Morning Brief: Banks Recover Rs 40,400 Crore From Defaulters Through IBC, Other Means; Triple Talaq Bill To Face Rajya Sabha Test Today; And More

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news brief for today.

Banks Recover Rs 40,400 Crore From Defaulters

With the help of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and amendments to SARFAESI Act, banks have recovered Rs 40,400 crore worth of bad loans in the fiscal ended March 2018, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows. While Rs 4,900 crore were recovered through the IBC, Rs 26,500 crore were recovered through SARFAESI. In 2016-17, banks had recovered Rs 38,500 crore.

The average recovery through IBC is greater than other mechanisms such as recovery tribunals and Lok Adalats, the RBI has said in its Trend and Progress of Banking report. Data also suggest that there has been a decline in the ratio of “write-offs” to gross non-performing assets. Apart from recovery, banks are cleaning up theirs balance sheets through sale of doubtful assets.

Triple Talaq Bill To Face Rajya Sabha Test Today

The triple talaq bill, which seeks to criminalise the practice of instant divorce among Muslims, is set to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha today. Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have issued whips to their MPs to be present in Parliament. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha last week with 245 voting in its favour and 11 opposing it amid a walkout by the opposition.

The Congress and other opposition parties have been protesting against the bill, alleging that it is aimed at victimising Muslim men. These parties have said that they will not allow the bill to be passed in the current form and have demanded that the bill be sent to a joint panel for review before it is passed. While the United Progressive Alliance has 112 members, the National Democratic Alliance has 93. The key to the result lies with the remaining 39 members of the house.

Infrastructure Output, External Debt Data To Be Resealed Today

Infrastructure output data for the month of November and external debt data for the month of December will be released today. The growth of the country's eight core sectors - coal, oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity - improved to 4.8 per cent in October. According to data released earlier this year, India’s external debt stood at $514 billion in June 2018.

Release of infrastructure output data will be followed by the deceleration of Nikkei Manufacturing PMI on Wednesday and Nikkei Services PMI on Friday. Macroeconomic data is likely to influence the domestic equity markets.

Landslide Victory For Sheikh Hasina In Bangladesh Elections

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s party has registered a landslide victory in the general election held on Sunday. The alliance led by Hasina's party has won 287 of the 298 seats for which results have been declared. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the country’s largest opposition group, has won just six seats. Bangladesh had deployed Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for the first time in these elections, although on a limited scale. EVMs were introduced in local government elections in the country eight years ago.

The BNP-led National Unity Front has rejected the results of the election and has called for a fresh vote under a neutral administrator. The Election Commission said it was investigating allegations of vote rigging. The BNP, whose leader Khaleda Zia is serving a jail sentence, had boycotted the last poll in 2014.

China's Factory Activity Falls For The First Time I Over Two Years

Activity in China’s manufacturing sector witnessed a contraction for the first time in nearly two and a half years in the month of December amid slackening domestic growth and the ongoing trade war with the United States. China’s National Bureau of Statistics has reported that the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 49.4, which is lower than what the analysts had expected. In November manufacturing PMI was 50.

According to reports, new export orders contracted for a seventh straight month due to faltering eternal demand. However, domestic factors also contributed to the slowdown of the Chinese economy in the last few months.

From Swarajya

Why Noida Namaz Issue Is About Land Encroachments And Not Right To Pray: The Friday prayers organised in Noida area are a violation of a SC order that prohibits religious activities in public places without permission.

How Modi’s Grand Project Is Making Gradual But Certain Progress: When he seeks re-election in 2019, Narendra Modi can rightly claim to have done more for cleaning the Ganga than any previous prime minister.

Why We Must See Constitutional Reforms Through: There should be a healthy dose of scepticism about the proposed reforms, but only delusion could lead to thinking that they are not necessary, and that talk of such reform is talk of usurping the constitutional schema.

The 10 Best Books Of  2018: Kamalpreet Singh Gill explains why he enjoyed these 10 books in English that came out last year.

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