Jyotsna Suri

Jyotsna Suri, the new president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), says all political parties should evolve a consensus on key reform-related legislation. The Bharat Hotels chairperson tells Deepak Patel & Arijit Paladhi private sector investment isn't forthcoming due to the high cost of capital and the cumbersome process of doing business. Edited excerpts:Important legislation such as the insurance and land acquisition Bills could not be tabled in the winter session of Parliament.I expect all political parties to rise above their political agenda and work for the nation. We are at a point when if we don't do it now, we will never make it. So, all political parties need to support those Bills. Among other things, they should reach a consensus on the GST (goods and services tax), which should not have high rates.What kind of GST rates are you looking at? The sub-panel of the empowered committee of state finance ministers had suggested state GST of 13.

'A rate cut of at least 1% is required to boost demand

Business Standard

Bank credit which continues to be sluggish may see some pick up if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decides to cut interest rates, believes Ashima Goyal an external member of RBI's technical advisory committee and professor of economics at the Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research, Mumbai. In an interview with Neelasri Barman she discusses about a range of issues that surrounds the economy.Edited excerpts:

"RBI should already have started cutting rates"

Paresh Sukthankar

Paresh Sukthankar, deputy managing director of HDFC Bank, tells Sheetal Agarwal, Nupur Anand & Abhijit Lele the bank is open to tapping the foreign market to raise capital. Edited excerpts:Recently, you received a nod to increase foreign holding in the bank. Also, there is an enabler for further fund-raising. When do you see that coming in? How much equity dilution will that lead to?We have secured shareholder approval, an enabling resolution, for raising Rs 10,000 crore. The approval is valid for a year. Ideally, we would like to raise it this financial year. If not, then within a year. In this regard, we first needed clarity on the foreign shareholding limit. It stood at 49 per cent; the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has approved raising it to 74 per cent. Now, this has to be approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs; that is when the approval becomes formally valid. Once that is done, it means we can have 74 per cent shareholding and FIPB has opined HDFC

RBI has got a level of comfort due to muted inflation scenario: Paresh Sukthankar

Interview with Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IndusInd Bank

We will not press the growth pedal too much: Romesh Sobti

Manappuram Finance, which has a market share of around 12% in the gold loan business, is looking to foray into small banks.

We may have to cut branches to become a small bank: Nandakumar

Abhijit Banerjee is Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and one of the experts entrusted with updating the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations. Banerjee, earlier a Guggenheim Fellow, an Alfred P Sloan Fellow and who won the Infosys Prize in 2009, was at the Delhi Economics Conclave to address a session on banking-sector reforms. He spoke to Arup Roychoudhury on the sidelines. Edited excerpts:The Cabinet has decided to pare stake in state-owned banks to 52 per cent. What impact would it have on the banks' functioning and their ability to raise capital?I think the banks will have to work themselves to get capital from the market. The fact that they are not guaranteed a honeypot to drink will send a certain kind of signal to the market. Certain things will have to change. The banks don't live in the modern world. Beyond that, I don't know how much will change. As an example, most banks don't give strong incentiv

NPA reporting in India is not watertight: Abhijit Banerjee

Vikram Akula, founder and former chairperson of SKS Microfinance, has decided to buy 26 per cent stake in financial inclusion start-up Vaya Finserv, where he has also assumed the role of chairman. Akula, in an interview with Somasroy Chakraborty, shares the reasons for his return to the segment after three years. Edited excerpts:

Vaya has sufficient capital for small bank licence: Vikram Akula

Daniel Radcliffe

The recently launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana aims to bring the financially excluded into the ambit of the formal financial system. But this is just the first step in ensuring inclusion. In an interview with Ishan Bakshi & Rahul Jacob, DANIEL RADCLIFFE, senior programme officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Financial Services for the Poor (FSP) initiative, talks about the key issues in ensuring financial inclusion. Edited excerpts:

Payment banks could aid Jan Dhan over finish line: Daniel Radcliffe

Excerpts from the media Q&A with the governor of the Reserve Bank of India

It's a cordial relationship with government: Raghuram Rajan

"No plans to sell stake in HDFC Bank"Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) is yet to decide if it will trim its stake in HDFC Bank. Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and chief executive officer at HDFC, in an interview with Somasroy Chakraborty, says the home finance company's board has not even discussed this subject. Mistry also shared his views on a possible merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank, the interest rate cycle and home loan market in India. Edited excerpts:Q. A report claims that HDFC is planning to cut its stake in HDFC Bank. Is this true?A: At this moment, we have no such plans. We have not even had a board meeting to discuss this subject. It is too premature to say that HDFC will reduce its stake in HDFC Bank. If the bank announces a fund raising programme, naturally our board will discuss whether we will participate or not. It (HDFC's participation) will depend on a number of things - the size of the issue, the pricing, etc. Hence, it is still early to say HDFC will redu

Q&A: Keki Mistry, Vice-Chairman & CEO, HDFC

Uday Kotak

In an interview with Nupur Anand, Uday Kotak explains the synergies of the deal: Edited excerpts:

There couldn't be a better fit in terms of opportunities: Uday Kotak

Murali M Natrajan

Our aim is to double the balance sheet in next 36-42 months: Murali M Natrajan

Usha Sangwan

From Oct, new biz premium has been positive: Usha Sangwan

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh

Good investors have come to us: Chandra Shekhar Ghosh

C V R Rajendran

We expect rate cut of 25 bps in next RBI policy meet: C V R Rajendran

Private life insurance company SBI Life Insurance has shown a growth, both in profitability and new business premiums, at a time when the industry has just begun to emerge from the volatile economic condition to show some green shoots. In an interview with M Saraswathy, Arijit Basu, MD & CEO of SBI Life Insurance talks about the importance of bancassurance in the growth and way forward. Excerpts:-New business premiums have been an area of concern for the industry. How has your premium growth been steady?We have been doing quite well, with 10-15 per cent growth on an average. This year we have been steady. The second half of the fiscal is always the better period for growth and we expect significant growth this year. The economy has started picking up and hence overall, prospects are good. Those issues related to Ulips and the issue of people getting disenchanted with the industry are over. Further, the regime is also stable since the product refiling process is also over. So, on all th

We want Ulips to form 45% of our portfolio: Arijit Basu

Vikas Sharma

Vikas Sharma, senior managing director, and president and CEO, India, Nomura, says today's environment is much like 2005 when the financial conglomerate raised a $1-billion India-focused fund. Nomura, which manages 80 per cent of Japanese fund-raising in India, is introducing new products to showcase the country's potential. In an interview with Joydeep Ghosh and Abhijit Lele, he says the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) surprise moves on Friday will help inflows into emerging markets. Edited excerpts:After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Japan, has the quality of investment interest changed substantially?I think it was building up already. And after the Prime Minister's visit, it has created a different level of visibility for the country. Japan looks for such positive and proactive leadership. We are seeing action in infrastructure, rare earth and SEZs (special economic zones). The positive tailwinds for India are great. With growth rates bottoming out, there is a possibility tha

It's Goldilocks' time for India: Vikas Sharma

Interview with MD & Group Executive (National Banking), SBI

Deposit rates will be stable, with a downward bias: B Sriram

Rakesh Sharma

Q&A with the MD & CEO, Lakshmi Vilas Bank

Q&A: Rakesh Sharma, MD & CEO, Lakshmi Vilas Bank

Interacting with the media after the announcement of the bi-monthly monetary policy review on Tuesday, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan asked India Inc not to be complacent about its foreign exchange exposure, adding it should hedge its forex liabilities. Edited excerpts:RBI's medium-term objective is six per cent Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation by January 2016. However, the Urjit Patel committee, which reviewed the monetary policy framework, suggested a target of four per cent (+/-200 basis points). How do you plan to achieve this?As of now, there is no consensus on what the ultimate inflation target will be. As the finance minister had announced in the Budget, during the course of the year, we will develop an understanding with the government about what the desired objectives of monetary policy are, beyond the medium term, that is, beyond January 2016; also, the structure of monetary policy-making, the committee and the framework to be put in place. The

At this point, we think we can meet 6% inflation target: Raghuram Rajan

FederalBank is one of the few lenders that have been able to improve the health of itsassets in recent quarters despite the uncertain macro-economic environment. ShyamSrinivasan, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, remainsconfident of further improvement in credit quality despite the Supreme Courtverdict on coal block allocation, falling price of the yellow metal and loanexposure in grounded Kingfisher Airlines. In an interview with SomasroyChakraborty, Srinivasan details the bank's strategy to mitigate asset qualitystress. Edited excerpts:Q. Doyou expect credit quality of banks to deteriorate further following the SupremeCourt's decision to cancel all but four coal block allocations? Will this affectthe health of Federal Bank's assets?A:Everyone has been waiting for the verdict on coal block allocation. Now, adecisive decision has been taken and the court has given six months (to adopt anew coal block allocation policy). I believe that the next few months will b

Page 21 - Interviews

A rate cut of at least 1% is required to boost demand: Jyotsna Suri