The government today shot down a suggestion in the Lok Sabha for setting up a committee under the Member of Parliament in respective constituencies for monitoring disbursement of loans by banks to priority sector like agriculture, small and medium enterprises.
The corporate affairs ministry and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) are confident of meeting the April 2011 deadline to shift to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). But industry says a complete transition from Indian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to IFRS may take time.
Banks are making a strong pitch to the government for permission to issue tax-free bonds to fund infrastructure projects. Bankers, who are expected to again take up the issue with the finance ministry next week, are arguing that the bonds will help them raise long-term resources and reduce dependence on retail fixed deposits, whose maturity is getting shorter. In recent months, banks have been saddled with deposits in the one-year maturity bucket, while infrastructure loans have a tenure of 15-20 years.
The Supreme Court has held that banks are liable to compensate a customer whose money is wrongly paid to another person without verifying the original signature of the account-holder as it amounted to deficiency of service. A bench of Justices D K Jain and T S Thakur said the bank was guilty of honouring the cheque presented by the fraudster by releasing an amount over and above the amount in the account even though the customer Gurnam Singh had no overdraft facility.
The market watchdog Sebi today extended the ASBA (application supported blocked amount) facility to corporate investors and high networth individuals (HNIs) to enable them to apply for IPOs or rights issue by keeping the application money in their bank accounts till allotment. Currently, this facility is available only to retail investors.
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has recommended to the Government that the maximum number of listed companies where one can be a director be restricted to seven. ICSI has also mooted capping the tenure of independent directors at six years. In its report on ‘Strengthening Corporate Governance Framework’ submitted to the Corporate Affairs Minister, Mr Salman Khursheed, ICSI suggested a clear demarcation of the roles and responsibilities of the Chairman of the Board and that of the Managing Director/CEO.
The issues of opening up of accountancy services in India and recognition to Indian accountancy professionals in the UK are likely to get a push at the forthcoming India-UK talks on Corporate Governance. The key issue will be the reciprocal recognition to the members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and its British counterpart.
