Private sector lender Federal Bank on Friday reported an 8.4 percent fall in its net profit to Rs 367.29 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2021, as provisioning for bad loans soared. The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 400.77 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

Non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans of banks have declined by Rs 61,180 crore to Rs 8.34 lakh crore at the end of March 31, 2021, as a result of various steps taken by the government, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said on Monday. Scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) were carrying NPAs worth Rs 8.96 lakh crore on their balance sheet at the end of March 2020.

The government paid Rs 164.5 crore to Infosys to build the new income tax e-filing portal between January 2019 and June 2021, Parliament was informed on Monday. "The contract for Integrated e-filing & Centralized Processing Centre (CPC 2.0) Project was awarded through an open tender published on Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) to Infosys Ltd, the Managed Service Provider on the lowest cost basis. Since January 2019 till June 2021, the total amount paid to Infosys is Rs 164.5 crore under this project," Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

In a recent circular on Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO), 2003, the board said routing 50 percent of the produce through auctions will bring stability in the price realisation process. It also said if any producer does not comply with the order, strict action will follow.