What ESG, or the lack of it, has to do with governance lapses in startups Earlier this week, two key investors in ed-tech firm Byju’s separately flagged off corporate-governance concerns while elaborating on the reasons for exiting the startup’s board last month. Prosus, one of the largest technology investors in the world and the largest non-promoter shareholder at Byju’s, said that the ed-tech company’s reporting and governance structures did not evolve sufficiently for a business […]

Sebi planning unique identity code for FPIs The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) wants to make it mandatory for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to provide their legal entity identifier (LEI) code, further boosting the KYC framework for overseas investors buying into Indian financial assets. “With respect to LEI, it is proposed that the requirement of obtaining the same may be made mandatory for all non-individual FPIs,” Sebi said in a note. “All existing […]

NBFCs growth to be stronger due to unsecured loans, says ICRA Rating agency ICRA has revised its growth forecast for non banking finance companies (NBFCs) to 18% to 20% from 12% to 14% earlier due to likely strong demand for unsecured retail loans. However, higher cost of funds will keep margins under pressure for these lenders, the rating agency said. ICRA said that NBFC growth will come from the unsecured loans segment, consisting of personal […]

Google for Startups Accelerator invites applications, focus on AI-first startups Google for Startups Accelerator is inviting applications for its eighth cohort with a focus on AI-first startups, the company announced in a blogpost on Thursday. Indian startups funded from Seed to Series A level can apply for the three-month programme till August 22, 2023, it said. “We are looking for Indian AI-first startups working across different sectors to solve complex problems and tackle the toughest […]

Credit a better bet for fintechs looking to expand: Yashish Dahiya is the CEO of PBFintech PBFintech chairman Yashish Dahiya told ETtech that major Indian fintech firms wanting to enter insurance following success in payments or wealth management should concentrate on credit due to the larger margins available. Dahiya, who heads the Gurugram-based company that runs insurance marketplace Policybazaar and credit marketplace Paisabazaar, said in a free-flowing conversation from Dubai that those looking to invest […]