Articles and Updates

• Sawant Singh -

One of the villains in the Indian growth story is the poor state of capitalization of India’s public sector banks (PSBs). Most government majority-owned PSBs are among India’s largest banks and also have the largest exposure to stressed assets and sectors. Continued exposure to delinquent borrowers and fraudulent practices by borrowers of the PSBs has contributed to the declining credit quality of the loans made by the PSBs.

• Sawant Singh -

The establishment of “international finance centres” – specifically the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) – on par with Singapore and Dubai, received a notable mention in the finance minister’s budget speech on 28 February. The minister also mentioned that regulations for such centres would be issued in March.

• Sawant Singh -

With the growing integration of India into the global economy and with the sheer size of the Indian economy, the country’s budget speech has become a keenly anticipated event. Rating agencies, multinational companies and global financial institutions now join Indian companies, financial institutions and individuals in trying to read the “tea leaves” and predict policy changes in the coming budget. The buildup to the 2015-16 budget speech on 28 February was par

• Sawant Singh -

An increasing amount of business in Indian rupee denominated financial products and other financial products dependent on the performance of the Indian economy is either being conducted offshore or is being shifted to offshore locations such as Singapore and Dubai. As business in these products not only creates jobs in the financial services sector but also in other sectors that benefit the local economy, successive Indian governments have recognized the importance of establishing an

• Sawant Singh -

Unlike jurisdictions such as Singapore, India did not (until very recently) have differentiated licensing for banks, i.e. granting licences for conducting a specific line of banking business. The prevalence of universal banking licences coupled with the burden of fulfilling increasingly stringent prudential norms meant that banks that received licences rarely ventured outside Indian cities which were their main profit centres. Consequently, the avowed goal of successive central gove