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New Delhi, Nov 19 () The registration of Reliance Capital Pension Fund under the government's National Pension Scheme (NPS) has been cancelled following a request by the company, sector regulator PFRDA said in a notice.
With this, the pension fund is no longer available for subscription under NPS, said the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA).
Earlier this year, the company had surrendered its NPS licence.
It was one of the eight companies registered under NPS to manage funds for subscribers from the private sector.
"This is to inform to general public that based on the request received from Reliance Capital Pension Fund Ltd, the certificate of registration granted to Reliance Capital Pension Fund Ltd has been cancelled by the Authority and the pension fund is no longer available for subscription under NPS," PFRDA said. 
The other seven funds for private sector subscribers are HDFC Pension Management Co, ICICI Prudential Pension Fund Management Co, Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund, LIC Pension Fund, SBI Pension Funds, UTI Retirement Solutions, and Birla Sunlife Pension Management.
LIC Pension Fund, UTI Retirement Solutions and SBI Pension Funds manage NPS for the government employees.
NPS is a pension cum investment scheme launched by the government to provide old age security to the citizens. 
There were about 1.28 NPS subscriber at end-October, 2019. NKD ANU
ANU

Reliance Capital Pension's registration under NPS cancelled: PFRDA

The mega IPO of Life Insurance Corporation of India (<keyword id="6367143" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lic" source="Orion">LIC</keyword>) will be out by the end of the current fiscal, a senior Central government official said on Monday. According to Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), the IPO plan is on course. "Some media speculation doubting the feasibility of <keyword id="7922409" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lic-ipo" source="Orion">LIC IPO</keyword> this fiscal year is not correct. It is reiterated that plan is on course for the IPO in the last quarter of this fiscal," the Secretary tweeted. The IPO is expected to become the biggest one in India and it may fetch the government around Rs 1 lakh crore. Post the Union Budget FY22, the government has taken several legislative and executive steps to pave way for the mega IPO. The LIC, a statutory Corporation constituted under the LIC Act 1956, is a leading life insurer of India wholly owned by the government. It has three branches outside India - in the UK, Fiji and Mauritius, a wholly-owned subsidiary in Singapore and Joint Ventures in Bahrain, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and Bangladesh. Its subsidiaries in India include LIC Pension Fund Ltd, and LIC Cards Services Ltd. Its associates include the IDBI Bank Ltd, the LIC Mutual Fund and the LIC Housing Finance Ltd. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/these-9-stocks-are-down-as-much-as-15-since-being-the-top-diwali-picks-6-weeks-ago/articleshow/88387967.cms">From ICICI Bank to INOX, these 9 stocks are down as much as 15% since being the top Diwali picks 6 weeks ago</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/how-do-rising-covid-19-cases-lead-to-a-fall-in-markets/articleshow/88385905.cms">Why is the stock market falling so sharply today?</a>

LIC IPO to be launched between Jan-Mar 2022

New Delhi, Feb 26 () Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India is expected to add around 10-12 lakh new subscribers to its two pension schemes in the current fiscal ending March, newly-appointed Chairman Supratim Bandhopadhyay said on Wednesday.By March-end, the pension fund regulator, which runs Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and National Pension System (NPS), is expected to have nearly 3.48-3.50 crore subscribers on board.Total number of subscribers under the two schemes were around 3.38 crore as of February 22, 2020."By the end of the fiscal if you look at APY, there may be another close to 8-10 lakh additions and another 1-1.5 lakh for NPS. So all taken together, around 10-12 lakh new customers should join our fold by March-end," Bandhopadhyay said. Total asset under management (AUM) for these 337.63 lakh subscribers stood at Rs 4,21,336 crore as on February 22, 2020, according to the PRFDA data.Bandhopadhyay, who took charge on February 21, 2020, was the Whole Time Member (Finance) in the PFRDA for two years.Earlier to this, he was with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for around three-and-a-half decades. He is a science graduate and a qualified Chartered Accountant. KPM MRMR

PFRDA likely to add 10-12 new subscribers by fiscal-end: Chairman

10 best tax-saving investments

New Delhi, Apr 1 () More and more companies, both public and private sector ones, are coming forward with their financial contributions and other support measures to help authorities and people fight Covid-19 in various parts of the country. The Centre and many state governments have launched separate emergency funds to secure donations for the fight against coronavirus pandemic. Two leading financial institution State Bank of India (SBI) and Life Insurance of India (LIC) pledged Rs 100 crore and Rs 105 crore respectively for Prime Minister''s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund. Around 2.5 lakh employees have decided to contribute two days salary aggregating to about Rs 100 crore will be donated PM-CARES Fund. Out of the Rs 105 crore, Rs 5 crore has been donated from LIC's Golden Jubilee Fund, the state-owned company said in a statement. "India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) has made a contribution of Rs 25 crore to the PM-CARES Fund as its support towards strengthening Indiat's fight against COVID19," the company said in a tweet. IIFCL has given beyond the CSR fund by finding additional resources from some other heads. This is a national crisis and the response has to be extraordinary, a senior official of IIFCL said, adding the company has therefore gone beyond its CSR budget. Playing its part to fight the crisis, General Insurance Corporation of India donated Rs 22.69 crore to the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) Fund, it said in a release. The pension sector regulator Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has pledged to contribute a part of the employees' salary to the PM CARES Fund. PFRDA employees have decided to contribute part of their salary and it is committed to assist the government in its fight against the pandemic in India, the regulator said in a statment. Another public sector entity under the Finance Ministry, Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL) has contributed about Rs 2 crore to AIIMS Delhi for procurement of 45 ventilators, the most needed equipment to combat COVID-19. AU Small Finance Bank contributed Rs 5 crore for the relief work. It includes a contribution of Rs 2 crore to PM-CARES Fund; a contribution of Rs 51 lakh each to Delhi and Maharashtra Chief Minister relief funds and support provided to the Rajasthan government for a testing facility that was established in Bhilwara, one of the worst-hit districts in Rajasthan, the bank said in a statement. Besides, to combat the challenges posed by COVID-19, AU Bank is contributing over Rs 2 crore through its various CSR initiatives, it said. Policybazaar Group is supporting National Covid-19 helplines to address public inquiries about coronavirus, and voluntarily offered someof Call Centre employees to the National Health Authority (NHA), Ministry of Health &amp; Family Welfare. This is being done on a non-commercial basis. "The Ministry accepted our offer and agreed to make us the primary call centre for the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand circles. Within 48 hours of receiving the go-ahead from the ministry, we were live with over 200 agents, each of them working remotely on their tabs or smartphones. "The team worked over the weekend, to ensure adequate training to agents, creating a customized CRM platform and integrating it with the ministry''s systems and standard protocols," Policybazaar said in a statement. Considering the huge call volumes witnessed, the company plans to ramp up capacity to over 400 agents in a week's time, it said. Standard Chartered Bank also announced its commitment to donate Rs 5 crore to support the fight against COVID-19 virus in India. Keeping with its philosophy of affecting a real change in the communities and to provide the much-needed impetus in fighting this common threat, the bank will be working with multiple non-government organisation (NGO) partners to provide relief to the vulnerable communities including the migrant workers, Standard Chartered Bank said in a statement. This activity will be undertaken across several parts of the country including major cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Baroda) and rural areas (Sundarbans, Jaunpur, Tonk and Marathwada). Another private sector bank Karur Vysya Bank donated Rs 5 crore to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. DP MKJ

Corporate donations continue to pour in to fight Covid-19 pandemic

New Delhi, Dec 16 () Financial sector players on Monday demanded reduction of GST on term insurance for increasing its penetration and streamlining KYC norms to expand financial inclusion.
 In a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, representatives of financial sector and capital markets also highlighted the need for governance changes in public sector banks (PSBs) with special focus on recommendations of the P J Nayak Committee.
 Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said a number of suggestions came from various financial sectors including banks, insurance companies, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies.
 "There were taxation suggestions. We have taken note of it. Taxation concern would be addressed in given fiscal space. Inflation is still benign, credit growth is also happening. All these factors will be kept in mind," he said.
 To give a boost to Indian markets, the representatives from financial sector and capital markets submitted several suggestions concerning enhancing credit offtake from banks, governance, risk capital issues, improving functioning and alleviating stress among NBFCs, an official statement said.
 Besides, they made a case for promoting leasing by reducing GST, reduction of GST rates on term insurance for increasing its penetration and to provide easier credit to digitally active users by streamlining KYC norms, it said.
 Demand for GST reduction comes days ahead of the GST Council meeting to be scheduled on December 18.
 Suggestions were also received for enhancing support from private banks to the Stand-Up India scheme, it added.
 SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said suggestion with regard to taxation and improvement in credit growth were made.
 "We have made a suggestion to raise tax break on NPS (New Pension Scheme) from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh and increasing the age limit for the Atal Pension Yojana to 50 years," Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority member (finance) Supratim Bandyopadhyay said.
 Finance Industry Development Council Chairman Raman Aggarwal said overdependence of NBFC to banks needs to be rectified and funding sources need to be diversified.
 The industry has requested that a re-finance window for NBFC needs to be created under NABARD or SIDBI, he said.
 Along with the finance minister, the meeting was attended by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar, Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, and Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, and other senior officials of the finance ministry.
 Major stakeholders of financial sector and capital markets participated in the meeting including RBI Deputy Governor N S Vishwanathan, Sebi whole-time member Madhabi Puri Buch, LIC Chairman M R Kumar, Kotak Mahindra Bank Managing Director Uday Kotak, Max Life Insurance Managing Director Prashant Tripathy, among others. DP HRS

Financial sector firms pitch for tax break, GST reduction at pre-Budget meeting with FM

The <keyword id="58687" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharatiya-Janata-Party">Bharatiya Janata Party</keyword> (<keyword id="14666" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="BJP">BJP</keyword>) is working in full steam to woo voters in <keyword id="6357713" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uttar-Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</keyword>, which goes to polls next year. 
 
In a bid to show that the BJP is serious about development in the state, it is going to kick-off one project every week. 
 As a part of Indian government’s initiatives, Road Transport and Highways Minister <keyword id="26680" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nitin-gadkari">Nitin Gadkari</keyword> will add new road projects worth Rs 1.3 lakh crore in the state. 
 
"I will lay foundation stones for highway projects across UP every week from now. My ministry will complete highway construction projects worth (a total) Rs 2 lakh crore in five years in the state. We already have projects worth Rs 70,000 crore in the pipeline," Gadkari told ET. 
 
 Before the model of code of conduct comes into effect, BJP will kick-off 100 highway projects, including expressways. 
 
"I will also launch construction work on the Kanpur-Lucknow expressway, which will cost Rs 1,500 crore," Gadkari said. 
 
Several meetings have been held with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Uttar Pradesh and the ministry has declared 10 state highways as national highways and the cost of their upgradation has been pegged at Rs 8,100 crore. 
 
For the ambitious project, the government will raise Rs 2 lakh crore from Life Insurance Corp (LIC) of India, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), pension funds and masala bonds (rupee-denominated debt sold overseas). 
 
"Banks were lending so much money even when the developers had no land and clearances. And today when I have streamlined the policies and made 80% land acquisition mandatory before starting projects, the financial institutions are being conservative in lending," he said.

BJP to play development plank in poll-bound UP to woo voters, plans road projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore

<ul><li>On 23 September, the <keyword id="30067" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="RBI">RBI</keyword> and <keyword id="35210" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="sebi">SEBI</keyword> said that they were monitoring the situation in financial markets and would work to prevent any adverse developments. </li><li>The situation in question refers to a recent plunge in stock markets owing to the selloff in <keyword id="44647" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="debt">debt</keyword> securities of mortgage lenders DHFL and Indiabulls as well as the potential default of IL&amp;FS. </li><li>The <keyword id="6354731" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india">State Bank of India</keyword> (SBI), India’s largest bank, also announced that it would extend funds to <keyword id="6354598" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="NBFCs">NBFCs</keyword> if they encountered <keyword id="6355375" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Liquidity">liquidity</keyword> problems.</li></ul> It’s not everyday that a country’s financial watchdogs have to step in to reassure investors that a debt default crisis won’t take place. On 23 September, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) - the country’s central bank and markets regulator, respectively - issued a statement explaining that they were monitoring the situation in financial markets and would work to prevent any crises or adverse developments. The situation in question refers to a plunge in stock markets on 21 September - owing to the selloff in debt securities of mortgage lenders Dewan Housing Finance and Indiabulls Housing Finance - and the potential default of IL&amp;FS, the country’s largest infrastructure lender. Foreign investors have also been exiting their investments, pulling out <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/fpis-sell-bonds-worth-1-bn-so-far-in-september-on-weak-rupee/1321000/">$1 billion</a> from bond markets in the month so far as the rupee has weakened. The panicked selling of shares and debt instruments of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) such as the ones mentioned above comes amid fears that they will face a liquidity shortage in the event that IL&amp;FS defaults on its loans. The State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest bank, announced that it would extend funds to NBFCs if they encountered liquidity problems. Even Finance Minister Arun Jaitley weighed in this morning to ensure that the government would take appropriate action where necessary. 
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 The IL&amp;FS conundrum IL&amp;FS was recently downgraded to a “default” rating by ICRA, the Indian arm of Moody’s, after it wasn’t able to make its payments on loans from IDBI Bank and SIDBI, inter-corporate deposits and commercial paper. Its collapse will pose a problem for India’s financial markets given the fact that it owes a lot of money to domestic lenders and that its securities are held by a number of mutual funds, pension funds and insurers. The RBI will meet the company’s shareholders this week to discuss a resolution plan. The infrastructure lender, which has total liabilities of over ₹900 billion- could see one of its major shareholders, LIC or Japan’s Orix Corp, take a majority stake ahead of a turnaround. The board of IL&amp;FS will meet on 29 September to approve a plan to raise ₹40-₹50 billion of share capital and sell ₹200 billion worth of assets to meet its immediate debt obligations. The Indian government will also reportedly step into facilitate the sale of IL&amp;FS’s assets to state-owned companies so it can raise funds quickly.

India’s main financial regulators and its largest bank are trying to calm investors amid fears of a liquidity crisis

<ul><li>Compared to 15.9 per cent in 2020-21, the gross financial savings of households stood at 10.8 per cent in 2021-22. In the three previous fiscal years, it was 12 per cent.</li><li>According to a consultancy firm, high <keyword id="22195" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="inflation" source="Orion">inflation</keyword> has been the major reason behind fall in savings and in order to increase investments, savings need to be encouraged.</li><li>Indian households account for about 60 per cent of the country's savings, but this is falling gradually. </li></ul> Indian households' savings fell to a five-year low in 2021-22 as rising inflation gnawed into the <keyword id="15631502" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="purchasing-power-of-the-middle-class" source="Orion">purchasing power of the middle class</keyword>. Also, due to the Coronavirus-induced lockdowns, people were forced to dig into their savings, as the pandemic also led to severe job losses and in the absence of steady incomes, savings were the last resort for people to run their households. Compared to 15.9 per cent in 2020-21, the gross financial savings of households stood at 10.8 per cent in 2021-22. In the three previous fiscal years, it was 12 per cent. Though initially during the lockdowns, people saved their funds, keeping in mind the possibilities of having to spend on healthcare, once the restrictions eased, they went on a spending spree, what economists termed as "revenge spending". This led to depletion of their savings and a situation arose when spendings exceeded income and there were cases when despite having no jobs, expenditures rose, and savings bore the brunt of this excess or revenge spending, economists explained. According to official data, <keyword id="382273" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Household-savings" source="Orion">household savings</keyword> figures were down to 2.5 per cent of the GDP in 2021-22, while share of other savings avenues like insurance, provident fund and pension funds went up to 40 per cent of gross financial savings. In 2021-22, shares and debentures' portion were also at a five-year high of 8.9 per cent, while the share of small savings hit a 16-year high of 13.3 per cent, according to reports. According to a consultancy firm, high inflation has been the major reason behind fall in savings and in order to increase investments, savings need to be encouraged. Indian households account for about 60 per cent of the country's savings, but this is falling gradually. Lower domestic savings exposes borrowers to overseas markets, weakening India's external position and raising external debt. India's savings rate had touched a 15-year-low as gross domestic savings stood at 30.9 per cent of GDP in FY20, down from a peak of 34.6 per cent in FY12. Household savings fell from 23 per cent of GDP in 2012 to 18 per cent in 2019. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/a-year-after-market-debut-paytm-is-the-worst-performer-among-recent-large-ipos-cartrade-policybazaar-and-lic-join-the-party/articleshow/95762071.cms">A year after market debut, Paytm is the worst performer among recent large IPOs – Cartrade, Policybazaar and LIC join the party</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/bikaji-stocks-why-investors-continue-to-snack-on-this-stock/articleshow/95757704.cms">Bikaji Foods: Investors continue to snack on the stock that’s up 35% since listing</a>

Revenge spending effect: Household savings dip to 5 -year low

A unit of <keyword id="6437412" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Qatar-Investment-Authority" source="Orion">Qatar Investment Authority</keyword>, <keyword id="119583" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SBI-Mutual-Fund" source="Orion">SBI Mutual Fund</keyword>, and foreign investment funds <keyword id="6354527" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nomura" source="Orion">Nomura</keyword> and <keyword id="44473" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Citigroup" source="Orion">Citigroup</keyword> were the biggest buyers of shares in <keyword id="19955648" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Adani-Group" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Adani Group" meta.hostid="267" meta.entityid="Adani Group">Adani group</keyword>'s <keyword id="22661797" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="power-transmission-unit" source="Orion">power transmission unit</keyword>'s USD <keyword id="22661798" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="1-billion-QIP" source="Orion">1 billion QIP</keyword>, according to a stock exchange filing by the company. The Rs 8,373.10 crore (USD 1 billion) qualified institutional placement (QIP) of <keyword id="19964750" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Adani-Energy-Solutions" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Adani Energy Solutions" meta.hostid="267" meta.entityid="Adani Energy Solutions">Adani Energy Solutions</keyword> Ltd (AESL), which closed last week, saw over 120 investors seek shares in the firm that is into power transmission, distribution and smart metering business. Billionaire <keyword id="22623487" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Stanley-Druckenmiller" source="keywords">Stanley Druckenmiller</keyword>'s family office-led investment firms were among the companies that sought shares of AESL in the QIP. AESL in the filing said its board has approved allocation of over 8.57 crore shares to eligible qualified institutional buyers at the issue price of Rs 976 per share, reflecting a discount of Rs 51.11 (4.98 per cent) to the floor price of Rs 1,027. Giving details of allottees who got more than 5 per cent of shares, it said INQ Holdings LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of QIA, cornered 15 per cent of the shares sold. Two Mauritius funds of Citigroup bought 8.88 per cent of the shares sold while four SBI funds - SBI Infrastructure Fund, SBI Large &amp; Midcap Fund, SBI Long term Advantage Fund Series IV and SBI Magnum Children's Benefit Fund - together took home 7.93 per cent of the shares. Nomura Singapore Ltd ODI cornered 7.5 per cent of the shares, the filing showed. INQ had in August last year acquired nearly 2.7 per cent in Adani Green Energy Ltd - the renewable energy firm of the conglomerate run by billionaire Gautam Adani. In 2020, it had acquired a stake in Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd, a subsidiary of AESL. The AESL QIP last week was oversubscribed six times and fetched demand of over Rs 50,000 crore against an issue size of USD 1 billion. <keyword id="22636516" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Duquesne-Family-Office" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Duquesne Family Office" meta.hostid="267" meta.entityid="Duquesne Family Office">Duquesne Family Office</keyword> and two other US-based long-only funds - Driehaus Capital Management and Jennison Associates - bought shares but AESL did not disclose the exact number of shares they bought since these were less than 5 per cent of the issue size, sources said. The QIP issue marked the debut of highly prestigious long-only investors Duquesne Family Office, Driehaus Capital Management and Jennison Associates which are known for their strong performance. These investors are known for investing only in companies with high governance and are known for staying invested for decades. The QIP was the first public equity raise by the conglomerate since a damning Hindenburg report last year wiped away billions in shareholder value. The demand generated made the AESL QIP the largest in the energy space. Duquesne was founded by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, who along with George Soros in 1992 broke the Bank of England by shorting the British pound, leading to its crash and earnings over a billion dollars. Adani Group has a history of introducing several long-only investors in the market. In the past years, it has brought large investors including GQG Partners and International Holding Company (IHC) besides QIA. Other major global names that participated in the QIP include Blackrock, Jupiter Asset Management, and Eastspring. Domestic mutual funds that have participated included HDFC Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund, Bandhan Mutual Fund, LIC, WhiteOak, 360One among others. Insurance companies including SBI Insurance, SBI Pension and ASK Asset Management have also participated, according to sources. QIP is an instrument used by listed companies to raise funds from large institutions. The fundraise is the first after Adani group's flagship firm scrapped a Rs 20,000 crore issue in February last year, following the Hindenburg report alleging accounting fraud and stock manipulation. Though the group vehemently and repeatedly denied all allegations, listed companies of the conglomerate at one point saw over USD 150 billion of their market value being wiped out. While the group has largely recovered, a successful QIP is being seen as a powerful vote of investor confidence in the tycoon. Separately, Adani Enterprises Ltd, the flagship firm of the group, is looking to revive its first-ever public sale of bonds. It plans to raise as much as Rs 600 crore. The company has hired Trust Investment Advisors, AK Capital Services and Nuvama Wealth Management as lead managers for the issuances. The group had tapped the dollar bond market in March this year - the first time since the Hindenburg report - when its solar energy unit Adani Green Energy Ltd and associated firms got bids of about USD 2.9 billion.

Qatar Investment Authority unit, SBI funds, Citigroup biggest buyers in Adani Energy's USD 1 billion QIP

In this year’s Railway Budget, <keyword id="6356597" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Suresh-Prabhu">Suresh Prabhu</keyword> increased plan outlay to Rs 1.21 lakh crore from around Rs 1 lakh crore in the previous Budget. 
However, it may be a bit of a stretch in view of the fact the Railways missed its revenue target this year and overall the performance has been dismal. 
1) He garnered just Rs 1.67 lakh crore as opposed to his expectation of gross traffic receipts of Rs 1.83 lakh crore in FY 2016. He expects revenues at 1.84 lakh crore, 10% growth on FY16 revenues. 
2) As far as passenger traffic goes, he had expected revenues to come in at Rs 50, 175 crore in FY2016, but it has come in at Rs 45, 834 crore. He now expects to see revenues at Rs 51,012 crore in FY 2017. 
3) Freight revenues are worst hit. Rs 1.21 lakh crore was expected in FY 2016. But it has just been Rs 1.13 lakh crore. He has set freight revenue target at Rs 1.10 lakh crore for FY17, lower than the targeted revenue in FY16. 
 
Overall, Suresh Prabhu has set gross revenue target at 1,84,820 crore for FY 2017, up 10% year-on-year. 
 
Notably, The Railways is about to incur an additional Rs 33,000 crore on salaries each year due to the Seventh Pay Commission which has bumped up salaries and pensions of its employees by more than 20%. 
 
However, Prabhu said he is expecting savings of Rs 8270 crore in FY 2016, which will compensate for the revenue shortfall in this fiscal year. 
 
He also said the Railways is expected to meet an operating ratio (expenditure incurred for revenue earned) of 90% this fiscal, against a target of 89% laid out in the Budget last year. This means Railway will spend Rs 90 to earn Rs 100. Significantly, at the beginning of this year, the Indian Railways was spending as much as Rs 97.8 to earn Rs 100 – a sign of worsening financial health and an operating ratio level not seen in more than a decade. For the next Budget, he aims at 92% on account of “increased expenditure because of the 7th Pay Commission.” 
 Prabhu also reiterated that the <keyword id="6406875" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="life-insurance">Life Insurance</keyword> Corporation of India (<keyword id="6367143" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="LIC">LIC</keyword>) has agreed to fund Rs 1.5 lakh crore over next five years for construction of new lines and route electrification. It has already received Rs 2,000 crore by way of financial assistance to decongest corridors. In the last Budget, he had said, the Railways requires investments to the tune of Rs 8.5 lakh crore over the next 5 years which he hoped would come from <keyword id="6354424" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Bank">World Bank</keyword> and LIC. 
 
PROFITS AND LOSSES 
 
Earnings from freight till December 2015 were 6.2% more than what it achieved in the same period last year, the earnings are short by Rs 2,150 crore of its own target of raking in Rs 82, 676 crore. The situation was even grimmer when it comes to volumes. The railways reportedly carried only 8 million tonnes of freight more than last year by December 2015 while its target is to ferry 85 million tonnes extra by March 2016 which looks almost impossible to achieve. 
 
Similar was the case with passenger earnings which did not grow as much as expected, falling short of the target of Rs 35,042 crore by Rs 1,937 crore. 
 
This is not where the Railways’ financial troubles ended – it’s where they began. 
 
Moreover, the Railways knew it is about to incur an additional Rs 33,000 crore on salaries each year due to the Seventh Pay Commission. It now expects another 5 lakh personnel to retire in the coming decade, which means even more amount will have to be shelled out of its kitty in paying its former and current staff. Moreover, there is no clarity on the kind of expenditure the railway might actually end up incurring due to the seventh pay commission because there are many other allowances which haven't been taken into account, explained by Bibek Debroy, member of NITI Aayog. A large part of compensation is travel allowances which could add another Rs 8,000 crore. 
 
While the Railways finds itself buried under its own finances, the problem of low-demand being unable to boost freight revenues further exacerbates the situation. , The freight revenue is not growing as fast as the railways expected because of slowing economy and lukewarm demand which has resulted in wagons, line capacity, engines going unused and only accumulating further losses on upkeep and depreciation. 
 
Anticipating bleak situation, the railway minister had earlier even approached the finance ministry for additional funds but received a stern no for grant, followed by a 30% cut in the gross budgetary support from the central government. The finance ministry categorically rejected the Railways’ demand for grant in its communication and asked it to raise its own funds. 
 
Over the past years, railways has increasingly been dependent on central government grants and gross budgetary allocation to carry out its capital expenditure and network expansion activities, in addition to meeting overhead expenses. Coupled with increasing borrowings, the future doesn’t seem too bright for Indian Railways. It’s to be seen how Suresh Prabhu gets a cash-strapped Railways back on track.

You Searched For "LIC Pension Funds" and got 12 results

Reliance Capital Pension's registration under NPS cancelled: PFRDA

PTI

LIC IPO to be launched between Jan-Mar 2022

IANS

PFRDA likely to add 10-12 new subscribers by fiscal-end: Chairman

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