| | OCTOBER 20238In the words of Devusinh Chauhan, minister of state for communications, the government will push the space sector to reduce its reliance on imports and manufacture space-related equipment locally, as it does in the telecom sector."India's telecom sector had huge reliance on imports, but...the country is now manufacturing telecom products (locally) and preparing for the next-generation of telecom technology...," Chauhan said in a speech to the industry on Tuesday. "Space will also have (an indigenous) technology like this."The minister urged industry and stakeholders to investigate additional futuristic technologies that could be "worked upon" in the telecom and satellite sectors. However, Tata-backed Nelco has warned that the very survival of satellite players in India is at stake if satellite spectrum is not priced correctly by the government. The company reiterated its call for satellite spectrum allocation through the administrative route, as is customary around the world."Spectrum is the lifeline of the satellite industry..."Unless that is truly (at) the right price, the industry will perish," Nelco managing director PJ Nath said at the event. He added, however, that Nelco is confident that the government will make the correct decision.The industry is divided on how to allocate satellite spectrum for satellite broadband services. Satellite firms such as Starlink, Amazon-backed Project Kuiper, Bharti-backed OneWeb (which recently merged into France's Eutelsat), Canada's Telesat (which is partnering with Nelco), and US-based Hughes want administrative allocation. However, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea argue that the airwaves must be auctioned off. On October 10, the Reserve Bank of India announced that severe regulatory standards under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework will apply to government-owned non-banking financial enterprises beginning in October 2024. Being subject to the PCA framework entails restrictions on dividend distribution and earnings remittance, promoters/shareholders infusing equity and reducing leverage, and prohibitions on issuing guarantees or taking on other contingent liabilities on group entities' behalf. On December 14, 2021, the Reserve Bank introduced the PCA Framework for NBFCs."The Framework has since been reviewed, and it has been decided to extend the same to Government NBFCs (except those in Base Layer) with effect from October 1, 2024, based on the audited financials of the NBFC as on March 31, 2024, or thereafter," according to a circular issued by the central bank.PFC, REC, IRFC, and IFCI are some of the largest government non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).The PCA framework's goal is to allow supervisory involvement at the proper moment, and it requires supervised entities to initiate and implement corrective measures in a timely way to restore their financial health. GOVERNMENT TO PUSH SPACE SECTOR TO LOCALLY SOURCE EQUIPMENTSRBI SUBJECTS NBFCS UNDER PCA FRAMEWORKIN FOCUSIN FOCUS
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