India's $1.8 bilion fraud case at the state-run Punjab National Bank allegedly perpetrated by celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi is likely to be the result of a “failure of operational risk management", the former chairwoman of the country's largest public lender said.
Mr Modi, who designed jewellery for the biggest names in Indian film industry and Hollywood, has fled India following allegations of fraudulent transactions over seven years in what is now being called the country's biggest banking scandal. On Tuesday, the Indian government issued a 15-day ultimatum for public sector banks to tidy up their operational and technical risk management systems.
Arundhati Bhattacharya, who headed the State Bank of India until her retirement last year, observed that the timeline should be sufficient for banks to clean up their act had they maintained strict compliance regimes before.
"I dont think this should be done on a one off basis, I feel that at least, in my own bank, it is an ongoing activity, it is not something that you can wake up one day and start doing,” she said.
"If it's an ongoing activity 15 days should be fine, if it's not an ongoing activity then that should be a separate case, but what the government is trying to say is 'Go through it again, and see if there are any gaps that you could have missed."
The move comes amid calls that Indian public sector banks, except the State Bank of India, be privatised following a steady accumulation of bad loans over the years. .
India, Asia's third largest economy ranked fifth globally for bad loans, with 7.33 lakh crore rupees ($180bn) unpaid as of June last year, according to Mumbai-based ratings agency CARE. India, which was poised for double-digit growth in the late 2000s, has been saddled with rising volumes of non-performing assets, including the country’s state-owned carrier Air India, making banks increasingly wary of lending to big entities.
The build-up of bad loans in India coincided with the country’s growth, which peaked at 8.5 per cent in 2010 only to halve to around 4.5 per cent in the fiscal year 2013-14.
During the end of the last decade, when India was seemingly poised for double-digit growth saw a frenzy of large-scale infrastructure projects, the capacities of which could not be fully utilised once the growth rates became more modest.
"The capacity build-up during this period couldn’t really get used. If you’ve got capacity built-up, it means you’ve got capital infrastructure and you’re paying interest on the same and when you don’t have the utilisation of that capacity, it’s going to results in NPAs [non-performing loans],” she said.
However, Ms Bhattacharya is hopeful that the utilisation of capacity of mega-projects in India will pick up following what she sees are positive reforms such as implementation of demonetisation and goods and services tax by the current Narendra Modi government.
A stricter compliance regime against bad loans has revived flagging volumes of lending, noted Ms Bhattacharya.
Indian credit growth picked up last December to a 15-month high on the back of surging demand for both corporate and retail loans. Bank credit rose by 10 per cent in December compared with a 4 per cent increase for the same period in 2016, according to the country’s central bank.
Lending to large corporates increased 2.1 per cent in December, against a contraction of 4.3 per cent for the same period in 2016, with loans to textiles, petrochemicals engineering, food processing and construction showing marked increases.
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)
Brighton v Arsenal (6pm)
West Ham v Wolves (8.30pm)
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)
Sunday
Newcastle United v Sheffield United (5pm)
Aston Villa v Chelsea (7.15pm)
Everton v Liverpool (10pm)
Monday
Manchester City v Burnley (11pm)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
The biog
Name: Dr Lalia Al Helaly
Education: PhD in Sociology from Cairo
Favourite authors: Elif Shafaq and Nizar Qabbani.
Favourite music: classical Arabic music such as Um Khalthoum and Abdul Wahab,
She loves the beach and advises her clients to go for meditation.
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20profile%20
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RESULT
RS Leipzig 3
Marcel Sabitzer 10', 21'
Emil Forsberg 87'
Tottenham 0
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Napoleon
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