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Tuesday,03-June-2025
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Low interest rates to drive home loans growth

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Decadal low interest rates as well as stable property prices will drive home loan’s growth in FY23.

As per India Ratings and Research, lowest interest rates seen in decades along with stable property prices and the low impact of the Covid-19’s third wave have led to improved affordability for borrowers.

“This accompanied with the need for a bigger housing space during the pandemic bodes well for financers to drive the overall assets under management (AUM) growth higher, despite high competition from banks,” the ratings agency said.

“Ind-Ra believes affordable HFCs could witness strong loan growth due to increasing geographic penetration and a possible increase in ticket size (partly due to asset inflation), thereby driving loan growth higher in FY23.”

Besides, home loan borrowers have benefitted on other counts such as concessions offered in stamp duty rates by certain states and government’s push through Credit Linked Subsidy Schemes along with continuing income tax exemptions amongst others.

“Ind-Ra has also maintained a Stable rating Outlook on HFCs for FY23. Funding mix for both large ticket and affordable housing financiers has moved in favour of more stable and longer-term sources.”

“The Reserve Bank of India’s liquidity measures during the pandemic have increased banks’ appetite for funding the segment.”

Furthermore, higher accretion of public deposits aided by lower bank deposit rates has supported large housing financiers.

“Whereas, affordable housing financers have been supported through a rising share of funding from the National Housing Bank refinance schemes, helping them lower their cost of borrowings and containing any significant margin compression.”

In addition, the agency said the industry has navigated the Covid-19 pandemic with moderate disruptions in collection efficiency and a build-up in asset quality, partially also led by the implementation of the circular on NPA classification.

National

Bodies of three workers recovered from flooded illegal coal mine in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh

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Hazaribagh, June 3: Thirteen days after they were trapped, the bodies of three workers have been recovered from an illegal coal mine in Keredari block of Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, officials said on Tuesday.

The deceased, whose bodies were recovered late on Monday night, have been identified as Pramod Shah, 45, Umesh Kumar, 25, and Naushad Ansari, 24 — all residents of Kandaber village under the Keredari police station area.

The three men were reportedly swept into the mine on May 21, when heavy rainfall caused the Khawa River to swell.

Villagers said the strong current pushed the workers into one of the numerous illegal tunnels that dot the region, many of which are controlled by coal mafias and continue to operate despite the risks involved.

The mine shaft where they were trapped was more than 100 feet deep and quickly flooded, making rescue efforts extremely challenging.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) conducted a three-day operation to locate and retrieve the bodies but had to suspend efforts due to waterlogging.

Subsequently, the task of dewatering the mine was taken up by NTPC and a private company. After days of continuous pumping, the water level finally receded, which enabled local villagers to recover the bodies late on Monday night.

On Tuesday morning, police sent the bodies for autopsy to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital in Hazaribagh. After the post-mortem, the bodies were brought back to Kandaber and cremated on Tuesday afternoon.

The incident plunged the village into mourning, with relatives and neighbours breaking down as the news spread.

There were scenes of chaos and wailing as the bodies were brought into the village.

Following the recovery, villagers renewed calls for compensation and the provision of government jobs for one dependent of each deceased worker.

Despite repeated incidents, illegal mining continues unabated in the Khawa river belt of Keredari, drawing hundreds of locals desperate for work and vulnerable to exploitation.

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Crime

WBSSC’s notification for fresh teachers’ recruitment challenged at Calcutta HC

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Kolkata, June 3: The notification issued by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to fill vacant posts of teachers in state-run schools has been challenged at the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday.

The single-judge vacation bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury admitted the petition. The matter is likely to come up for a hearing at his bench on June 5.

The petitioner claimed that certain points in the notification, especially those as regards to changed weightage criteria in the distribution of total marks in the recruitment process, violated the Supreme Court’s directives on fresh recruitments.

The main ground on which the notification was challenged was that the weightage criteria in the distribution of total marks had changed from those in 2016.

As per the new notification issued last week, the written examination in the fresh recruitment process will carry 60 marks, as against 55 for the 2016 panel.

Secondly, the weightage criterion for educational qualification in the fresh recruitment process is just 10 as against 35 for the 2016 panel.

Most importantly, two new weightage criteria, each carrying 10 marks, “past teaching experience” and “lecture demonstration”, have been introduced.

Soon after the notification was issued, several legal minds apprehended that the notification may face legal hurdles because of the changes in weightage criteria in total marks distribution.

Legal minds felt that while two new weightage criteria were introduced to give an advantage to the teachers from the 2016 panel who lost their jobs. They opined that the changed criteria would be disadvantageous for fresher candidates.

Bringing about changes in the weightage criteria was grossly illegal since the same weightage criteria, which applied to the 2016 panel, should also be there in the fresh recruitment process, they said.

Now their apprehensions have come true after a petition challenging the notification was filed at the Calcutta High Court, exactly on the points highlighted.

On April 3 this year, the Supreme Court’s division bench of erstwhile Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a previous order by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelling 25,753 school jobs in West Bengal.

The Apex Court also accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel of 25,753 candidates had to be cancelled because of the failure of the state government and the commission to segregate the “untainted” candidates from the “tainted” ones.

The state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) had already filed review petitions at the Apex Court on this issue.

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International

Australian scientists use underwater robots to explore remote reefs in South Pacific expedition

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Sydney, June 3: Australian scientists are using cutting-edge underwater robots to explore remote and largely uncharted reef systems in the South Pacific, the University of Sydney said on Tuesday.

As part of a major international expedition, Australian scientists are mapping deep-sea habitats and biodiversity near Norfolk Island, an isolated Australian territory 1,600 km northeast of Sydney, one of the South Pacific’s most ecologically important regions, according to a university press release.

Its location and mix of tropical and temperate ecosystems make it key to tracking species shifts and climate change impacts, the release said.

Equipped with high-resolution cameras and sensors, the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles are capturing thousands of images to create 3D maps of the seafloor and document marine life in unprecedented detail, it said, adding underwater robots serve as the eyes and hands of scientists, safely exploring deep-sea areas beyond the reach of human divers.

“It’s the first time that parts of the seabed in the Norfolk Ridge will be imaged in this detail,” said Stefan Williams from the University of Sydney’s Australian Center for Robotics.

The expedition unites scientists from Australia and New Zealand to map the seafloor and collect marine specimens such as fish, corals, molluscs and algae to enhance knowledge of regional biodiversity, the researchers said.

“Norfolk Island is a key oceanic stepping stone for species between tropical New Caledonia and temperate New Zealand,” said Shane Ahyong, acting chief scientist at the Australian Museum Research Institute, leading the second phase of the Norfolk Island scientific expedition.

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