BQuick On Nov. 20: Top 10 Stories In Under 10 Minutes  

Here is a roundup of the day’s top stories in brief.

1. Bank Ownership: Major Changes Proposed

An internal working group of the Reserve Bank of India has recommended significant changes across the banking sector, ranging from a higher promoter stake over a long period of time, the entry of corporate houses into banking and permitting large non-bank lenders to convert into banks.

• Large corporate or industrial houses may be allowed as promoters of banks after relevant changes to the Banking Regulation Act.

• The cap on promoters’ stake in the long run, over 15 years, may be raised from the current level of 15% to 26% of the paid-up voting equity share capital of the bank.

• Large NBFCs with an asset size of Rs 50,000 crore, may also be allowed to convert to private banks.

Find out the full list of key recommendations made by the working group.

2. Sensex’s Third Straight Weekly Gain

Indian equity markets managed to end higher and posted gains for the third straight week.

• The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.65% or 282 points higher at 43,882.

• The NSE Nifty 50 index ended 0.7% or 87 points higher at 12,859.

• Broader markets outperformed for today's trading session.

Follow the day’s trading action here.

9. India Could Face Retaliatory Tariffs From U.S.

The U.S. will soon issue the results of probes into Austria, Italy and India’s decisions to tax local revenue of Internet companies such as Facebook Inc., which could pave the way for retaliatory tariffs, people familiar with the situation told Bloomberg News.

• Determinations on the three countries are due because all of them have instituted so-called digital services taxes -- or levies on local sales of companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google -- this year, said the people who couldn’t be identified because the information is private.

• There may also be findings on Indonesia, U.K. and Turkey, one of the people said.

This could eventually snowball into a world-wide retaliatory tax and tariff war between the U.S. and other countries.

10. Rising Covid Cases And Questionable Testing Worry India

India's active case trajectory rose for the first time in 45 days as the country's total infection tally crossed 90 lakh.

• India added nearly 45,882 fresh cases in 24 hours, according to the health ministry.

• That includes nearly over 84 lakh recoveries and 1.3 lakh deaths.

Track news and developments around the outbreak in India here.

Lower Cases Or Unreliable Tests?

India’s daily coronavirus infections have been cut in half since a peak of more than 97,000 in mid-September, but the significant drop has raised fresh questions over the South Asian nation’s testing regime and whether it reflects the true state of its epidemic.

• Daily testing has picked up since the early days of the pandemic -- currently at about 1 million -- but it’s still much lower than most countries with high infections.

• Just as significant, nearly half come from less-reliable quick antigen tests, which can report false negatives as much as 50% of the time.

A comparison between Bihar and Delhi might offer clues about the real picture.