Latest news with #India
Times of Oman
35 minutes ago
- Business
- Times of Oman
RBI issues final guidelines on project finance; new norms effective from October 1
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday issued the final Reserve Bank of India (Project Finance) Directions, 2025 which lays down the comprehensive framework for income recognition, asset classification, and provisioning norms for project loans under implementation. As per the Central Bank, these new guidelines will come into effect from October 1 current year. The directions follow the RBI draft guidelines on 'Prudential Framework for Income Recognition, Asset Classification and Provisioning pertaining to Advances - Projects Under Implementation' on May 03, 2024, for stakeholder comments. The draft guidelines proposed an enabling framework for the regulated entities (REs) for financing project loans, while addressing the underlying risks. RBI said that it received feedback from nearly 70 entities, including banks, NBFCs, industry bodies, academicians, law firms, individuals, and the Central Government. According to new rules, the apex bank has introduced a principle-based regime for stress resolution in project finance exposures, applicable across all regulated entities (REs), ensuring a harmonised approach. The framework also rationalises the extension limits for the Date of Commencement of Commercial Operations (DCCO) to three years for infrastructure and two years for non-infrastructure projects, allowing REs commercial flexibility within these ceilings. On the provisioning front, standard asset provisioning for projects under construction has been fixed at 1%, increasing gradually with each quarter of DCCO deferment. "Rationalisation of standard asset provisioning requirement to 1 per cent for projects under construction, which shall gradually increase for each quarter of DCCO deferment. The requirements for under-construction CRE exposures will be however, slightly higher at 1.25 per cent," the RBI said in a notification. "During the operational phase, the standard asset provisioning requirement shall stand reduced to 1 per cent for CRE, 0.75 per cent for CRE-RH and 0.40 per cent for other project exposures, respectively," the RBI added. The new directions are aimed at balancing flexibility in project lending with adequate safeguards to manage risk, a long-standing demand from lenders and developers alike.
Zawya
39 minutes ago
- Business
- Zawya
Global trading giants step up India presence, fuelling talent rush, exchange upgrades
MUMBAI - Half a dozen global trading giants, from Citadel Securities and IMC Trading to Millennium and Optiver, are ratcheting up their presence in India's booming derivatives markets, fuelling a hiring spree and pushing exchanges to improve technology. The firms' hiring plans, being reported for the first time, come amid expectations that large domestic consumer and investor bases will help shield India from global turmoil sparked by the trade policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. The South Asian nation made up nearly 60% of global equity derivative trading volumes of 7.3 billion in April, the Futures Industry Association says, while its regulators say notional turnover of the contracts has grown 48 times since March 2018. For Western firms, the gold rush is too big to ignore, particularly after U.S. trading firm Jane Street earned $2.34 billion from its India trading strategy last year, some of the firms' executives said. "We have seen competition increasing both on the trading front, where you see more players going for the same opportunities, and on the job market as well," said Jocelyn Dentand of global high-speed trader IMC Trading. The firm plans to grow its team by more than 50% by the end of 2026 to stand at more than 150, added Dentand, the managing director of its India unit. Foreign investors turned buyers of Indian stocks in April and May, purchasing a net $2.8 billion, as they abandoned their previous selling stance from October 2024 to March 2025, prompted by high valuations and slower growth in earnings. U.S.-based Citadel Securities, a market-making firm founded by well known investor Kenneth Griffin, runs a leaner team of around 10 in India but has ramped up capital allocation to its operations, said a source familiar with its plans. "In India, we're constantly looking for talent and constantly hiring," said the source, who sought anonymity in the absence of authorisation to speak to the media and declined to give details of the plan. Hedge fund Millennium is expanding its India desk via Dubai and Singapore, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter, who also sought anonymity on the same grounds. Millennium declined to comment for the story. Citadel Securities did not respond to an email seeking comment. Netherlands-based Optiver, which launched India operations in 2024, plans to grow its team to 100 by the end of 2025, a spokesperson said, up from 70 now. "Optiver is investing ambitiously in India, with a view to expanding to 100 FTEs by year-end and scaling further in the years ahead," the spokesperson added. Amsterdam-based trading firm Da Vinci and London-based Qube Research and Technologies are also recruiting for quantitative trading roles in India, public postings for jobs show. RUSH FOR TECH, TALENT Global trading firms are also looking to expand in India by recruiting aggressively from top domestic universities and poaching from home-grown competitors. They have hired about 300 people in India in the last two years across the trading, technology, compliance, risk, and legal functions, Hong Kong-based recruiter Aquis Search estimates. "We foresee a good run for the next few years," said Annpurna Bist, its head of quant and tech. Intensifying competition has driven up salaries, with even junior traders paid more than double the figure of three years ago, said Bhautik Ambani, head of AlphaGrep Investment Management, one of India's leading quant trading firms. India's top engineering schools have become the favoured hunting grounds for talent. "We almost solely hire our traders and software engineers from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)," said IMC's Dentand, referring to the country's chain of prestigious engineering schools. But hiring efforts are now being widened to the universities beyond the IITs, Dentand said. The influx of global trading firms has opened up opportunities for India's two main exchanges, which are both upgrading their tech infrastructure. The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) plans to add 2,000 co-location racks over the next two years while older stalwart the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) aims to scale up to 500 by the end of fiscal 2026, from none in March 2024. Such racks are servers at exchanges that cut trade execution times to microseconds. "We are a late entrant and need to provide additional value for the unfulfilled demand from high-frequency trading firms and quant firms, amongst others, for co-location racks," said BSE Chief Executive Sundararaman Ramamurthy. The exchange has spent between 4.5 billion rupees and 5 billion rupees ($52 million to $58 million) on technology in the last two years, he said. The NSE and regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) did not respond to queries for the report. ($1=85.9675 rupees) (Reporting by Jayshree P Upadhyay, Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Ira Dugal and Clarence Fernandez)
Times of Oman
41 minutes ago
- Business
- Times of Oman
India's $81.04 billion FDI inflow signals its emergence as a global manufacturing powerhouse
New Delhi: FDI flows into India increased 14 per cent to USD 81.04 billion in the recently concluded financial year 2024-25, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. Over the past decade, FDI inflows have seen a steady rise--from USD 36.05 billion in 2013-14 to USD 81.04 billion (provisional) in 2024-25. The central government has put in place an investor-friendly Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, under which most sectors are open for 100 per cent FDI through the automatic route, the commerce ministry boasted. The FDI policy is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that India remains an attractive and competitive investment destination, the commerce ministry statement added. Coming to 2024-25, the services sector emerged as the top recipient of FDI equity, attracting 19 per cent of total inflows, followed by computer software and hardware (16 per cent) and trading (8 per cent). FDI in the services sector rose by 40.77 per cent to USD 9.35 billion from USD 6.64 billion in the previous year. India is also becoming a hub for manufacturing FDI, which grew by 18 per cent in 2024-25, reaching USD 19.04 billion compared to USD 16.12 billion in 2023-24. Maharashtra accounted for the highest share (39 per cent) of total FDI equity inflows in 2024-25, followed by Karnataka (13 per cent) and Delhi (12 per cent). Among source countries, Singapore led with 30 per cent share, followed by Mauritius (17 per cent) and the United States (11 per cent). Over the last eleven financial years (2014-25), India attracted FDI worth USD 748.78 billion, reflecting a 143 per cent increase over the previous eleven years (2003-14), which saw USD 308.38 billion in inflows. This constitutes nearly 70 per cent of the total USD 1,072.36 billion in FDI received over the past 25 years. Additionally, the number of source countries for FDI increased from 89 in 2013-14 to 112 in 2024-25, said the commerce ministry. "In the regulatory domain, the Government has undertaken transformative reforms across multiple sectors to liberalize FDI norms. Between 2014 and 2019, significant reforms included increased FDI caps in Defence, Insurance, and Pension sectors, and liberalised policies for Construction, Civil Aviation, and Single Brand Retail Trading," the statement noted. From 2019 to 2024, notable measures included allowing 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route in coal mining, contract manufacturing, and insurance intermediaries. In 2025, the Union Budget proposed increasing the FDI limit from 74 per cent to 100 per cent for companies investing their entire premium within India.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Will return of Indian pilgrims to Tibet help ease long-running border tensions with China?
China has been urged to use the resumption of visits to Tibet by Indian pilgrims to improve relations between the two countries after years of tensions. Earlier this year, China said it would allow pilgrims to return to the Tibet autonomous region this summer to follow two pilgrimage routes after a five-year suspension caused by Covid controls and ongoing cross-border tensions. It is open to Indian citizens with valid passports who wish to travel to Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar for religious reasons. The sites are sacred to followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Bon. The pilgrimages are usually organised by the Indian government and involve treks through the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand or Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. This year, 5,561 people applied to make the journey, 750 of whom will be allowed to travel along the two routes between June and August, India's Ministry of External Affairs said last month. 'Pilgrimages by Indian devotees to Tibet have played a positive role in restoring stability in China-India relations during times of crisis,' Yang Yabo, director of the Institute of South Asia Studies at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences in Lhasa, wrote in an article published in news platform ThePaper on Thursday.
Times of Oman
an hour ago
- Science
- Times of Oman
NASA postpones Axiom Mission 4 launch, new date to be announced soon
Washington: NASA has postponed the planned launch of Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station (ISS). The Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla-led mission was rescheduled for June 22 (Sunday). The ISS said on Friday morning that NASA is standing down from a launch on Sunday, and that it will target a new launch date in the coming days. "@NASA, @Axiom_Space, and @SpaceX continue reviewing launch opportunities for Axiom Mission 4. NASA is standing down from a launch on Sunday, June 22, and will target a new launch date in the coming days," the ISS wrote in a post on X. According to the ISS, additional time is needed to evaluate station operations following recent repair work in the aft segment of the Zvezda service module. Due to the highly interconnected nature of the orbital laboratory's systems, NASA is reviewing relevant data to ensure readiness for the arrival of additional crew members. Highlighting the global significance of the mission, ISS noted that the agencies "appreciate the historic nature of this mission for the nations of India, Poland, and Hungary, as well as the world." The four-member crew remains in quarantine in Florida and is prepared to launch once the station is cleared to receive them. Axiom Mission 4 will be commanded by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and now Axiom Space's Director of Human Spaceflight. Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla from ISRO will serve as the mission's pilot. The mission specialists are ESA project astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft remain in good condition and are stationed at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Earlier, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that the Axiom-4 space mission -- which includes Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla -- will not launch before June 22, as safety assessments are still underway before clearing the final launch timeline. "We have been told that it won't be before 22nd June. There is a safety angle also involved here," Singh said at a press conference. Following the rescheduling, Axiom Space had said in a statement earlier that NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX were targeting no earlier than Sunday, June 22, for the launch. The change allows NASA time to continue evaluating station operations after recent repairs in the Zvezda service module. In a post on X, Dr. Jitendra Singh confirmed the updated launch timeline, writing: "Axiom Mission 04 to the International Space Station (ISS)... After assessing key parameters, including module fitness, crew health, and weather, @Axiom_Space has indicated that June 22, 2025, may be the next likely launch date of Axiom-04 Mission carrying, among others, the Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, to the ISS." He added that further updates would be shared accordingly. On the 11th anniversary of the Modi government, Singh also highlighted the socio-economic impact of administrative reforms over the past decade. "The administrative reforms that happened in the last 11 years were not limited to governance. They had extreme socio-economic ramifications," he said. He emphasized the push toward digital governance aimed at enhancing ease of living for common citizens, and noted that reforms created a more automated system that helped the government achieve key milestones. "During the 11 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, not only has governance improved but also had significant socio-economic consequences," Singh said. He added that schemes and reforms were aimed at ensuring justice for marginalised groups.
