Month: December 2020

Insurers to offer ‘Saral Jeevan Bima’ policy from January 1; here’s all you need to know

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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After Corona Kavach, Corona Rakshak, and Arogya Sanjeevani, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has come out with a standardised term insurance policy known as ‘Saral Jeevan Bima’.

This new policy will be rolled out by life insurance companies from January 1, 2021.

Just like the standard health insurance product ‘Arogya Sanjeevani’, the ‘Saral Jeevan Bima’ will have the same features, benefits, inclusions, and exclusions across the insurers. Though the prices, service level, claim settlement rate may differ.

Here’s all one needs to know about ‘Saral Jeevan Bima’ scheme:

Definition

This will be a non-linked, non-participating individual pure risk premium life insurance plan, which will provide for payment of sum assured in a lump sum to the nominee in case of the life assured’s unfortunate death during the policy term.

Eligibility

The product will be offered to individuals without restrictions on gender, place of residence, travel, occupation, or educational qualifications.

The minimum age of entry will be 18 years and the maximum entry age will be capped at 65 and the maximum maturity age will be 70 years. The policy term will extend from 5 to 40 years, according to IRDAI.

Sum assured limits

The minimum sum assured under the product will be Rs 5 lakh, and the maximum can go up to Rs 25 lakh. The policyholders will also have the option of providing a sum assured beyond Rs 25 lakh.

Premium payment options

The product will offer three premium payment options; regular premium, limited premium payment term for 5 years and 10 years, and single premium.

Individuals will be allowed to choose from regular premium payment throughout the policy term, single premium payment in lumpsum, or limited premium payment (5, 10 years) options.

According to Santosh Agarwal, CBO-Life Insurance, Policybazaar, the plan will be a boon for the first-time buyers of life insurance since the product will be the same, regardless of the insurance company offering it.

“An important reason for introducing a standard life insurance plan is that the current life insurance products available in the market are different and quite complex, and it is difficult for the common man to understand the various inclusions and exclusions of the plans. With this plan, the regulator aims at increasing the life insurance penetration level mostly amongst the people with low income,” he said.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Rupee surges 24 paise to 73.07 against US dollar

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Rising for the sixth straight session, the rupee spurted 24 paise to end at a nearly four-month high of 73.07 against the US dollar on the last day of the year on Thursday, supported by a weak American currency and rise in risk appetite.

Traders said market sentiments improved on hopes of global economic recovery following the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and extraordinary fiscal and monetary stimulus.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.15 against the US dollar and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.01 and a low of 73.17.

The local unit finally settled at 73.07, registering a rise of 24 paise over its previous close. The rupee had last closed above this level on September 2 this year, when it had finished at 73.03. In the last six trading sessions, the Indian rupee has gained 77 paise.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.09 percent to 89.59.

“Rollout of vaccine strengthened hopefulness that surging infection cases may be checked. Additionally, UK granted emergency use authorization for vaccine developed by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca PLC,” said Saif Mukadam, Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Furthermore, the rupee may gain strength on consistent FII inflows. Rupee may trade in the range of 72.75 to 73.65 in next couple of sessions, he added.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 5.11 points or 0.01 per cent higher at 47,751.33, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 0.20 points to 13,981.75.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,135.59 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.21 percent to USD 51.52 per barrel.

“2020 has been a year where RBI played an extremely important role in keeping volatility in check. They sold aggressively when USD rose in value during COVID panic of March-April. “Then they bought close USD 100 billion to prevent the rupee from appreciating when inflows gushed to Indian capital markets,” said Anindya Banerjee, DVP, Currency Derivatives & Interest Rate Derivatives, Kotak Securities. Banerjee further said, “during 2021, if the global trend of USD remains downward, then USD-INR can decline towards 70.00 levels.”

The rupee dropped 2.39 percent against the USD in 2020. This will be the third straight year of decline for the domestic currency.

“It is one of the worst years for the Indian Rupee among its Asian peers. The fall in INR vs the USD is despite record inflows from FIIs/FPIs in the Indian equity market and other PE investments,” said Nish Bhatt, founder and CEO of Millwood Kane International, an investment consulting firm.

The regular market intervention by the RBI to absorb the excess dollar flows is one of the reasons behind depreciating rupee despite strong inflows.

“As we approach the year 2021, the rupee movement will be guided primarily by the RBI intervention in the currency market to keep the INR in check. The RBI forex reserves are near all-time high levels. Any fall or softening in the prices of crude oil will support the rupee as India imports the bulk of its oil requirements. The pledge by global central banks to keep the system liquidity in excess is likely to weaken the USD, supporting the INR,” Bhatt said.

Gaurang Somaiyaa, Forex & Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, “In the next couple of sessions, volatility could drop as market participants will remain on the sidelines ahead of New Year holidays.”

This year foreigners bought equities aggressively worth USD 23.05 billion while sold USD 13.96 billion worth of debt. Huge FDI flows, especially in Reliance subsidiaries, were witnessed to the tune of USD 30 billion as of September.

India’s forex reserves swelled up by USD 123.66 billion to USD 581.13 billion in the calendar year. India’s current account surplus eased to USD 15.5 billion, or 2.4 per cent of the gross domestic product, in July-September from a record high in the previous quarter, and against a deficit of USD 7.6 billion a year earlier.

“As we expected, rupee may appreciate further and retest 72.9 levels in the next week. We believe RBI will try to aggressively defend the rupee near 72.8 to 72.9 levels next week,” said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

On the last trading day of the year, Asian currencies were higher amid the dollar index extending its decline. The dollar gauge inched lower to 89.58, taking its losses this year to over 7 percent, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.

The dollar’s losses came on the back of an accommodative Federal Reserve that projected near-zero interest rates for the next three years and adopted an inflation-targeting framework. The rebound in equities further undermined the dollar index, which had climbed to 103 in March at the peak of worries over the coronavirus pandemic. The currency has been mainly supported by equity inflows. Foreign investors have pumped in over USD 23 billion in Indian shares in 2020, of which over USD 19 billion was seen in October-December.

The currency has continued to gain despite aggressive foreign exchange intervention from the central bank. The reserves have climbed to a record high of USD 581.13 billion as on December 18, and rose over USD 35 billion in October-December.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How to buy sovereign gold bonds online from SBI? Here’s your guide

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The ninth tranche (IXth) of the Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) scheme for 2020-21 will close for subscription on Friday i.e. January 1, 2021. The issue price for the same has been fixed at Rs 5,000 per gram of the yellow metal. Online subscribers can, however, secure these bonds at a discount of Rs 50 per gram.

SGB is issued by the government, for which investors get a holding certificate. It comprises government securities denominated in gold wherein investors are required to pay the issue price in cash.

Investors can invest in SGBs through their demat accounts or via online banking. Several banks such as the State Bank of India (SBI) provide the option of buying SGBs online.

Here are the steps to invest in SGB via SBI:

Step 1: Log in to SBI net banking account using credentials

Step 2: After login, click on eServices and go to ‘Sovereign Gold Bond’

Step 3: Check the debit account that is to be used

Step 4: Select ‘terms and conditions’ and click on ‘proceed’

Step 5: Fill the registration form. This is a one-time registration that may require some mandatory inputs

Step 6: Now, click on submit. The purchase form appears which is to be filled by entering the subscription quantity and nominee details.

Step 7: Again, click on ‘submit’

As per RBI instructions, every application must be accompanied by the ‘PAN Number’ issued by the Income Tax Department to the investor(s) as the PAN number of the first/ sole applicant is mandatory.

Also read: Here’s what makes SGB an attractive investment

The maximum limit of subscribed will be 4 kg for individuals, 4 kg for HUF and 20 kg for trusts and similar entities per fiscal year (April-March) notified by the government from time to time. The annual ceiling will include bonds subscribed under different tranches during initial issuance by the government and those purchase from the secondary market.

The bonds will be restricted for sale to resident Indian entities including individuals (in his capacity as an individual, or on behalf of a minor child, or jointly with any other individual), HUFs, Trusts, Universities and Charitable Institutions.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Amazon gets into the podcast business

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The online shopping giant is buying Wondery, a 4-year-old producer of popular true crime podcasts such as Dr Death and Dirty John, which was later turned into a TV series.

An explosion of new podcasts has led to a number of acquisitions as competing platforms try to grow their audiences and their ad revenue. The music streaming platform Spotify bought two podcast companies in 2019 and it’s added high-profile hosts to its roster, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Wondery podcasts will be part of Amazon’s music streaming service, but it will still be available on other platforms as well.

This is a pivotal moment to expand the Amazon Music offering beyond music as listener habits evolve, Amazon said in a blog post-Wednesday.

Terms of the acquisition were not released.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Recovery should start in Q2 with vaccine and fiscal stimulus in global markets: BofA Global

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The paradox of the last quarter has been that global equity markets, in fact all global risk assets, have been reaching higher and higher but the economies in almost all countries are healing very gradually, in some cases even affected by a third and a fourth surge of the infection.

How to marry this paradox and what lies in store for 2021? To ‘answer all these, CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh spoke to Ethan Harris, head of Global Economics, BofA Global Research.

On dollar weakness, Harris said, “Dollar is reacting to a risk-on environment in capital market, so the capital markets are looking through the weakness of the data, the latest surge in virus, and they are focused on a better economy next year with the vaccine rolling out and with new big fiscal actions so there is this kind of a sense that the world is going to be a safer place next year and I think that hurts the dollar. You don’t need to keep so much money invested in the US if the world is a safe place.”

On the global economy, he said, “I think in the developed world, particularly in Northern hemisphere obviously they are headed for a very weak period. Europe probably already has negative growth, and the US is moving into negative growth. November was the first month where we really started to see the recovery stumbling. As we get into December, January, and February you are going to be looking at some very weak number basically decline in activities. So the year is going to start off with these economies stumbling and then they will catch up and take the lead probably in the second quarter.”

“You got a big fiscal package coming particularly in the US, the vaccine rollout will be faster in the developed market than in emerging markets and so by the second quarter you should see an improvement but first we have to get through this rather dark winter we are facing.”

To know more, watch this interview.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on CNBCTV18.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. CNBCTV18.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

The Thought League: India gets ready for global direct listings

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As India gets ready for global direct listing and companies make a bee line, The Thought League presents experts from NYSE and corporate layer on what it needs to be future ready.

Alexandre L. Ibrahim, head of international capital markets, Intercontinental Exchange at NYSE and Cyril Shroff of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in conversation with CNBC-TV18 ‘s Nisha Poddar in The Thought League.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

CBSE board exams for class 10 and 12 to begin from May 4: Education Minister

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriya Nishank on Thursday announced the dates for CBSE Board exams for class 10 and 12.

He said that the exams will be held from May 4 to June 10 and the results will be declared around July 15.

“We have decided to conduct Class 10th & Class 12th CBSE board exams from May 4. The exams will conclude by June 10, 2021. Results will be out by July 15,” the minister said.

He said that the practical examinations will be conducted from March 1, adding that the dates have been fixed after considering the suggestions given by students, teachers and parents.

The exams are being delayed this session in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools across the country were shut in March to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The board exams that were being conducted in March had to be postponed mid-way. The exams were later cancelled, and the results were announced on the basis of an alternative assessment scheme.

(With inputs from PTI)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow