Indian reinsurers to get first preference in treaties: IRDAI Chairman

Indian reinsurance companies will get the first preferencein treaties, chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development of India (IRDAI), T S Vijayan, said today 

The right of first refusal will be given to domestic reinsurers, Vijayan said, while speaking to the media on the sidelines of the FICCI Annual Insurance Conference Stock Market Trading Tips

“First preference is for Indian reinsurers and then to reinsurers for those who would have a branch presence in the country,” said the IRDAI chairman.

Foreign reinsurers had written to the government and the insurance regulator and met finance ministry officials to discuss this issue. This was after the IRDAI had added a new proposal in the guidelines on branch licences for foreign reinsurers, where it said first preference would be given to Indian reinsurers in their treaty surpluses.

This means that first preference in all such agreements between reinsurers and insurers will be given to Indian reinsurers. Only if a risk is not taken by an Indian reinsurer will it be passed on to others.

Swiss Re, Munich Re, Hannover Re, SCOR and RGA (Reinsurance Group of America) had applied for branch licences after the final guidelines were issued. These reinsurers have held several rounds of discussions among themselves on how to take up the matter with the regulator Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

XL Catlin has also announced that it has applied for reinsurance branch license in India.

Currently, General Insurance Corporation of India is the sole Indian reinsurer.

In India, reinsurance industry is worth Rs 18,000 crore of which life insurance constitutes about Rs 1,200 crore.

On new regulations, Vijayan said that three to four draft norms would come in and the process would be completed by March end. He explained six applications for reinsurance branch license have been received and that they will be able to give first stage or R1 in the process of licensing by their next board meeting to some of them Indian stock market astrology prediction

On expenses of management, Vijayan said that they are looking at how the different product segments are performing. In life insurance segment, he explained that they are looking at if participating or with-profit products are being costed correctly or not.

Speaking on commissions, he said, “We are looking at the margins of insurers and their ability to pay commissions within that.”

On corporate agents like banks opening up their branches to more than one insurer, Vijayan said that those those who want to do more business and give choice to customers can open up branch network Commodity Market Astrology Tips

Rupee gains further, up 30 vs dollar in late morning deals

 The rupee appreciated further from early gains, up 30 paise to quote at 67.72 against the US currency in late morning deals on continued bouts of selling from banks and exporters amid higher local equities Stock Market Trading Tips

The domestic unit resumed higher at 67.80 per dollar as against Thursday's closing level of 68.02 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
Later, it strengthened to 67.67 before quoting at 67.72 at 1030 hours.

The domestic unit hovered in a range of 67.84 and 67.67 during morning deals.

The dollar index was higher 0.24 per cent at 99.36 against a basket of six currencies in early trade Himanshu Tiwari Astrolopger Blog

Overseas, the US dollar was firm against the major rivals in early Asian trade, as rising expectations of monetary easing by other major central banks offset fading chances of more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by 355.80 points, or 1.48 per cent, at 24,318.01 in late morning trade Indian Stock Market Astrology Trading Tips

Payments firm EPS to get $35m from Apis

Electronic Payments and Services (EPS), a company that invests in and manages ATM networks, is understood to have signed up with private equity firm Apis Partners to raise around $35 million. The company has also announced acquisition of stake from its joint venture partner CISB with whom it had won a long-term bid to manage over 5,400 ATMs of public sector banks in 2012 Stock Market Trading Tips
A statement issued by EPS said that Apis Partners has agreed for a 'significant' investment which will get it a minority stake and a board representation in the company. Apis Partners is a private equity asset manager focused on financial services in the growth markets of Africa and Asia. The transaction was managed by Intellecap, which acted as the exclusive adviser to EPS on the fund-raise transaction. Earlier private equity investors Aavishkaar, Aavishkaar GoodWell and FMO (Netherlands-based developmental financial institution) invested $20 million in EPS' first three rounds of funding Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

"We have developed a highly scalable platform and are working to become the leading ATM outsourcing provider in India, where the number of ATMs is expected to grow from approximately 2,30,000 today to 5,50,000 by 2021,. At the same time, EPS' market presence and brand equity in the ATM industry and payments industry is growing at an accelerated rate. We have been very impressed by Apis' expertise and relationships in the sector, both in India and globally, and we are excited to work with Apis on accelerating our expansion," EPS founder Mani Mamallan said. He added that the company was looking at inorganic opportunities to grow its business.

According to sources, Apis has agreed to invest $35 million in EPS with around $25 million being brought in upfront. EPS refused to comment on the size of the investment. The payments company has installed ATMs for 26 banks including State Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Canara Bank, and has deployed over 5,000 ATMs for management across urban, semi-rural and rural locations throughout the country. In 2012, the finance ministry had asked banks to cut costs by entering into long-term outsourcing deals with nine firms to install and manage over 63,000 ATMs Indian stock market astrology prediction

Earlier in the day, EPS had announced its acquisition of the complete stake in CISB ATM Services, from CIS Bureaus Facility Services (CISB), thereby making it a wholly owned subsidiary of EPS. CISB ATM Services was a joint venture between CISB and EPS. The company was set up after EPS, as part of a consortium with CISB supported by the equipment manufacturers NCR Corporation and Vortex Engineering, won the contract for deployment and management of 5,476 ATM machines for a period ending December 31, 2020.

"The investment in EPS is exactly the type of opportunity that drove us to establish Apis - providing catalytic equity capital to highly entrepreneurial financial infrastructure businesses in growth markets, fostering economic growth and enabling greater financial inclusion," said Matteo Stefanel, Apis co-founder and managing partner Commodity Market Astrology Tips

Make the most of this opportunity

Great investments are typically made in difficult times. This is simply because markets give disproportionate weight to current challenges, adverse news flow and to short-term momentum than to valuations and to long-term market prospects. At such times, markets typically drive down market values to below fair or intrinsic levels Stock Market Trading Tips

Fortunately, the same market that is driven by sentiment in the short run behaves rationally in the long run. Investors who understand this simple nature of the markets are the ones who profit the most from equities over the long run.

Interestingly, in a connected world, the adverse news that impact the markets in the short run are not confined to local markets or the local economy. Indian markets have thus over the last 10 years or so in phases worried about US (Lehman crisis 2008 and then again in 2013), Europe, PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), and China, among others.

It is now the turn of emerging markets (EMs). One of the main reasons for the fall in Indian equities over last few quarters is the sharp deterioration in economic conditions in several EMs, driven by a sharp fall in commodity markets. What is ironical about this is that unlike most other EMs, India gains immensely from the fall in commodity prices, especially oil. India stands to save nearly $60 billion a year (3% of GDP) due to lower oil prices. Even otherwise, nearly all the economic parameters — inflation, current account deficit, fiscal deficit, growth, IIP — are showing a sustained improvement Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

This fall has driven valuations to attractive levels. What is often missed is the massive underperformance of Indian markets compared to the economy over the last several years. The sensex is up a mere 15% in the last seven years even though the economy has more than doubled in nominal terms. As a result, the marketcap to GDP ratio has fallen to 62%, close to lowest levels that India has witnessed.

Also, given the strong outperformances of mid-caps over last few years, the risk reward is particularly favourable for large-caps/large-cap funds.

I am tempted to reproduce the following extract from a note titled "It's tomorrow that matters" written in May 2012 (sensex levels around 16,000), when markets were in a similar situation and the economy was actually in a worse condition Indian stock market astrology prediction

Dragon sends D-Street into bear hug, sensex falls 1.7%

The continuing global selloff, precipitated by slowdown worries in China and weak oil prices, affected sentiment on Dalal Street, pulling the sensex down by over 640 points in mid-session on Wednesday and forced it into a bear territory, a fall of more than 20% from its peak of 30,025 recorded last March Stock Market Trading Tips
The slide also took the sensex below the 24k mark, a level not seen since the Narendra Modi-led alliance won the Lok Sabha elections in mid-May 2014. Brokers and dealers said foreign investors again led the selloff with a net outflow of Rs 1,325 crore, taking the year's figure to over $1 billion (about Rs 6,700 crore). At close, however, the sensex was down 1.7% lower (418 points) at 24,062.

The slide in the Indian market came on the back of 1% loss in the Chinese market and over 3% losses in Hong Kong and Japan, with Nikkei too entering the bear territory. The continuing slide in crude oil prices, which fell to a fresh 12-year low at below the $28 per barrel mark, also affected global investor sentiment.
Domestic investor sentiment also took a beating from expectations of weak corporate earnings from India Inc for the quarter ended December, market players said. Forced selling of speculative positions by brokers also pulled the indices down. They also feel that any recovery from the current level will be a slow one Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

"The expected has happened but probably at a pace that was much faster than what was expected... with such an erosion in prices many have been unable to liquidate," said Arun Kejriwal, director, KRIS, an investment advisory firm. "Going forward at every subsequent rally, there would be enough sellers to keep the market choppy and under pressure," Kejriwal said.

Brokers said from here on, investors should stick to select stocks and sectors, rather than betting on stocks from across sectors to go up. "Since the India story remains intact, we believe private sector banks could be the ones which will outperform the market. IT services stocks could be the other ones which would make money for investors," said Jayant Manglik, president- retail distribution, Religare Securities Indian stock market astrology prediction

Ratan Tata-backed Infinite Analytics' tech integrated into Microsoft ERP

 Ratan Tata-backed Infinite Analytics's personalization engine has been integrated into Microsoft Dynamics AX, an ERP (enterprise resource planning) suite that provides end-to-end retail solutions connecting people, information and processes Stock Market Trading Tips

Infinite Analytics, a predictive analytics company based out of Boston and Mumbai, was founded by MIT alumni Akash Bhatia and Purushotham Botla three years ago and has its genesis in a class taught by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.
Infinite Analytics is Microsoft Dynamics AX's first global OEM partner to provide omni-channel personalization for online and brick & mortar retailers by matching a consumer to a product or a service. The personalization engine learns and predicts user behaviour through social networks and transactional data to make product recommendations and displays relevant offers. For offline retailers, customer can expect customized deals through loyalty programmes Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

Infinite's Bhatia says its personalization engine is better than Amazon's, providing a seamless experience across browsers and devices. The predictive analytics platform that counts NBA, Caratlane, Trendin and Brazil's largest e-retailer - B2W Digital as customers, not only uses data for personalization, but also expands the product catalogue with its proprietary algorithms. "Customers are seeing a really healthy increase in conversions; some as high as 217%. Some are seeing these recommendations drive close to 25% of in their online revenues," Bhatia said.

Bhatia graduated from MIT Sloan in June 2012. Prior to that he was co-founder of ticketing company Kyazoonga. Botla did his Masters in engineering and management from MIT in June 2013. He worked with Fidelity Investments building electronic trading products and high volume market data processing applications Indian stock market astrology prediction

Infinite Analytics has powered Van Heusen's digital store in Bengaluru with personalized solutions that offer customers style recommendations. Lifestyle products company Chumbak is working with Infinite Analytics, Microsoft and IBM Cloud for their online and offline stores.

Balaji Balasubramanian, principal group program manager at Microsoft, said, "Retailers are looking to get quick insights and better understand their customers wants and needs, and technology has a core role to play in this effort. We are pleased that Infinite Analytics and Chumbak are using our Dynamics AX platform to deliver these capabilities to retailers, enabling them to provide a great customer experience Commodity Market Astrology Tips

Karnataka Bank receives premier award in Mangaluru

 City based private sector bank - Karnataka Bank - has bagged the prestigious runner up award for emerging bank under MSME Banking Excellence Awards 2015 instituted by Chamber of Indian Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (CIMSME), New Delhi Stock Market Trading Tips

Chandrashekar Rao B, general manager of the bank received the award from Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Power, Coal, New and Renewal Energy in New Delhi.

Expressing happiness over the recognition of bank's efforts in MSME sector at national level by industry's apex body, P Jayarama Bhat, managing director and CEO of Karnataka Bank said it has several tailor made products to suit the requirements of various MSME clients.

The bank is committed to adopt innovative, tech savvy banking technologies for business as well as customer convenience and this award will increase the commitment and confidence of Bank in moving forward Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

Re poised to touch 70 by year-end, say banks

 The rupee breached the 68 level against the dollar for the first time since September 2013 with a selloff in equity markets triggering fears of foreign exchange outflows. While many research reports by banks are forecasting a 70 level by the year end, dealers say that the local unit could stabilize below 68 levels if there are no further upheavals in China Stock Market Trading Tips

While fall in global crude prices will offset the increase in the export bill due to costlier dollars, individuals will have to shell out more to buy foreign travel tickets and in fees for overseas education.

The rupee weakened to a 28-month low of 68.17 in morning trade but recovered on intervention by Reserve Bank of India to close at 67.96, 31paise weaker than its previous close of 67.65. According to Ashish Vaidya, head of trading at UBS said "Such global dislocations do not last and markets tend to overdo. I think the markets will stabilize from here. In that case are looking at worst at a 50 paise fall from here". He added that there were indications from the non-deliverable forward market (offshore derivative deals on rupee which are settled in dollar) that the rupee was expected to stabilize Himanshu Tiwari astrologer Blog

"The rupee may have weakened to 2013 levels but the situation is completely different from back then and the economy is in much better shape. Unlike 2013 when rupee was overvalued on a trade-weighted basis, this time the rupee has actually gained against trading partners. So today there is actually a sense of disbelief on the rupee weakening," said Harihar Krishnamoorthy, treasurer of First Rand Bank. He added that the rupee fall has been steeper than the Chinese Yuan and at present level is competitive. "Unless China capitulates, I think the rupee should stabilize and 68-69 levels should be the worst case," he said.

Rating agency Care has said that the rupee's return to 66 levels is a possibility given that current account deficit and trade deficit are expected to be well within control unlike 2013 — the last time when rupee breached the 68 level Commodity Market Trading Tips

‘Govt’s fuel policy main culprit behind pollution’

With 'polluting' diesel cars becoming a concern leading to a ban on registration of big diesel cars and SUVs in the National Capital Region (NCR) till March 31, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the government's fuel policy was the major culprit behind pollution Stock Market Trading Tips

Siam attempted to dispel the impression of the court and amicus curiae Harish Salve that diesel cars emitted much more pollutants than petrol cars by submitting data gathered through studies.

However, it said faster implementation of BS-V and BS-VI emission norms would drastically reduce pollution caused by cars. However, it was doubtful of achieving results on the ground if the fuel supplied did not conform to BS-V and BS-VI standards.

During the last hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur, the government had admitted that it would be able to provide BSIV grade petrol and diesel all over India only by April 2017. At present, only north India and 33 select cities get BS-IV fuel supply Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog
Siam said automobile manufacturers were ready to bring in BS-V compliant cars by 2019, one year before the government deadline. However, it said that without matching fuel, curbing pollution caused by cars would not be possible.

"Non-availability of BS-V fuel by 2019 is holding the industry back. It is ironical that on the one hand, India has been exporting higher grade BSV/VI fuel to other countries for many years and on the other hand, the same high grade fuel is not made available for domestic use to overcome the serious pollution challenge," Siam said.

"Industry would ideally have liked to see BS-V emission norm being implemented in 2019 -- one year earlier than what is being planned by the government -- which will bring diesel engines almost at par with advanced diesel engines in the US with DPF (diesel particulate filter) devices and start the process of PM 2.5 reduction one year earlier than the government proposed deadline of 2020," it added Indian stock market astrology prediction

The industry body countered Salve's charge that diesel cars caused 27 times more pollution than a petrol car citing studies by World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Siam said, "WHO and IARC studies pertain to untreated diesel exhaust from old vintage technology diesel engine in closed environment. The exhaust emitted by such an engine was not treated by a catalytic converter or a particulate trap which is used in a modern technology vehicle."

Govt begins settling dues of textile cos

In a relief to the textiles sector, government on Wednesday said it has initiated the process of settlement of Rs 3,000 crore dues related to some 'blackout and left-out' cases which found no mention in the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

"The process of settlement of dues related to the old cases has started," textile secretary Rashmi Verma said. Textile minister Santosh Gangwar said the ministry may approach the Cabinet seeking approval for the new national textiles policy that seeks to create 35 million jobs and boost exports to over $300 billion. "The draft policy is ready. We hope to place it before the Union Cabinet in a month's time," he said Indian stock market astrology prediction

Rupee up 13 paise at 67.82 against dollar in early trade

The rupee regained 13 paise to 67.82 against the dollar in early trade on Thursday on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amid a higher opening in the domestic equity markets Stock Market Trading Tips

Forex dealers said apart from selling of the American currency by exporters and banks, weakness in the dollar against other emerging market currencies overseas, supported the rupee.
Further, a higher opening in the domestic equity market influenced the rupee's uptrend, they added.

Yesterday, hit by global growth concerns, the rupee crashed below the 68-level after 28 months and closed 30 paise down at 67.95 on fresh demand for the American currency from importers amid a massive fall in domestic stock markets.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex recovered by 252.75 points, or 1.05 per cent, at 24,314.79 in early trade today Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

Sensex recovers 253 points on value buying, positive Asian cues

Market benchmark BSE sensex rebounded from over 20-month low by climbing 253 points at 24,314.79 in early trade on Thursday on value-buying in blue-chips amid a firming trend at other Asian bourses despite an overnight slump in the US markets Stock Market Trading Tips

Besides, covering-up of short positions at existing attractive levels by speculators supported the recovery.

The 30-share index was trading higher by 252.75 points or 1.05 per cent at 24,314.79 with all sectoral indices led by banking, power, capital goods and metal, leading the recovery.

The gauge had lost 417.80 points in the previous session, tracking massive sell-off in global indexes on growth worries Indian Stock Market Astrology Prediction
Besides, the NSE Nifty recovered by 71.80 points or 0.98 per cent to 7,381.10.

Equity brokers said value-buying in yesterday's battered blue-chips along with covering-up of short positions by speculators, helped Sensex bounce back from over 20-month low.
Furthermore, gains at other Asian markets despite an overnight plunge in the US markets influenced trading sentiments here, they said.

Among other Asian markets, Shanghai Composite index was up 0.46 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei rose 1.62 per cent in early trade today. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was also trading 1.39 per cent higher Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, fell 1.56 per cent in yesterday's trade

India changing tax laws for stability, predictability: Jaitley

India is gradually transforming most of its taxation laws for a greater degree of stability and predictability, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday, stressing that the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a major step in this direction Stock Market Trading Tips

"It has been our effort in India to gradually transform and change most of our taxation laws, put to rest various disputes and issues which have been pending and make sure that the scope of discretions is eliminated and there is a greater degree of stability and predictability as far as taxation laws are concerned," Jaitley said.

In a video message to an inaugural global conference on legal matters being held here on January 21-22, Jaitley noted investors' preference for stability of laws and dislike of uncertainty and assured them that India is "seeking to bring about convergence (of laws) among the states in India too".

"One major step needed to increase the ease of doing business is to reduce inter-state variation and the barriers to inter-state trade," Jaitley told some 500 delegates from 40 countries attending the conference on 'Doing Business Across Asia: Legal Convergence In An Asian Century Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

In several areas, the Indian government has put out a model law encouraging their adoption by the states. "The proposed Goods and Services Tax is a major step in this direction," he said.

The net impact of the GST, once it is put into force, is that there will be a seamless transfer of goods and services across the country.

"There will be uniformity in taxation rates, there will be much greater compliance and obviously certainty... it's going to help India's GDP," he said.

The GST Bill has been pending in the Rajya Sabha since the past three sessions. The opposition Congress wants no additional cess and a constitutional cap of 18 per cent on the tax. Although the Central government has agreed to the first condition and has even agreed to limit the GST, it refuses to put down the cap in the Constitution Indian stock market astrology prediction

The Centre, which had initially set a deadline for rolling out the tax as April 1, has been attempting to broker peace and get the Bill passed in the Budget Session, which will begin in the second half of February.

RBI props up rupee, resistance seen

The rupee on Wednesday fell sharply as foreign investors, eager to shed their emerging market (EM) exposure after seeing China’s growth rate slowing to a 25-year low, aggressively liquidated their Indian holdings Stock Market Trading Tips

The rupee opened at 67.85 a dollar and touched a low of 68.16, earlier seen on September 4, 2013. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI's) aggressive intervention ensured it closed at 67.96, down about 0.5 per cent from its previous close.

The Sensex, benchmark equity index at the BSEexchange, fell 640 points during the day but closed 417.8 points lower, at 24,062. The sell-off by foreign investors forced foreign banks to buy dollars through the day.

RBI, through public sector banks, sold dollars intermittently but at the end of trading hours stepped up the intervention quite aggressively. Exporters stepped in to sell dollars at around the lowest level of the day and the rupee strengthened back below 68, said currency dealers Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

“The loss in the rupee is led by equity-related outflow but money should flow back in equities soon as valuations are looking cheap. RBI’s heavy intervention ensures the rupee doesn’t go out of sync,” said Aman Mahna, senior currency dealer with First Rand Bank.

He doesn’t expect to see the rupee touching 70 a dollar, even as some have begun predicting a drop below the record low of 68.85 on August 28, 2013. “Anything can happen these days but, technically speaking, 68.50 looks a good resistance level,” said Mahna.

Abhishek Goenka, head of currency consultancy firm IFA Global, continues to expect the rupee to remain in a range of 65.50-70 a dollar by Diwali. “Two-three rupees down from the present level and we are buyers (of dollars) and two rupees up, we are sellers,” he said Indian stock market astrology prediction

The dollar index, measuring the its strength against other major currencies, strengthened only 0.05 per cent. The euro held its ground and the yen even strengthened 0.9 per cent. However, currencies in Asia bled in response to China’s slowdown. The Indonesian rupiah was down 0.8 per cent, the Philippines’ peso fell 0.7 per cent and the South Korean won by 0.6 per cent.

So far this calendar year, the rupee has fallen 2.7 per cent against the dollar, the second worst performing currency after the won's 3.2 per cent decline. However, against its trading partners, the rupee is still relatively stronger.

Raghuram Rajan, RBI governor, said on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the rupee was relatively strong among EM currencies Share Market Astrology

“India is affected by the same set of factors that other EMs face. The focus is bringing down inflation and the current account deficit, and keeping fiscal discipline within target,” he said.

Currency dealers expect the rupee to eventually scale back, even as some short-term losses are possible. \"Right now, the panic is high. Globally, everyone, including sovereign funds, are selling, and this bearish mode will not change immediately. Thankfully, RBI is clearly on the side of the rupee’s relatively strength and at least one per cent additional fall in China’s growth rate has already been factored in by the market,” said Satyajit Kanjilal, head of Forexserve.

The latter is advising importer clients to buy dollars at 67.3-67.4 and suggesting exporters sell at 68.2-68.3, indicating the rupee might not fall much from the present level.

The non-deliverable forwards markets, which now drives the onshore rupee market sentiment to a large extent, is also not expecting the rupee to fall substantially. The price quoted for a week is 68.11-68.16 a dollar and for a month, 68.4-68.45 for the rupee Jackpot Stocks Trading Tips

Bad-debt buyers see good times

India's biggest buyers of bad loans are predicting record business for the industry this quarter as central bank incentives prod banks to speed up efforts to cut stressed assets Stock Market Trading Tips

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajanset lenders a March 2017 deadline to clean up their balance sheets and gave those completing a deal by this March consent to spread losses from the distressed-asset sale over two years. The measures may encourage disposal of bad debts worth as much as Rs 40,000 crore ($5.9 billion) before April, according to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction, the top purchaser.

"This will be a record quarter in terms of bad loans bought by asset-reconstruction companies," Siby Antony, chief executive officer at the unit of Mumbai-based Edelweiss Financial Services, said in a phone interview. "Banks are offering better prices and terms."

Rajan needs to clear non-performing assets to reverse a slowdown in bank lending that has complicated his efforts to boost growth in Asia's third-largest economy. Credit-default swaps protecting notes of the largest lender, State Bank of India, considered a proxy for the sovereign, have climbed the most since September this month. India's finance ministry trimmed its economic growth forecast for the year through March, to as low as seven per cent last month, down from a previous forecast of eight per cent Himanshu Tiwari Astrologer Blog

The proportion of Indian lenders' stressed assets, which include restructured and soured loans, to total advances surged to a 14-year high of 11.3 per cent as on September 30, creating opportunities for firms such as Edelweiss, among the 15 asset-reconstruction companies (ARCs), formed based on a law passed in 2002 to help reorganise non-performing credit.

"We will be keen to buy stressed assets this quarter and have enough capital to buy up to Rs 10,000 crore," said Vishal Kampani, managing director at J M Financial. The Mumbai-based company's ARC unit has a market share of 18 per cent, data available on it website show, making it the third-largest player Indian stock market astrology prediction
The central bank is "in constant dialogue" with lenders regarding their asset quality and the banks will be able to focus on lending and growing loan books after the purge by March 2017, RBIGovernor Rajan said in December.

Rajan and senior RBI officials met with lenders, non-banking financial companies and ARCs on Monday "to discuss the current challenges, with regard to the management of stressed assets in the banks' books and the implementation of the various measures taken by the" monetary authority in this regard, according to a statement on its website Share Market Astrology