Category: Finance

Small finance banks start on a strong wicket: ICRA

Loknath Das

Mumbai: Rating agency ICRANSE 3.23 % expects small finance banks (SFBs) to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 25% to 30% led by diversified loan growth, deposit mobilisation, improving asset quality and better return on equity. The rating agency estimates that SFBs would require external capital of Rs. 4,000-6,000 crore till FY2023 for meeting the growth requirements, part of which will come through IPOs. ICRA estimates that SFBs have reported an annualised growth of 33% in the assets under management (AUM) in 9M FY2019 to Rs. 64,325 crore. These banks have been able…

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An MBA or a master’s in finance? Breaking down the debate dollar by dollar

Loknath Das

It’s a question that elicits plenty of responses with seemingly nothing close to a consensus answer. Some believe that a master in finance has trumped a two-year business degree as the key qualification for getting a front-office job in banking or other high-paying roles in financial services. Others still see an MBA as the bigger differentiator. The truth is, judging simply by the numbers, it’s all about how much time and money you are willing to invest upfront. An MBA requires a much bigger down payment in all aspects, but…

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Nysaa hires former ShopClues, V-Mart CFO to head group finance

Loknath Das

AHMEDABAD: Carpediem Capital-backed Nysaa Retail has bolstered its top deck as the value retail chain starts preparing for an initial public offering. The company named Deepak Sharma its group chief financial officer. Sharma previously was CFO at ShopClues and V-Mart. Nysaa also appointed Nitin Motwani, a former executive at Boston Consulting Group and Egon Zehnder, as the group chief HR officer and Gaurav Sharma, who previously worked at Metro Cash & Carry India, ABRL and the Future Group, as head of marketing. Nysaa, which operates stores under the 1-India Family Mart brand, is exploring its IPO by…

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Opinion | Printing currency isn’t a good way to finance deficit

Loknath Das

On 10 February, wire services reported that the then interim finance minister Piyush Goyal favoured “printing currency” as a mode of deficit finance, approvingly citing the example of the US. “As finance ministers we are always in need of money,” Goyal said. He added, “I have heard that the US does deficit financing only by printing currency,” a canard that has been repeated by luminaries of the “Indic” ecosystem enveloping this government in its latter days. By “printing currency”, Goyal is referring to what traditionally was called money finance or…

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Family finance: Early planning, high surplus to help Gawades meet goals easily

Loknath Das

He should invest the surplus for two months before starting investment for other goals. Nitin Gawade is a software engineer, who lives with his homemaker wife, Deepali, in his own house, in Pune. Gawade brings in a monthly salary of Rs 99,000, and manages a surplus of Rs 44,690 after household expenses, home loan EMI (for a Rs 13 lakh loan), insurance premium and investments. Though his portfolio is a meagre Rs 22.2 lakh at present, an early start to financial planningmeans he will be able to meet his primary goals with ease….

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Parliamentary panel on finance seeks inquiry commission into IL&FS crisis

Loknath Das

The government had re-constituted the IL&FS board after the crisis surfaced. The parliamentary standing committee on finance has asked the government to set up a high-level inquiry commission to identify the reasons behind the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) default crisis. ET has reliably gathered that the panel, which will table its report in the matter on Wednesday, has specifically sought an investigation into the role of credit rating agencies (CRAs) and Life Insurance Corporation, IL&FS’ largest institutional stakeholder. The committee members met on Monday, and are said to have unanimously…

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NBFC risk-weight move sends gold finance companies’ shares soaring

Loknath Das

Mumbai: Gold finance companies Manappuram FinanceNSE 0.72 % and Muthoot FinanceNSE 0.39 % rallied on Thursday after the RBI in its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy said that it will assign risk weights for rated exposure of banks to all NBFCs. While Muthoot Finance ended up 6.5 per cent to Rs 515.60 and Manappuram Finance gained 7.7 per cent to Rs 104.05 on Thursday. Earlier, claims on exposure of corporates, asset financing companies and infrastructure NBFCs were risk-weighted as per their ratings. But for NBFCs, which are systemically important non-deposit taking NBFCs there was a blanket 100 per cent…

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89 % Finance teams yet to embrace AI: Study

Loknath Das

New Delhi – Finance teams lack the digital skillset to embrace the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, causing a negative impact on revenue growth, according to a new study from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association) and Oracle. The study of more than 700 global finance leaders found that despite a clear correlation between the deployments of AIand revenue growth, 89 percent of organizations have not deployed AI in the finance function and only 10 percent of finance teams believe they have the skills to support the organization’s…

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Aye Finance Raises $10 Mn To Boost Micro-Lending Portfolio In India

Loknath Das

Fintech lending company Aye Finance has raised $10 Mn (INR 71.32 Cr) in a debt funding round from global impact investment manager, responsAbility and Northern Arc, through the issuance of non-convertible debentures. This is the twelfth debt funding round raised by Aye Finance so far. The company has raised a total of $102.25 Mn (INR 727.5 Cr) as a combination of equity and debt funding since its inception in 2014.  The venture is equity funded by four venture capital funds including SAIF Partners, CapitalG, Accion International and LGT. With this…

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Germany and China plot to turn Frankfurt into EU finance powerhouse after Brexit

Loknath Das

The bilateral pledge came as a result of German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz visiting the Chinese capital this week. Mr Scholz met China’s vice-premier Liu He who promised to take down economic hurdles for German financial institutions interested in doing business in his country. The German minister said he would reciprocate, hoping Chinese banks could be persuaded to open in Frankfurt, the heart of Germany’s finance industry, turning the city into a European powerhouse after Britain leaves the EU. According to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, the two officials signed three…

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