BANKING
| ICICI, 2 other banks on Moody notice for possible downgrade Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:18:00 +0530 |
| Business Standard Economy Policy News The telecom tribunal further said that BiG TV "must allow the Petitioner to audit its system within two weeks from date" for calculation of the average number of subscribers. Big TV had subscribed to the sports broadcaster's two channels - Neo Cricket and Neo Sports - for its DTH platform. The TDSAT's direction came over the plea of Neo Sports, which had entered into an agreement with the ADAG group firm in June 2008. As per the terms and conditions, Reliance Big TV had to pay the bouquet rates (at 50% of the one fixed by sectoral regulator Trai) for Non-CAS areas, which came to about Rs 19.37. However, in December, 2008, Trai brought out new regulations and allowed broadcasters a hike of seven 7% from January 2009. Following that, the Neo Sports bouquet rate came to Rs 20.73. Later, based on the SMS records submitted by Big TV, Neo Sports raised invoices. However, dispute arose over the payability of subscription fees as per the terms of their agreement. Neo also questioned the subscriber number given by Big TV. Neo Sports had approached TDSAT on March 31, 2011 seeking directions to Big TV for paying Rs 6.2 crore along with 18% interest. the announcement reflects Moody's revised assessment of the linkage between the credit profiles of sovereigns and financial institutions globally. "Consistent with this guidance, Moody's expects to position the standalone credit assessments of most banks globally at (or below) the rating of the sovereign where the bank is domiciled," Moody's Investors Service said adding "Moody's expects to conclude the reviews within approximately three months". In its reaction, ICICI Bank's spokesperson said: "The rating action by Moody's is not a change in the sovereign rating of India and not affect ratings of any instrument issued by ICICI bank (bonds or deposits). "Our ALM (Asset Liability Management) is well matched with asset repayments in FY 2013 broadly covering our bond and loan repayment obligations. We do not need to access bond markets for refinance. We will look at accessing the markets to raise funds for new lending depending on the cost and the rates at which we can deploy the funds," ICICI said. Moody's has also placed the insurance financial strength rating of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) under review for possible downgrade. The announcements come close on the heels of lowering of rating outlook of 11 financial institutions, including these three private banks, by Standard and Poor's. All the three banks have 'baa2' foreign currency long-term ratings from Moody's, which reflects medium-grade investment rating with some speculative elements and moderate credit risk. Another statement said that "Moody's has placed the insurance financial strength rating of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) (Baa2/stable) under review for possible downgrade". |
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