RBI unveils norms for foreign banks to set up wholly-owned units

Mumbai: Foreign banks that want to set up operations in India will have to do so through an independent subsidiary. This means they cannot operate as a branch of the parent bank.

The Reserve Bank of India has announced new guidelines with a view to ring-fence the local operations of foreign banks from adverse developments in their home countries.

However, the RBI will allow some foreign banks to operate in India as a branch of their parent bank.

The wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) model will be compulsory for banks which have complex structures, are perceived as systemically important and belong to jurisdictions which give preferential treatment to deposits of home country.

Currently, foreign banks as a group are entitled to open 12 branches in India every year, according to WTO commitments. India has usually allowed a higher number.

The new dispensation will probably help foreign bank branches proliferate — provided, of course, their countries have reciprocal arrangements for Indian banks in their territories.

Old foreign banks that set up shop prior to August 2010 (such as Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered and DBS) will have the option to continue operating as a branch of their foreign parent, but they will be “incentivised” to convert into WoS.

To prevent foreign banks from dominating the banking system, the RBI said that it will put in place certain restrictions. Requiring foreign banks to get RBI’s prior approval before getting liquidity infusion from their parent bank would be one such condition.

The initial minimum capital for a WoS will be Rs 500 crore, which foreign banks would need to bring upfront; this applies to even existing foreign banks which wish to convert.

Further, the RBI said that the WoS will be required to meet Basel-III requirements (9 per cent Tier-I capital) right from Day One. For the first three years, the WoS will have to maintain Tier-I capital at 10 per cent.

The Priority Sector Lending (PSL) requirement will be 40 per cent for WoSs, such as domestic scheduled commercial banks. Existing foreign bank branches converting into WoS will be given “adequate” time to comply with the PSL targets.

Branch Operations
On opening of new branches, the RBI has sought to bring the WOSs on a par with domestic banks.

They will be allowed to open branches in Tier 1- centres without taking prior permission from the RBI provided at least 25 per cent of their branches are opened in un-banked rural centres (Tier 5 and Tier 6).

Board of Directors
The RBI also mandated that at least a third of the directors should be independent of the management of the subsidiary in India, its parent or associates. It also wants at least a third of the directors to be Indian nationals resident in India.

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Mumbai top most city in internet penetration

New Delhi: Move over Bangalore, the much touted IT city, it's Mumbai which has the highest penetration of internet users in the country. Mumbai with 12 million internet users has emerged as the top most city, followed by Delhi with 8.1 million internet users and Hyderabad with 4.7 million internet users. Chennai with 4.5 million internet users and Kolkata with 4.4 million internet users are fourth and fifth respectively, according to a statement by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Bangalore, with 3.8 million users is sixth in internet user penetration. In 2012, Mumbai had 8.3 million internet users, while Delhi had 8.1 million internet users. There were 3.6 million internet users in Hyderabad in 2012, while Chennai had 3.4 million internet users and Kolkata had 3 million internet users.

With 47 per cent y-o-y growth, Kolkata, however, registered the highest growth of internet users among all the top cities in India. Mumbai with 45 per cent y-o-y growth is second while Bangalore with a growth y-o-y of 43 per cent is third. Pune, with a growth of 37 per cent is fourth while Delhi with a y-o-y growth of 35 per cent is fifth.

Ahmedabad, with y-o-y 26 per cent, registered the lowest growth rate among the top eight cities.Overall, the the top 4 metros have a 37 per cent penetration of Active Internet Users.

Among the other 4 Metros, Hyderabad leads the charge with a penetration of 37 per cent Active Internet Users. Coimbatore with a 40 per cent penetration leads in the Small Metros category.

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India, US launch agri training programme with Africa

Hyderabad: The US and India have launched the third India-US-Africa triangular agricultural training programme at the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE).

This partnership, supported by the US Government’s global hunger and food security initiative ‘Feed the Future’, aims to improve agricultural productivity and support market institutions in Kenya, Liberia, and Malawi.

A total of 180 African agricultural professionals will be trained over the next two years at MANAGE in Hyderabad and Chaudhury Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) in Jaipur.

The US Consul General in Hyderabad Michael Mullins said that, under the strategic partnership between the Governments of India and the United States to improve agricultural productivity in Africa, the triangular engagement will “leverage India’s experience, expertise, and resources, as well as share innovations and technologies to address food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty in the three African countries.”

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Fertiliser firms to get special bank credit of Rs 5,500 cr

New Delhi: The Government has approved a Special Banking Arrangement (SBA) for fertiliser companies against the subsidy due for the current financial year.

“The arrangement will help fertiliser companies get Rs 5,500 crore from banks as loan. Interest will be charged at the rate of 10.5 per cent. The Government will bear 8 per cent interest, while remaining has to be paid by the company,” a senior Government official told Business Line. This kind of arrangement was also made last year when Rs 5,000 crore bank loans were availed.

Later in the evening, Government sources said that the State Bank of India was not ready to lend at 10.5 per cent. “Instead, it is asking for 10.85 per cent rate of interest,” a source said while added that there will be meeting with bankers on Thursday. This is 60-day credit in lieu of the subsidy due. While the industry estimates an additional subsidy of Rs 30,000 crore in the current fiscal, the Fertiliser Ministry in September had sought Rs 12,000 crore from the Finance Ministry under SBA to clear the subsidy arrears. Now, the final arrangement is even lower than that.

The industry feels that the present arrangement will partially ease the liquidity crisis. It will help in clearing subsidy arrears for domestically produced urea in June and July, sources said. All eyes are now on the second supplementary demand for grants during the winter session of Parliament.

For fiscal 2013-14, the Government had reduced fertiliser subsidy to Rs 65,971.50 crore from the revised estimate of Rs 65,974 crore in 2012-13. Of this, the Government is expected to provide Rs 15,544 crore as subsidy for imported urea, Rs 21,000 crore for domestically produced urea and Rs 29,426 crore for decontrolled fertilisers, including di-ammonium phosphate and muriate of potash and other complexes.

Meanwhile, a senior official said the Finance Ministry was unlikely to agree to significant additional money in the second supplementary demand for grants keeping the fiscal deficit target in mind. The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has repeatedly said that every effort will be made to keep the fiscal deficit within the budgeted target. There is already additional allocation for the petroleum sector with more expected, while revenue collection is still below the target.

However, tracking the approval of banking arrangement, shares of fertiliser companies edged up to close higher on Wednesday. Shares of Chambal Fertiliser closed higher at Rs 38.85 gaining 2.78 per cent, while Coromandel International rose 0.67 per cent to end at Rs 219.45. Shares of National Fertiliser gained 0.62 per cent to close at Rs 24.30.

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Vasan-led team heads to Japan to promote Indian ports

Chennai: Indian ports hope to work with their counterparts in Japan to increase capacity utilisation here.

G. K. Vasan, Union Shipping Minister, will lead a delegation to Japan to discuss with the Government and business community there for increased utilisation of Indian ports, especially Chennai and Ennore.

He will be in Japan from November 7 to 12 at the invitation of Akihiro Ohta, Minister of Land, Infrastructure Transport and Tourism, Japan.

The delegation members include Vishwapati Trivedi, Shipping Secretary, and M.A. Bhaskarachar, Chairman, Ennore Port Ltd (EPL). The delegation will visit ports of Yokohama and Nagoya to explore operations and technologies in these two ports. The Minister will hold discussions with Japanese funding agency JICA to fund the Outer Harbour project of VOC port, Tuticorin, according to a press release issued by EPL.

There are around 240 Japanese companies, including Toyota, Mitsubushi, Isuzu, Nissan, Toshiba and Metal One, located in and around Chennai.

The Japanese Government has also expressed interest in developing the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor, as part of the Penninsular Region Industrial Development.

Ennore port has been identified as a main logistic hub in industrial corridor development. JICA has already commenced the study, the release said.

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India, US launch agri training programme with Africa

Hyderabad: The US and India have launched the third India-US-Africa triangular agricultural training programme at the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE).

This partnership, supported by the US Government’s global hunger and food security initiative ‘Feed the Future’, aims to improve agricultural productivity and support market institutions in Kenya, Liberia, and Malawi.

A total of 180 African agricultural professionals will be trained over the next two years at MANAGE in Hyderabad and Chaudhury Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) in Jaipur.

The US Consul General in Hyderabad Michael Mullins said that, under the strategic partnership between the Governments of India and the United States to improve agricultural productivity in Africa, the triangular engagement will “leverage India’s experience, expertise, and resources, as well as share innovations and technologies to address food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty in the three African countries.”

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Bharti Airtel to acquire Warid's Congo-Brazzaville operations

Mumbai: When it couldn't forge a merger with Africa's leading asset MTN, Bharti AirtelBSE -0.81 % did the most natural thing, it settled for second best - Zain Africa. Making a combined entity with $13 billion in revenue, the deal was huge. Bankers, lawyers and telecom officials lined up to be a part of history in the making.

Analysts conjured astronomical profit figures - since the company projected a roughly one-year break-even on the Africa business. The options for Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile phone operator, at the time seemed limitless.

Three years down the line, like many businesses in recent times, things haven't quite panned out as per plan. Africa's profit is ever elusive, the $9-billion debt burden is beginning to weigh, and losses are dragging overall profits. The diversion from the Indian market has started to show. This, at a time when the Indian market appears to be taking steady steps towards a recovery.

So, when Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced an acquisition in Congo, most voices said this is a step to right some of the wrongs in recent times.

Bharti entered into an agreement with the Warid Group to fully acquire Warid Congo. The company declined to disclose financial details. While brokerage PhillipCapital (India) pegged Warid's revenue at $80-90 million, industry experts estimated the acquisition to be worth $100-120 million ( 620-750 crore).

Earlier this year, Bharti had acquired Warid's Uganda operation, and back in 2010, it had bought a majority stake in the company's Bangladesh telecom business. The latest acquisition will result in Bharti Airtel leading in the Congo market by number of subscribers - 2.6 million post acquisition - and taking out Warid, the number three operator that had been raising competitive intensity by reducing prices in the market.

"Warid was desperate enough to sell, with an agreement of a staggered payment," a banker, who asked not to be named, said, as being number three in a four-player market is a bad situation to be in. For the transaction, Bharti did not empanel a negotiating banker; its in-house team managed the deal. A note by brokerage Goldman Sachs said that these "small acquisitions will help reduce competition, improve scale and could help Bharti leverage more on scale benefits."

In its recently-announced quarterly result, Bharti Airtel reported Africa revenue at $1.1 billion ( 6,860 crore) and it is yet to make a net profit. A person familiar with financial details said, "Warid Congo is itself a loss-making entity, so there will be profit dilution in the first year for Bharti." However, with pricing power and scale in Congo now in the hands of Bharti Airtel, the acquisition should make the combined entity stronger, he added.

A banker who had worked with Bharti at the time of the Zain deal said, "The Zain deal did not give Bharti the kind of scale needed to make economies work."

Bharti Airtel had hoped to transpose the India model and leverage its learning here in Africa. It took with it partners like IBM to deploy technology; it has an uncompleted plan to separate the tower assets. Bharti also took price wars that the Indian market saw between 2008 and 2012.

Unfortunately, the lay of the land was too different in Africa. Customer loyalty was harder to break. Local regulations made ownership changes and bringing in managing partners for towers, for example, unfeasible. Not only was there a power problem in Africa, but transporting fuel to keep off-grid towers running was an additional expense for Bharti.

Privately, top Bharti executives admit that Africa is taking more time than expected to turn around, but have stood by their decision to have entered the continent. "Strategically, Bharti is hoping to get optimal scale now," said another banker. It had initiated talks to buy Essar Group's Yu Telecom in Kenya, but those have not fructified so far.

Manoj Kohli, managing director and CEO (international), Bharti Airtel is known to have said the company will consider a string of pearls acquisition approach in Africa, meaning more small acquisitions are likely to be lined up.

The company recently received cash from the Qatar Foundation and is expected to get more fund infusion, filling its coffers for more buys. The company has also said that it may be interested in buying some assets in India, even though analysts suggest there is none truly suited to Bharti Airtel.

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