Cong seeks JPC probe into electoral bonds, says it’s threat to democracy

The party also sought an early decision on the issue by the Supreme Court on the legality of these bonds

Stepping up its attack on the Union government over the electoral bonds issue, the Congress on Thursday sought an inquiry by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) into these “opaque” donations.

The party also sought an early decision on the issue by the Supreme Court on the legality of these bonds. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Congress leader Manish Tewari said the party will continue to raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha as it considers it to be a “threat to democracy”.

Earlier in the day, the party in the Lok Sabha accused the Union government of making “government corruption official” by introducing anonymous electoral bonds, and said the earlier regulation over the influence of the rich on politics is no longer there.

Tewari raised the issue during the Zero Hour but his reference to the role of the Prime Minister’s Office prompted Speaker Om Birla to turn off his mic and ask another member to raise his issue, prompting protests from Congress members.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was in the House, then left her seat and led a walkout by her party members.Tewari earlier said despite reservations expressed by the Reserve Bank of India and the Election Commission, the government went ahead with the introduction of electoral bond. “This made government corruption official,” he said. There used to be control over the influence of the rich on politics earlier, Tewari said, adding this scheme introduced through the 2017 budget made donation anonymous….

Banks to get two-year guarantee to purchase ‘pooled assets’ of NBFCs

The government has allowed the NBFCs and HFCs to buy back their assets ‘after a specified period of 12 months’ as a repurchase transaction, on a right of first refusal basis

The Union government on Tuesday announced a scheme for providing a one-time credit guarantee to public sector banks (PSBs) for purchase of pooled non-banking financial companies’ (NBFC) assets.

Under the scheme, notified on August 10, public sector banks (PSBs) have been given a deadline of six months to purchase “pooled assets” of NBFCs at fair value. “One-time guarantee provided by the government on the pooled assets will be valid for 24 months from the date of purchase and can be invoked on the occurrence of default,” according to the notification.

This follows a Union Budget announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the government will provide a one-time partial credit guarantee to PSBs for first loss of up to 10 per cent for purchase of high-rate pooled assets of NBFCs totaling Rs 1 trillion.

The government has laid down “stringent” criteria for eligibility of NBFCs and housing finance companies (HFCs) to become a part of the scheme and offer their assets for sale to banks. The NBFCs or HFCs should have made a net profit in any of the last two financial years, that is 2017-18 and 2018-19, and their net-performing assets should not be more than 6 per cent till March 31, 2019, the scheme said…