by admin | May 25, 2021 | Banking, Corporate, Corporate finance, Economy, Markets, News
New Delhi : The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday said it has signed a loan of up to $200 million with IndusInd Bank to provide finance to low income women borrowers in rural India.
The seven-year senior loan will go toward IndusInd Bank’s microfinance activities.
“ADB is proud to partner with IndusInd Bank in its efforts to expand finance to underserved people in India’s less developed states,” Christine Engstrom, Director in ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department said.
At least 95 per cent of Manila-based ADB’s funding for the project will be used to provide credit to women borrowers and at least 70 per cent of the number of loans will be deployed in country’s less developed states.
The loan aims to reach an additional 200,000 low income members by 2020, ADB said in a statement.
“A capacity building technical assistance of $1 million is expected to be part of the package. It will support IndusInd Bank’s efforts to improve financial literacy to women borrowers and to develop digitised processing and product development initiatives,” it said.
Romesh Sobti, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IndusInd Bank said: “This significant agreement with ADB will help IndusInd Bank to further enhance its inclusive banking franchise and extend finance to women borrowers in less developed states of India, providing impetus to the bank’s financial inclusion and corporate social responsibility agenda.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Kampala, Uganda, (IINA) – Uganda’s Muslim leaders have condemned the “ignorance” of church leaders trying to block Islamic banking legislation in the majority-Christian nation, FultonCounty news reported.
Earlier this year, parliament amended a finance bill to introduce Islamic insurance. However, church leaders led by Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, head of the country’s Anglican Church, has urged President Yoweri Museveni to reject the legislation.
In their petition made public late Thursday, they claimed the introduction of Islamic banking “opens the door to the ultimate operationalization of full-fledged Shariah law” and raised the specter of Islamic finance being used to fund terrorism.
Islamic banking avoids paying interest, which is forbidden in Islam, and instead offers returns to the lender.
“What criteria shows it’s a way for funding terrorism, this is a misconception of the Holy Qur’an,” Huda Oleru, a Muslim lawmaker for the National Resistance Movement, told Anadolu Agency.
She added: “Muslims in Uganda have been using secular banks because they had no option and this bill is a welcome move for those who do not want to pay interest levied by secular banks.”
Referring to the church petition, Oleru said the Qur’an “urges Muslims to help orphans, widows and the marginalized members of the society, that is the role of a responsible Muslim, they need to be educated more.”
Nsereko Mutumba, spokesman for the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC), said the church leaders were “just ignorant of the Qur’an, it has nothing to do with ISIS, Boko Haram or any other group claiming to kill non-Muslims. Even countries in the Western world are embracing Islamic banking.”
The Bank of Uganda is currently establishing a sharia advisory board to regulate and supervise Islamic banking.
“This doesn’t mean having an automatic Muslim president,” Mutumba said. “We are the minority. Islam was the first religion to be introduced in Uganda and we have never forced anyone to convert to Islam.”
Commenting on the church leaders’ request for the president to send the bill back to parliament so passages relating to Islamic banking can be removed, Oleru said: “I will not support this amendment if it is returned to parliament.”
Muslims make up 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians accounting for around 84 percent.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Large Enterprise
Kolkata : (IANS) The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is approaching various ministries and departments of both central and state governments to advocate double accounting system, a top Institute official said on Friday.
The institute plans to approach the defence ministry in the next two-three months for introduction of double accounting system as the ministry traditionally gets on an average one third of the budgetary allocation, the official said.
“The institute has been extending its technical and infrastructural support towards the accounting reforms of various government offices. We have been approaching various ministries and departments of central and state governments for advocating a double accounting system. This would help in better analysis and taking informed decisions,” ICAI president M. Devaraja Reddy said.
He said the Railways approached the institute to undertake the pilot project on ‘Study of Existing Budgeting and Costing System and proposal for Outcome Budgeting and Integrated Cost Accounting Architecture in the line of Indian Budget Announcement 2015-16’.
It undertook the job and a concept paper on outcome budgeting has been submitted to the railway authorities, he said.
“The project aim is to analyse the costs and to arrive at concrete scientific data,” Reddy said.
The regulatory body of the accounting professionals also said the new examination system for admission to CA course would do away with the existing pattern of common proficiency test. The new system is expected to be effective from next November.
“In the admission test, there will be 200 marks for objective type questions and 200 marks for subjective questions to produce competent professionals and ensure quality,” Reddy said.
Under the existing pattern (of admission test), students are depending too much on private coaching centres, he said.
The institute is now in the process of preparing the syllabus for each subject and a transition scheme will be drafted for the existing students.
The government-approved scheme will be notified in the gazette for inviting comments over 45 days. Accordingly, the new scheme will be finalised.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate finance
Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow:(IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government has sought immediate release of Rs.7,543.14 crore from the National Calamity Contingency Fund to disburse compensation to farmers who suffered crop loss in unseasonal rains earlier this year, an official said on Friday.
A large number of farmers suffered large-scale crop loss and damage in the unseasonal rainfall and hailstorm in February, March and April.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav informed him that the state has already disbursed Rs.3,446.70 crore as relief to over 84 lakh farmers who suffered loss of crops due to the hailstorm and excessive rains in February, March and April.
The central government, meanwhile, is yet to release any amount in this regard even after on-the-spot inspection undertaken by central team of officials and ministers, the chief minister wrote.
