Author: Vista

Last August, Anitha (name changed to protect identity) needed some money urgently. The lockdown was a challenging period for the Hyderabad-based media professional, especially on the financial front. Even as she approached formal lenders for a personal loan, some doomscrolling on her smartphone resulted in a blaze of advertisements with a sole promise — that of an instant loan. “They looked like a saviour to me at that stage of my life,” she says over the phone. “I immediately took one of these loans.” The process was simple and quick. All she had to do was scan her Aadhaar card and PAN number and click a selfie and upload these on the app. “There was no OTP-based authentication or even a requirement for an esignature. They don’t even have a signature of the account holder,” she says. Lit

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Friday signalled its intent to haul slumping overnight rates closer to the relevant benchmark when it accepted Rs. 2 lakh crore in reverse repo bids at 11 basis points higher than the reference gauge. The cut-off yield, above which banks cannot claim a rate for parking excess cash, was at 3.55 percent. That was higher than the average market expectations, dealers said. The acceptance of bids well above the policy rate shows that it would step in to absorb excess liquidity whenever the market rates fall too low. RBI Friday conducted a 14-day variable reverse repo auction to suck out excess cash from the banking system that has a surplus of Rs 5.6 lakh crore. “The auction results indicate gradual removal of surplus liquidity and hardening of short-te

DHFL D-Day: Ajay Piramal wins race to acquire Dewan Housing Finance Ltd - The Economic Times Video | ET NowET Now | 15 Jan 2021, 10:40 PM ISTBillionaire Ajay Piramal won the most contested bankruptcy bid for Dewan Housing Finance Ltd., trumping distressed fund Oaktree Capital and Adani Capital as creditors overwhelmingly voted for the drug-maker turned real estate and mortgage lender.405viewsOaktree emerges highest bidder for DHFL; Kapil Wadhawan offers fresh proposal to repay 100% within 8 yrsViews: 1085DHFL suitors get time till Dec 13 to submit bidsViews: 2864Tatas plan to take head on Reliance Jio and SBI, to setup retail payments networkViews: 3925RBI fast-tracks DHFL resolution, appoints advisory committee to assist administratorViews: 2208Uday Kotak gets one-year extension on IL&am...

(This story originally appeared in on Jan 15, 2021)Mumbai: Public sector banks, led by SBI, are understood to be in favour of the resolution plan submitted by Piramal Group for troubled housing finance company DHFL. PSU lenders hold a significant portion of the debt and are likely to determine the direction of voting by financial creditors, which concludes on January 15. Although there are five eligible bids that creditors are voting on, the bid for DHFL has turned out to be a two-horse race between the Piramal Group and Oaktree Capital. The two have raised a lot of heat and dust with claims and counterclaims. According to sources, lenders are taking a decision based on the amount of upfront cash offered, the net present value of future payments, and the business plan. One of the factors...

MUMBAI: India’s insurance regulator IRDAI has set up an advisory committee composing some of the country's foremost medical practitioners and researchers to improve the quality of product and coverage of the health insurance in the country. “Health Insurance in India has grown significantly in recent years and is expected to continue in the coming years,” the regulator said in an order released on Wednesday. The move comes at a time when the government is mulling ways to improve penetration of health insurance in India, which at less than 4% of the GDP is below par compared to most advanced and emerging economies. “IRDAI has taken various steps to ensure orderly growth, improving efficiencies of health insurance system and protect the interests of the policyholders. In this background, i