on May 3, they said.
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in the western Indian city of Mumbai has sentenced two Bangladeshi nationals to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in the Thane fake currency case, PTI reported. The accused – Abdullah Shaikdar and Najmul Hasan of Khulna, Bangladesh – have also been fined Rs 10,000 (£97) each under sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a spokesperson of the federal agency said. The official said high quality counterfeit currency notes with a face value of Rs 408,000 (£3,940) were being circulated in Maharashtra after being procured from Bangladesh in the case, originally registered by the Thane City Police in 2015 on the basis of specific intelligence shared by the Anti-Narcotic Cell, Crime Branch, Thane City.
Full service carrier Vistara expects to add a total of 10 planes as well as hire more than 1,000 people in the current financial year and has shelved plans to fly to the US, according to a top executive, PTI reported. Vistara, which is set to be merged with Air India, has a fleet of 61 aircraft and a staff strength of over 5,200. During an interaction here this week, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan said there has been a ready pool of talent, especially pilots and cabin crew members, with the collapse of Go First. “Just like Air India and IndiGo, we also recruited them. We wanted to make sure that we took the right number, right people. We went through the usual process that every airline will do. Then, there is the entire job market for the cabin crew where freshers are coming in. We still attract good talent,” he told PTI.
