The RBI in September imposed restrictions on withdrawals from PMC accounts after it found alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs 4,355 crore by diverting money to infrastructure firm HDIL.
If previous management of Yes Bank was guilty of hiding its tattered asset quality, the new lot premature hopefulness is thwarting orderly price discovery.
Economic soothsayers may well be right when they predict a pick-up to 5.8% growth for Q2, 6.4% for Q3 and 7.2% for Q4. The low base will help with that.
Chinese officials emphasised a desire to rejuvenate bilateral ties. Their advice? Don't make the border dispute the focal point; pursue economic relations with an open mindset.
Extreme weather events have impacted 50% of corporate respondents to a recent survey. This underlines the importance of significant action now to increase climate resilience.
Lakhs of people were stranded at beach in heat as crowd control measures apparently failed. At least 14 lakh people were in attendance though police had expected around 10 lakh.
How come Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Sri Lanka remain constitutional, democratic and stable despite Islam and Buddhism respectively, but Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar don’t?
The investigating authorities/ forensic auditors should take cognisance of various articles written in the web-portal ‘moneylife’. Sujata Dalal and others should be complimented for an in-depth and incisive investigation and have made some shocking conclusions: (1) Where are the statutory auditors- M/s Lakadawala ? Have they been questioned by the police? What are their present whereabouts? As stated in the article, the known address pertains to a flat in a housing society inBorivali. The flat is locked and is without any signboards. (2) A General Manager of the Bank, who resigned recently, was previously working in the department of RBI which monitored UCBs. He had also carried out Audit and Inspection of the Bank in that capacity. Why did he leave RBI and how was he allowed to switch his job? Was there any conflict of interest? Interestingly, RBI Employees/Officers Credit Coop Society has kept FDs of sizeable amounts in the Bank. These funds are also blocked. These are linkages between RBI and PMC Bank that raise suspicion. (3) RBI was not willing to part with contents of RBI Inspection Reports. Now under RTI Act, the SC ordered RBI to part with reports of preceding four years. RBI has so far released a report only for one year, that too in a redacted form. The report points out many serious irregularities. Had these been followed up by the RBI, the scam could have come to light much earlier. (4) PMC Bank Administrator appointed by RBI in his previous stint in NAMCO Bank saw NPAs jump by 40%.
These are post-mortem issues. There is now no point in shutting doors after horses have fled the stable. The most shocking revelation made in the portal pertains to fact that the fraud-hit PMC Bank has to spend Rs27 crore/ month to stay in operations and to keep its 137 branches open across six states. Now, more than 70 per cent of loans are loss assets. There is no question of new loans to be sanctioned. But salaries and other operational expenditure will have to be paid. Who will bear the cost? Hapless depositors only! RBI likes to keep such type of fraud-hit coop banks in limbo under administration for an indefinite period without any conclusion. Who foots the bill?
The investigating authorities/ forensic auditors should take cognisance of various articles written in the web-portal ‘moneylife’. Sujata Dalal and others should be complimented for an in-depth and incisive investigation and have made some shocking conclusions: (1) Where are the statutory auditors- M/s Lakadawala ? Have they been questioned by the police? What are their present whereabouts? As stated in the article, the known address pertains to a flat in a housing society inBorivali. The flat is locked and is without any signboards. (2) A General Manager of the Bank, who resigned recently, was previously working in the department of RBI which monitored UCBs. He had also carried out Audit and Inspection of the Bank in that capacity. Why did he leave RBI and how was he allowed to switch his job? Was there any conflict of interest? Interestingly, RBI Employees/Officers Credit Coop Society has kept FDs of sizeable amounts in the Bank. These funds are also blocked. These are linkages between RBI and PMC Bank that raise suspicion. (3) RBI was not willing to part with contents of RBI Inspection Reports. Now under RTI Act, the SC ordered RBI to part with reports of preceding four years. RBI has so far released a report only for one year, that too in a redacted form. The report points out many serious irregularities. Had these been followed up by the RBI, the scam could have come to light much earlier. (4) PMC Bank Administrator appointed by RBI in his previous stint in NAMCO Bank saw NPAs jump by 40%.
These are post-mortem issues. There is now no point in shutting doors after horses have fled the stable. The most shocking revelation made in the portal pertains to fact that the fraud-hit PMC Bank has to spend Rs27 crore/ month to stay in operations and to keep its 137 branches open across six states. Now, more than 70 per cent of loans are loss assets. There is no question of new loans to be sanctioned. But salaries and other operational expenditure will have to be paid. Who will bear the cost? Hapless depositors only! RBI likes to keep such type of fraud-hit coop banks in limbo under administration for an indefinite period without any conclusion. Who foots the bill?
Without setting off a panic, the RBI should do an MRI scan of all major cooperative banks.