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Efforts on war footing to reduce banks’ bad loans: Jaitley

Published

9 years ago

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New Delhi: The government has launched an all-out effort to address the major problem of state-run banks’ non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad debts, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

“An all-out effort has been launched to correct the health and bring NPAs down. The effort by the bank administration, the effort by the government to infuse more capital, the effort to get more finance by divesting, and more importantly addressing the concerns of each of (stressed) sectors,” Jaitley said at the Indian Bank foundation day event here.

“And I don’t have a doubt that over the next few quarters, the banks will be able to address these challenges,” he added.

Jaitley said the government plans to infuse adequate capital into public sector banks (PSBs) over the next four years, which will give them “a lot of financial strength” to deal with their bad loans issues.

Gross NPAs of PSBs have gone up to Rs.260,531 crore as in December 2014. In the fourth quarter (January-March 2015), NPAs had come down from 5.64 to 5.2 percent.

In this connection, taking the first step towards a holding company structure for public sector banks (PSBs), the government last week announced the setting up of a Banks Board Bureau (BBB).

It will recommend appointment of directors in PSBs and advise on ways of raising funds and dealing with issues of stressed assets.

“In the last few years, the public sector banks have faced challenging situation, partly on account of slowdown in some sectors. “To resolve the current problem, you need to deal with the banks as well as the sectors themselves,” Jaitley said at a press conference here to announce the bureau.

Financial services secretary Hasmukh Adhia said banks have a requirement for Rs.180,000 crore over the next four years to meet their capital requirements.

“Of this, we will provide Rs.70,000 crore. They can raise Rs.1.1 lakh crore from the market,” the secretary said.

Last month, the government presented to parliament a supplementary demand for grants to provide for Rs.12,000 crore towards recapitalisation of PSBs.

Adhia said the government plans to provide Rs.25,000 crore capital each in the current and next fiscal year, while Rs.20,000 crore would be provided during 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The Rs.25,000 crore this year would be provided in three tranches.

Around 40 percent of the amount would be given to those banks which require support, and all PSBs would be brought to the level of at least 7.5 percent core capital by fiscal 2016.

In the second tranche, 40 percent of capital would be allocated to the State Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda, the Bank of India, the Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and the IDBI Bank.

The remaining portion of 20 percent would be allocated to the banks based on their performance during the three quarters in the current year.

Jaitley has allocated Rs.7,940 crore in the budget for recapitalisation of public sector banks in this fiscal.

The union cabinet had in December allowed state-run banks to raise up to Rs.160,000 crore from the capital markets by diluting the government stake in phases to 52 percent.

As per an estimate, public sector banks would need additional capital of up to Rs.240,000 crore by 2018 to meet the Basel III capital adequacy norms, put in place to guard against a repeat of the situation following the 2008 US financial crisis.

Jaitley had recently said his ministry was preparing a list of projects stalled due to
lack of finance to set in motion the process of their revival and thus bring down the NPAs of banks.

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Entertainment

Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists

Published

2 years ago

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June 25, 2022

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PureWin Online Betting

The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index

Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.

The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports

Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.

All for the Tourists

The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.

“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.

To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.

Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market

With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.

Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.

Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.

Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting

Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.

Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.

The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.

If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.

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