#WeeklyNewsRoundUp: Amrapali Group Diverted Funds To 250 Companies, Auditors Tell SC

The Supreme Court on October 31 directed embattled Amrapali Group to disclose the names of all the companies with which it had any kind of transactions after forensic auditors pointed out that there might be a web of more than 200-250 such firms where homebuyers’ money was transferred. The apex court also refused to bosses Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar who are currently in a Noida hotel under police surveillance, to visit home on Diwali.

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The Noida Authority, on November 1, approved the plans to convert leasehold properties into freehold. After the authority’s in-principle approval, the matter is now subject to a go-ahead from the Uttar Pradesh government. The authority also agreed to take feedback from the public over allowing floor-wise sales of houses built in residential areas. According to media reports, the authority has also given a go-ahead for the construction of stilt parking in residential areas where the plot size is less than 125 sq metres.

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Ahead of Diwali, ICICI Bank and Punjab National Bank have raised their benchmark lending rates by five basis points. The revised rates came into effect on November 1 making retail loans costlier for customers. Now, the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate will for one-year tenure loans stand at 8.70 per cent and 8.50 per cent, respectively.

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India's 'fastest' train, seen as a successor to the 30-year-old Shatabdi Express, is set to make its debut, with trial runs starting on October 30. The much-awaited engineless Train 18 will roll out of Chennai's Integral Coach Factory. The train has state-of-the-art features, including seats that can rotate 360 degrees and can be aligned in the direction of travel.

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Indicating that there were no “systemic concerns” regarding liquidity in non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), the National Housing Bank has said it has disbursed around Rs 9,000 crore and sanctioned almost Rs 20,000 crore to them. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also allowed banks to allocate up to 15 per cent of their total lending to NBFCs that do not finance infrastructure projects. The earlier limit was 10 per cent.

Source: Media reports