Mumbai/New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday directed payments banks to get their customers’ information verified by third parties, in a blow to Bharti Airtel Ltd which runs a payments bank with customer data verified by its own telecom business.

An RBI letter sent to chief executive officers of payments banks said “reliance on KYC (know-your-customer) done by telecom companies is not permissible”. Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter.

Indian stock markets inched higher following an uptick in Asian peers on Wednesday with Sensex climbing 207 points and Nifty reclaiming 10,400-mark. The benchmark Sensex rose 207.77 points to hit the day’s high of 33,911.36. Shares of the fraud-hit Punjab National Bank managed to hold the losses trading little changed at Rs 116.9, up by 0.3%.

NEW DELHI: Bank of Baroda had classified the Rs 435 crore loan given to Vikram Kothari-run Rotomac Global a "non-performing asset" in October 2015 and a "fraud" in December 2017 but it came running to investigating agencies on Sunday after the Nirav Modi swindle came to light, fearing that Kothari too might leave the country.

Google today announced the launch of a unified payment service app for its Google Pay platform.

Google Pay will combine the features of the already existing Google Wallet and Android Pay. The new app is presently only being rolled out in select countries such as the UK and the USA.

Actor Kamal Haasan, who is all set to launch his political party in Madurai today, faced his first political hurdle today after the school education department denied him permission to visit a Rameswaram school where former President APJ Abdul Kalam studied.

Haasan who began his political journey with the visit to Kalam’s residence was scheduled to visit the school and to interact with the students but Hindu Munnai, a fringe outfit, opposed his visit.

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Tuesday lashed out at Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) saying its latest tariff order amendment strengthens the ambitions of one particular operator with deep pockets and monopolistic designs.

Without naming the new telecom player Reliance Jio, COAI in a statement said, "Over the past 12-18 months, regulation after regulation put out by Trai have ended up in distorting the competitive landscape in favour of one operator while putting all other operators at a serious disadvantage.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is making progress in bringing down its unpaid dues through an ongoing nationwide recovery drive, an official said here on Tuesday.

According to officials of Calcutta Telephones, the recovery drive till March 31 had so far contributed substantially to the circle's earnings, at a time when revenues are under pressure due to falling tariffs.

An otherwise strong earnings season for India’s companies is proving just not good enough for some, after a surprise loss by the country’s biggest bank renewed worries over credit quality.

State Bank of India’s December-quarter results spurred Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd. to pare its earnings per share estimate for NSE Nifty 50 Index firms by 3 per cent for the current fiscal and by 0.6 per cent for the financial year starting April 1.

Central trade unions in coal sector opposed opening up of commercial coal mining for private sector after the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the methodology for auction of coal mines for sale of coal.

"We oppose the move as the decision was taken arbitrarily without discussing with us. We will soon come out with a decision," said the RSS-backed Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Khadan Sangh President Brajendra Kumar Ray said.

The bids of both Numetal, a company having VTB Bank as a majority shareholder and the Ruias as a minority partner, and ArcelorMittal for Essar Steel have failed the eligibility test of the legal advisors appointed by the resolution professional as both bidders had connections with non-performing assets (NPAs) in India.

The resolution professional could seek another legal opinion or approach the National Company Law Tribunal on the point of law.

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