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The Economic Times Feb 16, 2018 Investors may have been shocked when one of India's biggest banks disclosed a $1.77 billion fraud by a billionaire jeweller, but the central bank has recorded data that shows the problem runs far deeper and wider.  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, which a Reuters reporter obtained through a right-to-information request, shows state-run banks have reported 8,670 "loan fraud" cases totalling Rs 61260 crore ($9.58 billion) over the last five financial years up to March 31, 2017.  In India, loan frauds typically refer to cases where the borrower intentionally tries to deceive the lending bank and does not repay the loan.  The figures expose the magnitude of the problem in a banking sector already under pressure after years of poor lending practices. Bad loans surged to a record peak of nearly $149 billion last year.  Bank loan frauds have steadily increased as well, reaching Rs 17,634 crore in the latest financial year

The Daily Brief  Feb 16, 2018 Security forces called off a cordon and search operation on Friday after the militants they were battling managed to escape from Pattan area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district, the police said on Friday, PTI reported. No casualties were reported. Authorities have suspended mobile internet services in the area, The Indian Express reported. Militants hiding in Tantray Mohalla in Pattan reportedly started firing at security forces who were conducting a cordon and search operation in the area early on Friday, PTI quoted a police official as saying. The cordon was laid at 1 am on Friday and lifted around noon. Two militants are believed to have fled the area during the gun battle, The Times of India reported. A civilian, identified as 24-year-old Ghulam Hassan, sustained pellet injuries during the exchange of fire. This is the second militant attack on security forces in the past 24 hours. On Thursday evening, suspected militants fir

The Times of India, February 16, 2018 India on Friday said that some countries have proposed to put Pakistan in the "grey list" of an international task force mandated to combat terror funding and money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is meeting later this month in Paris, where it is expected to deliberate extensively on containing the spread of terrorism by choking the funding channels of terrorist groups. "There is a proposal by some countries, as a part of the FATF process, to put Pakistan in the grey list. The grey listing happens because the commitment which was given by Pakistan on actions it was supposed to take, that has not happened," external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. He was responding to a question on whether India is going to make any specific case against 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed at the FATF meeting. Kumar said India has shared its views with the countries and members of the FATF on this matter. T

DAWN Khurram Hussain Feb 15, 2018 THE Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is all set to take up the question of whether Pakistan is complying with international commitments to prevent its financial system from being used by groups that have been designated by the United Nations as terrorist entities, and early indications are that it is going to be a bumpy ride. This is a long running story, going back at least eight years and the country has been scraping past the successive reviews by offering up one ‘action plan’ after another, but failing to deliver on its commitments. For more background, I can point readers to my piece in February last year, titled ‘To ban or not to ban’. Back then the government had placed Hafiz Saeed, one of the main characters in the story since his name is on the United Nations list of designated terrorists along with his deputy and the Lashkar-e-Taiba that he founded, the Falah-i-Insaniyat (FiF), and the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) that he now heads, wh

The Quint, February 16, 2018 Indian stock exchanges’ decision to stop sharing data with overseas peers threatens nearly $13 billion invested in India by overseas funds tracking the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. MSCI Inc. in a letter on Feb. 15 called Indian bourses and regulator’s move to restrict access to data anti-competitive and warned that it could lead to a change in market classification for India, currently clubbed with emerging nations. It asked them to reconsider the decision. The letter is a warning, Tushar Mahajan, head of Futures and Options at Nomura India, told Bloomberg Quint. “We have to take it as that. It cannot be dismissed as just another letter. I am hoping that at some point exchanges and the MSCI will be able to reach a solution.” Three Indian stock exchanges—National Stock Exchange, Bombay Stock Exchange and Metropolitan Stock Exchange—terminated licencing pacts with their foreign counterparts to prevent from trading volumes moving offshore and pro

Financial Express Sushruth Sunder  February 16, 2018 After ‘India’s biggest banking fraud’ in the country’s second largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, top former banker, Meera Sanyal says that how the scam remained undetected by the internal and external auditors remains a mystery. After ‘India’s biggest banking fraud’ in the country’s second largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, top former banker, Meera Sanyal says that how the scam remained undetected by the internal and external auditors remains a mystery. “It’s an extremely strange situation. It’s quite clear how the Rs 280 crore scam took place. How the amount rose to Rs 11,000 crore and went undetected is a bit of mystery,” Meera Sanyal former CEO & chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland in India told ET Now. The ace banker shared that she’s perplexed that the fraud went unnoticed and crossed many lines of defenses. I’m

Financial Express February 16, 2018 The AAP government has spent an average of Rs 70.5 crore annually in the past three years on advertisements -- four times more than the previous government's expenditure on print, electronic and outdoor advertising, according to an RTI reply. The AAP government has spent an average of Rs 70.5 crore annually in the past three years on advertisements — four times more than the previous government’s expenditure on print, electronic and outdoor advertising, according to an RTI reply. In the first year after assuming office in February 2015, the current government spent Rs 59.9 crore on advertisements, Rs 66.3 crore the next year and Rs 85.3 crore up to December 31, 2017, the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) said in reply to an RTI application by IANS. The average annual expenditure of the AAP government on advertisements from April 2015 to December 2017 was Rs 70.5 crore. The Congress’ average was Rs 17.4 crore in the la

Dilawar Hussain, DAWN, May 22, 2017 When they wish to invest, fund managers across the globe look at the Morgan Stanley Composite Index. Since the index is widely recognised as the leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, capital markets must conform to its standards. Pakistan was part of the MSCI Emerging Market (EM) Index from 1994 to 2007. But during the stock market crash of 2008, panicked regulators and stockbrokers decided to close the exit door for foreign investors. In effect, it trapped foreign portfolio investors in the country. When the dust finally settled, beleaguered foreign funds marched out of Pakistan and MSCI demoted the Pakistan MSCI Index from ‘Emerging Market’ to ‘Frontier Market (FM)’. The country’s equity market thus lost its access to the trillions of dollars that EM fund managers track. The FM market, on the other hand is a club of smaller markets with just a few billion dollars to invest that barely manages to draw the int

The Times of India Bharti jain February 15, 2018 NEW DELHI: An inter-ministerial committee on phone frauds has designated the Intelligence Bureau’s wing for coordinating matters relating to fake Indian currency notes (FICN) as the nodal agency to liaise with the states and Union territories on investigation of phone frauds. The FICN coordination committee (FCORD) will develop a web-based platform for synergy among various law enforcement agencies and nodal officers of e-wallet companies. In a recent letter written to the chief secretaries of all states and UTs, the home ministry informed that RBI had been requested to direct all e-wallet service providers to appoint a central nodal officer as well as state nodal officers in case of large companies, for coordination with the law enforcement agencies. The list of such nodal officers may be furnished to the FICN coordination committee, it said. The home ministry, in the letter dated February 12, also asked the states/UTs

Rediff News Feb 16, 2018 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed has said he will challenge the government's "illegal" action in the court of law after Pakistan launched a crackdown on seminaries and health facilities run by him. Under pressure to act against banned groups, Pakistan took control of a seminary and four dispensaries run by Saeed-linked Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation. "After detaining me for 10 months without any legal ground, the government has now issued a notification regarding taking over our schools, dispensaries, ambulances and other assets. It will hamper our relief operations in Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, Azad Kashmir and northern areas," Saeed said after the government's action. According to the interior ministry notification, a copy of which available with PTI, "the federal government is pleased to direct that requisite actions with regard to freezing and taking over of assets (movable, immovable