The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday issued a discussion paper on a scale-based regulation of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), inviting comments from companies, market participants and other stakeholders within one month. The discussion paper has proposed tighter norms for large NBFCs and creation of a multilayer structure to categorise the industry players. It also sets out slew of policy measures to conserve capital among banks and NBFCs through regulatory initiatives.  

The objective of these scale based regulatory guidelines are to ensure that all NBFCs, irrespective of their size, have sufficient flexibility to operate and grow. The development came in wake of recent failure of NBFCs and growing need to keep them resilient by reining them in, improving their governance standards and also fool-proofing their risk management and internal controls.

"Regulatory regime governing the NBFC sector is built on the principle of proportionality such that adequate operational flexibility is available to the sector through calibrated regulatory measures. However, there are rapid developments in the last few years, which have led to significant increase in size and interconnectedness of the NBFC sector. There is, therefore, a need to review the regulatory framework in line with the changing risk profile of NBFCs," the RBI said.

The farmer's agitation on Delhi borders has caused a business loss of about Rs 50 thousand crores, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), country’s apex traders’ body said on January 21.

The body suggested that farmers should now call off the protest after the fresh proposal of putting the farm laws implementation in abeyance for nearly 18 months by the Centre.

“The farmer's agitation in Delhi-NCR for more than 55 days has caused a loss of Rs 50 thousand crores. This is quite alarming at a time when post-COVID, the business activities were picking up,” CAIT said in a statement.

Thousands of farmers, primarily from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November 26, demanding the repeal of the laws, and a legal guarantee on minimum support prices (MSP) for their crops.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has set the target to match the highway project awards in the first nine months of the current fiscal in the January-March quarter.

The authority awarded 2,423 km national highways till December of the current fiscal. In the whole of 2019-20 fiscal, NHAI had awarded 3,211 km national highways, up from 2,222 km in 2018-19.

A senior NHAI official said total highway project awards in the current fiscal could be in the range of 4,800-5,200 km, higher than the 4,500-km orignal target the authority had set for itself for the current fiscal.

Alok Deora, lead analyst, Yes Securities, said, "The current huge tender pipeline of around Rs 72,000 crore indicates towards strong awarding likely during the Q4FY21. Also, considering NHAI's awarding trend (Q4 witnesses massive awarding), we expect major traction in awarding during Q4FY21."

Petrol price on Tuesday breached the ₹85 a litre mark in the national capital and diesel neared record high after rates were raised for the second consecutive day.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 25 paise per litre each, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies.

This took the petrol price in Delhi to ₹85.20 per litre and to ₹91.80 in Mumbai.

Diesel rate climbed to ₹75.38 a litre in the national capital - just shying away from its record high - and to an all-time high of ₹82.13 in Mumbai, the price data showed.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 25 paise per litre each on Monday as well.

The government has extended the preliminary bid submission deadline for buying Pawan Hans by a month till February 18. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had in December invited bids for strategic sale, along with transfer of management control, of helicopter service provider Pawan Hans.

The date for bid submission was January 19. The deadline has now been extended to February 18 in view of the "prevailing Covid-19 situation and consequent logistical challenges faced by Interested Bidders," DIPAM said in a notice.

The government owns 51 per cent stake in Pawan Hans, while Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) holds the remaining 49 per cent. ONGC has decided to offer its entire shareholding in the company for sale along with the government stake.