Banking and Financial News – 08 May 2014

Banking and Financial News – 08 May 2014

Reliance Industries, SBI, 52 other Indian firms among world's most powerful public Cos (Financial Express) - Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack of 54 Indian companies in The Forbes 'Global 2000' - Forbes' annual list of the world’s 2000 largest and most powerful public companies. Reliance Industries ranked 135 on the list is followed by State Bank of India which is ranked 155. State-controlled Chinese bank ICBC holds onto its number 1 spot

You can get a credit score even if you don’t have any loans (The Mint) - Credit scores were till recently assigned to those people who have taken loans in the past. But now even those who have never taken a loan can get a credit score. This is one of the two changes that have taken place in credit scores based on suggestions by a Reserve Bank of India committee in its report Data Format for Furnishing of Credit Information to Credit Information Companies, which was released on 22 March 2014. The second change has to do with uniform representation of credit scores. It was suggested that all credit information companies (CIC) report credit scores in the range of 300-900, as is the standard practice at Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd, or Cibil, the country’s largest CIC.

Government to Defend Vodafone Arbitration Notice: Chidambaram (NDTV Profit) - The government will defend a notice for arbitration from Vodafone Group Plc in a more than $2 billion tax dispute, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Thursday. Vodafone had filed for an international arbitration against the Indian government, after the two sides failed to find a solution to the long-running tax dispute through talks. The tax dispute stems from Vodafone's acquisition of Indian mobile assets from Hutchison Whampoa in 2007. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that Vodafone was not liable for payment of any tax on the acquisition. The government later that year changed the rules to enable it to tax deals that had already been concluded. Uncertainties over policy in India have unsettled investors, and tax claims on foreign companies have been a major concern. IBM Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Nokia Oyj are among foreign firms contesting local tax claims.

Important Financial Terms in the News explained.

Credit Score - is a score that is provided by a credit information company to a prospective lending institution or to any person, that will tell the lender or the applicant, how good or bad a borrower it / he has been. The clear indication is that the higher your credit score, the better a borrower you are. This means that you probably make your payments on time. Hence lenders that lend to you face a lower risk that you will default. And vice versa - the lower your credit score, the higher the risk that you will default.

Credit Information Companies operating in India at present are:

a) Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited – (CIBIL),

b) Experian India,

c) Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited (Equifax),

d) High Mark Credit Information Services Private Limited (High Mark))

"Change your thoughts and change your world."  - Norman Vincent Peale

Courtesy : Financial Express , The Mint , NDTV Profit