No harm in LIC acquiring IDBI Bank, says Niti Aayog's Rajiv Kumar
Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar has come out in support of LIC's acquisition of a majority stake in debt-ridden IDBI Bank, at a time when questions are being raised about the deal. According to Kumar, LIC made the right decision by investing in IDBI and it could end up making money from the deal. A very different and an interesting take!
Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar has come out in support of LIC's acquisition of a majority stake in debt-ridden IDBI Bank, at a time when questions are being raised about the deal.
In a major relief for IDBI Bank, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on Friday cleared Life Insurance Corporation's (LIC) investment proposal to raise its stake in the state-run bank to 51% from the existing 10.8%.
Kumar said surplus cash in one government owned entity is being used for the deal and added he sees no harm in such a manouvre.
The vice-chairman of the government think-tank further added that LIC may have taken a good bet by investing in IDBI Bank and that the insurance giant could end up making money from the deal.
Kumar further highlighted corporate governance issues in PSU banks and stressed the need to bring about a radical change in the way the banks are managed.
One year of GST
Talking about the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which completed a year of implementation on Sunday, he said that the collection was close to Rs 1,00,000 per month.
India’s total Goods and Service (GST) collection for the month of May, 2018 stood at Rs 94,016 crore, the finance ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Of the Rs 94,016 crore, Rs 15,866 crore has been collected as Central GST (CGST), Rs 21,691 crore as State GST (SGST), Rs 49,120 crore as Integrated GST (IGST), including Rs 24,447 crore collected on imports, and Rs 7,339 crore compensation cess (including Rs 854 crore collected on imports), said the statement.
This is higher compared to average monthly collection of Rs 89,885 crore of 2017-18, finance secretary Hashmukh Adhia said.
Kumar further said that there was a fiscal room available for the government to ramp up expenses.
Rupee not in a free fall
Talking about the recent fall in the domestic currency, Kumar said,"there has not been a free fall in rupee, therefore, it's not a worrying factor."
The Indian rupee last week hit its all-time low, breaching 69 per dollar for the first time ever. Kumar further added that the rupee was relatively over-valued.
Kumar also reposed faith in India's macro-economic conditions and said the country was on the right track.
First Published: Jul 2, 2018 2:44 PM IST
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